FATED TO ALPHA HUNTER BY VENNEH LISAH

𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

The first bullet hit the wall as Lemmy vanished, narrowly avoiding the intended shot. The second bullet, aimed at Joe, also missed its mark and hit the wall instead. I stared in horror, wondering what was happening. How could they vanish like vampires when they were lycans? Before I could even register what was happening or answer myself, I saw Richie snatch the gun from Ben.

"I will do it myself," he said, and then he pulled the trigger on me. But just as the bullet was about to hit, a force pulled me out of the office in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, I found myself in another place, with people bowing on one knee and genuflecting.

"You're safe, my king. And so are your men," Lemmy, Joe, and Ivan reassured me. "Are you a witch, Ivan?" I asked myself more than I asked him, as only a witch could have rescued us from the mountain ash. I screamed out loud, "My mate, my Luna! Take me back! Ania is still back there with that psychopath.

"We will bring her back. Richie cannot kill her without killing himself due to the sire bond, so she's safe. But for now, you must stay in hiding and exile. Going back would mean the end of you as everyone has pledged loyalty to Richard Avril," Ivan explained. I looked at Joe, who said, "Hunter, be patient. You will be reunited."

I sat on the floor, my heart aching. How could I leave my mate behind? What about the orphans I was caring for and protecting?

"My Alpha, we all left our mates there. We must stay alive to be with them again," Lemmy said, and I couldn't believe what was happening.

"He'll claim my Luna as his own," I said, and Ivan shook his head. "No, he won't. Richard has his own mate. He's only interested in the power that comes with her title, nothing more. Moreover, Ania loves you too. She can't give herself to him," Ivan reassured me.

"You're a witch? What about this place? Where are we?" I asked.

"Yes I am a witch. These are the Augustus people. Your kingdom didn't fall. We were relocated here by the late King Augustus. He had anticipated the wars and betrayals and had built another kingdom, slowly evacuating his people here. By the time of the hunters, I used my spell to make it look like people were dead and brought them here, burning down the entire kingdom so they wouldn't come to look for bodies," Ivan explained.

"What are the whereabouts of my father?" I asked.

"He truly died when a hunter chopped off his head, and your mother did too," he replied. I swallowed hard, realizing that I was an only child who wasn't there at the time of the massacre.

"These are your people. The kingdom has been without a ruler, and now he is back. Hail your king," he declared, and all the people hailed. "Long live the King! Long live the King!"

I was taken to my room, but I couldn't sleep. I wanted to make sure my mate was safe. My mind-link to her was blocked, and I knew it was Ivan who didn't want me to reach out to her, so I couldn't be traced.

He explained that everything was going well, but on the day Ania's power awakened, we were dealing with Kellen and her son, Willie. He knew Richie would come, so he started preparing for a night like this one.

He said he could shut off the mind links for hours and train us how to function without each other, but I was determined to get my mate back no matter how long it took. He also said he had programmed everything, even for Ania to do her project in his place; it was all arranged. He wanted us to be acquainted with each other so that if this happened, we wouldn't be total strangers.

The next morning, Ivan showed us around the castle, and people slightly bowed to us as they went about their duties. "What about Elena? Where is she?" I asked Ivan.

"She is still there. I couldn't bring her with me. It would raise suspicion since Richie's brother Oliver is dating my daughter," he replied.

"Aren't you worried about him being with your daughter?" I asked.

He told me that he wasn't worried, as he had a protection spell around her.

Days turned into months, and I never saw my mate. The bond that was alive and well for years turned dormant, and I knew that the bond had been served. All the while, I never gave up hope of seeing my mate again. But I knew she was alive. If she was dead, I could have felt it since she had my mark. However, as years passed, I doubted that she was still alive since I could no longer feel her.

"I think she's dead," I whined to Ivan one night, and he buried his head in his palms. "I'll give you a potion that you can take to slowly forget her, and if the moon goddess wishes it, you may find another mate."

𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕 :

For five years, Hunter and his men had vanished, and I did not know where they had gone. I needed to find out if he was alive or dead, but I wanted him dead. As long as he was still alive, he would be a threat to me. He was Augustus, and even though I had taken over Devonshire, merging it with Avril Kingdom, he could make an alliance with a greater kingdom than mine, such as the Arman Kingdom, and I could not let that happen.

I also dreaded the day he would emerge from hiding and report me to the council for attempted assassination. I had convinced the whole pack that the trio of Lemmy, Joe, and Hunter had died in a fire at the borders after they went there at night for investigations. I had burned down the lab at the borders with the men inside, leaving them burnt beyond recognition. Ania cried, but with time she healed and accepted it.

For five years, we had fought for our existence, and now the humans were beneath us. I was reigning as king with my chosen mate Lucy, after killing King Devonshire myself in the presence of his daughter Ania. Although they never spoke, she witnessed his death. I stripped Ania of her titles and bound her powers with the help of a sorcerer, making her a slave to me - nothing but a rogue. I could have killed her, but the sire bond would kill me too.

"The orphans need food. They haven't eaten in two days," the rogue slave spoke to me without any respect.

"How is that my problem?" I snapped at Ania, who looked like a shadow of her former self. Her beauty was gone, and she looked like nothing more than a dirty slave. "You should be taking care of them. My mate did. He provided everything they needed," she chirped.

"I could kill you and make you join him so I won't have anyone nagging me about the orphans," I told her.

"But you can't, my Avril. You know you depend on me to stay alive, unless you find a way of breaking the sire bond," she retorted, and anger coursed through me. I couldn't harm her myself, but I could watch as someone else did. So I sat down and watched as my mate stripped her off her blouse and whipped her, marring her skin with a whip dipped in water-hemlock.

"Get this dirty thing out of my sight," I spat, and Rina pulled her away. "Sweetheart, don't worry about Hunter. He's never coming back. We should be preparing for King Arman's visit. We can sell Ania and Rina as slaves to him, or let's kill them and forget about them once and for all," my pregnant mate said as she sat on my lap, and I rubbed her belly.

"Darling, you know I can't kill her," I replied. "If I did, I would be killing myself too." My mate rolled her eyes in frustration.

"Let's discuss with King Arman if he would be interested in buying a slave. We could sell that rogue to him. I hate how everyone still regards her as their Luna," my mate complained. I sympathized with her, as nobody recognized her as the true Luna while Ania still held the title.

"Furthermore, maybe Hunter is in hiding because he thinks you marked Ania as your own. If you let her go, Hunter might reach out to her, and then you could capture him and kill him. He is a threat to us if he is still alive. He could spill your little secret that you tried killing him. It's better to get to him before he finds someone powerful to work with and comes after you first, someone like King Arman. If that were to happen, you would be dead, and he would take over this powerful kingdom with that stupid Luna of his," she added.

The words sent chills down my spine. I needed to talk to King Arman before Hunter could reach out to him. I wanted to paint Hunter as a threat to the King.

"It's okay. I'll see what I can do. Let me talk to him first and see if he's interested," I said, dismissing her. My mate watched as I left the living room to search for my mistress, who was waiting for me in the guest house.

"Are you okay?" I asked Grace, who had given herself to me but couldn't receive the same treatment as her friends.

"How can I be okay when you're spending all your time with her?" she replied, referring to my mate.

"But I'm here now, babe. Stop complaining," I said, kissing her. She gave herself to me, causing pain to my mate, but I didn't care. I spent the night with Grace, talking about a lot of things. I loved her more than my mate because she was reasonable. I was only with my chosen mate because she was an Alpha's daughter, and I needed her Alpha genes for my children, unlike Grace, who was an Omega.

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face, looking at her sleeping peacefully beside me. "Wake up, or you'll be late for work," I said, kissing her gently, and she giggled, kissing me back.

"Do I have to work? I'm with you, I'm your mistress," Grace said. "We've talked about this. I have to have a reason for keeping you around, or my mate will have a reason to get rid of you," I said, getting out of bed and sliding into my trousers. I pulled on my t-shirt, kissed her goodbye, and went to my quarters, where my mate was waiting for me, angry.

