She-Alpha

Chapter Three

Sasha’s POV

I held back laughter as my father led me down the aisle in my wedding dress. It was going to be one hell of a wedding, indeed—a wedding without a groom. I couldn’t wait to see the looks on everyone’s faces when they heard the news of Adrian Rider’s coma. I had left his room before the shadowsroot could take effect, but I still knew that it had, because I overheard my father and his council talking about it in hushed tones.

I had hoped that Father would cancel the wedding, but I should have known better. The Alpha of the Nightshade pack was too proud to do such a thing. He was keeping it a secret, but I wondered how long that would last.

I stood on the stage, looking out at the crowd with a smirk on my red-painted lips.

Iris sat in the front row, and I locked eyes with her, flashing a knowing smile.

Then the wait began.

I didn’t know what Father thought was going to happen. That Adrian would magically wake up just in time for the wedding? Hah.

The clock continued to tick, and the groom didn’t arrive. People were starting to get restless, looking around and murmuring.

Then the whispers grew louder, demanding to know where he was.

All of that, I had expected. What I hadn’t expected was for Iris to stand up and ascend the steps to the stage, holding up her bridesmaid dress.

“We apologize, everyone,” she said, raising her voice so the entire hall could hear. “Alpha Adrian Rider will not be able to make it today. He is currently in a coma.”

I thought the murmurs had been loud before. Now they threatened to pull the building down. I gaped at Iris, startled, but she wasn’t looking at me.

“How do you know about that?” my father demanded.

Iris turned to him, keeping her gaze respectfully on the floor.

“I was there with Lady Sasha, Alpha,” she said, “when she plotted to poison Alpha Rider with shadowsroot, in order to prevent her marriage to him.”

“What?” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “Iris, how could you?!”

“So it’s true, then?” Father said coldly.

“Father,” I said, turning to him, “I can explain—”

He cut me off with an angry gesture, already calling guards to throw me into the dungeons. I turned back to Iris, only for her to give me a gloating smirk.

“You b***h!” I yelled, dashing toward her with my claws out, but Father’s guards appeared and restrained me.

I struggled in their grip, but it was no use. I couldn’t overpower all of them at once.

“I’m going to make you regret this!” I yelled at her as they dragged me away. “You’ll regret betraying me, Iris!”

She had the guts to give me a little wave just before the doors closed.

The annoying thing about those dungeons was that no one could break out of them. The walls and bars were made of silver, and any attempt to force my way out ended with me getting burned. My hands were already red and raw by the time my twin brother arrived, still dressed in the white suit he had worn to the wedding.

“Are you okay, Sis?” he asked, looking worried.

“What do you think?” I snapped in frustration, showing him my burnt palms.

“You shouldn’t have touched the bars,” he said.

“You could have said that earlier,” I retorted.

He gave a small smile at that, stepping closer to the bars. Despite my tone, I was actually glad to see him. I sank to the floor, suddenly tired, and he mirrored my posture. Alpha Vance’s heir, sitting on the floor outside a dungeon cell. A different man would have looked ridiculous, but this was Ryan, so he didn’t.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” he said. “I promise.”

“I don’t think Father intends to keep me here,” I replied with a sigh. “He’s probably going to exile me or something.”

“I won’t let him,” Ryan promised.

I nodded, though I still felt hopeless.

“Hey, Sis?” he said. “Tell me a story.”

I smiled at that. Ryan was trying to distract me from my current situation, just like he always had when we were younger.

“Long ago,” I began, “before Moonvale became an empire of many pack territories, it was ruled by the Shadow Witch, whose name was Helen. For centuries, she oppressed the werewolves for worshipping the moon goddess instead of her, and ruled them with an iron fist—”

I stopped talking when I heard footsteps approaching. Father’s Beta appeared, and his eyebrows twitched when he saw Ryan sitting on the floor.

“The Alpha wants to see you,” he said.

“Tell Father that I am with my sister,” Ryan replied.

I could tell that the Beta was shocked.

“Your father—” he began.

“Will come here if he wants to speak to me,” Ryan cut in.

The Beta clearly wanted to scold Ryan, but Ryan outranked him. So he glared at me instead, as if I were somehow at fault for Ryan’s defiance. Then he stormed away.

Shortly after, Father arrived, and only then did Ryan stand.

“Father,” he said.

“Ryan,” Father replied, frowning. “You should know better than to hang around her at a time like this.”

He said “her” as if the word tasted disgusting. He wasn’t even looking at me.

“Around my sister?” Ryan asked. “Why is that?”

Father didn’t seem to know what to say in response. So he switched topics.

“I’ve made my decision,” he said. “Sasha, you have brought disgrace to our pack. You will be exiled to the Oracle’s mountains to stay with your aunt until I call you back. And you, Ryan, will be sent to the Alpha Academy. It’s about time you learned how to be a proper heir.”

“What?” Ryan and I blurted out at once.

“You can’t exile Sasha!” Ryan said.

“You can’t send Ryan to that place!” I yelled.

The Alpha Academy was an institute for training future Alphas. Only the very strong survived there, and Ryan…

Ryan was sickly, and his wolf wasn’t strong either. Alpha Academy would do him more harm than good. They might break him there.

“You will not question my decision,” Father growled.

“Ryan can’t go to the Alpha Academy,” I growled back.

“You don’t speak for my heir!” Father snapped.

“I don’t want to go to the Alpha Academy,” Ryan said.

“If you’re going to be a proper Alpha—”

“I don’t even want to be the Alpha!” Ryan cut in. “Sasha is older and stronger. Why can’t she be the Alpha?”

Yes, why couldn’t I be the Alpha?

“A woman cannot be an Alpha,” Father snapped. “My decision is final!”

He stormed away before we could say anything else. I met Ryan’s eyes, feeling hopeless, but his eyes were twinkling with mischief.

“Hey, Sis,” he whispered, “how do you feel about attending Alpha Academy?”