AURORA'S POV.
I'm scared for my life.
I look at my father, who's frowning and then at Crew.
Traitor.
If I ever get out of this alive, I swear I'll kill him!
"Take her to the dungeon and lock her up." My verdict finally comes. I want to protest, but there's no energy left in me. My mate turns on his heels and storms out of the living room.
This is probably the last time I will be here.
I won't be surprised if this is the last day of my life.
The punishment for murder is execution in this pack. All evidence points to me at this moment and my words alone will not set me free.
This is the end for me.
"You are going to be punished for your crimes, murderer!" My father keeps raining insults on me as the guards drag me out of the house. I don’t say anything to him.
Once in the premises, I see Alpha Lucien getting into his hummer and without warning, I break free from the hold of the guards holding me.
"Alpha Lucien!" I call at the top of my voice as I run over to him. I drop to my knees before him, caring less about the gravel pellets that are piercing my knees and making them hurt. This pain is nothing compared to the pain I feel now that I'm being accused of murder.
I can't take it.
"Please Alpha Lucien." I wrap my arms around his right leg, looking up at him with tears spilling down my eyes like a waterfall. "You have to believe me. I didn't do it. I would never kill anyone." His eyes lock with mine and I almost drown in them. He looks at me for a solid ten seconds and lets out a heavy sigh.
I wish I knew what was running through his mind.
"Take her away!" He orders and immediately, the same gurdas who were holding me a while ago, grab both my arms and start dragging me away. I don't protest. I don't even scream because there's no energy left in me to do so.
From my peripheral vision, I see him get into his car and his driver kicks off while the guards shove me into another car and kick off once everyone is settled. I don't dare to look at their faces because they all look scary.
I've cried to the point where I can't feel anything anymore. My entire body is numb and my head is spinning.
My mouth tastes like death.
When we arrive at the castle, the guards once again pull me out of the car and over to the dungeon. That's when I realize I better save my energy because I know I'll go days in here without food or father before the day comes for me to be executed.
"Please, I need to speak with the Alpha." I beg with all my heart as the guard standing in front of me opens the door to the cell I will be occupying. When the door opens, his colleague pushes me into the cell and he locks the door. "Please… please tell the Alpha I need to speak with him. I'm innocent of this crime. I would never kill anyone!" The guard isn't even listening to my pleas.
"Turn around and lean your back against the bars." He instructs and I obey. Relief washes through me when he unlocks the cuffs and my hands spring free. I instantly turn around and hold the iron railings of the prison door.
"Please, you have to listen to me." My voice is a shaky mess.
"You killed the Alpha's son. You are a vicious woman who killed her husband on the day of her wedding. You do not deserve any mercy, so you won't be getting any." The guard bitterly spills out and my heart shatters into pieces.
"No! I didn't not kill anyone. You have to believe me, please!" I know all my tears and pleas are in vain because none of them look like they are going to help me.
They all keep raining insults on me and I can't help, but think about what he just said.
I killed my husband on my wedding day.
Does that mean the man I was supposed to marry was the brother who had been killed? I had no idea he was royalty and most importantly, I did not kill him.
"Ronald!" An authoritative voice calls from the corner. I can't see who the voice belongs to, but it sounds oddly familiar. Like that one that had made me tremble back at my father's house.
It is the voice of my mate, the Alpha.
The one who ordered the guards to have me locked up in the dungeon. He is here and I need to speak to him, but before I can talk to the guard, he goes over to meet who just called.
"Is she in there?" The voice asks quietly.
"Yes, Alpha."
"Have her punished severely. You and your men can torture her till your heart's content and after that, you can kill her and dispose of her body. We do not need people like her in this pack." The voice orders and the next thing I hear is retreating footsteps.
My legs get wobbly and before I know it, I'm sitting on the cold floor of the dungeon. My entire body is numb. I can't feel a single thing.
My mate just ordered for me to be tortured, killed and disposed of.
How cruel can he be?
