The Scarred Alpha's Redemption

"Elora! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

From where she lay on her wooden bed, her eyes buried deeply into the book she was reading, Elora smiled and rolled her eyes.

She still failed to understand why her father still treated her like a baby.

She heard the heels of his boots come to a halt in front of her door.

"Goodness me! Were you studying?" He asked, widening his eyes dramatically.

With a scoff, Elora sat up, straightened the hem of her skirt and smiled.

"You're back papa." She said aloud. Smiling, but her smile was too broad to be genuine.

Douglas could tell once again that his daughter was up to mischief once again.

He plastered a smile on his face too, walking closer to her.

Elora swallowed hard. If Papa knew what she was reading, he would scold her and pull her by her ears. She didn't want that.

In reflex, she pushed the book under her pillow and pushed herself back, so that she rested on it.

However, Douglas did not fail to notice her gesture.

When he stood in front of her, Elora's green eyes rose up to meet his brown ones. In her eyes, Douglas could see the kindness of Isabelle and the mischief of himself.

Isabelle.

It didn't help that Elora inherited her mother's ginger colored locks of hair and her greenish eyes as well. As Elora grew, she continued to remind Douglas of his wife. He didn't know if that was a good thing, or if it was a bad thing.

"Move your arse away from the pillow, Elora Everest..."

Oh no! He had seen her push the book under.

Just what did her father never see?

She had to do something, anything to shift his mind away from the book under her pillow. She knew how angry he was going to be if he found out it was what she was up to.

"It is nothing Papa..." She resisted. Trying to sound as believable as she could. Maybe, just maybe if he didn't see her push the book under the pillow, he would have believed her.

"Elora."

"Papa." She pouted, drawing the last syllable of the word so much that he felt his ears cringe.

"You might want to move your arse before I move it myself. "

With that, he lowered his lean, six feet frame and began to tickle her.

Elora couldn't help it. She yelled and laughed, moving away from the pillow. As she struggled to catch her breath, she dived her pillow for the book. But it was too late, it was already in his hands. There was no going back now.

In his hands, Douglas continued to look at the book in shock. As he flipped swiftly through the pages, his gaze traveled from his daughter to the book in his hands. With every page he flipped, his eyes widened in shock and his nose twitched in disgust.

The gesture made Elora's heart sink. She should never have brought the book home to read. She should have just kept it at the bookshop.

However, the title had struck her so hard that there was nothing she could do. The moment her eyes skimmed through the label that had been on the shelf, she knew that the book owned her last penny.

"A proper woman's guide to fulfilling her man's sexual desires..." Doughlas read the title aloud. His eyes still opened, his eyeballs swam in disbelief.

His cheeks were flustered, he was embarrassed.

"Papa. I was curious, there were a lot of things that I needed to know and understand..."

"About sex? Elora, you're still such a little girl..." Douglas cut in, but Elora was faster.

"I am twenty papa! I should be married by now."

"You would get married my dear. To the right man,when the good man comes from you, you'll know."

Elora could not help the bitter laugh that escaped her throat.

"Really papa? Because for all I know, it is forbidden for a male to so much as smile at me. "

"I am worried for you Elora! Why don't you see...?"

Douglas was interrupted by the sight of something dropping down from one of the pages of the book.

Quiet, they both followed the paper down to the ground. Elora stayed quiet and watched as her father leaned towards the wooden floor to pick up the paper.

When it flipped over, what he saw caused his heart to fall.

His gaze flickered up to her frightened ones. Elora sought for words to say, but couldn't find any.

How had she forgotten to put that picture away?

Her mother's picture stared back at her father.

"Where did you get this?" He asked. His tone was unusually calm, but there was a dangerous edge to the tone that Elora didn't miss.

She fought to keep her eyes on anything in her small room, anything apart from his gaze.

"I asked you a question, Elora. Have you always had this?"

She turned to him now. Fear and pain were evident in his gaze.

Was there a need to explain herself?

"Papa, I can explain..."

"No. No you cannot because there is only one explanation to all of this. And that is you do not appreciate all that I am doing to keep you safe!" He was yelling at her now. Elora knew she couldn't blame him for it, not at all.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Papa..." She cried out.

