Substitute Wife to the Alpha

Taking my shame away

Elaria’s POV

The wedding hall where we dined in felt less like a celebration and more like a battlefield. All their eyes followed us like we were some prey in the battlefield of wolves who only see blood. When they looked at me, of course I know they didn't see a bride, they saw a disgrace.

They saw a girl that should be gotten rid of, all they saw was a girl without a wolf, clinging to a banished heir, like we were two ghosts playing dress-up in the ruins of royalty. And maybe we are.

Their whispers didn't leave me, they were crawling so badly across my skin. I don't want it and it's too ugly, and that's why I don't care. Especially not with Alaric’s steady and possessive I resting at the small of my back. I can feel his touch burn through fabric like he is making me a silent promise, something in the lines of ‘Don’t worry, they will never make you feel worthless again’

He walked through that hall earlier like a king who had never begged for a throne a day in his life, who didn't know what it meant to be worthless. He looked so tall and controlled with eyes cold as ice, and very utterly indifferent to everyone. . . except me.

He didn’t smile at anyone, he didn't even waste his words that when one of the Alphas approached him with forced politeness, Alaric just stared at him with a gaze enough to silence him. The man ended up stammering an excuse and backed away like he had looked into the eyes of something very dangerous, of something so ruthless, it could rip out his throat.

I should have felt proud of his behavior, I mean none of these people made an effort before he got here. Instead, I felt hungry and about something else entirely.

I became hungry for the way his fingers brushed against my waist like he owned it, I became hungry for the restrained violence coiled beneath all that calm, and for the brutal strength he never turned against me, and that was what made it unbearable. I suddenly feel so special to know that Alaric belonged to no one. . . And yet somehow and impossibly, he belonged to me.

“Stop staring at me like that,” he murmured, tilting his head slowly toward mine. His voice was so low, only I could hear.

“Like what?” I asked, trying to hide the shock of getting discovered.

“Like you want me to devour you.” My breath caught in my throat, and I felt my cheeks redden immediately. “I don’t. . .”

He leaned closer, his lips grazing the shell of my ear. “Don’t lie to me, little wolf. You know I see the hunger you are trying so hard to hide.”

Shivers raced down my spine. I hated how easily he unraveled me completely with a single look, a single word, how they are making me come undone in the middle of a room full of my enemies.

Just then a movement from the far side of the hall broke the moment for me, I heard a bright, very fake laughter coming from no other person but Amara.

Of course, she was here. She never misses a place where an audience lingers.

She entered with Julian trailing behind her like a doll, his heir’s mark gleaming around him with his shoulders squared, but even from here, he still looked smaller to me. Petty.

Her lips curved in mock delight. “Alaric Marlow. What a surprise. Or should I say. . . Elaria’s new pet?”

Julian chuckled behind her, he was puffed up with smugness but Alaric didn’t so much as blink or reply to them, he just reached up slowly, slid a silver ring from his finger, and tucked it into his pocket with deliberate care. Then he dropped his gaze to look at me and moved me away from them..

“It’s just a rogue’s trick,” he said with a calm voice, as if nothing in the world could shake him, ever.

Something sad crept in my chest and I thought of loneliness, of what it took him to wear danger like armor just to keep the real monsters away from him.

“It’s normal,” I whispered back. “I know that trick too,” I said, but I hope we are still talking about the same thing.

His eyes burned into mine. “Don’t pity me.”

“I don’t.” And I didn’t. He had carved out a name for himself from ashes. He was stronger than me, stronger than any of these vultures here.

Amara leaned and walked towards us again, she tilted her head, showed her poisonous smile and said, “Oh such touching devotion. Tell me, Alaric, do you think she will purr for you in bed? Or will the two of you just lie there, pretending you are actual real wolves?”

Julian snorted behind us, can he just shut up already, making a woman do the talking for him.

Alaric walked, slowly and deliberately, placing himself between them and me. I can feel his whole body radiating violence, with every line a warning. His jaw tightened, a vein twitching at his temple, but his voice still remained soft. Deadly soft.

“Speak again,” he growled, “and I will rip out your tongue from your throat and feed it to the crows.”

