Alina’s POV
No matter how much I think about it, it doesn’t seem to make sense. The aphrodisiac I gave Tanya is the most potent one in the entire kingdom. It has taken me a considerable amount of money, energy and effort before I could lay my hands on it. The drug is so potent that even the most powerful werewolf will not be able to resist it.
I close my eyes and try to remember every detail of that particular morning. I remember that Tanya looked disheveled. Her hair was rough as though she had been in bed all night, yet she hadn’t stepped into her room. I think I saw hickeys on her neck but I am not sure.
“I wonder who that stupid idiot is,” I hiss. “If that stupid giant hadn’t appeared, my plan would have worked.”
Though my plan to make Tanya’s break-up public and disgraceful has failed, that doesn’t mean I have given up. In fact, it is the exact opposite. I am more determined than ever. Angrily, I decide to go to Brandon’s place to come up with a solid plan. On my way out, I am too distracted by my thoughts that I crash into Tanya.
We both ignore each other and I go my way. I glance at my wristwatch and realize that Tanya is home early, which is very suspicious. Tanya loves her perfumes and often works in the shop till Malik has to make her go home.
“What is she doing home by this hour?” I ask myself. I sneak back inside and watch as Tanya dashes to the bathroom with great speed.
She is probably pressed and needs to use the bathroom, I think to myself and make to leave, but then again, I reason, the shop has a bathroom. Why will she come home to use a bathroom? I am suspicious of her and I hide by the door. Soon, Tanya comes out of the bathroom with a terribly scared expression on her face. She dashes to her room and dashes out of the house. When I am sure she isn’t coming back, I come out of my hiding place and rummage in her room.
“I know it,” I yell as I find a freshly used pregnancy strip. “She’s pregnant.”
A plan speedily forms in my mind and I call Rick, the rich businessman that adores Tanya. It is time to make another deal.
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Marco’s POV
“Just stop, Manuel,” I growl at my inner wolf. He has been whining for the past thirty minutes about why I have let the girl go without getting any form of contact information from her.
“Why do I need to know?” I ask.
“Because she’s a nice girl,” I hear Manuel’s voice, or rather, feel Manuel’s voice.
Manuel is my inner wolf, and my most faithful companion. From the time he manifested, we’ve been inseparable and we share everything. Although he has grown to be a little independent from me, we both share almost the same feeling, emotions and thoughts. His minor independence means he can nag as much as he wants, which is exactly what he is doing at the moment.
Since Manuel is a part of me, I can hear his thoughts as though he is talking to me, though there is no voice. He can also hear my thoughts, but sometimes I speak out loud.
“You’re always cold and terrifying,” Manuel keeps mumbling. “If you keep this up you’d probably end up alone.”
“Alone?” I am amused. “I have you.”
“You know what I mean,” Manuel scoffs, or rather, I imagine him scoffing. “You need to be warm and open yourself up to people. You are always like a wall of ice that no one could penetrate while Eric is a bundle of joy and warmth. That’s probably why Lily…”
“Manuel,” I scoff.
“Whoops, sorry,” Manuel suddenly stops his mumbling, realizing I am still very sensitive on that particular topic. He is flustered by his excess of words and coughs a few times to cover up, “On the bright side, I never really liked Lily, even though she’s your fated mate. Lily always seemed to have weird energy around her that I’m not comfortable with. So I’m quite glad she’s not with you anymore.”
“You are?” I chuckle, surprised that Manuel has a such keen interest in my love life.
“Which is the perfect reason for you to make friends with this new innocent girl,” Manuel insists. “Even though she is weak and has no wolf, there’s something different about her. She’s special, unique; I can feel it, and I like this girl better.”
Manuel is right. When I was inside her, I felt a strong, inexplicable connection between us. I don’t know why I feel this special connection when it is clear that Lily, not her, is my fated mate.
“Lily is gone man,” Manuel continues. “You need to move on from her. Why don’t we explore the pack? Who knows, we might run into the girl.”
“You’re too noisy,” I am indifferent to Manuel’s passionate speech. “I didn’t even realize I’d spent two weeks here. I guess it’s time to go back to the capital, but I could take a look around this pack; and not because you mentioned it.”
“Of course,” Manuel cackles, and I can clearly detect the sarcasm in his voice.
I sigh, ignoring his sarcasm. I stand up and take a shower; don nice clothes and step outside. It is refreshing to breathe in the fresh air and have the sunshine on my skin so I take a walk around town.
For some reason, I am attracted to a nice perfume shop at the end of a street. Maybe it is because Lily is an excellent perfume designer, which leads me to pay more attention to perfume stores by habit, and even now I can’t break it.
I walk inside this shop, and it is lined with many different perfumes, but when I sniff bottle after bottle, my brow furrows. Most of the perfumes in the shop smell very similar to the perfumes that Lily designed. However, those perfumes designed by Lily should not be available for public sale. How can this shop have these perfumes?
Then, to my greater surprise, I smell a familiar scent. It is faint at first but it gets stronger with each passing breath. It is Lily’s scent that I smelled on that girl. I trace the scent to a small bottle of perfume hung at the end of the cabinet. I am quite surprised that their scents are exactly identical.