But Douglas had gone far past her tears.

"I risked our lives to keep you safe after they took your mother away from us. Until this very day, I do not know where her body lies. And I can never, because we can not go back there, back home. Everytime that I try to shield you, it is not because of myself, but it's because of you."

"Papa, I under..."

"No." He flung the book on the wall. A few pages tore out as he did so, but Douglas didn't care.

"If anyone had seen this picture in your hands, you would have been on a hangman's noose. They would have taken you away from me just the way they took your mother and her kind. These people don't want us to be here, and if we are ever caught, we would lose our lives. I need you to understand that we have to be very careful Elora, please."

Sighing, Elora nodded her head affirmatively. She knew that he wasn't lying.

If anyone ever got so much as a scent of who she was, she would be dead.

Elora rose up to embrace her father. Her right cheek brushed his chest as he spread his arms around his daughter.

"If anything were to ever happen to you Elora..."

"Nothing will Papa, I promise."

~•~

Darkness bestowed upon her, as it was normal at such an hour of the day. As she lay in bed, she did so quietly.

After their argument, she heard the door open and her father stepped out. What she didn't know was if he had returned.

If he had not, it would only mean he was going to work through the night at the inn.

The thought caused her to smile sadly. He was always working too hard. If only he would let her do something to help him.

If he could hide his identity perfectly, why did he not have faith that she could do so as well?

Perhaps he was right. Her mother's blood running through her would announce itself to anyone who was smart enough to listen. Even though her human blood masked it a great deal - since her mother was a low ranking witch - it could still be picked up by a powerful wolf.

An alpha wolf.

Sighing, she turned and lay on her right side, facing the window of her room. She gazed at the bits of snow that fell to the ground. Winter was coming, and so were the wars that accompanied it.

In her range of thoughts, sleep came with the wind and blew past her. Elora's eyelids closed together in harmony, allowing the peaceful waves of sleep to wash over her.

The peace didn't last for long.

The sound of a mockingbird's chirping filled her ears.

A mockingbird was only present when wolves were on patrol!

More than three days after his failed wedding and his 27th birthday, Ace lay in bed asleep.

He was going to have a very long day attending to palace court duties. Still, that had not stopped him from drinking himself to stupor the previous night.

His rejection was such a hard pill to swallow. The pain in his chest was similar to a stab with a sword. He felt his heart bleed everytime he got visions of that day.

After the failed wedding, he got word that Athena had returned to her pack and had taken the first ship back to France, where she would now live amongst the French humans for the rest of her life. Thinking of her now, Ace could only feel nothing but hate, immense hatred.

Suddenly, he began to toss and turn in his sleep. It was not just as a result of the thoughts of his wedding, but the overwhelming pain he felt on the pelvic region of his stomach contributed to it.

He tried to hold it in, hold it all in. It was happening again! But this time, he would breathe it in, he would not scream. He would not be weak, he would not burden his mother.

The pain grew worse. It felt as though a sword had been heated, and used to carve a mark on his lower abdomen. Frustrated, he screamed. He could not take it anymore. He just wanted it to end, all of it.

All this pain, for something he had known nothing about. His grandfather had passed the tale to his father, who passed the tale to him.

His hatred for his great-grandfather knew no bounds. If it wasn't for him, Ace would have never had a reason to be in so much pain. His disgust for the female white witch could not be ignored either. What type of sentiment would have caused a woman to lay a curse on an innocent child and not the one who had committed the crime?

Since then, any white witches who were discovered in his time faced public execution. If they had so much power to change and influence lives and destinies, then they had no business being alive - especially in his reign.

His scream attracted not only the guards mounted at the foot of his door, but his mother - who stayed in the room closest to his during his pre and post birthday periods. Hera had been expecting it, but it never made it easier for her.

She pushed open the huge mahogany doors of her son's royal bedroom.

Ace continued to turn violently on his bed, still screaming at the top of his voice.

Hera's heart began to pound against her chest. She ordered for the guards to rush to her son and make him still.

Instantly, the two men rushed to him and held his hands at both sides, pinning his arms to the bed so that his movements grew less violent.

