The Alpha King's Reluctant Bride

Cass’s point of view

One second I was trying to speak, just trying to explain that the dress wasn’t totally ruined, that I’d done my best. The next, everything went white.

Her hand came out of nowhere.

I didn’t see it coming, but I sure felt it, a sharp, stinging slap across my cheek that snapped my head to the side.

My ears buzzed.

My skin burned.

And my breath? Gone. Like someone yanked it right out of me.

I stood there, stunned, brushing my face with my fingers, like maybe I could rub the shame away.

My eyes were filled with tears, not from the pain, really, but from how small she made me feel at that moment. Like I wasn’t even worth listening to.

“What is this?” Lyra, my cousin, shouted, shaking the blue silk dress in my face. “Look at it! It’s ruined! You can’t even iron properly?”

Yes, you read right, my cousin, treated me in a way even strangers wouldn't dare.

I had stayed up all night, bent over that iron, my fingers blistered from the steam.

I did it twice, checked it three times, yet she wasn't satisfied. What else was I supposed to do?

But I swallowed the protest rising in my throat. Arguing never helped.

“I… I really did my best, Lyra,” I said quietly in a trembling voice. “I even used the lavender water, just like you asked. I thought….”

“You thought?” She mocked. “Since when do you get to think? You’re not here to think. You’re here to obey.”

I swallowed.

“I’m sorry.”

I turned to leave, but she dragged me by the hair.

“I'm not done talking….”

“I'm sorry, but I still have a lot of work to do……”

I choked on the rest of the words when another slap landed on my face.

“Don’t you dare talk back to me!” she snapped. “You’re just a freeloader. Be grateful we even let you live here.”

My chest burned with anger. I could taste blood on my tongue.

“Lyra, I helped you iron your dress…..”

“Help?” she spat, stepping closer. “You couldn’t help a dying dog, Cass. You’re pathetic.”

Something inside me broke then. The same anger I’d swallowed a thousand times before pushed up like fire in my throat. My voice came out louder than I expected.

“Stop treating me like your maid! I’m not your servant, Lyra!”

Her eyes widened in disbelief. Then her face twisted into an ugly smile. “Oh? You dare raise your worthless voice at me?”

When she raised her hand again, something in me snapped completely. I caught her wrist midair, my own hand shaking.

“Don’t,” I said in a raw voice.

She gasped, pulling free like I’d burned her. “The audacity of you to touch me with…..those filthy hands of yours!”

“I’ve had enough,” I said. “You can’t keep hitting me because you feel like it. This isn’t even your house…”

The door slammed open before I could finish.

“What’s going on here?”

Aunt Serena stood there, her sharp perfume flooding the room before she even spoke.

Her eyes moved from Lyra’s reddened face to my raised hand. Instantly, I knew I was done for.

“Mother,” Lyra whimpered, rushing into her arms. “She tried to hit me. I told her to iron my dress and she burned it! Then she raised her hand to me.”

“That’s not true!” I protested. “She slapped me twice…”

Serena didn’t wait for the rest. Her hand came down so fast I barely saw it. The slap echoed off the walls, ringing louder than Lyra’s.

“How dare you raise your hand against my daughter?” she screamed. “Ungrateful brat!”

Tears filled my eyes, hot and fast. “I didn’t! She’s lying, Aunt…..”

She grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her. “You call me aunt like it means something, but you forget your place every day.” Her voice dripped venom. “Without us, you’d be rotting in the streets. Is this how you repay us?”

I swallowed hard, my throat tight. “This was my parents’ house, the last Alpha!” I whispered.

The silence that followed was heavy. Then Lyra laughed. Serena joined her a second later, the sound was so cruel it made me shiver.

“Your parents’ house?” Serena repeated, mockingly. “Your parents are dead, Cass. My husband is Alpha now. Everything here belongs to us.”

Lyra tilted her head and smirked. “Even you.”

Something inside me twisted. I wanted to scream, to throw the stupid dress out the window, to make them feel half the pain they’d caused. But before I could speak, the door opened again.

Uncle Magnus stepped in. For a moment, I thought maybe.just maybe…he’d stop this madness. He’d been my father’s right hand, the man everyone trusted to look after us.

“Uncle,” I said as my voice cracked. “Please, they….”

He raised a hand, silencing me. “I heard shouting. What’s happening here?”

“She tried to hit Lyra,” Serena said immediately, putting on her helpless act. “I told her to control her temper, but she’s becoming wild.”

Lyra sniffled beside her, pretending to cry. “She said this isn’t your house, Father.”

Magnus’s face hardened. “Is that true?”

I clenched my fists. “I only said it because it’s the truth. This is my parents’ home. Father trusted you to take care of us until Eli was old enough to be Alpha.”

“Watch your tongue,” he growled. “You forget who you’re speaking to.”

“I remember perfectly,” I said bitterly. “The man who lets his niece starve while his daughter buys new cars. The man who says there’s no money for Eli’s medicine but throws parties every weekend.”

His eyes flashed with anger. “Enough!” he roared. “You will not speak to me that way in my house.”

“It’s not your house!” I shouted, the words tearing out before I could stop them.

His face went red. “From this moment,” he said in a low but dangerous voice, “You’ll be treated as the servant you clearly want to be. You’ll clean the entire east and west wings before dawn every day. If you disobey again, I’ll throw you out myself.”

Lyra’s smirk widened, satisfied.

“Now apologize to your cousin,” he ordered.

My voice broke. “No.”

Serena gasped dramatically. “She refuses? After everything?”

Magnus’s expression darkened. “Then your punishment doubles. You’ll start tonight.”

