[Xanthea]

The engine gave out a majestic roar as an unknown car drifted right between me and Nikolai’s car. An ugly screech of the tires against the asphalt, left behind bold tire marks on the road. Then the car raced right at Nikolai’s car.

I gasped as my heart pounded horrifyingly at the sight.

Two other cars zoomed in, flanking Nikolai’s car from the rear.

The three cars trapping Nikolai’s car decelerated until all the four cars came to a stop. The rev of their engines rattled me to my bones.

The loud thunder cracked in the dark cloudy sky, snapping me out of my paralysis. I scrambled to my shaking legs. Limping, I tried to get away from all of them as far away as I could get.

Nathalia glared at me, but the crowd rushed towards the four cars. Using the other as a facade, I tore through the crowd.

I hadn’t even covered halfway to the graveyard when it started pouring down.

By the time I was in the graveyard, my body was struggling to breathe. The numbness made the pain stand out even more.

The cold of the rain caressed the pain throbbing in every inch of my body. As if through the rain, my mother was telling me to pull myself together and keep moving forward.

‘It is in times like this the conviction of one’s dreams is tested and it is the turning point in one’s life. What you decide at that moment either makes you or breaks you.’

My mother’s words came to me and I don’t know how, but I pulled myself to the hospital. For the first time in my life, I used the money Alpha had been sending to get myself treated as best as the hospital could offer.

The x-rays showed my ulna was broken and there was a hairline fracture in my wrist. It would take at least a week to heal with the best medication available. Alpha’s healed faster, but omegas had weaker healing abilities.

There was no miracle I could perform to heal my hand, so while I stayed in the hospital that night, I practised bubbling the circles with my left hand. During the exams we gave our answers by bubbling the one of four option bubbles which we believe to be the correct answer to the question.

After the night’s practice, I was able to bubble the circles.

The next morning, I left the hospital and took a taxi back home with my plastered hand. The doctors said I should stay in bed for at least a week for proper healing. But I convinced them to prescribe me some best painkillers to get me through the day.

I was working completely on painkillers. I just had to go through this day and the exam. After that, I could finally rest a little after four years of working tirelessly.

The exams would start in the afternoon. I reached the centre an hour before. The organisers of the exams asked about my hand and all I told them was I met with an accident.

It was a three-hour exam with all objective type questions. One out of the four options was right. One hour into the exams and I was struggling with my broken hand and left hand. Two hours and I was halfway through the questions. The effect of the painkiller was fading away. I solved questions through the pain.

The organiser entered my room and strolled to me. She leaned in and whispered.

“Please come with me outside,” she said.

“Out? But I still have one hour—”

“Please, just come out. You are not eligible to give this exam anymore.”

I froze at her words. At that moment, it felt like my entire world had come crashing down.

“W-what? But why? I filled everything—”

“Please, just come out with me. Don’t disturb the other candidates.”

I bit back my tears.

“I will. Please, just let me complete this exam. This really means everything to me. Please?”

“I am sorry, but we have direct orders from luna. His highness, the crown prince, is here to take you. We are extremely sorry, but there’s nothing we can do.”

My heart dropped as soon as I heard Nikolai was there.

“P-please…” I begged, gulping down the tightness building in my throat. “Just half an hour. I am begging you. Please…”

My heart thundered in my chest as if it would break all my ribs.

She gave me an apologetic look.

“What’s taking so long?” Nikolai stormed into the room.

Paralyzed, I widened my eyes. Tears welled up in my eyes and my mouth dried up. My stomach twisted and dropped with every step he took.

He stopped near my table and winced at the question paper and answer sheet. He smirked as he leaned on the table and whispered, “were you preparing to run away from the pack again, sis? You found a legal way this time, didn’t you?”

“Please. Please don’t take this away from me,” I gasped, as tears trailed down my frozen eyes. “Please. I’ll do everything you say, just let me… ah!”

He grabbed my upper arm and, with brute strength, pulled me to my feet.

“I am extremely sorry for disturbing you guys. As you can see, my sister is hurt and we are extremely worried about her wellbeing. That is why my mother asked me to get her back to the palace. My naïve sister doesn’t know what’s good for her and what’s not. I apologise for the disturbance she caused.”

