MARKED BY THE ALPHA KING

CHAPTER 1: THE NIGHT I STOPPED BELONGING I remember the night my life split into two halves, the girl I used to be, and the girl who died in front of everyone who once called me family. It wasn’t the cold that I remember most, though the wind cut through my thin dress like knives. It wasn’t even the fear, or the way my knees trembled so badly that I could barely stand. It was his voice, the kind of voice that doesn’t shake, doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t care then I stood in the center of the courtyard, surrounded by wolves who had watched me grow up, people who had once smiled at me, eaten with me and laughed with me but that night their faces were different, hard and distant and at the center of it all stood the only person who had ever mattered to me, he is my mate, my alpha and my everything but then Kael didn’t look at me the way he used to, not even a flicker of warmth in his golden charming eyes. It was like I was nothing more than dirt beneath his boots, like I didn’t matter to him anymore but somehow deep down, I already knew what he was about to say before the words even left his lips Then Kael said “I, the alpha king Kael, reject you Elara as my mate” For a second that repeated in my mind, it was reeling and crushed through my chest with a heavy pain, I couldn’t breathe almost like I’m suffocating. For a moment I paused because I couldn’t process what was going on, I couldn’t move because I was in shock and couldn’t even help to imagine how it will it be if I allow the bond between me and Kael to break just like that, the bond that I had held onto like as if it was the only thing that mattered to me. I broke down with tears rolling down my face, it felt real like as if something inside me has been ripped apart aggressively with bare hands. Suddenly my vision blurred, my ears started ringing, and then I hear my heart racing, like it was it was the last time I breathe on earth. Then said weakly “No this can’t be.” I was so weak and down but I couldn’t help myself, I walked slowly towards Kael while ignoring the murmurs I hear around me. Then I said to him with a cracking and weak voice “Kael please tell me that this is all a joke and tell me you didn’t mean non of this you said” and then I said to him again “do you remember when you told me that the moon goddess doesn’t make mistakes.” I embraced that memory like as if it could save my relationship with Kael that’s why i reminded him about what the moon goddess said “that Kael and I were meant for each other” thinking that it will soften his heart and bring back his senses but instead his expression worsened. “I was wrong,” he said, and there was something cruel in the way his lips curved slightly, like this was nothing more than and inn convenience to him. A ripple of laughter spread through the crowd, low and mocking, then I felt a slap across my face. “You think I would accept someone like you?” He continued, his voice louder now, meant for everyone to hear, “a weak omega who can’t shift properly?” You’re an embarrassment to this pack.” Kael said in front of the crowd. Every word he said hit harder than the last, and I felt myself shrinking under the weight of them, my fingers curled into the fists, but I didn’t fight back, I just couldn’t, not when the person tearing me apart was the one I had loved in silence for years. “I deny the bond completely” Kael said and finished, and that was it, the final blow and something inside me broke beyond repair, not just the bond but me, the girl who had believed in him, in fate, and Kael cracked and crumbled me right in front of everyone. I fell on my knees before I even realized I was falling, the ground beneath me was cold and rough, but I barely felt it because my mind wasn’t with me at the moment. The real pain was inside, spreading through my chest like fire, tearing through every piece of me until there was nothing left but emptiness, then I looked at him with a blurred vision hoping stupidly, desperately that he would at least look back at me while hoping that he would regret everything he did to me in front of the crowd, but Kael didn’t even spare me a glance, not glance, it was like I had already been dead to him. “Take her away,” he ordered casually as if I was like trash that needed to be thrown away, then suddenly rough and strong hands grabbed me before I could react, lifting me up so harshly my body reeled then I struggled weakly but I was already fading away, my strength slipping through my hands like sand, “please…..” I whispered again, although I didn’t even know why anymore maybe not for for him but for myself, maybe be because I wasn’t ready to accept that this was real but then no one answered, Kael didn’t answer me nor the pack, everyone was quiet just staring at me like I was an entertainment to them. They didn’t bother with a cell or punishment or even explanation, they dragged me aggressively through the gates and dumped me into the forest like I was nothing, like I never belonged with them at all. By the time they let go of me, I fell and collapsed onto the damp floor, my body was too weak to hold itself up but still I heard them leave while their footsteps fades quickly as if they couldn’t get away from me fast enough and just like I was all alone, completely alone in the dampy forest, the silence of the forest wrapped around me, thick and suffocating me, broken only by the sound of night creatures. The next morning I woke up and cold sank into my bones, then I curled into myself instinctively, trying to hold onto whatever warmth I had left. My chest still ached from everything Kael did to me, my heart pounding with an emptiness that refused to go away. I should have cried more, screamed harder, even cursed the moon goddess