Chapter 2

“Alex!”

The two jolted up in fear, but upon seeing me in sight, they seemed so unfazed, as if I had disrupted their happy moment, while Alex tried so hard to cover up his nakedness.

I swallowed so hard that it hurt my throat. My eyes scanned through the room falling on the undies scattered at different angles of the room. The boxers I bought for Alex on his previous birthday stared right back at me amusingly. 

I looked over at Zoe who was staring daggers laced with venom and disgust. I should do that and not her. But, who am I? This weak daughter of Alpha Danny has never stood up to confront anyone.

“Zoe, you were supposed to be my sister,” I scoffed while wiping the little drop of tears on my cheeks.

I had always known she was as much trouble as her mother, and I should have known better when she suddenly became very nice and warm-hearted. For the past few weeks, I trusted Zoe, we’ve shared moments that hold so many beautiful memories, shared my thoughts, and my laughter with her, and treated her so well.

I looked at her and she stared back as if nothing had happened. Moreso like it was a normal thing for me to witness. Can’t she just look a little sorry?

But who was that again? Zoe? I was wrong because there was no iota of remorsefulness in her eyes. Her intense gaze on me was so harsh that I avoided her eye contact.

I had a thousand words in my mind to say and, a thousand questions to ask, yet my mouth was now sealed. I could only stare at the two as I was momentarily mute.

I blinked my eyes repeatedly fighting hard the stream of tears struggling to make a grand entrance down my cheeks. I didn’t want to cry, not in her presence.

“You weren’t supposed to see this Anny,” Alex finally said.

He was standing in front after putting on his boxers and a shirt. I secretly prayed my voice wouldn’t give me out as I tried to speak. “You’ve… you’ve had me fooled all this while?” 

I was glad my voice didn’t give me out on a platter of gold to my enemies. I moved slowly trying to reach Zoe for an explanation, for her to say something to clear this misunderstanding. 

“You should step back Anny,” he said with that voice that used to send shivers down my spine. He stood between me and Zoe, stopping me from getting to her. Right there I knew it was a lost course. I was nothing to him.

“You were just being intimate with my step-sister, and now you block me from her?” I said as I tried to understand the situation that was right in my face.

“Allow her, there is nothing she can do. She’s just a weakling who can’t fight and can’t protect or keep anyone close to her,” Zoe’s words hit every part of me. She was right, I couldn’t keep anyone not even Alex.

The moon goddess must have regretted giving such a useless weakling as myself the life I held so dear unto. It was a lonely path I had walked for so long and that one person that was supposed to join me was slipping out of my hands.

Alex ran his hands through his messy hair and tried to hold me afterward. I shifted back allowing his hands to embrace the empty air. 

“I still want you Anny, you don’t have to mind what you saw,” he was sounding so foolish to me. What level of arrogance for him to still want me as his mate? 

Tears littered my eyes and I couldn’t hold back a drop of it which I instantly wiped off with the back of my hand. I scoffed as I sniffed back the stream of tears battling to be revealed to the world through my face.

I couldn’t believe his words, he would be juggling between myself and my step-sister. I knew he was strong and brave, but I never knew he was a total dumbass. 

Zoe’s lingering gaze was on, I mean on Alex. She had been biting her lower lip and scanning him from head to toe lustfully.

“I Annabel Danny reject you Alex Christian as my mate from this moment,” I said with a shaky breath.

I could see shock written all over him. I was stunned that I could say such a thing though I lacked confidence and it was clear, but I did say it.

“Anny, I know you are angry and didn’t mean that,” he said “ You can’t be serious?”

Yes, I was angry and I wasn’t going to continue to be used and mocked. I would rather face this shame once and for all than to be sharing my mate with my sister. Such an abomination!

“Tomorrow is our wedding Anny, you are my mate, you can’t reject me like this!” now raising his voice.

“Well, I’ve learned that I can reject my mate by looking straight into his eyes and saying it to his face, which I have just done, and you have to deal with that fact!” 

At first, I instantly felt a sharp pain in my heart, and tears began to flow from my eyes. I tried stopping the flow, but the more I tried the heavier the tears. He looked at me trying to digest the words I just said to him.

Then a searing pain accompanied my tears as I felt the mate bond between us snap instantly tearing my soul into unredeemable pieces. I clawed at my chest, hoping the pain would vanish into the thin air.

I wondered how my father was going to take the news of his first daughter rejecting her mate. He loved Zoe so much and I wouldn’t want to spoil their relationship because of my unlucky fate.

It would be a big slap on his face and the reputation that he so much cared about, I can’t bear to see him so broken. Even though he never thought highly of me, I still love him.

A heavy sigh escaped my nostrils as I closed the door behind me. There it was on my bed, lying peacefully and innocently. Reluctantly, I sat down close to the dress. I held the dress up and straight to my body with my shaking hands.

I was hugging the dress like my life depended on it. Caressing the neckline that had the most beautiful embroidery that I have seen. My finger trailed down to the zipper, unzipping it and fitting my figure perfectly into the flowing dress. 

I closed my eyes as anger rolled through my throat. My fist clenched together, straining the muscles around me. How I wished I was strong enough to rip them both apart and send them to the afterlife, but it was all a bundle of wishes.

What could a weak girl like me do? I felt hopeless and helpless. Tears finally found their way from my flooded eyes trailing down my cheeks. It was like a flowing river as I could not control the burning sensation of hurt and pain within.

The force that flung my door open made me turn abruptly to see what was happening as my eyes went wide open now. Before I could say a thing, I felt his tight grip holding and dragging me out of the door.

“Where are you taking me to?” 

“What is happening?”

“At least, let me off my dress!”

“You are hurting me please…”

I kept shouting but it all fell on the guard's deaf ears. Fear and confusion gripped me as I was being dragged through the staircase. I struggled and fought with the dress that made it so difficult to walk on my own.