Her Undestined Alpha

Maverick My husband had been calling me these days, and I wondered why. We had been married for three years now; there was never a day he accidentally dialed my number and asked if I was doing okay alone being away from home for so long. Since Caesar handed his power to me after both of our families' union, there was no way I could stay at home and do just nothing. I needed to diligently play the part of being his wife to ensure my safety, knowing he wouldn't bat an eye if he saw me in trouble or injured at the hands of his enemies, acquaintances, or his family, including his followers, who wouldn't accept me as their Luna. Did they have a reason to acknowledge me when their alpha doesn't even see me as his wife? To Caesar, it wasn't enough still. He was far from done with his revenge, as he still believed his real bride ran away on the day of their wedding because of me. I can't take this any longer. It was getting unbearable for me to live under the same roof as that man. My actions five years before our marriage must have been too much to take for that couple. Caesar had every right to be angry with me for ruining his mate's image, but that was his one-sided judgment. It was Danielle's fault, not mine. How ridiculous it was that, although Caesar and I had been fighting tooth and nail, fewer people could still remember how close we used to be during our time in the academy until I caught him getting intimate with my bully after his discharge from the hospital. There was a time when Caesar hated Danielle after hearing her behavior towards someone like me who wasn't pure elite. But now, seeing him with her again and letting her do whatever she wishes looked rather bizarre in my eyes. I tried to talk to him somewhere alone in the academy, but that sense of discomfort and unwillingness behind his golden irises made me hesitant. I thought he needed time, so I let him be and didn't bother him much. Despite knowing how much his close friends hated me, I still asked them about his condition, but his beta warned me not to pry for the details by reminding me how our families weren't on good terms and left the necessary part unsaid that they were mates. I was losing my patience by then. Upon realizing the seriousness of this matter, I could no longer turn a blind eye and see others taking advantage of his sickness. I felt pain seeing him like that. I found nothing wrong with wanting to warn him about the people around him who aren't that reliable, but the reaction and response I received from him left me stunned instead. Caesar bluntly brought up political disputes between our families and how we were inferior before his kin while blatantly telling me off, saying his help wouldn't be enough for an illegitimate child like me to become a legitimate heir to the house I belong to. "You can't seem to take your eyes off your phone!" Sitting inside my dressing room, I saw my aunt glaring at me through the mirror. She had been fixing my hair for a while now, but I had my eyes fixed on my phone screen since I was getting calls from him. "It's just so rare, maybe that's why." I let out a breath and put my phone down. "I don't get it!" She looked pissed. I was lucky she didn't take her anger out on my hair, driven by emotions. "He has been mean to you, didn't even take you anywhere for the honeymoon, and you are still considerate towards him and have helped him strengthen his position over the years. Do you have any idea how much even your paternal family benefited by you stepping up like that?" "...it just turned out like that." I took my time to answer that, looking uncomfortable under her piercing gaze. " Y-you know that too, right? I never considered them as my family. Neither did I ever try hard to get acknowledged by them. Old Caesar was aware of this, but, just like them, he has learned to take advantage of me now." "Ungrateful bastard." Enraged, she spat. "Now that I think about it, wouldn't it be safe for you to stay in the young Patriarch's place until the matter settles down? I mean that Grayson has a reason to protect you now, don't you think?" They could help me, but my pride wouldn't let me bow my head towards them. My defiance and sacrifice brought that family to the top of the food chain, but they wouldn't acknowledge that. Once a neutral family was on the verge of declining and subjected to others underestimating them, now Caesar and his rival, the two most influential leading families, were fighting their way to have the House Of Grayson on their side. "Would you believe it if I said that I only ever felt safe in the slum where my mother raised me?" I wanted to say this but chose not to. There was no need to look too pitiful in Shauna's eyes, which would make me feel sick of myself. She wouldn't have suggested something like that if she knew half of the things I had been hiding from her. I hope she never finds out that the family I belonged to renounced my right to inheritance, and it happened all because of Caesar. There was a time I wanted to confront him for ridiculing our friendship with such cruelty, but I knew I would break down before him, even before I managed to say something to him. Those