Mated to the Demon Alpha

Chapter 3

Derrick

I step out into the cold night air, inhaling deeply, trying to purge the stench of Rosewood Academy from my lungs. The scent of wolves bidding on flesh lingers like rot in my nostrils, clinging to my skin like filth.

Colin and Rudolph are fetching the limousine. Egbert stands beside me, silent, waiting. The girl – Alisa - hovers near him, wrapped in my jacket.

She’s just standing there like a ghost, as if she’s already left her body behind, absolutely resigned to her perceived fate.

But she would have been trained for this. To be quiet. Obedient. Until the moment she’s put on the altar and sacrificed – the poor girls are brainwashed to believe that it’s an honour to die in his fire.

I almost didn’t do it.

As soon as I stepped inside that building, I wanted to leave. Walk right back out and forget I was ever there. But Egbert, Colin, and Rudolph wouldn’t allow it.

“We agreed, Derrick,” Egbert snarled when I turned around. “My Goddess, we need some peace. You need some peace.”

“It’ll only take a few minutes,” Colin, my Gamma, added. “Go in, pick a girl, and leave. It’s really very simple.”

“It’s f*****g grotesque,” I said.

But I did it anyway. Now, I can’t even remember why I agreed to it.

The orphanage system to raise potential sacrifices, among other things, were established by the Lycans centuries ago, scattered across their kingdom like festering wounds.

Places like the academy are rare, and those of us chosen to have an orphanage on our territories are responsible for maintaining them, paying for the orphans’ care, until they’re ready for their purpose.

Some go to harems. Some to breeding houses. The most beautiful, the rarest, are sacrificed to the blood god. Most of them, even the concubines, do not live to see thirty.

Technically, Katrina operates under my pack. She’s supposed to answer to me. But the Lycans protect her – everyone profits from the orphanages, except for me. It’s blood money, and I will have no part in it.

I send the funds, I play my part, but I’ve never set foot in Rosewood Academy until tonight. And it was worse than I ever imagined.

Egbert stirs beside me. “Alpha?” His voice is quiet, cutting through my thoughts like a jagged piece of glass. “Are you ready to go?”

I glance at Alisa again, fully taking her in now that we’re alone and the chaos of the auction is behind us.

She’s small. Skinny. Her grey eyes are too big for her face, her hair dull and brittle from malnutrition. The jacket swallows her, the sleeves hanging past her fingertips, making her look even younger and more vulnerable than she did when I saw her the first time.

She’s a scrap of a thing. Weak. Fragile. But there is something about her. Something in her aura. Something she doesn’t even know is there.

And the girl is mine.

My heart flips over at the thought. It took every ounce of my willpower not to let it show in front of the others.

I flick my chin toward the car. “Let’s go.”

The gravel crunches beneath my boots as we walk across the driveway to the waiting car. Alisa lingers for a moment before following, her head bowed. I feel Egbert watching me as we step up to the limousine, but he doesn’t speak.

Rudolph opens the door. I slide into the backseat first, settling into the cool leather. Egbert helps Alisa in, and she sits across from me, folding in on herself as much as possible, trying her best to disappear.

At long last, Egbert gets in the car, sitting next to me, his eyes on Alisa, his face pensive.

I knock on the divider, and the car pulls away, leaving Rosewood Academy behind. I exhale loudly. Thank Goddess that is over.

“Give her some water,” I order my Beta

Egbert opens the refreshment box, and pulls out a bottle. He hands it to Alisa, who takes it with a shaky hand, but doesn’t drink right away. She hesitates, like she’s waiting for permission.

My jaw clenches. “They wouldn’t let you drink today, would they?” I ask.

She shakes her head, barely lifting her eyes.

I knew the answer before I even asked. The auction preparations are brutal. The girls are woken before dawn, bathed, blessed, painted, dressed. Their bodies must remain ‘pure’ for the buyers. No food. No water. They stand for hours in heels, starving, dehydrated, exhausted.

It disgusts me.

Alisa uncaps the bottle and finally takes a sip.

Egbert shifts beside me, glancing my way. A second later, I feel him form a mind link, and he speaks in my head, “She’s a bad choice, man.”

I don’t respond immediately. He's right. And it would have been safer for both of us if I left her at the orphanage.

The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew exactly what she was to me. A secret, buried deep in my blood. A connection that has been outlawed for centuries.

My fated mate.

The words alone are treason. The reality is worse.

The Lycans banished the Moon Goddess long ago, stamping out the truth of what we were. If they find out, I’ll be forced to kill her myself.

And I will not do that.

The only way to keep her safe is to hide our bond. No one will ever know what she is to me.

I finally found her. She is mine. She always was. The Fates just took their time delivering her to me.

“Derrick,” Egbert nags through the mind link. “Why her?”

“Why not her?” I shoot back. “You wanted me to pick someone. I picked someone.”

“Any of the other girls would’ve been a better choice.”

My beast stirs. He’s agitated, annoyed by Egbert’s words. “Excuse you?” I ask.

Egbert backs down immediately. “No disrespect, Alpha.”

“Uh-huh.” I sever the link, shutting him out.

Silence envelops us, the only sound is the low hum of the tires against the road, and the occasional soft rustle of fabric. Alisa clutches the water bottle so hard that her knuckles are white.

She’s terrified. Of me. Of where she’s going. Of what’s next.

“Alpha?” Her voice is small, barely a whisper.

I meet her eyes. “Yes?”

She hesitates, struggling to form the words. Finally, she speaks. “Why me?”

The question lands harder than I expected. She doesn’t mean it the way Egbert did. She’s not questioning my logic. She’s asking why she was taken at all.

I hold her gaze. “Because a vain brat like Tanya wouldn't make it a week.”

A tiny smile twitches at her lips. It vanishes almost instantly, but I saw it.

I nod toward the refreshment box. “You must be hungry.”

She shakes her head. “I’m fine.”

I ignore her and nudge Egbert, who rummages through the compartment, coming up with a chocolate bar and a packet of crisps. He holds them out to her.

Alisa hesitates, staring at the snacks in Egbert’s hands.

“Eat,” I order sharply.

She flinches and quickly grabs the food, then peels back the wrapper on the chocolate bar, nibbling on the sweet treat.

Egbert’s voice pipes up in my head again. “You know, I don’t think Alisa is eighteen. She looks older.”

“So?” I ask and study Alisa. She looks much younger than eighteen to me, but I’m not good at judging people’s age anymore. “How old are you?” I ask her.

She hesitates. “Nineteen. Almost twenty.”

I frown. “You should have been up for auction last year.”

She nods once, but doesn’t say anything else.

“That doesn’t make sense,” I say through my mind link with Egbert. “Since when does Katrina pass up the chance to make money? Why keep her hidden so long?”

“That is what I’m saying,” Egbert responds. “I’m mean… Alisa’s not exactly fugly, is she? A little food, a haircut… she’ll even be downright pretty. Katrina has sold worse in the past.”

Something just doesn’t fit. Not Alisa, not the fact that I found my fated mate in an orphanage, not Mistress Katrina’s unwillingness to sell her.

And that’s a problem. I don’t like incomplete puzzles.

“Find out everything you can,” I command Egbert through the link.

He hesitates. “The Lycans won’t like it.”

I glance at the fragile girl across from me. She’s completely unaware of the noose that’s wrapping around her neck.

“The Lycans,” I say at last, “can blow me.”