The Lycan Princess' Revenge

~Rielle

"She is pregnant, Rielle. At least be more sensitive." He said, in an exasperated tone that only made my stomach sink lower.

I was still clad in my wedding gown. The pearls around my neck were suddenly too tight, it felt like a noose. This was not how it was supposed to be.

I turned my gaze to Gloria, the woman who was pregnant with my groom's child. It was all so bizarre.

"You were sleeping with her?" My voice was shaky. It did not sound like me. "Months to our wedding?" My voice rose.

Jameson fixed me with a stare that I could not read. It was as though I was speaking to a stranger. "Yes, Rielle. It was a one time thing. It happened after that fight we had." He was explaining but I could not hear a single hint of remorse in his voice.

"Do you not realise the enormity of what you have done to me?" My voice grew even louder.

Gloria cringed as if my voice could burst her very sensitive eardrums.

"Rielle, be civil." Lucinda, my-would-be-mother-in-law said where she sat. "We are not animals here." She took a dismissive sip of her tea. She did not look me in the eye. It was as though I was an afterthought.

Why were they so calm? Why was I the only one panicking at this news. Unless...

I turned to Lucinda. I could not even conjure up rage, I was just hurt. "You knew..."

She cast her disinterested gaze on me. "So?" She raised a brow. "What did you expect me to do? Turn the mother of my grandchild away?"

The foundation of trust, painstakingly built over time, crumbled beneath the weight of betrayal, leaving me standing amidst emotional rubble.

I saw these people as my family. We had so many memories together. I convinced my father to invest in the pack because I could not watch them go down in ruin. I watched the pack grow with my father's assistance. They were there for me when my father died.

Lucinda was the mother I never had and Jameson was the love of my life. It was hard to think, to breathe. Every breath felt like I was being torn on the inside with blades.

"What about me?" I asked as I finally allowed my tears to fall. "After everything, I did for you. After everything my father..."

Jameson's expression went from detached to irritated in less than a second as though he had been anticipating me bringing up the elephant in the room. "There you go again. Everything I have done. Everything my father did for you." He mimicked and I could have sworn I heard Gloria chuckle.

"You hold that shit over me all the fucking time. Like I should be indebted to you and kiss your feet." He had never in all our years together spoken to me like this. "You were always nothing but a reminder that I had a debt to pay to that old geezer."

Finally, I saw red. "Don't you fucking speak of my father in that way."

A scornful grin made its way to his mouth. "Or what? He is dead, is he not?"

"Jameson..." I cracked.

He looked like he was fighting back the urge to roll his eyes. "Look Rielle..." His voice softened and my heart soared at the prospect that it had all been a joke. A prank. A sick, twisted one but a prank nonetheless. Everything would be alright. Jameson still loved...

"I never loved you."

I froze but Jameson was not done tearing whatever was left of my hope to shreds.

"I never for once loved you. I did this mostly because of the debt and partly because I pitied you. I made a deal with your father that I would make you happy and that's what I did Until, I could not take it anymore."

My heart was glass at that moment. It splintered and cracked before it shattered. I did not know that I had begun to sob until I tasted salt on my tongue.

I turned and fled. The doors were opened by stoic guards but I knew well that they heard everything. On the other side of the door, were guests who had been invited to the wedding. The moment they laid eyes on me they ceased whispering. They all looked at me like I was a performer at a circus. Maybe in some ways, my wedding was the circus that they had all been invited to but I was the only clown.

*****

By evening the next day, I had made up my mind. I knew Jameson was only trying to be responsible for the woman he got pregnant by mistake. We had been on way more rocky grounds when it came to our relationship. I could not let this deter me. I would compromise, like I always did. I was doing this for us. They were all I had left. I had no other person. Ever since my father died, they were the only people I could call family.

Going back to my father's estate made me realise I was not strong enough to take the loneliness. I would fell into depression like my father did before he died. The thought of suffering that same fate made my blood run cold with dread.

I convinced myself as I snuck into the Alpha castle. Humiliation forced me to do something so outlandish, I just could not take any of the maids seeing me. I heard whispering coming from the room that I used to share with Jameson and readied myself to enter. But their conversation stopped me in my tracks.

"Dense as a fucking rock," I looked through the key hole. It was Jameson who had spoken.

"She must have gotten it from her father," Lucinda snickered.

"But did you really have to lie?" Gloria's voice. "One time?" She raised a brow but she had a knowing gleam in her eye.

"If she isn't dumb, she should have figured it out by now, but it's Rielle we are talking about here." Jameson traced a finger over her lip.

They laughed. Every cell in my body told me to barge in and let them know that I heard them but I thought better of it. Who knew what else they would reveal.

"I even got her to write me as her sole benefactor if she so happens to die." Jameson said smugly.

