Alpha’s Black Furred Slave Mate
Chapter 21

It's been a few days since the attack at the dinner party; Marlon already knew it was the talk of the kingdom. He had Winston and his boys in town, trying to investigate who the attackers were while Marlon stayed at the manor to investigate for himself. Being one of the top noblemen, Marlon knew he had many enemies. But what would bring them to attack a dinner party and what were they targeting? It didn't' seem like they were looking for anything because they went straight for the attack. None of it made sense to him and the very thought of it infuriated him.

His only thought was maybe they found out about Deonna, and they weren't happy about it. Perhaps they were looking for her and wanted to end her life before the baby arrives. But nobody knew she was pregnant with his child so that didn't quite make sense to him either.

Something in his wolf was telling him that he needed to play it off like nothing was going on between him and the slave; not that anything was going on persay. He couldn't allow anything to be going on between them. Even though she was pregnant with his child and dying from a heart condition he hired someone to help her with it. There were no relations with her; there couldn't be.

He could feel his wolf growing impatient with him.

His inner dialog went like this:

When will you admit to yourself that you have feelings for her?

She's a dirtball, there are no feelings.

She's your mate.

She is not my mate. You are mistaken.

I don't make mistakes.

There will be enough talk about it.

It was disgusting to even think about a dirtball being his mate. There was no interest whatsoever.

He also knew he couldn't keep Deonna locked away in his room forever. He provided her with some books to keep her occupied while she rested. When he returned to her after the dinner party, she seemed almost uneasy, but thankfully her fever broke, and she seemed to be back to her normal self.

"Back on the farm, I used to break out with fevers all the time. I never received medical treatment for them. They hoped I would die so they wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. But I never did. The fever would usually break within 24 hours."

This was the first he had heard about this. How could this not have come up during her examination at the quarantining station before she arrived at the manor? Typically, slaves with known chronic diseases wouldn't make it past that station and would end up slaughtered. There was no use for slaves that wouldn't last in a manor.

If she hadn't had made it through the quarantining station, she would have never ended up at your manor.

His inner wolf's voice was growing louder and more obnoxious with each passing day. It was never this vocal before; typically, when it was vocal, Marlon would just ignore it until he was able to transform into his wolf self. But lately, it's been hard to ignore; it's like his wolf form is separating into its own being and taking over Marlon's subconscious thoughts.

I'm only looking out for you.

His wolf argued with him. Marlon only rolled his eyes and pushed the voice deeper into his body to ignore it once again.

"If you are feeling up to it, I can bring you back to the maid's courters so you can resume your duties," Marlon said, addressing Deonna.

She almost looked shocked at his words; maybe even a little confused.

"I'm sorry?" She asked.

His expression hardened as he stared at her; he tried hard not to express any emotions. He refused to show this girl any signs of weakness.

"If you are feeling well, there's no use keeping you here when you have work to do," Marlon said, keeping his tone even. "However, you will no longer be staying in the maid's courters. I will prepare a bedroom for you inside the manor. I need to keep a closer eye on you, and I have a cardiologist that is going to care for your condition."

Her eyes widened.

"Why?" She asked, sounding perplexed by his words.

"Don't ask questions," he nearly hissed.

"I am asking you why. Why do you want to save me from dying?" She asked, staring at him without blinking.

Truth be told, he wasn't even sure himself why he wanted to save her from dying. But he knew he had to. His wolf for whatever reason needed him to.

"Because you are carrying my child," he told her point-blank. "I don't take lightly to that."

...

Sitting in his study he tried hard to keep Deonna off his mind; she was nothing more than a slave. A dirtball. A beautiful, dark-furred, mysterious, outspoken, slave. Shaking her out of his head a familiar voice roamed through his head.

"Sir?" Winston's voice came to him through the wolf's link.

"What did you find out?" Marlon asked through the link.

