Chapter 004

I had no idea what woke me up.

The chill in the room which was giving me shivers even in my sleep, or the pain in my throat.

Perhaps it was the aggressive sounds of footsteps thumping around.

I lifted my eyelids slowly, wincing at how sore my body was and the harsh brightness of the room that temporarily blinded me for a moment before my gaze adjusted.

Where was I? Was the first question that entered my mind as I looked around the unfamiliar room.

How did I end up here?

My gaze shifted frantically from the golden curtain draped over the window, to the big TV and I groaned as I realised that I was in the Alpha's building.

How on earth did I get here? What was I doing here?

For a few moments, I closed my eyes to rack my brain, my memory, seeing if I could remember what happened, why my throat was burning like hell and why every joint in my body felt like it had been run over by some sort of wild animal.

But I came up with nothing.

Well thank God i still remember my name so we know that i wasn't suffering from amnesia.

Suddenly, the memories slammed into me like a wave that came out of nowhere making a guttural groan to escape my lips.

Nina…

It was Nina. She had tried to poison me. Not tried - thebitch had seriously poisoned me, and left me to die?

I clenched my fist, ignoring the pain that followed as I felt anger slam through me.

She had poisoned me. Just like that…she had wanted to kill me.

I always knew that hayley hated me but wanted me dead? To kill me? I never imagined anyone, not even Nina, disliked me to that point.

I shuddered…

So i would have just..i would have just been dead and my story would have ended here. No one would have cared, no one would have missed me.

Why?Because I was nothing but the dirty Omega.

Another shudder wrecked through my frame and I shut my eyes in a futile attempt to block back the tears that pooled in them.

The footsteps which had stopped earlier, started again - I had forgotten it - but this time I heard them coming closer to me.

I jerked up, alert and eyes wide as I looked at the direction of the approaching footsteps.

But the man I saw staring back at me with a strange expression, made me freeze…right down to my bone marrow.

Alpha Sky…

The famous, formidable Alpha Sky, was in the same room with me, breathing the same oxygen with me and staring at me like he was two seconds away from snapping my neck.

I could smell the rage, anger in him even though there was a few feet between us - and it made my heart leap into my throat.

What was he doing to her?

What have I done?

Has he been sent to finish the job Nina could not finish?

But there was something else in his scent…concern, fear.

“How are you doing now, Hayley?”

I gasped. Alpha Sky knows my name. He fucking knows my name but who cares? He was just going to kill me anyway.

“Please...please…” I stuttered and swallowed, wincing again at the pain in my chest, “Please do not hurt me. Don't kill me, Alpha Sky.”

He frowned, his brows coming together and making his very handsome features all the more sexy.

“Kill you? Now why would I want to kill you, Hayley?”

I frowned at the genuine confusion on his face, and froze when he walked closer to sit down on the bed beside me.

The anger was still there but right now, as he looked down at me there was raw concern and pain in his eye- which only confused me more.

“How are you feeling?”

How was I feeling? Like hell, but what does he care about?

“Why…why am I here and what are you doing here?”

“I already told you this when you woke up earlier, Hayley. Do you not remember?”

I shook my head slowly because the last thing I recalled was Nina and the gut wrenching pain I had felt before everything went blank.

But slowly it came back. I guess the memory had always been there but I had just dismissed it as a dream.

/I swear to you Hayley, by my life, by the moon and by the earth on which we walk - I will make all those who dared to hurt you suffer. I will lay waste to everything they love, one by one until they are reduced to an existence worse than death./

I bit back a gasp as I remembered…more like, let it sink in.

I know. I had known the moment I opened my eyes, the moment I saw him but just shoved it aside.

I had recognized that feeling, had felt him, myself pulling to him.

Alpha Sky was my mate.

THE Alpha Sky was my fucking mate!

Dear Goddess…

What sort of prank was this?

The shock I was feeling must be portrayed on my face because he smiled, and placed a hand on mine softly, “You do not have to worry or fear Hayley. Now that I have found you…no one will ever harm you again.”

Alpha Sky was my mate!

Alpha Sky is my mate!

I could hear him. His promises were clear as day.

But the point was - I had once believed in such promises all my life and I had only ended up being a fool.

That's something I wasn't willing to do again.

There's no way THE Alpha Sky would want to be mated to an Omega anyways. So I'd rather live in reality than let delusions sweep me off my feet again.

“Thank you so much, Alpha. I do appreciate the concern but …I'm sorry. I can't accept this - whatever it is -”

“It is a mate bond, ordained by the goddess.”

“Yes…that it is. But I cannot accept it, I do not want it in any way. I'm just a slave, nothing more so there has to be a mistake somewhere.”

