3

My mood was soured as I replayed the rejection in my head, each step I took back home heavy and hesitant. That was, until my sister’s voice snapped me back to reality.

I snatched my gaze from the floor and straightened my head up, my expression hardening as I took her in. All thoughts of the jerk who’d broken my heart vanished in an instant. Lena was trembling, her body shaking uncontrollably, and her skin as pale as a ghost’s as she struggled to form a word.

“T-they came again, Alethea.” With a shaky voice, she revealed but it was loud and clear. “This time, it wasn’t just bashing him up, they took father away!”

That was it. My head rang, but before the explosion could go off, I snatched her hand and we took off running. Realizing I didn’t know exactly where we were to go from here, I screamed with urgency as we ran. “Where did they take him to?”

“The Alpha King’s.” She screamed back, and I could have sworn I almost grounded my feet into a halt. What did she just say?

T—that man is a fucking demon. Simply hearing his name makes everyone’s skin crawl. And right now, I’m beyond terrified. For my father to have been taken to his den, it was as though a sheep led to slaughter. It’ll take way above the lives of the two of us to rescue him.

“You know what, Lena? Let’s go back home and rethink this.” I had turned us back around in no time. All the way home, Lena kept trying to persuade me but I didn’t listen to whatever she had to say.

We reached home and the next instant, I had already inserted the key in the lock. And just like someone who knew his life could end any time soon, I began to pace around the dark room like I was losing my mind. At the same time, thousands of questions couldn’t help but echo in my mind.

“W—what if he comes for us next? What if he hurts us? T—he debt is quite huge and… I doubt we’d be left out of this, Lena.” I started rambling in confusion. Hearing no response whatsoever, my head snapped to Lena who by then was curled to a ball at one corner of the room, her face smeared with tears.

“Damn. Look, I didn’t mean to scare you, Sis.” Unable to imagine the amount of fear I had caused for her, my heart squeezed painfully as I spoke, darting in her direction. “I just thought that maybe we could hide for the meantime until—” I halted midway when a heavy bang came on our door, causing both my sister and I to jolt. At the rate of a blink, she forgot she was ever crying and was already on her foot, her hands clinging at my arm as we both watched the door, wide-eyed.

Lena squirmed, almost jumping right into me as the second punch hit the door, this time giving it a crack. “W…hat if it’s them, Alethea?” She shuttered under her breath.

My face was already pale, but an instant chill spread through each and every part of my body hearing that. It was as though I knew already, and just didn’t want to admit the brewing storm had definitely arrived and was about wiping us out.

I didn’t think I could fight back my tears so I let them drop freely. Lena was still shaken up by my side, unbridled fear emanating from her and knowing it’s only a matter of time before she’s unable to help it and break down— which will do us no good than alert the men we are inside— I silently sniffed in my own tears and hugged her to myself.

My little sister is only sixteen and has a long life ahead of her. For that same reason, I made sure I spoke to my father, and made him promise his promiscuity and gambling wouldn’t affect us. After all, he could do whatever he wanted with his own life. Now I can see I shouldn’t have trusted any words that came out of his mouth because he’s still the same man he was three years ago. Three years ago when he drank to stupor, and mistakenly murdered our mother in her sleep.

I knew because I was laying right beside her that night. After realizing what he’d done, he thought he could get away with it when I got set to report him to the pack officials. But I barely reached anywhere when he used the only leverage he had on me— my sister. A knife held right to her neck, without a single atom of remorse, he threatened he was going to kill Lena; his own daughter too.

Frightened, I gave in, choosing to keep his secret for the whole of my life in exchange for my sister’s life. And yet now, he didn’t only get himself into trouble but us alongside. They most definitely won’t only kill him, they’d have our heads too, and just thinking about it makes me wish we never waited up until now. I should have fled with my sister long ago, our tails between our legs.

“Remember we have your father and open this fucking door, now!” The voice at the door came in a growl, and with a fury I’ve never come across before, causing my throat to tighten as I flinched back into reality.

No way. There’s absolutely no way I can let them capture us too. But how though?! For all I know, we can’t just keep standing here. I have to find a way out for us and—

“Let’s take the window!” I snapped at my sobbing sister impatiently, and before she even had the time to brace herself, I prowled towards the window with her. My eyes kept darting behind me as I tried to unlock the window with my fidgeting hands, but it was up to no avail. Not even a second later and I already found myself shaking my head in denial as the door suddenly burst open from behind us, and the men rushed in.

“No! No, you can’t do this!” I sharply turned and yelled out, grabbing my sister all at once and pushing her right behind me. Where I know it wasn't as safe either, but at least, if they were to take my life first, she’d get the chance to escape before they reach her. “Let’s be honest with each other, this is not a way to recover your money back. Hurting us will be a great loss, and you know we can only pay back if we are alive and breathing, right?” I tried to persuade them, fear gripping me as they drew closer, like they cared less about what I had just said.

“Inasmuch as we are already here, I swear it, we aren’t leaving until we’ve killed you both one after the other and taken your body parts to your father for him to see and wish he’d never toyed with us,” The first one of them, who I assumed was their leader cackled like a deranged maniac, drawing a sword out from nowhere and pointing it to my face. “But don’t get it twisted, I never said we wouldn’t go easy on you two. We surely will. My men will take their time killing you in a slow-painless way that you wouldn’t realize something had hit you until you take your last breath. And of course, in the face of your beloved sister.” He spat coldly, and he made sure he left no room for a response.

