Rejected By The Alpha: Desired By His Rival

Chapter Two

Kiera

I had gotten my wolf, finally.

Despite the fact that getting my wolf was a thing of honour, I felt like I had been lied to my entire life.

They all said the transformation process was thrilling and would have you screaming with excitement, but this was the direct opposite of that.

I felt like I had been torn open in places I couldn't believe it was possible to tear open at all.

She bared her teeth to them as my uncle attempted to get close enough, and I instantly felt like my head was swirling and I was going dizzy before darkness finally settled in.

*

I woke up to someone shoving my hands softly, and my eyes snapped open only to find Anna seated on my bed with her hands on me.

“Get away from me, spawn of the devil. Am I dead?” I questioned, trying to feel my face and body for pain and every other feeling unable to describe at this very moment.

It would only mean that I'm dead to make Anna sit on my bed, staring at me like she was concerned, plausible even in its slightest bit.

Even in death, this is not a scenario I had ever dreamt would happen.

“Welcome back, sister. The transformation process is usually excruciating, so it's normal to pass out during or after that.” She commented with a soft, loving smile on her face that made me feel like I was going crazy.

What is really going on?

“I must be dead or locked in some kind of trance. Did you just call me sister? Who are you? Because Anna would die before calling me sister, so unless you're dead, there's no other valid explanation.” I questioned, and she chuckled dryly before raising a dress up high enough for me to see.

A wedding dress.

“You're getting married?” I queried in confusion, and she chuckled yet again before rolling her eyes.

“No, Silly. You are the one getting married. Have you forgotten that you're the bride to the beta now?” I shut my eyes tightly, as I could literally hear loud, shrill cries and screams inside of my head.

And the dreaded flashes!

My uncle was soaking my head in a little lake filled with piranhas simply because I disobeyed his wife, my aunt.

And then back to yesterday, the vow of me getting sold off to someone I didn't even know.

“You are crazy. There's no way on this earth that I would ever get married in your place. I'm not a substitute, and no matter how hard you try to make it seem like it, I'm not living in your shadows.” I retorted, and she took a few steps backward, clearly startled.

“Wow. Well, it isn't time for your little speech. Put the dress on; the beta is waiting downstairs. You don't want to know what Dad is capable of when he finds out you're disobeying him, right?” I knew exactly what he was like and what he was capable of. I wish I could scream that at her face since it seemed like she was actually quite stupid, but I didn't; I held back.

Exchanging words wasn't going to undo everything they had put in motion.

“Exactly. That's what I thought. Chop, chop then; we're all waiting for the latest bride.” She mocked walking out of the door, and I bit my lower lip really hard; I could literally feel blood in my mouth.

“Are you really going to get married to some old prick or his son?” I heard a voice echo in my room— or in my head—and I instinctively drew out a dagger from underneath my pillow.

Live the kind of life that I'm living, and I bet you that you'd have daggers all over the place, hidden in plain sight.

“Who's there?” I questioned, standing up from the bed as I swung it around in fright, but there was no one there.

“On the goddess, you could end up hurting yourself with the way you're holding that dagger.” The voice scoffed, and the dagger fell to the ground while I placed my hands over my ears.

“What are you?” I questioned again, and I saw flashes of a little white wolf; it made me feel like my head was swirling, and I fell onto the bed.

“Your wolf is silly; don't you wanna get out of here? Are you really going to wait and get sold off to some man you don't even know about?” She questioned, and I raised a brow with my hands on my hips.

“I have no choice.”

“That's the thing, Silly Billy. We all have a choice at some point. You could run; you could escape, and the best part is that if you leave, we could even get to meet our fated mate.” She suggested it from the back of my head, and I swallowed hard as I breathed.

“You don't understand. That is the real world, and this is me. There's no way I could survive out there.” Deep down, I knew I didn't want to believe the words that were proceeding out of my mouth, but what if I was really stuck here? The sooner I begin to accept that possibility, the better for me.

“Kiera, give freedom a chance.” I let out a deep sigh while squinting my eyes as different thoughts began creeping into my head.

What if I ran away? What if I get caught? But even sweeter, what if I don't?

I grabbed the little bag my mum had gifted me and put in a few clothes and a little of necessities. Slinging it across my shoulder, I stared at the door and back at the window. Window, it is.

It wasn't even that far off from the ground, so I scaled it and jumped.

As soon as my legs hit the leaves outside, I began running as fast as my legs could carry me into the woods.

“I have never ran for this long; I feel like I'm running out of breath.” I complained, but I kept running either way, tired but unwilling to stop.

If I kept going into the forest, though I didn't know my way around, if I just kept going, then perhaps I would hit the boundary, and once I did, everything else would be history.

“Rogue wolf on the run?” I heard someone mutter, and I looked forward to see a fat, bulky man standing way ahead with a mischievous smirk plastered on the corner of his lips.

“Nah, she looks like a weak wolf. But it's clear she's on the run. Let's put away your misery, doll.” I halted in my tracks and made to run in the other direction, and that's when I realised that I was trapped.

There were 6 rogue wolves circling me. f**k! I should have known that this was a mistake. This was all a shitty plan.

“Please, please don't do this.” They looked hungry; they looked like they were starving, and the way they stared at me like I would make an even more delicious meal was scary.

“Halt!” I suddenly heard a masculine voice rang out from behind, and relief settled in when I realised the rogues were backing away inconspicuously, but my relief was short-lived when I turned to see the Alpha of our pack, my uncle, my aunt and Anna.

Fuck! They had caught up to me. They must have realised that I had ran away and reported me to the royal house, and they had started hunting me down.

The fact that they arrived here the same time the rogues were about to kill me was just one big coincidence that worked in my favour.

“How could you think of running away, amor? You had us all worried about you.” My aunt said, speaking like my mum for the first time in a long while, and I raised my brow in confusion. Sorry, what was that just now?

“Sister, I was so scared. Are you okay? Are you harmed?” Anna reiterated, coming closer to me, but I just took a few steps away.

I see what they were doing. Of course, they didn't want the public to know what goes on behind the dark curtain.

“Kiera, you shouldn't scare us all like—” My uncle was saying when I decided that I had had enough of it.

“Stop it! Stop the pretence, the lies and all this bullshit; you all look really sick acting this way.” I snapped, and my uncle stared with fake pleading eyes at the Alpha.

“Thanks so much for your help, Alpha; we can take it from here.”

“No, you can't. Why don't you tell the Alpha why I ran away? I'm not crazy; tell them the reason. Oh wait, selling off brides is outlawed, so you could possibly get jailed for trying to sell me off.” I yelled, and the Alpha stepped forward, his gaze fixated on my uncle.

“Is that right?” The instant he came closer, the scent of mint and sandalwood hit my nose strongly immediately, and I could feel a fluttery feeling inside of my belly.

“Mate.” He called out as his eyes darkened. I broke out in a smile only to be slammed into a tree the next second with his claws protruding and piercing into my throat.