wolves with nobler status would have made fun of me even more if they saw me getting weak. I couldn't let that happen when I was alone and had to live with it that Caesar abandoned me for his mate. The sight of him having Danielle in his arms was rather infuriating. I tried to expose her, but Caesar always took her side and never bothered to look into those matters I brought up for his sake. I didn't forget what he said that day, yet I put him first, even though I knew he would never do the same for me. He was my everything. For whom I could sacrifice my desire if that meant I could see him happy with someone else. So, I let go of him. If Danielle is the one he wants, who am I to stop him? I thought I didn't need to see those two after our graduation, but Danielle kept me in check even after that. She harbored this strange obsession to defeat me in every aspect, and I was sure she was the one who had Caesar stop me from opening my business in this country. Daniele didn't need to go that far. Then I lost it when she crossed the line by trying to hurt the child I had grown close to. Caesar took the fall with her to protect her until the end, and even still, she ditched him at their wedding, but Caesar never even tried to fulfill his duty as a husband until the third year of our anniversary, when he came home late at night all drunk and... "Anyway, do you think I put too much makeup on?" Pushing those thoughts aside, I left my seat and turned around to see her. "I have been pacing out lately. My mind is a mess, as you can see. I can't tell how I look, but I want my confidence to ooze out through my appearance when I face my soon-to-be ex-husband today to remind him about our contract before he does." She said nothing for a while but pinned me with her blank look. "...you look great as always, just like your mother." She smiled sadly as she placed her hand on my shoulder. "But it will be different this time around. Unlike others from our clan, you didn't give in to your bond and ruin yourself for someone who isn't faithful to you or ever treated you with respect." "I told you before, Shauna." Frowning at her, I shook my head stubbornly. "There is no way Caesar and I- " "I hope I am wrong, too." I was interrupted before I could finish it. "You are the only family left for me in this world. What will I do if anything happens to you?" She looked at me with desperation. "I can't bear to see you end up like her, so please don't read too much of anything he does or act out of the ordinary." My stomach churned. "...I understand. Please don't worry about that. Caesar and I aren't meant to be. There will be no second chance in our relationship." And I would pretend that nothing happened between us that night. "You have to protect yourself, my child. Don't lose your heart to that guy again, no matter what." After that, she moved away from me but didn't forget to give me a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder. This marriage wouldn't have happened if my fate hadn't tricked me from coming to this country I left for good. I didn't return because my family asked me to. I returned because Shauna had been looking for me for a long time. I wasn't expecting her condition to be that critical after a decade of no contact between us; I was planning to take her abroad for her treatment, but then, I became a victim of false accusations about having a hand in Danielle's disappearance on the day of her wedding with Caesar. "You don't know him like I do, Shauna." Even then, I tried to look unaffected and was in denial to consider the possibility for him to look shaken. "He would be elated by the news. He got away from the trouble of me demanding my rights as the wife he neglected all this time for the mate who once ran away from him. I bet his elite guards are already on their way to bringing her back." He loved her, after all. Caesar would do anything to ensure her safety, unlike how indifferent he had been to me. Now that it's time for her return, he wouldn't want to stay in this marriage any longer. Maybe divorce was the reason he had been calling me these days. I left his home with my belongings, but I was sure he hadn't noticed that yet. I stayed the whole time in my apartment to prepare my heart as the pain he caused me by abandoning me in the past is still fresh. For him, it wouldn't be that hard to discard me. I don't expect him to be understanding, but I also don't want him to have strange thoughts like I won't sign the divorce papers. That was why I replied to his message and asked him for the address he would meet with me. I hoped he wouldn't keep me waiting too long this time like he usually did. It was his way of humiliating me in public, just like I did to his mate, but he failed to notice how traumatized I still was after what she did to me by torturing the child I was tutoring. Why would he bother? I was neither his real bride nor his mate. Merely a substitute, that's all. Today happened to be the day Caesar would talk about ending this marriage while making it seem like he was taking me out for dinner in public, and if I am not wrong, he would bring his lawyer to force me to sign the papers...or so I thought.