I struggled to free myself from him when he yanked me closer, whispering against my ear, “stop! Or I will break every bone in your body.”

“Please. I am sorry. I promise I will do better.” Even though I knew it was useless, I tried to talk to him as he dragged me through the empty hallways of the college and threw me in his car.

I pressed my hand against the glass as he slammed the door on my face.

“Please, Nikolai! Please, just half an hour. Just give me half an hour. I promise I will come with you wherever you want.”

I wasn’t begging; I was desperate.

He got in the driver’s seat and I clutched his hand before he could start the car, “please Nikolai. Please, just once! I have never asked for anything. Just once, give me a little time. Let me complete my exams. Please.” I bowed in front of him.

“Breaking your hand wasn’t enough. Should have broken your legs as well. Ugh! But mother said not to hurt you today!” He hit the steering wheel.

Gritting his teeth, he grabbed my cheeks.

“Don’t you understand, sis? You are not even allowed to breathe if we don’t approve of it. You thought you could give this exam without us noticing?”

I yelped as he grabbed my hair. Pain throbbed through my head.

“Don’t you remember your promise? You said you would be my obedient doll. What’s with this defiance? I am already fucking frustrated. Don’t get on my nerves anymore. I came all the way here to pick you. You don’t appreciate it even a bit, do you?”

He left my hair with a jerk. I clenched my jaws, trying to remain as silent as I could.

Pinning me against my seat, he put the seatbelt across my chest and hands.

Nikolai started the car and drove it out of the college. I watched the college go farther and farther away from me and so did everything I was living for.

“I am warning you, if you tell anything about this broken hand to father, I will make it worse!”

“AHH!” I muffled my cry as he clenched my plastered hand.

“Now, sit like a good girl and no more crying. Although I love the way you look when you cry, you need to look the best tonight. A family dinner and there will be very important guests. So mother wants me to make sure you are in your best behaviour.”

[Xanthea]

The maids gingerly removed the plaster from my hand and wrapped it in fresh elastic bandages.

I sat in front of the ornate dressing table with shut eyes. I didn’t want to look at myself, not when Nikolai’s unsettling gaze scorched disgustingly over every inch of my body.

I wore a thin, white undergown that concealed nothing. It clung to my body, revealing far more than I was comfortable with.

A sick churn bubbled up in my stomach with apprehension when he approached the dressing table, ordering the maids to leave.

I clenched the gown over my knees into my fists. He placed his hand on my shoulder, the searing warmth of his palm sinking into my bare skin.

I tensed up, bringing my shoulders closer to my neck when he leaned closer to my ears.

“Now, wouldn’t you look prettier with this piece of cloth off you, my pretty doll?”

My fists trembled as he slipped the sleeve of the undergown down my shoulder.

He took a sharp breath with a chuckle, distancing himself from me.

“Look at you tremble, sis! What did you think I’d do? I am your half-brother. Come on! How disgusting can your thoughts get? I was just joking with you. Take these painkillers and be on your best behaviour, sis. I am not joking when I say these are important guests,” he said.

His hand slid over my fist.

“Take these painkillers. Trust me, I am only trying to help you. It might be a long night for you,” Nikolai forced open my fist and put the painkillers in my palm. “Here’s your water. I know you won’t be able to hold with your right hand. Let me help you drink.”

I stared at the pills in my palms. Shutting my eyes, I swallowed them, allowing Nikolai to help me drink the water.

“Good doll,” he said, running his thumb across my lips, wiping off the water. “If you were this obedient all the time, I wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble you force me through. The maids will now dress you up.”

He left and the maids soon entered the room when I finally looked at myself in the mirror…

The bridal veil ran down from my hair all the way to the floor across the gown. The one who looked back from the reflection was a pretty bride dressed in a lavish full sleeved, off-shoulder, revealing white wedding gown, just like a doll.

I guess that’s what I was always supposed to be. A doll for someone to dress up. A doll who had no mind of her own, the one who had no luxury to dream or think for herself. I was always supposed to listen to others and have no opinion of my own. That’s what omegas have always been.

