Alaric’s POV
“Babe.” Ava purred, placing her hand on my shoulder. I sighed inwardly, because I had told her that I needed my space and it was something she didn’t know the meaning of.Ava and I were childhood best friends. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I had feelings for her and they were mutual. I didn’t know why I thought it was a good idea to explore a romantic relationship with my best friend but I did, and it was good at first. We convinced ourselves that it could be something bigger even though the both of us hadn’t had our mates yet and we thought that the mate bond was going to come sometime soon.But after a while, I realized that it was wrong. We were not going to get a mate bond because we were not soul mates. I could feel it in me that we were not, but Ava was not going to allow me to break up with her. She was still in love with me but sometimes, I doubted if she was or if she just wanted to be the future queen of the pack because I was set to inherit the throne. My coronation was in a few months and she was more excited and ready than I was, even though I have been preparing for this ever since I was a child.I had always wanted to be a doctor. Something about taking care of people, performing surgeries, and reading about anatomy made me feel at peace. It has always been that way for me but deep down I knew that it wasn’t going to happen. I was to be the alpha of the pack and I couldn’t renounce it because my father wasn’t going to allow the pack to slip out of our bloodline. He always told me that I wasn’t regular and I had a duty to the pack and over the course of my life, I had grown accustomed to his words. I didn’t have time for that. I needed to be a leader.I mustered a fake smile as I turned to face my fiancée, “Ava. What are doing in my room?” I asked her.She raised a brow like she was surprised I would ask her that question. Even though we were engaged, which my father had to force me to do, we slept in different rooms. I knew she noticed that I was no longer interested in her, but she wouldn’t allow the relationship to fall apart.“Is it a crime to visit my fiancé?” She raised a brow as she placed another hand on me, but I politely shifted away from her.She rolled her eyes before she got up and headed to my closet. I had just finished bathing and needed to go to the dining room to have dinner with my father. He requested that I would be the only one to join him because he wanted to introduce me to someone. It was probably one of his alpha allies that he wanted me to inherit.Ava brought out a suit for me, and I shook my head. “I am having dinner, not going out,” I told her.“You are probably having a dinner with someone of a high status. Why won’t you wear this?” She asked with a raise of her brow.I shook my head as I brought out a shirt and sweatpants. I didn’t care to wear anything other than what I wanted to wear when I was in the confines of my home. I wasn’t going to be pretentious now or when I was alpha. It was something my father always reprimanded me for but I didn’t care, so he relented. I hastily put on my clothes before I left the room, leaving Ava whining about how I never allowed her to pick out my clothes.I was putting on my watch when I came across someone in the hallway. A pretty lady stood in front of me, her features innocent and dainty, but I didn’t have time to stare at women when I had a duty I was to attend to. We had a brief moment of conversation before she left, and I followed right behind her with Ava who joined us halfway into the conversation. When I got downstairs, I realized that she was the one my father wanted to introduce me to because she was the only one apart from him seated at the dining table.Our eyes locked as I headed to the table and sat on my usual seat. Ava did too. Father introduced the both of us, and I found out that her name was Alana, which was a pretty name, for a pretty lady.“Father, I thought you were going to introduce us to someone important. I tried to convince him to wear a suit but he didn’t, and thank God he didn’t.” Ava laughed as she placed her hand on my arm.“She is important, Ava. And as I said, she is now like my daughter. She is part of the family and you are going to treat her with the respect that she deserves. Do you understand me?” He said with a strict tone.He was truly the only one who put her in her place when she was being rude to people that she perceived she was better than, which was one of the attitudes that I deeply disliked about her.“I understand, father.” She muttered under her breath.The maids started to bring in dinner. They served everyone, and I noticed Alana had her plate almost empty. I assumed she was shy or Alana’s words made her feel bad, and it only made my mood go sour. I didn’t know how I was going to tolerate her forever when we were married. I had to be married to be the alpha and so far, she was the best option. I couldn’t get another woman and fall in love with her in such a short period of time.Not that I was in love with Ava, but she was still my best friend.