Alpha Kings and the Fallen Princess

Anastasia.

“Princess, do you want the diamond necklace or the pearl one? Both match your dress quite well.” The maid addressed me with a smile lifting up two boxes of jewelry in her hand, showing me.

I looked at the two boxes and picked out the diamond one with a smile.

“This. Nothing better suits a princess than a diamond. Don’t you think so?”

The maids nodded in unison. “Yes.”

As I went out of my room the maids followed me behind.

“Make sure to fix my hair from time to time so that I won’t look unpresentable in any way,” I commanded, glaring at Lucy, the clumsy one among the rest of the maids.

She fixed her posture and nodded becoming alarmed. “Y-yes, Princess.”

I went down the stairs, looking at the crowd that had gathered to attend my engagement ceremony.

I could feel satisfied with my dress up when I heard one among the crowd point at me saying how pretty I looked whispering to her friend next to her.

Why won’t I look pretty? I’m the princess after all.

When I went downstairs I saw Ryan sitting with two servants at his side.

His dad wasn’t as present as I thought he would be.

“Ryan,” I called, grabbing onto my dress, and lifting it up a bit.

He heard my voice and stood up on his feet right away.

“Ana,” he murmured as he walked over to my side in a hurry.

He puts on a smiling face the next second.

“You look beautiful, Ana.”

“I’m flattered,” I respond sweetly. “Where is your father? Uncle doesn’t seem to be present.”

He seemed to look a bit nervous when I asked him that.

“Uh…he said he didn’t feel well. He’ll come later he said.” He replied, putting on a forced smile.

“I see….”.

I saw my mom coming up to us along with my younger sister.

“Get the ceremony started then,” Mom said, turning to me.

“But, where’s Father?” I asked out of curiosity. I swear I hadn’t seen him coming out of his room all day.

Where is he at?

“He’s not coming.” My sister Freya replied right away.

“He had hurt his leg yesterday so he’s on bed rest.”

“What?”.

“Why wasn’t I aware of that?”.

“Cause he told you not to worry,” Mom replied, patting my shoulder.

“Go on with the ceremony.”

I thought over it for a second and looked at Ryan’s face.

Well…I can see him after this. It had been my childhood dream to get engaged with Ryan. There’s no way I can interrupt it just because Father won’t be attending it as I thought he would.

“Yes,” I heaved a sigh and stood in front of Ryan.

The maids brought the rings and held them in front of us.

I picked up the ring and turned to Ryan.

He held out his hand and I placed it in his finger.

Then he took the ring and I held out my hand to him.

My heart was throbbing in excitement at the thought of marrying my childhood crush and boyfriend.

But, right before he was able to put the ring inside my finger we heard a loud yelling coming from behind, “The King’s dead!”.

Being startled, Ryan dropped the ring out of shock and it went away somewhere we weren’t able to see.

“What do you mean the king’s dead?” Mom asked, glaring at the servant who was yelling.

“Is this a joke or something?”.

The servant came downstairs and ran up to Mom’s side.

“Yes, I’m telling the truth, The king is dead!” she stated with a cleared throat.

Everyone started whispering around us hearing the news.

“Or rather he was killed,” the servant said, giving me a glare.

I became puzzled.

“Killed by whom?” Freya asked.

“By none other than Princess Anastasia!” the servant pointed at me in front of everyone.

I was dumbfounded by her accusations.

Why would I kill my own father?

“You are accusing a princess in broad daylight. Do you have any evidence behind it?” Ryan grunted, stepping forward.

She nodded, holding something in her hands.

“The earrings of Princess Anastasia that she usually wears, I found them on the floor in Lord’s bedroom.”

Hearing that I rushed up to her side and picked it up from her hand to identify it.

“It is my earring, the one that my father had given me for my birthday. What was it doing in his room?” I mumbled.

Everyone gasped in shock.

“You killed him?” Mom asked out loud drawing everyone’s attention.

I look at her in shock.

“N-no, why would I- and most importantly we haven’t seen his body yet. How can you accuse me of killing him?” I retorted.

“Let’s go and see before you accuse me.”

I rushed towards Father’s room. Anxiety filled my brain. How did father die?

Mom said she had hurt his knees, then how?

What the heck is happening today?

I arrived in front of his room for a minute, and the door was wide open so I stepped inside right away.

“Father! Where are you?” I yelled. “Fath-“

I saw his lifeless body lying in bed with his eyes open.

His face had become blue, along with his limbs.

My legs froze at the spot of seeing him like that.

He was….he was dead... for real….

“Let me see!” Mom rushed past me and went to check up on him.

Freya went as well. Ryan came and checked on Dad also.

“The rumors I heard downstairs were right after all,” I heard a voice behind me.

I turned around to see Uncle Russ, Ryan’s dad standing.

“Uncle?” I called out to him out of shock.

He looked at me with his dead cold eyes.

“Princess Anastasia, You are under arrest for killing our Pack’s Alpha Alfred Ravens.”

“And your title of Princess shall be taken away from you, and will be exiled from the pack shortly.”