Ace was without a shirt. Everyone who was present watched in horror as an invisible sword continued to slash his stomach. With every stroke, blood oozed out of his flesh and Ace's scream grew animalistic.

"Please nother! Please make it stop! It hurts so much, I'm begging you."

Lady Hera held on to the sleeves of her night dress. It broke her heart to see her son like this, it tore her more to know that there was little or nothing she could do about it. Despite being a salutory wolf, it hurt her to know she could only tend to her son's injuries, not cure him.

"Ace, Ace, I need you to be calm. Just breathe my son, everything will be fine."

But she knew nothing would be. If they didn't find a cure or someway to break the curse, she would lose her son. Ace was all that she had after his father died, she could not imagine a life where she had to live without him. All alone, in this castle by herself.

No. Lady Hera knew she would rather die than live such a terrible life.

They watched him kick his legs, whine in pain, curse everything and everyone around him. He hated himself, he hated the world. Why did he have to be born under such cruel circumstances? How was the only sin he committed being born into the Talon family; Alpha Kings of the Wind Winder's pack?

Ace was tired. He was tired of the hurt, the pain. What had he ever done to deserve such cruelty?

Just what had he ever done to deserve all the pain that life brought him?

Soon enough, the invisible sword ceased to scar him. The blood dried up against his flesh and his breathing slowly steadied itself. Ace struggled to open his eyes. The carving had stopped, just as it always did.

Ace continued to pant heavily, in an attempt to steady his breath. The injury was still fresh in his skin. Hera did nothing but stare at the injury. It was a sign, some form of symbol.

The sword had drawn a tally mark, on that indicated his age; 27. It was a countdown, a countdown to his end. He has three more years to go.

If he couldn't reverse the curse before his 30th birthday, he was sure to die.

Ace's eyes fell on his mother's terrified ones. As she stared at his stomach, he wondered exactly what it was that she was looking at. Her eyes had the look, the one it always had when she saw something extremely frightening.

"Mother..." He stopped to pant.

"What's wrong, mother? What does it say?" Ace screamed at the top of his lungs.

Lady Hera stepped back from him.

Her son's voice managed to tear her gaze away from his abdomen. She raised her eyes and allowed her gaze to fall on his sweaty face.

"We..." She stopped, the tears she held back threatened to choke her voice.

"We do not have time anymore."

As she whispered the words, Hera knew what she had to do.

Ace had to find a bride, one who would steal his heart. They had said love and the mate bond was the only way to heal him of the curse.

It didn't matter what she had to do, she would call all the ladies in Wind Winder's for a ball, and she was certain he would find a woman after his heart, and his there. She would take destiny into her own hands for her son.

A stray tear ran down her left eye as she looked at him.

She had a ball to plan.

Her father had not wanted her to leave for work that morning, but Elora strongly kicked against it.

When she had finally managed to convince him, Douglas picked up the basket and turned on his heels. From where she stood, Elora watched the only person she had left in her life walk to the door.

He touched the crooked door knob and turned to her.

"When you're on your way back..."

"Remember to make sure no one is following you behind..." Elora cut in, folding her arms against her rather full chest as she swayed her head dramatically.

When she chuckled, her eyes fell back on her father.

"I know that Papa. I'll be careful."

Douglas could not help the smile that crept to his face and spread his lips apart.

"Silly girl." He muttered, loud enough for Elora to hear.

"I love you too Papa!" She called out.

She stayed fixed to where she stood until she heard her father's horse gallop out of their yard.

Heaving a sigh, she turned on her heels and retired to her bedroom.

She had a lot of errands to run for Madam Delacroix today. Only then would she be paid.

Her lunch of unleavened bread and ginger water was packed in a woolen bag. She held the strap of the bag over her shoulder as she made it out of the house. She locked the door behind her and threw the metal keys into her bag.

Elora did not have a horse of her own; a measure put in place by her father to make sure that she constantly stayed under his watch. And it had worked tremendously.

There were some distances which she could not walk, and Vincent, her father's horse, had never seemed to care for her.

The walk from her small cottage to the community market could have taken nothing less than thirty minutes.

