Celestina’s POV

He was icy, heartless, and cruel... but he was also strikingly good-looking.

I realized this after staring into his ocean-blue eyes for a moment; this prompted him to release his grip on my arm.

"Get out of here!" he growled angrily at me.

Because of this, I didn't hesitate to run away from him, even though my tears were slowly falling down my face. My long white dress was covered in mud and dirt, and I ran barefoot through a dark forest, not knowing where I was going. I had never been here before, so I looked around. As I did, I heard a loud growl coming from close by, and I could see red eyes moving slowly toward me.

They are attacking me and trying to pull me toward them. They look like wild beasts and are hungry for human blood and flesh. They were runaway dark rogues who wanted to eat a wolf like me who didn't have a pack. I screamed as loud as I could, desperately hoping that someone would hear me and come to my rescue before it was too late!

But, a little while later, I heard a menacing snarl coming from behind me, and the Rogue attackers that had been fighting me ran away like a startled cat and vanished instantly with the bat of an eye. I turn my head slowly to the rear, and there, standing behind me, is a huge werewolf with glowing red eyes and pointed fangs. He looks pretty menacing. I haven't seen anything like this in the past two years, so the novelty of seeing it almost caused me to pass out from excitement.

He turned on human form, and as I looked down at his shirtless body, my gaze fell upon his shorts. At that moment, he addressed me with a concerned voice and asked, "Are…Are you alright?"

He touched my stomach, then felt the blood streaming down, and cupped my face, “You’re bleeding….”

As I finally understood that I had huge cuts in my stomach, I moaned in pain, and he stared at me with wide eyes. "Come with me," he whispered, but I pushed him away.

“No, I don’t want to be with someone like you, you rejected me, remember?!”

He didn’t answer.

“Then just leave me alone, if I die, you’ll find a new mate.”

Then, when people were approaching in our direction, he quickly hid in the darkness.

Alexander arrived with his men and asked me softly, "What happened to my bride?"

"Alexander…help me!" I moaned in agony and noticed that my breathing was becoming increasingly strained. We left the place, and just before I closed my eyes for the night, I saw the man's eyes flash furiously while he was staring at me in the dark. Alexander tightly drew me into his arms while his men investigated the surrounding area.

***********

Alexander drove me to the closest hospital, and the staff there was able to treat my condition on time. They told me that I had lost an unhealthy amount of blood and miraculously survived. He has a firm grip on my hand, and I can't help but gaze at him with my body shaking. I don't know what to do, but whenever I close my eyes, the image of the menacing man's face keeps repeating over and over in my head. But why?

"Celestina, how have you been doing? Are you okay?" he said as he gently kissed my knuckles, but I pulled away my hand and sighed. Just then, the door opened, and it was Helene, who was looking quite concerned about me.

While she was in a state of fear, she uttered the words, "I told you to forget who you are, you will never be turned into anything you want."

I didn't pay attention to her, so she stroked my face and asked me, "Why did you run away? Look at what happened to you!"

Alexander clears his throat, and I look at him. "I know you don't want to marry someone like me, but since I saved your life, you need to marry me, Celestina."

"N-NO…." I shake my head, but Alexander hits me. Helene was shocked, so she pulled Alexander away from me and asked, "What are you doing?! Can't you see that she's still in pain?!"

"Helene Sullivan, you owe me a lot of money. If you can't get her to marry me, I will have to take everything you own! You'll be as broke as a rat!" Alexander said in an angry tone and gave me an edgy look. I stroked the side of my face and groaned in pain when I moved slowly.

"You can't treat me like this, Alexander! We have an agreement!" Helene said.

"That makes no difference anymore; I want to have her all to myself!" Alexander opened the door but quickly retreated as soon as he saw who was on the other side. It was the mysterious man, and I rolled my eyes when he peered at me. His eyes landed on the side of my face and my bruises. I rolled my eyes again.

Alexander asked, "And who the heck are you?!"

He gave Alexander a suitcase full of cash and told him, "You can have it all, just leave her alone, or else you won't see daybreak anymore."

Helene was speechless.

