Arabella’s POV
We arrived at the council meeting place. It was situated in the middle of acres of council-owned vineyard fields somewhere in Sicily. The place looked like a private mansion of some crazy rich don. It was large, sprawling and completely white with sculptures and columns that recalled anything I had ever seen before.
Alpha Luciano and I dismounted from the car and Zazathe driver turned the car around to go drop it off at the parking lot. Wherever that was. I couldn’t see any cars from where I stood. A staff dressed in a suit featured for us to follow him and we did.
Alpha Luciano’s arm went around my waist as though providing me support to walk in my heels but I knew what he meant it to be. A show of possession. I fought the urge to push his hand away and simply walked with him.
We entered the house and were led through a hallway with numerous paintings and murals. Lights hung from designed placements lighting up the entire house as though the windows were open.
We entered a ballroom that had orchestra music playing and similarly attired wolves. I could recognize some of the faces there. Some of them were from the meeting room where Alpha Luciano had fucked me in front of them. Others from meetings at my father’s house. I didn’t see my father though. I wondered where he was.
There weren’t many females in the room. Some were dressed formally in pantsuits or formal gowns, by their postures, I could tell these were female Alphas or equally high-ranking females in the pack from their carriage. The other women were scantily clad and were little more than accessories in the male-dominated room. They stood sexily baring their legs and cleavage to the Alphas, if they were lucky, the Alphas would pick them.
I didn’t fit in with either category of women and suddenly felt better about Alpha Luciano’s hold on me. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about who to socialise with.
The council meetings almost always occurred at noon. We’d arrived in the evening the day to the meeting day. So tonight was for socializing and partying. The following morning for recovering from the night’s activities and the afternoon for the meeting proper. The meetings were held quarterly annually and addressed issues of grave importance to the werewolf society in countries.
To think my father had brought the issue of my kidnapping to the council. I fought back tears. He cared about me but for so long all I could see was his coldness and hostility. I wanted to make amends with him. I wanted to save Margaret, I wanted her to see her daughter again before she died.
Alpha Luciano leaned in and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. I looked up at him as his lips moved. “Be quiet and do not say anything unless I give you the go-ahead.”
Of course, as the dutiful pet that I was. Alpha Luciano began to mingle and I followed beside him, a small smile on my face. I didn’t speak and the people he was speaking with barely recognised I was with him and just spoke over me like I was not even there.
I looked over at the snack table longingly but to take a snack would mean, I’d have to leave Alpha Luciano’s side and possibly socialize.
“This must be the infamous Arabella.” I stopped thinking about food and tuned back into the conversation at the sound of my name. The newcomer to the group was young and had one of those scantily clad women perched on his arm. He was probably around Alpha Luciano’s age and a few inches taller than him. He was slender though, his blond hair was shoulder-length and pulled back into a low ponytail. His eyes were an unsettling black that made me feel uncomfortable.
He offered me his hand for a handshake and even if Alpha Luciano hadn’t warned me about interacting with people without his say-so, I wouldn’t have taken it.
“Benito.” Alpha Luciano said unimpressed. His arm around my waist tightened almost painfully.
“I’m hurt, Luciano, sorry Alpha Luciano. No hug for me? You won’t introduce me to the beautiful lady?” His eyes hadn’t left me for a second.
“Still spending your father’s money, I see. Why don’t you try out Song? It will be perfect for you.”
Alpha Luciano smiled somewhat mockingly.
Benito, or whoever the hell he was, froze and looked like he would rip Alpha Luciano apart with his gaze alone. Then his gaze turned sly and moved to me. “Would you like to dance, Arabella? Or does Alpha Luciano have you on a leash like he does all his whores?”
I wanted to hit him but I knew he was angling for a reaction. If I hit him, I was very sure there would be repercussions. Alpha Luciano couldn’t even tell me anything because that would only prove his point that I was on a leash.
“I’d love to dance.” I felt Alpha Luciano go rigid next to me. Benito smiled and moved forward to me, the woman he was with took a step back.
I looked beside me to look at Alpha Luciano then I took his hand. “Let’s go.”