I bit my lip until I tasted blood. I had been such a fucking fool.

"Then she'll have to die," Lucinda's cool voice filled the air. The hairs at the back of my neck rose. "I'll have it arranged soon like her old man's."

~Rielle

My heart stopped for a moment and the ground tilted under me. But I had to keep listening. I had to know.

"Can't wait to be rid of the thing. She was a pain in the ass like her father." Lucinda shuddered at the memory of the man who saved her family from bankruptcy.

"He did not see it coming," Jameson said with utmost glee. He laughed. "Seeing his corpse was so freeing. The shackles were finally off. We would not have to pay back a dime."

"It's sad, you know," Lucinda said. "That he left everything to such a retarded child."

"Not for long," Gloria said.

They laughed again.

I could suddenly not hear anything over the loud thumping of my heart. My shock had swallowed every other emotion that I should have felt. They killed my father. They killed the only person that I had because of the debts they owed and I was foolish enough to let them get away with it. Then fear settled in my stomach, heavy as lead. I was not safe. I had to leave before they knew I had heard.

I slowly rose to my feet and took a step backwards away from the door. They did not know I had heard, they continued conversing. Heavy hands clamped over my shoulders as I heard a voice. "Miss, you know it is impolite to eavesdrop."

My heart threatened to break through my ribs. I recognized the voice without turning. It was Brutus, Jameson's Beta.

I swallowed the rock hard lump that formed in my throat.

"Brutus..." That was all I could say before pain tore through my skull and I felt nothing.

*****

The bitter sting of ice cold water pulled me out of my unconsciousness. My head throbbed badly but I opened my eyes to find myself in a chamber illuminated by a single torch that sat yards away.

I heard a snap of someone's finger. "Wake up." Ordered a voice that was achingly familiar.

I raised my head to meet Jameson's stare. The low light shadowed his features but I knew he was grinning.

I looked away from him and around my surroundings. I was not in some chamber, I was in a dungeon. Then it all came back in painful flashes, all that had happened and all I had heard.

"You're finally awake," Lucinda stepped in front of me. She took my chin harshly and surveyed my face. "Except for the lump on your head, this will do nicely."

I tried to move only to realise that I could not move my body or speak. Panic slammed into me. What had they done to me?

"Don't bother," Jameson said, easily. "Struggling would be a waste since you don't have long to live."

My heart stopped, they were going to kill me.

As though reading my mind another voice piped up. "We promise that it won't be quick." Gloria

She moved closer to me, her eyes filled with loathing. "You have no idea how long I have waited for this day. You were a leach, sticking to my darling Jamie for all these years. I was fucking forced to stand in the sidelines." She drew her hand back and struck me hard across the face.

I could do nothing but to take it, still unable to move.

Then she hit me, again and again and again until Jameson held her back. "That's enough, darling." He held her to his chest.

The sight hurt more than the slaps.

Lucinda raised a sheet of paper to my face. "We have already assisted you in writing the suicide letter so you don't have to strain your wrist." She mocked.

"Shall we begin?" She asked and they nodded. Brutus, who had had his arms crossed in the corner of the room, finally moved. He brought a sharp blade to Lucinda.

I tried to move, willing my cells to comply but my body was as unmoving as a boulder.

Lucinda took my wrist and placed it on the table. Our eyes met and I let my tears slip through, hoping I could reach into her humanity. Into the mother that I once knew.

She only smiled but it was all teeth and sharp edges. "I have no mercy for you, dear. It is better for us this way." Then she took the blade to my wrist, pierced and pulled so hard. I would have screamed if I could but that was just another liberty that had been taken from me.

The blood bubbled quickly to the surface and spilled freely. The pain was immense and all consuming. She did the same with my other wrist and it did not take long before the edges of my vision began to darken.

I would die by their hands, like my father and they would get everything that he had worked for. There would be no justice. No reckoning for those who deceived and used me. I would never get to avenge my father.

"She should be dead soon," I heard a voice but my brain was in too much shambles for me to place it. "Let's go." I heard retreating footsteps.

I felt cold and heavy. I could not cry out but everything hurt. I wanted to be strong, to hold on until someone would find me. I could not die like this. Yet, the pain was unrelenting in its brutality so I prayed for reprieve. I prayed for death.

I heard footfalls and a dark figure approaching. Death had answered my prayers and came for me at last. But then fear took over, bringing with it a sense of self-preservation.

I tried to fight again, squirming and writhing through the pain. I felt arms around me, holding me to a muscled chest. I had heard that death was cold but this body was warm. Death held me to him and despite the pain, I felt my body relax on its own accord.

"Stay alive for me, princess." His voice was silk over gravel and my abused body tingled.

My last thought before I was pulled into darkness's embrace was, why would death tell me to stay alive?

