An Alpha for Valentine

TWO

VALENTINE

I felt groggy and disoriented as I slowly come to, the world around me slowly coming into focus. I tried to move, but my body felt heavy and unresponsive. My mind raced, trying to piece together what happened, but my memories are hazy and disjointed.

Then, it all comes flooding back. Literally marrying Devin Crow was not just a nightmare. I had actually done it, thinking it was the only way to salvage the momento my parents left me. The name of the pack. Our sovereignty. I could not just have the Crow pack take that away from me. Only to find out I had been played yet again. Now I was in his grasp, at his mercy. My parents were just as bad as the Crow brothers and I had trapped myself in a bond that was now more difficult to sever.

Panic gripped me, and I tried to move again, pushing against the heavy weight holding me down. It took a moment for me to realize that I was not restrained, that the weight lurching down at me was just the thick, plush duvet covering me.

As I sat up, I took in my surroundings. I was in a large, luxurious bedroom with warm, golden light filtering in through the windows. The bed is large, and I was alone. The sheets are soft and silky against my skin, and the pillows are plump and inviting. It was deadly quiet too. So I could not have been at the pack house. I had been here before. Devin’s apartment.

For a moment, I allowed myself to bask in the comfort of the bed, and the safety it offered. But then, the reality of my situation crashed down on me, and I felt sick to my stomach. I needed to get out of here, to escape this place and the man who brought me here. Yeah! f**k the bond. Screw him. I had managed to survive the bond and the dreadful thought that someone could be peeking inside my head at any moment. I could do it again. I was about to get up when I noticed a note on the bedside table. My heart raced as I reached for it, my fingers trembling.

"Good morning, beautiful. I hope you slept well. I am in the kitchen. Come down whenever you're ready."

The words were written in neat, elegant script, and for a moment, I couldn't wrap my head around them. This man, who killed my parents, was calling me beautiful and while I would deny it at every given opportunity, I found it endearing and that tore me apart. The bond, as divine as it has been proclaimed to be, could be maddening.

Steeling myself, I got out of bed and made my way to the door. As I stepped out of the room, I'm struck by the opulence of the house. The floors were polished marble, and the walls were adorned with expensive artwork. Everything about the place screamed wealth and privilege. The Monarch was not a pack that lived by the mouth. But the Crow had it on a whole new level.

I made my way down the hallway, my heart racing, my senses on high alert. I followed the smell of food. Because that had to be where the kitchen was located or close. The man that so happened to be the bane of my existence was sitting at the dining table, looking handsome and relaxed. He didn’t deserve to have such a pretty face. He did not deserve the peace that radiated from him. Devin flashed a warm smile at me as I entered the room, and my heart skipped a beat.

Again, for a split second, I was torn. This man, who killed my parents, was smiling at me like he cared for me. It was a surreal and confusing situation. To distract myself, I looked at the table and noticed two plates set at opposite ends of the rectangular table. He was offering breakfast.

I sat down across from him, my eyes never leaving his face. Devin walked up to me and proceeded to pour me a cup of coffee before setting a plate of fresh fruit in front of me. For a moment, I hesitated, unsure if I should be accepting his hospitality. But then, my stomach grumbled, and I realized how hungry I was.

As I cleared my plate, the man watched me, his eyes searching mine. It was unnerving, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. Yet, I could not find it in myself to say a word.

"I know you must be conflicted," Devin spoke, finally breaking the silence. "But please know that I never wanted to hurt you. In fact-”

“How did I get here?” I cut in. “I remember we were on pack ground. That was before everything went black. It happened to you too. Didn’t it?”

“A witch we trusted pulled a fast one on us,” Devin answered with a sigh. “She put us under a sleep spell.”

“Ginger Maplewood?” I quizzed. I knew the hybrid with no penchant for shifting was the only one he could be referring to. After Sofiane’s mate, Candice Blossom in her quest for power almost exterminated the Crow werewolves, no other witches had gotten close. If my hunch was right, the brothers would become even more detached and cruel to the magic folks.

“No,” Devin cleared his throat. ‘It was her mother.”

“Why would Yasmin-”

“What are you doing?” Devin cut in.

I froze, the fork halfway to my mouth. "What do you mean?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, his face pained. "I know it is hard. I know it hurts when your beliefs are just pulled from beneath your feet. You are hurt and that is okay. But we have to talk about it-you have to confront it."

I did not want to do this. Not now. I still wanted to be able to swallow the appetizer the man I should hate just served me. Everything I thought I knew about my parents had been called into question. No! That would be a lie. It was more than that. I saw a different side of my father. He had been cruel and inhuman. Memories could be falsified but that was real. I felt the fear of a little boy while I was in that memory. I felt the rage. It was all Devin’s. In a way, I had my answer. The reason the moon goddess had paired us in the first place. It was just like my friend, Abigail had predicted. The moon goddess paired me up with Devin Crow to reveal the atrocities had committed. What most people knew was that they were against the convergence of packs. But now I knew it had been more than that. My parents were not just against the convergence. They didn’t just stand their ground. In a bid to ensure that tradition did not change, they destroyed a pack and a family. It was only poetic that I suffered the same fate. How could they have been so cruel? Did they not think about me for one moment? Tears welled up in my eyes the more I thought about it. “I can read your mind and you can read mine. I know you want to tell me that the sins of my parents are not mine to carry. I know you want to comfort me. But I don’t want that. If their sins were not my own, you would have let me go. You would have spared me the truth. But you didn’t. Because you are selfish and cruel. I thought doing this would at least let me keep a memory of them alive. But you have single-handedly taken that away from me again. It is just like you said; Without the lies I tell myself, I will be nothing but a shell. I don’t have a place. Not anymore. I don’t have those lies to comfort myself anymore. I just have the truth. The truth is hard. The truth is cold and the truth is bitter. But in a way, I am grateful, you might have done it in a terrible way but you saved me from a world of lies. Maybe I can finally make peace with the tragedies that have befallen me.” I wiped my tears and continued eating, hoping it would fill the pit growing in my stomach. But it didn’t. It was hard not having a side to blame. As much as I wanted to, I could not start hating my parents, and looking at the other side of the table, at the man that brought me all this pain and suffering, I couldn’t do it. I could not hate him either.