Chapter 3

Apple stood under her mother’s scrutinizing gaze as Anja eyed her daughter up and down. “Why didn’t you call? I thought you were dead.” Anja says, tears welling up in her blue eyes. She tries controlling her sobs.

“Well I’m not, mom! I’m fine, okay? I only had an injured ankle and the scrapes on my palms disappeared.”

“What happened?”

“I twisted my ankle and fell in the road. I didn’t see the van because the driver didn’t switch his headlights on.” Apple explains, trying to regain her memory. “But he saved me, mom.”

“Who saved you?” Anja asks.

“The Alpha King,” Anja’s breath hitches in her throat. Apple looks at her mom as she hysterically shakes her head. “Mom, what’s wrong?” she asks with a frown.

“You let the King save you?” Apple nods as she tries forming a coherent sentence. Her mother’s reaction to the entire situation scares her terribly. “How could you? You’ll forever be in debt to him, Apple. What if he takes you away from me?”

“Mom, you have nothing to worry about. I am going nowhere.” Apple says as she engulfs her mom in a hug.

.

Night rolled in, and a beautiful full moon sat high in the sky.

Apple’s chest rose and fell again as she peacefully slept in her own bed. Saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth. Her blanket only covered half of her thick thigh and the other half lied in a pool on the floor.

The moon shone down her as her bed stood by the wall near the window. Her skin remarkably glowed beneath the bright light of the moon.

A loud growl shook through the air. Apple’s eyes flutter open and she sleepily wipes the drool from her mouth. She frowns and sits up, her hands searching for her glasses on her bed. When she finds them, she slides them onto her face and peers outside. “Apple, close the curtain.” She hears her mother’s voice down the hallway. “Apple, I said, close it!”

“Yes mother,” she says and slowly draws the curtains together. Her actions stop as she sees it. A breathtakingly black wolf that slowly comes from the woods. It’s fur, a midnight black colour, mimicked the dark sky. Apple’s blood runs cold as she realises that the wolf was staring directly at her. “Mom,” she says lowly and hears the pitter-patter of her mother’s bare feet hitting the floor.

“I said close it!” Anja shouts and quickly draws the curtains together. She looks at Apple who vigorously shakes. “Apple, I won’t let it take you.” She says with determination and grabs her daughter’s wrist.

“What is that?” Apple asks as she trails behind her mother who hurriedly stomps towards the kitchen.

Anja extracts a pocket-knife from the cupboard. “When you were at the castle, did the king ever touch you?”

“What does the king touching me have to do with the wolf outside our house that looks ready to kill?”

“He is the king, Apple, why do you always have to be so naïve?”

“Who is the king?”

“The wolf is the king! And he’s here to take you because you’re-you’re… promise me that you won’t go with him.” Anja shakes Apple’s shoulders. “Promise me,”

“Mom, you’re scaring me.”

“You stay-” a loud growl ripples through the ground. “Stay here.” Anja instructs. “Don’t go near the windows. Understood? Apple!”

“Yes mother,” Apple says flabbergasted. Anja leaves her daughter standing in the middle of the kitchen. She slams the front door and Apple hears the click of the lock.

“Alpha King!” Anja says in a high-pitched voice. Apple sprints towards the window and peers through the sheer material. She gasps when she sees the king standing nearly ten feet away from her mother. He’s wearing his normal attire which is a black suit and his black cloak covering his expensively made formal wear.

“Where is she?” he asks as he stood unmoving. Apple knew he couldn’t see as the bright streetlights killed his sight, and her mother would use it to her advantage.

“Take me instead, Alpha.”

“I don’t want you; I want her.” Apple’s heart flips and she finds herself furiously blushing.

“Alpha King, please, do not do this.”

“Hand her to me, Anja.” The King relied on his senses as he starts taking slow steps towards Anja. Apple sees her mother slipping the knife she’d taken from the cupboard out of her boot.

“No, I have to do something.” She says barely above a whisper and opens the window wide enough for her to wiggle herself through. Apple lands on the cold ground and groans.

