HUNTED BY THE ALPHA KING

2. ONE LAST FIGHT

NELISSA.

For a second—or maybe even more—I don’t move. I struggle to swallow the hard pill that has just been forcefully shoved down my throat in the form of Cedric’s words. The tone in which he says them makes it clear that he means every word. That tone makes it so painfully clear how Cedric just can’t wait to get rid of me and has only been waiting for an opportunity that has finally presented itself.

Even as my heart begins to ache painfully, I still wait long enough to hear the earnest response of the Alpha-chief.

"Of course, trust me, there is a long line of females you can choose from, but you should

meet my eldest daughter first.”

I can almost picture the crooked grin the Alpha-chief has on his face at the thought of my impending doom which will end up being his own good fortune. I feel the blood drain out my face, feel myself go pale.

The next full moon is in five days—that one detail has my head reeling.

In five days, my position will be unfairly snatched away from me. In five days, all of the pain and suffering I have endured for three years as Cedric’s unbeloved Luna Queen will all be rendered worthless.

When I’m finally able to lift my heavy legs off the ground, it’s because I hear them both approach my hiding place. I spin in the direction of my chambers and without a second thought, I break into a run down the hallway of the huge palace.

It is unladylike to run. It in fact goes against all the etiquette lessons I took in preparation to be the Luna Queen years ago but I couldn’t care less now as I raise my dress high enough to show my stockings and keep me from tripping and falling on the material of the dress.

Damn those lessons about grace and poise, my entire life could be over in five days and it takes everything in me to wait to get to my chambers before I allow my tears to fall.

I try to stop them from falling as they already filled my eyelids.

“Don’t cry, Nelissa please don’t cry.” I sound pathetic even to myself.

But I can’t help it, a tear slips and it soon becomes a torrent that pours down my face. I crash onto my bed and cry. My chest heaves with each cry that leaves my lips.

It is not the first time I have felt this way because of Cedric.

Pathetic, unloved, betrayed and unworthy.

Those words sum up everything the man who is meant to be my husband has made me feel long before I was even arranged to marry him. Cedric has never paid any kind of attention to me and when he actually does, his eyes are always filled with his unspoken contempt for me. Like he can’t stand me being in the same space with him. Like he hates that I breathe the same air as him.

Each time I catch him staring lustfully at another female, or overhear about his s****l escapades with the palace maids who can’t keep it to themselves, another part of me gets broken.

It is no news that he finds comfort in between the thighs of the maids rather than mine, his lawfully wedded wife.

Everyone knows and they all conclude the same thing—that I am not enough to quench the Alpha king’s insatiable desires.

What they do not know is that Cedric has never actually touched me. After three years of being married to the only man I have ever loved, I am still a virgin.

I still remember the cold look in his eyes on the night of our marriage when he came into his chamber and found me seated on his bed, prepared to be taken by him.

“Who told you you could come in here? Listen here female, do not delude yourself with the thought that I will touch you or have you in my bed because it will never happen. You mean nothing to me more than a deal between our parents and that is what you will ever be.”

Those were his exact words and the memory remains forever etched into my brain. Another cry makes its way out of my lips at the reminder of those words.

The door to my room suddenly opens and I sense my handmaiden’s presence.

“My Queen?” She calls as if unsure of if I’m really in the room. When she gasps, I know she has already set her eyes on my frame. She hurries towards me.

“My Queen, you can’t be here! The king is about to make the final spee—”

Her words come to an abrupt stop when I lift my face and she takes in my teary state. Worry immediately flashes in her eyes as she goes on her knees before me.

“My Queen.” She says softly as she holds me. I don’t need to say anything. She already knows, Rahlia knows what’s causing me so much pain and all she does is keep me there in her embrace while I cry.

Three years. Three years I have endured all that pain thinking it will all be over soon. Thinking If I can just wait a little more, things will change. Cedric will finally ‘see’ me. I almost laugh at how stupid I was all those years, to expect love from a man who is still grieving the loss of his true mate who he has sworn to only ever love.

All of that enduring was for nothing because this time, it seems like it is finally the end for me.

I sob shamelessly in Rahlia’s arms while she comforts me.

“My Queen.” She whispers, “Please stop crying, your eyes will become puffy in the morning and you’ll get sick again.”

If only it is that easy to stop myself from crying.

“I hate to see you like this, My Queen. It makes me wish there was something I could do to help you but what can a powerless maid like me do?” She says again with sincerity present in her voice.

What can she do that I have not done?

In my state, I can’t even think of any way for me to get out of this situation. Cedric is powerful and it is only anyone that wishes death upon himself that will dare to defy him. If he asks for me to be dethroned, that is exactly what is going to happen.

There is no way out of this. The thought of that only makes me cry harder.

“My Queen, you can’t spend the whole night in tears. Not when the king will once again retire to his room with another one of those shameless females.” I like the bitterness in her tone towards Cedric. It comforts me even more than her arms to know that unlike the other maids who will do anything to jump into the Alpha King’s bed, she would rather bite her tongue and die.

That’s exactly the moment a thought crosses my mind in a flash. It is dangerous and it immediately puts a stop to my tears. I sit up quickly, wiping my face and my snort with the back of my hand.

