My Personal Hell, D. Richardson [ebook reader browser txt] 📗

to see me.

“Kiera, it’s so nice to see you again,” I replied while I stood. She pulled me in for a hug that I didn’t fight. When we separated she was still beaming. It was such a change from the sullen girl I had met nearly three months ago.

“You too,” she turned to include her father and the other young man. “I’m sure you remember my dad, Kenneth.” I was just going to nod politely, but he grabbed my hand, bending at the waist and pressed his forehead against the back.

“Alpha,” he spoke with reverence, and I looked to Kiera for help. But she was just grinning, he finally stood straight, smiling down at me softly.

“And this is my brother, Kevin,” the young man grabbed my hand as well, but he just held it for a moment.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I answered, not entirely sure what to do.

“Anyway, I’m so glad I ran into you. We need to get together sometime,” she started, but then her eyes slid down to what I was wearing. “and have a serious talk about decent formal wear.” I rolled my eyes, finally feeling a bit more comfortable.

“It wasn’t my idea,” I answered, gesturing to where Asher was still standing with the busty waitress.

“Oh honey,” she whimpered with empathy, but then her smile was back. “Anyway, give me your number before you leave.”

“Okay.” She left with the two men following after her. I took my seat, catching the amused expression on Sadler’s face. “What exactly just happened?” I tried to keep my voice low, he leaned over so he could be quiet and still answer my question.

“He feels he owes you a debt for helping his daughter.” I looked directly at him, my confusion evident.

“All I did was stand there. She’s the one that did all of the work. She saved herself.” I was expecting more of an explanation but he just shrugged. Since I wasn’t going to get anything else from him I decided to finish my meal. Which turned out to be a heavenly steak. I had never loved beef more than in that moment.

Another few minutes passed, and the song that was playing caught my attention. It was just the beginning and I knew it well. The soft smile I gave at the memories it brought was involuntary. It brought back all of the rides in the car with my mom. Listening to this song and several others that were rarely played now.

“Good memories?” I opened my eyes and looked over at Sadler.

“Yeah,” I turned when someone approached my side of the table. I looked up to see Keira’s brother, Kevin standing with his hand out to me.

“A smile like that belongs on the dance floor.” I eyed him carefully for a moment, but I sensed no threat from him. When my wolf told me to go for it, I slid my hand into his and allowed him to pull me to my feet.

“So tell me, Alpha…,” I cut him off.

“Ailith.” He smiled down at me, as his arm tightened around my waist. We moved rhythmically, swaying back and forth.

“So tell me, Ailith, are you as good on the dance floor as you are in a court room?” I narrowed my eyes slightly. It sounded an awful lot like he wanted a challenge.

“That depends really. In these shoes, not a chance,” was my reply and he stood back holding onto my hand. I looked at him quizzically.

“Then take them off. If you think you can keep up with me. But if you don’t think you can I have no problem keeping it slow.” A slow smile crept it’s way across my face, and I bent down to slide my heels off. He took them from me and went to the nearest table, thrusting them into the nearest man’s arms, patting him on the shoulder as he turned back to me. My jaw was hanging open and my eyes were as wide as saucers. The man sat there staring at us with indignation. Kevin reached for me and spun us away from the table.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” I whispered, but he chuckled.

“Now come on, show me what you can do.” And just like that we owned the floor. I’d never had the chance to learn how to ballroom dance, and I didn’t think what we were doing had a name.

But we took turns taking the lead, the movements getting more and more subtle as the song played on. Until eventually I couldn’t tell who was leading and who was following. We moved in sync as the tempo rose and fell, until the floor was cleared and I spun out to find myself standing in the middle alone.

The song picked up and I started to spin, faster and faster, raising my arms above my head. When I came out of it I let myself fall back without fear of hitting the floor. And he was there, catching me, slowly lowering me until I was almost level with the hard wood. He picked me back up and we drew close, slowing almost completely until the song was over.

Neither one of us could stop smiling as the room erupted into applause. We both turned as one, our hands still linked, and took our bows. Finally, we couldn’t hold back our laughter and practically ran off the dance floor. I went over to the man that Kevin had forced to hold my shoes. He handed them back gracefully, and I apologized profusely for our rudeness, but he just waved me off.

Kevin guided me back to Sadler’s table, joking about how one should never underestimate a beautiful dance partner. It came out a little playful, so I turned as I sat down to slide my shoes back on.

“Are you flirting with me?” I asked, narrowing my eyes to make it apparent that I was just playing. But he grinned down at me.

“Nah, I know when someone’s out of my league,” his answer sent a shock wave through my mind. He took advantage of my momentary speech loss to bow to the table.

