Marrying The Ruthless Alpha King

When she called out her best friend's name, she was welcomed by utter silence. Her wolf could not stop howling inside her, in excitement of seeing their long lost friend. In their little town, their family was the only werewolf family in the neighborhood. No one knew about their true identity, not even Maya herself, who was supposed to be her step sister.

When she scanned her surroundings, she made sure that the mansion was well secure. This was one of the things that made their family seem weird in the eyes of the public all around. They often had to look behind their back to make sure that their past was not catching up with them. They had come from a pack far in the east, hiding their identities. A key mission. Jeniffer almost forgets what she felt the first time she set her wolf free and ran round the forest. She was three when it happened, the screams, the accusation, the fire, and her mother taking both her and her brother, fleeing. That day brings her nightmares alive, she was young, and the memories are not as clear as day. But the occurrences bring her to a classified end.

She made friends with Maya immediately after she was brought to her new school. As that innocent girl, she just wanted to get along and have a distraction. Her mother had always warned them, never to get involved or let anyone in the family secret. Three werewolves living in a town full of humans was something unheard of, and she needed to keep it that way.

At times she forgot who she was, she found pleasure in taking away that part of herself that still clung to her werewolf side. For the family and for her best friend. It was her darkest secret. The one no one should ever find out...

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Taking off the heavy boots that she wore, her eyebrows knitted in confusion as she wondered why no one was at home.

Even though only Maya knew of her stepsister's homecoming, she expected her to at least carry out the duty of welcoming her home when she arrived.

Her feet were sore from running around shop after shop from the airport to buy gifts for everyone. Expressing her excitement as she bought the ornaments and jewelry her mother adored dearly. She remembers how much her mother loved the ornaments her dad used to give her. That was back, when her father was the alpha of the kingdom. A Lot has changed now.

The high expectations she had of getting at least a welcome party after returning home seemed to shatter.

Moving upstairs in a jiffy, her eyes scanned the mansion as she called out Maya's name over and over again.

Her hands felt the rails at the sides of the staircase, memories flashing as she remembered whenever they played on these stairs.

Five years did quite a number of people, a difference so outstanding you wouldn't even know they were the same age.

The mystery however stood on the fact that Maya was more well-fed and relaxed at home than Jennifer was in the military.Joining the military was the only escape that Jennifer had when it came to our nightmares. She still has that burning fire inside her that urged her to keep fighting. Since she had been suppressing her werewolf all her life, she needed a way to let out that anger and push herself to the Limit.

The military was her best option. it allowed her to become heartless and access a part of her humanity that seemed to be disappearing. She always took it upon herself to protect her best friend, who they had adopted and making her her stepsister. She wanted to protect her from their past and in case any dangerous people came for them. This is while living in a human town with the best disguise. no one will ever look for a werewolf family among unknowing humans.

Her mental and bodily health had however proven deteriorating over the years she lived with her brother and mother. Maya was after all human and her immune system was not as strong as theirs. But this however did not explain why she always looked malnourished, like she lacked sleep.

It was as though she was in a prison, one she couldn't get out of.

Her eyes fell on the water that began to flow out of the bathrooms. Reflecting itself on the shiny marble floor of the luxurious house, it moved as though it had a mind of its own and made its way wherever quantity directed.

Running towards it, breath hitched in her lungs at the sight that met her.

Remaining stagnant in one place as her lips fell open, blood rushed to her heart as nausea inhibited her brain cells.In all her life Jennifer never grew acquainted with that feeling inside her chest that brought her grill over. She didn't have to deal with her payments when she ignored the nightmares but the site in front of her definitely brought everything tumbling back. She felt the tense stance of her wolf inside her and she fought to remain in control of her body.

She wanted to scream, fall to her knees and scream out loud for help. But somehow, that was never the case to her, she couldn't find the strength to move even a single muscle.

Her heart cracked in half. Strength seemingly leaving her knees as she stared at the sight that slowed down the beating of a heart she once owned.

Water was still overflowing from both of the taps as sorrow and grief arrested her.

Denial reigned on her as she convinced her mind and heart that what was before her was nothing but a mere hallucination.

It wasn't her, it couldn't have been her best of friends and adopted sister. Jennifer Hartling fell on her knees as she struggled to weakly reach the tub that had still been overflowing with water.

At this moment, there was no need in trying to differentiate between pain in the heart and pain of the lungs. She stared at the body once more. Her best friend is lying inside the tub. The marks of beatings scattered all over her body.

She could have been that she was murdered, as though the scars stood as a symbol of the struggle and fight she put up before she welcomed her demise. But that was the case, because, when Jennifer looked down at the empty little tin, realization dawned on her.

She got ahold of the empty medicine bottle she'd died holding. Reading the inscriptions correctly, tears finally recollected themselves in her eyes as she discovered the deadliness of the Tylenol overdose she'd taken.