A sharp hiss broke through my mouth when he swung the sword in the direction of my neck, and I barely managed to dodge it when he stormed towards me with a curse. His hand caught me by the neck, lifting me high in the air and then slamming my body straight into the wall. If I wasn’t mistaken, I heard Lena’s breath hitch in shock.

My ears rang as I dropped to the floor, helpless tears breaking through my eyes. As expected, the pain from the crash hit me hard almost instantly but I couldn’t afford to lay down there for a second more.

“P—please, sir. Don’…t do this, please. Just give us more time.” Terrified, I got to my knees quickly and started begging them, my voice breaking with each word I said. And I wished I hadn’t raised my head and looked in their direction, until I noticed my sister was no longer by my side. My heart dropped inside my chest the instant I looked and saw her with one of them. Who once he saw me looking, smirked knowingly as he tightened his arm around her throat. Seeing him choking her with so much satisfaction, blood filled my hazel eyes.

It was as though a barrel of cold water had been poured over my head, because instead of shaking with fear and begging for his mercy, I could feel anger flowing through my veins.

“Let go of my sister now, and face me instead.” I said angrily and attempted to dive toward her, but before I could reach her, something massive slammed into me from the side and knocked me off my feet.

It was one of them. His eyes burned with rage as he glared at me.

“Excuse me? Have you forgotten those you’re dealing with here?” The hair on my skin stood out as he held a gun to my head, completely caging me down with his form so I couldn’t escape. And the rest? They all stood over us in circles, staring down at me—their prey, with so much disgust in their eyes.

“I want to do this once and for all, guys. We shouldn’t waste our time on these pests when we can just get rid of them in a snap.” His voice as venomous as it could be, he addressed the others and before I could process what was happening, he’d already cocked the gun.

And because I had an idea what was coming, I stiffened for a brief second and I could swear I momentarily forgot how to breathe. However as soon as my senses snapped back into place, instead of me peeling my eyes closed and bracing myself for when the bullet would hit my skull, I twisted my neck to a side in urgency and tried to look for my sister.

As I scanned the entire place, my eyes soon landed on Lena and I found her body lying unconscious on the floor.

“Lena!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, as I struggled to shove the bulky man off me but he pinned me down in a matter of seconds. Just before he placed his finger on the trigger.

But even at that, I could not bring myself to try to escape because aside from his tight hold on me that could literally break my bones into two if he pressed harder, it was too late to do anything.

My heart pounding furiously in its cage, all I could do was wait for my death, tears streaming all the way down to my cheek.

But at that moment, when I was supposed to have been lying on the floor in cold blood, the door was flung open and everyone’s head turned to look at who had dared interrupt. I wasn’t left out. My eyes darted to the entrance, and I intended to take only a peek, until I was unable to tear my gaze off the big white wolf that had stepped in.

Before I could wonder who he was or how he made it here alive and in one piece, suddenly, all the men were on their knees before him. Including the one who was just about to take my last breath.

“Spare her.” The wolf growled viciously, going directly to the point and that made me even more anxious. He looked away from them, his silver eyes finding mine and I felt a mating bond spark between us.

My heart jumped inside my throat immediately and I didn’t notice when I started shaking my head. No, it couldn’t be. I felt foolish for even acknowledging the bond. I’m certain it was one of my imaginations. I couldn’t have been bestowed with another mate the same night I was just rejected by one.

It’s only with a miracle that I can get another mate after Karl, my first love, has decided to cruelly toss me aside overnight. I’ve always been the ugliest in our pack, and the most hated of the female wolves. No man has ever looked in my way, talk more of desiring me until Karl.

He came into my life, and loved me like never before but I should have known we could never be together just by how he’d always hide me away from the pack members' sight whenever he and I were in public. A number of times, I could recollect that if he’s not denying anything was between us to his friends, he’s either keeping me at arms length at public functions. Speaking of which, I dare not act like I knew him personally at all.

“Help her get to her feet.” The wolf’s cutting voice shook me out of my trance. The way he spoke, the way he stared at me, it made me want to hide under the ground. Matter of fact, I almost cursed myself out loud for getting lost in my head at a time like this.

“But Alpha King, their father owes us a heavy sum. We can’t just—-” Not having it, his men tried to reason with him, but they were cut short.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

I knew he growled something right back at them but I’ve lost all focus. I felt a fresh wave of shock hit me, the only thing echoing in my mind nothing else than what they just called him. Wait, h..he’s the Alpha King?! Not just any wolf that my father has a debt with like I’d thought, but our neighboring pack’s infamous merciless Alpha? To say I was scared out of my pants was an understatement. Damn, what am I still doing here?

Before his men could reach me, or he himself could decide to change his mind or something, I scrambled up from the floor and was running to where my sister’s body was when something else caught my attention, causing me to hit a pause.

It was a scent. It hit my nose and knowing too well what the scent was, I flinched back in total panic. Because the smell could only mean one thing, my mate was among them. And it was him.