ALPHA’S UNWANTED BRIDE

KILLIAN   “Finally, I am King. The Alpha King.” The satisfaction that followed my words was something I wanted to marvel in for eternity. The crowd stared at me in silence as they remained seated in the grand coronation hall. I had a smirk on my face as I stared triumphantly back at them. My wolf beamed with excitement.   Suddenly, a loud bang resonated in the grand hall. Everyone turned their heads to the back of the room where the sound had come from. A man walked in dressed in a leather jacket, a pair of pants and big boots. Everything about him was dark. Starting from his dark short hair all the way to his boots. Except for his icy blue eyes.   “Not so fast dear cousin, the Moon goddess has not given her consent yet,” he said in deep voice that resonated through the quiet hall.   I tilted my head slightly at him and arose from the throne. The red robe I wore swept the floor below me. “I should have known it would be you who would show up Darius,” I told him.   Darius gave me a big smile but I knew it was all part of the sarcasm. “ Who better than me would be suitable to challenge you? No one here would dare to stand up to you. No hard feelings Killian; it is after all part of our tradition,” Darius stated and shrugged his shoulders.   I sighed. He was right. Every Alpha who had been newly crowned was expected to be challenged. If the Alpha won the challenge, then this would mean that he had the Moon goddess’ blessings.    I threw glances at the other Alphas that I had invited to my coronation. I could not afford to lose today. I had to show the world— including the other Alphas that I had become the most powerful man on the planet. I also had to carry on the Blackstone pack legacy of being the strongest and most powerful in the vicinity. All other packs were below us.    “How do you wish to challenge me Darius?” I finally demanded.   Darius’ smile only got wider. “You’re probably thinking that I would fight you but I’m not interested in engaging in such futile battles, I’m way too smart for that,” Darius continued.   “Neither am I, cousin. I can not afford to ruin my handsome features for the likes of just anybody. You of all people should know how dearly I hold my physical features,” I shot back.   Darius clapped twice and on cue, a group of men dressed in black robes waltzed into the grand hall. There were six of them coming in two rows. The second row of men carried a tray that housed a strange dark bowl.    They got to Darius and presented it to him. He took the bowl from them and uncovered the content. Mist escaped from it and I caught the wicked look in his icy blue eyes.   “Behold! Moonblood!” He exclaimed and the crowd gasped in shock.   I stared back at Darius in disbelief. I underestimated him. I did not think that he would actually go this far. Moonblood was a deadly poison that is extracted from a flower which only grows from feeding on the rays of a red moon. It was rare and was almost a myth. Yet here it was in my cousin’s hands.   “I challenge you to drink Moonblood. If the Moon goddess acknowledges you, then she will save you but if she does not, this will mark the end of your life,” he exclaimed.   I gritted my teeth in anger. This had become a matter of life and death. For a moment, my wolf got swayed by the fear of death.   “You can back down now and you will be stripped off your title but you will get to keep your life,” Darius went on.   I ran my eyes over my people. I looked at the alphas I had invited. I could not be seen as a weakling. I had to show them that I was the strongest and not even Moonblood was going to make me back down from showing off my strength.   “I’ll do it.”   Darius stared at me with narrowed eyes. I was sure that he wanted me to back down. I was sure that he wanted to humiliate me but I was not ready to let him have his way.    He approached me with the bowl and stopped before me. “You do not have to do this. You can just accept defeat and give up,” he whispered to me.   “Give up and allow you take my place? Never in a million years,” I retorted with a smirk.   He smiled back at me as if he was innocent and handed me the bowl. I took it from him and stared at the content. It was a dark gooey liquid that emitted a very bad odor. I surpressed the zeal to throw up and slowly took the bowl to my lips. Then I ingested the cold gooey liquid.   Suddenly, a coldness seized me and started to scatter around my body. My wolf shrank away to the darkest corner of my mind as it was trying to find an escape route. My body started to tremble so much so that I could not continue holding the bowl. I dropped it and fell to the floor. I felt the coldness sipping into my soul and freezing every life cell that was within me. The pain was also like a thousand thorns piercing my skin and seeking to tear it apart. I should have been numbed from pain but I could fill every thorn.   