Promised to the Alpha

Two

I don't know at which moment I started to cry. Nor the what moment the rain started to fall strongly from the sky. My tears began to mingle with the rain, at the same time I walk through the deserted streets of Thorn Hills, without knowing where to go. I can't go home. I can't go to Nora's house, I would have to explain everything that happened and I don't think I'm ready for that yet. And I don't have anyone else willing to accept the mess I am. I stop walking and I look at the house in front of me. It looks more like a mansion. His house shows how much power and wealth he possesses.

Focused on getting some explanations, I decide to walk to the main door. With my nose up, I take confident steps, acting as if I own the whole thing. If he is going to be my husband, what is his, is mine. So I don't even knock, I try to open the door. All people die of fear of Collin Crestmoon, so it's obvious that the i***t wouldn't lock his door, it isn't worth it.

I enter the house, getting stupendous for the wealth. I decide to go to the living room. It's luxurious, with a huge TV, a fireplace that heats the place and with modern furniture that decorates it. I go to the small bar in a corner, take the bottle that looks more expensive, and put it almost all in a glass of wine. It shouldn't be long before Collin comes to me. I sit in the only armchair. She is beautiful, with some decorative snakes in the place to put your arms — and it seems to be of gold. This must be his favorite place to sit. You take away my freedom, I take away everything you like. It's that easy.

I don't say anything, not a word. When I was younger, my father took me hunting. He taught me how be patient and wait for the prey to come to us. So I wait, patient, drinking his most expensive wine.

"I knew you would appear sooner or later" Collin Crestmoon, the great alpha, finally appears.

I had seen him before, once or twice. But always from afar. I preferred to keep away from men like him. Now, seeing him near here, it's strange. He's attractive. His hair is black, big enough to get my hands through it. His eyes are black, dark — the same color, I believe, that is his soul. His body is muscular, and even I can admit that it looks like he was sculpted by some god with the sole purpose of making me wanna sin. This would all be easier if he was ugly.

"You walked in here as if you were the owner and now you're speechless?" he walks to his bar, one elegant step after the other. Nobody can tell he's got a violent, bloodthirsty monster inside him. "I usually have that effect on women."

I have a giggle, looking at the rest of the whiskey in the cup. Collin takes the bottle I opened and fills a glass for him.

"Beautiful house" I comment, finishing the rest of the liquid, feeling it burning on my throat. "It would be a shame if something happened to it."

"Why are you saying that? Do you have something in mind?" he walks up to me, and sits on the couch in front of mine. I feel inferior. Breathing gets harder, it feels like he sucks all the oxygen out. "Tell me about it."

"A baseball bat would make a lot of damage" I give him a sadistic smile. "Something even easier: I could just burn it. I put alcohol all over the house" his cold eyes seem to find me interesting, the great Collin Crestmoon looks at me with fascination. "With you still inside, obviously."

"I'm flattered. Do you think of ways to kill me? I seem to have chosen the right woman to marry."

"Not really, but this afternoon, I had some creative ideas" I pass a hand through my hair, her eyes follow my movements. "Because I'd rather kill you than ever marrying you."

He does a sarcastic laugh. He gets up from the couch and stands in front of me. I'd need to lift my jaw to look at him. I find a random object and focus on it. Until one of Collin's cold hands ends up in my jaw, I fight the urge to hit his hand, and let him lift my face to find his cruel eyes.

"You know this marriage is going to happen. And do you know why?"

"No, Your Majesty. Enlighten me with your knowledge."

"Please, Elizabeth. Leave the dirty talk to the bedroom" I roll my eyes and he begins to put more force in my hand than he holds my jaw. "We are perfect for each other. You are my opposite, my perfect bride. But that doesn't mean I'm going to love you, that's not going to happen. However, I can say that I will be the good husband. And I will help you raise our children."

"What?" I get up, horrified. "You want me just to have your kids and make your bed warm?"

We are face to face. I'm so close to him that I could kiss him or slap him.

"Isn't that what a woman is for?"

I thought long and hard before I did this. I swear. I blame the wine I stole. With all my strength, my fist goes against his face. His lip starts to bleed, before he has time to digest what happened, I punch him one more time, this time near the eye. It has good to get rid of my anger.

