Flame of the Alpha Read Online Free PDF Page A

chest. She nodded toward the pleasure servants and clapped her hands twice. “Form the receiving line again, please. And do include Dante. He’s to be presented, like everyone else.”
    She could feel Dante’s scorching gaze on her back as she ambled toward the officers, forcing herself to remain calm. She couldn’t afford to have them questioning her motives. The secrets of the
Pleasure
Academy
were too sacred, and too much depended on them. She didn’t owe Dante a thing, yet the truth of what he was -- the rarest of all Alpha species -- ensured she had to at least try to keep him safe. And whether she liked it or not, he was perfect for the Lighting of the Flame ceremony. Without him, she had to face the possibility that she’d have to cancel the Ceremony…something no High Priestess had done for decades.
    “Gentlemen, thank you for waiting.” She tilted her head in a respectful nod. “As you can see, this man isn’t dangerous. He’s a pleasure servant. Created for the specific purposes of delivering sexual satisfaction.”
    “Then why was he running naked through the streets this morning?”
    “Ah. I’m afraid that was my fault. As his breed is so new, there will be great demand for pleasure servants of his caliber in the future. Because of that, I didn’t want him revealed until the official showing. I’ve been keeping him confined to the Temple since he was brought to us. Last night’s Festival was too tempting, however, and he escaped without our knowledge. I guess he wanted to sample some of what we’ve been teaching him for himself.”
    “I don’t believe you,” the officer in charge snarled through his helmet.
    “If you’d like a demonstration, I’m sure Dante would be amenable to having one arranged,” she answered sweetly. “Though like any other prospective patron, you’ll have to abide by the Academy’s rules. No clothes. No armor. And no testing kits or identification requirements on Temple grounds. All our pleasure servants are fully certified, even those who haven’t yet been re-implanted with the official Academy seal. Of course, we include the proper paperwork for each one upon purchase.”
    She lifted her chin a fraction of an inch, challenging him to accept her generous offer. He wouldn’t, of course. She knew his type: stuffy, morally superior. Men like him never mingled with the common folk and avoided pleasure slaves like the plague. At least in public. In private, they were often among the most sexually adventurous.
    Luckily, there wasn’t a measure of privacy in the Temple gardens during a showing. A hundred potential patrons, hand-picked by the High Priestess herself, arrived every year on the day after the Festival to choose from among the new Academy graduates. Since pleasure servants were one of the most expensive pieces of property a patron owned, the selection process could take days.
    When the officer reached for his helmet and pulled it off, revealing thick black locks that tumbled over his shoulders and into fierce sapphire eyes, Sophia gasped. Her hand fluttered to her chest. “You -- you’d like a demonstration?”
    “Captain Jolen ! Are you sure this is a good idea?”
    The captain silenced his subordinate with a flick of his fingers. “The lady offered. And besides, I think the good Priestess is lying through her teeth.”
    Sophia forced herself to take a deep breath. “ High Priestess, Captain.”
    He shrugged then pressed down on a small flap located in the crook of his left elbow. The metal armor made a smooth, sucking sound and retracted on either side of his flat abdomen, revealing a strip of flesh and muscle.
    Sophia averted her gaze and glanced out over the crowd. Her eyes met Dante’s. He was surrounded by women, most of which she recognized as being wealthy enough to own a couple of pleasure slaves. A knot of jealousy tightened in her belly.
    Dante nodded once, almost imperceptibly. He’d told her that whatever her plan was, she had to put