“This shall be absolute punishment for a cold-blooded killer like you who can kill her own father in order to inherit the wealth and properties.”

I couldn’t believe the words that came out of his mouth.

Me? A killer? For real?

“Killer!” Mom screamed out in tears.

“You killed my husband!”.

I look at her and she’s looking at me with her teary eyes.

“We shouldn’t have adopted you in the first place!”.

Freya was also crying, but she didn’t seem to be too affected by anything.

“No, I didn’t do this! Believe me!” I yelled out loud.

“Ryan, you believe that I didn’t do any of this, right?”.

I held out for hope. If you don’t trust me, I’ll have nowhere to go.

Ryan glanced at my father and looked at me with a face of disbelief.

“I’m breaking off my engagement with you, Anastasia.” He stated.

“I can’t get married to a killer.”

“Sorry.”

I felt my heart breaking into millions of pieces with his single statement.

Breaking off our engagement?

Like this….

“You have to come with us!” Ross said, looking at me.

Guards entered the room and held me by both arms.

“We can’t keep a killer on the loose.”

“No, you can’t!”.

“Mom, I’m not a killer!” I pleaded hard.

“I didn’t kill Dad. Believe me!”.

“Liar!” Freya yelled, glaring at me. “Your earring was right here. Yet, you are lying.”

“Take her away, Uncle.”

“We don’t need a fake princess.”

Fake Princess? What was this all about anyway?

“Mom-“

“Don’t call me your mom!” she retorted, wiping away her tears.

“I didn’t give birth to you.”

“We adopted you when you were a newborn.”

“The only princess in this room is, Freya.” She placed her arms around her shoulders protectively.

“She’s my daughter.”

“We’ll take her out of here right away,” Ross said, glancing at the guards.

“Let’s go.”

They were dragging me out of the room forcefully.

“No, I’m not going. Don’t take me away! I’m not a killer!”

Believe me! Why did no one believe in me?

I didn’t kill anyone. I was the real princess.

Why did no one believe in me?

***

I was held prisoner in a room downstairs with two guards standing next to me while they chained my hands with locks.

There was one more guard at the door so that I wouldn’t run away.

After 30 minutes, I heard footsteps approaching the room.

I looked up to see who it was and turned out to be Uncle Ross.

He came and stood right in front of me, bringing a paper in his hands.

“Anastasia,” he called, glaring at me.

“Your father is confirmed to be dead by poisoning, the doctor said. And after considering all the evidence found in the room which are your belongings, we have confirmed you to be the murderer.”

“And your mother stated that she doesn’t consider you to be her daughter as you don’t have Alpha’s blood in you. so, along with your fake princess title, you are to be exiled from the pack. This is the decision of the pack members who are present at the castle.”

“These papers have your statements written where you accept that you have killed the King, sign them and the guards will accompany you out of the borders safely.”

“Farewell, Princess,” he added with a smirk

I was accompanied by two guards inside the car where I was taken away from. And other guards were following in the other two cars.

Most probably, they were taking me near the border.

Where would I go after I was exiled?

How would I survive?

They’d never take me in, would they?

Why was I forced to pay for something that I hadn’t done?

Whose conspiracy was this in the first place? Who killed Dad? How did my earring go to his room when I never visited it since that morning in the first place?

How-

My brain was crashing!

I couldn’t get any clue at all.

The car stopped half an hour later.

The doors opened, and one guard went out first.

“Come out!” the other said in a stern voice.

I went out of the door and stood with chains in my hands.

One of the guards unlocked the chains.

“You can go out now,” the other guard commanded me.

I walked out of the fence, and glanced at them for one more time, as they locked it.

I was a princess. How could they act so rudely to me? I didn’t deserve this treatment at all!

I looked both ways There were three roads laid out for me. Which one should I take? I can’t keep standing here all night.

What if any wild animals tried to come attack me?

I started walking through the treacherous path in my high heels. There seemed to be only bushes and trees lined by the side of the road.

I didn’t know this path. Father never brought me here.

Yes, the kind father who always called me his princess. He was not here any longer.

And I wasn’t able to see him for one last time.

Aimlessly, I walked all night and in the morning my feet started hurting.

It’d been a long time since I walked this long. I always traveled in cars.

When I couldn’t walk anymore I took a seat under a big tree.

I heard birds chirping near my head, and it sounded pleasant.

Out of nowhere, I saw people passing by. They were looking at me with quite a pity.

What was it? Was I a clown or something?

My stomach started growling also. I didn’t have dinner last night.

What was I going to eat now? I had no money on me.

I was so sleepy. I hadn’t slept all night as I kept walking.

I must have looked hideous and had bags under my eyes. It was a pain to even think I couldn’t even maintain my looks.

The exhaustion hit me and I somehow fell asleep like that.

***

The sensation of something slippery licking my face brought me back to consciousness.

I jerked myself off from sleep to see a dog licking my face quite happily.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I yelled, wiping away his saliva from my face.

He seemed puzzled and nuzzled onto my neck.

“It tickles! Stop!”

