THE ALPHA’S HATED CONTRACT MATE

HERA

I woke up with a smile on my face.

I never wake up with smiles on my face. With the kind of life I was born into, the kind of family I was born into, I've had to be rigid and stiff. I've had to train and fit myself into boxes that are befitting of the role of a future Head Witch of The Shadow Claw Coven.

Then Mother died when I was just 17 and I had to become the Head Witch, the youngest one ever. It was too huge a shoe to fit in. I had so many responsibilities, and so many things to oversee. It made me even more rigid. To cement my throne, I had to be sterner, I had to be cutthroat. I never had a moment to breathe, to relax, to be me.

Until him.

Aiden changed everything for me. He taught me love, he wore my defenses down, and he taught me that there's more to living than just being the head witch. Before him, men were scared to approach me. They were afraid of my powers. They were afraid of my person.

Aiden was the first and even though I shunned him at first, he kept coming till he won, till he wore my defenses down, till I fell in love with him, till I got married to him yesterday.

Till I allowed him to have full, unbridled access to my body last night.

Memories of that made me moan in delight. The adoration in his eyes, the care in his touches, the carefulness in the way he worshiped my body. It was a slow, sensual lovemaking at first. He took his time to worship my body; kissing and learning all my curves and swells.

Then it was a savage, animalistic fucking the second time. Where he pushed me face down on the bed and fucked me till I was a gasping, whimpering mess, till I had to bite into the bed frame to stifle my screams. He had told me that it was my punishment for making him wait for so long.

It made me realize how much I loved to get punished like that, how I wanted to be punished every single moment. It was such an un-head-witch thing and it made me wonder what my subjects would think when they found out that their leader was like that in the bedroom.

I finally peeled my eyes open and I expected to see Aiden beside me but his space was empty. I frowned and looked around my huge bedroom but he was nowhere in sight.

Just then, the smell of fresh toast and coffee drifted to my nostrils. I smiled again. I gave all my staff the week off so we'd have my house to ourselves. So Aiden must be making breakfast for me; something to replenish my energy after he drained me of all of them last night.

I stood and walked to the bathroom to freshen and the hickeys on my neck and chest were enough to distract me. I finally finished and I shrugged my bathrobe on before walking towards the living area.

I started hearing voices.

The closer I got to the living room, the louder the voices. And laughter. The voices were masculine and they seemed to be having a field day mocking something.

"Aiden?" I called out softly. I got no answer.

I finally stepped into the sitting room and the sight that welcomed me made my blood run cold. I stopped in my tracks, unable to move, unable to breathe.

"Ohhh, and here comes the lady of the hour," one of the men said. He was a pack member who was at the bottom of the pyramid; someone who wouldn't dare breathe in my direction if I didn't marry Aiden. He was also a friend of Aiden. He danced and cheered the loudest yesterday.

He clapped. The others followed suit. Only Aiden didn't clap. He was leaning against the wall, glass in hand. When our eyes met, he raised the cup to me, as if to salute me.

I didn't recognize the man before me. He was a stranger. He looked nothing like the man I fell in love with.

His eyes which always held warmth whenever he looked at me now looked bleak. There was no smile on his lips. He looked unfeeling.

It scared me.

"What... what is going on?" I asked, my voice shaking and sounding hollow. I knew what was going on. I could sense what was going on. But I didn't want to believe it.

I couldn't believe it.

"What do you think?" he asked, a sarcastic and mocking tone in his voice. He pushed himself off the wall and he slowly started to advance towards me; like a predator would advance towards a prey.

"Just showing my friends how much of a nasty slut our head witch is."

His tone was dead. The laughter that erupted from his friends filled the room. I clutched my hand to my chest. My heart was hurting so bad. A strangled sob escaped from my mouth.

On the screen, a video was playing. A video of him pushing me against the headboard, of me begging and urging him to go faster.

"Yesss, fuck me harder. Please, give it to me."

I wanted to die. I wanted to dissolve into the ground and melt away.

He got to me then. I couldn't tear my eyes off his face. He looked so cold, nothing like the Aiden I fell in love with. He casually threw his hand around my neck and turned my body around so I could face the screen.