“So, Alana. What are you studying in college?” Father asked her.Her mood lightened almost immediately as she swallowed, “I haven’t started yet. I was going to, but the dean of my orphanage said he didn’t have money for that so instead, he sold me.” She muttered.Her tone was sad, and I didn’t know why that made me angry. Those freaking omega auctions. I hated them with my life, but they were still legal. I hated how the alphas of surrounding packs wouldn’t put a stop to it, but then I remembered that it was they that it was benefitting. They wanted fresh adults to serve them for the rest of their lives in their packs, and it was so freaking disgusting. Of course, they wouldn’t want to stop it.It was one of the things I was going to do initially when I was the alpha of this pack. It was relatively big and influential. I was going to do my best to eradicate it, or at least stop it from happening in my pack.“Oh, that is sad, my dear. What would you like to study?” He asked her.“I have always wanted to be a pack doctor. I studied hard for it and I have already gotten admission for it in Moon Academy.” She told him.I felt my liking build up towards her when I heard her say that. It reminded me of myself. A few years back when I was done with my secondary education. Even though I knew that I couldn’t go to college, I secretly applied to the college and I got in. I was so excited until realization came crashing in, knowing that I was never going to be a doctor. I guess that was the situation she found herself in. I knew how badly it must have hurt and for that, I wanted to give her a big hug, not literally of course.“Well, Alana. I am sorry that things didn’t work out for you back there, but know that you are always welcome to be a doctor here. Moon Academy partly belongs to this family, so you wouldn’t have a problem getting in.” Alana’s eyes widened. It was obvious she didn’t think she would ever get a shot at this.“Really?”“Yes.” He gave her a smile.“Thank you so much, Sir.” She dropped her cutlery and it made a loud sound, but the dimple that appeared on her cheeks was all I could focus on. I quickly looked away when I remembered that I was engaged and the said fiancée was seated right next to me. She could be dangerous when she sensed my attention on any other female but her.“Please, call me Father.” He said, and she nodded excitedly.“Also, I know how overwhelming it could be writing the exams before you get into school for assessment,” Father said. “But there is someone that could help you with that. Alaric, do you think you can juggle up your training with this?” He asked me.I nearly choked on my own saliva, “Me?”“Yes. It could give you some time to know each other.” He explained.I felt Ava stiffen beside me. Alana’s eyes were on me. I doubted if she even registered what he had just said because she still looked excited about the news.“Sure, father,” I said. “I guess I could mentor her. After all, she is like my sister.” I said, more to myself.Because if I wanted this to work, I needed to put away any of the improper feelings brewing in my mind at the thought of being in one place with a pretty woman who shared the same life goals as me.Alana's POV. I knew after the news that Alpha Matthew declared at the dining room, I couldn't calm myself down. My spirit was elevated and my stomach was bubbling with blue butterflies, so I decided to tour around the house. I kept moving from one room to the other, amazed at how splendid and elegant everywhere is and like a dream come true, this is my life now. No reason to sleep each night and be scared of what my future would be, at least I hoped.I was finally going to be a pack doctor. As the thought swirled in my head like a whirlwind, I stopped at the entrance of a room in the hallway. It was on the same floor as my room, so I didn't see any reason not to explore it.My eyes drifted around, and when I didn't see any guards or hear any sound, I walked inside. "Wow." My eyes popped wider at the interior decor. Whoever chose the decoration of this room had good eyes, from the king-sized bed with a lining of red bed sheets that blended with the walls of the room to the dark brow
Alaric's POVI changed into a vintage shirt and a short that stopped above my knees, and rested on the bed. My hair flopped over my forehead while my spirit felt denounced.Right after Alana left, something in me cracked. I had no idea why I was a dick to her or why I had to be repulsive when she hadn't done anything to deserve it. Perhaps I was trying to hide something sprouting deep in my blood, and in the process, I got rude. I began to hate every word I spilled as my mind replayed them for me.In fact, now that I think of it, it was as though I was another being around her. I had felt vulnerable, and all I could resort to was being harsh. Realizing that I couldn't concentrate on anything, I snapped my eyes shut, and that didn't help either. My body remained trapped in my train of thought.The door was still open, so I went there and looked out, a part of me hoping that I'd see Alana there, but she wasn't. After I slammed it close, I branched to the balcony and sat on the armless
Alana's POV.Stifled, I turned off the shower and picked myself up from the ground. Ever since I left Alaric's room, I haven't been well. I have thought of many reason why he was cold to me but my brain couldn't figure it out. He was just harsh and unresponsive. I realized the water was starting to dry on my body, so I roll a towel off the rack and went back into the room. My heart was wounded, especially at the fact that he was icy towards me. Did he not know that he was my mate? I went to the closet and put on a gown. By the way, I hadn't had many clothes yet since Alpha Matthew was yet to update my closet. I remembered him mentioning it during lunch. It was late, still filled with barrels of emotions, gusting at me like a hurricane and I stood up. "Should I confront him?" I asked my wolf, Georgia and as expected, she agreed to my decision without a second thought. "Yes. Yes!" "But what if he sends me away again?""If he's our mate, certainly, he wouldn't. Maybe he wasn't i
