THE FUTURE ALPHA'S DEFIANT BRIDE

I got up from my bed after a while of staring at the ceiling. Every day since I left the orphanage felt the same, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I was one of the three survivors of what everyone knows as ‘The Creation Massacre,’ which happened around the time I was born. Everyone still hated the humans then, and when they heard about wolves and humans mating, they flipped and burned down the whole village.

This town took us in, but not many knew about it because it could cause a war or something, so my life has been ‘rinse and repeat’ since day one.

Never leave the grounds, stay indoors when the moon is out, do not show your emotions, do not fight anyone, do not interact with strangers, and most importantly, do not ask any questions or tell anyone about where you come from. These are some of the many rules I have lived by for most of my life, and even if I have my own mind, I obeyed these basic ones because I knew they were created for my safety.

I never met the two other people who survived. I only once heard about the older person being put in an integration program and the other one being placed in a different orphanage, and I think it is safe to assume that they did this so we would not feel too comfortable or know too much. A blessing or a curse? I do not know.

I looked at myself in the mirror and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to get the knots out. Having red hair and hazel eyes made me stand out sometimes, so I was used to always packing it up and trying not to be seen, and for some reason, I couldn’t stop that habit.

I put my hair up in a messy bun and brushed my hair before walking out of my room and directly into the kitchen area to boil water for my much-needed cup of coffee. This tiny house was the only perk of being under the close watch of the town’s leaders. They do not want someone like me roaming the streets or interacting too much until, as they said, I am fully ready.

My integration program should have been the orphanage itself, but I guess nobody had my time, and now, I am a lonely nineteen-year-old without any job prospects or a life.

“Shit!!!!” I exclaimed after zoning back in and noticing that the kettle was overflowing with water from the tap.

I really shouldn’t care because whoever placed me in this place takes care of all the needs of the house, but I sometimes just like to pretend I am normal, and I act like everything is under my control and my responsibility.

Ever since being kicked out of the orphanage for being too old, I felt like I had a bit of freedom, but when you are not used to doing anything on your own and being alone, you tend to keep following routines from your past.

After downing the coffee out of habit – the mothers of the orphanage never let me have it, so I stole it and always had to down it – and dropping the mug in the sink, I cleaned the little space I had within minutes, giving me enough time for myself for the rest of the day.

Too much time for myself.

Time goes slow when you are alone and have nothing to do, and since I had no library around me to bury myself in, I chose the next best option. Sleep.

I lay on my bed and held my handkerchief doll, which was made for me by the only person at the orphanage who agreed to be my friend in secret – before they told her to stay away from me if she wanted to be adopted. Cruel, right?

After closing my eyes for about five minutes and listening to the dripping from the tap in the bathroom, everything went dark.

___

I found myself in a thick forest with little light coming in from the canopy of trees above me. The forest was silent, and I could hear footsteps coming towards me from everywhere, which made my heart beat faster than usual.

“Who’s there?” I turned around to see who it was, but before I could blink, a bag was put above my head, and I couldn’t breathe. And all I could hear was my heartbeat and a loud thudding sound.

I woke up choking and grabbing at my throat, and for a few seconds, I could not determine where I was. Once I saw that I was safe and in my room, I placed my hand on my chest and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

When I had calmed down, I dropped my hand and sighed in relief, and I was about to get a glass of water when I realized the thudding sound was not from my dream.

I rushed to my door and looked through the peephole only to see that royal guards were at my door, which meant they were either here to kick me out or to transfer me.

And this place just started to feel like home. FML.

After brushing the stray hairs off my face and deciding that I was as presentable as I could be after looking at myself in the little mirror by the door, I opened it and gave a little curtsy to the guards, just like I was always instructed to do.

Before I could complete my curtsy, a man with a well-tailored suit and a notepad in his hands walked past me and into my house without even taking a glance at me.

“Rosalyn Winters, aged 19, refugee from the lost town, born from royals, clean body from birth,” he looked up at me and scowled, “human from observations.”

“Excuse me?”

“You are human, aren’t you?” He raised an eyebrow.

I looked at the guards, and I don’t know what I was expecting, but they were all facing the street with no interest in my direction.

“I’m over here, Rosalyn Winters.” The man in the suit tapped his notepad with the pen in his right hand, drawing my attention to him. “Take the things you need the most and enter the carriage.”

I knew better than to disobey royal orders, so I blindly ran around my house, picked them up, and put them into a bag while remembering how it was when this happened just a while ago. Leaving the orphanage didn’t hurt even if I had been there my whole life, but this caused my chest to tighten a bit.

When I noticed he was leaving the house, I took it as my cue to go and sat down on the closest seat in the carriage when he gestured that I should do so. He looked highly uninterested and like he didn’t want to be where I was, which made me wonder what he was doing in my house in the first place. As if he had read my mind, he turned to me when the carriage started and spoke.

“I am Christopher, the right-hand man to the royal who is next in line to the throne, and you, Rosalyn Winters, based on your status and race, have been chosen as the woman who will be his bride and the next queen of the Nation of Fullcrest.”