Chapter 4

Maeve’s POV

He looked really angry when he saw me. His eyes could send me to the fiery pits of Hades if they could. I knew he must've been mad because he stood there with his jaw clenched tightly looking at me but it seemed impossible that he could be even madder because I wasn't the cause for his wrath.

He cleared his throat before speaking.

“What are you doing here, Maeve? And why didn't you dress properly?” he asked like he gave two shits, like he wasn't the reason why I was the way I was.

I ignored his question, I just smiled gently to myself and took another step forward.

Before I knew it, he was grabbing hold of my wrist and pulling me behind him.

“No! You should have stayed at home. I told you out of formalities. Now you turn up, especially in that thing! What if somebody sees you?” he exclaimed, looking me up and down, clearly displeased.

In front of him, I looked just like an ugly beggar. Nothing at all special. I was just like the other poor unfortunate souls in this world.

I just nodded politely, knowing full well that it wouldn't matter anyway. Nobody cared about me.

“Are you ashamed of me?” I asked with a strange tone. “Don’t you want them to see?”

He looked surprised by my question and stopped dead in his tracks causing me to stop as well.

“What?” he asked, his face blank.

I looked down at my shoes. There was nothing left but humiliation, anger, and sorrow... but mainly rage.

“Your Luna is asking for you, Alpha Alphonso” A servant announced pointing to where Avery sat with other Lunas, looking like dolls for a show - pretty dolls.

I looked down at my outfit and felt angry at myself even more.

“His Luna?” my voice was surprisingly loud.

“Yes…” The servant trailed off, his eyes scanned my body and I could swear they said “Who the hell is this pauper?” but he swallowed and kept his mouth closed.

I turned sharply and almost stormed off without another word but stayed put.

 “I am his Luna!” I yelled. It was only when I heard the gasps that followed that I knew we had all attention to ourselves.

Alphonso looked like he wanted to pounce on me right there and then but then he stopped himself and looked around nervously.

His cheeks were red and his eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared at the guests.

 Everyone began whispering among themselves and I watched him with narrowed eyes. I could already guess what was going through their heads.

“You know damn well that I belong here with you.” I told him. “So why can't you just let me come here? I'm sorry about this morning but if your supposed Luna thinks I don't mean anything to you then she's completely crazy! you both are”

“Maeve! You're embarrassing yourself!” Avery said, sounding extremely worried but I didn't pay her any attention.

“I've had enough.”

With that, I pushed past everybody and ran out of the room. I was too angry. I needed some fresh air. 

I didn't know where I was going or where I was planning to go but I knew that I needed to get away from there before I ruined everything.

I could still hear their whispers and I knew that I probably looked horrible so I decided to hide until they went away and I could continue.

It was extremely silent and the only audible noise was the sound of crickets chirping quietly in the distance and a soft wind rustling through the grasses that surrounded my location. Everything was quiet except for my heart pounding loudly in my ears and my breaths coming in short, quick bursts. It was so much harder to breathe than before. 

I tried desperately to calm myself, trying to remember what I used to do when I'd get angry or anxious but nothing came to mind. 

There was an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach . Something was telling me to run. Something told me to find somewhere to hide and never come back but I couldn't. Because if I did, I'd lose my only chance at making this whole thing work between us again. He had every right to ignore me after what happened, he had every right to walk away from me.

It was that deep! One thing was certain, Alphonso was going to kill me tonight.

I don't know how long I stayed there, in solitude, or how long it took me to walk back home but what I didn't know also was that Alphonso was waiting for me in the dark.

“Where were you?” He asked and I was about to open my mouth to speak but was cut off by him.

 “Don't even try to lie to me; I know you were doing something stupid, so explain yourself.”

A tear slipped out of my eyes and fell on my cheek, damn these tears!

I didn't answer and stood there silently hoping that he would leave me alone, that is why I never answered my husband.  

Alphonso crossed his arms across his chest. “Answer me!” He growled out. 

“ I...I was wal.. walking home” I stuttered. I cringed internally at myself for stuttering.

Why did I do that?

But he didn't respond, instead, he stared at me in silence like he was thinking.

“You had embarrassed me tonight. You are too desperate and annoying. Do you know the consequences of your actions at the gala?” he questioned angrily.

I closed my eyes at his insults, wishing I could unhear them. They had cut at my heart painfully and my head began spinning and my thoughts were racing. I was dizzy and the pain was throbbing around my heart and I needed some sleep.

“Do you know the consequences?” He asked again, sounding so cold.

I opened my mouth to answer but a slap collided against my face hard enough for me to cry out in pain, it stung more than it should have. I lowered my gaze to look at the floor, I didn’t even notice when he got close to me.

He lifted my chin roughly, pressing it hard while forcing me to look him in the eyes.

“Alphonso, please….” I begged but he shushed me.

“You disgraced me, you are such an attention-seeking whore, trying so hard to be noticed," he said and pushed me so hard that I fell on my butt.

I groaned in pain. How did I disgrace him? He was the one that took my sister to the gala as his Luna. If anything, he was the one who should be in my situation right now. I didn’t even do anything.

I tried crawling away but he was fast to step on my hair. He stepped on it without mercy and I was a screaming mess.

He laughed at me, he laughed so hard and it was obvious that he derived pleasure in what he was doing. What kind of husband does this?

“How could you do this to me? I didn’t do anything wrong!” I screeched out between sobs.

I wanted to die, this was so much for one person to take.

Alphonso laughed hard again, he had this evil glint in his eyes that scared the living hell out of me. Who was this man? Whatever happened to the Alphonso I used to know?

“Alphonso you are hurting me” I begged, maybe he didn’t know what he was doing and needed a reminder .

He released my hair from his foot and I took it as my cur to get away from this. I knew that if I didn't do something fast, I would end up with another set of broken ribs.

He worked majestically at me as I backed up, working backwards until I hit a table. I touched a cutlery and picked it up, my survival instinct immediately kicked in and as he reached closer, I used the cutlery and stabbed his stomach.

I immediately realized that what I picked was a knife as I saw blood. Alphonso fell to the ground and I knew that I had to do something. He was an Alpha and he would easily heal and if he does, I was going to be as good as dead. So I did the only thing that came to mind, I ran.

I ran out of the pack house and into the woods. I kept running away and praying that the Moon Goddess saves me.

As I was running, I was scared and every now and then I looked back to check if I was pursued. Unknown to me, that was the worst decision to ever make as my leg hit a log of wood and I went tumbling down a hill.

My head hit something and I felt unconscious, I was tired and I gave up, letting myself go into the welcoming hands of oblivion.