“Rise,” The King says and Anja gets up from her bowing position. “Where is she?” his voice is a warning and as Anja lifts the knife into the air, she’s pulled from her reverie when she hears Apple’s voice behind her.

“Mom, no!” she shouts. Multiple guards suddenly cork their guns, pointing it directly at Anja. “Onyx!” The King looks at Apple who utters the name he told her to call him. “Please. Take me and leave my mother.”

“No, Apple.”

“Mom, hush. Please, Onyx. I’ll go with you. I promise.” Apple stalks towards the king. She repeats the same process she did when they were in the castle. “Mom, stand down.” Anja drops the knife onto the ground. “I’ll go.” She says as she stares into the king’s eyes. She puts her warm palm on his cheek.

By now, the entire village has heard the commotion outside and sleepily left their houses to see what was going on. They stood in awe of the scene that was unfolding in front of them.

Apple Crystal Joe, a commoner, has the king enchanted with her touch.

“It must be black magic,” someone among the crowd whispers.

“Incredible. It seems as though she has him under a spell.”

“No, they’re mates.” Others whisper as they watch the king melting against Apple’s touch.

“Take me, Onyx, I’ll go with you. Spare my mother.”

The soft touch of Apple’s palm against the king’s cheek, awakes something within him. He has never been loved before. No one has ever had so much patience with him. Apple was enough. She satisfied him. She satisfied Onyx.

“Apple, don’t do this.”

Apple removes her hand from the king’s cheek and turns around. “If I don’t go, he won’t spare you. I’m doing this because I love you, mother.”

“No, Apple, please don’t go.”

“I’ll come back.” She says as she hugs her sobbing mother. “I’ll come back.”

.

Apple sat in the confinements of the room she occupied last time she was at the castle. She was in a daze. Her normal bubbly self was completely diminished. She held onto the hem of her shirt.

The door opens with a creak and the light is switched off.

Onyx.

Her heart flutters as she felt his powerful presence in the room.

Apple masks her sudden emotions and remains stoic. “Apple,” the king mutters softly. He needed to hear her voice. It gave him hope to know that she cared for him. Even if that last ounce of hope disappeared last night, she would care for him again.

The king leans against the wall, his huge forearms folded in front of his heaving chest.

He patiently waits for her reply as she sat on his bed wearing his shirt. He so badly wanted to see her face. He wanted to see her beautiful, curvaceous figure. “Apple,” he tries again, hurt evident in his manly voice.

“Go away, Onyx.” She whispers and then sighs. “Please, just go away.” The King wasn’t stupid enough to leave his vulnerable mate alone. He could see her slumped shoulders in the distance. He wanted to kiss her sorrows away but he wouldn’t; he couldn’t. He didn’t want Onyx to hurt her.

“You have to understand why I brought you back.” The king strides towards his bed and sits down causing it to form a huge dip. With his back facing hers, the king cradles his head in his hands. “He cannot stay away from you.”

“Did you come in here to confuse me or to remove all the previous confusion I had?” The king’s lips tug in the corners. “This is what I don’t get, Onyx; I know you’re half man-half wolf, hence your name Alpha King… but why was your wolf in my village? Why did you come back for me? I-I don’t understand. I like you, Onyx, I genuinely have a crush on you because you’re like a dogman… you saved me from stupidly getting run over by a truck, but you’re a king and I’m a commoner.” A smile plays on the king’s lips. The chirpy Apple was back. He could feel her pacing around and flailing her arms in the air. But his smile disappears upon hearing her speak so lowly of herself. “For the love of Apple’s, answer me!” Apple loudly groans and plops onto the king’s bed. “Get out of my room please. I’d like to sleep now.”

“You are the most peculiar human I’ve ever met. Get some sleep, Apple. Join me for dinner at midnight.”

“Midnight? What? You want to eat my soul?”

The King chuckles. “Get some sleep.”

.

Apple woke up to the sound of a soft voice waking her up. She opens her eyes, aware of the fact that she’s still wearing her glasses, and sighs. “Yes?” she asks groggily as she sits up. “It’s midnight, isn’t it?” The maid nods and Apple gets up out of her bed.