"What does she have on me, Richard?" she squealed. "I don't know who you're talking about," I said, walking into the bathroom. "Her scent is all over you, Richie," she yelled. "How about you calm down, take care of yourself, you're pregnant, and stop keeping tabs on a grown man like me. I am 240 years old, remember?" I said, smiling wickedly as I turned the shower on, but I could hear her clicking her tongue in disapproval.

I found my mate sitting on the couch in the bedroom, fuming as she tapped her feet on the carpet. Grace was vacuuming the room, and as I walked away, I winked at her. The moment I sat down in the office, the desktop phone rang. I waited a second before answering, and a cool voice came through, talking about the alpha of the king's visit.

The caller stated that King Arman would only be visiting the pack house where we kept the orphans to see its condition before he could fund it. He said he wouldn't be stepping foot in the castle. I cursed; it was now going to be difficult to trade Ania if he wasn't visiting the castle.

We had agreed on a date, and as I walked downstairs, I saw everyone doing their chores. "Where is Ania?" I growled, looking at Rina. "The Luna is sleeping; she is not..." I cut her off with a thunderous slap. "She is no Luna; she is a rogue and a slave, just like you," I spat, and Rina quickly bowed before telling me that Ania was sleeping because she was unwell after apologizing.

"Wake her up," I snarled, and Kim rushed off. He came back with her moments later, and I roared in her face, "Do you think I give you food and a place to sleep for you to be sleeping at this time of the day?"

"I am not feeling well," was Ania's reply, as her voice trailed off. "Get to work, and you two will clean the entire pack house in two days' time. It must be spotless; the Alpha of Kings is coming, and I am depending on him for funds," I snarled before walking away.

"What did I ever do to you to deserve such treatment? You already declared us as rogues. Can't you let us go?" Ania spoke from behind me, I twirled around and I told her, "You deserve nothing, nothing. No Devonshire deserves anything, especially not you, Ania," I roared in fury.

"What difference does it make, Ania? It's not like you grew up as a princess. You don't even know what it takes or feels like to be one," I blurted out.

"I wanted us to bond, I wanted us to fall in love with each other, but your mate's impatience ruined my plans and landed you where you are. So if there's anyone to blame, it should be him," I snarled, enjoying how she whimpered before I stormed off.

I went back to my office and sat down behind my desk to work. About an hour later, Ben walked in, and I sneered seeing the dark expression on his face. "This is not what we agreed on. How can you treat her like that? She is a princess, for goodness sake. She is sick, let her rest. The plan was for her to reign as your queen by your side, not for my niece to be your slave and your mate's slave," Ben snarled.

"Well, there has been a change of plans, and it's foolish of you to think that I, King Richard Avril, would take someone who has already been marked and mated as my queen." I snarled.

"You should be grateful that she's still alive, considering she's a slave. If it were up to me, she would be dead and buried by now," I added.

"If you have a problem with that, feel free to revoke your loyalty to me and see what I'll do to you," I bluffed, and Ben cowered before bowing and walking away. I had everyone wrapped around my fingers, and they knew better than to go against my wishes. Failure to comply resulted in death.

I knew that Kim and Ben might regret swearing their allegiance to me, but I didn't care. I was aware that they sold Hunter out because they wanted higher positions than what Hunter had given them. They did it out of greed and selfishness.

As for Ania, I resented and hated her from the night I had gone to her room to mark and mate her, and she had rejected me to my face. I still remember her in the nightdress, how it hugged her curves as she stood leaning against the wall while I made my way to her.

"You are not my mate, and you will never be," she snapped, and I chuckled. "In a way, I am because I am sired to you. Moreover, your mate is long dead," I bellowed.

"Unless you take me by force, I can never give myself to you willingly. I belong to Hunter and only him, even in death," she screamed.

I was many things, but I was not a rapist, so I stomped out of her bedroom. The lust I felt for her was replaced with hate and resentment.

The next morning, I stripped off her title, declaring her a rogue, the very thing we despised the most, and a slave.

"Richie, come for breakfast, it's ready," Grace told me through the mind-link, interrupting my train of thought. I smiled before heading to the dining room.