Chapter 2
Queenie clung to Alpha Joseph’s arm, her voice soft and trembling with just the right amount of drama.
“Alpha Joseph, I’m scared… What if Melissa holds a grudge? The doctor said the pup’s unstable–I can’t handle any more stress.”
My body stiffened.
Her words were a knife, but my instincts were louder. My hand moved to my abdomen without thinking, brushing gently over the place where life had once stirred.
“Enough!”
Alpha Joseph’s voice cracked like a whip. I didn’t know if he was shouting at me or Queenie.
But it didn’t matter.
+ 5 Points
Because the next second, he dragged me out of the ancestral home without a backward glance.
Even then, I was still too late.
By the time we reached the cemetery, the funeral was nearly over.
My father and my little sister had already been lowered into the ground.
My mother saw me and ran forward, grief and fury in her every step.
And I didn’t fight it. I deserved it.
If I hadn’t let my pride get the better of me… If I hadn’t tried to drive Queenie out of Black Mist Pack… maybe my family would still be alive.
My mother slapped me, cursed me–but none of that hurt as much as what came
next.
She dropped to her knees before Alpha Joseph.
On her knees.
“Alpha Joseph,” she cried, her voice hoarse, “I know Melissa isn’t good enough for you anymore. If you don’t want her, fine–just give her back to me. Please. Stop hurting her. Haven’t we paid enough? Haven’t we lost enough?”
Looking at my mother, whose hair had turned almost completely gray overnight, humbling herself to beg that devil of a man.
Something inside me broke.
I dropped beside her, pulling her into my
arms.
“Mom… stop. Please. This is all my fault. I never should’ve dragged you or Dad or little Lila into this. Don’t kneel to him. Don’t–don’t beg him.”
DULI KITEW Deller.
Joseph wouldn’t stop.
He never let go of what he thought he owned.
We met when we were eight. His mother had moved in next door, dragging him with her. He didn’t have a father, and his mother… gods, she was cruel. She beat him, screamed at him, brought different men home every night–sometimes while he was still in the
room.
My parents took pity on him. They brought
im into our home, fed him, gave him warmth. Slowly, we grew close. He was quiet, closed–off–but with me, he opened up.
At eighteen, under the silver light of the full moon, we discovered we were fated mates.
I thought the Moon Goddess had blessed
- me.
NOW I KNOW IT was a curse in aisguise.
He once told me I was the one who taught him what love meant. That he never believed in it before me. That he thought no one could ever stand by his side and stay.
He said everyone had their own path–and even if I only walked part of the road with him, he’d be grateful.
Because no one ever stayed.
And I told him I would.
I told him Melissa would love Joseph forever. That I’d never leave him. Never betray him.
Then his mother died.
And his father, who turned out to be the Alpha of the Black Mist Pack. That was when the truth came out: Joseph was the bastard son of an Alpha.
Dack, gave nim miS
name, and put him in the running for the
Alpha title.
Joseph didn’t just win.
He crushed his father.
The night he seized power, he came to me, trembling, voice raw.
“Melissa… are you afraid of me now? Do you think I’m a monster?”
I shook my head, wrapped my arms around him, and whispered that I knew. I understood. His father had been a monster long before him.
“Just promise me,” he said, “no matter what I become, no matter what I do–you’ll still love me. Stay with me. I don’t have anyone else.”
Joseph had always been broken. And I loved him for it.
+ 5 Points
He constantly needed to hear I was his. That
I’d never leave.
And I believed we’d grow old together.
So when Queenie showed up–beautiful, confident, flaunting herself like a prize–l didn’t take her seriously.