He turned and left, Serena and Lyra following him out, still muttering about my “ungratefulness.” Their laughter trailed behind them like poison.

The moment the door shut, my knees gave out. I sank to the floor.

The room was quiet again, but my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. My cheek stung, my chest ached, and I felt empty.

I pressed my hands over my face, trying to breathe, but all that came out were sobs. Harsh, broken sobs that ripped through my chest.

They said this wasn’t my house, but the walls still smelled like my mother’s jasmine perfume. The floors still held the scratches from Eli's old wooden toy sword. Every inch of this place still whispered my parents’ names, and somehow, I had become a stranger inside it.

I cried until I couldn’t anymore. Until my voice gave out and my eyes burned.

Then, I heard a faint sound.

At first, I thought it was just the wind. But then it came again, a soft, uneven wheeze followed by a muffled cough. My heart froze.

“Eli…”

I was on my feet before I even realized I’d moved. My knees ached from kneeling on the floor for so long, but I didn’t care. The sound came again, sharper this time, like his lungs were tearing themselves apart.

I ran to his room and pushed the door open.

“Eli!”

He was sitting up in bed, shaking, one hand clutching his chest.

His thin frame trembled under the blanket, and the coughs came harder, more violent, wracking his whole body. I rushed to his side and grabbed his hand.

“I’m here,” I said in a trembling voice. “Breathe, Eli, please….”

He gasped for air, but the sound that came out wasn’t breathing, it was choking. His body convulsed, and before I could think, he coughed again, this time wet and loud.

Something dark splattered against the pillow.

My eyes widened.

Blood.

“Eli!” I screamed, grabbing him as he started to fall forward. “Oh no, no, no…”

Tears filled my eyes so fast I could barely see. My hands shook as I wiped the blood from his lips, but it kept coming.

“Help!” I shouted, my voice cracking. “Somebody help us!”

No one answered.

I stumbled toward the door, still holding my brother’s trembling hand. “Uncle Magnus!” I screamed. “Please! He’s coughing up blood! Please, someone!”

Still, no answer.

“Lyra! Aunt Serena! Help me!”

My cries faded into the empty halls. Not a single door opened. Not a single footstep came.

I looked toward the servant’s quarters, desperate. “Please!” I shouted. “Somebody, please! Anyone!”

But even the maids, the same ones who used to bow when I entered the room stayed hidden.

My throat tightened. I turned back to Eli, who was gasping now, his eyes wide with fear.

“I can’t… breathe,” he said, his voice barely audible.

“Shh,” I whispered, sitting beside him. I tried to steady him, rubbing his back, praying for the cough to stop. “It’s okay, Eli. I’m here. You’ll be fine.”

But he only shook his head weakly, clutching my hand tighter.

“No I won't, Cass.”

Tears ran down my face, falling onto the blanket. “Don’t say that,” I whispered. “You’re going to be okay. You promised, remember? You said we would get out of here someday. You said you’d grow strong like Father and rule this pack.”

He tried to smile, but the effort only made him cough harder.

I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. My hands moved by instinct, grabbing the basin of water by his bedside. I dipped the cloth in and pressed it on his forehead. He was burning up.

“Please, Eli, hold on. I’ll get the healer,” I said, trying to stand, but he gripped my hand again.

“Don’t… leave…”

“I have to……I’ll be right back!” I promised, choking on my own sobs. I tore out of the room, running down the hall toward my uncle’s office. My heart pounded so hard I could barely breathe.

When I reached the door, I slammed my fists against it.

“Uncle! Please, open the door! Eli is sick! He’s coughing up blood!”

Not even a sound came as a response.

I hit the door again, harder. “Please! He’s dying!”

Still no response.

My knuckles stung. I turned and ran to Aunt Serena's room. I didn’t even bother knocking, I burst in.

“Aunt Serena, please! It’s Eli! He….”

Her room was empty. The bed was neatly made. The lamps were off.

My stomach turned. Where were they?

I stumbled back into the hallway, shouting, “Lyra! Please! Someone help me!”

Only silence answered.

It was like the entire house had gone deaf to my cries.

I ran back to Eli's room, my lungs burning, my hands trembling. When I reached him, his eyes opened weakly. His lips were pale, stained with traces of red.

“Cass…” he whispered.

“I’m here,” I said, kneeling beside him. “I’m here, Eli. You’ll be okay. I’ll find help.”

“No one’s coming,” he murmured faintly.

“Don’t say that.”

He looked up at me, his gaze heavy with something I didn’t want to name. “They don’t care.”

A sob tore through me. “Don’t say that, please. Please, you’re all I have.”

I pressed my forehead against his, rocking him gently as he coughed again, weaker this time. “I’ll find a way, I promise. I’ll take you away from here. Somewhere safe, somewhere they can’t hurt us.”

He didn’t answer. His breathing steadied just enough for me to think maybe, just maybe, he was resting.

To be certain, I called his name, expecting him to stir, to look at me, or even say something……but no sound came from him.

“Eli…..Eli……. don't you dare die on me ...Eliiiii…”

Cass's point of view

For weeks after that terrible night, I lived in fear and exhaustion.

Eli's health had become my whole world. Every coin I earned from odd chores, working double shifts at the market, scrubbing dishes in a tavern, went to keeping him alive.

I stopped sleeping properly. Dropped out of school because he needed me.

But everything changed when

I met him.

It was one, late afternoon, I had gone to the old town market to buy herbs for Eli's medicine. The merchants were closing their stalls, and I was hurrying, clutching the few coins I had left, when someone bumped into me.

The basket slipped from my hands, apples rolled across the dirt.

“Oh no..” I said, dropping to my knees.

“Let m