Marked by the dark Alpha

Chapter 4

Disha Flynn

The whirl of the fortress alarms going off made me snap my eyes open, stumbling out of the frosty sheets before I could stop myself.

We're we being attacked again? What was happening?

The brilliant fluorescent lights that bathed my room in an ugly white light made my eyes feel like sandbags, before I noticed the string of servants trooping in and out.

“What the hell is going on?” I shrieked, and my eyes widened when I took in the rack of colorful jeweled dresses one of the servants wheeled in.

“His Grace has ordered that we present you in our Pack’s best, Miss Disha, for the Titan brother’s engagement proposal,” One of the mousy maids replied and it felt like a bloody hammer had been banged into the side of my head.

What? Kyle marrying me off to the Titans? Of all the Packs we could ally with it was them?

“Over my dead body,” I gritted through clenched teeth, fisting my hands as the maids busied themselves with the sheer black dress I had selected until the woman in the mirror looked nothing like me.

My long black hair was curled beautifully over my shoulders and the smoky eyeshadow made my dark circles look sexy.

“The carriage is here already M’Lady, please hurry!” the maid’s voice in the doorway made my heart pound faster in my chest as I forced my legs to move.

Dazzling yellow lights were hung all around the walls and the half-burnt trees lining the fortress foyer but my eyes focused solely on the towering wolf in his shiny black suit.

“Kyle? Where did all this come from? Our wolves need money to eat and you're wasting treasures on this bullshit?” I hissed under my breath but my brother barely glanced back at me over his shoulder.

A new suit? Really?

His silence enraged me even more, and I stomped around the string of guards until I was facing him.

“Who the f**k do you think you are? You have no right-” I screamed, biting down on the rage that formed a black pinhole around my vision when the man finally turned to face me.

“My decision is final, Disha. And it's not just me, Ian agrees too, don't you Uncle?” Kyle snickered, nodding behind me and making the moisture dry from my mouth when I turned back to see Uncle Ian’s sad brown eyes.

His bushy black brows were tugged down deep above his eyes and it was all I could do not to break down into a fresh bout of tears.

“Y-You can't send me away, Uncle, please! I-If the Saint brothers catch even a whiff of our plan, they would execute me on the spot! I don't stand a chance against two of the deadliest wolves on the freaking Mountains!” I stuttered, flailing my hands uselessly as my body shuddered with horror.

I couldn't bring myself to look back at the tall gold carriage waiting at the center of our burnt-down pack fortress, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Like a Phoenix surrounded by filth and ashes.

“Disha-” Uncle Ian started before I backed away from him, from all of them.

The wind whipped the silky blonde strands of my hair into my eyes and mouth and I was aware of the glittering eyes watching us from the carriage windows, no doubt from the other Princesses who actually gave a f**k about the Saints.

“I'm not going to be some rose-eyed actress for those bastards Kyle, mark my words. You want me to leave this fortress you're going to have to drag me out kicking and screaming.” I deadpanned, carefully keeping my shaky voice low before my brother’s hard hazel eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Kyle let out a low, bitter chuckle and moved right into my face until our bodies were only inches apart.

”You're a virgin Dee, not an imbecile, surely you must know how royal proposals work?” He snickered, his hot eyes roaming over my body in a way that made me gasp.

“Y-You expect me to slut myself out for men like the Saint brothers? I can't believe you would say this to me-” I choked through the lump in my throat but my brother cut me off again after glancing back at the Titan guards waiting impatiently by the gates.

“This is for the good of our pack, Disha, you're a woman for f***s sake, use your body if you can't use your sword. You're the only one who can fix this screw-up now,” Kyle fumed, jabbing his finger so hard into my chest that it felt like he had drilled a hole right through me.

I staggered away from him, barely able to keep the tears in my eyes from spilling over as shame thawed in the base of my spine.

What he was asking me to do was impossible!

There was no way even one of the Saint Alphas would be attracted to a woman like me. I didn't look anything like the thick-lipped bimbos that trooped around with them on the news scrolls.

“Please Disha… it's what your father would have wanted,” Uncle Ian’s soft voice made me choke through a whimper before I crumpled my body into his spread arms, exhausted.

#

“There, you're all set,” Uncle Ian whispered, feigning a chuckle and trying to meet my eyes before I glanced away, my face devoid of expression.

How could he just stand there and smile at the Titan guards? I watched him grin eagerly at the guard rambling to him about the Titan Pack allegiances if I was selected and my teeth ground together instinctively.

