The Queen They Tried To Bury

Alexandra’s P.O.V. “You could have ruled beside me,” Keith spoke softly, adding a hint of regret, but I knew better. My ex-mate, King Keith Locke, wanted to hear me beg and see me pleading for his mercy. But I was still standing tall and straight, keeping my gaze locked with him. My composure, calm, unyielding, and still commanding. My body convulsed, rattling the silver chains wrapped all over my body. My wolf was already dead. So, the pain was so unbearable that I could crumble at any time. Afraid the poison wouldn’t be enough, he had bound me with silver chains, until it looked like I wore nothing else. Poison burned through my veins, silver tore at my skin—but neither compared to his betrayal. “Why do you have to be so strong, Alexandra? Beg me. I will make your death less painful.” His voice carried false grievance—but the faint giggle from the side told me everything I needed to know. I didn’t need to see because I knew damn well who was laughing at me. The moon was brightening powerfully in the night sky, swelling over the obsidian towers of the fortress, casting silver light across the courtyard where all the wolves living in the castle were kneeling silently in rows. Torches were burning along the boundary wall, but their flames seemed weak against the cold glow of the moonlight. But even the gentle light couldn’t reach the darkness buried deep within the human heart. In our books, this could be counted as an omen, but it doesn’t matter to me now. “Kneel, Alexandra, and I promise you that you will have a less painful death,” Keith demanded again, using his king’s authority over me, but he forgot that I remained uncrowned and unbowed till now. The corners of my mouth curled up in a mocking smirk. “Kill me, Keith, or else, the Iron Fang Pack will have no king by tomorrow morning.” I threatened him coldly. With every word coming out of my mouth, gasps rippled through the crowd. They came to see my demise, to see me beg and then die humiliated, not to hear my threat to their king. Keith’s face twisted with anger. He was my mate…. For whom I fought so many battles; faced all the dangers alone; strategized against all those alphas to make him more powerful; sustained so many injuries, and almost lost my life countless times, and yet…. He chose lies over me. Desire over our bond. Betrayal over trust. His desire to get control over everything became so strong that Raina’s fake dependency on him and her clinginess fueled his male ego. He blamed me for being domineering and making him feel inferior, but felt powerful when those vulturous alphas, who feared him because of me, flattered him, filled his ears with sugar-coated words, and made him believe that he could survive without me. His expression made me laugh… A guttural laughter erupted from my burning chest, stunning him in the process. “You planned so well, Keith. You took advantage of my trust in you and fed me poison because you knew that these silver chains alone can’t shackle me. You think that the power that made you so arrogant will stay the same once I am gone, but you forgot……..” I spoke mockingly, paused when he flared his nostrils. “This power came from me.” His eyes widened in shock, and then his face darkened in fury. The poison burned—but it was nothing compared to the way he back-stabbed me. The pain of his betrayal was severer than the pain caused by the wolfsbane and silver. I lifted my head and breathed slowly. Even now, I could feel something deep inside me calling me – the primal and ancient force of my bloodline… Older than the throne… Older than all the present packs….. I opened my eyes when a crack of thunder rolled across the sky, startling everyone because the moon was still shining brightly. “Fools,” I muttered with a sly smile. They should have known They should have been afraid. They should have known not to kill me under the full moonlight. I slowly moved my head back and smiled coldly. “You won’t get away with this, Keith,” I warned him coldly, and he scoffed angrily. “You are about to die, Alexandra,” he reminded me while waving his finger up and down in a fit of rage. “And you are already dead.” His expression took another ugly twist. “Maybe not tonight, but stay alert after tonight, Keith. Every step that you will take from now on will lead you to your ruin.” I warned him with a crooked and confident smile, my voice still calm and certain. He roared aloud in fury and raised his claw high. I held my chin high and looked straight into his eyes when he struck my head with his claw. “I am coming back for you,” I whispered to him before the world around me turned black. But before that, the thunder cracked again, and the moonlight turned one shade darker. But I didn’t give in to that darkness. I focused on the last ounce of my strength to reach that surge of power inside me. Darkness swallowed me… Then the heat returned – wrong, suffocating, and burning….. I woke up choking, my lungs were burning as thick smoke filled my nostrils and windpipe. Flames surrounded me, devouring everything in sight. My vision was blurred with smoke. The burning sensation on my exposed skin woke me up completely. I coughed, gagged, and tried to breathe while crawling forward on the floor. There was fire everywhere around me. My body felt heavy, but I never gave up… Not like this…. I succeeded in getting out of that burning place and gasped aloud with open mouth when the fresh air hit my nostrils. I closed my eyes, left my body limp, and concentrated on breath. Rest can wait. I frowned when I heard laughter all around me. “Look at her. She looks like a rotten pig. Damn, Alexandra. I should have something to draw you in this pathetic state.” Someone taunted me while laughing. I moved my face upwards and saw some strange faces all around me. Laughing, pointing at me, disgust and mockery filled their gazes. Who are they? The world around me blurred again when I blinked, but it sharpened soon. The air around me felt different, different than the air of the Iron Fang Pack. This wasn’t the fortress. Where was I? My gaze sharpened with alertness, but I moved my hand to my temple to wipe the blood coming from my head. I froze when I saw my hand. I slowly sat up and raised both my hands in front of me. Small…… too small…. Fluffy, rough, and scarred; the scars stretched to the wrist, but these hands were…… I looked at me and sucked in a breath. Definitely not my body….. Covered under rags was a plump and small body, not of an adult queen, but a teenager, probably. The realization made me curl the corners of my mouth faintly. “Look at her scars! They became uglier. Yikes…. I felt like puking.” Someone mocked me again. I placed those hands on the ground, pushing all my weight on them, but my body felt heavier. I still stood up and looked at all those nasty faces coldly. “Hey, you, Alexandra. How dare you freak us with this look? Lower your eyes.” One of them, a he-pup, in his teenage years, probably still underage, roared at me with a nasty, angry face. I tilted my head a little, still staring at them with the same coldness. Lower my eyes???? Wow!!!! Now, the pups were so arrogant that they demanded from me? The pup got angry, and all those pups stopped laughing, looking at him fearfully now. Behind me, the smell of smoke thickened, and I heard faint sounds of wood cracking inside the fire. The pup charged at me, raising his fist to his temple. “You dare to defy me!” He shrieked in a fit of rage, but I felt nothing. I only waited for him to come to me.