I lowered my gaze.

I didn’t even want to look at the one standing in the mirror.

My stomach convoluted with foreboding and apprehension.

Why was I dressed like a bride?

What was going on?

What exactly was going to happen to me?

What did Nikolai mean when he said it would be a long night for me?

The door opened, and someone entered. From the sound of heels striking the marble, I knew it was my stepmother, Luna Meesa Virgo.

I held my gaze low as she took me in.

“She looks perfect. Bring her when I call,” she talked to the maids and left.

I had a powerful urge to ask her why I was wearing a wedding gown, but I knew it was better to let things unfold according to them than to question or fight them.

I slumped back on the white and golden couch.

My heart thumped louder with every ticking of the clock.

Hours later, something happened that had never happened before. Alpha Valdimir entered my room, and I instantly sprang to my feet. It felt like blood had drained off my body as he stood near me. But at the same time, I was a little hopeful about something.

I didn’t know what I hoped for from him, but it was all in vain.

In the twenty-three years of my life, this was the third time I was standing face to face with him. He was never cold to me or hostile like Luna Meesa, Nathalia and Nikolai. But he was never warm either.

He was my father, but we were complete strangers.

I bowed, keeping my gaze low.

He contemplated me for a while before he spoke.

“You are… getting married to the…” he gritted his jaws then continued. “… to the triplet Alphas of the Infernal pack tonight,” he said in his usual calm voice and a hint of hesitation.

My breaths had stalled in my chest as the meaning of his words sank in.

“I thought it was… important that you know and understand… the situation. The Alpha King has chosen our pack this year to make the offering to the demon lords. I had no choice, Thea. Nathalia is too young. The fate of our pack is… now in your hands. As your father, I don’t want this to happen to you—”

“Please leave,” my voice trembled as I turned away from him. Tears brimmed in my eyes.

“Thea…”

Pain knotted into my chest. Suffocation tightened into my throat as I forced those words from my lips.

“An alpha is offering an omega from his pack to the demon lords to protect his pack and his people. There’s nothing more to this situation, your highness. You could have sent your servant to relay the message like you always did. It’s not like you ever considered me as your daughter. And if by any odd chance you feel guilty, then think yourself forgiven, for I never expected anything from you.”

The bitterness mixed with fear and pain made me speak words that I never could have dared say to him otherwise. And I instantly regretting letting my inner thoughts come to life in front of him.

I don’t think he was there to say a sorry. Maybe he was there to warn me or tell me to behave myself.

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Tears trailed down my eyes. Words clogged my throat and all I could do was shake my head.

“I am sorry, Thea. All of this happened so suddenly since yesterday, even I don’t understand how things led to this. It’s Alpha King’s order. So, I hope you understand the gravity of this situation.”

Of course, I knew what it meant to be offered to the Triplets. I knew how serious the situation was.

Now that I knew the reason for wearing the wedding gown, its fabric felt like molten silver on my skin.

I was being offered to the Triplet alphas.

There were three Pack Realms in this world — the Earthly Packs realm, the Celestial pack realm, and then the most dreaded pack ever, the Infernal pack realm.

The Celestial pack was known as the purest pack and was ruled by the Moon Goddess herself. It consisted of immortal werewolves, descendants of the angel, dragon, or god races. The Earthly packs relied heavily on the blessings of the Celestial pack, which was believed to be a pack hidden in the sky.

The Earthly packs realm consisted of the twelve werewolf packs inhabiting mortal werewolves. The Virgo pack, my pack, was one of the Earthly packs. Each pack was ruled by an alpha and the Alpha King ruled over all the twelve alphas. He was also known as the Alpha of the Alphas and he was responsible for maintaining peace with the Celestial pack and the Infernal pack.

The Infernal pack was infamously known as the pack of the underworld or hell, and it was ruled by the triplet alphas or the demon lords. The Infernal pack was also inhabited by the immortal werewolves, but they were all descendants of the evil, the demons, the curses, the banished and the ones who turned rogue.

