Bound To The Alpha

**Leilani’s POV**

“Wake up! Wake up!” I heard someone call out to me but I ignored the sound of the voice recognizing it as that of my obnoxious younger sister Samantha.

“Wake up Anny!” She growled in annoyance and I sat up slowly recognizing that from the harshness of her voice, there had to be something wrong.

In frustration, I begrudgingly pried my sleep filled eyes open, rubbed violently at them as I sat up slowly and asked; “What is it?”

“It’s Mom, it’s Dad!” she said in a type of voice that had me sitting up in concentration. As soon as I took in her overall expression, I gasped. She looked rough, tattered even.

For someone whom I had seen only hours ago looking so posh, her present appearance made her seem like she had been run over by a moving tricycle.

“I do not understand what you’re trying to say!” I rushed out in fright, “What happened to you and what happened to Mom and Dad?”

I scrunched up my nose in disgust when she blew her nose into her hands, rubbing it against her now rumpled nightie.

“Speak up!”

I saw her try desperately to rein in the tears that tried to escape her eyes as she said; “News came a few minutes ago…” her voice trailed off when suddenly a loud cry tore up from the back of her throat. It was so sharp and so agonizing that it had me fidgeting even though I really did not know what was wrong yet.

“Sam!”

“Mom and Dad are dead!” she suddenly yelled, making me freeze momentarily in shock. It couldn’t be true right?

They cannot possibly be dead, or could they?

“That’s not true…” I mumbled, moving away from my bed to begin to prance around my wide room. Mom and Dad couldn’t be dead!

My attention went back to Samantha who was still sitting on my bed when I heard her suddenly mumble something incomprehensible under her breath.

“Huh?”

“I said everyone knows about it. I even overheard Beta Joyner telling some warriors about it.” She said, sniffling.

No this couldn’t be true!

I wasn’t sure what it was that suddenly overcame me but I heard a loud agonized scream tear out from the back of my throat. It was so loud that it pierced my eardrums, numbing me.

“Anny!” I heard Samantha’s frightened scream cut through the fog that had formed in my mind, and when I opened my eyes to look at her, I noticed that I was sprawled on the floor but couldn’t remember when I fell.

I screamed again. No, not Mom and Dad! They promised to come home today. Promised to never go on impromptu trips anymore.

So, what the fuck is this?

I quickly rushed to my feet, ran towards my door and pried it open, ignoring Sam’s yelling in a bid to stop me.

As soon as I got to the wide passage just across my door, I froze. There were a lot of people there already, walking to and fro towards the direction of the throne room. A lot of them had grim expressions on their faces and stared pitifully at me while I walked past them.

I followed them though, walking in the direction of the throne room; and as soon as I walked into the large room filled with mourners, I couldn’t help but perceive the peculiar smell of lighted candles in the air.

As if in a daze, I walked towards it slowly until I arrived at the front of the throne room, just around where my dad usually sat if he was here. There was a large table in the middle of the room, which now replaced the high chair my father used to sit on.

On it was a large portrait of my parents who were smiling brightly at the camera. I could vividly remember the day the picture was taken.

They were both camera shy and tried desperately to shy away from the cameraman. In frustration, I snatched the camera out of the cameraman’s hands and stood in front of them with a big grin on my face.

On seeing me, they had both visibly relaxed and I had to distract them by getting into a conversation with them. I waited patiently for when they would smile, and as soon as they did, I clicked away at the camera.

I couldn’t believe it now. I couldn’t believe that the picture I had taken on such a beautiful day was now used for their candle night vigil.

In something akin to rage, I stormed over to the flowers that had been so skillfully arranged in front of their portrait at such a short period of time and began flinging them into several corners of the room.

I couldn’t believe this people! How could they all arrange something like this when they hadn’t even seen their corpses yet? How could they be so sure when they hadn’t touched the coffins of the so-called dead?

“Leilani! Get away from there!” I could hear Beta Joyner yell out to me but I ignored him, refocusing my attention to taking out the annoying garland that had been put around their portrait.

I could hear the hushed mumblings from the crowd, the snide comments, but I said nothing, ignoring it.

“Leilani!” Beta Joyner yelled again.

“Joyner!” I growled back, turning to face him. I could see the look of utter shock flicker across his face due to the way I yelled back at him. but he quickly masked it, and began walking towards me with slow, precise steps.

“Do not take a step closer to me!” I snarled at him, baring my teeth as I quickly picked up a sharp dagger from the table and pointed it at him. “Do not come any closer or I’ll stab you with this!”

“Leilani, calm down. I understand exactly how you feel, I know what it feels like to lose both pare—”

“My parents are not dead!” I growled. “They are not dead, y’all are just so clueless, you’d jump to conclusions even without proper evidence.” I couldn’t say where this sudden courage came from, but I found myself reveling in it, basking in its goodness.

“What evidence are you talking about?” He whispered slowly, talking one at a time as if he was conversing with a kid. “You mean like a proof that your parents truly died in an accident?”

“Yes!” I snapped, “You should at least see their bodies before throwing flowers around their portraits like you’ve been wanting them dead for a long while!”

I knew that my words had gotten to him immediately, he stopped in his tracks, eyed me with so much ferocity that he had never done before and said;

“I’ve never wanted them dead!” His words seem to not faze me for almost immediately he uttered the statement, I scoffed, looking away from him.

“These are the pictures from their accident scene, their bodies will be arriving in the morning.” he said.

I immediately looked up at him, then at the phone in his hands which was turned towards me, and I suddenly couldn’t breathe. It felt like I was about to pass out, because in the picture was my parents or what was left of them. They had been severely burnt beyond recognition, but from the clothes on their bodies, I knew they were the ones.