As she walked past market stalls, she greeted the women who sold fruits and walked around with crying babies tied to their backs. The girls who helped their mamas with carrying the basket of goods got from the market, the Carpenters and all who cared to return her greeting.

However, something had been particularly peculiar about this day. Every girl seemed to be extremely excited about something. Their mothers were not left out.

Mothers and daughters beamed with smiles as they walked, young girls gathered in fours and fives as they chattered discreetly, making faces and pointing to the card in their hands.

That was when it dawned on her.

Almost everybody seemed to have the card in their hands, or at least, seemed to be excited about it.

Then there she was, with no clue about what was going on.

"Get in, buy what you want, and get out." Her father's voice thundered in her head.

Elora knew she ought to have looked down at the floor and hurried to her mistress's dress shop. She knew that she ought to have sent the card and everything it symbolized to hell. It was what her father would have wanted, it was what was expected of her.

Still, she could not control the curiosity in her heart. Whatever news was spreading its contagious happiness around the village, it had certainly not gotten to her side of it. Not that she could blame it anyway.

Her feet came to a halt in the middle of the road. To her right, three girls - two of whom she had been familiar with since childhood, stood by the side of a bar.

Elora stood and examined them. They stood in a circle, eyes fixed on what they had in their hands as they smiled and laughed.

This was Elora's chance to find out just what was happening.

So, she crossed the road and walked over to them.

Andy, just the same age as Elora, but with blonde hair and a rather chubby face, saw Elora first. On reflex, a genuine smile plastered itself on her lips.

"Elora!!" She called out first, earning her the attention of the other girls.

Their eyes fell on Beauty's rather scrawny frame.

"Andy!" Elora called out, equally happy to see her friend. When the two met, they locked each other in a tight embrace and planted courtesy kisses on each other's cheeks.

"Where have you been all these days? It's been days since we last saw you!" Andy exclaimed, causing the other two girls to nod in agreement.

Elora recognised the slim girl with chestnut hair as Andy's cousin, but the dark haired tall girl, she did not know.

"I have been so busy taking care of Papa." Elora lied.

How was she supposed to tell her friend that even at twenty, her Papa still controlled her movements.

"I shall come by to see you some time."

"Hmm. Your dress is absolutely lovely!"

Elora said aloud, admiring the apparel of a yellow cotton dress that clung on to her friend's bosom. She was certain it was her mother's way of chasing Andy into the courtship market.

"Why thank you my dear friend." Andy was genuinely flattered.

"I am very certain you have one more beautiful than this for the ball tonight. Seeing as you're madam Delacroix's apprentice." Andy spoke. The excitement in her tone knew no bounds as she tugged on the sleeves of Elora's worn out shirt.

Firstly, Elora did not have any form of beautiful dress whatsoever.

Secondly, there was a ball?

Elora did not know she had spaced out, until "You did know there was a ball, did you not? The prince's ball!"

"Surely she would have known! There is not a maiden who does not!"

"I doubt so, she seemed lost when Andy mentioned it." The unknown girl spoke.

Elora feigned a smile. How did they manage to talk about her as though she were not there?

"You do have a dress to the ball, do you not? It is a once in a lifetime opportunity! For some reason, the Luna queen mother has been gracious enough to invite us to the royal ball! Mama thinks I might finally snatch myself a noble Alpha wolf ! How delightful! Oh, you must come, Elora! You must!"

She had not even gotten an invitation.

Looking at the dark girl's hand, an idea lit up in her head like a light bulb.

Suddenly, a mischievous smile crept into her face. Her eyes rested on the dark girl's frame before rising.

She pretended as though she was examining something over their shoulders.

Andy and her cousin sisters looked over at Elora suspiciously, what could she be...?

"My word! Could that be the Alpha king himself?"

On hearing her, the girls all made an attempt to turn back.

That was her moment! Elora snatched the card from the dark girl's hand, laughing as she did so.

The girl turned back to her, a horrified look in her eyes.

"Hey! Come back here!"

But it was rather too late. Elora was quick on her feet, and the dark girl thought herself rather too proper to chase her.

Elora dashed away with speed. Hoping to be ready for a fight whenever she saw Andy again.

