The Alpha Killed My Husband

27| What Did I Do?

The day is bright and sunny. Waves of the ocean crash on the rock, making a longitudinal sound. I am on an island.

Rows of palm trees are planted on my left with ample greenery full of pine trees and Indian Rosewood, and to my right is a fall that never ends.

I am with my mother and someone I cannot recognize. He is male—tall and lean. They are beaming at me with parental affection.

‘Mommy?’ I mumbled in disbelief.

I want to tear my eyes away from her. It has to be a dream. It must be. How else can she be with me? I saw her jumping off. She never returned.

Who is this male with her? Is he Papa? It cannot be him. The silhouette doesn’t fit with the images in my memory.

‘My baby!’ Mommy cries, engulfing me in her arms. She kisses my forehead, cheeks, eyes, nose, and hair, mumbling incoherent sweet nothings.

‘I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. I—’ She sobs in my hair. Her tears dampen my scalp.

‘Trupti.’ The deep masculine voice signs, rubbing my mother’s back. The male had leaned in beside me. He looks at me with nothing but love. He rubs my arms too, concerned.

‘Look at her Nakul,’ Mommy hiccups. ‘She has to go through so much. Disaster!’ Another hiccup. More sobs. ‘We left her in disaster. Oh, how I wish we could take her to—’ Her hold on my body tightens. Mommy is in hysteria.

I feel confused, overwhelmed, and weepy. This is just so damn strange. I don’t remember ever travelling to an island this beautiful. I don’t remember planning on meeting my mother, who has been nothing more than invisible air for years. It’s true, I miss her dearly every day. I yearn for her affection. I daydream of the life I would have had, had she not abandoned me.

I curse her. I long for her. I cry for her. I love her.

It’s serene. Nostalgic. Enchanting. There are so many things I want to talk about. I want to take her hand and play with her, make up for all the time I have missed her. The little girl in me is rebirthing. I want to explore the island and dive into the picturesque beauty. Instead, I hiccup in my mother’s arms like a f*****g nascent.

‘Mum—Mum—Mumma,’ I wail. My voice is so sodding, my glasses might have shattered had there been one.

Nagini slithers beside me sympathetically. Weird s**t! Because none of us can co-exist out in the open in an individual body. I’d have to shapeshift for her to appear and vice-versa.

Seemingly, my imagination knows no bounds.

Another creature comes into the picture. It’s a wolf. A huge she-beast. Warm ocean blue, pitiful eyes cascade down at the reunion. She is sparkling white. Around eight teats dangle in my face when she scurries closer. Neither Nagini nor I mind her proximity. She is one of us.

‘Mommy?’ I gasp again. I hug her back, wanting to melt in her already. My clutches are getting tighter. I don’t want to let go of her now when I have finally found her.

The drizzles, sprinkles, and thunder are long-forgotten memories. The cries of war, Vachaspati’s pricking hemipenes in my vent, Papa’s thrashes, unhatched eggs, Rudransh’s strong arms, Kevin’s scary eyes, I don’t remember any of it.

I am living in the moment. I want to stay like this forever. In the safety cocoon of my loving mother who, I fear, may vanish any minute and she does.

‘Aary!’ A familiar voice is reaching out for me. It’s faintly pulling. ‘Get up! We have to leave.’ It demands. It’s buttery but stern. I have heard it a million times before. I have cherished the sound of it.

I would do anything to tune it out at the moment.

Mother’s grip loosens. She is looking over my shoulder hesitatingly. I shake my head violently, missing her warmth. ‘No, Mommy. Please.’ I beg, reaching out to her.

‘We will meet you soon, my love. Your destiny isn’t just there yet. Keep striving, Honey.’ She whispers, pecking on my forehead lightly. I am crying badly as I hold on to her lost hand.

She is fading away with the mysterious male and the she-wolf.

‘Aaradhya Shenoy!’ The voice sounds bolder now.

I am stirring up. The normal polluted air of an overcrowded nation reeking of blood and iron fills my nostrils. A normal day in Vampuza welcomes me.

I am in Vampuza. The realization hits bitterly. The dream is a broken memory with more missing pieces than I can manage to figure out. It’s slipping away when I desperately want to cling to it.

The unbearable agony of never-ending invitations piling at the side of the bedpost is the first sight as soon as I blink my eyes open. I collected all of them in a matter of a day. All from the same category—fashion shows, parties, and bullshit topped with bullshit.