"You know, we all used to be afraid of you," he continued like he was giving a random speech, "Ohh, the almighty Hera, the future head witch, the first and only sorceress to master Kuusu. We all never could look at you in the eyes. Poor Williams there," he pointed to one of his friends, a short guy who has glasses on, "he summoned courage to write you a live letter in High School. Guess what you did to him? Corrected all his mistakes and played it for all the students to see."

I couldn't remember. Not at all.

"So many things to recount but one night, we all just thought? Why don't we just treat your fuck up?" a cheer was starting to bloom in his voice, "We considered our options, a gangbang? No other befitting way to punish a bratty bitch but that was too risky so we concluded on me making you fall in love with me. None of the guys believed I could do it so it became a dare of a $100k. I did it and even made you bleed all over my dick. The glorious Hera Volkov, Head Witch of The Shadow Claw Coven."

He said the last part with so much mockery, so much taunt it appalled me. He hated me so much, hated me with this intensity, yet he played with me and made me believe he loved me. It was too much.

"Head witch, why don't you let us sample you too?" one of his friends spoke. These were people who could never look me in the eyes, people who'd cower and shake whenever I was approaching.

"If only Aiden's cock could make you scream and lose your mind like that, imagine what taking three cocks at the same time will make you feel? It'll be heaven, I promise."

The others cackled loudly. The smell of their arousal was thick in the air. I didn't need to look at them to see the hard-ons. They weren't my business, Aiden was.

I turned to look at him, body shaking, lips trembling, eyes wet from unshed tears.

"Awww," he cooed when he saw the state I was in, "almighty Hera, so you're capable of this emotion too?"

"How... what... what did I ever do to you?"

"You exist, that's what you do to me," his tone was sharp, vicious, and angry. The intensity of the anger in his eyes and voice scared me and nothing ever scares me.

"Almighty Hera, future head witch, with how you carry yourself, how you belittle others, how you made everyone beneath you feel like shit. You were born into wealth, you never earned it and yet, you act so pompously, like you're an almighty."

Tears rolled down my cheeks. Aiden who loved me, who sang me lullabies till I sleep, who taught me how to live. He never loved me. He had always hated me.

"Doing this was just to bring you down. I'm glad I succeeded. I know I'd be punished and frankly, I don't care. Glad to have brought you down. Glad to have ruined your life forever because you'll never trust another guy after me and your life will always be sad and miserable and cold."

He spat out with so much venom and anger. He pushed me to the ground when he sidestepped me to walk away.

"Not fair Aiden, I thought you were going to drug her so we'd have a taste too."

"Yes, I want to feel her strangle my cock too."

"She's not worth it, the maids are better to play with than her."

They were walking away while I drowned in my tears. My heart was hurting so bad I wanted to rip it out of my chest. I couldn't feel anything.

In place of the love Aiden had made bloom in my heart, something else was forming. Something dark, something utterly dark and dangerous.

Terror and darkness slithered through my body as the powers bloomed in me. I recognized it as the deadly Kuusu. It bloomed from deep within me, spread through my body, and manifested in my claws and fangs.

I screamed and everywhere went dark.

"What... what is that?"

I could feel the terror in their voice. It fuelled my powers more. It stretched more and more, filling me more. I've only used Kuusu once. I used it the day I mastered it to show the elders and that was the end. Now, I understand why it was banned, something this powerful, this intoxicating, it was too much. One was bound to get addicted to this kind of black power.

"Isn't that Kuusu?" the guy's voice was full of fear and dread. I whirled around on the floor and grinned at them. They all recoiled when they saw the sheer display of my powers.

"Run!" Aiden yelled but they didn't run enough. My powers grabbed them, tossed them, and tore their limbs off one by one. Their screams were music to my ears, their pains a source of energy for my powers.

"You love me, Hera, please don't do this."

Aiden was the last man standing and he was begging and cowering.

"This is all a misunderstanding, let's..."

He couldn't complete his statement because in place of his head was a deep gash that oozed out blood. He dropped to the floor. Dead.

