Groom who wasn't meant to be

RYKER

“It's been decided that Summer will get married to Zarek Lachlan.” My father, Howard Rivera announced. “The wedding is in five days.”

For a moment, the words froze in my brain. I looked at him, wondering if I heard right. But the smug tilt of Beatrice's lips, and Lily's eyes narrowed to victorious slits told me I heard right. 

Behind me, my sister staggered, light headed. A whimper tore from her lips, going straight to my heart. I quickly pulled her behind me, and turned to Howard with fury dancing in my eyes. 

“Howard, did you have a fall and hit your head somewhere? Was your brain flushed down a toilet? How can you spew such absurdity?”

Howard merely shrugged like it was of no consequence. “Well, it's a necessary sacrifice. The company needs the capital injection. She's only doing what she should.”

I scoffed and pointed at Lily. “That's your favorite daughter over there. Why is it that she enjoys money and the best resources, being pampered as the Rivera heiress—despite being a bastard—born from a mistress? Now, it's time for sacrifice, you remembered that my sister exists. Do you have a conscience at all?”

Lily's face turned pale, and her eyes darkened with anger. Beatrice gasped dramatically, and grabbed Howard's arm, looking up at him with a pitiful expression. 

She was quite the actress. This vicious bitch was the one who drove my mother to death fifteen years ago. Summer was but a child back then, crying for her mom.

While I knelt in the mourning hall alone with a baby clinging to me and crying, Howard was in the company, transferring all mom's assets he could get his name on. 

Absolute trash. Mom must have been blind to pick such an avaricious leech as her husband. 

“How dare you speak to your father like that?” His roar shook the building, and Summer shrunk further into me. I could feel the tremors rocking her like a paper boat caught in a storm. 

I scoffed at him, hatred clouding my eyes. 

“You don't deserve to be my father!” 

He stood up, thumbing his Buddhist beads in that way he always does whenever he was fighting his demons. 

“The contract has been signed. Summer will marry Zarek Lachlan in five days. She's my daughter, it's my right to do with her whatever I please.”

His right? Rage bubbled up in my chest. Impotent anger. I could rush him and tear him apart with my superior alpha strength. But his hundreds of guards stationed around would make sure I won't live long either. 

I can risk my life to take out this trash. Definitely not my sister's. She's the only one I have left. 

“That's right, Ryker.” Beatrice cooed with that same calculative saccharine in her tone. “Your father has your sister's best interests at heart. Zarek Lachlan is the richest in the country, top five in the West Coast, and top twenty in the world. She struck gold.”

She snickered, hiding her laughter behind her palm. “Summer is an omega anyway. Totally useless. Best for breeding. It will happen sooner or later. She might as well marry a powerful one and bring benefits to the family.”

“You!” My temper snapped and I appeared before her. My fingers curled around her throat, ready to snap off her vicious neck. 

She gasped, fear finally clouding her features. Her legs flailed uselessly mid air, as she desperately clawed at my hand. 

The guards around immediately pointed their tasers and anesthetic guns filled with pheromone inhibitors at me. 

My left hand held my sister close while the other strangled the abhorrent bitch. Her eyes rolled back in her head, face turning flushed from hypoxia. 

“Hubby, save me.” 

Her weak plea fractured my already thin patience. I turned to Howard, my fingers increasing the pressure on her jugular. 

“If you want to save your c*nt, bring out the contract and destroy it. Or better still, use Lily as the prospect. She's an omega too. If that doesn't work, you have scores of other illegitimate children. My sister won't be a pawn for your nonsense.”

Howard smiled, unhurried, unbothered. Apart from the initial shock and panic in his eyes when I grabbed Beatrice, there was nothing else now. Lily was the only one crying and prancing. 

“It can only be Summer.” He turned to look at me. “It's for her own good. Zarek Lachlan has money.”

Zarek Lachlan! Fucking sadist! Who in the West coast doesn't know him? His list of crimes can fill a hundred page notebook. The devil who devoured his previous offerings alive. Now, someone was actually making another offering. This time, my idiot father. 

