Chapter Two.

Walking next to Alpha Alexander made me feel awkward. He was as quiet as a wasp in one's nose. Since we began the stroll in the beautiful garden he hardly said a word, I couldn't even hear the sound of him breathing. It was like walking beside a zombie, but a quiet thoughtful one. I was a talker, an extrovert, but Alpha Alexander was the opposite. I didn't have a problem with that, I liked my men as cool as a cucumber, and Alpha Alexander happened to have quietudes highlighted in his characteristics.

It was spring already, my favorite season, the season the garden had more pop of colors. Ever since I moved into the palace at the age of ten I personally tended to the garden, watered it at least thrice a week, uprooted the weeds and kept it trim. My garden was a piece of my art, the jewel being the nine year old Apple tree, and I loved showing it off. That was one of the reasons I brought Alpha Alexander to it. 

"Do you like my garden?" I said, clearing the air of awkwardness between us. I unhooked my arm from his as I stopped walking. He stopped walking also, but his gaze didn't meet mine. Instead, his eyes raked through my garden. "I know it's beautiful, not as beautiful as I am though. I have been tending to it since I moved into this palace ten years ago."

"I've seen better." His response was curt and for some reason I felt insulted by it. "It's ugly, not well thought out."

"Excuse me?" I wanted to believe he wasn't talking to me. He sounded so different and cold, unlike the Alpha I'd greeted back in the throne room. "You weren't just talking to me, right?"

He turned to face me, a huge menacing smile on his face. A smile that made him dangerously handsome, alluring, tempting, yet murderous and threatening. He raised a brow. "I decided to drop my act since we're the only two in the garden, Annalisa-"

"It's princess Annalisa or you call me my lady." I yelled, correcting him. I couldn't tolerate disrespect, and coming from him it sounded degrading. 

"I don't care," his voice was in a low baritone, almost emotionless, and it scared me to think the Alpha Alexander before me was different from the image I portrayed of him in my head. "I am just being honest. The apple tree doesn't fit in, it has a creeping mildew and the leaves look unhealthy curled up like that. The apple doesn't even look edible, I bet it's poisonous."

He walked away from me, headed towards the tree, plucked an apple and brought it to his nose. "This is outrageous. You call this a garden yet the apple smells malodorous, it definitely isn't palatable. I bet this can kill," then he stretched out the apple to me. "This would pass as a peach rather than an apple. I wonder if you could possibly die by eating it, y'know, since you're an Omega you should be immune to poison."

I clenched my fist in anger, held up my gown with my hands and stormed towards him. I yanked the apple away from his hand, restraining myself from pushing it into his throat to test if it was, without a doubt, poisonous. But I fought and clung onto my little sense of restraint and threw the apple off into an inflorescence. "You talk like a lowly man, Alpha Alexander," I glared daggers at him as I spoke, my heart constricting within my chest in hurt due to Alpha Alexander words. "You're right, as an Omega I can't die from poison, but that doesn't mean I can't feel pain."

His hazel eyes locked with my baby blue eyes. I wore an expression filled with fury while he wore one with a sinister smile. My heart hurt terribly as I looked at him, I was heartbroken by his words. It was obvious he didn't like me or favor me because I was an Omega. His eyes as he stared at me was filled with pure indignation and hatred. I didn't know why. I hadn't vexed him before nor had we been acquainted until today. 

"I'll be honest, Annalisa, I don't like you," my heart sank and I could feel my eyes sting. I almost couldn't see through the full cloud of tears in my eyes. "But I want to marry you."

I held on tightly to my gown, trying to suppress my emotions. If I didn't, I knew I could bawl my eyes out. He said he wanted to marry me, but I wasn't glad, I knew it was because of his selfish interest, probably due to political gain. Alpha Alexander didn't like me and I wondered why and what I could have done wrong. 

"I am beautiful, so why don't you like me?" I asked through gritted teeth, dropping my arms to my side. 

He gave me a once-over, one that seemed condescending, brute. "I hate to admit it, but you're the most beautiful woman in Trinigad. But I don't involve myself in superficial love. And the rumors I've heard of you aren't the best. I heard you're proud, pompous, rude and vile. I heard you even got two maidens killed because they spilled hot tea on you."

"Those maidens had it coming. They shouldn't have spilled tea on me," I was infuriated. What did my character have to do with my beauty? Every man wanted a beautiful wife, so he should have been thanking his stars that I chose him. He should have been happy. He should have been on his knees, licking my foot, praising me for picking him amongst the majority. "I needed to remind everyone in this palace of my position, so they were the whipping boys, the scapegoats. And I made sure to set their heads in the servants quarter as a reminder to all servants."