She continued to run until her fists met with the wooden doors that had the inscription "Delacroix dress shop" calligraphed with white paint.

When the doors flew open, Madam Delacroix, who stood just in front of it, a black silk dress in her hands, almost jumped.

A tall and curvy woman even at her late age of forty and seven, madam Delacroix had found a way to make her name for herself amongst the many men.

"Goodness child! Have you been running a marathon?!" The lady screamed in dread at how unkempt Elora appeared.

Smiling, Elora wiped the beads of sweat on her forehead off with her palm and brushed the palm against her woolen skirt, a gesture that caused Delacroix to frown.

"Do not set those hands on any of my light colored fabrics until you have properly washed them." She ordered, making her way to the shelves of fabric, with the black dress in her hand.

"I would have you carry out some very essential deliveries today. It is the Prince's ball today. It is said that he would pick Luna from the maidens present today. I rather find that odd, after he got rejected by his mate ..."

"He got rejected by his mate?!" Elora cut in. Her green eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at her mistress.

Why? Who had thought it wise to reject an Alpha prince?!

Who could have been crazy enough to pass up on the opportunity to be Luna Queen?!

As she made her way past Delacroix's wooden counter, to the boxes neatly wrapped and heaped in a corner, her eyes never left her mistress.

"Of course he was! On his wedding day for that matter. Before you know it, word spread that she had moved to France. Can you just imagine?"

She did not know who he was, as a matter of fact, she had never met him or been blessed enough to come across a picture of him. Still, her heart broke for him at the thought.

"I believe you have an invitation to the ball?"

This time, Delacroix's voice was so close, Elora could tell the woman was just standing above her.

Elora fought back the urge to laugh.

Oh! She had one alright!

One she had so graciously stolen.

"I have one madam."

"So you'll be attending?"

Delacroix's voice had now drawn closer to Elora. She leaned into the younger girl and stretched her hand over her head, picking up the scissors that rested on one of the boxes.

"I am not quite sure." Elora managed to say,as she finally raised her head up. She felt drowsy from all the looking down she had been doing and fought to stand upright.

"I do not have a dress." Elora blurted out. Hoping, immediately the sentence slipped out of her lips, that she would not have a reason to regret it.

The moment Madam Delacroix's eyes narrowed on her, before turning away in what appeared to be mock pity, Elora regretted ever opening her mouth to speak.

"You can have the green dress on the mannequin outside." Madam Delacroix spoke softly, Elora's eyes widened.

"Madam, I..."

"No, Elora. You've worked for it."

Elora smiled to herself, her heart danced for joy.

It was already dark by the time she arrived home. Giving her only ample time to keep the box her gown lay in, until she got permission from her father to attend the ball.

The knock on the door caused her to leave the kitchen. She knew it was her father when he made their secret knock rhythm.

"Papa!" She hugged him in ecstasy as he stepped inside.

Douglas did not know which surprised him more; the over excitement of his daughter, or the sweet aroma of stew emanating from the kitchen.

Yet, he allowed himself to relish in both.

"Are we celebrating something?" He finally asked when Elora served his meal.

"Why, why, Papa, just eat!" Elora replied, laughing.

And so he ate. At least, he tried to, until Elora popped the question to him.

"There's a ball tonight Papa. I received an invitation to attend. Can you imagine Papa,me, at a royal ball! I can only..."

Blood drained away from Douglas's face, and his appetite disappeared.

He cut into Elora's sentence by sending the plate of food in front of him, down to the floor with one sweep of his hand.

Elora rose in shock. She stared at the spilled contents of the food before raising her eyes up to meet her father.

"So this is what the food was about?" His deadly tone was an even match for his deadly glare.

Elora staggered back, tears rushing down her eyes.

"Papa..."

"There would be no words about this ball again. And I forbid you from leaving this house tonight, or any other night, until I say so..."

In front of him, in the dimly lit dining table, Beauty's heart broke.

"You cannot do that Papa!" She screamed at the top of her voice as she watched her father walk past her. Douglas brushed past her shoulder, before he stopped and turned to her.

"Little do you know."

With that, he walked into the dark of the house, leaving a heart broken Elora behind him.