More liquor and conversation later, and I was beginning to feel lightheaded. Sometime during our time here, Kai and I had gotten physically closer, and he was currently running his hand through my hair.
In the back of my mind, I could hear a voice protesting about something, but it sounded so far and so distinctive that I gave up on trying to comprehend its words.
“So tell me,” Kai whispered against my ear, his warm breath on my skin. “What does it feel like mingling with people like us. Is it the excitement you wanted?”
An unrecognizable sound escaped me. It sounded like a giggle, but I had never known myself to produce such high shrill noise.
“Excitement,” I drawled, repeating his words. “I would much rather forget.”
“Ahh,” he mumbled, nodding his head. “You have problems too, I suppose? For someone of your status, I would think that's impossible. What rank are you?”
Rank? I wanted to let out one of those other humorous noises at his question. I had never been asked that question. It had always been assumed that I belonged to the lowest of the lows for me to be a servant—an omega—and that had only served to further the hostility the other servant girls at Alexander’s pack held towards me.
What made me, a servant like them, earn the attention of Alexander so much?
My voice decreased to a whisper. “Here’s a secret: a long time ago, I used to be an Alpha’s daughter.”
I noticed Kai’s eyes widen, and he sent a brief look in Claire's way before turning back to me. He cleared his throat.
“An Alpha’s daughter?” he asked in an odd tone.
I shook my head, rubbing my palm against my face. I felt weariness stream as one with my blood. The side of my head was pounding lightly.
I stifled a yawn. The last thing I was willing to discuss was my family’s dynamics and much less with an unfamiliar man. I felt very strange. It was as though my senses had been heightened, my vision was blurry, and my limbs felt heavier than usual.
Getting drunk from alcohol was impossible for werewolves. It was why everyone gobbled liquor as though it was water. I had no idea what being intoxicated felt like, but I could only imagine it was similar to what I felt now. I felt high, completely inebriated.
My head swayed. “Do you feel the same way I do?” I asked Kai, my words coming out slurred.
He chuckled and cradled my head. “No, little one. I feel completely fine.”
I shut my eyes against his hold, taking a deep breath. “Hold on to my head. I fear it's going to fall off,” and I let out a soft laugh. “Wouldn't that be rather absurd? A headless me running around this crappy tavern?”
I could hear the smile in his voice. “Crappy, eh? How awfully haughty of you, Alpha’s daughter.”
And even in my inebriated state, I could detect the scorn in his tone with the words he’d used to address me.
“I feel tired, Claire,” I called out to her, not having any idea if she was still at the table with us. As much as I struggled, my eyes were too heavy and refused to cooperate with me, so I left them closed, aware of Kai’s strong hands on the side of my neck, his thumb stroking my cheeks.
“Let Kai take care of you,” came her response, sounding even more distant than ever. It was barely intelligible. My headache had increased, and I could still hear a voice in my head chanting my name.
‘It must be my wolf,’ I thought to myself, but whatever she was saying didn't reach me and slowly, I could feel her fading into nothing more than background noise, like a dull ache at the back of my head.
“I’ll get you to a bed,” Kai whispered, and soon enough, I felt him helping me to stand upright, but my legs felt like jelly, giving up on me as soon as they touched a hard surface so that I fell against Kai’s chest.
His arms wrapped around me, one arm on my waist. Slowly, my eyes fluttered open, and I tried to mumble an apology, but the words laid heavy on my tongue, refusing to be uttered. I let him lead me through the sea of people, the noisiness of the tavern having gone down, reaching my ears as nothing more than a soothing lull.
We walked a little further into the tavern, taking passages I hadn't noticed existed in this crummy building. We went by a long hallway with multiple people crowding it, doors slamming shut, and verbally abusive words flying.
Finally, Kai paused in front of a door, and I heard the jingle of a bunch of keys before a click sound as the lock twisted.
“So, so tired,” I mumbled against him.
“Of course you are,” he said, leading me inside. A sigh escaped me when my back landed on the bed.
It stank of sweat and something indistinguishable. The sheets felt clammy on my skin, but it was still what I needed, and as soon as my head hit the bed, I could feel sleep tugging at me.
“Don’t go to sleep yet, little one,” I heard Kai say. “The night is still young.”
I felt his rough palm slide up my thigh, and my mind protested against it, but getting my body to do the same took much more energy than I was capable of mustering.
“What… What are you doing?” I stuttered, forcing my eyes back open. The room was dimly lit. In the corner, a dying lamp hung from a stand, casting a shadow on Kai’s figure. He was straddled just above me, the glint in his eyes filled with desires.
“Seeing what being with an Alpha’s daughter feels like. I am only an Omega, after all, one who to you and your kind is as irrelevant as the dirt beneath your shoes.”
This was Alexander all over again. Panic clogged my throat, fear twisting my insides as the same emotions I’d felt that night came slamming into me with full force.
I struggled against whatever this weakness that held me hostage was to stop Kai, but unlike that night with Alexander, the only thing I was able to do was lift just one of my fingers.
A small whimper escaped me.
“Please let me go.”
His hand reached behind me to lose the buttons of the dress, and soon enough, he’d succeeded. The dress fell at my shoulders, and I could only watch him pull it from my body, a tear running down the corner of my eyes.
“Claire,” I whispered. Why wasn't she here? She’d told me the night was dangerous for women, hadn't she? So how could she have left me here with someone this distasteful?
Kai’s hands caressed my cheeks. “Claire is a little busy, little one. She should be on her way back to the manor now. You're here to have fun, aren't you?”
No, my mind screamed at his words, refusing to believe them. She couldn't leave me in this place. She wouldn't. She had been excited to have me come with her, hadn't she?
“... She's just here to have fun.”
Claire’s seemingly innocent words came back to me. They had held something more ominous than I had figured.
Still, I refused to believe it. This wasn't some elaborate plan to get me here. It couldn't be. But in my hazy state, things became a little clearer, and I could see Claire handing me a drink and urging me to try this one.
“Here, have mine. It tastes richer,” she had said with an innocent smile.
Liquor couldn't get us intoxicated, but I’d heard from Elena and her friends that slipping a few drops of wolfsbane into a drink would have just as much effect.
“It can't be,” I muttered to myself. Claire wouldn't have access to wolfsbane. It was highly coveted but only available to very few members of the higher class of a pack which would mean that if Claire had indeed slipped it into the drink she’d given to me, it must have given to her by someone in the manor.
Kai’s words cut short my train of thought. “Let’s see what the Alpha will think of you when he sees you in bed with me.” And he dropped a small kiss on my lids. “Who knows? I might just get lucky enough to be forced to do right by you.”
And with that, he began to unbutton his pants.