Chapter 1- Sold as his wife

I was carefully frosting my anniversary cake.

Yes, today was my first anniversary with my husband, Nigel. But it was 8:30 already, way past our normal dinner time, and Nigel still hadn’t come home yet.

It was OK. I kept telling myself.

Nigel was simply caught up in his work. He must be. He told me the other day that the alpha of this pack was giving him some serious work.

He couldn’t have forgotten about our anniversary day.

Actually, in my original plan, I wanted this day to be more special. I hoped that we could have dinner at a fancy restaurant and maybe go to see a movie afterward. Because ever since I married him a year ago, I hadn’t dined out since.

But when I subtly hinted to him what I wanted for our anniversary, Nigel threw a huge temper tantrum at me:

“Do you know how much it costs to eat at a fancy restaurant? It’s MY fucking money you are throwing away! And you don’t even know how to taste a decent wine! It’s a waste to bring you to those upscale places anyway. Just cut the crap and stay the fuck at home!”

But Nigel was wrong. I did know how to taste wine. He just never bothered to get to know me.

I finished my last bit of work with the cake and let out a long sign.

I really hoped tonight could help rekindle our love, the kind of love we used to have before we got married. It was part of the reason why I was asking for a chance to dine out. Not that I missed the fine food, I simply hoped we could find a chance to reconnect again.

And Nigel had become more and more grumpy recently.

I got it. Every marriage hit a bump somewhere down the road, which was why I had to work extra hard now to salvage it.

“Regina!!”

A loud and harsh voice came from the living room, snapping me back to reality.

“Regina! Where the fuck is my soup!” the voice demanded.

Oh crap, I almost forgot about that! I quickly wiped my hands on my apron and rushed to the stove, where a pot of soup had been heated. I took the pot off the stove and was about to dash out there—

But a large woman had come into the kitchen already.

“Regina! Are you slacking off in the kitchen again?!” the woman croaked, “I asked for my fucking soup half an hour ago! Are you trying to starve me to death?!”

This was my mother-in-law, Melany.

I had always been terrified of her. Now just because of her large size—I was pretty sure she could smack my skull open with one punch—but also because of her rude and obnoxious personality.

She always cursed me with the most vicious words possible. And she kept waving her large fists at me, threatening to beat me up if I slack off during house chores.

There was a time when she treated me slightly nicer when Nigel and I first got married. But as my dowry started to run out, her temper became worse.

“I—I’m sorry,” I take a small step in fear and murmur. “I was simply making a cake. You see—tonight is our anniversary…”

“Anniversary? What dumb excuse was that?” Melany snapped, “Are you trying to get Nigel to spend more money on you? You greedy little rat!”

She waved her massive hand and knocked me off the table. It hit the floor and was smashed into a mess of cream.

“No—!” I blurt out. I had been working on that for almost an hour!

“What did you just say? Are you talking back to me now? The hostess of this house? Your mother-in-law?”

Melany’s voice was getting louder. And the next second, she grabbed me by the hair with her large hand and shoved me to the fridge. I cried out in pain but earned another hard kick on my back.

I smelt alcohol. Melany must have been drinking again. Her getting drunk usually ended with scars and bruises on my body.

“No—Melany—Please!”

“Shut up, rat!” she roared, wrenching open the fridge’s door. “Nigel shouldn’t have married you! He had a chance with the alpha’s daughter! But instead, he took you. You filthy little shit ruined my darling son’s life! God, do I wish to choke you to death!”

She started to shove me into the fridge. I was petite. She could succeed if she really wanted to. But I wouldn’t let her—she was trying to get me killed!

“No! Don’t! I’m sorry—”

I scream desperately while holding onto the fridge’s door with all my might. But she broke loose of my grip easily.

“Just stay in there and think about your mistake! Little fucker!”

She slammed the door shut. And with a loud thud, she blocked the fridge door with a table so I couldn’t open it from the inside.

I shivered in this small crack, sobbing and begging. It was so freaking cold. And I didn’t have many clothes on. But Melany didn’t listen. I heard her humming the sound and her heavy steps disappeared into the living room.

Darkness and cold ate me up. I tried to bump the door open with my shoulder but failed. Gradually my motion slowed because of the cold.

I also wanted to burst into tears. But I wouldn’t dare because I was afraid that my tears would freeze up in my eyes. And I would go blind.

At this very moment, I started to regret marrying Nigel.

None of my family liked Nigel. And the person who hated Nigel first was my brother, Gray. He had always said that Nigel was a total jerk and any woman who liked him was also a complete idiot.

When I announced that I was marrying Nigel, Gray went down to Nigel’s house and beat the shit out of him. But even that didn’t stop me from marrying him.

I had none of my family’s support.

When I left home a year ago, my grandpa Victor said that I was to keep my mouth shut about who I really was if I insisted on marrying Nigel.

So I did.

I kept my identity as a secret and married into Nigel’s pack, away from all my family, hoping that I would be happily ever after.

But I didn’t. Not even close.

Was I making a huge mistake here?

Time slipped by. And I was about to pass out in the cold.

Didn’t know how much time had passed before a series of footsteps came close and the door was wrenched open from the outside.

I came falling down directly—couldn’t even stand straight. The person who opened the door didn’t give me a hand. Instead he stood there and watched me collapse onto the floor.

I crawled my body up and trembled, my teeth clattering. Then I slowly looked up and saw my late rescuer.

It was my husband, Nigel.

Then I smelt alcohol on him too. He was drunk, just like his mother.

“What the fuck are you doing in the fridge?” he asked, frowning.

He still looked super handsome with that frown. No wonder so many girls fell for him back in school, and that included me.

“M—M—Melany locked me in here…” I couldn’t say a full sentence, “She—was mad—d about—”

But he didn’t have the patience to listen through, “You pissed off my mother again?! Regina! You need to fucking respect my dear Mama! You hear me now?!”

I wanted to explain that I was simply making our anniversary cake. And I wanted to say Happy Anniversary Darling. Sorry about the cake.

But he stayed for none of that. Turning on his heels, he was heading to the kitchen door already.

“Come into the living room!” he snapped impatiently, “Quick!”

I crawled on the floor and pulled myself up awkwardly. I couldn’t walk straight. My feet were dead. But I still headed towards the living room slowly as he said.

Why did he need me there? Did he bring me an anniversary gift? As I had hoped?

My heart was filled with anticipation when I arrived. Yet before I had stepped into the living room, I heard some loud laughter.

There were strangers in this house.

Nigel was in the living room with two strange men. Both of them had drunken red checks and were burping non-stop.

Seeing me arrive, Nigel spun them around to face me. There was a huge grin on his face.

“Here’s my wife! Pretty, huh?” he cackled, “You two can have a night with her and all my debts go away. Great deal, right?”