“I think I'm going to be sick,” I muttered, and my face scrunched up into a disdainful scowl as I hunkered into the gold carriage, careful not to lean too much into the crisp leather seats.

The less of the Titan poison I touched, the f*****g better.

“Remember everything I've told you Disha-” Kyle’s warbled voice came through the small glass window and my hands clenched to shaky fists in my lap.

“f***s sake, Kyle, I heard you the first f*****g time,” I snapped, only feeling a sharp stab of guilt when his jaw locked and hardened before he flashed me a smile that didn't reach his hazel eyes and stepped away from the rumbling carriage.

There was nothing my brother hated more than being challenged but I didn't care anymore. Tonight might be the last time I would ever see him, ever be in our pack. I could be found out by the Titans and killed tonight.

A million things could go wrong but none of them cared about that!

“Well, Gina, she certainly looks nothing like the rumors say,” One of the two Princesses in the carriage with curly red hair whispered.

Was she talking about me? The shock made me speechless for a moment until I saw the thin line of her lips curve into a smirk.

I glared back at her silently, buxom, slender body nestled in her ivory-white lace dress with pearls adorning her blood-red hair and white neck.

Anymore white and I was almost sure the b***h would have morphed into Olaf the snowman.

“I told you all that Swan Pack glamour was bullshit Kayla, her hair doesn't even look like it's been washed in weeks! I’ll be surprised if the Titans let her through the gates,” The smaller, rat-faced princess with shiny black hair quipped, and their snide laughs bounced around in my head like dynamite.

It had only been seven nights since the raid, it was a good thing the news of our attack was spreading slowly, otherwise the Titans would have ruled us out of an alliance.

“Just ignore them Disha, the last thing you need in Titan Pack is trouble.” I prayed inwardly, screwing my eyes shut before glancing back out the window at the trees shuttling past, with the full gray moon on the horizon peeking through the branches.

I needed to stay undercover, be the charming, wide-eyed princess assholes like the Saint brothers enjoyed.

Time seemed to pass in a blur with the princesses making rude comments about my body until I couldn't take it anymore.

“Hello?! Monkey face? Did your mother not teach you how to wash properly?” The Kayla bimbo shrieked, reaching out to yank at my hair before I saw red.

That was it! Something snapped inside me and my body moved before I could stop myself.

My wolf’s energy buzzed through my form as I swung at the women's faces

My claws slashed wildly, connecting with skin and I felt the rat Princess’ blows rain down on my back just as the carriage lurched violently to a stop.

“Get off me! Get off you b***h!” Kayla cried out, kicking me toward the slanting doors that whooshed open the same second I collapsed against them.

I was falling before I knew it, tumbling out into the lush green carpet of grass that cushioned my fall before I felt pain explode in the back of my head.

The smell of pines and wet earth filled my nose when I came to, catching a glimpse at the reddened faces of the princesses who staggered out behind me.

Kayla’s choked sobs made something bitter burn inside me and I glanced back to see that her neatly coiffed hair was now a tangled mess of knots and twists from our fight.

They both looked like they had been run over by a speeding carriage, and satisfaction hummed at my fingertips until the muttered voices of the wolves around us reached my ears.

“Goddess, how uncultured? Is that the Swan?”

“Swine more like, those poor princesses, she's evil!”

The voices of the elite wolves I could see surrounding me made something harden in my chest before I realized I was still flat on my back.

Crap! I moved to stand but the throbbing in my temples made me groan just as I caught a glimpse at the crisp black boots that had stepped up uncomfortably close to my face.

Were they trying to stomp me to death now?

It felt like the wind had been knocked right out of my chest when I glanced up to see a man with the most arresting blue eyes I had ever seen staring down at me.

His full black hair fell around his chiseled face like rain and his cool blue eyes watched me almost hungrily with his hands clasped behind his back where he had leaned over my body.

I tried to hide my shock, clapping my hands around my dress and yanking it down over my exposed porcelain legs as heat fanned up my face and neck.

“What, the f**k, are you doing?” His voice rattled through my body like thunder and I felt my heart slam to a stop in my chest as the tense silence strained through the air like a chord.

Every nerve in my body screamed at me to run back down the mountains and never look back but I forced my shaky knees to stand instead, daring to look up at the man’s stunning face.

The face of the beast who had murdered my parents and taken everything away from me. Madoc Saint.