Amara froze in reaction, she definitely hadn’t expected that, and my goodness! The joy I felt seeing her mask crack and then replaced with fear was more than intoxicating for me. I almost laugh in triumph.

Then Alaric turned to Julian. “And you. . . are still hiding behind your father’s name like a shield, as if you think he can save you. Tell me, will it save you when I paint this floor with your blood?”

Julian’s face whitened immediately, and his lips parted without any sound coming from them.

The hall held its breath still, with no roar, no raised voice. . . just the certainty that Alaric would kill without hesitation.

He turned back to me, and the storm melted into heat again within us, “Let’s leave, dear wife” he said. “I’m done with dogs pretending to be wolves.”

But Amara’s voice cut through the silence. “You really think this marriage makes you legitimate, uh?” she snapped, her mask cracking. “She is nothing but a parasite. She is weak, she has no wolf so that means she will always need someone to shield her from danger, and then let me add, she can betray you in the blink of an eye when it comes to it, so tell me, Alaric. . . how long before she betrays you too? How long before she spreads her legs for someone with real power?”

My heart lurched and I moved to slap her silly mouth for talking nonsense, but I didn’t need to make any more because in one fluid movement, Alaric caught her throat, his grip squeezing her throat, then coupled with his death stare, was enough to put her in her place. And for a moment, I think he might actually snap her head from her neck.

Gasps erupted in the hall, and someone screamed behind us.

“You should be grateful,” he said to Amara, his voice just as cold as ice. “You should be grateful I even allowed you into my presence. But speak her name again, and I won’t let you walk out.”

He released her before she crumpled to her knees, gasping, and clawing for air. Julian reached for her, but one look from Alaric pinned him where he stood.

And me? I should have been afraid but instead, I felt really good that he had just defended me and I just wanted to touch him, to claim him because in my eyes, he was brutal, beautiful. . . and he was mine.

I walked to him and slipped my hand into his.

Amara glared up at me, obvious hate scorching her features. “You think you have won?” she hissed. “You think you are better than me now?”

I tilted my head, let my lips curl in a faint smile. “Amara… do you remember last night?”

Her eyes narrowed at me, and I pulled out my phone. The screen glowed, and there it was, her body tangled with Julian’s, and her voice crying out his name as he pleasured her, with his mouth between her thighs. All of it caught on camera, all of it exposed for everyone to see.

The hall went silent, some trying to see what I held from where they sat or stood, I held the screen up for them all to see. “Funny, isn’t it? She calls me weak, but couldn’t keep her hands off the only man I ever dated.”

Julian shoved her away immediately like she were diseased. “You said no one would know, you said you would find a way to delete it!”

“I did!” she shrieked.

“No,” I said coolly. “You didn't, you only thought you did. You should have been more careful, damn it!.”

Amara lunged at me, but she never made it close, Alaric caught her mid-swing, his grip tight and merciless on her wrist. Her scream of pain split the air.

“This is your only warning,” he said, voice razor sharp. “Touch her again, and you will beg for death before I’m finished.”

He flung her aside like she weighed nothing. She stumbled, then fled. Julian chased after her, his face twisted with rage and shame.

For a long moment, silence took over the hall, then. . . applause. It's scattered, hesitant, but very real. Alaric ignored them and his eyes were only on me.

“You didn’t have to defend me like that,” I whispered.

“I didn’t do it for you,” he said, his tone dark and possessive. “I did it because she dared to speak as if you were anything less than mine.”

His lips brushed my temple, heat trailing down toward my cheek and I went still.

“Do you regret it?” he asked softly. “This marriage… or me?”

“No, I don't” I breathed. I didn’t. Not for a moment. I mean why would I regret anything that will take me away from this place?

His mouth hovered closely above mine, so close I could taste the heat between us. But he didn’t kiss me at all, He is waiting, there is a dark amusement flickering in his eyes. “Say it again.”

“I don’t regret you.” His smirk is curved and deadly.

“Good. Because once you step into my home, there will be no turning back.”

The crowd parted before us as if he were already their king.

And just as we reached the doors, a voice rang out from the shadows of the hall, it was cold, commanding, and utterly familiar.

“Leaving so soon, Alaric? Without seeing me first?” My stomach turned into ice, because I knew that voice, and so did he.

And will he try to stop us from leaving?