MATED TO THE CRUEL DEVIL

Amelia’s Pov. If anyone told me that I would wake up and have the worst and best day of my life, almost at the same second, same hour, and the same night, I would have thought that the Goddess was setting me up for another day of embarrassment. As the daughter of the Shadenight pack, the second princess, and the outcast, every single one of my days in this pack was a dread to my life, well, apart from this one. My names are Amelia Vantalaski, witch-blood, half-wolf, the girl with no wolf, ugliest dumplings, the menace of trouble, half-breed, girl with bad dreams, the cursed one and so many others that both my parent and the pack members have crowned me with. Of course, only the first ones were my real names — the rest I earned from being a half-breed, which was a great curse to every werewolf society. “Amelia! Come down here now! Emergency!” I heard my mom yell out from down the stairs. I slammed the book in my face close, meeting my reflection in the mirror. I had the best features a girl could have: full lips, beautiful freckles, round eyes with brown orbs, and brown curly and long hair that seemed to add to more reasons why I might be a witch. Every time Mama called me, it was either Talia had gotten into trouble or they needed my help in bailing her out of whatever situation she might have gotten into. I stood up from my chair, not bothering to spare my figure eight any more glances before sauntering down the stairs. I was just about to go down the last step when I noticed that everyone was downstairs, and by everyone, including my half damned sister. “Amelia, have a seat.” My father beckoned me forward, downing whatever was in the glass he was holding. My eyes glanced back and forth between all three of them, suspicions creeping into my mind. A family meeting was never a good thing, not to mention a family meeting where Amelia was the last to get to. I gulped down as I went down the last step, walking to where they were and taking the seat closest to the stairs in case my mother decided to throw a slap my way or my sister threw something at me. I then placed my hands comfortably on my thighs, my eyes looking down at them as I tapped nervously on my lap. One thing I’ve learned about my damned anxiety is that, sometimes, tapping repeatedly seems to take my mind off the edge of life and the negative stuff. “Amelia, you’re getting married.” My father finally broke the silence. My head snapped up at them instantly, and I stared at each of them one after the other wide-eyed, trying to see if they were serious about it or not, but the blank stares they gave me made me shift in my seat until my mother finally dropped the largest bomb. “And you’re getting married today.” My mother added. My eyes widened more. “Are you f*****g serious? Getting married? To whom? Derek?” I bent my head, scoffing before taking a deep breath and continuing, “I mean, if it’s Derek, I know he is my mate, and we’re supposed to get married later in this f*****g life, but why are we rushing? I mean, I don’t even know him that much yet. We can chill.” My heart calmed down a bit after I had spoken, but their silent glances between each other quickened my heart again, especially with Talia chewing on her bottom lip, and my mother kept pouring my father more drinks. “Or am I not getting married to Derek anymore?” I gulped as I asked carefully and glanced back and forth, my brows and ears raised for their answers. I jerked my body back as my father slammed the cup on the table, instantly shattering it. He raised his head at my sister, eyeing her disdainfully before looking back at me and saying words I never expected to hear. “Amelia, you will be getting married to Alpha Jax of the Blood Moon pack, and he will be here to pick you up soon, so you need to go upstairs and get ready now. Pack whatever you need and get ready quickly.” It felt like I didn’t hear correctly for a moment until my mother yelled at me, “Aren’t you finally happy that you get to live your life? You have just ten minutes, you stupid half-witch. Go up there and pack your things!” “Bu..but.. But I thought Talia was getting married to him. Why me?” “Are you a devil?! You want my pretty daughter to get married to that devil of a human! I would rather send you to the pits of hell than send her there.” She stabbed back at me. Standing up from where she was, she rushed to her daughter, engulfing her in a hug as her malicious eyes dug at me, “Talia is getting married to Derek, and you, enjoy your time with your devil incarnate.” At that moment, a smile broke on my lips, and I turned away from them silently, blocking all of my Mama’s incessant talks as I went back up the stairs. I was finally free! I was free from all the shackles of my f*****g family, free from this pack, and free of that ugly brown-haired skinny thing that kept calling himself my mate. I closed my bedroom door quietly, eyeing the not-too-big space before squealing as low as possible. “You have less than five minutes already.” I reminded myself, so I quickly picked up a bag and shuffled all the essential things I had, including some clothes, underwear, and shoes. I had no precious stuff to pack, so my things fit perfectly into the small bag, and I was zipping it up when the door opened. When I looked up, I saw my sister standing at the door with her arms crossed. “He’s here.” “Who?” I asked with a confused expression. “Your new nightmare.” She walked towards me, lowering herself to whisper into my ear, “I pray you encounter the last part of your life there and add new scars to your old wounds.” “What the f**k, Talia?” She moved away from me, eyeing me with a smug look. “I’m sure he’ll be tired of you after some weeks, but happy married life, dear sister.” She huffed, turning her back and slamming the door closed. I looked around my room one last time as I picked up the bag, feeling no emotion about leaving it behind other than joy and happiness. After a deep sigh, I opened the door, walked the little length of the passage, and descended the stairs. I could sense the tension in the air, the dark and dangerous aura mixing with our crispy vanilla scent and dominating it. “Here she is,” my mother beamed as she sighted me, rushing towards me and grabbing me by my hair, and the next thing that happened made me feel finally worthy of someone. His dark, angelic, sleek voice with a lot of menace behind it made my Mama free me immediately by saying a simple sentence. “Touch her like that again, and the whole Shadenight pack goes into ruins.”