The crowd exclaimed and murmurs filled the air but my hearing senses were beginning to diminish. Darius bent over me and whispered some words. I saw his lips move but I did not hear the words.   Until they reached me in form of echoes. “You could have backed down, but you chose to compete with your arch nemesis. . .”   My vision soon started to blur and I realised death was indeed coming to get me. Breathing became the hardest task. The cold enveloped me completely and I felt as if I was beginning to drown.    Until, a woman pulled me out of the imaginary water. I could not see her clearly for she glowed all over. She bent over me and said, “I accept you child. . .”    The words echoed in my ears longer than they should have. As the woman started to fade away, I caught sight of her gray eyes. There was something about it that felt so familiar yet I could not pinpoint it until she disappeared completely. The coldness sipped away from me and the pain faded away. I could breathe again.   I gasped awake and got to my feet abruptly. I felt reborn; more powerful. The crowd stared at me in shock and I could swear that I saw shock in Darius’ eyes before he masked it completely.   “Who else wants to challenge the new Alpha King?” I demanded. My voice carried authority as it vibrated through out the room.   Everyone in the room began to bow to me to show their loyalty as well as submission. I turned to Darius as he was the only one who had not yet bowed. He stared at me for prolonged seconds before he succumbed and bowed back.   “Now, dear friends, let's go have some fun to celebrate the occasion,” I announced to my guests.    The Alphas smiled in satisfaction as I led the way. Darius remained in the room as he watched me leave. I was the least bit bothered. It felt good defeating him again today.    “Where are you taking us this time King Killian?” Lionel asked.   “Please quit the formalities. I might be the Alpha King now but I'm still Killian. Call me that, will you? I promise to make you all more powerful Alphas than you already are,” I corrected him.   “This is the reason why I will always remain loyal to Killian. He looks out for us every time,” Miles chimed in.   I chuckled at his comments and led them to the north wing of the grand palace. I had a pleasure house at the depth of my palace. We entered it and the men gasped in excitement at the sight that awaited them.    There were women everywhere. Those who were half dressed and those who were not even dressed. I led them to the special spot I had arranged for them. There was sofa semicircular in shape, a glass table in the center. The soft music that played and the aura that boomed in the room was enough to ease a man of his stress.    “Gentlemen, this is where you will have the most fun of your life; in the company of women. You can have any woman you want. They are all here for you,” I announced.    The men laughed and I could see the lust building in all their eyes. Lionel was quick to call a half dressed woman to pleasure him. I signaled at the head of the house to bring us drinks.   I was about to turn my attention back to my men when I spotted a woman clad in a skimpy dress. She was carrying a tray of drinks. She had blond hair that seemed to reflect light which made it look like her hair was glowing. Her beauty was something to never forget and I soon realised that she had the same gray eyes as the woman who had saved me earlier. She looked too familiar. My wolf and I became very invested in the woman that every other person or sound seemed to fade away. It was as if it was just this strange woman and myself in the room. The longer I stared into her eyes, the more I recognised her.   Immediately I did, I was hit by multiple emotions at once. It was a mixture or anger, excitement, hate, joy, rage, nervousness and even emotions that I could not identify.    “Kayla Woods. . .” the moment I breathed out her name, all the other emotions melted away and I was left with two which I could identify so well.   Hate and Anger!   I gritted my teeth as I stared at her. What was she doing here? How dare Kayla show her face here again?   Miles spotted her and signaled at her to come over. She nodded once and started to approach us when her eyes fell on me. She stopped and stared at me in shock.   Suddenly, a different scent hit me and I was certain it was coming from her. The scent sent my senses reeling and I felt swept off my feet. My heart began to pound and my breathing became heavy. My eyes moistened and an unfamiliar emotion seized my heart until I understood what exactly it was. I abruptly got to my feet and growled.   “Mate!”