I immediately fell to the floor, wailing. My heart felt like it was being clawed out. My existence felt meaningless without them.

I felt a sharp pain run up from my chest to my back, it numbed me, making me writhe on the floor. I looked up suddenly to see a smirk on Beta Joyner's face, but as I paid closer attention to him, it suddenly disappeared leaving me feeling like he knew something about my parent’s deaths…

**Leilani’s POV**

I sat on the cold tiled floor still in my nightie from the previous night, rocking my now stiff body and ignoring the people who strutted past to pay their homages to my parents.

A few of them stopped by to check on me but I ignored them, I couldn’t seem to think, or to breathe. I didn’t even want to live anymore.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Samantha sitting amongst her friends and wailing. I knew I wasn’t supposed to think like this but there was something about the way she cried that screamed fake.

I wasn’t sure if it was how she would cry out and then suddenly stop to look towards the doorway or the way she did it so expertly that her mascara didn’t smudge that bothered me, but I certainly knew that there was something significantly wrong with the way she did it.

A few minutes later, the large doors flung open and I could hear the loud voices of several people trying to speak at the same time.

They were screaming something about moving out of the way to let the undertakers pass, and in curiosity I looked up only to find a group of very tall, built men carrying two large caskets into the room.

I quickly stood up, walked towards them and as soon as they dropped the coffins to the ground and pried it open, I immediately took a few more steps closer to the coffins, peering inside.

No! It was true!

I gasped at what I saw. They were my parents alright but the burns they had sustained were so much it would have made me gag in a different circumstance.

I immediately felt a pang of hurt claw at my heart, it was so intense that I had to hold onto the coffins for support. My eyes immediately blurred with unshed tears.

I couldn’t move. It felt like I had been suddenly kept in place by some magical force.

“Mom, Dad, wake up!” I called softly, shaking their now cold bodies that lay stiffly in the boxes. “Please…” I added, my voice breaking at the end.

“I can’t do this without you, please wake up.” I tried again but they wouldn’t even bulge. I felt fresh tears build up in my eyes but I did nothing to stop them. I allowed them to flow freely, soaking into my nightie and falling to the floor.

I do not know for how long I stood there like a statue, crying until I felt someone tug at my arm gently. Looking up, I found Samantha who also had a sad expression clouding her features.

She looked drained, wrenched of life and tired that I almost felt bad for thinking she was faking it… almost. That was until I saw her excitedly wave at someone in the crowd.

As we walked out of the throne room, hand in hand, I couldn’t help but notice the way people stared at us… pitifully. It frustrated and enraged me at the same time.

I was about to make a snide comment about it when suddenly I heard someone mention something along the lines of; “Alpha Joyner.”

I stopped in my tracks, turning to pay attention to the middle-aged man who had said it and was so shocked even he said it again.

My heart broke in disbelief; I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that they would easily regard Joyner as the new Alpha even while my father was yet to be buried.

I also couldn’t believe that these were the same set of people my father would willingly do anything for.

In despair, I turned and walked away angrily, cursing at death for taking my father and leaving such despicable people behind…

***

It has been a few days since Dad and Mom were dead and buried, and ever since it has been one heck of a roller coaster to the other. People still looked at Sam and me like we were about to drop dead in a minute from intense sadness; some of them still brought in flowers and gifts, making us, especially me a little uncomfortable with their gestures.

Beta Joyner had been made Alpha, and surprisingly he took Sam and me in like we were his daughters. He offered to cater for us and even provided us with new rooms in the palace.

All in all, life has been unfair but still a little nice to us in the past month.

I sat down in my new room quietly, totally oblivious to my surroundings. I still had flashes of moments when my parents were still alive, and right now I was having one.

I could remember how Dad would always try to force Mom into dancing even though he knew she couldn’t distinguish her left foot from her right when it came to dancing.

He had glided across the room while she trudged after him like a puppet. The memory made me smile momentarily, allowing me to relive in the sweetness I had experienced in the past when suddenly I was thrown back into the present when I felt the cold hands of someone against my back.

In fright, I jumped away from the window to find out who the intruder had been only to come face to face with Alpha Joyner who was staring at me with obvious lust in his deep dark eyes.

I flinched away.

“Leilani…” He drawled, taking a few steps towards me while I, in turn, took a few steps away.

“Don’t come any closer!” I yelled, backing away from him.

“Stop acting like a little kid…” he drawled, moving closer to where I stood against the wall. “You know what I want from you, stop denying us both the pleasure we’ll derive from this.”

“Alpha…”

“You can call me Joyner, especially when it's just the two of us present.” He quickly interrupted me with a stupid smile still plastered across his face.

“Please do not do this,” I cried softly, “Do not, I am like a daughter to—”

“You are not like a daughter to me Leilani!” He snapped, quickly cutting me off. “You can never be like a daughter to me when all I’ve ever wanted in this life is to be with you!” He growled.

I took another step away from him, a little scared of the dark look which had suddenly formed in his eyes. He suddenly looked crazed… possessed even.

“Alpha...Dad…” I tried again in desperation, in a bid to make him rethink what he was trying to do, but he scoffed at the name I had called him and snarled;

“I would never be your father…when there are a few other things I can be to you.”

It had to be the way he said it that sent chills down my spine; but I couldn’t believe that this pedophile had been thinking about me lustily.

I quickly ran towards the door but stopped when I noticed that its key was no longer in its keyhole, and turned to look at him in fear only to find him waving the key in my face while a demon-like look was plastered across his face.

He advanced towards me slowly, with the look of triumph still evident on his face while I waited, with a beating heart for what was to come…