After that, he took a seat next to me.

I couldn’t help but pat its head.

Guess I found a companion on this journey of mine. And somehow it….made feel emotional.

“You like me?” I asked.

“Why won’t you? I’m a princess….after all…..” My eyes became moist as I recalled what Uncle Ross had told me.

I placed him on my lap and sat like that recalling the old memories from the pack.

My life was so good before. Why did it have to be like this?

I watched a few more people passing by me. And they were giving me strange looks.

“Should I ask which place this is? Then, maybe I can make out what to do after this.”

But, what if they didn’t want to talk, as I was a stranger? That’d make me angry.

“Hm…..what sight do I see here?” a voice commented in a tone of mockery.

I popped open my eyes to see whose voice it was.

“Isn’t this Princess Sofia from Alpha Raven’s pack?”

A man stood one foot away from me. But, the moment I looked at his smiling face I recognized it immediately.

“You?” I snapped seeing his face. “What are you doing here?”

The dog jumped out of my lap to hear me yelling.

“Lower your voice,” another voice said drawing my attention.

I looked sideways to see another man standing.

His grey eyes sent chills down my spine.

“This isn’t your kingdom, Miss Princess,” he spoke with his cold voice.

“You said it correctly, brother!” another voice remarked in a condescending tone.

I looked on my left to see another guy standing.

He placed his hands in his pocket giving me a mocking gaze.

“You can’t yell as you please here.”

“This is our territory.”

“What do you mean by your territory?” I stated, getting up on my feet.

“Which part of this place shows your territory, huh?”.

“Hm..” the one with long hair up to his shoulders came up to me and gave an evil smirk at me.

“Even after being exiled from the pack, and the title of a princess robbed away from you, you still have some fire left.”

“Good to see that.”

I was surprised at their statement. How did they know all this?

“Judging from your expression you thought we didn’t hear the news from our neighboring pack, did we?” added the one with grey eyes, crossing his arms.

Have they already heard the news? Then how did they know I was here?

“Did you all come here to laugh at me all the way?” I retorted.

“Having a good laugh?”.

“You are mistaken,” the one with long hair said, coming close to me. His blue eyes narrowed on me. “The one who came here to get laughed at, is you only. 'Cause you are in our pack, under our territory. Got it?”.

My jaw dropped to hear that.

In their pack? This was a Moon-stone pack?

I came to this direction without knowing.

I clenched my fists and gave a glare at them. “I came here without knowing about this. I’ll leave right away.”

I looked for a way out but the three of them had circled me as I faced my back against the tree giving me no place to escape from.

“Who told you to leave? Where will you go after this?” the one with long hair spoke.

“I…don’t know, but somewhere else will be better than this.”

“Will you beg on the streets? The former princess will be begging? It’s such a laughing joke.” He broke out in laughter.

“True,” added the other guy with hazel eyes, laughing at me.

“Stop it, Sebastian,” the man with a cold voice spoke.

“Cut chase to the point. You are wasting our time like this.”

The long-haired guy smiled. “You are always so easy on women, Nikolai.”

“Fine then, the teasing can wait for later. Let’s cut back to business.”

“You have nowhere to go right, Miss Princess?” he added in a mocking tone.

“Of course, your pack won’t take a murderer back, will they?”

“And begging on the streets will hurt your pride as well.”

“So, instead of begging on the streets why don’t you come and live in our packhouse?”.

“We can give you food and a roof above your head and a job as well.”

“How does that sound?”

“Do you want to?”

I couldn’t believe what they were saying. Am I dreaming?

I thought they hated me for the last time I insulted them.

Then, why do they want to help me?

“Unlike you, who insulted us when we visited your pack, we are being kind enough to let you stay with us, seeing you suffer,” the third guy spoke in a cocky tone. "Be grateful.”

Did they seriously want to help me?

The dog barked, making me look at him. He cradled against my dress.

Yes, they were right. I may not have been a princess any longer, but if the people from the pack heard about this, it might stain their reputation.

I couldn’t do this. If they wanted to help, let them help me.

I raised my head and looked straight into the eyes of the middle guy.

“Yes, I’d like to come with you.” I gave a straight reply without any hesitation.

“Good, come with us then,” he replied with a smile grabbing me by the hands as he dragged me towards somewhere.

I wasn’t able to say my goodbyes to the dog who was with me all this while. Don’t worry poor you. I’ll come to see you someday.

The other two followed behind me.

We arrived in front of a big limousine.

He opened the door and told me to get in.

I got inside in the backseat. He sat next to me and the third guy sat right in front of me, and the other one sat at the front.

“Start driving.”

The car drove slowly away from there, inside the inner part of the pack.

“Are you excited to start your new life from today onwards?” the guy who sat next to me remarked in a seductive tone. His eyes lit up playfully.

“Not exactly,” I reply sternly, staring down at my hands.

I was still in my clothes from last night, and it only made me feel bad not seeing the ring on my hand.

Why did the Alphas from the Moon-stone pack come to help me? Was this truly the kindness that they were offering? Or something else?