Mated To The Ruthless Alpha

Chapter 3

This suffering of mine started from my birth.

My arrival into this world had been marked by misfortune.

I was born at fourty-two weeks, far too early, on a Tuesday the eleventh—the most cursed day imaginable. The moment my mother went into labor, a storm tore through the Moonveil Pack, uprooting trees and destroying homes and businesses.

From that day on, my birth was labeled a bad omen.

My mother struggled for hours, her body wracked with pain, but I had no intention of coming out. The doctors had finally prepared to cut me out of her when, just minutes before midnight, I forced my way into the world.

My first cry was the last sound my mother ever heard.

The moment she took her final breath… the storm vanished.

It may have been a coincidence, but no one saw it that way.

From that day forward, I was marked as cursed.

A child of ill fortune.

The girl who killed her mother.

And my father never let me forget it.

He lost his mate because of me, and even as a child, he made sure I knew that he hated my existence. I was the reason for his grief. I had fought too hard to be born, and for what? To be an omega?

To him, I was worthless.

I was always small for my age, timid, and weak. While other children hit their milestones, I lagged behind. I couldn’t walk until I was three. I struggled to speak until I was five. My existence humiliated my father, a powerful Beta known for his strength and dominance.

Whenever he looked at me, I saw nothing but hatred—even before I was old enough to understand what hatred was.

I remembered one particular moment too vividly.

I had gone weeks without seeing him, and the day he finally returned from a long trip, I ran to hug him, desperate for warmth.

He shoved me away so hard I hit the ground.

He didn’t even look back.

That was the day I stopped reaching for him.

Since the Beta despised me, no one else in the pack had any reason to care for me either.

My mother had been loved, a treasured member of the Moonveil Pack, but I had taken her away. From the time I could understand words, I had to endure whispers, pointed fingers, and sneers.

"That’s her. The cursed child."

"She shouldn’t have been born."

"She killed her own mother."

Even my teachers, once my mother’s closest friends, would frown at me in disappointment, treating me as if I had personally ruined their lives.

I had spent years trying to prove my worth.

But not anymore.

I didn’t need the Moonveil Pack any more than they needed me.

I had to leave before Lucien stopped me.

I had already packed. Everything I owned fit into a single bag.

All I needed now was my savings.

I reached for my hidden purse, deep inside my ratty handbag, but when I opened it—

I froze.

The money was gone.

"No."

My heart pounded painfully.

"He can’t do this."

A sick feeling curled in my stomach.

I ripped open every compartment, shook out my handbag, dumped out its contents onto the floor.

Nothing.

I tore through my packed bags, checked under the bed, inside the holes in my threadbare carpet. My pockets, my shoes, even the corners of the room.

"No, no, no…"

But I knew.

Deep down, I knew.

Lucien had taken it.

"That bastard."

A choked sob clawed up my throat. I had spent years gathering that money, saving every single scrap I could. My only way out of this hellhole—stolen by the very man who refused to let me go.

I searched for hours, until my fingers bled, until my eyes burned, but there was nothing left to find.

Lucien had taken everything from me.

"What should I do?"

I paced my room, my mind racing with a thousand thoughts.

I could try to steal it back. I could confront him in public, demand he return it. But none of those plans would work.

Lucien was the soon-to-be Alpha.

No one would take my side.

I felt my knees give out beneath me, my body hitting the cold floor as another sob ripped from my chest.

"Why does he do this?"

What had I ever done to deserve this cruelty?

I never hurt him. I never hurt anyone.

I never meant to kill my mother.

"I have to get out of here."

Crying wouldn’t change anything.

Lucien had my money, and he would never give it back.

I shoved clothes into my handbag, my movements frantic. Whether or not I had money didn’t matter anymore. I needed to leave.

The only way out was through No Man’s Land, east of Moonveil territory.

If I could make it through the wilderness, I would reach Blue Blood Pack lands in a few days. From there, I could cross into human territory.

I had no money to board a train or book a flight—but I had a wolf.

And I could run.

I threw the bag over my shoulder and slipped out of the packhouse.

The pack was already waking up to prepare for Lucien’s Alpha succession ceremony.

I had to shift and run before anyone noticed I was gone.

Especially him.

My wolf, Astra, ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

We leapt over fallen branches, our paws barely touching the ground.

We were almost free.

Then we heard it.

A low, wretched howl.

Astra stumbled mid-stride, her ears twitching at the sound.

Then we heard it again.

"What is that?" I asked, my wolf on high alert.

"An injured wolf." Astra pawed at the dirt, torn between fleeing and helping.

"Could it be Nyx?"

Astra shook her head.

It wasn’t her.

But still, we couldn’t ignore it.

Against our better judgment, Astra turned toward the source of the cry.

My heart ached when I saw the wolf lying in the dirt.

It had been abandoned, left for dead. Deep gashes covered its body, blood soaking the ground beneath it.

"Astra, what do we do?" I whispered.

Astra whined, torn between self-preservation and compassion.

I shifted, stepping toward the injured wolf.

My hands pressed against the largest wound, feeling the warm, sticky blood coat my fingers.

"He’s dying." Astra’s voice was grim.

I felt it too—this wolf had only minutes left.

Then something strange happened.

A jolt of electricity shot through me.

A blinding light erupted from my palms.

"What the—"

I tried pulling away, but the glow intensified.

"Astra, what is this?!"

"It’s the Healing Light."

I gasped as the wolf’s wounds began to close, the light swirling around him until the darkness of the forest swallowed us whole again.

The wolf was still.

Had I killed him?

Then… a soft breath.

"He’s alive."

Before I could react—

"Stop right there!"

Two guns were trained on me.