Chapter 3: I will become his bride

Skylar's POV

My heart beat faster against my ribcage as I listened to Alora’s sentence.

In a solemn voice, she read out my sentence. “Skylar White, you are not cursed by the Moon Goddess but you are born to never find a mate. You will never find happiness and in confinement shall you dwell for the rest of your life till you wither and die.”

“What? That can’t be right!” Father screamed.

I was frozen to a spot. My hands trembling at my side and my heart racing in my chest.

“It is the word of the goddess and so shall it be!” Alora let the scroll fall to the ground and all the people bowed. It was over. I was done for.

The days that followed later were numbered with grief and misery. People mocked and cursed my name in the streets like I was some abomination. I could hear them from my room. Even the maids and guards talked about it in low voices. I was nothing more than an outcast.

Well, their hurtful words were n't the only things I heard. One evening, I overheard Beta Jasper speaking to father. At first, I didn't understand because their words were muffled in my ears but as I crept near the door, I could hear them properly.

“Skylar has to get married …. To protect us…” Beta Jasper said. “Our pack will be protected from the intruders already preying on us.”

A marriage proposal?

Invasions?

But how?

“She can't…” I heard after whispering quietly.

“She has to…Alpha Sage already has his eye on her… Now is the perfect time for this.” Beta Jasper responded.

Alpha Sage?

The door flew open and father's eyes went round.

“S - Skylar, what are you doing here?” he asked, shocked.

“The main question is how much did she hear?” Beta Jasper crossed his arms over his chest.

“Skylar, dear. It's not what you think…” he tried to touch my hand but I pushed him away.

“No!” I screamed. “You're just taking advantage of me because I was cursed not to have any mate? Is that it?”

“Calm down, kid. You weren't cursed! Didn't you hear the shaman?” Beta Jasper wrinkled his brows in a frown.

I shot him a glare and he pursed his lips. “I don't care what it is! I will not get married to that mad man! Alpha Sage? Seriously? Of all the people it's that monster!”

“You will do what is right, you little bitch!” Beta Jasper leaned, rose to his feet and joined us outside.

“Enough.” Father called out weakly.

“Father.” I rushed to his side and put my arms around him. “Are you alright?”

He began to cough violently.

“Father!” I screamed. “What's happening to him, Jasper?”

“I don't know!” Jasper held him up.

Father loosened from my grip and slumped to the floor.

“Father!” I screamed for him.

“Get the physician now!” Jasper ordered.

I bolted, running as fast as I could to the physician's.

I arrived at his door and screamed as loud as I could. “Father…needs you…”

“Oh no.” He grabbed his kit and brushed past me.

I tried to keep up as I ran but I couldn't. My body was trembling with fear and anxiety. I lost my mother. I was not about to lose my father.

I arrived at his office and the door was shut in my face.

“Let me in!” I kicked and threw my fists in the air but the guards held me down. “Let me go! That's my father in there!”

“Let the physician do his job, Skylar!” Jasper yelled at me. “Your father will live!”

Those words found a way to calm me down but in a way I couldn't feel at ease. That was the same thing father had told him but in the end, Mallory died.

I shook my head. No, father will live.

I gave up fighting and slumped in one for the chairs in the hallways, praying and hoping for a miracle. My hands couldn't stop trembling and I felt so restless. I rose to my feet and began to pace around the room.

My movements must've startled Jasper because he threw his eyes open.

Minutes turned to hours and he had fallen asleep instead of waiting.

The next thing the door creaked open and I ran to meet him. “Sir…”

“Where is father?” I tried to move past him but he held back my arm.

He pulled down his cap and hung his head. “I'm sorry, Skylar.”

“Why are you apologizing? Where is dad?” Dad!” I tried to push past him but he held me back.

He put his arm on my shoulder. “Skylar…your father is …”

“He's inside. He's awake, right?” I asked him. “Right?”

I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. “, He's gone, Skylar.”

Suddenly, the room was plunged into silence.

“What?” I stared at the physician, trying to understand what he was saying.

“Alpha Xavier is dead.” The physician announced in a quiet tone.

I looked down at my hand, where my father's frail hand had touched just hours ago.

Dead?

Suddenly, my legs buckled, and I crumpled to the floor.

“Skylar.” I felt Beta Jasper's arms around me. “Get it together. It's not the end of the world.”

It was not the end of the world for him but it was for me.

First, it was mother and now, it was father.

I wrapped my arms around myself and let out a soundless scream. Tears flowed from my eyes in torrents and my body shook uncontrollably with each sob.

“Skylar.” I heard my name.

“Father is gone.” I wrapped my arms around myself tighter, convincing myself I'd hold myself together so I wouldn't shatter into a thousand pieces.

I never knew I would wear black again. I walked as the golden coffin was buried 6 feet in the ground. It finally dawned on me that father was gone.

The rain began to pour heavily and I stood in the shower, staring at my father's grave.

An umbrella hovered over my head and I looked up.

“Do you want to catch a cold?” Beta Jasper raised an eyebrow.

I looked down. “What does it matter?”

He heaved a sigh. “It matters because you are the Alpha's only child and now that the SilverMoon pack doesn't have an Alpha, it is only customary that you marry.”

Hated by everyone for being the cause of the misfortune that happened, I have become a prey.

Beta Jasper had suggested that I get mated to an Alpha so our pack would be protected from the intruders already preying on us. I had rejected the offer on the grounds that Alpha Sage was an insane man, but with father's death and no one left to protect us any longer, I had no choice but to agree.

“I will marry him.” I bit my lower lip to keep my tears at bay.

“You will marry Alpha Sage?” From his time, I could tell he was surprised.

“Yes, I will marry him,” I turned to him. “I will become his bride.”