Married To The Cursed Alpha

2

~Corvus~

"The Shepherds are fools for daring to trick you, Alpha. They know the rules, yet they insult you by offering their second daughter." Kealen, my beta, growled as he drove us to my estate.

"The agreement remains the same. Seraphina inherited her father's warlock DNA; the other girl did not. I have no need for a useless, loud human." I replied and strong, fiery honey eyes blazing with audacity and determination flashed in my mind.

Even if she were a witch, I would never marry her. A woman loud, uncultured, and crass like her was trouble and would kill me before Mallum did.

Her sister was a more bearable burden. Calm and docile— exactly what I needed to manage this curse.

"Forgive me for saying, but I still think they should have introduced her to you. Then maybe she wouldn't have pulled that mad stunt."

"She would have done worse. A wild woman will always find a way to act wild. Besides, what's the point? If her father deemed it fit not to introduce her to our world, then I see no problem. The less humans know about our existence, the easier it is to keep them in check."

"You're right, Alpha. It's already quite a chore to deal with the ones that know. Needy, greedy leeches," he scoffed.

Humans were annoying pest werewolves had to deal with logically and civilly.

They were weak; neither their strengths nor weapons could compare with those of my kind, especially my pack.

I could take over their world if I wanted, but werewolves had an unspoken rule not to interfere with the weaker species and let them think we were all like them.

Only a few knew about us.

In most eyes, I was the formidable billionaire, Corvus Vane, not the alpha of the Bloodhound pack.

I acted like them and went to their parties but made sure they had a certain level of fear so they couldn’t approach me without trembling.

Yet that woman had strut to me with a confidence that almost confused me. Like everyone else, my aura affected her, her heart had pounded in her chest as she approached me. But she hid her fear with a teasing, tempting smile.

And Mallum reacted.

No one had ever caught the attention of my aggressive wild beast, but even before she pushed through the crowd around me, he perked up at her presence.

And when she stood in front of me, he rose. I understood why.

She was a f*****g goddess. Everything about her was hypnotising: warm, bright honey eyes that glowed with unshakable confidence, smooth, soft brown skin that begged to be caressed; perfect lips that would taste just as good as they looked; and the most seductive curves that I wanted to rip her dress off and run my hands over.

And when I took in a whiff of her scent...

I closed my eyes and inhaled, imagining the rich, intoxicating scent of dark raspberry wine from her. My c**k hardened like it had then.

'Mine' slipped out of my mouth before I could think.

When she touched me, my beast fought against my restraints.

Fuck, I wanted to drag her to my room, sink my teeth into her neck and give her my mark while I thrust my aching c**k into her needy cunt. Her cries would echo through my mansion as I made her mine.

Mine to hold, touch, kiss, and f**k.

'Go back! Catch her! f**k her! Mate her! Mark her! She's ours!' Mallum growled in my head.

"Shut it." I muttered and let out a tight breath.

What the f**k did that woman do to me?

My curse was still shackling my soul, yet she evoked feelings that were dead.

The pathetic human was getting into my head, turning my body against me. How dare she?

I ran my hand over my face and let out a guttural growl as her scent slammed into me. f**k, I had touched her.

"Is everything well, alpha?" Kealen asked.

"Yes." I swallowed as I stripped off my gloves and tossed them out the window.

If she came close to me again, I would really slit her throat.

~Zuri~

"You!" Mathilda snarled as she grabbed my ear, digging her nails into my skin.

"Let go! Let go!" I screamed and struggled as she pulled me along like a child.

She shoved me into a small private room and glared at me.

"What the hell is wrong with you? What were you thinking approaching Corvus Vane? Nothing! Because if you were, you wouldn't have done that at all." She hissed.

"I wouldn't have if I weren't being cheated by my own family!" I retorted.

"I have always treated you fairly! Always! I—"

"Yet, you wanted to give my spot and birthright to your daughter. I might be illegitimate, Mathilda, but I'm still my father's first daughter, and I am going to be Mrs Vane whether you like it or not." I spat, and her green eyes widened.

"Your daughter has run mad, Derek! Talk to her! Tell her to stop being stupid." She turned to him, who was standing quietly by the side with Seraphina.

"Yes, talk to me, Father. Tell me why you decided to blindside me. Are you ashamed of me? You don't want the rich and powerful Mr Vane to get married to your mistake?" I hissed and his eyes widened.

"Don't say that, Zuri. You know I love you and your sister equally. I—"

"Then why did you hide the truth from me? Why did you want to give Seraphina to Corvus instead of me? Do you know how hurt I was when my auntie Cor—"

"So it's Cordelia that's filling your head with these crazy ideas! Did she put you up to this? I should have known that woman would try to sabotage me." Mathilda snarled.

"Watch the way you talk about my auntie," I growled. "And it's not sabotage if you're stealing from me. I'm only taking back what is mine."

"Corvus isn't yours, and he's marrying Seraphina. You can either help with the planning or stay away. Got it?"

"I—"

"Pardon me, but I'd like my cousin back now." Julian said as he walked into the room with a charming smile on his face.

"Take her and tell Cordelia to take back whatever shitty idea she put in her head." Mathilda replied.

"I told you not to talk about my aun—"

"Come on, Zuri. It will stain Mr Vane's reputation if people heard his wife-to-be strangling her stepmother." He teased as he pulled me towards the door.

"Of course you're in on—"

He slammed it shut before she could say more.

"Can you believe the nerves of that woman? Ugh, she's such a pain in the ass." I hissed as we stormed down the hall to the nearest exit because my party mood was gone.

"You can't blame her, though. You are trying to steal a crown from her daughter's head."

"A crown that is rightfully mine. Did she really think I won't find out? Now she's acting like I'm the bad guy when she blindsided me first." I scowled as we got into the car and drove off. "I blame my father. I'm sure the whole thing was her idea, and he let her have his way as always."

"Happy wife, happy life; isn't that what they say?" He teased.

"He can find other ways to make his wife happy and not steal my opportunity for her sake. Does she ever care about what Seraphina wants?"

"If my mother wanted to marry me off to a hot s**t like Corvus, I wouldn't even care about what I want. Oh no, I'm going to have an attractive, filthy rich husband. What a tragedy." He faked sobbing.

"Gold-digger." I rolled my eyes and rubbed my jaw where Corvus had touched. "I thought the worst he could say was no but threatening to murder me?! Seriously?! How is that an option?! I swear I thought he would do so right there. How could he even say that in front of all those people? Isn't he worried about the rumours that would spread and ruin his reputation?"

"Have you heard one good thing about his reputation?"

I opened my mouth to speak but closed it.

No, it was only crazy stuff about how he was ruthless and cold and terrifying. I always thought they were exaggerated, but if he could threaten to murder me in front of a hundred guests, maybe they weren't far off from the truth.

"Do you think I have a chance with him after this night?" I asked as I leant my head against the mirror.

"Never thought you did, but you're crazy, so you'll find a way. Or mom will. Both of you know how to get what you want," Julian said, and I smiled.

We arrived home, aka my auntie Cordelia's house or the place I stayed when Mathilda and I couldn't tolerate each other's bullshit, which was a lot.

"What are you waiting for? Where are the mops? Did you get the towels? Where is the damn mop?!" Amanda, the head maid, shrieked at the bottom of the stairs as the other maids scurried around holding different cleaning supplies, and my stomach tightened.

No, not again. I thought we were past this.

"What's going on?" I asked, though I already knew the answer, and she turned to me with a tight smile.

"It's the mistress; she's having another crises."