If he was anything good, it won't be our turn to have him with the voracious Beatrice on prowl. 

My fingers tightened again, and I smirked, ignoring her desperate struggle. I could see her vision fading, her breath straining to pass through. 

“Beatrice, you're quite pitiful. Your sugar daddy isn't making any effort to save you.”

The guards holding the gun looked confused. As an S-grade alpha, handling me was their biggest dilemma. They could shoot me of course, but I will snap Beatrice’s neck faster. The only solution was giving in to me. 

I looked at Howard, patiently waiting. I don't believe he would let me harm his favorite toy. Albeit a vicious one. 

He suddenly smiled and clapped his hands. The creepy glint in his eyes made my blood turn to ice. My brain began to work faster. What did I miss? 

“Bring them in.”

My gaze turned to the door. Two guards walked in. One held two pitbulls tight, their chains jingling gratingly. The other was holding… an urn? My mother's ashes! 

A sharp inhale tore through my throat, and Summer's grasp on my clothes tightened, her nails digging into my side. 

I turned to Howard, pain and disbelief clouding my chest. 

“You dug her up?”

Howard's lips curved up in a victorious tilt, and he casually lifted a wine glass. 

“Of course. I know my son too well. You're stubborn, crazy even. What's more? You're an S-grade alpha with superior pheromones. I would be daft to confront you without holding any chips in my hands.”

I scoffed, my eyes burning with tears. I couldn't believe that such monsters existed, or the fact that he was my father.

“She wasn't just my mother. She's also your wife. The woman whose sacrifice gave you the life you have now! How dare you use her ashes to threaten me?”

His fingers tightened around the glass, shattering it into flimsy shards. His eyes turned icy, his pheromones permeating the room. 

I wrapped my scent around my sister to protect her from his invasive pheromones, gold flashing in my eyes. 

“You're going to let her go, and Summer is going to marry Zarek, with a smile on her face. Like a good daughter.” He shook his head playfully and tsked, his pheromones receding. 

“Otherwise, the little hungry dogs will be having your mom's ashes for dinner.”

“You!” My voice crackled like a whip. My teeth clenched so hard my gum ached terribly.

I weighed the distance. 

Even with my skills, I can't grab the urn without leaving Summer unprotected. 

The cages began to come down all around me and the lump in my throat hardened to a boulder, settling firmly in my chest. 

I never imagined that after working so hard to escape his control, I will once again be reduced to that struggling little boy in the dark room, trying to protect his baby sister. 

This flagitious beast before me had no bottomline. 

“Jake, break the urn!”

“Stop!” I roared instantly, letting Beatrice fall to the ground in a crumpled heap. 

She sputtered, coughing, eyes red, chest heaving, like she escaped a train to hell. Lily rushed to her, pulling her into a hug while glaring daggers at me. 

I turned to Howard, fettered wrath bubbling in my chest. I clenched and unclenched my fist. Behind me, Summer's tears drenched my back. 

A sense of hopelessness enveloped me. 

“I once again underestimated your depravity.” I spat, fury twisting my intestines. 

“Thank you.” He soaked it up like a compliment, making himself comfortable on the couch. 

Frustrated, I pulled my sister towards the stairs. I needed to think.

Behind me, his words rang like the devil's whisper. 

“Summer will marry in five days. And if you try to smuggle her out of the country and ruin the cooperation…”

My heart thudded like drums in my chest, legs freezing on the first flight of stairs. 

“I will pull your grandmother's plug. Don't forget I still have your grandmother in my hands.”

My fists clenched by my side, and I bit down on my tongue till I drew blood. Summer looked up at me, her eyes filled with raw despair. She looked broken, and utterly defeated. Even smaller than I remembered. 

How can I let my baby marry that monster? None of Zarek’s previous women lasted the night. And she was weaker than most. Howard wasn't just selling her out, he wanted to silence her—forever.