Marked by the Alpha King’s Remorse

Ashes

Xaverius

Fuck.

I’m still rock-hard, the ghost of last night clawing at me like a curse I can’t shake. That weak, violent girl, she turned my punishment back on me, didn’t she? Wrapped around me so tight, so desperate, like she was trying to pull my soul out through my c**k. I hate it. I hate how I can’t forget the way her body trembled, the way she sobbed my name like it was salvation and damnation all at once. The bond, the forced, filthy bond is shoving this lust down my throat, making me want her even as I imagine her throat under my hands.

But here I am, alone in this cold room, fisting myself to the memory of her heat, her tears, her broken pleas. It builds fast, ugly, inevitable. I groan through gritted teeth as I spill over my hand, hot, shameful, and it does nothing to wash away the ache.

Then my eyes snagged on Zerypina’s picture. Her smile, frozen in time, radiant and real. My heart craters. What the f**k am I doing? Betraying her memory with the woman who—supposedly—ripped her from me? I shake my head, drag myself to the shower, and stand under scalding water for what feels like eternity, scrubbing until my skin’s raw. But the guilt? It clings like blood.

Wraith stirs in my mind, his anger a low rumble I’ve been shoving down. He knows what I’m planning today—her confession, her end. But I block him out. I can’t deal with his bullshit right now. I dress mechanically, head to the kitchen, and the aroma hits me: rich, savory soup that I love.

For the first time in months, maybe years. I smile. Actually smile. I sit, spoon it in, and the flavors explode on my tongue, chasing away the hangover fog, the pounding in my skull. It’s… good. Healing, almost.

“Good mood?” Darius’s voice slices through like a blade. He leans in the doorway, that smug f*****g grin on his face.

“Can’t I eat in peace?” I snap, the moment shattered.

“Last night—”

“Are you f*****g kidding me?” I cut him off, rage flaring. If he’s spying again, invading my—

He arches a brow. “Chill. I was just saying your buddy Syldion bailed last night and rescheduled the meeting for today. Said you were… occupied.” He shrugs, eyes rolling. “Goddess knows what.”

I exhale. “Good.”

But the smile dies as reality crashes back. Today she’s gonna tell me everything. The truth about Pina’s death. I should be thrilled—vengeance so close I can taste it. But my gut twists. Fear? No. Something darker, more f****d up. Like losing her would carve out what’s left of me.

God, how the hell do I even picture it? Wrapping my hands around the throat of the girl I’ve bonded to like a curse, f****d raw while she whispered love through her tears, her body arching for me even as I carved hate into her soul? It’d be like murdering the only spark left in this dead world, and I’d laugh through the madness, because without her pain, what’s even left of me?

“You can’t kill her,” Wraith breaks through, his voice a desperate snarl in my head.

“Fuck.” I shove the bowl away, appetite gone.

“You must like that food,” Darius smirks.

“Well—”

“Violet made it for you.”

The words land like a gut punch. I stare at the empty bowl. All these months, I’ve spat on her attempts, thrown her gifts in the trash, watched her eyes dim with every rejection. It made me sick, seeing her try to worm her way in. But this… I ate it thinking it was from the Omegas. Unknowingly savored something from her hands.

“Bullshit,” I rasp, but my voice cracks.

“Yeah. Unlucky you.” He pauses. “Council wants to see you too.”

Disgust surges, I want to vomit it all up, purge her from my system. But beneath it, the bond twists like a knife: pain blooming in my chest, her pain, echoing back. I remember her whispers last night—“I love you”—while I buried myself in her, hating every second of how right it felt. I bite my lip hard enough to draw blood, shake it off.

The Council chamber is a tomb of Elders, my father at the head, the man who handed me this crown after I clawed my way through rivals. I cross my arms, jaw set. “I’m sure you’re all dying to hear my next move. Fear won’t—”

“Son.” He cut me off. His tone sounds so wrong. We’ve always talked like we’re in a work field.

Elder Drina leans forward. “The girl’s memories are resurfacing. Fully.”