“Sadler, ladies,” he held his hand out to me. “Ailith, thank you for the dance.”

“It was my pleasure,” I answered, excepting his friendly hand shake.

“I bid you all a wonderful evening.” With that he was gone.

“Well,” Sadler breathed. “I can’t let a pup out do me. So,” he continued holding his hand out to his mother. “shall we?” She gave him a delighted smile and took his hand. I watched as they made their way to the dance floor.

“That really was impressive,” Kelsey said after a few minutes, gaining my attention.

“It was okay, for spur of the moment anyway.”

“Are you going to unleash moves like that at your ball?” she asked, smiling, but I had no idea what she was talking about.

“I’m sorry?”

“Your birthday ball, we got the invitation yesterday. I can’t wait.” I sat there staring at her. Completely frozen.

My eighteenth birthday was in three months. They were already sending out invitations. Jen’s words played over in my head. ‘When a female turns eighteen they throw her a coming of age party, to give her a chance to find her mate. After that a male can ask for the right to court her, if they get along he can ask her parents for her hand. If they approve, he gets to marry her’. Kelsey was starting to give me a worried look when Sadler came back. I looked up at him.

“Did you get an invitation too?” I asked, he looked confused for a moment.

“You mean to your birthday? Yeah, I got it the other day,” he sat down as though it were no big deal, and then he really looked at me, his expression falling. “You didn’t know.” I moved to try to stand, but he kept talking. “It’s nothing personal, it’s just pack law.” I looked back at him.

“I’m not pack.” it came out as more of a growl but I didn’t spare a thought for it. Anger was coursing through me so potently that I couldn’t recall the last time I felt so strongly. I stood, but Sadler stood with me, grabbing my arm in a gentle grip that wasn’t meant to keep me still, simply stall me.

“Ailith, it’s all they know.” I turned to face him fully, his arm never budged.

“They can lock me in a cage, but they cannot force me to marry.”

 

 

 

 

 

Sadler

 

 

 

 

She walked away, and I let her go. I just couldn’t come up with anything that would match her argument. With her back straight and her head high she made her way onto the dance floor where Asher was feeling up the waitress. Her anger radiated around her, catching everyone’s attention.

And it wasn’t just her anger. To look at her on a normal day one would only be able to tell that she was a wolf if they knew what they were looking for. The grace, the confidence, but when she allowed herself the rare moments of anger or any strong emotion her rank came through. Her dominance was strong enough that even the humans moved out of her way.

Asher was so distracted that he didn’t notice the wave of power, however, the girl did. She looked at Ailith with the beginnings of a snarl, only to shrink in on herself. Ailith dismissed her with a simple wave of her fingers, and the female scurried away without so much as a backwards glance for Asher.

His irritation showed as he watched her approach, only for his expression to shift to one of confusion as he took in her state of mind. When she was close enough to speak quietly to him I could see them arguing. Until finally she simply spun and walked out of the restaurant, leaving her jacket behind. Asher tossed his hands up into the air and quickly went back to their table to grab their things, and follow her out.

“I like her,” Kelsey said suddenly and I looked over at her, only to see my mother nodding in agreement. All I could do was shake my head.

I had always been close to my sister, her being barely a year younger than myself. The nine years I had spent with no contact had eaten at me until I was merely a husk. When Ailith had been locked away, we spent a good deal of time talking. She told me many things but what stuck with me the most was how she had spoken about her mother. How much she missed her, and wished she could talk to her again.

Then one day I found myself picking up the phone, dialing my sister’s private number. We spoke regularly after that, and then she talked me into talking to my mom. That reunion was a bit more difficult. And now I found myself seeing them both for the first time in years that wasn’t across the room for a hearing.

Seeing Ailith seated not far away had seemed like the purest form of irony. The young woman that had stirred the desire to reconnect with the only family I had been close too. Present for the physical reconnection itself. Though she looked horribly uncomfortable. Really Asher should have known better than to bring her here dressed as she was. Though he was preoccupied with his ex.

I hadn’t thought twice about inviting her to join us, and she didn’t seem to think twice about taking me up on the invitation.

“So, brother mine,” Kelsey casually as she leaned forward. “how does she look in her dance uniform?” I just shook my head and ran a hand over my face.

I couldn’t believe that I had choked, literally. Her comment just seemed to come out of nowhere though in retrospect it fit the conversation. It just so happened that I really, really liked how she looked in that uniform. Especially when she was twisting and turning in the air.

“She looks like a high school student,” was my answer. She chuckled, knowing