Kuusu retreated in that minute and the force of everything made me pass out on the floor of my now-destroyed living room.

******

I was banished from The Shadow Claw Coven.

The pack I ensured remained the number one and most feared pack in Red Valley. It wasn't a surprise, Kuusu was forbidden. Completely. I was the first shewolf-witch to master it in almost a century and I was supposed to keep it hidden and unused until I had to use it to protect my people.

But I used it. I used it against the very people I was supposed to protect. I killed seven of them. It doesn't matter that they hurt me, that Aiden treated me in the cruelest way possible.

I was the Head Witch. I was supposed to be more logical but emotions got in my way and I murdered my people.

So I was banished by the council of elders. They were from the founding families of The Shadow Claw Coven. As a bit of their last respect to me as their head witch, they did it privately and I was to leave the pack privately too.

I was too numb to think about what banishment meant for me or maybe I was already resigned. I had nothing to live for again.

To get banished from the Coven was to die, there was no two ways about it. No one has ever survived a banishment before. I was going to start the countdown to my death the minute I stepped out of our gates.

The gate I was now standing in front of.

I stared at it. Long and hard. I was never going to come back here. I was going to turn rogue out there and I was going to die.

A tear escaped from my eyes at the realization of what I'd lost. All because I was foolish enough to trust a boy, I had lost every single thing I fought so hard to have and maintain.

I walked closer to the gate. The guard on duty opened it. I stepped...

"Hera!"

The scream echoed loudly. It was midnight and everywhere was quiet. I recognized the voice. It belonged to Wanni, my assistant. She'd be the Beta just like I'd be the Alpha if our pack was an ordinary werewolf pack.

I turned around and she was running wildly towards me. My heart soared. At least, I had someone who was on my side. She has been my assistant since I was crowned. She has put up with my excesses. She was the maid of honor on my wedding day. She was the closest thing to a sister that I had.

She got to me and I sure was expecting any other expression than the triumphant smile on her face.

"Ohhh," she sounded so relieved, so triumphant, so happy, "I finally got rid of you."

"What?"

"Come on, Hera," her smile was so coy and sinister, "do you think I played nice all these years just to remain your assistant for years?" she chuckled, "I was bidding my time to finally get rid of you."

I was too drained to be shocked, too hurt to feel betrayed.

"What did you do?"

"What do you think? Found a group of guys who hated you to the brim, and sowed the idea of the dare into their minds. How did you think Aiden knew all your favorite things and why he was always running into you? Because I was feeding him information, of course."

"How dare you?"

"Don't raise your voice at me, Hera. You're addressing the future Head Witch of Shadow Claw. You should address me with respect."

"You'll never be Head Witch as long as I live."

"Good thing won't live for long then. You'll turn rogue in 48 hours after you've been packless and you'll die in another 48 hours. The last thing you'll hear before you die will be the sounds of the drums on my coronation."

Wanni. Meek and docile Wanni was speaking to me like this. Wanni who danced to my tunes, who was always so eager to please me, who danced and gifted me "wicked lingerie" for my wedding night. She orchestrated everything to do this to me. To ruin me.

"I'll survive, Wanni," I told her slowly, "and I'll make sure you regret the day you decided to cross me."

"You won't survive," her time was final and certain, "how will you survive? No pack will take you in. You're the almighty Hera that made them cower at your feet, that made them afraid of you because of your powers. Have you forgotten the atrocities you've committed against these people just to maintain your sovereignty? Now that I think about it, there'd probably be a witch hunt this night. They'll kill you before you even turn rogue and you have no powers to save yourself."

She was gleaming and she was right. I've made enemies of the other packs that make up the Red Valley. They'd kill me rather than offer me a membership that'd ensure my survival. But I smiled. I smiled even though my insides were rotting away.

The smile surprised Wanni. She was surprised even more when I moved closer to caress her hair. She stilled under my touch.

"Happy coronation in advance, Wanni. Enjoy it while it lasts because I'll be back and when I do, your skull will be my crown."

I didn't wait for her to gather herself before I turned away. I stepped out of the gate and I walked away into the night.

Into my death.