She follows the maid down the dark hallway and into an even darker dining room. “Alpha King, Madam Apple is here-” the maid stops talking upon hearing Apple’s laughter. She turns to look at the king’s mate who holds onto her stomach for moral support. “Is everything okay, Madam Apple?”

“You’re addressing me as Madam Apple and it is absolutely hilarious.” Apple dramatically wipes an invisible tear from her eye and pulls out a chair for her to sit on.

“Bring me the usual and juice for the lady.” Onyx, as Apple would call him, instructs Cecilia. She nods and scurries towards the kitchen. The king looks at Apple with a sloppy grin.

“It’s both terrifying and mesmerising how you’re able to see me.”

“Terrifying?”

“I like you better when you’re unable to see my ugly body. Mesmerising because you can see me but you also cannot.”

“Your body is far from ugly. It’s impeccable. Your curves suit you. You should wear more tight-fitted clothes. I’ll ask Cecilia to remove some of my clothes and move some of yours into the closet.” Apple’s heart erratically pumps against her chest. “Yes, Apple, you’re sleeping in my room. And yes, Apple, I sometimes watch you sleep.”

“Have you-”

“No, Apple, I have not touched you. If I do it will be willingly. I am no rapist.”

“I’ve heard rumours about you.”

“You cannot base your judgement on what you’ve heard about me. Yes, I am a monster… but they see me differently. You see me naked and flawed. They see me as a monster.”

“Why? Why do you let them view you differently?”

“All will be revealed on a later stage, Apple. With me, you have to be patient.” Cecilia silently enters the room again and sets the king’s whiskey and Apple’s juice down. “You’re dismissed, Cecilia.”

“Onyx?” Apple says after several moments of silence.

“Yes, Apple.” It became harder for the king to control himself around her. Apple consumed him. She was always on his mind. He so badly wanted to tell her that she was his mate, his soulmate. The only one he could love and make love to. The only one who could kill him. The only one who could bare his children. She was his everything.

“You said we would have dinner. I’m drinking apple juice.” The king smiles brightly. “No, but really. You said I will be joining you for dinner.”

“So, you only came here to eat?”

“Yes.” Apple says with a shy smile. “Why else would I be here?”

“Perhaps you anticipated to see me.”

“Even if I did, the burning desire to eat still consumes me though.”

“Your food is in your room. You may leave, Apple.”

“Oh,” she says, somewhat disappointed.

“I will personally deliver your breakfast to you in the morning.”

“Onyx,”

“Yes, Apple?”

“You mentioned something of someone who cannot stay away from me?”

“You’d like to know, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,”

“Eat something, I’ll be upstairs in an hour. I have to tend to a few matters in the castle.”

“By the time you come to my room- I mean your room, I’ll be asleep.”

“Eat something, Apple.”

“Very well then, Alpha King. I will leave you to your kingly duties. Good night.” Apple says and stands up.

“Good night, Apple.”

.

Apple so badly tried to stay awake after stuffing her face with the tasty food the chef prepared. She sat up straight, her eyes droopy. She had already switched the light off to save the king the effort of entering the room and still having to do it himself. “Come on, Apple, how hard can this be?”

Apparently very hard as she knocked out a few minutes later.

She lies sprawled out, oblivious to the king standing above her. He grazes her cheek with his forefinger. “You are absolutely breath-taking, my chirpy flower.” He whispers causing a shiver to course through Apple.

He was frustrated and raging.

He needed his sight back.

But he knew that in order for him to get his sight back, his mate would have to be on board with the entire shenanigan.

He also knew now wouldn’t be the right time to mate with her. The King does not want to drag Apple into his bustling life. He wants to be with her when the time is right. He wants her to fall in love with him when the time is right. But Onyx on the other hand couldn’t wait any longer to mark the innocent beauty that occupied his bed, and he made it clear as his canines extends.

The king backs away from Apple and disappears into the darkness.

‘I’ll do it with her consent,’