Contractually Yours, Alpha by Giftemmy

Chapter Three

The Mating Ball.

(Riley’s POV)

Ryker sat with his mate, and I was to sit besides him, close enough to hear him whisper the same words he had told me to her, close enough to see him kiss her, close enough to hear her soft moans as his hands disappeared beneath her dress, but that wasn’t the worst part of this all; the worst part was having to see my mother, refilling his cup like the servant he wanted everyone to know she was.

All I felt was anger, burning fury.

I turned away from them, focusing on keeping my breath steady.

“You work slugglishly, old woman,” Ryker said to my mother, she had pretended not to hear that as she refilled his glass for what seemed as the hundredth time.

My mother glanced at me, her eyes a warning, begging me to stay still and not do anything crazy, and it took everything in me to seat still.

“You forgot to refill mine,” Zara said to my mother, and of course, my mother did refill hers, muttering a silent appology which wasn’t even due. Zara held the glass in her slender hand and then her eyes turned to me, a small smirk playing on her lips and I watched as she let it go—purposely, the content spilled down my mother’s plain blue dress.

“Ooops,” Zara says. A hand on her mouth, I had watched her, it was no mistake.

“You did that on purpose.” I sneered at her. Zara had an innocent look on her face, which was of course false.

“Sorry, who are you?” she asked, an eyebrow inclined.

Alpha’s true mate. I wanted to

Luna, and don’t you ever

help my mother clean up the broken pieces of

Riley,” the Alpha ordered. Every nerve in me wanted to disrespect his order, and I was prepared to, but then my mother gave me another glance, pleading with me to listen to him, pleading with me not to get in trouble, and I hated it. I hated the fact that she thought this was okay. Slowly, I took my seat; my eyes blurred, but I never let the tears out. I had promised myself that Alpha Ryker would never see my tears, and

must have slipped off

I wanted to stand up and leave, but I knew Ryker wanted me here, he wanted to

a werewolf find their mate, and I welcomed that as a distraction.

this dance, my love?” Ryker asked Zara, and she gave

my Alpha,” she said, taking his extended hands, and he led her to

now, Riley, but I doubt there would be a

mother was gone; she was somewhere in

.

away. I was once again jostled to the side, and I started to believe

even if

and that’s when I noticed

men had

a lot of people in the ball; people could go in and come without anyone noticing, but

it was unlike anything I had ever seen, or the aura they carried

seen this man before, not face-to-face but in

Thane of the Nightshade

noticed that?. Beside him was his Beta

two men towered over almost every single person here, even Ryker, who had

very far away from them, as they walked