Sold To The Alpha Of Darkness

Lilly’s POV

I shook my head, refusing to accept the reality before me. “This can’t be true, she’s lying, right?” I uttered, grabbing Festus by his hand and shaking my head as tears fell freely from my eyes. “She is speaking lies!” I said, more certain this time.

It just had to be.

He didn’t utter a word, but I could see the irritation in the way he stared at me. But it wasn’t enough for me to walk out the door, leaving three years of my life behind.

The least I deserved was an explanation, an apology. Something.

“Right?” I implored relentlessly, wanting him to at least say something, anything at all, but I was spoon-fed silence.

When he finally spoke, he growled. “What would you have me say?” He smacked my hand away from his. “That I am sorry? You saw the signs, but you chose to ignore them. You knew in your fucked-up mind that you were too weak to be Luna.”

I froze, standing upright to get a better look at him. “Festus…” I croaked, my heart constricting so tightly it felt as if I was about to die.

My cousin, who stood by the door, watched us in disgust. “Why are you so desperate for attention? Didn’t you hear him say he doesn’t want you?” She left the wall, strutting towards us.

He couldn’t be serious, throwing me out like that after everything we had been through together. It felt like yesterday when I revoked my right to the high court, passing my position to him.

He sat at the circle of lead Alphas because of that sacrifice. For goodness’ sake, I had handed my late father’s seat to him.

Because we were in love, or so I had thought.

I glanced between him and Fiona. “No, you can’t be serious.” Though I had seen the signs, I had noticed that he became distant and violent after the handover process.

He began mocking me for being weak and for having nothing. But I ignored it since he apologized and explained that being at the table was taxing and it messed with his head.

“Just stay by me during this hard time. You are all I have. If I don’t transfer my aggression to you, who will I transfer it to?” I recalled the day he told me those soothing words as though it were yesterday.

From the harsh words, he graduated to hitting me, to spending hours in Fiona’s room. I thought many times about confronting him, but I didn’t want trouble, so I let it go.

Now it all made sense. The puzzles fit right into place. “You promised you would be there for me forever. We were to get married in two weeks…” my voice came out as a shaky whisper.

“You said you loved me… You still love me, right?” I needed him to say the words, to apologize and blame it again on the taxing demands of the high council.

Fiona took that as her cue to walk closer to him, seductively running her hands along his biceps. “You are in the past, and I am his present. Right, babe?”

He nodded, and their lips found each other. She moaned loudly as she glanced at me, parting her lips and giving Festus access to deepen the kiss.

His large palms wrapped around her back, pulling her closer to him.

“Stop!” I shook my head, unwilling to accept it.

Fiona placed her hand on his chest, creating space between them. “Awwwn, that was so hot, babe,” she uttered, licking her lips with a huge grin.

“You liked it?” he grumbled, his voice slightly hoarse.

“I loved it. Say it,” she whispered, her hand already lowering to his sex, stroking up and down, making Festus tilt his head back and groan lightly, enjoying her ministrations.

“You are mine,” he uttered proudly.

Tears streaked down my face at the disappointment. I had nothing else but him. He was my only family left. I had given him my all. I walked towards them, refusing to back down. All I needed was to prove I was strong, to prove that I deserved him.

He now sat at the council table. So many wished to be like him, so many Betas and Omegas flocked around him, wanting to be his bride. But I was his mate, not them. I had been chosen by the moon goddess to be his.

A surge of anger flowed through me as I pushed Fiona off him. “He is mine,” I uttered like a child claiming her stake.

“I made him into the well-respected man he is. The moon goddess chose him for me,” I said sternly, not knowing where the confidence came from.

Fiona’s eyes widened for a second before she composed herself, masking her expression. “Are you mad?!” she asked, seething.

It was only then that it dawned on me what I had done. Before I could form my words, my head whipped to the side, my cheeks burning as her palm connected with my face.

My confidence, which had been as high as a mountain, returned to factory settings. Her claw-like nails found my hair with a tight grip as she pulled me towards herself. “Who do you think you are, laying your filthy hands on me?” she asked before shoving me and slamming me hard against the wall—once, twice, thrice.

My eyes rolled in my head as blood dribbled out of my nostrils. Moving felt like a chore as she let me fall before kicking me in the abdomen. “Please,” I managed to say, though my mouth felt heavy.

Festus stood there, his eyes glowing with pride as he maintained his distance.

I glanced at him, about to plead for help, but my words got caught in my throat when he smirked. “It’s hot how fierce you are when delivering punishments.”

She paused, bending slowly, pushing her arse backwards, glancing at Festus, and licking her lips. “You like what you see?”

He bit his lip, raking his eyes slowly over her butt. “Go lower,” he uttered, his voice thickening as he adjusted his pants.

Fiona smacked me once more across the face before cleaning her hand on her dress as though she had touched dirt, signaling to the guards to take me away.

Everything happened swiftly, and before I knew it, I was locked in the dungeon alone. I wasn’t scared of the darkness because it had become my home.

I lay on the floor unmoving, feeling sore everywhere.

I didn’t know how many days had passed, but my mouth had gone dry and my mind ran wild.

I had been betrayed, deceived, but most especially, I felt like a failure.

I knew the council representative who told me about my sudden space at the high court hadn’t explained further, but I had been stupid enough to hand it over to Festus on a platter.

The cell opened as a guard stepped in, lifting me without warning.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked. My voice was almost inaudible, but he heard me and simply chose to ignore me.

That had been the way they treated me for the past year. The Omegas ignored me or amplified my punishment by reporting me at any given chance, while the guards acted as though I were invisible.

I wouldn’t blame them. Fiona had always made it her mission to play “a treat for Lilly’s troubles,” rewarding them every time they acted cruelly toward me.

But we were cousins. They were my only family. And I should have noticed something was wrong when she apologized and started treating me kindly two years ago.

When I met Alpha Festus at the moon ball and he publicly declared me as his mate, everyone already knew, as my aunt had made it her sole mission to announce that I was weak and almost wolfless.

Festus had been the only person who showed me genuine care and love.

Which was why I believed there had been a misunderstanding somewhere. All I needed was to speak to Festus privately. All I had to do was find a way to talk to my mate alone.