I access Rahlia, the main character of that dangerous thought and she blinks back at me, her gaze questioning why I suddenly sat up.

She is built like me, falling only a half-inch short. Her hair is just as dark as mine and her pupils are only slightly darker than mine.

She has everything I need.

“Are you alright? Should I get you some water?”

I take hold of her hands, “Rahlia, I think there really is something you can do to help me.”

She also sits up, “I would do anything for you, My Queen, you know that.”

I take in a deep breath before I say the next words,

“I need you to seduce the king.”

Rahlia freezes in my hold as her eyes go round in shock then all of a sudden, she snatches her hands away from me.

“My Queen! How can you ask me to do such a thing?” I’ve never seen her look so hurt and offended.

“Rahlia, please, listen.”

She is already standing, shaking her head.

“How could I do that to you? No, I will not do it. I do not want to know your reason for saying such a thing, my Queen but I will pretend I didn’t hear it.”

“But you haven’t even heard the rest of it, Rahlia. Just listen, I beg you.”

Rahlia’s eyes grow soft at my plea. She must have seen the desperation in my eyes.

“Listen, I am not asking you to sleep with the king.”

“Then, why did you ask me to seduce him?” She asks.

“Because that is really all you have to do. Cedric desires you and you just have to go into his chambers with the strongest wine in the palace storage”

It takes a moment before I see her eyes grow wide in realization. She finally understands my plan.

“You’re going to trick the king?” She says it like she can’t believe I can go that far. I am shocked at myself as well, to be able to let such dangerous thoughts cross my mind and even consider acting on it but it’s the only way I can think of. The only way I can help myself. The last fight left in me.

All Rahlia has to do is get him drunk enough to not recognise who is going to be in his bed tonight.

“But it’s dangerous. The king can…he’ll hurt you if he finds out.”

“He won’t. He won’t ever find out, Rahlia.”

Until I am pregnant with his heir.

The thought of death doesn’t scare me as much as being casted out of Cedric’s life.

Rahlia still hesitates and I grab her hands in mine to assure her again.

“Please, Rahlia, I need this.”

She finally succumbs and nods her head.

I don’t waste any more time. In an hour from now, the Ball will be over and Cedric will retire to his chambers. I need to be prepared before then.

After managing to convince her, I help Rahlia search her closet for the right clothes that will show just enough skin to seduce Cedric and an hour later, I urge her to Cedric’s chambers.

“My Queen, do you really have to do this?” Her eyes hold uncertainty and fear.

“You don’t have to worry about me, Rahlia. Just do your part and head out. I shall be waiting for you.”

She nods and does as told and then I watch her slip into his chambers after knocking and being given the command to come in.

I wait in my room, my heart beating so fast in my chest as I pace up and down, saying a silent prayer.

When my door opens half an hour later and Rahlia silently walks in, I rush over to her with a mixture of fear and hope. Rahlia doesn’t say a word and just nods. Her eyes gave me the answer I so badly needed to hear.

Relief floods me and I immediately begin to peel off every piece of clothing on my body and exchange them for the ones Rahlia had worn to Cedric’s chambers so I can carry her scent with me and make the trick last long enough for him to make love to me in his drunken state.

Rahlia only watches with concern till I am finally ready. Knowing she’s going to try to stop me one more time, I leave the room quickly.

I make my way into Cedric’s chambers with shaky legs. With each step toward his room, I consider taking another one back to my own room. To stop this madness and find another way out of it.

It is stupid but the thought of being with Cedric intimately which is what I have desperately craved for all these years, overshadows my fear and turns off the warning sounds in my head.

I noiselessly walk into his Chamber and shut the door quietly behind me. The room is dimly lit with a lantern that burns a few feet away from the huge bed. As I take in the room, I can’t help but remember the first and last time I was here and Cedric said those hurtful words to me. What if the same thing repeats itself?

Shaking off that thought and mustering enough courage, I tread closer to the bed. Beside the lantern is both the glass and the bottle of wine that is already half-finished. It is enough to knock out a man even as strong as Cedric.

On the bed, Cedric’s bold and masculine frame is visible from where I stand. He lay on his back with his arms and legs spread far apart on the bed. I can hear his gentle breathing and his murky scent mixed with the alcohol wraps around me and makes me shiver in anticipation.

He looks like he’s passed out but wanting to confirm if truly he is passed out drunk, I gently tap him. I do it two more times and when he doesn’t move, I slowly climb into bed with him.

I wish I could take the time to appraise the beautiful features of his face but of course, time is exactly what I do not have. I always thought I had enough time to make Cedric love me but now, all I have is five days.

Without wasting time, my shaky hands find the buttons of his shirt and I begin to take them out one after the other.

My fingers find the last button but before I can take it out, a strong hand circles around my wrist tightly and in a flash, my position is switched. I yelp in shock as I get shoved roughly, my back thrown against the bed while a weight nestles above me.

I freeze in fear, staring back into the pair of drowsy blue eyes of the man who is hovering above me.

“What do you think you're doing?”

He rasps into my face.