3- The Death of an Alpha
POV Lunara Grimwald:
Alessio stared at me, and a feral gleam crossed the brown eyes I loved so dearly.
"No," he hissed, pressing his teeth together tightly.
I smiled proudly, not realizing the answer he had given. A wave of gasps rippled through the forest. The smile on my face slowly faded.
"What?" Alpha Giovanni asked, as confused as I was.
In one swift motion, Alessio threw the knife to his father and seized my arm with such force I felt the marks of his fingers tattooed into my skin. With his other hand, he pulled back the veil, uncovering my face.
"How dare you reject my daughter?" my father growled. "I demand an explanation before I kill you both."
He ignored him, keeping his attention on me.
I stared intently into his eyes, trying to find some trace of mockery in his tone. He would not reject me on our wedding day, not after everything we had lived through and endured.
He loved me, just as I loved him. Didn’t he?
He leaned closer, aligning our faces.
"I reject you, Lunara! And I will make you the whore of my pack," he whispered, brushing the back of his hand against my cheek. "Have you told your father how you spread your legs for me? How you came, screaming my name, with my cock inside you?"
My eyes widened and my mouth opened, but no sound came out.
He wasn’t doing this. He couldn’t be. He was… humiliating me, before everyone, despising me.
"I will kill you," my father growled, advancing.
"Tell your father, darling. Tell him what a slut you are. Tell him how you sucked my cock the last night we spent together, swallowing me until you choked," he hissed through his teeth, tightening his fingers around my neck.
I shook my head, tears clouding my vision.
I was… breaking. Little by little, until nothing was left of me, nothing remained for him or for anyone.
Alessio, my fiancé, my betrothed. My first love, my first in everything. He was… rejecting me at the altar, dishonoring me, demeaning me.
I gasped.
And then everything happened too fast.
My father lunged at Alessio, but was stopped by Kellan, who shoved him away from his son, who still had his hands on my neck. It was a silent threat. He held my life in his hands and could kill me at any moment.
"We had an agreement, you filthy worm!" my father roared.
Kellan laughed loud and strong.
"We never had an agreement."
"What?"
I could not move, could not do anything but stare at Alessio in disbelief.
Through his eyes, I could see something I had never seen before. Rage, disgust, contempt.
My heart shattered in that moment, with the obvious realization that I had been deceived my entire life. That I had been nothing but a puppet, molded by my parents and deluded by the male I swore to love.
My whole life, all the upbringing I endured, full of restrictions so I could become the perfect wife for him. Everything. It was all a lie.
"I never planned to marry our pups, you bastard. I would never marry my son to a whore of your lineage!" Kellan confessed, his voice dripping with so much disdain that my hair stood on end. "All of this was nothing but my plan for revenge."
"Are you insane?" Alpha Giovanni interjected.
"I know about the affair you had with Aveline, I know how you loved fucking my wife behind my back." He laughed with scorn. "I killed her as soon as I discovered the truth. Right in front of Alessio, so he could see the truth about his whore of a mother. I buried my hand deep into her chest and tore out her heart."
"Then, I had the idea to bury the body and pretend she had vanished, creating the impression that we were in danger, so you would agree to give one of your daughters in the pact," Alessio said, his firm voice echoing through the forest.
I swallowed a sigh and let the first tear slip from the corner of my right eye.
"And now, I will finally have the pleasure of killing him," Kellan continued. "After humiliating him in front of everyone, knowing he had a daughter who’s a whore and used, just as he used my wife." He laughed. "But don’t worry, Vittorio. I will make your daughters the bitches of my pack. They will serve all my men, always ready to satisfy them, until they’re of no more use."
A deep growl rumbled from my father’s chest, sending shivers down my body. He was using his alpha power, exuding blind, raw fury.
Alessio turned me the other way, pressing my back against his hard, defined chest, never removing his fingers from my neck, forcing me to look at our parents.
He leaned closer, his lips brushing my ear.
"Don’t worry, Lunara…" he whispered, kissing my ear. "I’ll be one of your clients. I like what you have to offer between your legs. A good pussy can’t go to waste."
I let out a low hiss, exhaling all the pain I felt through it.
My father broke free from Kellan and lunged at him, ready to kill, blinded by his rage and thirst for vengeance.
But he didn’t get far. The alpha of the Eclipse wolves held the silver knife and didn’t hesitate before plunging the blade into his neck.
The blood from the severed vein sprayed across my face and body, staining my white dress red. It was hot, thick, and carried a strong scent that made my stomach churn.
I gasped, parting my lips in a heavy breath. My mother’s scream shattered the silence, piercing the air.
Vittorio staggered back a few steps, clutching his pierced neck, trying to stop the hot blood gushing through the wound.
The pungent, metallic smell spread through the air, burning my nose.
His blue eyes lost their focus little by little as life drained from his body. Kellan’s laughter thundered.
"And finally, after so long, I have the pleasure of watching you die," he said, pulling the knife from my father’s neck. He stared at the red liquid coating the blade, brought it to his lips, and ran his tongue along it, tasting it. "Now I know what your blood tastes like, Vittorio. Enjoy fucking my wife in hell."
He kicked the wounded alpha hard, sending him flying. My father hit one of the trees and fell lifeless onto the ground of dry leaves.
I covered my mouth with my hands.
Dead.
My father was dead.