There was no point in trying to wake her, her skin had turned pale and white from the result of probably laying stagnant in the water for way too long.

She was as gone as her sweet voice every time she fidgeted and tried to get her best friend and sister to come back home from Vietnam.

She was as gone as the sweet smiles she always sent her way every time they face-timed.

As gone as the comfort she brought to the broken family that once stood because of her.

Death was as deadly as a python, striking when least expected and consuming almost all the life a person had been left holding on to.

But could she survive this heartache? This moment she was living that did not seem to exist.

Truth is, that even in the final moments of death, there's always the space left by it to finally let go and stop fighting for your life. To give up and let the immortal force take over completely. To submit to the will and the reality that the world you were living in had finally accepted your departure.

She'd suffered way too much to just want to end her life, Jennifer had questioned the treatment her mother and brother gave her, suspecting it made her look man tried and sick.

But when she appeared introverted and seriously depressed. Plans were booked to get her with the best physiologists in the country.

Therapy seemed like the best solution for her, to give her a chance to talk to anyone else but her adopted mother who also runs her psychology firm.

Jennifer could not bring herself to stare at it once more, her eyes had been soo full of life when they had talked this morning.

Countless plans they had both made to visit malls for at least Maya's wardrobe change.

They'd agreed that Maya would at least go to one of the local bars, and try living out the little cheeky shell she built herself inside.

She was finally getting her vacation from the army. Excited to get to her family and meet the sister she never had.

Had this been the scene waiting for her for two hours now? To get home, try calling her best friend and find her dead in the bathtub.

Regret attacked her when she realized that if she'd arrived two hours ago, perhaps, just perhaps, events like this would have taken a different course.

Her eyes shut as her silence overwhelmed the atmosphere. She was dead, her best friend was dead. How could it be?

She'd only stayed with them for fourteen years, legally adopted by her mother when she was left with no one. She was not only her best friend but also her sister. A daughter to her mother. Sharing the same brother.

Jennifer stooped closer and finally got the courage of pulling out the dead body from the flooding water. Swallowing a sob as her vision turned blurry with the tears she fought to hold back.

Her hands dug into the cold blood-stained water, as she shot her arms around her cold fragile legs. Another arm behind her neck as she pulled out the body from the water.

She stumbled back from the weight, falling back on the floor and holding the body in her lap.

She lost no time in wrapping her arms around her, hugging her one last time as her anguish finally got the best of her.

Pain wrapped firmly around her beating heart, its thorns pricking the little fragile organ and installing its venom in.

Her strangled moans and cries had swallowed her into a world of sorrow and disbelief. Her best friend's lifeless body is now in her arms.

She proceeded to cry harder and harder as she called out her name over and over again. A lump built up in her throat as she failed to believe the moment she was now living.

"No no no ..Maya wakes up, I came back ..i.I'm home now. Please wake up!"

And a combination of many other words in an attempt to get her best friend to respond. She'd proceeded to tell her that her boyfriend finally proposed. That part of the reason she came was to finally introduce her best friend to her fiance.

She explained wearily that there wasn't a moment she'd stopped thinking about her, and missing her.

Telling her how much she yearned to hear her say I told you so. Because she was the first person to tell her that Marcus and she were made for each other. And exactly like she'd said, they were now engaged.

Tears continued to flow as she remembered the rare moments when Maya and she spent quality time together.

Despite both of them turning twenty-six today, Maya had still been living inside their house even after turning eighteen.

She had ignored the matter simply because Maya had been spending quality time with her mom and brother for those past years.

For a long time, she thought she'd lost her best friend to her own family. Like a game that her family had been playing to see what party ended up with utter ownership of another soul. The constant therapy session her mother and Maya had helped her cope with the death of her parents.

It was surprising to see her mother care for anything other than money. She had been a materialistic woman from the beginning and everything she did was for the money.

Had they stopped to think that perhaps, the puppet in their game if strings had a beating heart that had already been broken?

That perhaps all she'd needed was love and affection. Had they all been soul participants in her death?

Each of them gave their share of torture and torment to a girl given to them to take care of and nature.

Was this how these people treated anyone whose veins didn't flow with the barbaric love of their family.

Maya's relationship with Jennifer's brother had improved over the years, Maya had started spending almost all her time with Nathaniel. In a room, they'd clearly stated out of bounds, at the far corner of the house that not even their mother was allowed to enter.

The defeated scream she finally let out when Maya responded to none of her statements was heartbreaking.

She was gone.

And no one was there in her final moments.

But perhaps in this revelation, a darker truth would begin to surface.

She'd risen in a snap, stumbling forward from the imbalance and the blurry haze in her eyes. Supporting herself on the wall, Jennifer set aside the body on the floor. Walking out of the room before she could convince herself that Maya was still alive.