"Technically you're a tyrant?"

"Call me whatever you want, but I would never allow myself to be trampled upon by anyone. Including you, Douchebag Xander," I laid emphasis on the last two words. He didn't seem fazed by my words, rather the grin on his face widened. "The red envelope my father sent to you, tear it. Send us back a yellow envelope. I don't want to marry you anymore. And I promise you, your position as Alpha would be taken away by tomorrow morning. I am sure father would have you impeached and convicted once I give him details of everything you've said to me today."

He cackled, adjusting his one-shoulder black hooded mantle; A mantle that made him look dreamy and majestic. A mantle that made his shiny silvery hair stand out. "You wouldn't be doing that." He sounded so confident that I wasn't going to tell father about everything.

"Is that a dare?"

"No! I'm confident you wouldn't be telling anyone because you, Annalisa, are my bride to be."

I scoffed. "Overconfident, are you? I'm sorry to break this to you but I can't marry an asshole like you. Maybe if you fall down on your knees and beg, I might reconsider and convince myself that all what you've said earlier was due to a magical spell, and you were in a state of thralldom."

"You want me to beg?"

"On your knees. Also kiss my feet."

He laughed. His laughter sounded melodious to my ears. "But I've said nothing but the truth-"

I stood tiptoe and slapped him to shut him up. He smiled. I struck him on his other cheeks, still, he had a smile on his face. He was beginning to look like a sociopath, which was really getting on my nerves. "Out of this palace now! And be ready to receive a black envelope tomorrow."

In Trinigad, colors of the envelope mattered when sending letters. The color alone conveyed the message before the words were even read. It started as an unspoken rule, until it was passed into the decalogue. For marriage proposals a red envelope is used. For rejection of a marriage proposal a yellow envelope is used. For good news, a white envelope. For bad news, a black envelope. 

Alpha Alexander massaged his cheeks. "Annalisa, be prepared to marry me on the overmorrow."

My brows furrowed. "Are you dumb? I said I'm not interested in marrying you anymore."

"I don't think you have a say in this matter, princess," he took some steps towards me until we were centimeters apart. He snaked his hand around my waist, drawing me closer to himself — that made me stop breathing for a moment. I was out of it, compelled by his face, and how tall and built he was. Once I regained my composure, I tried pushing his hand off my waist but he was just too strong. He overpowered me. "I am going to marry you, Annalisa. You can't back out because if you do, I'd kill your father."

I was quite taken aback by what he said. "You think just because you're an Alpha you can take on the Alpha king? And what was that all about? Is that supposed to be a threat?" I snarled.

"You heard me right, Annalisa. You have to marry me and have my child, or I'll give your father a tortuous death and then I will lock you up in the dragon's dungeon where you'd starve until death decides to take mercy upon you." He said, with a menacing threat laced with his tone.

His face inched closer to mine until we were sharing the same breath and his hazel eyes were steadily changing color. They were changing into red and his fangs were slowly presenting themselves. Then suddenly, he lowered his back and bit into my neck. 

I wanted to scream out in pain, but he immediately placed his hand over my mouth, muffling my words. Tears streamed down my eyes as I tried fighting my way out of his titanium grip but all to no avail. He was just too strong. As he continued to suck my blood, I came to a realization.

Alpha Alexander wasn't a werewolf. 

In the early hundreds, dated to the beginning of the werewolf era, we were never involved in the cannibalism of eating one another. The only things we ate that bled were raw steak, raw fish, raw bird meat and cooked lamb meat. But Alpha Alexander was different, not only did his eye color turn into red — an abnormal, but he was into cannibalism. 

As the thought of what he could be slipped into my head, I began to lose consciousness. He was draining way too much blood from me. I stopped fighting the moment he took his mouth off from my neck, retracting his fangs. His lips were stained with blood. My blood. What pissed me off the most was the creepy smile on his face. 

"As expected of an Omega, your blood tastes the best," I couldn't say anything. I was slowly losing consciousness and my legs were beginning to give up. 

I wondered if I was dying, and if my last memory would be seeing the face of someone I was infatuated with. My man I once called the man of my dreams; But instead of Alpha Alexander being my dream man, he turned out to be a nightmare, one I should have plucked my eyes out for. 

He licked off the remnants of blood on his lips with his tongue. An act I found disgusting, "You d-disgust me." I managed to say those words to him in a quiet voice.  

Just when I thought he was going to let me go, his lips met with mine in a peck as I slowly gave in to a shallow darkness. The last thing I vaguely remembered was falling into his arms. 

Weirdly, it was a warm embrace.