Fated As The Alpha King

Chapter2

Chapter Two - Two faced Wolf

Seles shook her head and tsked her tongue at Katherine, a look of pure hatred in her eyes.

“You only ask me why now?!...Really!” Seles replied with a question of her own, smirking with her hands crossed in front of her.

Katherine couldn't believe what she was hearing…or seeing. Seles, who had always played with her from childhood and always had a kind world for everyone wasn't the Seles who was standing before her. This side of her was nasty.

Katherine wondered which was the real Seles; the one who had laughed and cried with her all those years or the one who had stabbed her now.

The sting of betrayal was so much she could barely feel the pain in her midsection.

“Why are you all trying to kill me? Ace only ordered that I leave the Western region and never return,” Katherine remarked in a tiny voice, looking every bit like a over pampered princess despite the blood still oozing out from her.

Seles threw her back and laughed hard at Katherine's words, so hard tears squeezed out of her shut eyes.

“You really are naive, you know that right?...As long as you exist and stay alive, you will continue to be a threat to his rule as Alpha King…” Seles paused and furrowed her brows, lost in thought for a bit before going on,“....at least he thinks so.”

“But…but he is my mate…I don't believe what you are saying. He wont hurt me…he only exiled me because tradition demands the loser of the challenge be exiled.”

Seles burst into laughter again, doubling over. She wiped her eyes and looked at Katherine with disapproving eyes, shaking her head slowly.

“Do you actually believe that, Kat…like really believe it?...” Seles enquired disbelieving, then her eyes slowly grew round and big as a thought occured to her.

“Wait, don't tell me you still love him because of that foolish mate bond?...or you still think he loves you…” Seles eyes grew hard and the hatred returned.

“Get real, Kat. You on your own in this,” she commented. She brought up her bloodied hand up to her face to inspect it, slowly licking the blood on it.

Katherine saw the hand for the first time. All this while she had still refused to believe that Seles had actually plunged her hand into her guts but that bloody hand transformed into claws was proof that she had.

“Why you doing this to me, Seles? What did I ever do to you?” she asked, the weight of her acceptance breaking her.

Seles paused for a moment, her face showing a flicker of something that akin to regret but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by that cold, calculating expression again, the hatred back in her eyes.

“What did you ever do to me?" Seles sneered, her voice laced with barely concealed venom.

"Everything, Kat…You had everything handed to you on a silver platter. The Alpha King's daughter, the perfect life, the perfect mate blah blah blah… everyone adored you. And what was I? A nobody. A maid's daughter. Do you know how humiliating it was to serve you? To see you get everything I wanted? You were living a life I could only dream of, instead I was stuck with being an Omega's daughter.”

How was any of that my fault? Katherine pondered weakly within herself. Just the way she had not chosen to be the Alpha King's daughter, that was the same way she had no power in deciding what someone else had to be.

Katherine’s vision blurred as the blood continued to pour from her wound. For some unknown reason, she was regenerating. She felt weak, but she fought to stay conscious, to make sense of what Seles was saying.

"We... we were friends, Seles... You were never just a maid’s daughter to me. You were my sister."

Seles’ eyes hardened, the sinister smirk returning.

"I used to believe that too... until Ace showed me the truth. He told me that power doesn’t care about loyalty or friendship. Power is for those who take it…Made me realize I was just a plaything to you, a wolf you could tame. He promised me something you never could…something more than friendship. He promised to make me his Luna."

Katherine’s heart sank as the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. Now she understood.

"He put up to this, didn't he? You’re doing this for him? For Ace?"

No matter how she phrased the questions, they all still implied one thing; Seles had traded their bond for a mere promise.

Seles nodded, her face devoid of any warmth.

"Yes. You were always the obstacle, Katherine. As long as you're alive, he can't fully control the Western region. And if I bring him your head, I secure my place by his side, as his queen, his Luna…No lycan would ever dare ridicule me"

"But you… you saved me back there… why?" Katherine asked, her voice barely above a whisper, struggling to understand how Seles could switch so easily between savior and executioner. She had clearly seen Seles lead those bad lycans away.

Seles tilted her head, her expression smug.

"I needed you to relax and believe you can still go on trusting me, just long enough to get you alone. I knew you wouldn't see it coming from me, your bestie. After all, you never thought I was capable of anything, right?"

Katherine wanted to fight back, wanted to shift into her wolf and tear Seles apart, but her strength was fading quickly. Stacy howled in the back of her mind, but the connection was too weak now. She had used too much energy during the fight with Ace’s wolves.

Seles eyes dropped to the gaping hole in Katherine's guts as Katherine winced in pain and dropped on one knee. The movement made her eyes watery.

Seles crouched down beside Katherine, running a finger along the edge of the wound she'd created.

“Wondering why it isn't healing right?...well that's because you've been poisoned…I had some on my claws earlier.”

