The Alpha’s Prisoner

Two

I clean the blood on my face with a towel my teacher handed to me. My heart is still racing, aching.

Sylus is scowling, looking at me with disapproval for stabbing that Alpha. “Why did you do that?”

“Why can’t I do that? I hate werewolves like him. Did you see how he looked at me?”

“Forget how he looked at you, Irina. A lady is not supposed to display such violence especially in public. You’re to be your father’s heir, have you forgotten?”

“Well, I doubt that right now.” I sigh, thinking about what my step sister, Lora, told me. Is my father really planning to marry me to a barbarian?

“What is it?” Sylus asks me but I just shrug, forcing down the fear that was threatening to consume me. Lora could’ve been bluffing. I’ll need to confirm it with father first.

“Look, if you hate that wolf so much, you’ll have a lot of time to torture him yourself. The King just gave us permission to use him for our experiment. It will help us know more about his kind.”

“I want to be in charge of it.” I say as I clean off the rest of the blood on my dress and hand him the wet towel.

I can’t help but think about that Alpha. How those golden eyes had looked deep into my soul, mocking me.

For what? If anything, they were the bullies. They were the ones who always preyed on the weak. They should be ashamed.

‘Cowards. You’re just like your father.’ I hear the foreign voice in my head as goosebumps crawl all over my skin.

“Agreed. Goodnight, princess.” Sylus tells me and I quickly brush away that foreign presence and retire to my chambers.

But that night, I toss and turn in bed.

I can’t sleep. I think of the barbarians. I wonder if Lora was telling the truth. And then I think of that Alpha. Of that stranger. I hear his voice in my head calling me a coward. I hear him mocking me. I try to get him out of my head but I can’t.

And when I fall asleep for a few seconds, I dream about driving a silver dagger into his chest.

“You’re a coward just like your father.” The Alpha spits the word out bitterly then he roared out in pain as I twist the dagger out.

I wake up with sweat coating my forehead and after a while, I just lay there, breathing heavily, thinking about those golden vengeful eyes.

I bite my lips hard when I realize that I can’t stop thinking about the wolf. I was restless. Why did I dream about him? Why did my heart ache so much when I saw him in pain? Why do I feel pity for someone like him?

When I didn’t get any answers from the hollow walls, I grab a jacket and left my room, eyes as clear as day. Somehow, my feet knew exactly where it wanted to go.

I arrived at the dungeon. A guard immediately blocks me.

“Princess Irina?” He calls, flashing a torch on my face.

“I need to see the prisoner.” I say, stepping closer to one of the guards. I drop a huge bag of coins in his hands and he hesitates for a moment, but after exchanging glances with the others, they let me through.

“This way, your highness.”

I try not to look at the other prisoners, the other wolves as the guard led me up several stairs. I was already tired when we finally arrived at the Alpha Wolf’s cell.

My heart starts to beat faster as I see him. He is still wrapped in silver chains. His wrists are bound high above his head, causing his body to be suspended in mid air.

I can still smell burning flesh and blood.

He raises his head and his bruised lips curls into a sinister smile as his eyes takes me in.

“I knew you would come.” His voice is deep, menacing. “But I didn’t know it’d be so soon.”

I step closer, stopped right where the iron bars separated us and then let my eyes roam over his bloody body. “How’s your shoulder?” I ask.

He glanced down at the spot I had stabbed earlier and flashed me a grin. “It’s healing quite fast, thanks to you.”

“Thanks to me?” I c**k a brow and he just tilts his head.

“Tell me, why have you come to see me, little lamb?”

“Don’t call me that,” I frown.

“Why not?” He arched a brow. “In the middle of the night, when the world is asleep, you’re here, alone, with a man that can easily snap that fragile little neck of yours. Now aren’t you a lamb walking right into a slaughter?”

“I guess the Wolfsbane fed to you was not enough. Should I give you more?”

“You won’t.” His voice is calm, confident, and I wonder why.

“I won’t?”

“You won’t. You don’t know it yet, do you?”

I look at his eyes. They are as dark as night. A dangerous yet playful glint crossed them. “What did you feel after you stabbed me? Satisfaction?” He whispers. “Perhaps thrill?”

I remember the ache in my chest. The way my heart started to beat wildly after I stabbed him. “What are you talking about?”

“I felt it too.” He said, “What you felt.”

“That’s impossible.”

“It is possible.” He flashes me another weak grin. “That is why you could barely sleep. Because you feel sorry, you feel guilty for stabbing me.”

“I’ll never feel sorry for your kind. Not after everything they’ve done to us. You especially…” I trail off as something clicks in my head. Something absolutely impossible.

“What about me?”

My eyes widen a bit as the realization sinks in and I step back, away from him. I didn’t know whether to be terrified or angry. “You purposely led me here… to you. You… you were in my head!”

“Was I?” The way his lips curl again, I know I am not overthinking it.

“H-how… how is that possible?”

“Little lamb, I’m amazed you’ve figured it out so quickly.”

“What do you want from me?” My eyes narrow. I stare at him with more seriousness. More caution.

“That’s it.” His voice is almost like a growl. “You should be afraid. You should be running. You should be worried.”

I was more than worried. I was mortified. How could he get into my head like that? How could he manipulate me to come here so easily without even being there?

What kind of monster is he?

Before I can ask, before he can answer my question, a guard comes in. And that was my cue to leave.

I had spent more than the time I’ve bought.

I hold the Alpha’s dark eyes as it stares at me with a mix of amusement and satisfaction.

I tell myself I will be back tomorrow. To demand answers from him. I didn’t care if I have to torture him. I want to know how he can have those powers.

I turn around and I leave.

I didn’t get a wink of sleep. Not when if I close my eyes, I see the Alpha. I see the wicked grin on his face, mocking me. Not when my heart is still racing from my interaction with him.

