Page 41 of Alpha Marked
Ares nodded. It was beyond generous to allow him to keep Vanessa for his meetings. River truly would make a fantastic Omega.
"Ares?" Vanessa's voice cracked on the line.
"My name is Prince Ares or Your Highness. You will accompany me to my meetings only while we have another guard. You will be given your own car and driver until we go home. You are not to come up to my suite under any circumstance. You may text me if you need me to talk about business. If it's an emergency, contact Santiago. You will return to Montreal the day before we do. You will clear your things out of the estate and given thirty days severance as my assistant before you are assigned somewhere else. Do you understand?"
The line remained silent for a long moment as River watched him.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Ares hung up. "Done."
River turned back to the window. "Thank you."
Her words stopped him, and he smiled.
Mine. My Mate. Take her. Claim her.
Ares rubbed his chest.Don't worry, friend. We will mate her. Just not tonight.
CHAPTERSEVEN
River watched the lights twinkle all over the city—brake lights, headlights, stop lights, go lights—people free to go where they wanted and do what they wanted. And as the height of the hotel room separated her from them, so too did her new life.
"Would you like to change?" Ares asked.
The sound of his voice sent a shiver of desire through her, but she shut it down like an unwanted slap to the ass.
"You have something I can wear?" She didn't turn.
"Uh… well… there's a bathrobe in the salon if you would like to bathe. There's a beautiful antique claw tub with all kinds of… things, soaps, and whatnot."
She pressed her forehead to the cool glass. Every particle of her sagged with exhaustion. A hot bath did sound wonderful.
"All right." She turned from the window when Ares' sudden movement caught her off guard. He knelt before her and wrapped her in his bulky arms.
Her heartbeat hammered as she stood, hands in the air, unsure of what to do. Part of her wanted to push him away; the other part wanted to know if his muscles were as cut as she thought they would be.
After a minute, he stood and turned from her. She stared at his hunched shoulders for a moment, unsure of what to say, so she walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind herself, locking it.
She turned the water on in the tub with shaking fingers, took off her dress, curled in a ball on the white marble floor, and sobbed.
Thirty minutes later,a knock on the door pulled her out of her bath.
"River, the food is ready," said Ares.
She wondered if he would try to open the door, but the handle didn't move.
"Thank you," she called.
She listened for his footsteps to recede before letting the water out of the tub and stepping onto a plush bathmat. She plucked a towel from the rack and tossed her hair up before tying a robe around herself.
She pulled the robe shut as much as possible and double-knotted the tie, not that it would stop him if he decided he wanted to take her.
When she left the bathroom, she found a table with beautiful china and a candelabra.
Her stomach roared. The outer door opened, and Ares returned with a bottle of champagne and two glasses.
She sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of him. He'd removed his suit coat and dress shirt, revealing a white tank stretched as far as his muscles would let it go. He'd removed his belt, socks, and shoes and stood barefoot in the doorway as he ducked and turned sideways to enter. Even Zeke wasn't so tall as to have to do that.