No one knew why, but it started three years ago. Every year, the Alpha King chose an Earthly pack to make an offering to the Triplet alphas of the Infernal pack.

From what everyone believed, offering the demon lords a bride of royal blood every year was the only way to maintain peace between the Earthly packs and the Infernal pack.

No one knows what happens to the brides in the Infernal pack. But by the end of the one year time, all those brides from all the Earthly packs were found dead in the most gruesome way and hung outside the royal palaces if the packs they belonged to.

The triplet alphas took over those fallen packs and ever since, their inhabitants live at their mercy.

I gulped hard, trying to manage my breathlessness. But everything was turning dark in front of my eyes. I held my head. Nausea tore through my chest, cold fear rattling through my bones as I imagined myself meeting the same gruesome end.

Until today, three brides have been offered to them and no bride had survived those ruthless alphas. All of them were alpha blood. I was an omega. I wouldn’t survive a day—

“Thea!” Alpha held me before I slumped to the floor.

A cry escaped my lips when he held my broken hand.

I instantly withdrew my hand from him.

He tensed his brows. “Thea, are you hurt?”

I restlessly looked around the floor and shook my head.

He seized my hand, making me wince. He made me sit on the couch while he sat beside me. He lifted the sleeve of my broken hand. His furrow deepened when he saw the bandages wrapped around my arms.

“How did this happen?” He asked.

Nikolai’s warning rang in my head and my mouth turned drier than it already was.

“Alpha!” I heard Luna Meesa’s panic-stricken voice as she stormed into the room.

Catching her breath, her wide eyes fell on my hand and then at Alpha. Rage flashed in her eyes as she glared at me.

“Did you know she was hurt?” Alpha asked and Luna Meesa’s aura instantly shifted.

“She’s hurt?” she strutted towards me. “I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt when I asked you before?”

“What happened, Thea?” Alpha turned to me.

My breaths sped up; tears streamed down my eyes.

Luna grabbed my shoulder. I supressed a wince.

“Yes, sweety. What happened? Tell your father, how did you get hurt?” Her tone was sweet to ears who didn’t know the threat lurking behind that sweetness.

Sniffling, I licked my dry lips and said.

“I-I… fell… from the stairs.”

“Oh my! That is I didn’t like the idea of her shifting to Freya’s house. She’s all alone there and you know she never shares anything with us. She doesn’t even consider us a family. Or else she would have told me,” Luna Meesa said.

There was a knock at the door and the royal doctor walked in. Luna Meesa glared at me and then at Alpha, looking as shocked as I was.

Alpha got up from the couch as the doctor examined me thoroughly.

He told father about my broken hand and sprained ankles.

“Father…” Nikolai entered the room.

“Is Alpha King here to take her?” Father asked, facing him.

Before offering the bride to the Triplet Alphas, the Alpha King collected the brides himself and then took her to his kingdom from where she was sent to the Infernal pack.

“No,” his stern voice hinted of fear. “They are here…” he panted anxiously. “The demon lords are here themselves.”

Blood froze in my veins. Doctor and Alpha blocked Nikolai from my vision. But I wished he said he was joking even when I knew he wasn’t.

“They sent a messenger. They’ll be here by midnight,” Nikolai said.

“Call an immediate meeting in the court,” Alpha said and Nikolai hurried out of the room. Turning towards Luna, Alpha said. “Get Nathalia ready for the offering. Thea can’t marry the Triplets in this condition.”

[Xanthea]

Luna Meesa’s face lost all color.

“What? Alpha…”

He raised his hand, silencing her.

“We don’t have time for arguments. It’s an order and I expect you to follow it.”

With that, he left the room.

Luna Meesa shot me an outraged gaze. She flounced in front of me and slapped me across my face.

The stinging pain pulsed through my cheek like a thousand needles, overwhelming my senses.

“Are you happy now?” She snarled at me. “You’ve finally destroyed my family! You and your filthy blooded mother!”

I peered blankly at the floor. A mix of emotions crashed upon me, strangling my heart with their unforgiving claws.

Her grip tightened on my broken arm as I stifled my cries into mere whimpers. For the first time in my life, I felt as if I deserved the pain.

