Chapter Nineteen
Alice woke up.Shereally needed to pee.She glanced at Axel and a smile flitted over her lips.He was sound asleep.How many times had she orgasmed?She shook her head, pushing the erotic thoughts aside, and slowly got out of bed.
After making use of the bathroom, she put on one of the robes behind the door and slowly headed downstairs, while rolling up the burgundy sleeves.Sunlight streamed from large floor-to-ceiling windows at the top of the staircase, illuminating the entire foyer.What time was it?
As soon as she reached the bottom floor, her feet landing on the cold marble, Alice regretted her decision.What if Ariadna decided to chase after her again?Or one of the others?Axel has said there were three lionesses in the house.She’d met two.She glanced back the way she’d come.There could also be other lions.He’d explained during the night the house was the place where the lions gathered.Axel normally lived in the city, but his house was being renovated, and this is where they came to hang out and run in freedom.
Alice swallowed.She was thirsty and hungry.She glanced through one of the arches.She could do this.Axel had promised they wouldn’t hurt her, and she believed him, right?She made her way through one of the hallways.Surely, the kitchen had to be this way, right?She could smell coffee being brewed.
The smell became stronger as she approached a set of wooden doors left open.Whispers could be heard coming from within.She froze, but it was too late, they had already seen her.Three women stood around the kitchen island, chatting amiably in pajamas.They looked at her, surprise also clear on their faces.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, backing up.
“No, wait,” Ariadna spoke up.“Please, don’t leave.”She hurried forward, her hands steepled in a plea.“I want to apologize.”
“You do?”
Alice hesitated.
“Yes.I acted out of ...well, I was ...I have always wanted—”
“To be queen,” Scarlet piped in.She came around, stood behind Alice, draped an arm across her shoulders, and began to lead her back to the kitchen.
Ariadna scowled for an instant, then her features dropped.
“Yes.”She sighed.“I had been hoping maybe one day Axel’s lion would take me as its mate, and when I saw you, well, I could smell him on you, and I acted like an idiot.”
“You really don’t have to apologize.”
“Of course I do,” Ariadna said.She smiled slyly.“You havealmostmated.Once you realize you have no escape, you will mate him, and you will become family.I don’t want us to hate each other, it would make family functions quite difficult to bear.”She chuckled, drily.
“We must respect you,” the third woman said.She was also blonde, but unlike the other two, her eyes were green, and she had a piercing on her bottom lip and eyebrow.“I’m Bea, by the way.I was out running when this whole fiasco happened.”She moved toward Alice with her hand extended.Alice took it politely.
“I am a stranger,” Alice said.“I wouldn’t dare demand anything.”
“You don’t need to.We are in part animals and the laws by which we play are very strict.We respect those above us in the hierarchy, until the day we have our own pride, if ever,” Scarlet said.
“I’m sorry,” Alice said.“I didn’t ask for any of this.I’ll gladly—”
