Betrothed To The Alpha

CHAPTER 51

ALICE

I burst into the pack house, my blood still boiling from the botched attempt at enlisting Collins to help me tear Alex and Hannah apart. As I storm through the halls, I can feel everyone's eyes on me, their whispers following me like a swarm of buzzing insects. They think I can't hear them, but they forget we're werewolves - no amount of hushed gossip can escape our heightened senses.

"She looks like hell," they murmur, wrinkling their noses at my disheveled appearance and the stench of stale alcohol and cigarette smoke clinging to my skin. "Hasn't bathed in days from the smell of it."

They're not wrong. I've been drowning my sorrows in a haze of booze and nicotine, letting myself wallow in the filth of my own misery. But today, I made an effort to clean myself up, to put on a brave face for the world. Too bad my scent gives away the truth of my despair.

I finally reach the sanctuary of my room, slamming the door behind me with a satisfying bang. And then, with no one to witness my breakdown, I let the dam burst. Tears stream down my face as I scream my rage to the heavens, tearing apart everything in my path like a hurricane of fury and pain. I imagine it's Hannah I'm destroying, that conniving bitch who stole my mate, my future, my very reason for living.

In the midst of my rampage, my door flies open, revealing my parents' shocked faces.

"Alice, is everything alright?" Mom asks, her voice laced with concern as she rushes to my side, grabbing the lamp I was about to smash against the wall.

"Did you seriously just ask me that?" I snarl, shoving her away from me, my eyes wild with barely contained hysteria. "Of course, everything isn't alright! That bitch Hannah has my mate, and you think I'm going to be okay with that?"

Mom sighs heavily, her shoulders slumping in defeat, while Dad looks at me with a mixture of pity and exasperation. But neither of them say a word, their silence only fueling the fire of my anger.

And then, a question that's been haunting me for years bubbles up from the depths of my soul, spilling from my lips like poison. "Why did you send me away and then bring me back?" I demand, my gaze boring into theirs, daring them to lie to me again. "Hannah wouldn't be here if you hadn't."

"We've told you before, honey," Mom says, her voice gentle but firm as she takes a step closer to me. "It was a necessary sacrifice for the pack."

"Really? This bullshit again?" I scoff, my lips twisting into a sneer as I glare at them both. "Why won't you just tell me the truth about Hannah?"

"It is the truth," Dad insists, moving to grip my shoulder, his touch meant to be comforting but feeling like a brand against my skin. "It was a necessary sacrifice for the pack."

"Fine," I hiss, shrugging off his hand and fixing them with a cold, calculating stare. "And if I told you right now that I wish for Hannah to be killed, you wouldn't allow it because of the pack, right?"

Mom's eyes widen in horror, her hand flying to her mouth. "Alice, why would you say such a thing?"

"Because I wish that bitch would just die!" I scream, my voice raw and ragged with the force of my hatred. "I wish she would just fucking die and leave me in peace!"

The crack of my father's palm against my cheek echoes through the room like a gunshot, stunning me into silence. I stare at him in utter disbelief, my hand coming up to cradle my stinging face. In all my life, he's never once raised a hand to me...until now. Until Hannah.

"Never wish your sister dead," he growls, his eyes hard and unyielding. "Do you understand me?"

Hot, angry tears blur my vision as I nod mutely, my heart shattering into a million jagged pieces. This is what it's come to. My own parents chose that bitch over me. In that moment, my hatred for Hannah burns brighter than the sun, consuming me from the inside out.