Sold To The Demon Alpha
Chapter 46

Aria’s POV

“Are you going to keep watching her or do you want her to catch us staring?”

Sophia asked me and I looked away from where Salem was doing her morning stretches to where the two of us sat under the tree.

It was our free time and I was the one who had suggested that we stayed outside for a change as opposed to being indoors.

I was with my sketch pad and a frown had made it’s way to my face when Salem came out to do her stretches. I knew that it was jealousy speaking but I could not help but replay everything that I had heard in the hallway that day and I turned to look at Sophia.

“I’m not staring at her” I answered, drawing in my sketch pad and Sophia nudged my shoulder gently.

“You totally are and you have this frown on your face. The problem is that your frown looks totally adorable with all those freckles, you cute little bug.” She said with a smile and when i didn’t smile, choosing to sigh instead, her face was filled with concern.

“Tell me, what is it?”

I shrugged, wondering if it wasn’t delusional of me to be upset about something that I would never have any control over or business with.

I liked Roma but I needed to face the facts. I was not the best match for him and apart from the other obvious reasons, I was human.

And Sophia said wolves had mates only once in their lifetimes. From what I knew of Roma, he had loved his mate dearly and she had been taken from him by humans.

Even if he were to move on, surely it would be with someone strong, beautiful and not human. Someone like Salem. And now that I knew how Salem felt about Roma, I wondered if he felt the same way about her.

I had never seen them together and seen him being overly affectionate towards her. Not like he was with me. But then again, it could be wishful thinking and I was grasping at straws.

Building castles in the air. Who was I kidding? I had never stood a chance.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s go inside and prepare for dinner.” I said with a smile that didn’t reach my eyes and when Sophia opened her mouth to probe, I shook my head and she sighed, taking the hand that I had offered to help her up from the ground.

After dinner, Raphael asked to see me and when I headed to his study, he was already coming out.

“I was told you wanted to see me.” I asked with raised brows as he locked the door to his office and he nodded with a smile.

Folding his arms, he looked down at me

“You’re needed in the West wing.”

I froze, waiting for him to explain why, my nerves teeming with excitement and worry.

Why had Roma sent for me?

Did he need me to clean or something else?

It didn’t matter why. I was just happy that I got to see him.

“You should go and see for yourself why, don’t you think so? Or do you want me to walk you there? Worried about entering there alone all of a sudden?” He said with a cheeky smile and I g*****d, palming my face.

Roma and Raphael were truly a match made in heaven.

It was as if the two of them had made a pact to tease me about entering the West wing without permission.

I looked at what I was wearing and remembered how Salem had looked effortlessly beautiful and completely overdressed for just dinner.

I didn’t know why I was still on about this when I had agreed with myself to stop hoping that Roma would ever see me as more.

As I headed back to the bathroom to quickly shower and change into one of my prettier sundresses, I reminded myself that I had not mistaken the way he had looked at me and kissed me that night at the party.

Packing my damp hair into a messy bun, I headed to the West wing, taking a deep breath before I pushed open the big doors and entered the dark hallway that led to his room.

When I entered his room, my eyes moved to the chains first and as I walked further into the room, I gasped at what I saw resting on the couch.

It was a guitar.

Rushing over to sit beside the guitar, I reached out to touch it and hesitated.

It wasn’t mine and I didn’t know how Roma would feel about me touching it.

Sighing, I sat beside the guitar and remembered the joy that I had gotten the very first day I had gotten the last paycheck that had completed the amount that I had needed to get the guitar.

Nicole had been beside me as I entered the shop and purchased it and I had cried for so long, anyone passing would have thought that someone had died, instead of it being tears of joy.

And then one faithful day, seven months later, my guitar had been destroyed.

I reached for the pocket in my dress and went through all the messages I had sent my father since I started living here and sighed.

They had all gone unanswered. Just like I knew he would. He had made it clear to me that he had sold me in exchange for his debt. I was no longer his responsibility.

“Aria” Roma’s deep voice filled the room and when I raised my head, the softness on his face disappeared and he walked to crouch in front of me.

“Why are you crying? Who hurt you? Do you not like the guitar? Do you want me to get another one?”

Wiping quickly at my eyes, I blinked back tears, my eyes widening in surprise at his words.

What did he mean by if the guitar was to my liking? It was absolutely perfect and screamed expensive. The type of instrument that I could and would never be able to afford if I didn’t save up for a long time for it.

“It’s beautiful. Why would you want to get another one?”

“Do you like it?”

I nodded and he reached out a hand to cup my face, cleaning my tear stained cheeks.

“It’s yours” he answered, gesturing toward the instrument and my eyes nearly fell out of it’s sockets with shock as I looked between him and the guitar.

“Really?” I said, sounding like a child who had come face to face with Santa claus and judging by the smile on his face, he thought so too but I didn’t care.

“Yes, really” He said, touching the bridge of my nose affectionately and I couldn’t help it, I jumped on him, sending the two of us to the ground.

In a split move, my back was on the ground and Roma was holding my hands over my head.

The only problem was that he wasn’t looking at me like he was angry that I had hugged. On the contrary, his eyes had darkened but I knew that look. I had read about that look in all of my smut romances.

And I knew that in that moment, he wanted to k**s me.