The royal doctor lowered his gaze. It was nothing new for him. After all, he was the one to heal me for eighteen years after every time they broke me. He never asked about my wounds. All he did was treat me, keeping his mouth shut just like today.

She grabbed my cheeks with her other hand, her nails dug into my cheeks. My eyes stung with tears at the pain. I clenched my jaws to arrest the sob in my throat.

“Useless and burdensome, as you always were…”

“Mother!” Nathalia burst into the room, breaking into tears. “I don’t want to marry them! I don’t want to die! Mother, please do something!”

I had expected Nathalia to unleash her anger on me, but she clung to Luna, sobbing bitterly. We shared the same fear in that moment and maybe that was what bound us.

Nothing really matters when you can see your death right on your doorstep. Especially not when death was coming to marry you and take you away to the underworld as an offering.

Another agonizing hour passed, with Nathalia’s sobs and cries echoing the fatal silence of the palace. She was in another room, but I could hear her painful cries all the way to my room.

I didn’t know what the royal doctor had injected into my hand, but the pain had lessened. I gently cradled my broken hand, wanting to feel relief, but restlessness gnawed at my chest with every passing second.

The air inside and around the palace was thick with a kind of fear that came with the threat of an impending tsunami. A fear of destruction with no escape. All we could do was let the tsunami pass and hope to still be alive once it had.

I was left alone in the room, forgotten now that everyone’s attention was on Nathalia.

The sound of the clock had become much more pronounced and so did the hurried footsteps in the corridors.

I rose from the bed and paced near the dressing table, fidgeting with my fingers as restlessness grew wilder in my chest.

I wanted to go back home to my mother, her diaries. Maybe then I would find some courage.

My head snapped up as my room door creaked open.

This is what I feared the most. He is going to be mad again! He'll hurt me again.

With bated breath, I looked at Nikolai, who wore a deep frown when he entered the room. But his face turned impassive as he took me in.

His eyes widened in a daze as his gaze traveled down my body to my wedding gown, lingering on each detail.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“I didn’t tell Alpha about my arm. I promise. He… sort of… found out on his own. I didn’t tell him anything about you or the car thing…” I spoke in a breath, well aware of what was coming regardless of my words. He wasn't going to trust me.

He stepped closer and I shut my eyes, my body trembling.

He is going to hit me…

But he stopped. I glanced at him, confused.

His gaze flickered briefly to my breasts, with a sneer he gritted his teeth and stormed out of the room without a word.

I took a quick gulp.

What just happened?

The voices in the corridors grew louder and more rushed. So did my heartbeats.

I looked at the watch. It was ten minutes to midnight.

I could no longer sit back in that room. I walked out of the room. Walking some distance in the corridor, I heard Nathalia whimpers.

“Brother please. Do something. Please… they’ll kill me. You know them, they are devils,” Nathalia clutched Nikolai’s hand, pleading.

She was dressed in a sparkly white wedding gown, adorned in the best of diamonds. Something she always flaunted, something that no longer held value. I lowered my gaze. At least there was someone she could plead with.

I would have to bear it silently. A knot formed in my chest, tightening with Nathalia’s cry for help.

“They are in the pack, you should… prepare yourself, Lia. Stop crying. You need to look… good for them,” Nikolai said, clenching his jaws. An unfamiliar powerlessness lingered in his eyes.

Nathalia broke into silent sobs. She had been crying for hours now. Her eyes were red, her voice hoarse, but she kept pleading sometimes with Luna, sometimes with Nikolai. Both of them could only listen.

“It’s all my mistake.” Nathalia slumped against the wall. “It’s karma. That is why this is happening. It’s all my fault. I broke her hand. It was my idea…”

I widened my eyes, feeling a strangling pain throb in my chest at her words.

“I am the one to blame. It’s all my fault…” she slumped against the doorframe.

As the clock struck midnight, the main clock chimed loudly. Nathalia’s eyes widened, tears streaming down incessantly.

“No, no.” She ran into her room, slamming the door behind her.

A sudden gravity filled the palace as the air crackled with power and dominance. The demon lords, the triplets, had arrived.