He pulled closer and cupped my jaw with two fingers, lifting my face so my gaze could lock onto his, “You are not a slave, Hayley. At least not anymore. You are an Alpha's mate! Soon to be Luna of the biggest and strongest pack to ever exist. You have me now, Hayley so you aren't just a slave anymore.”

I'm no longer a slave.

I'm no longer a slave.

Goddess, how I'd love to believe him, to just believe his words and embrace his words.

But Hayden had made the same promises to me. He had promised too that I was not to be identified as a slave anymore as long as I had him.

He had seemed just as sincere as the man staring at me with his intent golden eyes seems now - but at the end of the day it just turned out to be nothing but deceit. Nothing but a lie meant to wreck and break me.

Men!

I shall not fall victim again. I won't be a victim of any man's games ever again - sincere or not…. even if the man was Alpha Sky.

I'd rather remain a slave than be a pawn in a game, a character in some silly fantasy.

“I'm sorry. I have to go now, I've got work to get back to.”

Thankfully he didn't try to stop me as I got up on my feet and I hated that there was a part of me that wished he had tried to stop me.

I wobbled on my feet, and strong arms grabbed my waist holding me steady on the ground.

“Careful Hayley, you are still hurt.” He rasped right behind my ear and I shivered in delight.

Suddenly nothing existed other than his delicious warm breath brushing against my neck, his arms holding me and the scent of the woods which penetrated my nostrils, driving me crazy with every greedy inhale I took.

My body grew hot and I felt everything in me yearning for more. Crying out for more of his touch, for him to pull me closer into him, for his lips to make any touch at all with my skin.

I released a disappointed gasp when he released me and pulled away - but I guess I should be grateful instead.

“I'm never ever going to force you Hayley. But believe me, I'll come find you and I am not willing to let this go. For now…you are free to do what's on your mind.”

I was panting - Yes, panting like a stupid dog in heat - as I staggered on unsteady feet to the door and left the room.

༺༺♡♡༻༻

“Oh, finally the queen decides to greet us with her presence!” My step mother's sneer greeted me the moment I walked into the house.

I looked at her, flinching at the anger rolling off her, the rage on her face. There and then, I knew I was in a whole lot of trouble.

“Well? Are you just going to stand here gawking at me like a simpleton? Where on earth are you coming from, Hayley? Since last night!”

“I'm sorry, I ran into an accident and…” her laugh interrupted me before I could finish.

“An accident? An accident that kept you away from home all night, huh Hayley? Or were you just out there, whoring yourself out to men? Is that why you couldn't stay with Hayden? For an opportunity to whore around? Like mother…like daughter.”

Her words stung me like a sharp needle pierced through my skin but I decided to ignore it. Right now Genna was like a walking flame and it would do me no good to ignite the flame.

Besides I was in enough pain as it is.

“Answer my question, you slut? Where were you? Who were you with? Who was the man you were busy advertising your legs to?”

“I told you, step mother…I had a little accident last -” a sharp pain on my cheek cut me off.

I gasped and held my cheek staring at Genna with wide eyes.

She had slapped me.

“Keep staring at me like that, and I will give you another slap! Now tell me the truth! Where were you last night?”

“But I'm telling you the …” Another slap cut me off and I gasped.

“More lies? I'm going to cut out these lies from your tongue myself, trust me!”

“What lies?”

It was hard, so damn hard to not cry, to ignore the way both sides of my cheeks hurt like hell, the urge to cry, to let the tears flow.

But I kept it all in.

“You'd still stand there and pretend? So, you had an accident? Why did Nina come to me this morning to tell me that you were spending the night with Alpha Sky's guards?”

Nina did what?

My chest tightened at that.

“Is that where you have stopped now? Slutting out yourself to guards?” Another sleep accompanied by a kick to my gut.

I groaned and keeled over, as the pain brought me to my knees.

This time, I allowed the tears to flow.

The moment my knees touched the ground, Genna saw it as an open door to do more. I hugged myself, a futile attempt to shield myself from the kicks after kicks that were hitting me.

At a point, I lost track of where the kicks were hitting, where it hurt.

All I knew, all I could think was the fact that my whole body, from head to toe hurts. All I could feel was the pain shooting through me, coursing through my body.

I was dying. I could not hear anything, feel anything else.

I was dying.

I closed my eyes and just allowed it to sink in. The pain, the beating, the humiliation…I let them all sink in. I embraced them.

All I could hear in my head were words that drove me further into a deep dark void.

'You are a disgrace.’

'You are nothing but an Omega.’

'You are a piece of dirt so you deserve this and more.’

Suddenly the kicks and yelling stopped and I dared myself to open my eyes.

My step mother who was now sweating profusely…was standing before me, eyes wide and mouth agape as she stared at something at the door.

I turned, following her gaze and couldn’t even afford to be embarrassed at the gasp of relief that left my lungs.

“How dare you, lay your filthy hands on my mate?!”