1

Leah

The sun shone a lot brighter today. I knew my mother was watching this beautiful day.

The birds chirped softly as the soft wedding music wafted into my ears, as my father, Alpha King James, held my hand softly, his eyes crinkling by the side as he took me in, as I wore my mother’s wedding dress, and her face, with just my father’s eyes.

“You look so beautiful.” He whispered, the emotions taking a toll on his resistance to the tears that pooled in the corner of her eyes. “I wish she could see you now.”

I let out a shaky breath as I shook my hand in his. “I miss her.” 

If she hadn't been murdered in cold blood by my father’s enemy, she would have been here. 

“I’m sure she's proud of you. I know I am.” He placed a kiss on my head, and we began to walk down the aisle.

 The whole kingdom was here, the air filled with excitement and the scent of my favorite flowers, but I could only focus on Seth, my father’s young beta.

My Fiance. He stood handsome, his lips tugged into a soft smile as his eyes met mine, and my heart bloomed with love as I took him in. Attractive, tall, and smart, Seth wasn't my fated mate, but I have loved him forever. He was my soulmate, and today marked the start of the rest of my life with him.

My father stopped me in front of him, placing my delicate hand in Seth’s. “Take care of my princess,” he whispered, taking his place behind me.

Seth smiled softly as he gazed into my eyes. “I always will.”

The world seemed to fall away until it was just us, and I blinked hard to push back my tears. 

“Careful, Leah. If you cry now, people will think you’re marrying me out of pity.”

A watery laugh escaped me, blending into a sob. “You’re impossible.”

“And yet,” his grin softened tenderly, “you’re still here. About to make me the luckiest man in the kingdom.” He placed a hand on my face softly, “Don't cry, my heart. There's nothing in this world that matters more than this moment for me. You are perfect.”

My heart squeezed with love as I looked up at him, and he squeezed my hand once, steady and sure, like he always was.

If only I had known this would be the last time I’d see his smile, I would have memorized every curve of it.

“Do you, Beta Seth,” The officiant’s voice carried the words which echoed through the hall as everyone held their breath, “Take Alpha Princess Leah, as your lawfully wedded wife and partner till death do you part?”

His eyes met mine, and the most tender smile widened his lips. “I…—” 

Silence. 

His smile dropped as the words could no longer leave his lips. His hand went limp in mine.

It all happened in a second. My life fell apart in a twinkle of an eye as the next thing I registered was a piercing scream tearing through my throat as the blood of my soul mate sprayed on my mother’s white dress as a sword sliced through Seth’s chest and out, stealing my soul from me. 

“No!” I roared as Seth fell lifeless onto the floor. “Stay with me,” I sobbed, shaking him, pressing my hands to the wound, as though my touch could stop the bleeding and hold his soul in. “Please, Seth, don’t leave me. Please.”

But the light was already gone from his gaze. His lips, once smiling at me in love, now stilled.

My heart split in two.

A shadow loomed over us.

I looked up and froze.

Tall. Dark. Night itself carved into flesh. A scar slashed through his eye, veins and tattoos coiling along his arms like snakes. But none of it stole my breath as much as his eyes.

Grey. Cold. Familiar.

My wolf snarled with recognition. A single word pulsed through me, echoing in my bones.

Mate.

“Hello, Princess.” A smirk widened his lips, a contrast to the hatred in his eyes. “We finally meet.”

For a moment, the world narrowed to just him, his voice, his eyes, the darkness he wore like armor, and my wolf’s awareness of all six foot five of him. 

But my gaze dropped to the sword he gripped in his hand, and reality slapped into me like a gut punch. Screams of our subjects as rogues attacked and subdued them forcefully, Seth’s loveless body bleeding away on the floor.

“You monster!” I screamed into his face. “You killed my fiancé!” 

The man simply stared at me, his gaze holding mine as if I were nothing but an inconvenience. “Indeed.”

His indifference to Seth’s death pierced through my chest and filled me with rage, as if Seh had not been my whole world and he snatched it away. Despite my wolf’s desperate need to mate with his wolf, anger fueled me, and I growled. “How dare you? You've destroyed my life!”

Before I could attack him once more, a deep, familiar, and shaking voice broke through the confusion as my chest heaved with grief-filled rage.

“You can't take him, Leahh. Please, Ares, let my daughter go. She has nothing to do with this. She has no idea what’s going on.”

Dad. 

“Father!” I screamed as I witnessed him being roughly pushed to the ground, the threat of a knife around his neck, as the guards tied his hands behind his back. 

The monster, RoguKingng, smirked as his eyelid on Father, and he took strides towards him.

Don't hurt my father, you monster!” I yelled, but was held back by a guard. 

Dad’s gaze shot to me, “Stay back, Leah. hes dangerous.”

“Yes, princess, listen to daddy,” he taunted as he gripped Father harshly by the throat. “He made me this way.” Then his fist cracked against my father’s jaw with a sickening thud.

“Ugh—” Father grunted, staggering sideways, blood spraying from his mouth before he could steady himself. My heart lurched into my throat.

“Father!” I screamed, frozen in shock as Ares seized him by the collar and slammed another punch into his face. The sound of breaking flesh echoed through the hall.

James dropped to his knees, coughing blood onto the marble floor, his hands bound, his chest heaving.

Ares gripped my father’s hair harshly; he winced from the pain.   “We meet again, King James. Remember me? Or how twenty-one years ago dulled your memory?”

Father choked against his grip, coughing hard, crimson staining his lips. “I could never forget that face. How are you…”

“Alive?” his velvety voice asked with a raise of his brows as he tightened his grip. “You thought you cleaned your tracks, don't you? Let’s just say you are sloppy for an evil mastermind.”

My father’s jaw clenched. “What do you want? Revenge? Go ahead, Ares, kill me!” 

I didn't understand what was going on. Why was my father shocked at this coup? Why did this stranger accuse my father of things? 

I couldn't think as Seth’s body went cold in front of me. All I could think was how I hated this man, Ares, the Rogue king who killed my mother. Even if my wolf held on to his scent and every action he made. 

Ares smirked, and I could see the exact moment my father’s fate would be sealed. 

I didn’t think. I couldn’t. I ran, prying myself away from the grips of the rogues.

I fell to my knees at Ares’s feet, blood soaking into my mother’s dress, my voice shattering as I begged, “Please. Don’t kill him. I’ll do anything.”

His grey eyes found mine, cold and sharp, a storm I couldn’t look away from.

“Anything?” His voice was smooth, curling down my spine. “Princess, I was going to do whatever I wanted to you regardless.” He leaned closer, smirk cutting like a blade. “Your father will still die. Slowly. But you, I would make you suffer just like your father made me. I would make you my thing, lower than a slave.”

His hand gripped my face, sending tingles because of the mate bond, and I shuddered as his finger grazed my lower lip. “ You would beg, and plead, and scream endlessly, just like my people did. And when I'm done with you, I will slaughter you, just like I would do to your father.”

He pulled away coldly, glaring at me.

“None of you deserve to live. And none of you will.

His threat echoed as he glared me down, before turning to his people, who had successfully turned the pack into scraps.

“Round up our new slaves. We have a coronation to plan for your new Alpha king.” 

He walked up to the throne chair, every stomp of his echoing in the depths of my heart,  and spread into it as if he was born for it, his gaze holding mine. His lips curled.

“Me.”