“Oh,” a man saunters towards me. “Welcome to Malik Perfume’s shop. I’m Malik. You smell anything you like?”
“Could you tell me the designer of this perfume?” I ask, staring at the small bottle of perfume.
“It’s Tanya. She’s a perfect perfume designer in our shop,” Malik replies. “But I’m afraid that isn’t for sale. I mistakenly hung it on the shelf. But she’s created almost all the perfumes in this shop and you can make your pick.”
I gaze quite intently at the perfume and he must think that I like Tanya’s work very much. That is probably why he feels compelled to tell me how talented and awesome Tanya is. He praises her with extreme enthusiasm and tells me her story.
“She’s a surrogate’s child so not many people like her, but that doesn’t stop her from being happy and helpful to everyone around her.”
My body slightly goes rigid when Malik mentions this. She is also a surrogate’s child?
“Clara!” Malik calls a girl at the other end of the shop. “Where’s Tanya? I didn’t see her when I came back.”
“She seems sick,” Clara replies. “She’s been vomiting since morning. If you ask me, I would say she’s pregnant.”
“That’s impossible,” Malik laughs. “She’s a virgin.”
My gaze shifts at once from the perfume to Clara and Malik. Although I wish it weren’t true, I clearly hear Clara and I understand what it means. My voice grows colder as I speak, “Where does she live?”
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Tanya’s POV
Even though I see the result, I cannot believe it, not to talk of accepting it. How can I be pregnant? It is impossible. I quickly dash out of the bathroom and shove the strip into my closet. I need fresh air to clear my mind, so I dash out of the house and take a walk.
I can scarcely believe my ill fate. It seems the universe is out to make my life more pitiable than it already was. Everyone still believes I am with Brandon, and then I turn up pregnant. Brandon will obviously deny the pregnancy with Alina as a witness.
“What would then become of me?”
After walking aimlessly for an hour, I decide to go back home and sleep it off. It might be a nightmare that will disappear when I wake up from sleep. I walk back home and instantly know that something is wrong. Richard, Maya, Alina and Brandon are sitting on the couch, obviously waiting for me. Alina has a cold, sly smile on her face while Brandon would not even look at me; and I know I am in serious trouble.
“Would you mind explaining this?” Maya says, tossing the pregnancy strip on the table.
My eyes almost pop out as I stare at the strip that has two bold lines displayed on it. My first instinct is to lie, but I know it is useless. Everyone will see through it.
“I guess your silence speaks volumes,” Alina snaps at me. “You did betray Brandon and sleep with Rick that night. You just cunningly covered up the fact.”
“We’ve made arrangements with Rick,” Maya announces. “He’s agreed to keep you as a mistress and save you from shame.”
“What?” I moan in disbelief.
Though there is no evidence, everyone knows the stories. Rick is a sexual pervert whose mistresses can never keep up with his sexual demands. Rumor has it that most of his mistresses disappear, or rather, die, after a few months because they cannot keep up with his perverted sexual demands.
“Dad, please,” I wail, unable to believe that my family will do this to me. “Don’t send me to Rick. I will die.”
“Your fate is sealed,” my father replies, his voice cold and angry.
“Father, I…” just as I am about to continue pleading with my father, a sharp knock on the door cuts me off.
Tanya’s POVThe sharp knock on the door rings again, accompanied by a greasy voice, “It’s Rick.”My heart sinks with that sound. My first reaction is to run away, but this is my home, and where can I escape? I huddle in the corner of the living room as if that would make Rick unable to see me.“Welcome Mr. Rick,” Alina greets the fat pervert with a very bright smile. “We’ve been expecting you.”“Well,” he cackles. “I’m here and I hope I’m not too late.”“No, Rick,” Richard says, his voice reeking of indifference as though he is bored and would rather be somewhere. “Come, let’s get this over with.”“Oh, there’s my bride,” Rick laughs. I know I shouldn’t cry, I shouldn’t show my cowardice in front of Rick, but when I muster up my courage to glare at Rick, my tears still fall from my eyes indefensibly. Rick seems to enjoy my tears very much.His face gleans with lust and he repeatedly smacks his lips as he looks me over.“Well, let’s get to business,” Maya announces.“Father!” I sob and
Marco’s POV“Is that everything?” I ask her as she dumps a light briefcase at my feet.“Yes,” she gasps. “I’ve only got a few things.”“Good,” I reply and shove the briefcase into the trunk, “Get in the car. We have quite a ride ahead of us.”“I’ve never been to the capital,” Tanya says. “What’s it like?”“You’ll see,” I reply.The drive goes on in absolute silence. Though I can sense that she wants to make small talk, she seems unsure of how to begin. Her shyness amuses me. I’m just about to break the silence when I receive a mind link from Oliver.“What do you want, Oliver?” I sigh.Oliver is my best friend. We’ve connected numerous times through mind link that it is so easy for either of us to establish a mind link between us regardless of distance.“Hey buddy,” Oliver laughs. “You missed the party.”“Oliver,” I reply. “I thought we already agreed to call first before we establish a mind link.”“I know,” he laughs. “But what’s the fun in that? Besides, I couldn’t find my phone. I w