for giving me a fate like this, but I didn’t do none of that, I just lay there staring at nothing while feeling empty like everything that made me a human had been stripped off me for a single night. Time passed, I don’t know how many minutes or hours because it all blurred together and my body grew heavier, my thoughts became slower like I was sinking into something dark and endless, but a part of me welcomed it, maybe this is how is ended, not with a fight not with dignity but with quiet and forgotten death in the middle of the forest but then suddenly I heard a soft crack somewhere behind me, immediately my body tensed up without thinking, even though I had no strength left to defend myself. Then slowly and painfully I managed to turn my head. Immediately three figures stepped out from the shadows, their eyes glowing in the darkness, they were not from my pack, they were dangerous strangers. The way they looked at me sent a chill down my spine, then one of them said “well, well, well,” his voice was so thick with joy, then he continued “looks like someone got thrown away.” The others chuckled, circling me slowly like predators closing in on their prey, I tried to move, tried to crawl away but my limbs barely responded and immediately fear flooded my system, waking something inside me that had been numb just moments ago. “Please…” I whispered, my voice barely audible, I hated how weak I sounded and how helpless I was, I had never felt this powerless before, not even when Kael rejected me, At least then, I had still believed I mattered and now I wasn’t even sure of that, “don’t worry,” another one said, moving slightly as he studied me, his eyes glinting with something dark, “we’ll make it quick.” But I didn’t believe him, I saw the truth in his expression, in the way the others moved closer, their smiles too sharp and too eager, this wasn’t going to be quick and this wasn’t going to be merciful. Panic surged through me, and I tried to push myself up, but my body gave out again while collapsing back onto the ground, and tears burned my eyes, but I blinked then away, I didn’t want to cry in front of them, I didn’t want my last moments to be filled with begging and fear, so instead I closed my eyes, bracing myself for what was coming and if this was the end then let it come. And then everything went wrong, or maybe, for the first time, something went right, then I heard movement, not there moment but something else, something more deeper and heavier like the air itself had shifted at same time my heart pounded widely in my chest and before I could even process it, a voice echoed inside my mind with a clear, cold and unfamiliar voice “wake up,” and immediately my eyes opened and pain exploded through my body, it was so sudden and intense that I had to scream. It felt like every bone and every muscle and every piece of me was being torn apart and put back together all at once, I gasped for air, because I couldn’t breathe properly and my chest was racing as something surged through me, it was something powerful and alive. The world sharpened instantly that I could hear everything, the leaves, the uneven breathing of men around and the frantic pounding of my own heart, and then suddenly everything went silent, I blinked and slowly pushed myself up and when I got up then men were all dead, their bodies lay scattered around me and some of their bodies were torn apart in ways I didn’t even understand and blood soaking into the earth beneath them. My hands trembled as I lifted them slowly and that’s when I saw the blood, a thick and dark blood covering my fingers and my palms, dripping down my wrists and then my breath caught in my throat, “what did I do?” I whispered to myself, my voice shaking in a way that had nothing to do with fear anymore and that because this didn’t feel like fear but instead it felt like something else, something dangerous and something awakening. Then the voice came again but clearer this time and steadier like as if it has always been there waiting, “you survived,” a chill ran down my spine but i didn’t pull away from it, instead I swallowed hard and asked the question that burned in my heart, “who are you?” Then there was a pause just long Neto make my heart race and then it answered “I am you” my breath hitched and something inside me shifted, it was something dark and something powerful, it was something that felt nothing like the broken girl from before and I looked at the bodies around me again, then something new settled into my chest. The girl who had begged for love.. the girl who had been rejected and the girl who had been thrown away like she was nothing but trash… she was gone and whatever that had taken her place wasn’t weak and it wasn’t helpless and it wasn’t disposable too. I pushed myself fully to my feet while ignoring the aches in my body and for the first time that night I didn’t feel small, I didn’t feel worthless. I felt awake and alive in a way I had never been before and then my finger curled slowly into my fists, and I lifted my head while staring into the darkness of the forest like I was seeing it for the time. Somewhere out there was the man who had destroyed me, the pack that had abandoned me and the life they ripped away from me without second thoughts and for the first time, I didn’t want it back and i didn’t want their acceptance anymore nor their love, now I want something else. I want something colder, sharper and stronger. Revenge burned quietly in my chest, steady and unrelenting, and as I took my first step forward while leaving the broken girl behind in that blood soaked clearing. I made a silent promise to myself that the next time the alpha king Kael saw me, he wouldn’t be looking down at me anymore, instead he would be the one on his knees.