Alvira POV.
Just ten minutes with Emily already gave me an idea of the type of person she was.
She was a beautiful white lotus, the type that invokes men's protective instincts.
I could see why Gianna considers her a problem.
"You don't deserve him." Emily said the moment Kaldric and Lexior stepped away.
I scoff, "And you do?"
"I have been by his side for five years. I know more of him than you ever will, and that is why I can say this with confidence. He will never love you. This marriage was just an obligation he needed to fulfill to put the Alpha Kings at ease."
I could sense the bitterness and jealousy in her words. It was so obvious she loves him and perhaps he loved her too and I, Alvira was just the third wheel in their love story.
A story that unfortunately couldn't come to pass because Emily was born a bastard.
"Do you love him?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
Surprise flickered in her eyes as she was obviously caught off guard by my question, but Emily stood her ground and replied,
"I'm not ashamed to say that I do love Kaldric, and although he doesn't know it, I have been in love with him for the past four years, and even though you wear his ring and have made a mate vow with him, he will always return to me. He will always need me more than he will ever need you, and the sooner you realize that, the better for you. Congratulations on your marriage, sister."
Emily clinked her glass with mine and drank it in one go before walking past me.
She walked directly to where Kaldric was and I felt uncomfortable seeing the way it has become normal in everyone eyes for her to stand by him.
This is ridiculous. Why am I feeling this way? Why am I suddenly craving a man that doesn't even belong to me? One who has no shame in flaunting his mistress in an event that is meant to be our wedding reception.
Last night was probably him fulfilling an obligation, and stupid me had taken it seriously.
This must be why Mom always called me stupid.
'Why can't you do anything right, Alvira?'
My Mom voice rang in my head and before I knew it, I emptied my glass and took another from a waiter passing by.
I was about to bring it to my lips when I felt eyes on me and I turn to see Kaldric intensely staring at me while Felix spoke to him.
Looking straight at him, I emptied my second glass before looking away.
I can't wait to go back to my normal life but then again, when has my life ever been normal.
I tried so hard to live a normal life and to have dreams the way girls my age do. The dream of going to college, getting married and having kids and for a moment I thought Derek was the one for me because he was the first person to ever love me or so I thought.
I paid for every date we went together because he was always forgetting his wallet.
Now, that I think about it, he never once introduced me to his parents or friends.
I wonder if it was because I was a human or a stripper. He must have been ashamed of me.
If Mom was here, she would say it was my fault. She would blame me for Derek cheating on me just the way she blamed me for seducing her husband when he tried to force himself on me.
"Alvira?"
My entire being froze when a very familiar voice called me from behind.
No. It can't be. There is no way he is here. Such coincidence only happen in movies. But as I slowly turned around, I saw him.
Derek stood before me with Sofia clinging to him like he was going to run away if she didn't.
I didn't need a mirror to see how pale I must look, and right now, I didn't know what to do.
I wasn't an actress, but I very well will be when my one hundred million dollars is on the line.
"Wow. It really is you."
I knit my brow, feigning ignorance. "Do I know you?"
Derek looked at me in disbelief and frowned. "Why do you smell like a wolf? What are you even doing here?"
Sofia suddenly gasps, "Don't tell me you found yourself a old werewolf lover just so you could cope with Derek leaving you."
Derek scoffed, now looking at me with disgust "Really, Alvira? Just how low will you stoop until you realize your worth? So just because I dumped you, you went ahead to find a werewolf lover. You look ridiculous in that wig, and who knows what you have done to smell like a wolf. Did you perhaps come here today because you knew I would be here?"
It took everything in me to control the urge of rolling my eyes. Is he serious?
"I do not know who you are, and I definitely do not like the way you are speaking to me. I think you must have mistaken me for someone else, so I will forgive you." I said and tried to walk away when Derek grabbed my arm.
He freed his arm from Sofia's hold and pulled me to him. "Doing this will never get me back."
I coldly looked at him. "Let go of me."
"Maybe if you kneel, beg and cry for me to take you back, then perhaps I can have you as my lover, but then I doubt if you are even good in bed, seeing that I never felt the urge to fuck you."
Before I knew it, I swung my hands to his cheek, giving him a resounding slap, and just then, I could see Gianna walking in with her husband by her side and two other people I had only seen at the wedding.
Her smile froze as she looked between Sofia, Derek, and me, and before I could even think of a way out of this mess, Derek's palm landed on my cheek.
For a moment, silence filled the hall, and the only thing I could feel was the painful sting on my cheek.
And then I felt a hand pull me aside, and Sofia screamed as Kaldric landed a punch on Derek's face.
Despite Derek trying to fight Kaldric off him, Kaldric held him in place and brutally twisted his arms.
"How dare you raise your filthy hands on my wife?"
Even me felt chills by the coldness in Kaldric voice.
"Wife?" Derek's eyes shone in fear as Kaldric kept punching his face repeatedly.
All I could do was watch. I couldn't do or say anything because despite me watching them, my mind was trapped in my past.
A past filled with abuse and condemnation.
Derek hitting me made me remember the times my stepfather would repeatedly hit me. At fifteen, I became his punching bag, and my mother, the woman who was supposed to protect me, only watched because she didn't want to lose her prestigious lifestyle.
I had told Derek this, and he had promised to never hurt me, but yet, he did. He hurt me emotionally and now, physically.
"Stop Kaldric before he kills the man, Alvira." Gianna said, pinching my arm and bringing me out of my daze.
Derek's face was already bloody, but Kaldric kept hitting him, and Sofia just kept crying and begging him to stop.
"Kaldric, stop it. You are going to kill him." I shouted, hoping he would stop, but he didn't.
Having no choice, I tried to push him off Derek, but the way Kaldric glare at me made me freeze on the spot.
His eyes were empty and when they landed on my cheek, anger filled them. "You better stay out of this, princess."
I clenched my fist and screamed at him "Can't you see he is unconscious? Do you really want him to die?"
How did things even reach this point?
Why is everyone just watching as Kaldric beats one of their own to death?
Derek groans in pain, his face bloody and swollen.
For a moment, I thought Kaldric would leave him, but unfortunately, I was so wrong.
"Please don't..." Sofia cried, but her cries fell on deaf ears as Kaldric's fingers grew longer and sharper, and right in front of everyone, he sank his claws deep into Derek's chest.
"No!" I cried.
Derek spat out blood, and his nearly shut eyes looked at me.
No, no, no, no.
I watched as the light in his eyes disappeared before they finally closed, and my stomach churned in disgust.
He killed him! He fucking killed him!
"What have you done?"