Cathy’s POVA small crowd has gathered before the fitting room to see the results of the girl’s stupidity. I am mortified that the clerk has allowed that pauper to wear the most valuable clothes in the whole kingdom. I have tried that dress multiple times and it never seems to fit, no matter how hard I tried. After many trials, I gave it up. I don’t understand what gives that beggar the audacity to think that the dress will fit her when it won’t fit me, the Princess of the entire Wolf Kingdom.The curtain to the fitting room slowly pulls apart and I am ready to burst into deep laughter at the monstrous figure that will appear behind the curtain. The girl slowly steps out of the fitting room and faces everybody. Instead of the mocking laughter that I’ve anticipated from the small crowd, they are all shocked; indeed, so am I.The clothes fit the girl perfectly. She looks like a perfect Luna but even that is an understatement; she looks like a divine goddess. The clothes hug her feminine
Alina’s POVI am livid with anger when the guard finally comes to let us in after what seems like an eternity. I just cannot believe that he has totally ignored Brandon and me because of Tanya. My blood boils with so much anger that I am determined to make Tanya pay for the way she humiliates me. I am also angry at the guard and I barely pay attention when he hands me a device with which guests will bid with and explains to me how it works.The device is small and can fit smugly in one’s palm. It has a red, glowing button on top of it that alerts the Auction Master as to the exact person that is bidding for a particular item.“…the button indicates you’re willing to pay five thousand dollars more to the bidding price,” the guard deftly explains but I wave him away.“Let me carry that for you,” a very young girl dressed in a red gown approaches Brandon and me and collects my small purse. “And lead you to your seat.”She leads us to an empty row and we sit directly behind Tanya. Even fr
Tanya’s POVI am curious to see the owner of the voice and I peer towards the door. A very pretty young woman enters the hall, and she is not alone. Her arms are intertwined with an equally handsome man and they look like a very lovely couple. They both exude a majestic and noble aura and I am very certain that they are either Royalty or Nobility. My suspicion is confirmed when the crowd suddenly bow their head very low and part ways for the couple to pass through. They are flanked by bodyguards with a few maids and servants trailing behind them.“The First Prince, Eric and his fiancée, Lily,” a servant yells and almost immediately, everyone genuflects, everyone except Marco and I. I don’t understand what is going on and I am certain that Marco, as the Second Prince and the most powerful Lycan in the kingdom is not obligated to genuflect.“You can all rise,” Eric says in a rich, smooth, baritone voice that I am certain can charm lots of women. The whole crowd rises while Eric and Lily
Tanya’s POVI glance at the contract in my shaky hands unable to believe my eyes. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always dreamed of the day I’m going to get married. Unlike other girls who dream of the beautiful gown and beautiful necklace they will wear, I dream of the handsome man I will marry. I often daydream about how handsome my husband will be and how much I will love him; most importantly, he is going to love me back, just as fiercely as I love him.The paper in my hand has invalidated those dreams. This is no marriage based on love, it is based on interest. I cannot deny that Marco is royalty and is very handsome, but the fact that he doesn’t love me dampens my spirit. I remember my mom and how she died before I got a chance to know her. I remember Brandon and how he betrayed me. I remember how Marco saved me only to marry me out of a sense of responsibility. I love these people, but never get loved back in return. It is as though I am not destined for love.The door swi
Lily’s POV“Well, that was an unexpected twist,” Brandon says, sitting back into the leather armchair. I walk around the lounge room at the back of the auction house like a lion pacing in a cage.“I’m sorry, is this supposed to be amusing? We had a deal!” I hiss at him. The whole point of paying Brandon was for him to get close to Tanya. How did that scrawny little nobody end up arm in arm with Marco?Brandon examines his hands, absently picking at the dirt under his fingernails. “The situation changed,” he mumbles. “It’s not personal, Lily; it’s just business. You know how auctions work, right? The prize goes to the highest bidder. You paid me well, but Alina paid me better.” “If you betray me-” I start, but he cuts me off and moves swiftly towards me before I can muster a threat. “Careful, little lady. I wouldn’t want you to break a nail. Nobility is such a delicate thing,” he whispers, his breath tickling my ear and making angry heat rise to my cheeks. “If I betray you, there’s
Tanya’s POV“Do you think he’s here to see Lily?” one of the workers asks. “There’s no way. Prince Marco and Lily are a thing of the past. She’s engaged to Prince Eric.” Outside, Marco walks away towards the entrance of the building. He’s coming this way, my heart pounding harder and harder with every footstep. “Even if Marco married some she-wolf, Lily was supposed to be his fated mate. Why else would he be here?” The sound of heels clicking against the marble floor makes me want to disappear as the crowd moves away from the window and shifts towards the main entrance. Lily appears with Ayana close behind her.“Do you think Marco’s new wife is here? I haven’t seen her,” another employee says. They’ve seen me, they just haven’t realized who I am, but they will soon. There are too many people around, but the focus is evenly divided between Lily and Marco. The last thing I want is to draw attention to myself, and I dig my nails into my palm to stop my hands from shaking.Maybe I ca