Nikolai banged on her door. “Lia! Open the door! Lia! Don’t do this! Shit!” He mumbled, punching the wall helplessly.

For a moment, he remained calm, probably mindlinking with the Alpha. Then, with a forceful push, he opened the door and dragged Nathalia out.

She was no longer screaming. Suppressed sobs were the only sound that escaped her lips.

I watched it all hiding behind the wall.

Nathalia’s teary gaze met mine before she was dragged away, and her face kept flashing in my eyes as if it might remain imprinted in my mind forever.

I pressed my hands over my mouth, breaking into tears. Leaning my head against the wall, I slumped to the floor.

Holding my aching head in my hands, I cried until I could no longer fight the weight of my own conscience.

With the support of the wall, I got up. Lifting the hem of my wedding gown, I ran as fast as I could with my sprained ankles in the empty corridors of the palace.

Everyone had gathered in the ballroom for the marriage ceremony. Even the maids were nowhere to be seen.

I ran through the web of corridors, finally stopping when I reached the backdoor of the ballroom. That was the place from where the bride would enter the hall. I could feel the heavy aura lurk in the air.

Panting, I hesitated for a moment before finally making up my mind.

I saw Alpha waiting with sobbing Nathalia, hidden in the darkness. I didn’t dare glimpse whatever ceremony was going on in the ballroom.

The ballroom had been hastily decorated for the marriage ceremony, yet it looked gothically beautiful.

Dark clouds rumbled in the sky with thunder and lightning, adding to the frenzied ambiance.

The crowd surrounding Nathalia parted to make way for me.

Luna Meesa’s bleary gaze fell on me, but she didn’t react with hostility as usual.

I stepped closer to them.

Nikolai blocked my path to Alpha and Nathalia.

“What are you doing here?” He spoke through gritted teeth. “Came here to enjoy our suffering?”

I met his eyes, my voice unwavering. “Only you can find happiness in someone else’s suffering, not me.”

Nikolai frowned; rage dimmed in his eyes with a glimpse of tears.

Gulping down the lump in my throat, I passed by him and everyone else until I was face to face with Nathalia and Alpha.

I looked into Alpha’s eyes.

“I offer myself to the demon lords. Please let Nathalia go,” I said.

The crowd seemed to gasp in unison. Nathalia stared at me in shock.

“Now enters the bride with Alpha Valdimir,” a voice echoed from within the ballroom.

Everyone stood frozen until Luna Meesa yanked Nathalia away from Alpha.

“Thea… daughter…” Alpha looked at me, his eyes unreadably warm.

Raising my hand over my head, I pulled down the veil over my face. Lifting my right hand as high as I could, I placed my hand over Alpha’s arm.

Alpha didn’t say another word.

I had nothing to lose, and my death would be no one’s loss. I never had a family. No one would cry at my death. I would no longer be the reason for someone’s pain.

If I was lucky, I might meet my mother. Maybe then I could apologise properly for disappointing her. In the end, I couldn’t fulfil her dreams. The very day I had already lost everything that meant something to me.

‘You can live with regrets, but guilt… it kills you every day you live.’

Mother’s words flashed in my head.

Nathalia stumbled to me, proffering the bouquet of Forget-me-nots in my hand with her trembling hands. She dropped her gaze when I looked at her through the veil as I took the bouquet from her hand.

I shut my eyes and inhaled deeply as the lights fell on me.

Alpha held my hand gently as we strutted down the aisle. The ballroom filled with decent claps. My gaze remained fixed on the red carpet beneath my feet.

My steps faltered halfway to the altar.

A dark stain crawled from the hem of my gown all the way up to the fabric on my chest and sleeves, turning the white wedding gown into a black gown. Even the veil over my face had turned black.

A shudder ran down my spine as the Forget-me-nots in my hands turned into a bouquet of red spider lilies. I almost dropped the bouquet, my chest heaving faster.

Steeling my heart and tightening my grip around the bouquet of spider lilies, I made my way to the altar.

Alpha let go of my hand at the foot of the altar.

Three figures stood on the altar.