The Alpha's Cursed Healer

CHAPTER 2: THE AWAKENING

ARIA WINTERS

"Found you," he breathed against my hair and his voice was thick and rough. "I've been searching for you. God, you're perfect."

I tried to see his face but the drugs made everything blurry. Just darkness and his scent and his hands on me. He kissed me and I kissed back because my body knew what it wanted even if my brain was confused.

"Mine," he growled against my throat. "Say it."

"Yours."

“Good girl.”

Almost immediately, his teeth sank into my neck and it hurt like hell at first, burning like fire. But then it changed into something else. Something that made me gasp and arch into him and forget my own name.

The bond clicked into place. I could feel it locking between us.

His hands pushed up my dress and I should have cared that I was with a complete stranger but I didn't. I couldn't. My body was screaming yes to everything.

"Tell me to stop," he said.

"Don't you dare," I whispered back.

He stripped my dress off and when he pushed inside me we both froze. Something was happening. Something electric running between us through that bond.

Then he moved and my brain shut off completely.

It was fast and desperate and overwhelming all at the same time. His hand found mine and our fingers laced together while he took me apart piece by piece.

"Look at me," he demanded.

I couldn't see clearly through the drugs. Just his eyes gleaming in the dark. But I could feel him through the bond.

"My mate," he whispered. "Finally."

I came so hard I saw stars and felt him follow right after. Then he kissed my forehead so gently. "I'll find you again. I swear it."

Then the drugs pulled me under and I was gone.

***

The memories fade and I'm back in this room that smells like him with my father's footsteps already coming down the hall.

I look at the bed trying to understand what happened and that's when I see it, blood on the pillow. Way too much to blood to be from the mating bite.

Oh f**k.

My stomach drops hard.

There are drops on the floor too, leading from the bed to the door like someone left bleeding.

Was he hurt? Did someone hurt him after I passed out?

Or was someone else in this room last night?

"I said get dressed! I'm taking you to the Alpha." My father's voice booms through the door. "I won't ask again!"

I scramble for my clothes with shaking hands and the mate mark burning on my neck and a thousand questions I don't have answers to.

What the hell happened to me?

***

They drag me to the Alpha’s chamber and every single person I've ever known is staring at me with disgust or pity and I can't decide which one hurts more.

My father stands at the front with the pack elders and he still won't look at me. Just keeps staring at the wall behind my head like if he looks at me directly he might turn to stone.

"Aria Winters," the second Beta after my father, Beta Hammond’s voice booms through the chamber. "You stand accused of f*********n with a rogue wolf during a sacred mating ceremony. How do you answer these charges?"

"I didn't…." My voice comes out too quiet and I have to clear my throat. "I was drugged. Someone drugged me and I don't remember most of what happened…"

"Liar!" Celeste's voice cuts through mine and everyone turns to look at her.

She's standing near the witness area and oh my God she's crying. What the f**k?!

Perfect tears rolling down her perfect cheeks and her voice is shaking like she's the victim here.

"I tried to help her," Celeste says and her voice breaks on the words. "I've been trying to help Aria for years but she's always been so jealous of me. So desperate for attention. Last night she got drunk and threw herself at some stranger just to ruin my ceremony."

"That's not true!" I step forward but the warriors on either side of me grab my arms. "Cel, please, you know that's not what happened…"

"Don't call me that." Her tears stop for just a second and I see the cold hatred in her eyes before the mask slides back on. "You're not my friend. You never were. You were just the sad broken girl I felt sorry for."

The words hit me like a slap and I hear people in the crowd whispering and nodding like what she's saying makes perfect sense.

"Celeste is lying," I say louder, turning to face the council. "She gave me champagne yesterday and then everything just went… fuzzy. I… I think she drugged me…."

"That is a serious accusation," Beta Hammond says and his voice has gone cold. "Do you have any proof?"

"I… no, but…."

"Then I suggest you stop making baseless claims against the Gamma's daughter."

I look around desperately for someone, anyone, who might believe me but every face is closed off and judging. Then I notice two wolves standing in the back of the chamber that I don't recognize. They're dressed in all black, expensive suits, with the high Alpha, Alpha Aldric’s insignias on the lapels. And they're watching me with these cold calculating eyes while taking notes.

"Who are they?" I ask, pointing at the strangers.

My father's face goes white. "Aria, stop…"

"No, who are those wolves?”

"That's none of your concern," Beta Hammond snaps. "Now, do you have anything to say in your defense?"

I turn to the two suspicious wolves but they're just staring at me and whispering to each other and something about the way they're looking at me is just… unsettling.

"My wolf," I say, turning back to the council. "Ask my wolf. She can identify our mate. She can prove this wasn't what Celeste is claiming…."

"Then ask her," my father says and his voice is so cold it makes me flinch.

I close my eyes and reach for my wolf, for that presence that's been with me since the stranger marked me last night. She was screaming MATE so loudly I thought my head would split open.

But there's nothing.

"Well?" Elder Hammond demands.

"I… she's not answering but she was there last night, I swear…"

"Hpw convenient," Celeste says with a little laugh. "Your wolf who's never existed suddenly shows up for one night and now she's gone again? How pathetic can you get, Aria?"

"She was real! She woke up when he marked me…."

"Enough!" My father's voice cracks like thunder through the room. "I've heard enough of these lies."

He steps forward and I see something in his face that terrifies me more than anything else today. Determination. It's like he's made a decision and nothing's going to change his mind.

"As Beta of Moonridge Pack," he says in that formal voice he uses for pack business, "I hereby strip Aria Winters of her wolf to cleanse our family's shame."

What? The words don't make sense at first. Strip me? Of the wolf I don't have?

"Dad, wait…"

"Hold her down," he orders the warriors.

They force me to my knees on the cold stone floor and I try to fight but they're so much stronger than me. My father walks over and places his hands on either side of my head and I can feel power gathering in his palms.

"Dad, please don't do this…"

"You brought this on yourself," he says without looking at me.

Then the power slams into me and oh my God the pain is unbearable.