Alexander took the suitcase, and with his jaw clenched, he left without looking back. The man turned his back on me and said to his men, "Bring her to my castle."

Wait, what?

Celestina’s POV

"Hey, you can't just do this to my daughter! Who do you think you are!?" Helene's anxiety caused her to run out of the building and immediately start calling for security and medical staff.

"Get off of me! What do you want from me?!” I shoved the man who was ready to place me in the wheelchair so that I could take control of the situation. He looked up at me and gave the command, "Sit."

I heaved a sigh and sat down in the wheelchair, bewildered. Then, three bodyguards dressed in dark suits appeared behind me, and another bodyguard pushed the wheelchair into the elevator.

As we arrived, the Mysterious One was already waiting for us in his lavish limousine in the parking lot. He lowered the window, his eyes met mine, and I asked while panting. "You...what do you want from me?! You no longer have any control over me! Remember! You choose to reject me! If you want me to be your slave, I have better things to do than serve someone like you!" I yelled at him, and everyone was surprised when they heard me speaking to the man in such a manner toward him.

"You can't possibly say something like that to the Alpha King! Or you'll be beheaded!" The man said as he brandished his silver sword in my direction. Fear crept over me as I gently lowered my head, and the mysterious man with a deep voice instructed them, "Bring her inside the car, and be gentle with her."

As I sit next to him, he places his hand on my stomach. At first, I gasped because it seemed he was absorbing all the pain I was enduring. Then, when his bare hand made contact with my skin, I jerked back and pushed him away.

He said softly, "My name is Thaddeus," Then he let out a soft snarl like he didn't like my treatment towards him.

"I could care less about your identity! I'm not something that can be bought with money!" I yelled at him quite loudly. The driver appeared shaken up as a consequence of my actions, and a man named Thaddeus shut the private window separating the passengers and the driver.

He gave me a piercing look with his eyes before asking, "Do you want to wed a wretched human being instead of being with me?"

I leaned forward to meet his menacing gaze and said, "I don't want to choose between you and him, I just want to be alone in my life, and mateless than to be with someone who rejected me for being weak and powerless."

This time he did not react; instead, he moved closer until our lips were only a few inches apart; when I screamed and backed aside, he grabbed my arm and asked, "Are you scared?"

"Please, please, please, let go of me...I have no interest in becoming one of your mistresses!"

He let go of my arm and took a deep breath, ignoring my pleas. A little while later, we made it to his opulent Home, which resembled a royal palace. I heaved a breath as I peered around, and when he cast a sidelong glance in my direction, I said softly while shaking my head, "I don't belong here..."

"You're going to have to put up with this situation, regardless of how you feel about it."

He pushed my wheelchair inside the Villa, I lowered my head, and when I looked up and saw the portrait of my face that was hanging on the wall, my eyes welled up with tears, and I asked, "That's why you saved me because I look like...her?" I can't deny the fact that the woman whose portrait was hanging on the wall looked just like me. My heart was breaking because I even stared at the strange man whose eyes were full of hope that he was staring at the face of the lady he loved a long time ago, but that woman was not me, and I will never be like her.

“I’m not going to be a substitute!” I screamed at him in hatred.

He spoke to me with a steady gaze that penetrated my soul and said, "You don't have a pack, you are a lone wolf, and from now on, you only have me. Why aren't you just thankful that I saved your life and gave you a place to live?!"

"Because I didn't ask for this!" After I had rolled the wheelchair back outside, he raised his voice this time in an effort to get me to stop. "Starting right now, you have to genuflect and bend your head to me! I'm your Alpha! and be my Luna!"

I give him a bitter smile while shaking my head and telling him, "Alpha, I am no longer your Luna!"

He stared at me in disbelief and asked with a frustrated sigh, "Did you just reject me this time?"

Without batting an eyelid, I look directly into his eyes and said softly, "Yes, Alpha. You have been rejected."

Celestina's POV

"I did not acknowledge or agree with your decision to reject me! This ignominy is beyond my ability to face!" He yelled angrily at me while staring at me with a hostile expression in his eyes. "How could you possibly reject someone like me?"