Ava's POV"Hey, babe. I'm back from shopping! Damn, you missed so much."My bubbling mood crushed the moment I walked inside Alaric's room, hoping to interest him with the news of my shopping today, until I saw Alana there, and the position at which I met the both of them was suspicious.In my track, I halted for a second, and anger brewed inside me instantly, my teeth gnashing on the inside. What was she doing here? It's about nine in the night, and she was supposed to be in her filthy room, not in my fiancee's room. No wonder she was a lowlife. Everything about her spoke of it. "My love." Said Alaric, opening his arms to me so I could come closer to snuggle in.Although Alaric was reasonably far away from her, as he should since she was a pest, I couldn't help but feel insecure. It better not be what I was thinking. I neared Alaric and perceived the scent of his shirt, and as I expected, Alana's scent was on him. They must have gotten close to each other before I entered. He f
Alana's POV.Stunned, I picked up the pieces of the broken glass cup on the ground. Minutes ago, it was a solid item, fine and fragile, beautiful and glistering, until an evil hand such as Ava's touched it and it fell. Now, it was broken and useless, meant to be packed into a bin. I could relate to that illustration because Ava was breaking my heart, and she indeed knew. Starting with her questions, my wolf had been whining underneath, more saddened that our mate didn't even do anything to stop her. My wolf is nursing my heart right now, while I was careful not to get my fingers cut because obviously no one except Alpha Matthew cared so much about me.Alas, I finished packing it into one of my palms. I wanted to wait and see if my mate would even stop to look at me and see how much he was piercing my heart with molten lava, but I couldn't. He was far in-depth into what he was doing with Ava. She was moaning aloud, and he was grunting with a low tone. I was glad there was a curtai
"You know what, people like you—you're just meant to never have a nice heart. I'm done here." I rolled my eyes at Lucy, about to leave, but I couldn't as she grabbed me by my elbow and sent me back to her front. "What were you saying?" Lucy stood firm in front of me with her eyes boring into mine, like she was about to eat me raw. I batted my eyes but knew I couldn't back down, not at this point. If she wanted to be sassy at me without knowing my kind of person, then I could be rude as well. To be honest, I can even punish her by informing Alpha Matthew of her insolent behaviour."You heard what I said. You aren't my boss. Alpha Matthew never brought me to the maid's quarters or put you in the position to boss me around. And by the way, is she even the head of maids in this pack?"My face had shifted to Aliya, who was just staring at us with wide eyes. She seemed so much like me, who doesn't like conflicts, because she just maintained her distance from us. Aliya didn't answer me be
Alana's POV.I was about to reply to Alaric when Lucy, the sassy and unrespectful maid, took over and stated, "I swear, Master Alaric, I didn't start it. It was her." My jaw slacked and I hung in the air for a second, dazed by how courageous this sassy maid was to lie against me. She began this, and to save herself, she would also lie.This was so crazy, coming from a maid. "No, that wasn't..." Alaric held his hand in the air, which shut me up, and the sassy maid jerked her lips to the left side, delighted that I was asked to hold in my words. As I signaled disapproval with a scowl, I thought to not back down this time again. I wouldn't let Ava defeat me and then a rude maid. Alaric walked over to his study table and exhaled. With his lips open, he gasped in air as he bent down to pick something up. That's also when I caught it. His works. They are soaked in water. Shit!I slapped my hands against my mouth and threw glowers like daggers at Lucy, who's now seeming so gentle and
Alana's POV. Ava spewed further as she rolled her eyes at me. "Yes, that's the best decision, baby. If you don't punish her now, she wouldn't know not to cause trouble another day. We've all had our share of issues, but not like in the midst of them, destroying things. Alana is nothing but a pest." I scoff in disgust. "No, don't you believe me at all? You should know that I would never want to destroy your things. It's so clear that this maid is lying against me." "How do you mean? Didn't all the evidence turn against you? Are you implying that my fiancee is lying against you as well?" He lashed out at me. I was agitated at this point. It was either he put words in my mouth or used my own words against me. Is that how much he believed that I did this?"I already made my decision. You shall be punished, Alana."My tone breaks in my throat. My wolf was in a rage, but we had to keep it down. We wouldn't want to fight our mate if we wanted him to see us for who we were to him; instead