The guard appears in front of my cell with a grin on his face. He's excited to get on with the torture.
To my greatest horror, other guards join him. About ten of them.
"I'm sure you heard the Alpha's command. You have met your end, murderer. My colleagues and I will have so much fun ending your miserable life!" He inserts one of the keys in the bundle in his hand and turns the lock to the cell door. I clench my fists by my side, ready to fight them off.
I'm not going to let them finish me off without a fight.
Two guards step in to grab my arms, but I easily push them away from me. My powerful push sends them flying to both ends of the cell.
"You dare to fight back?" One of the men sneers and to my greatest shock, more men swarm in.
I try to fight them, but they are too many and they are using sticks coated in silver to hit me. The more they hit me with the silver, the weaker I become and I finally slumb to the ground weakly.
I have no energy left in me to fight.
They can go ahead and kill me for all I care.
"What is going on here?" A thunderous voice demands, but the guards ignore the voice and keep pounding on me.
As I lay on the ground, I can see a figure approaching and I train my eyes on the image. I'm not surprised to see that it's the Alpha who had ordered for me to be killed.
My own mate.
He ordered for me to be tortured.
Is he here to end my life with his own hands?
I don't get the chance to find out the answer to that question because pain explodes in my forehead and the last thing I see is stars hovering overhead before darkness swallows me whole.
LUCIEN'S POV.She's lying on the floor. Knocked out. Parts of her body are bleeding and the guards swarming around her do not seem to realize that they have to stop whatever it is they are doing. I'm sure this was my father's order.To have her tortured till death.Dad can make very cruel decisions when he is upset regardless of whether he is wrong or right and that's one of the things that make me fear him very much because even the fact that I'm his son and future heir does not spare me from his ruthlessness.The only person father could compromise or bend his morals for was my brother who's now dead.My temper gets the better of me as I watch the guards still pounding on my mate despite the fact that she has gone unconscious.My wolf stirs in anger within me and without thinking twice, I rush over to them with trembling hands and yank away the first guard my hands come in contact with off Aurora's body and shoot him to the other end of the room. The man shouts in agony as his body
AURORA'S POV.The last person I expected to see when I opened my eyes was this man whose face seems to be hovering all over mine. The same man who had ordered for me to be tortured to bed.When notices that my eyes are open, he quickly backs away, clears his throat and maintains his composure, standing straight with his hands behind his back.The mate bond comes coursing through my body again and I look up at him. There's an awkward silence between us. I have a lot of questions in my mind to ask him and the first being if he's aware of the fact that we are mates. But I'm sure he knows. If I can feel the mate bond, it means he can feel it too.Could that be why his face was almost touching mine a while ago.Did he want to kiss me because he knew we were mates?No!Most definitely not!And even if he knew we were mates. Even if he wanted to kiss me, I still can't forget about the fact that he ordered his guards to have me tortured till death. I won't easily forgive him for that."You ar
AURORA'S POV.Right now, I have no idea how to react to what I just heard. Alpha Lucien knows I'm his mate. Should I be happy? Should I be hopeful? Should I be ashamed? or should I be scared?I don't know what to feel right now.He just said he'd punish me accordingly if I say I'm guilty, but he'll stay by my side if I deny the allegations. That's a very logical thing to say in this situation and for a moment, I am really tempted to believe his words, but then I remember that a while ago, he had ordered for his guards to have me tortured to death.He didn't seem to care when he passed that order, but now he does.Why the sudden change of heart?"Why aren't you saying anything?" He breaks the silence. I look at him. He has a blank countenance. I can't read from his face whether he believes me or not and that's very frustrating."Because I don't believe you when you say you will trust my words." He raises a brow and trains his eyes on me."Why's that?" He sounds curious. Not only does h