Alpha Luciano looked at me in surprise but I didn’t give him a chance to protest as I pulled him away to the dance floor. The song was slow and sultry but one I recognized from one of my many dance lessons. Alpha Luciano’s hands went to my waist and pulled me flush against himself and my hands went to the top of his shoulders. Then we began to dance.
He was a really good dancer, I realised quickly. Was there anything he didn’t do well? He swept me across the dance floor as the music built in tempo, his every step dominant and unyielding. He danced like he was fighting but it still felt incredibly sensual. I moved with him, my every step measured. Teasing, flirting, surrendering. It felt like a betrayal of sorts that I could be in sync while dancing with someone who I hated.
That I could be in such proximity to him that the entire world fell away as we touched. With every move, I forgot who he was and what he had done to me.
When the music finally stopped, I was pressed against him, my breath fast and my heart pounding against my ribcage. The world came back and I realized we had drawn an audience. I could see Benito fuming then I was moving. Alpha Luciano walked us right out of the ballroom towards a lift I hadn’t even noticed.
The moment the lift doors were closed, he rounded in on me.
“What was that?”
“Dancing?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. Why did you speak to him? Why did you dance with me?”
“He was insulting me. Of course, I had to say something. Besides, I never explicitly agreed to follow your orders. And about dancing with you… initially, it was to escape him but I guess… I wanted you to see me as something other than a sex object. But that will never happen, right?”
He didn’t bother with answering me. The elevator’s door opened and Alpha Luciano marched me to a room and produced the key to the door from his pocket. Clearly, while I had been distracted by the magnificence and the decor of the house, he had procured the room key and details from our escort.
“Arabella. You are so fucking infuriating. At this point stop thinking, it’s not doing you any good. Benito won’t forget how you humiliated him. He is like a child with money but he can hold a grudge. When I ask you to do something, freaking do it. As for dancing, if you really thought that one dance would make me see you as someone different then you are much dumber than I thought. You will always remain a sex object to me and nothing more.”
He spent the whole night teaching that lesson to me, hurting me with his bare hands as he took me aggressively. Alpha Luciano beat me with his belt then his hands, and then he took me again and again until the sky started to lighten up in the morning. When I was finally able to sleep, my body crashed from the adrenaline surge and I slept deeply.
When I came to, I was in bed alone and it was around 11 am. I got up from bed tired and smarting from the pain even though the bruises were almost gone courtesy of being a wolf. I got into the shower and took an extended one with hot water beating down my back.
Alpha Luciano wasn’t bothered enough to pretend or even treat me with kiddy gloves despite the fact that my testimony today would be a determining factor in his life. I could ruin him with just a sentence yet he’d still treated me like that.
I wore my clothes and waited for Alpha Luciano to show up.
********
Alpha Luciano’s POV.
When I entered the room, she sat on the bed waiting for me with those sad eyes.
I wanted to fuck her again. Arabella Bianchi. After that dance yesterday, I had felt like chaining her to my bed for a year. It was a bizarre feeling for me to have but it was what it was.
“Time for us to get this show on the road.”
In minutes, I was leading her to the council chambers. We waited outside the doors waiting for the command to enter. After what felt like an interminable amount of time, they let us in.
The council members were anonymous and impartial and sat masked and in a semicircle in the centre of the amphitheatre. The other observers such as interested Alphas, witnesses and the likes of this procedure sat on chairs in the theatre proper, very far from the centre.
“Vitalio Bianchi, state your case.” Bianchi stood up from one of the alcoves and I watched Arabella react to seeing her father for the first time since her captivity. She sniffed and fought back tears. I barely heard Vitalio’s many accusations against me as I wondered if perhaps I was playing with fire. What if Arabella Bianchi refused to lie for me?
“Vitalio, you may sit now.”
Another voice came from the council. “Arabella Bianchi. Step up.”
Arabella moved forward. Her eyes and her very expression were a mask.
“Is what your father says true? Were you taken against your will?”
Arabella looked at her dad and then looked at me. She looked directly at her father and she spoke.