"Because you rejected me first..." I promptly reacted, and he was left stunned by the exchange. He showed displeasure by shaking his head and chasing me outside, saying, "You can't go anywhere... I have not yet come to terms with the fact that you have rejected me, therefore whether you like it or not, you are going to have to stay here with me and you are going to have to stick here till I say so!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, so I pursed my lips and gave him a disapproving look before saying, "I don't want to stay here, and if you are worried since you already gave Alexander your payment, don't worry; I will work very hard to pay you!"

I stared at his soft and pink lips, and he gave me a malicious sneer. "Then you will work for me for the rest of your life, don't you know how much payment I hand to that poor human being?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "I don't want to know." I entered the splendid Villa while carefully pushing my automated wheelchair through the entrance. Everyone in the household saw me, and when they realized that the Alpha was standing behind me, they all bent their heads respectfully. It was so quiet that it made me feel as if my eardrum could burst at any moment. When I quickly look at Thaddeus, I see he has the most devilishly attractive face.

"Could it be her?" The elderly bald man walked up to me, and as he did so, he bowed his head to Thaddeus. He gave me a kind grin and greeted me with the words, "Welcome to your new home, Miss Sullivan."

I heaved a sigh and said in a low voice to Thaddeus, who was standing next to me, "I don't want to stay here, and please don't force me to stay..."

Thaddeus spoke to me in a collected manner, saying, "It is getting darker now; you cannot simply go back to your old rusty home."

The elderly bald man gave Thaddeus a shocked glance as if he had just heard Thaddeus say that for the first time.

"It's such a joy to finally meet you, Ms. Sullivan. I've been working here as a housekeeper for many years, and my name is Victor."

I smiled warmly at Victor, but deep down inside, and I felt fear and aching in my heart. The fact that I have to stay here, for the time being, makes me worry that every pair of eyes that looks at me will notice that I don't have a wolf and that I am not like them in any way.

Thaddeus said, “Show her to her room.”

Victor pushed my wheelchair inside the modern elevator, and as we arrived upstairs, he opened the door for me and smiled, “Here’s your room, Miss Celestina.”

“Thank you.”

"There is absolutely no need for you to thank me in any way, I was just doing my job." After he had finished, he shut the door, and I got out of my wheelchair and carefully moved toward the bed. After closing my eyes for a few minutes, I found myself fast asleep despite having just gotten into the incredibly plush bed.

I was startled awake by the noise outside, so I got out of bed and cautiously opened the window to see what was happening. Then, to my astonishment, I saw Thaddeus beating an extremely bleeding man in front of his pack. I couldn't help but widen my eyes in disbelief as I asked myself, "What the fuck is going on?"

He is not a saint by any means; he murdered the man in front of everyone, and then he threatened them all by saying, "This will happen to each and every one of you is a traitor!"

I cautiously closed the window, but Thaddeus' eyes caught me in the distance, and I could sense the rage and disappointment in his heart. I hurriedly opened the door and looked for another way to escape these vicious werewolves before they could catch me.

"Celeste….Where are you?" His deep and booming voice reverberated throughout the entire Pavilion; he growled and commanded his betas and omegas, "FIND HER!"

I tried so hard not to make a sound and clutched myself in the dark out of terror, but I couldn't hide my scent. I screamed as my fragile body was hauled out of the empty closet where I had been hiding.

As he realized that I was so terrified of him, his eyes grew softer, and he stroked my face and whispered, "WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS?" His strong and mighty arm snaked around my waist to make me feel better, but I pulled away from him and pushed him out, "D-Don't t-touch m-me!"

“I'm not gonna hurt you, Celestina.”

"How could I possibly place my trust in someone like you? You killed someone, I saw you...just please, let me go! I don't want to stay here! I'm different...I don't have a wolf. I better live with humans." My eyes begin to well up with tears, and he lowers his head with a sad expression. After a moment of silence, he eventually says, "Alright, you are free to go... and I have no desire to look at your face ever again! If we meet again, I might lock you up in one of the towers of my own personal kingdom and make you suffer for turning your back on me!"

And with a heavy heart, I slowly walk away from him.