AURORA'S POV.The silence drags on for several minutes. My eyes are still glued on Alpha Lucien who's staring blankly at the wall. He hasn't uttered a single word and I'm worried because I think I know the answer is, he doesn't believe me.Even the maid and the Beta seem eager to get his response, but none of us get any.If Alpha Lucien doesn't believe me, then all my hope is lost. I can't prove my innocence on my own. Not when I'm locked up in here.My heart stops when he lets out a sigh. I look at him expectantly. Hoping he would say something to favor me, but he doesn't even look at me. He turns to the maud who still has her head bowed down. I swear to God if I'm given that chance to be in this room with this woman alone, I'll beat her up so good, she'll take back all the lies she just told against me.I hate her!"What's your name?" Alpha Lucien asks the maid.He ignored my question. Nice one Lucien. Nice one."Emilia Mark." She calmly replies. I roll my eyes hard. To me, everythi
LUCIEN'S POV."Because they demand that you be executed." Her eyes widen in shock.Even I would be shocked if I was told my father had ordered for me to be executed. Her father was the first to point an accusing finger at her and since then, he has been insisting she committed the crime. I can't help but wonder what would make a father hate his own daughter so much."They didn't!" She denies my words. "My… how could he do that? I didn't kill anyone." Her voice breaks in half as she makes that statement. "I… I just wanted to ask Crew why he's accusing me of a crime I didn't commit and my father why he doesn't believe me when I say I didn't kill anyone. Why are they doing this to me?" She asks with a shaky voice. I don't say anything to her, because I don't know what to say.When she notices I'm not going to say anything to her, she lays back on the bed and closes her eyes.I train my eyes on her. I don't know why, but something tells me she is innocent of this crime she is being accuse
LUCIEN’S POV.I'm still patiently waiting for the two men standing before me to answer the questions I had thrown at them. They keep looking at each other, not knowing what to say and I am truly amused.From what I've seen so far, I can confidently come to the conclusion that no one in this household loves or cares about Aurora and that makes me even more curious about her.What could she have done to make her father hate her so much? Is she truly a bad person? Or is it her father who’s the bad person? What secret is this family hiding from the public?"I don't have all day here." I tell them. Crew clears his throat and looks at me."Well, Alpha. You see, Aurora and I broke up a long time ago and then I started dating her sister."That even makes things worse.I raise my brows and look at him in total disbelief. I can't even look at Mr. Callan right now because I'm so angry that he let something like this happen. Why would he let some stupid guy disrespect his daughters?"So, you date
AURORA’S POV.All eyes are on me, including Lucien's. His father, the Alpha King has his eyes wide open in total disbelief. The elders are murmuring words like “impossible” under their breaths and Lucien looks amused by my audacity. The tension in the air can suffocate someone in the next room. My heart has flown to the moon without me.What I just said is going to cause a ruckus. Maybe put me in even more trouble, but I couldn't just stay still and do nothing to defend myself. I will not be hanged for a crime I did not commit.“How dare you!” The Alpha King finally breaks the unbearable silence in the room. Red, Hot rage flashes in his eyes as they turn red. “How dare you try to take advantage of my son! How dare you use his name to cover up for your heinous crime!” Thick searing heat distributes itself throughout my body as my gaze flicks between father and son. The Alpha King's murderous gaze lingers along the length of my body, long enough to strike a match to light the fluid flow
AURORA'S POV.I finally breathe in oxygen when we step out of the office into the hallway. The air in there felt like sulfur steam. All that tension, judgmental looks from the elders, and the spiteful words they threw at me. I wonder how I didn't evaporate into nothingness while I was there.“Aurora.” Lucien's call jabs me out of my thoughts. I halt in my tracks when he turns my way. He looks pissed. His jaws are twitching and his entire body is as rigid as a rock. I have no idea how to behave with him right now.He doesn't believe I'm innocent and he doesn't believe I'm guilty either.How am I supposed to talk to or act towards him when he has mixed feelings towards me?“Yes.” That is all I manage. My heart stops when he starts closing the gap between us. I try to maintain the distance by taking a few steps back, but soon enough, my back hits against a wall, impaling any further moment.I am trapped between his enormous body and the wall. Transfixed by his piercing gaze. He cannot af