Substitute Wife to the Alpha

Elaria’s POV I should’ve turned back the moment I smelled her perfume. It clung to the hallway air, too sweet, too artificial, too. . . Amara. My steps slowed as I reached the end of the corridor, the door slightly ajar, a soft laugh echoing behind it. No. Not a laugh, it was a moan. I froze, my pulse stuttering. No, not now. Not today. I don't have the energy for this. Let this not be real. I had just left the hospital. My feet were blistered, and my palms still smelled of antiseptic. I’d spent ten hours standing beside Pa Jerry, the old wolf who raised me, trying to keep him alive with nothing more than stubborn hope and a stack of unpaid bills. The one creature who’d ever looked at me like I ever mattered was slipping away, it kills me that I have no power to do anything about it. And here I was, listening to my sister moan behind the door. It took every shred of strength I had not to collapse right there and then with shock. I could’ve walked away. But I didn’t. Instead, I slipped my hand into my coat pocket, pulled out my phone, and hit record. The audio alone was damning enough. Julian’s voice was low and breathless. With Amara’s voice giggling and sharp with mockery. “She thought you were going to marry her and give her a fairy tale wedding, didn't she?” Amara’s tone dripped with mockery and satisfaction. “You promised her a future and a bond. Look at you now. Claiming me in my bed.” Julian groaned something unintelligible. The mattress creaked in time with my heart breaking. I pushed the door open. Their gasps collided with mine. I guess you could say they were not expecting me to find them in their deceit. Julian sprang off the bed, dragging a sheet with him like it could protect him from the truth. Amara didn’t bother covering up, of course, she didn’t. She is still stretched like a cat, satisfied and smug, her honey-brown strands falling from her shoulder. “Elaria,” Julian began, his face pale as bone. “It’s not what it looks like. . . ” “Oh, really?” I deadpanned, lifting my phone so they know I have evidence. “Because it looks like you’re inside my sister, you are f*****g my sister. In my house. After everything I have done for you when I could not even take care of myself as I should” I turned my attention to Amara and stared at her, at her perfect little smirk, her sparkling eyes full of cruelty. “You’re my sister and you did this to me.” She laughed. “No, I’m not. You’re an orphan my parents took in out of pity. You don’t even have a wolf, remember? So technically Julian isn't really your mate. You are still playing the martyr, are you? No wolf, no wealth, no real family. What exactly did you expect? Loyalty?” My jaw clenched as I glanced at Julian. He was silent, acting so ashamed and weak. He didn’t even meet my eyes. That coward. And that said everything. Everything I need to know. I clenched my jaw and turned to leave, but the door slammed open again. My adoptive parents stood in the doorway, mouths ajar at the view before them. “What is this nonsense, are you crazy?” my mother snapped, looking from Amara’s bare chest to me, then to Julian. “She walked in on us,” Amara said without skipping a beat, voice trembling with false distress. “We weren’t doing anything serious, I swear.” My father glared at her. “You’re marrying into the Alpha’s family next week! And this is what you are doing? Do you want to destroy us?” Amara’s face twisted with frustration. “That’s just it! You’re marrying me off to an old man. How can you think of marrying your precious daughter to an exiled bastard? Haven't you been hearing the rumors, rumors say he’s a crippled failure with a locked wolf and no name. And you want me to marry him? Are you seriously considering this, father? When I could have Julian, our Alpha’s heir to myself” I felt a chill crawl down my spine with their conversation. I knew it could go crazy any minute and I would be in the middle of it all. They always find a way to make everything about themselves. This is not what we should be doing. I just caught my sister with my boyfriend and this is what they are talking about? Right now? “Why not let Elaria do it?” Amara said suddenly, bringing me out of my thoughts. “She’s already useless. Let her be the sacrifice. Let her marry the mutt. And I will marry Julian. His parents will approve of me” Julian shifted uncomfortably, but not even saying anything to defend me or speak for me. I realized now, he never planned to marry me. He has never even once stood up for me. Everything had been a lie. The mating bond had been a joke. But they can't actually take this nonsense into consideration. But my father turned to me, his lips curling into a satisfied sneer. “She’s right. The match is still within the family so it automatically still binds us. You’ll take her place.” “Are you serious?” I straightened my back, standing up straighter as if a newfound bravery had descended on me. “I won’t.” My voice was sharp with fury and I was proud of myself for standing up to them. “You can’t make me.” My adoptive mother stepped forward. “We took you in when you had nothing. You owe us.” the feeling of entitlement she shows threatened to make me vomit, when they have not even done a thing for me to have that right over. “No. The old wolf took me in,” I snapped at the both of them. “You just tolerated me. You have done nothing but ridicule me and made me into a constant trash, and you Amara,” I pointed my middle finger at her “you had constantly bullied me in school, letting everyone who cares to hear that I am a disgrace with no wolf, I owe you guys nothing. All you have done is make my life more than a living hell” “If you want that mutt treated and the bills paid,” she touched her forehead in annoyance and continued talking as if I had not spoken a word, or everything I said had no meaning whatsoever to her “. . . You will do as we say. He’s still our property. But then again, you are free to choose to let him die since he is dying already anyway, I know you will agree with me when I say it's only a matter of time” My breath caught in my throat, my world wobbled. “No, You wouldn’t dare!” Pa Jerry is as family to them as he is to me, I cannot believe they will resort to this. “Try me,” she said coldly. Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not in front of them anyway. Not when they were stripping away what little I had left. “I’ll do it,” I whispered, voice hollow. “I’ll marry him.” The silence that followed was not relief, but triumph. Amara smirked, stepping beside Julian and lacing her fingers through his. He didn’t resist, the f00l held her too. My hands trembled so much beside me, but I kept my chin high. I had no wolf, no name, no place in this cruel kingdom, but I had pride. Even now, when everything inside me screamed to run, to burn this house down and vanish into the woods, I stood tall and undefeated. I left the room with their laughter ringing behind me. The echo of betrayal was loud and suffocating and I couldn't stay there much longer than my heart would let me. I sat on the edge of my bed hours later, watching the dye sink into my silver hair like poison. Blonde again, always hiding. My hair had once been so radiant, moonlight trapped in strands. But it only brought stares, whispers, and jealousy. Especially from her. So I covered it, again and again, until I forgot what I truly looked like. I touched my reflection in the cracked mirror. I looked like her. My birth mother, I had been told once by the old wolf before his memory began to fail that she had hair like light and eyes like the sea. I have never met her, I didn’t know who she was, Just that she was gone. That my bloodline was a mystery, and my wolf, if I ever had one, was silent, maybe not going to show ever in my lifetime, she is just still, acting dead. I pressed a hand to my chest, closing my eyes to the tears and let them fall freely. There was something inside me, something asleep for far too long. Sometimes I dreamed of a howl, ancient, sorrowful, and powerful enough to shake mountains. But when I woke up, there was nothing. Everything was back to normal. I couldn’t cry, not now, not for Julian, not for Amara, not even for the twisted chains this family kept me in. I would marry the so-called bastard heir, old mutt, or whoever he is, but I will survive. That, they would not take from me.