"Well, not this one" I open and close my hand, feeling my skin burning. "I won't be just a trophy for you to show around town" he looks at me, he's clearly angry. The damage I did to his face is starting to heal. "I can marry you, but just for the simple reason that I'm afraid of what you can do to my family. And even if we get married, I'd rather live the rest of my life in celibacy than let you go to my bed" I come closer to his face. His cheeks are red and his breathing is irregular. "You'll never have me completely, Collin. Does it kill you inside to know that?"

He holds my wrists and pushes me to the wall. He lets go of me, but his body still serves as a prison. His torso is placed against mine. Collin starts running his nose through my neck. And even places small kisses and nibbles on my neck. I hold back a moan by bitting my lower lip. I can't give him the satisfaction of knowing that I like what he's doing.

His hand goes to my neck. He doesn't squeeze it, but holds me in place. His dark eyes watch me.

"Do you really think you can resist temptation, Elizabeth?" he puts some strength in his hand. "I can feel your heartbeat. I barely touched you and you already want me. It won't be long before you want to be in my bed, and you know it's true" he passes his tongue through my lips, the bastard won't even kiss me. "Let's see how long it lasts. But I can promise you one thing, when you want my touch I won't give it to you. You'll have to earn it. I was willing to offer you, but since you decided to be a bad girl, you'll have to suffer the consequences."

"You make me sick" I spit in your face. He cleans, always with his eyes glued to mine. "Let me go."

"Okay" he drops his hand, gives a step backand and points to the main door. "You'll come back anyway."

I fix my dress and give him a look of disgust. He always has that smug look. In a childish attitude, I show him the middle finger and start walking away, knowing I left behind my dignity.

Before going out the door, I hear his voice:

"Next time you come to my house, you better not come with the smell of another man. Or I won't be so merciful."

Damn it.

_________________________

I am sure that someday, Nora White will get sick of me that she will simply decide to retire from her best friend position. I'm at her apartment door, with a bag full of ice cream, bags of French fries and a whole shelf of chocolate. And that's too many calories just for me. I ring the bell once again, unbalanced on the stairs and almost falling down. Yeah, I think I'm kind of dizzy from the drink I had at Collin's house. At parties, I'm the person who drinks one drink — the weakest drink possible — and still gets drunk. I sit down on the stairs and start, right there, eating some of everything I bought. Anyone who passed that street now would laugh at my me, I'm sure.

To save me from my misery, Sean Holdings shows up hand in hand with his new boyfriend of the week. He shares the apartment with Nora, although she has to stay out of it most of the time for Sean to have s*x with different men.

"Sean!" I scream, excited. "And Noah, right?" I ask the boy, even though I know that's not his name. Sean gives me a look of disapproval.

"Ignore her, that's what I do" he tells the blonde next to him. "She is a homeless woman who steals my food and sleeps regularly on my couch."

"I'm sure the couch is Nora's. Especially because she always complains about how you still owe her money from the couch" I get up and wait for Sean to open the door so I can come in. "And I don't steal your food, because you only eat weird vegetarian things that nobody else likes" I look at his new boyfriend, he's kinda cute. "Save yourself while you can, Sean Holdings will make you pray for a plant every day and eat strange foods with dirt in it."

"If you ignore it, it will disappear" he says, entering the apartment, followed by his boyfriend and me. "By the way" he turns to me while I close the door. "Are you stranger than usual, are you drunk?"

I shrug and throw myself on the comfortable couch. I grab the blanket that Nora leaves there and tuck myself in. Nothing a nap can't fix.

I hear Sean saying something to his boyfriend, who hasn't even introduced himself yet. The stranger closes the door that I believe is Sean's room. And I hear steps coming at me. Sean passes a hand in my hair and I open my eyes.

"What happened?"

I couldn't help myself. I started to cry. Sean proceeds to lies down next to me and hold me in his arms. He lets me cry, doesn't press me to talk, and doesn't ask me anything. I love him so much. I tuck myself into his chest and try to calm my breath.

"My life is a huge mess, Sean. I don't know what to do" I talk, between sobs. "When I think it can't get any worse, life laughs at me and decides to throw something that will simply destroy me in every way."