~Rielle

I opened my eyes to illumination filtering through the curtains. I squinted at the evading light. I turned my head away but a throbbing blossomed at my temple and I groaned.

"Princess," Came a husky voice.

I ceased moving as the owner of the voice stalked closer. My eyes took a while to focus. When I did see him clearly, my heart stopped. There was no need for introduction. He knew that too.

"I am guessing I don't need to introduce myself."

Raphael De Amato, the Alpha of the Crimsonclaw pack. An Alpha of one of the Triad Packs and the most powerful Lycan. There was no mistaking him with any other. Like the stories said, his eyes were neither blue nor green but a distinctive crimson. He was the red-eyed lycan that appeared only once in a generation.

An Alpha born with red eyes was said to have powers that no other Lycan would have access to. Yet, he was known more notoriously for his cruelty. He had bodies strewn on stakes outside his castle. And now the same man was before me.

"I... I...I... I am..."

"You are Rielle Archer." His voice was smooth, velvet with a rugged edge that made me hyper aware of every part of him. "Only daughter of the late merchant by the name of Riorson Archer."

My eyes widened into identical saucers that surely took up half of my face. "How do you know me?" I asked, my voice was miraculously stable.

He raised a quizzical brow. "Why would I not know the name of the woman I rescued?"

Rescue... I should be dead by now. I looked down and only then did I notice the white bandages that were wrapped around my wrist. Suddenly, the wounds underneath began to ebb. I shook away the discomfort, not quite ready to acknowledge the fact that I should be a cold lifeless corpse by now.

He came even closer, his scent wafted through the air, cedarwood and leather with a hint of wild sage. He had his eyes on me in an accessing look that made me feel naked.

"Why did you rescue me?" I asked.

He finally stopped and crossed his arms over the wide expanse of his chest. "You were dying." he said simply with a slight shrug.

"How did you know... that I was dying? How did you get into the castle?" So many questions whirled around in my head.

His stare became more intense and I could have sworn the red of his eyes dimmed to scarlet. "I have been watching you."

I did not know why his answer shot heat through my core. "Why?"

"Because your father wanted me to."

My brows rose at the mention of my father. "My father?"

He nodded.

"You were his friend?" I found it hard to wrap my head around the possibility that my father knew the most revered lycan Alpha.

He did not answer quickly this time but his eyes bore into me as he gave me an inscrutable look. "Yes."

Yes? Was that all he would say? He took another step and I froze. "How are you feeling, princess?"

It was a loaded question that I was not ready to let myself answer. "You keep calling me princess." It just did not make sense why the lyan alpha would be calling me, a girl who had not even found her wolf yet, princess. If not for my father's money and influence, I would have been looked down upon.

"There is much that you don't know." He replied. "but it will all come to light in due time."

He turned away but I pushed myself to speak. "I still don't understand, what is going on?"

He paused and without turning to me. "All I can tell you now is that a lot is at stake and your pack needs you." Then he walked out, leaving me with far more questions than answers.

*****

I went back to sleep even though I tried to stay awake. Snoring in ignorance while Raphael De Amato was anywhere near me was stupid but my weak body had other ideas. I awoke to the aroma of food and my stomach growled. I sat up and almost fell out of bed when I saw him leaning on the doorway, his long legs crossed at his ankles.

"Eat," He said, "We are leaving at first light tomorrow.

I blinked. "Leaving?"

But he offered no further explanation. I pulled the stool of food to myself, while trying not to wince at the pain in my wrists.

I took the spoon and scooped only to wince. My cheeks flushed at the realisation that he was seeing me fail at eating food. I heard footfall and the bed sank when he sat down. He took the spoon from me and our hands brushed. A jolt of electricity passed through me and charged the air around us. If he felt it too, he did not show it. He fed me the whole bowl.

I stole a glance at his sharp, chiselled features. His rugged attractiveness was accentuated by a well-defined jawline and a tousled mane of dark, untamed hair. The scars on his tan skin only did well to elevate his daunting aura.

I gulped involuntarily when his crimson eyes steadied on me but it went the wrong way and I hacked a cough. Raphael deftly brought the glass of water to my lips as he got up. He rubbed my back rhythmically as I swallowed. His touch was at odds with his appearance in its lightness. The fact was more shocking than the touch itself. My body threatened to lean into him. What the hell was wrong with me? After everything that had happened, the last thing that should have been invading my thoughts was a man.

"Alpha," I raised my eyes to see another man with a letter in hand.

"From Alpha Lucas?" Raphael asked.

Alpha Lucas, as in Lucas Van Berg of Scarletmoon pack. Scarletmoon pack was another one of the Triad Packs. If power was a person it would be Raphael but Lucas Van Berg was affluence personified.

Raphael closed the gap between them and took the letter.

They mumbled words and most I could not hear but I watched the other man's eyes fall on me.