Free Flame of the Alpha by Lacey Savage

until he brought her to the height of ecstasy that culminated in an offering worthy of Saint Valentine’s greatest blessing?
    She shook her head, snapping herself out of such absurd thoughts. The carefree, pleasure-filled life she imagined wasn’t hers. It never would be.
    She had a duty to perform. If Saint Valentine had delivered Dante into her path to be used in the Lighting of the Flame ceremony, then so be it. She’d fulfill her responsibility to the best of her abilities, but that was all. She wouldn’t allow herself to get emotionally involved or give into flights of fancy that stepped outside the boundaries of her position.
    Sophia rounded a bend in the path and strode past a series of wooden doors leading to individual servants’ rooms. Most were occupied, but there were a few at the end of the path that had remained empty since last year. Although the Terran government delivered yearly shipments of newly-created pleasure servants to be trained by the Academy when they reached the age of fourteen, she never knew how many bio-engineered specimens would arrive. Some years, they only dropped off a handful. Other years, the Academy barely had enough space to house them all, and many had to double-up in the small, intimate quarters.
    “Welcome to your home, for as long as you’re with us,” Sophia said, pressing her palm to the scanner embedded just outside the door frame. The vid -screen flared a deep red color and her hand tingled as the security system analyzed her handprint.
    A sharp beep echoed a moment before the lock mechanism clicked and the door swung open of its own accord. “You’ll need to have your handprint read, too, so you can come and go as you please.”
    Dante nodded and followed her instructions, pressing his broad, masculine palm to the sleek screen. The system flared to life, shimmering orange, green, then finally red as it approved its new occupant’s seal.
    Sophia gestured toward the open door. “You’ll find everything you need inside. If you require something that hasn’t already been provided for you, press the call button beside the bed. Someone will see to your needs.”
    She spun around, eager to return to the showing and surround herself with familiar faces. Guiding Dante to his room had seemed like a good idea at the time, but it had proven to be a grave error in judgment. She should have sent someone else to look after her guest. Someone with the ability to resist his animalistic presence.
    At least out in the courtyard, she knew who was in charge. Here, alone with a man who awakened fevered desires and fantasies of giving in to those carnal flames, she also knew who had the upper hand.
    And it wasn’t her.
    Dante’s fingers on her elbow stopped her dead in her tracks. He pressed his body to hers from behind, the thick line of his erection molding to her spine, heating her skin through the silk material of her robe.
    “You’re the only one who can see to my needs. And I think I’m the only one who can see to yours.” His low baritone rumbled in her ear and through her body. Lust flared to life, beading her nipples and making the tight buds scrape across the thin fabric.
    She chuckled, wanting to appear dismissive. Instead, the sound chimed hoarse and uneven to her own ears. “Persistence isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. Neither will arrogance.”
    He nipped at her earlobe, drawing it between his teeth. When he released it, she couldn’t help the groan that echoed from her throat.
    “What’s a Flame?” he asked, his breath skittering across her ear.
    Sophia sighed. She should have known the man wouldn’t be deterred so easily. It was her own damn fault for opening her mouth. There was a reason High Priestesses chose the Flames on Festival night. It was so much easier to drug them and ensure their participation in the ceremony if they’d already been indulging on their own.
    The liquid ecstasy provided by the Temple did nothing to hinder a man’s