“I don’t want you all to talk about her. I handle my own s**t. And I know you want to rush her to become my Luna but—”

“We know but you have to stop killing her,” Father commands.

My fists clench. “What the f**k—”

“She didn’t kill Zerypina.”

The world tilts. No. I should roar, deny it, cling to the hate that’s kept me breathing. But my heart—traitor—stutters. Relief floods in, unbidden, like chains snapping. Free to… what? Feel? No. I won’t pity her. Won’t let them see me weak.

“Evidence?” I growl, voice barely steady.

Father nods. “We followed your leads. Her DNA… it matches Zerypina’s. Sisters. She was trying to stop the war, warn you, to save the sister who abandoned her. But it went wrong.”

Sister. The word echoes like a death knell.

“Say it,” I snarl. “All of it. I deserve that much as King.”

Father hesitates, then: “Zerypina betrayed you. The war was her escape. The heir… wasn’t yours. She orchestrated Violet’s memory loss. And Violet—she’s your true mate. Not forced. Yours.” He made a pregnant pause, “We really need Violet still because I know the war isn’t truly over.”

No, I don’t give a f**k about the war anymore. My knees buckle. I grip the table to stay upright. Zerypina, my Pina was cheating? Planning wars to flee me? The baby… not mine? Lies. It has to be. But the pieces slam together: Violet’s haunted eyes, the resemblance that tortured me, the bond that never felt fake no matter how hard I fought it.

“Do you even have proof?”

“Everything. And Zerypina… she’s alive.”

The words hang in the air like a noose, tightening around my throat. Alive. My Pina, breathing, scheming, betraying while I’ve been rotting in the grave she dug for me.

“No!” The roar rips from my chest, raw and animal, cutting off father’s former beta mid-breath, but I can’t stop the denial spilling out, bitter as bile. “Violet is not . . . she can’t be…” My voice fractures, the lie crumbling even as I cling to it.

It’s easier this way, pretending the bond is fake, that she’s the enemy, the monster I’ve painted her as. Easier than admitting she’s my mate. My true mate. The one I’ve shattered night after night, her tears soaking the sheets while I whispered hate into her skin.

Father’s eyes soften—pity, the bastard—and it only fuels the firestorm in my gut. “Yes, it is,” he says softly like he’s breaking a child. “Zerypina was so matched with Violet—sisters, blood-bound, that she stole Violet’s place in your life from the start. Twisted the prophecies, the bonds, everything. Violet is—”

My world shatters before he finishes. Violet is the one I was meant for. The one Pina erased, replaced, like a shadow swallowing the light. And I—blind, grieving fool—let her. I hurt the woman destined for me, carved my grief into her body, while mourning a lie. The regret hits like acid, burning through every memory: her soft pleas, her love echoing in the bond I called cursed. Alive? Pina’s alive, and all this time I’ve been killing the only real thing I had left.

I stagger back, knees threatening to give. “She’s… my mate,” I whisper, the truth a blade twisting deeper. And she’s gone. Because of me.

I storm out, world blurring. Rage boils at them, at Pina, at the lie my life became. But the sharpest blade? Myself. All those nights I broke Violet. Pinned her down, f****d her like she was nothing, whispered venom while she bled for me. She begged for one last time, thinking she was the monster.

I hurt her. My true mate. The one who tried to save us all.

My mind fractures as I race to her room—empty. Bed cold. No trace.

As I about to search more but someone grabs my arm, hard, urgent, like he's trying to hold me back from the edge.

Darius.

“Xav, wait—she's gone.” His voice is low, cracked, not the usual cocky drawl. “Slipped out of the territory sometime after dawn. No trail, no scent. Untraceable. I... I just found out when I went to her room. Wanted to tell her you actually ate the soup. That you liked it.”

Gone.

The bond screams in my chest—hollow, echoing her absence like a fresh wound. I sink to my knees, a guttural howl ripping from my throat. I lost Pina to betrayal. Now I’ve lost Violet to my own hands.