Chapter 71

Valerie

In the morning, I was sent to the kitchen to prepare for the large feast tonight's celebration. Several other girls flutter around me, some washing dishes, some cutting carrots, some preparing the base for a large and luxurious cake.

I was sat in front of a large bowl of potatoes with a tool to skin the peels. I had done so many already that the task was becoming mindless and uninspiring. Over time, I couldn’t help but allow my mind to drift.

I thought of Lucas, and our kiss in the moonlight. I thought of the anger on his face when I chose to seek out the Alpha. I thought of Ava and where she might have possibly gone. I wondered if she had seen me back at the auction, or if her eyes had passed over me, assuming I was anyone’s pet.

Then I thought of Alpha Xavier.

Heat rose to my cheeks as I recalled our kiss in his room. The way he leaned over me, hungry and rough, his kiss nothing like Lucas’s was. It was heavy…consuming. And whereas Lucas’s kiss was innocence, Xavier’s w