Chapter 2 ***

Seraphine

It was dark out. The weather’s temperature was in sync with how I felt on the inside. Like it, I stood still, face blank, and frozen.

I stood in the center of the polished stone floors of Silvercrest’s grand hall. The room was packed to the brim, buzzing with people talking, moving and laughing all at once.

The scent of roasted meat, with a tinge of pine and spices wafted through the area.

I’ll be eighteen today. I had initially transitioned under the full moon few hours ago. And now I am being sold, obviously to the bidder.

From afar, my Alpha, Cassian Voss leered at me shamelessly from his raised dais. He was thirty-five years old; tall, dark-eyed and handsome. His stare irked me out. He looked at me as if I were already his; in that cold, cold way of powerful men, of men who’d never been told ‘no’.

“You look exactly like her”.

He said in a smooth yet possessive voice.

“Isabelle my mate, the goddess has given her back to me through you.”

He continued as he walked up to me. My stomach churned. Saliva, thick and unyielding swelled up in my throat. I think I’m going to be sick- I thought.

I had seen her portrait before. The dead woman who shared the same everything with me; the same pale silver hair, high cheek bones and eye color. But the difference was clear, I was not a ghost. I was a living breathing being. I was real.

But all these do not matter, because his eyes are already set on me. He already sees me as her…, as his.

Before fifteen and a half months ago, I had never been on his radar. Never even been within 10 feet in his vicinity. Everything turned sour after the chaotic battle between us and the rival pack, Blackthorn. It had lead to a lot of deaths; the demise of the previous Beta, Delta and numerous others, including the Alpha’s true mate.

Unfortunately, it was after this that my father had to ascend levels, taking on the title, ‘Beta Vale’.

His ascent created an opening for the Alpha’s straying gaze. Regrettably, it wandered to mine.

Everyone called it love, called it destiny, but I knew what it was. I knew what I was, what I’d become to him; a rebound.

I would soon become a blue pill, acquired to help him forget reality, the truth, the fact that his mate was dead and putrefying underneath the pack grounds.

They thought I was young. They saw me as gullible, a quiet, spineless, obedient girl ever ready to bend the knee whenever it suited them, they thought wrong!

My father stepped forward smiling too widely.

“She is honored, Alpha. The bonds between our families will become stronger than ever”.

My mother stood silent beside him. Her eyes were intent on the floor. Was there anything of interest on it? No. She was just being her usual self. Like rubber, when things turn hot, she shrinks.

She’d always been this way, taught me to march in tow too. I’d learned to become voiceless over the years, to match the volatile egos of those in authority. Never again!

I might have endured a lot of bullshit in the past for the sake of family and loyalty, but my façade of naivety ends here today. This time it’ll be a ‘No’.

My voice came out less brazen as I’d intended, but it was clear enough to cut through the hall, “I am not her”.

Cassian’s smile did not fade, it only hardened.

“You will be”, he said. “ in everyway that matters “. He finished.

A low murmur went through the crowd. My two younger brothers shifted uncomfortably where they stood. Our youngest, was just fourteen. He looked like he wanted to speak, but my father shut him up with a glare.

Cassian reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of the way. His touch made my knees weak with disgust.

“The ceremony will take place at the next blood moon. You will come to the pack court as my Luna. You will wear her jewelry. You will sleep in her bed. And with time, you will learn to answer her name if I wished it”

Even though my wolf was newly awakened, it snared deep inside my chest at the onslaughts of his word.

“No”, I said, taking a step back. It resounded through the hall. My father’s face turned gray, “Seraphine!”

“I said no”. My voice grew stronger. “I will not marry him. I will not become the replacement of a corpse. I refuse.” The crows gasped. Cassian’s eyes darkened much more.

“Careful, little wolf. Refusal has consequences”. He said softly, the temperature of the room went down more.

“Then give them to me”, I retorted, “ I would rather become a rogue than your dead mate’s shadow”. I said without thinking much of what the possible consequences might be.

Gasps filled the area. Someone dropped a goblet. My mother let out a broken sound.

To my left was Theron Kayal, my mate or ex-mate. Imagine discovering whom your mate was in a minute and also getting rejected by the said mate the next minute. I’d say that this was the true definition of cruelty. To shorten a long story, Alpha Cassian had ordered him to reject me, immediately after it was known to all that I was his mate.

The spineless scrawny little idiot wasted no time. It was clear his life meant more to him than any future we could have had together. To think that I’d pinned after the thought of him; hoping, waiting and believing , just to be given this.

It was ok, I’d live. After all, I didn’t need a cowardly edgeless male as my mate.

Cassian’s hand shot out and griped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“You will learn obedience, one way or another”.

I ripped face free and turned on my heels. I didn’t look at my family. I walked straight toward the great doors, with my gown trailing behind me like a flowing river.

No one tried to stop me.

Was there a catch I knew nothing of?

Either way, I didn’t stop. I was not dumb enough to wait and find out…

Outside the night weather bit cold and clean. The moon was full and hung swollen above the trees.

I tore my betrothal gown in half as I ran, leaving behind strips of its fabric snagging on some branches.

I didn’t try to stop until the lights of the Silvercrest fortress were behind me; only then did I give myself a chance to breath.

I had done it. I’d refused. I was free.

It seemed too good to be true. Yet, for a few precious hours I let myself believe it.