Her heart thundered loudly as her hand clutched her stomach, the feeling in her stomach causing scary goosebumps to rise all over.

In the military, when she'd made it to the top of her battalion, she thought that nothing would ever take away the feeling of joy and pride that coaxed through her veins and pumped blood to her heart.

They had started the training at so many students, and a handful had been lost against the challenging journey.

She had wished that the death of her fellow soldiers was something she could have prevented.

Made a better backup plan or carried better resources, but an ambush was not a planned even. It was an attack, a surprise attack.

Nonetheless, the feeling that had nuzzled inside her that day when she lay eyes on the lifeless bodies of people they'd gone to military school with, she'd been convinced there is no other death scene as corrupting as that one.

The thing with death was that it was never embraced. It snatches the people we care about most in the most horrific and terrifying ways ever.

On her way out of the bathroom, she stumbled on the suitcases she'd dropped on the door.

Dropping on her knees as her wet clothes kissed the cold floor. Her legs kicked the bags violently, frustrated and angered by anything and everything that dared stand in her way.

Making her way towards the end of the large hall way in the mansion. As though a switch had flipped inside of her, she stood wearily before the only door that held immense horror within.

The secret room her best friend and brother spent most of their time in. She had loved to imagine it as a color room. Presumable a happy place where Nathaniel her brother made for Maya to convert her sorrows into creativity.

Trying on the doorknob a couple of times, she sighed defeated as she wiped away the tears that were still falling uncontrollably.

She'd turned towards the large flight of stairs. Walking down slowly, she looked down the floor that had been beautifully decorated with marble texture. Staircase big and swirly like the ones at the large gala balls.

The silence that engulfed her with every step she took only made her sink further into the world of denial she had built for herself in seconds.

Her bare feet dried naturally as she walked down the stairs, stepping on the furry carpet that seemed to be the only thing that calmed her nerves and eased her tension.

Reaching down the stairs, she took a v turn towards the underground basement.

Determination applied in every move she made as the person behind the cctv camera grew curious of the actions she was about to take.

Her eyes landed on a set of keys at the bottom of the kitchen drawer, picking them out and heading towards the basement.

All this while, the memories of who she had been in the company of a Maya that was not yet depressed noting down broken promises in her heart.

She remembered when she promised her she wouldn't leave her, that she'd be her best friend and would never let anybody harm her.

Opening the basement door, she stepped inside the stuffed compartment as the smell of an expensive liquor store here hit her nostrills.

Taking further steps inside, she began looking through it's contents.

Hands disaplearing into a pile of furniture placed inside a large trolly.

In a jiffy, she emerged outside with a heavy ax.

No expression on her face as she carried it away from the now unlocked room.

Certainly, Jenniffer carried the weapon on her shoulder as she ascended up the flight of stairs.

Stopping in the middle, overwhelmed by the emotions. She screamed, her heart aching at the belief that her best friend had committed suicide on the day she was coming back.

Regret finally hit her, she questioned herself on the reasons why she had even joined the military in the first place. All they'd done is pull her away from home and from her family

Maybe, just maybe, if jennifer hartling had stayed, Maya Cassandra would still be alive. Perhaps if she had read the signs, and noticed her peculiar uneasiness during every facetime call, she'd have known something was bothering her bestfriend.

If She came home, when maya called her months ago, begging her to come save her, she would still have been alive. All she did was yell at her over the phone, and accuse her of not taking her medication.

Was her depression and anxiety the reason she killed herself. She had people at home, even though mom was never supportive, atleast nathaniel would have been there.

Taking a deep breath, jennifer once more gathered courage and made it to the top of the staircase. She headed once again to maya and nathaniels secret room.

Curiosity and giult pushing her over the edge, she aligned the the sharp metal part of the axe towards the only bolt that held the doorknob to the door itself.

One hit was all it took, for the now useless piece of frame to come down to the floor.

She pushed the door open, hearing the irritating screechy sound from the movement, indicating the hinges needed oil and lubrication.

Darkness engulfed her, the scent of lavender hitting her nostrils while she entered. Locating the socket at the side of the wall, she pressed the little button, welcoming electrical light into the room.

But was it worth it, to let her curiosity intrude on the most private and secretive part of her best friend and her brother? To meet face to face with the scene that almost choked on her tears?

"You've come a long way from home Jessica," she heard it, that voice. The deep hoarse voice of the man she resented the most. How? How did he even get into the house so quickly? How was she not able to catch a scent of him even before he entered. Their house was always cloaked, making sure that only supernatural creatures who entered were her, her brother and their mother. The only way where one of them would walk in is if another invited them in.

Jessica couldn't believe it, loosing her bestfriend and facing this calamity was definitely not how she expected her day to go.

It was her father, the previous Alpha of their kingdom.. The reason they had been running all their lives.