I had heard him. Felt him. All in my head. If he could do that to me then he was more dangerous than any one of us could’ve imagined.

I needed to tell father. So I hurry to cover my dark circles with makeup after freshening up without needing my maids and then I head to father’s chambers.

Thankfully, father is in his chambers but, unfortunately, he had company.

My step mother and her daughter, Lora, were sitting with him at the table for breakfast.

A family of three.

I wasn’t invited. But I was used to it. I was used to being excluded from everything ever since my mother died.

“You’re so awesome, father. Only you could’ve captured a full grown Alpha like that.” It seems he just finished telling them how he did it.

Father laughs heartily but once his eyes settle on me, his laughter fades and a frown covers his face.

“Father.” I did a little bow and he gives me a small nod.

“It’s good that you’re here. We have something to discuss.”

My heart skips a beat. My palms become sweaty.

Lora gives me a serpentine smile as she brings a forkful of food to her mouth.

“Sit.” Father tells me. I didn’t dare breathe too hard. I took the seat opposite Lora and waited for a maid to serve me.

“Have you heard the news, Irina?” Step mother calls sweetly, and my gaze darts between each of their faces.

“What news?”

She threw a glance at father. “You haven’t told her?”

Father gives me a look then he reaches out and places a chunk of meat on my plate. “There’s good news that has just arrived.”

“What is it?”

“The Northern King has agreed to assist us in the war.”

“That indeed, is good news.” I laugh awkwardly, bringing a glass of juice to my lips. There’s a weird pause and silence in the room that I didn’t bother paying attention to.

“He has a condition.” He continues and I look up, catching his gaze before he finishes. “He wants one of my daughters. And I have decided to marry you off to him.”

I feel a dip in my stomach. Something ugly curls inside.

“You… you are marrying me off to the northern King. To a barbarian?” I couldn’t control how my voice breaks and how my fingers tremble on my thighs.

I’ve only met the Northern men once. They are foul mouthed. They are as dirty as pigs. Their women are of no value to them. Only meant to satisfy their s****l needs. And father is going to give me to one of them? I bite my lips hard to hold back the tears.

“He will be good to you. You have nothing to worry about.”

“They are animals!” I roared, my chairs screeching loudly as I stood. “You know very well how they’re going to treat me. You know they’ll kill me and yet… yet you don’t care.”

He slams his wooden spoon on the table and glares at me. “What use is your life if the city falls, Irina? We need this alliance to win the war with the wolves. Why can’t you be like your sister? I didn’t need to ask her. She already offered herself as long as it would help our cause. Our Kingdom.”

She offered herself? I glance at Lora seated besides her mother and a laugh cuts through my throat. I hate to admit that it’s painful.

“So why didn’t you offer her then? Why did you choose me?”

“You’re more suitable.” He says and looks away from me.

“Irina.” My step mother calls softly. “I know you're angry about this but you also need to understand that before he is your father, he is also a King to thousands. They all depend on him to bring them victory. If Lora was even half as smart as you are, she’d have married the northern King instead. But as it looks right now, you’re the perfect fit for this. With that Alpha wolf in our hands and the Northerners' support, we are only one step away from victory.”

Her speech was flawless. I’ve always thought she was eloquent but I didn’t know she was this good. In a few sentences, she made it seem as though I was spoiled and unreasonable.

“Very good.” I whisper, tearing my gaze from hers to my father’s. Something stirs inside me. I don’t know what it was, but it felt like defiance, stubbornness, unwillingness to back down. I felt that glow inside me, then it quickly turns into a fire and it spreads. It spreads wide and high as I catch father’s gaze and I tell him. “The only way I’m going to marry a barbarian is if you marry off my dead body!”

I hear the dramatic gasp from my step mother. I saw Lora’s smirk and surprise as if she wasn’t expecting that from me. And then I see father’s face as it twists into anger.

I don’t wait for it to escalate. I hurry out of the room and run out of his chambers and once I’m down the hall, I press my back hard against the wall, breathing heavily.

For years, I’ve had to tread carefully in this family. I acquired so much knowledge to make myself look smart so I’d be useful at least. To avoid being discarded like this. But at the end of the day, that was the very thing that was used against me. I was condemned to marry a barbarian.

No matter how hard I think, I know I cannot do anything about it. I cannot run away. I have no friends, I have no allies. I have… nothing.

“Irina?” A familiar voice calls and I look and see Dane heading towards me.

Perhaps he was godsent. I didn’t think. I ran, and threw myself into his arms. Even though I knew it’d be disastrous if someone saw.

I just needed warmth. And he seemed to have been right there.

“Irina?” his voice shakes as he calls and I feel how his body stiffens. “What happened?”

I pull away, and clean the tears from my eyes. “When you said you were going to the north, was it to discuss my marriage?”

I was certain if Dane knew, he’d have told me. He was my friend. My only friend and the guy I’ve had a crush on for years. But when I look at him, there’s guilt on his face.

“You knew it too?!” Realization dawned upon me and I step away from him as I felt my heart shattering like glass. “You knew it and you said nothing to me. You did not think to warn me. You went to the North to discuss my marriage, Dane.”

“Irina,” he sighs regretfully. “It’s not what you think. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t have time. The Northern lord, I made a deal with him. He promised me he is going to treat you well. So you have nothing to worry about. After we win the war, your father will get you back—“

I felt my chest tightening. I could not believe I was hearing this from Dane. I look at him as if I am looking at a stranger. I couldn’t stop the tears that roll out of my eyes. I should’ve known.

I should’ve known I was always alone.

“Irina.” He calls softly but I can’t bear to listen to him trying to convince me.

I slap his outstretched hands away and I run out of there.