‘Ugh!’ The groan was involuntary but inevitable. My eyes are bloodshot after the night’s torture of myself. My breath reeks of whiskey, vodkas, and turkey from the delicious meal I had consumed throughout the party.

It has been more than twenty hours since we have been in Vampuza. Yet it feels like an eternity. I feel like total crap when I make a fragile attempt to get up.

The bed drags me back with a soft pulp. My head hits the soft pillow. Everything is spinning madly.

Sighing tiredly, I lay back and blink my eyes open. An intricate design on the ceiling mocks my face. It’s royal golden, polished, and radiant.

I grunt and turn my head to the side. A fuzzy laburnum tree stands proudly across the street. It waves in zigzag movements, making my head spin. The yellow petals shower in tiny over the blurry passersby.

What the f*****g hell? I groan. I try to think.

I do not remember s**t. How did I end up in this bed? Ugh, my head hurts. Why is everything so sharp? What did we do, Nagini?

How would I know? Maybe the Alpha did something. Could he? Nagini is slower than usual, which is weird s**t again.

What?

Could he—maybe he—

Fuck! Say it already.

It could be he filled up your cunt. Nagini moans, slithering slightly. She is as grumpy as I am.

Nonsense! My head and cunt aren’t connected. I brush it off. It cannot be that. I would have remembered him advancing it. It ain’t that smooth, to begin with. I try to think harder. Eventually, I gave up when my head buzzed.

Oh, come on! He was talking about sowing his seeds just yesterday. He is always in the mood, since you are always turning him down. You aren’t innocent to know how much desire reluctance invokes. A male stays at the peak of his arousal if he cannot get it. Forbidden is soliciting. It’s a turn-on. Rudranhs is a wolf. He could be understanding but he has a p***s to take care of. Nagini reasons. For once, I cannot counter it. She has a point.

My eyes flung open.

I woke up in a jolt and hurriedly checked myself with my heart in my mouth.

A long white shirt that reaches to my thighs is the only piece of article on my body. Apart from that, a neon panty peeks out. The top three buttons are undone, putting the valley of my mounds on the display. My breasts hurt as if they had been kneaded and groped all night. However, any sensation between my legs is missing.

I scratch my head in frustration. I spot a couple of pillows by my side and throw them off randomly. I kick my legs at the sheet and yell.

‘Tsk! Tsk!’ Someone clicks their tongue at my side. The sound nearly makes me jump.

Another thing that overlooks the bedpost is a smug-looking Rudransh, sitting cross-legged on—? What is he sitting at? I blink again and again.

Neither the water clouds nor the tiny stars persist outside of the vision. Could he be flying?

Nope! He cannot, no matter how advanced his territory is. Wolves are not allowed to fly. Only fairies, witches, and soulless hunters can. I am not a fool. He cannot be flying in a cross-legged meditation position fuming like a raging bull.

‘f**k!’ I groan, rub my eyes and kick the stupid bedsheet that has pooled at my feet in an annoying heap.

‘Yeah!’ The asswipe yells. It makes me grimace. Why is he so loud and obnoxious early in the morning? What makes him a cuckold ass?

Cock! Was he? Did he?

‘Why are my boobs hurting? What did you do?’ I deadpan, blinking at him lazily when he is already looking at me sternly with his hands folded on the chest in the I-am-so-done-with-you-that-I-might-dump-your-body-in-Thames position.

His face changes shade at my accusation. A smirk takes over the grim expression.

‘You don’t remember the beautiful memories, Sweetheart?’ He is grinning unapologetically smug. ‘You don’t remember how horny you were. You were all over me. Practically shoved my d**k in your p***y. I would almost have been r***d had I not knocked you out.’ Rudransh widens his eyes dramatically.

He crosses his hands over his chest diagonally. He mockingly covers his nonexistent boobs from my ‘preying’ eyes.

'Just go away!' I yawn, snuggling deeper into the sheets. I feel a tingling sensation at my fingertips. My head throbs. I might be the sickest serpent on the planet, feeling a knot in my stomach and all…but I am not a screwball.

Rudransh is messing around with me. It won’t change a thing anyway.

This bed right here is my marked space. I will stay here forever. He can go screw himself. Besides, I do not remember ever flopping around like a wild horse.