"It's ironic, isn't it? All those years of friendship, and this is how it ends. You, bleeding out at my feet, and me, finally getting everything I deserve."

Tears welled in Katherine's eyes, not from the physical pain, but from the crushing weight of betrayal.

"I loved you, Seles," she whispered. "I would have given you anything if I had it within my power."

"Love doesn't matter, Kat," Seles replied coldly. "Power does." She stood up, wiping her blood-stained hands on her pants. "And once you're dead, I'll have all the power I need."

As Katherine’s vision darkened and her consciousness began to slip, she thought of the past..the carefree days she and Seles had shared, the dreams they had whispered to each other in the dead of night. She never imagined it would end like this.

But just before everything went black, a sudden movement caught her eye. A shadow, fast and silent, moved behind Seles. Before Katherine could make sense of it, claw tips glinted in the dim light, and Seles let out a gasp.

She turned, her eyes wide with shock as she stared down at the hand now protruding from her chest. Behind her stood a figure Katherine couldn’t quite make out in her weakened state, but she recognized the voice.

"You were wrong, Seles. Power isn't everything. The king who took you in didn't think that way but this is how you choose to repay him…by killing his child."

Seles stumbled forward, blood spilling from her lips as she hurriedly staggered away into the night, her hands over the hole in her chest and her breath coming out in ragged pants.

Katherine watched her through blurry visions as she moved deeper into the night, dripping blood everywhere as she went.

Katherine’s savior knelt beside her, cradling her gently.

"Katherine, stay with me. Help is coming."

She looked up into his face and smiled. It was a face that she saw everyday since she was given birth to.

“Are you here to kill me also Dominic?” She asked, raising one bloodied hand to gently touch the cheeks of her father's most truthed bodyguards.

“No one's killing you but you have to move…very soon Ace men would be upon us once Seles points them in the right direction…” he explained, frowning as he probed the skin around her injury.“ Why aren't you healing?”

She tried to speak but ended up gagging on her own blood.

Finally, her throat was free of blood, at least for the time being. Now she could speak.

“Seles said she poisoned me…” she paused to catch her breath then went on.“ how did you find me?”

“I wouldn't have if it hadn't been for the men Ace sent after you. It's rare to see them far from Ace so I knew something was going on so I followed them…I overheard them talking about you.”

He was about saying something else but they heard voices drawing close. He hastily looked around for a hiding place.

Sighting one, he hoisted her up in his arms and carried her close to the gates. Beside it was a ditch. He gently dropped her inside, uprooting some tall grasses to cover the mouth of the ditch.

She began struggling inside the ditch but he placed a hand on her head, calming her down.

“Stay still…they are here? Ace men I mean.” he mean.

Understanding, Katherine nodded and remained still though her breathing was coming out in short gust of air.

“Hey Dom, what you doing over there?” one of them called out.

Dominic caught Katherine eyes and nodded at her before standing up to walk towards them.

Katherine strained her ears so she wouldn't miss anything they said.

“Is it a crime to be outside?” he countered nonchalantly. Katherine heard the men snicker at his question.

“Hey Dom, seen Katherine lately?” another one asked.

“Nay…don't think so. Didn't Ace exile her? I guess she's long gone by now.” Dominic responded smartly. Katherine could just envision the mocking smile on his lips as was his habit.

Someone growled and Katherine heard a thud just above the ditch.

She looked up between the grasses and almost cried out when she saw Dominic pinned against the gate by one of Ace stooges, his claws pointed at Dominic throat.

“Show some respect, dog…that's Alpha King Ace to you.” He warned Dominic coldly, narrowing his eyes at him.

“Oh…okay. Tell Ace I haven't seen his runaway mate,” Dominic stubbornly replied.

Katherine watched in horror as the man brought the claw tips closer to Dominic's throat, pressing them in and drawing blood.

“Stand down. Don't waste your strength on. He has lost his relevance with the passing of the old Alpha so I guess his mind is still recovering.” one of the men she couldn't see said.

The hostile man grunted, removing his hands from Dominic but he paused abruptly, sniffing slowly around Dominic's body before glaring at him.

“You said you haven't seen her, right Dom?” he asked slowly, his moving closer again to Dom's throat.

Dominic didn't reply, keeping his eyes trained on the man's face instead.

He sniffed again then looked at Dominic once more.

“Then why do you smell like her? Anything you got to say about that…?”

Gradually, the man's head bowed till Katherine could see his face through the grasses. She gasped as the man smiled at her, pushing Dominic out of the way.

“Got you.” he said, showing her his fangs as he smiled wickedly at her

Dominic crashed into him at that moment and something heavy fell into the ditch, hitting Katherine on her forehead.

She struggled to hold on to her consciousness but she had lost too blood and the poison was already having effect on her.

Uttering a silent prayer for Dominic safety, she closed her eyes and passed out, the sounds of the struggle above her fading away.