"The leader of the attack goes by the name Victor Wilde. He's a subordinate from a new nobleman that's looking to knock you out of power," Winston explained. "He was targeting me?" Marlon asked.

It didn't surprise him that he was the main target; in fact, it came as a relief to him that they weren't targeting Deonna. But it still enraged him that these wolves thought to disrupt a perfectly good dinner party just to attack him and knock him out of power. Who did they think they were?

"You and your boys," Winston finished. "I don't believe this will be the last attack."

"Who is this nobleman?" Marlon asked. "What is it he wants? Money? Power? The kingdom?"

"All of the above it appears, sir," Winston answered. "You rank as the highest nobleman, close to the king himself. There are a lot of envious men that wish to see you dead so they can take over."

"We need to broaden the guard range on the kingdom and make sure there are backup guards at the manor. No one is to enter without proper identification," Marlon ordered. "Yes sir," Winston agreed.

"Oh, and Winston. I'm having the slave stay in one of our guest rooms going forward. She's dying of a heart condition and is bearing a child. I won't allow her to die on my watch. There will be no questions asked about it, but make sure everyone knows that she isn't to be touched," Marlon said.

There was hesitation on Winston's end as he processed what was said. Marlon knew how confused Winston must have been because this was so out of character for him. Marlon would never allow a dark-furred wolf to step foot in his manor, let alone reside in the manor. It was weird that a slave made it this far while working for the Roessler manor; typically, they would be dead by now.

Marlon wasn't about to answer any further questions about the slave; he just wanted to make himself clear with Winston so he wouldn't try anything with Deonna. The same goes for all these workers. Nobody was to touch Deonna. His wolf stirred with approval.

"Yes sir," Winston finally answered before disconnecting the link.

Marlon stood from his desk and paced his office. He was being attacked by a new nobleman; someone who had enough audacity to make a move during a dinner party. A lot of people from the kingdom and surrounding kingdoms could have gotten injured. It was a careless act on their part and Marlon wouldn't rest until that nobleman was buried six feet under the ground.

He walked towards the window that overlooked the gardens. It was a gorgeous day outside and there were dozens of maids around the gardens. They were working in their designated areas.

Almost instantly his eyes found Deonna in the rose garden with a few other maids that were keeping watch of her. She wore a beautiful pink dress that hugged her thin body perfectly, showing her curves and rounding out her bottom half. She worked delicately to water the roses; beads of sweat piling on her forehead as the heat of the sun began rising as the day went on.

He could see the sweat dripping down the curve of her neck and landing on the breast of her dress. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

Marlon could identify her immediately in a crowd of a thousand identical wolves. He wasn't sure how something like that was possible; it was like his eyes were being guided by his wolf; his wolf knew of her whereabouts nearly 24/7 and always immediately. He hated that he was so drawn to her that he could hardly concentrate on his day-to-day tasks. He was under attack and here he was, staring out the bay window and down at Deonna. It was like he needed to see for himself that she was still alright. To his relief, she looked unharmed and un-ill.

He watched as she paused her work for a moment; her eyes went towards the manor and scanned the area. Eventually, she lifted her gaze to the window Marlon stood at; he knew she couldn't see him from the outside, but the way she looked into his eyes made it seem as though she was purposely staring directly at him.

Marlon could feel the excitement and the tug of his wolf as she continued to stare up at him; her purple hazy wolf illuminating her features and guiding her gaze to him. He couldn't look away; he didn't want to look away.

He was mesmerized by her.

Beatrice stepped in front of Deonna's view of him, covering Deonna's body from his view as well. She had her arms folded across her chest as she spoke to Deonna in a low and threatening tone. Probably telling her to get back to work, threatening her with a beating.

Heat rose in Marlon as he thought of Beatrice laying in his hands on her. He was ready to jump through the window at the first sign of attack. Thankfully there was no attack.

Beatrice stepped back over to the side; with one last look of the manor, Deonna turned back to her work.