Marked by the broken Alpha

Chapter Three

“Lilith, my darling. You came back.” her chest tightened. Suddenly his voice was soft as he kissed her on the lips. She was no longer afraid. Something in his voice had struck sympathy in her. How funny this was. When she should be frightened. 

Everyone in the pack knew who Lilith was to him. She was his childhood sweetheart. The woman he wanted to marry. 

But she mysteriously died. He locked himself in his room for fifteen years and only came out once in a while.

Eileen didn't know what she looked like but she didn't think she looked like her. 

“My beautiful Lilith,” his fingers traced the line of her collarbone, his touch slow, and absentminded. The anger in his voice had completely faded, replaced by something quieter… something lost.

Why was she feeling sorry for him? Her father had told her about how he lost his mother and sister. She never cared about the story. But now that she thought about this, she understood why his room had so many bottles lying on the ground.

“Where have you be… you are not Lilith!” He accused and she looked as he struggled to keep his wolf in control.

When his wolf gained control again, he called one more time. “My Lilith.” 

She shivered, but it wasn’t fear that made her tremble this time. It was the way his fingers ghosted over her skin as if searching for something that wasn’t there.

“Lilith,” he called again as his consciousness slipped away one more time. His voice was hoarse, almost broken.

This wasn’t about her.

He wasn’t even seeing her.

He was touching a ghost. Holding onto something or someone who was long gone.

Her lips parted, but she didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know if she should pull away or stay still and let him have this fleeting illusion.

For the first time that night, she was not seeing Callister as a Haemont 

He looked like a man who was drowning.

She couldn't save him and neither could she push him away. Because resistance meant consequences.

after her parents’ death, she had been warned, time and time again, that no one cared about what she wanted.

So when his lips found hers… hungry, desperate, and claiming… she let him. When his body pressed her into the walls, she stayed still, silent. Enduring. 

He claimed her that night, at least, he did not mark her. Or so she thought.

Because before sleep consumed him, he pulled her against his chest and, without hesitation, sank his fangs into her nape.

A sharp, searing pain tore through Eileen’s body. The pain was unlike anything she had ever known: raw, burning, and invasive. Was it because she had no wolf? Why did it hurt that much? He marked her, the wolfless servant.

Her stomach twisted. No. No. No.

This couldn’t be happening.

A broken gasp escaped her lips as his grip tightened, pulling her closer, his body heavy with sleep and intoxication. He didn’t even realize what he was doing because he whispered his dead girlfriend’s name again. 

Her trembling fingers clawed at the sheets, her chest heaving in silent horror.

A bite.

Not just any bite.

A claim.

Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Even as her skin throbbed, even as his breath steadied against her hair, she lay there, paralyzed, trapped in the nightmare she couldn’t wake from. She touched her necklace again, seeking comfort.

She closed her eyes for a short while, trying to think about the mess she was in. The images that flooded her weren't comforting. 

The world was spinning. 

Or maybe it was just her. 

Eileen carefully left his bed and ran. Though she could feel the pain in between her thighs, she still ran. Her bare feet pounded against the cold floor while her torn robe barely clung to her. 

Every breath burned in her lungs, and every shadow felt like a pair of eyes watching and waiting for her to fall. 

They would come for her. 

They would make a public spectacle of her.

They would kill her. 

The pack wouldn’t allow her to breathe after what had happened. They would call her a slut. She would no longer be the daughter of the man who wanted to betray the Alpha. She'd be the slut whose father wanted to betray the Alpha.

Why did Callister save her from his cousin? Why did he take her to his room? Why did he think she was Lilith? 

Too many questions haunted her as she ran from the room. She wasn't even considered a wolf in the first place because her wolf hadn't made her presence known even after she turned eighteen. She had nowhere to run to. She had no one to save her. 

She needed to run as far as she could. But there were too many guards outside. If it were that easy to escape, she wouldn't have found herself being a slave for that long. 

She wouldn't know where to run to but if only she could leave this castle. Only if she could leave this pack. She touched her necklace as it always found a way to calm her. It was the only thing she had of her parents. 

Then, a door opened suddenly and she quickly hid herself. For some reason, nobody smelled her. It was as if she had always been invisible. Maybe it was because she had no wolf. No werewolf could detect her presence and that was one of the reasons they hated her. 

The door closed and she heard no key being turned. She went to the door and it led to a backyard. A car was there and Its key was inside. It meant the owner was going to drive it any moment from now. 

Was luck suddenly on her side? She had no plan… only desperation. Her hands shook as she desperately yanked open the trunk of the car in front of her. 

She climbed in, curled into herself, and pulled the lid down. 

Silence. 

Her heart pounded so loudly she feared they would hear it. 

Then movement. After, the engine roared to life. 

Eileen squeezed her eyes shut, biting down on the panic clawing at her chest. Wherever this car was going, it would take her far from here. 

Far from him. 

Or so she hoped.