The Alpha's Villainess

Chapter Nineteen

“No... No....”

Aurora spun on her heels and left quickly, not even wasting a second to clarify what she’d heard. As if she were removing herself from the scene before she did something that she’d regret doing in front of the Alpha King later.

“Aurora!” I yelled, taking a step towards her before remembering where I was. I quickly turned back to the king and gave a small bow. “Apologies, Your Majesty... I, uh... I have to go. I’m sorry.”

And before he could give a response, I ran out the door and followed after her.

I’d weighed up the options in my head, trying to determine which one was worse, and I’d concluded that mildly offending the Alpha King seemed like the much better choice when it was between that and Aurora’s wrath.

“Aurora... AURORA.... Please!”

I kept yelling after her, gaining ground as I saw her just up ahead. Unlike me, she was trying not to draw any additional attention to herself as she walked quickly and weaved around the people standing in the hallway. But that only allowed me to close the distance since I didn’t care if people stared at me running.

“Aurora! Wait a second! Please!”

It only took another few seconds before I finally caught up to her, and I reached out my hand to grab her shoulder.

“Aurora, let me ex—"

But the second my hand touched her, she instantly turned and slapped me across the face. Hard enough to make me blink as I held my stinging cheek.

“Auro—"

“—How dare you,” she snapped angrily. As I met her eyes, I could see the faint trace of tears threatening to fall down her face.

“Aurora, please, it wasn’t my choice to come here. It just ha—"

“—I will never bow to you, Scarlett. Never. Do you hear me? You will never be my Queen.”

Right... I hadn’t even thought of that. To her, Scarlett had spent her entire childhood tormenting Aurora and lording over her head the relationship she had with the equally abusive Alpha – then Alpha heir. At one point, Aurora probably believed that she would be stuck serving them for the rest of her life. Having no choice but to silently suffer their cruelty.

Now that she’d freed herself and discovered her second-chance mate, one of the most powerful men in this entire empire... she’d found that Scarlett was once again in a position of power above her. Capable of ruining her life, as if being forced to relive the hell of her enslaved upbringing all over again.

“That’s not... I would never... —"”

“—You are sick in the head,” she spat. “Malicious. Vindictive. Incapable of ever letting me find happiness. Imagine being so perverse that you would follow me all the way here, just so you could find a new way of continuing to feel superior. You already got what you always wanted, Scarlett. You could have had it all back in Easthaven. Liam said so himself. Why wasn’t that enough for you? What did I ever do to deserve becoming your fixation?”

“I...—”

“What’s going on here?”

Before I could respond, a new voice then spoke, one I didn’t recognise, and I looked over to find a younger carbon copy of the Alpha King walking over to us. With dark hair and the same light brown eyes as his father, there was only one person this could be.

...Honestly, I couldn’t see how this situation could get any worse.

“Aurora, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

She tore her eyes away from me, filled with so much hatred, only as Victor gently touched her arm, the physical contact probably calming her down slightly thanks to the matebond. I wondered what that must have felt like, to feel the reciprocated love and sparks that the bond could offer. Somehow, I had the feeling I was never going to find out.

“This is her... it’s Scarlett... the one I told you about,” Aurora answered, burying her face into his chest. “She followed me here.”

“She did what?” His face immediately became aggressive, his hold on Aurora becoming more possessive. “Don’t worry. I’ll have her sent away immediately. You don’t need to be upset. I won’t let her hurt you, I promise.”

“Victor... it’s not that simple. She’s your brother’s mate,” she sobbed, the tears starting to flow down. “There’s nothing you can do. Why can’t I ever escape her?”

“Alistair? She’s... she’s Alistair’s mate? I thought you said that Liam was planning to mark Scarlett around when you left Easthaven?”

“Apparently, that wasn’t enough for her.”

Not long ago, I’d read the book through Aurora’s eyes, experiencing her pain and journey as she became stronger. I’d read her intimate moments with Victor, her times of vulnerability, and the way she cried for his support. In a way, knowing all of this made me feel like I knew them so well, almost like friends. And yet here I was now... seeing them right in front of me in the flesh... watching helplessly as they discussed how much they wanted me gone. How my very presence was a curse on them.

I was frozen in place, watching the two of them talk like I wasn’t even here. Too scared to run away, but not entirely sure what I could possibly do to fix the situation. There was no chance that Victor was going to listen to anything I had to say when his mate was crying in his arms. Not that I even knew what I could say in this situation.

I just stood there, mouth hanging open slightly as if I were about to speak... only for no words to come to me.

“Don’t worry, we can talk to Alistair,” Victor spoke calmly, petting her head in a soothing way. “I’m sure if we just explain who she is and what she did to you, then he’ll have no interest in marking her.”

“There’s no need to explain,” a voice then added.

I didn’t even need to turn to check who had joined, I’d already recognised his scent approaching.

Alistair.