I never dared initiate it with Vachu! It was always him all over me and not the other way around. The almighty thinks I will go wiggling my t**s in his face because…? He is okay-ish. Whatever!

Fuck his nasty imagination in the ass literally.

I'd rather get lost in Vampuza. Suck the old bal’fartie’s doing. Dance naked my way out to Cape Comorin, but I wouldn’t be afrobeat around Rudransh for something as trifle as s*x.

‘You are denying it?’ The motherfucker's screechy voice beats on my eardrums again and I want to get up, find a hammer and break his skull into a powder that I will later use to bath.

Again, it will be too much hard work and I am not moving an inch from this bed.

A dead body may stir awake, I won't. Team lazy asses! Hell Yeah!

My thoughts are a mess: more like a confused heap as that has become of my luggage, invitations, Memorials, and blah blah blah. My body is quivering. It has been hours since I changed my posture. My shoulder blades are throbbing, my butt is numb and my right leg is asleep.

I want to be left alone.

‘Impossible!’ The asshole pipes. ‘We are leaving in an hour!’

I don’t move.

'I won't carry you to the flight and risk another fuss. You already f****d me up enough. Get up or I will live with you in Vampuza.’

It's a threat? Pooh! I want to gag.

I open my eyes a little. This time, I found the monster by the venue with his hands on his hips. I blink at him and turn my head. My wandering eyes land on two small squirrels quarrelling their ways to the top of the tree. It is a chase for nuts that is driving me nuts. Like a lunatic, I keenly observe their flight from branch to branch that halt at the hollow hood while I slip into the darkest lane of my brain.

The chase closely resembles the cat and mouse game that has become part of my life. I am chasing an imaginary goal to avenge the destruction when my life and self have become a mess. I sleep with an Alpha who is supposed to be my biggest enemy. I kiss him. I lick him. I like it.

He is clueless about the game he is in but somehow miraculously wins every freaking round. He is cute sometimes; at others, he is charmingly condescending. He helps me, comforts me, and expresses his love for me all the while taking me to be someone I am not. I do not mind it.

Most importantly, he treats me at par. For then, almost everything around me was reverting back and forth to the man I had taken an oath to kill. I wish...I just wish I could erase everything and rewrite it.

‘No! No! No!’ A voice inside my head roared firmly. ‘I cannot let myself suffer just like that again. Sarva, remember the promise. You need to be the best version of yourself and you will become stronger and invincible. You will rule the world, change the law.’ I tell myself, finally dragging my body into a sitting position.

'You are my biggest enemy out there. I hate you, loathe you, despise you. I will kill you the first chance I get. You are naive of the threat. Okay?' For once, I speak the truth. 'Repeat after me Rudransh-f*****g-Shenoy! Que-Luna Aaradhya hates you with every cell in her body including every fibre of this shirt that you oh so proudly tucked me in and every single atom that surrounds us.' I shrieked loudly, kicking and punching in the air.

Vampuza is full of idiotic amazement. This floor is jelly. I struggle on my knees to stand upright and end up falling in Rudransh’s arms.

'Are you done?' He asks incredulously in a not-even-an-ounce-more-or-you-are-busted tone. Nonetheless, he straightens me up.

And then?

He disappears behind two wall-sized oakwood doors only to reappear in a second. He throws a knee-length chiffon dress at my face and snaps his fingers under my nose.

‘I am done babysitting you. I am not your chauffer or whatever. You are getting up, going there,’ He points at another set of doors that I did not see before. 'and getting ready in, ‘He checks his digital watch, 'twenty minutes. I will ask someone to send you breakfast. I cannot risk you calling Thomas Ole bal'buddy or questioning him how he'd f**k his wife when he cannot climb ten steps straight. Am I clear? You have already caused a catastrophe at the wedding.’

His dark eyes pierce through me angrily as he leans dangerously closer. His minty breath fans my cheeks as he holds me in the most intense eye contact we have ever had.

‘Am. I. Clear.’ He questions, emphasising each word.

I gulp with a nod.

‘Words. Oh, Almighty Queen of the Sarp-Samrajya.’ He rolls his eyes. I shiver. My eyes pop out of the socket.

Did he—

‘Answer, Aary!’

‘Ye—yes.’ I breathe out. I am sober and terrified. Rudransh is gone again. His words still echo in my ears.

Oh, Almighty Queen of Sarp-Samrajya.

I slump in the bed. I am left all alone to figure it out.

What in the hell did I do?