The Sickening Realization

Chapter Two

The Sickening Realization

Aveline Meadows

I woke up before the sun came out, and I felt the warmth of the body that lay atop me. He was the most beautiful man I ever laid my eyes on, however, I knew that nothing could happen between us. He looked like someone respectable and my mother would destroy my image in front of him before anything started between us.

I spared him one last glance, stroking his beautiful hair and tracing the lines of his face before I stood up and slipped out of the garden. Last night was bliss, and I was going to cherish it forever.

*

"Where were you the entire night?" Angel snapped the moment I came into view. "Don't you know you were supposed to be in my room the entire night so you would start preparing the things I would need for the formal presentation?"

"I'm sorry..." I bowed my head slightly to her and went straight to work, thankful that mother wasn't here yet, if not, she would have hit and cursed me for trying to sabotage Angel's big day out of jealousy.

"Have you had your bath? If you have, I can move straight ahead to making your hair."

I didn't expect the slap that landed on my face, and I staggered back in shock. "Aren't you the one supposed to make the bath for me with all the rose petals and shit you always use? How am I supposed to know those things?"

I cradled my burning cheeks in my arms, holding myself back from the tears that threatened to spill. This was the first time Angel raised her hand on me. But then again, this was my reality. Not the type of life I had dreamed of last night while I slept in the stranger's arms.

"I will get right to it, Angel." I said slowly, before adding. "Remember what mother said. You shouldn't swear no matter how angry you are if not—"

"Get the fuck back to work, Aveline. You have no right to lecture me." She shot back. "Besides, there's no other person here apart from you!"

*

The great hall was packed as families lined the walls and the Luna candidates stood in a row near the front, each one dressed like she was already a queen. They all looked good, but they had something done wrong, except Angel. Apart from being the best dressed in the midst of all these women, Angel's confidence was something to be reckoned with. She stood with her back straight with an air of "I have already been chosen", while some women were fidgeting as they kept staring at the door to see when the Alpha would step in.

I stood at the back with other attendants, praying and hoping that Angel got chosen so that my mother would ask me for my wish. To also be noted as her daughter, even though I was wolfless. Maybe, then maybe I could stand a little chance with that stranger... If I would ever find him again. He looked like he was someone from a prestigious family though, and...

The doors opened, stopping me from my train of thoughts as everyone began to bow their heads as the Alpha was being introduced.

"Alpha Ash Caden."

I looked up after curtsying from the back, and I felt my blood run cold when I saw the familiar dark hair and silver eyes from the distance. I could swear my heart stopped at that moment and I could feel the blood rushing to my ears.

It was him.

The stranger from the garden. The man whose hands had been in my hair. The man who made me curl into his arms, letting him take every inch of me while moaning his name over and over again last night. The man who took my virginity and had given me my first to third orgasm before I almost passed out in ecstasy. The man I whispered my deepest wish to.

Alpha Ash Caden, the man my sister came to marry.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I stood there with my back pressed against the wall and I watched him walk to the front of the room towards his designated seat with a disturbed expression on his face.

"Welcome," he said calmly, and I felt the shivers run down my spine. The warmth was still there. The warmth that grazed my ears. Very steady and deep. "I'm honored by your presence."

Angel stepped forward when her name was called, curtsied the way my mother had taught her while smiling. She said something I couldn't hear over the roaring in my ears. He looked at her before nodding and his face gave away nothing.

The introduction continued with everyone introducing themselves, but I didn't hear any of it. I only saw one person. I only saw him, and I knew that I had to leave. I didn't know how I knew, but I was certain that Angel was going to get choosen, and I didn't want to stick around to watch the moment with a broken heart. What I couldn't have...

*

By the time I reached home, retracing the path the carriage had brought us from, my eyes were red and filled with tears. I hadn't cared if people stopped to stare at me, all I could think of was the gaping hole in my heart of losing someone I never truly had.

I stopped in shock when I saw my mother on the steps of the front porch, her arms around her chest with a livid expression on her face.

"Mother..." I stopped in front of her, wiping the tears on my face. "You're... back?"

"Inside," she said slowly before turning around and entering the house. My heart was literally in my hands, my legs shaking. Did she know what I had done? Did she know why I left early.

"Someone from the estate sent word this morning," Mother said. Her voice was calm. Maybe even too calm. I expected her to yell or even slap me hard across my face. "Before the sun was even up. A maid saw a woman sneaking back into the servant quarters at dawn. Hair undone. Dress ruined. The same woman who was seen walking into the gardens with a man last night."

I said nothing. That wasn't what I wanted to hear. Did she know who? Did she know it was the Alpha?

"They described you."

My throat closed.

"You." She stepped closer. "My wolfless daughter. The one I brought to help her sister. You spread your legs for a man the night before your sister's introduction."

"I didn't know who he was."

The slap came fast and my head snapped to the side, my cheeks burning alongside.

"You didn't know." Her voice shook. "You didn't know. Do you have any idea what you've done? If anyone finds out. If the Alpha finds out that my daughter, the sister of his chosen candidate, is a common whore who gives herself to strangers in gardens. Do you understand what that would do to Angel's chances?"

"I didn't know he was—"

"You didn't know because you didn't think. You never think. You've been a weight around this family's neck since the day you were born without a wolf, and now you may have destroyed everything."

I heard footsteps and my father stood in the doorway.

"Margaux," he said quietly.

"Don't." She didn't look at him. "Don't you dare defend her."

He didn't. He just stood there with his hands at his sides and his mouth pressed into a thin line. His eyes met mine for one second, and it was filled with guilt that he couldn't help his daughter from the cruel hands of his mate. Then, he looked away.

"The Alpha's council will hear about this," Mother said. "They'll want to make an example of you. You've embarrassed a candidate. You've embarrassed this family. Do you know what the punishment is for a servant who seduces a man during a Luna presentation?"

I didn't.

"Death," she said. "Or exile. If we're lucky, they'll let us handle it quietly and no one outside this pack will ever know."

A knock came at the door, and mother's face went pale and her eyes wide with alarm. It was a messenger who stood there with a sealed letter. Mother took it and read it, and when relief crossed her face, I knew what had happened.

"Angel has been chosen," she said. "The Alpha King has selected her as his Luna. The coronation is being fast-tracked, and this family will be expected to be there." She turned to me with a cold smile. "Against all odds, you didn't ruin everything. But you came close. And I will not give you the chance to come close again."

Whether she was going to give me a chance or not, I had already made my decision. It was better for me to leave than have my family find out that, not only did I sleep with any man, I slept with the Alpha. Now, he had chosen my sister, and our paths could cross again.

I couldn't let that happen.