"Is it that bad?" I nod with my head.

"Where did your boyfriend go? You don't have to stay here with me."

"Honey, I don't date. And no man is ever gonna be more important than you. I sent him away" I smile. I'm not a good person, and yet I've managed to get the best friends anyone can have. "Now, I need to know what happened. And I need to know if I need to hit someone."

I hear the door opening and Nora cleaning her boots on the entrance mat. With her hands on her hips, Nora comes to us.

"This smells like betrayal to me."

"There's always room for you" Sean strays a little and makes room for Nora. Happy to be included, she lies down in the middle. "Liz was just about to tell me why her life is a mess."

"There's no need for her to tell. I already know" Nora declares. "She looks like a child because of that ridiculous dress. You have to get over it, Lizzie."

"I doubt it's that. She was crying." Sean argues, looking at Nora as if she is an i***t.

With some effort, I get up off the couch.

"You're looking at" I look at Sean "Drumrolls, please" both of tham look at me as if I'm crazy and part of me believes I'm really going crazy. Sean hits the couch, making the noise I asked for. "Collin Crestmoon's fiancée" Nora sits on the couch with her hand in her mouth and Sean remains still. "Now, who wants ice cream?"

Sean and Nora don't know that supernatural creatures exist so I don't tell who Collin Crestmoon really is. It would be too much information for them. For now, it's better to keep this secret. I leave the two of them alone to process the information while I get a bowl of ice cream for me. When I'm done, I go back to the living room. Nora is with her hands in her hair, looking at the living room's carpet and Sean walks around the room, clearly focused on her thoughts.

"What?" Nora asks, while I eat my ice cream. "How did this happen?"

"Wait!" Sean holds my arm. "You had a boyfriend this whole time and you never said anything?"

I sigh, and signal to them to sit on the carpet. Then, I proceed, to tell them about how my parents promised me to him and that I have no choice but to go forward with the marriage.

"That makes no sense! This is the twenty-first century, they can't force you to marry someone you don't even know." Nora argues.

"Have you seen the size of Collin Crestmoon? He's scary. Beautiful, but scary" Sean says. "I'd be afraid to say no to him."

"I'm not afraid of him. It's for my parents, really. I don't know if they would talk to me anymore if I didn't accept."

I believe what I said. If Collin didn't kill them, they'd never care about me again. They would disinherit me and erase me from their lives, as if I never existed. It would be that easy for them.

"God, your parents are sick!" Nora exclaims. "Who does that to their own daughter? Will they do that to Hope too?"

"No, it's just me" I take a deep breath. "By the way, your parents don't win the best parents awards either. Your sister's missing and they won't even let you go to the police to declare her missing."

"Don't even mention that, I wanna go scream at them everytime I remember" Nora comments, eating her ice cream. "You're the lucky one, Sean. Your parents are fantastic."

"Yes, but that means I can't blame anyone but myself for the way my life has become" I laugh, he knows how lucky he is to have loving and understanding parents. His parents even went to all his shows, concerts and football games. When I was younger, it was painful to look for someone in the audience who was never there. "I'm a disaster and it's all my fault."

"Eat your ice cream and shut up" I say, finishing my ice cream. "Who wants to have a slumber party here? It'll be fun."

"It's four in the afternoon, Liz!"

"So? I'm sad, so you have to do everything I say, it's a law."

"I think she's right, White" Sean looks at Nora with an accomplice look. "We have to do everything to make her laugh."

They both decide to tickle me. I try to get away from their hands. I can't stop myself from laughing loudly, while the sadists I call best friends decide to torture me. When they decide to stop, I'm breathless and with a desire to have my revenge. I decide to wait for my revenge, we have all night together anyway.

Our pajama party couldn't have gone better. Sean made his famous pizzas. Nora took care of the desserts, made chocolate mouse and a chocolate cake. I was always lying on the couch with my eyes focused on whatever movie was playing on TV. Also, we made played some games like Just Dance and Monopoly, and I was defeated in both. It must have been three in the morning when we went to sleep. My best friends had the power to make a horrible day much better just by being present. I wouldn't change them for anything.