Carla

At long last, the alpha king led the way back to the castle where I had been staying. I was willing to fulfill any of his requests, with the exception that I would not go with him to the slave house. He had some business that took him outside of the kingdom, so he had to leave the castle. And I was glad for that, not so that I could kick back and relax, but so that I could finally meet Asher and give it my all in trying to charm him and persuade him to help me.

It was almost as if Asher was holding out for me...