MY CRUEL ALPHA BROTHER

TENDER FEELINGS OF AFFECTION: 4 YEARS LATER

~CECILIA'S POV~



The Greys are a very old family who has ruled as the most powerful pack in Nottinghamshire for centuries, as one can see the traces of excellence left over the whole city by their ancestors. I grew up in a dark place, filled with nothing but pleasure seekers. That’s why I worry about being brought up in the moon’s armour pack. A part of me knows that I do not belong here.

I still remembered the moment when I walked into the house with Alpha William. While the family expected him y boring presents for them, they were greeted by an orphan. They were very disappointed to see only a little, black-haired girl. Nikolaj was furious because he had not received any presents, and had refused to let me share their pack’s house.

“She is my daughter,” announced the proud alpha without caring about anyone’s judgement in the room. “I can’t leave her to die. Get a room prepared for her.”

The whole insulting environment is etched into my memory as if it had happened just yesterday. The earlier reactions of the Greys and Dorian’s forced evacuation of me made me lose all hopes of ever living in the pack’s house, but little by little I became accepted by the family. Although everyone has been made aware of my roots, nobody knows the identity of my mother, something my father says is necessary to hide.

Nikolaj and I have gotten closer as we were of the same age, but Dorian still hates me and is often cruel to me. My father is very strict with Dorian. He punished him for behaving badly to me. Due to this fondness that my father shared for me, Dorian began to be jealous of the alpha’s feelings towards me, and he openly declared that he sees me as an enemy.

This situation made it hard for me to lead a normal childhood. As Dorian was getting more and more nefarious in his treatment of me, alpha William decided to send him away to study. I finally hoped that peace would be restored in the mansion. But, he kept returning for small periods and continued to wreak havoc in my life.

Dorian would often tell my father that I am a wild, wicked girl and need to be punished. That is how he was granted permission of tutoring me, something that was a bad idea. He was proud and liked giving her orders. But he also had the most beautiful face and the sweetest smile you’ve ever seen. He would use those charms to earn forgiveness and dodge responsibility for his actions.

The thing that bothered me most was his unwillingness to let me skip my lessons. He would deliberately teach me twice a day at times, making the others believe that he was fond of me. He’d be in an extremely foul mood when I wouldn’t take my lessons out of fear. The next day he’d return with furious eyes and a foul. The strangest of all was that he claimed that I try to separate myself from him. I fail to understand his behaviour, and he did not realize that his cruelty towards me only made me more indifferent towards him.

There was some tranquillity in the family when the alpha ordained that Dorian wasn’t allowed to return until he had completed his education. Those were the greatest days. I could finally live without worrying about him torturing me for four years.

Around this time, I began venturing out into the woods and the area around the mansion to get a good understanding of Nottinghamshire. On those excursions, Nikolaj used to be my partner. He’d show me all the beautiful places in the wooded area where it wasn’t difficult to achieve isolation. Whenever things used to get rough with Luna (she refrains from calling her my mother), I would run away to a sweet spot that I had discovered with Nikolaj. It was our spot.

Even when the devil himself was way away, Luna Helena would leave no stone unturned to torment me. I would always run away to my room crying loudly and bitterly. One day I dared to go to the alpha’s room where I overheard Luna’s spiteful words for me. From addressing me as a sinful child to suggesting that I needed to be sent away to where I belong, she would say anything to convince her father to send me away. And as I listened, sobbing silently, I could not help wishing I had my mother with me.

Surely days were tough, but it was still better than dealing with Dorian Grey. That guy was an absolute nightmare. That couldn’t stay for longer. When I turned nineteen, Alpha began showing signs of weakness. Day by day, his health worsened. Many doctors believed that he had as much as five years more to live.

His sickness made the other pack members summon Dorian back to the pack’s house as they all perceived Nikolaj to be too weak to rule. Now that Dorian was the sybarite alpha of the pack, he ordered Nikolaj and me to spend our time away from each other, as he believed that we were wicked kids who wouldn’t study or work.

Since Alpa William could no longer interfere in the matters of the pack, I received different treatment from the people around me. While Nikolaj was sent for receiving education, I was barred from even stepping a foot outside the pack’s mansion. Dorian’s decision crushed my soul as I wanted to be educated too. I also wanted a better future.

My yearning for knowledge brought Nikolaj to me. He would visit me in my room around midnight and would teach me all that he had learnt. Dorian had not been able to find out for a long time about our late-night study sessions. Because of this, I grew confident in that I might be able to leave the mansion behind after the alpha’s death.

During the daytime, I would run away to our special spot in the woods with Nikolaj, just to make Dorian angry. Although I dared to go against his wishes, the certainty of being punished and hurt kept me fearful of him.

One Sunday evening, I went out with Nikolaj to enjoy the first snow of the winter. After witnessing our absence, Dorian demanded from the house servant to lock the front door, but the kind lady did not want us to stay out in the cold all night. She kept the window of her cabin open to look out for us. We often times took advantage of her kindness.

This time I returned to her cabin alone since Nikolaj needed to be with his friends who had just come to possess the property at a safe distance from us. Watching me alone, the house servant cried sharply, “Where is Nikolaj?”

“At Woodside Ranch, with our neighbours- the Andersons,” I replied. “Let me in, Martha, and I’ll explain what happened.”

Martha, the house servant came down to unlock the door, and we went upstairs very quietly.

“Don’t make noise. If you’d wake any of the servants, Dorian will find out about your late-night visits in my cabin” she whispered. “Now tell me!”

“Well, Nikolaj and I were on our usual evening walk. That’s when he suggested that he wanted to visit the Andersons. He told me that their son was his friend and he would love to see him,” I told her the truth. “More than seeing his friend, Nikolaj went there to get acquainted with his younger sister.”

Not being able to trust my story, the house servant further asked me, “Why did you come back then? Didn’t you want to be friends with the new children of the neighbourhood?”

“Never!” I wasn’t particularly liked by anyone, especially the big families. “The Andersons do not wish to see me around their children. That’s why I was asked to stay away from them.”

Just when I had finished explaining my reasons for returning alone, we noticed a tap on Martha’s window. It was Nikolaj. He was allowed to enter shortly. Since the snow was thick outside, he appeared to be freezing.

“They have this beautiful room in their house where there with white walls and beautiful furniture. But, in the middle of the room, Chase and Olivia were screaming and fighting over a little pony! How stupid they are, Cecilia!” Nikolaj seemed displeased with the manners of his new friends.

“That’s unfortunate,” spoke Martha. “They seem very well behaved and kind from the outside.”

Nikolaj shook his head and expressed his own wish to Martha, “If Cecilia would want anything from me, I will give it to her. I will give her everything, and I know that she will do the same for me. I would rather be at the pack’s mansion with her, than at Woodside Ranch with those two fools.”

Listening to his heart-warming words, I leapt to embrace him.