Weeping Bride (1)

"Please let me go," Ophelia Summers pleaded with her captors, her vision clouded by tears. She banged her hands against the iron bars of the cell she had been placed in. "I will give you all the money I have just please, let me go," she cried to the men who had stolen her from her home.

Ophelia wrapped her hands around the bars she tried to break when she first arrived but her attempts had been futile. 

From where Ophelia stood, she could see the two men who had snatched her from her home, taking her from her family. They drank and spoke amongst themselves, comfortable as though they had not stolen an innocent woman. 

"I have a family waiting for me so please, release me," Ophelia begged the two men. "What did I do to deserve this?" 

Life was going so well for her but then these two surprised her, bringing her to this foreign place. 

"Please," Ophelia begged, trying to reason with them once more. 

She thought there was hope when one of the men stood up but after getting a better look at his facial expression, she was wrong. His nostrils were flared as she imagined a dragon would be and his gaze alone could kill her.

The door was opened by the key tied around his hand by a small rope. 

"Please," Ophelia pleaded, taking small steps back to get away from him. 

Her captor closed in on her, trapping her in the corner. 

He didn't say a word as he raised her hand, his fists soon coming down to her head. As she fell, Ophelia's mind played the last happy moments she had with her mate and when she collided with the cold damp floor, there was silence just before her world went dark. 

Hours later, Ophelia woke up in a fancy room. Where had they taken her to now?

She abruptly sat up, only to be stopped by a terrible headache. 

"What?" she muttered, pulling back the blanket that covered her.

To her surprise, Ophelia found herself clothed in a white wedding dress. She would never be able to afford a dress like this no matter how hard she worked. It was something far out of her reach yet the people who brought her here dressed her up in it. 

Despite the pain from the hit to her head, Ophelia moved around, searching for clues about her location. 

She had to get home. She needed to get back home to her lover Alex.

The sound of the door opening made Ophelia tense up, the fear from the night before returning. She did not want to see the men who had taken her. To her surprise, a lady walked in.

Ophelia was stunned by the stark resemblance this woman shared with her. 

"Oh. You're finally awake. We were all getting bored waiting for you."

"Who are you?" Ophelia asked, her back pressed to the wall, ready to defend herself. "Why was I brought here?"

"For a wedding, of course. The whole mansion is busy celebrating the wedding that will happen soon. The alpha—no," Freya Porter shook her head. "The king will be here soon for his bride."

"Those idiots bruised your face," Freya frowned, knowing her father would be upset. "The maids will have to do their best."

Ophelia wasn't concerned about her face. "What does the alpha's wedding have to do with me?"

It suddenly dawned on Ophelia what she was in the wedding dress for. She was the bride for the alpha? The tyrant who destroyed lands and left death in his path?

It couldn't be so.

That was impossible since she already had a lover and her rank was far too low for her to be considered to marry an alpha.

There was a big mistake here. There had to be a mistake since this didn't make sense. 

Ophelia opened her mouth to argue this but taking a second look at the woman before her, the pieces started to connect that she was to be this woman's replacement. 

Whoever these people were, they were planning to fool the alpha. 

"No," Ophelia shook her head. They couldn't do this. They shouldn't!

"I already have a man I love," Ophelia informed the lady. "I cannot marry the alpha. This is a mistake," she said, her hands pulling at the dress to get it off. This wasn't right.

Freya didn't care what Ophelia thought was right. She dreaded the thought of being with the alpha, whose rumoured cruelty struck fear into anyone who came face to face with him. Tales of women who entered his castle, never to be seen again, whispered through the kingdom. 

He was reputed to be a monster, unable to love anyone. This was proven by the way he slaughtered his brothers leaving their corpses to hang on the castle walls for weeks as the crows feasted on their bodies. 

The alpha ignited a war against every pack in the kingdom, leaving destruction in his path. His reputation for murdering the women sent to be his mates, showing no shred of remorse, painted a picture of pure evil.

Knowing there was a plot to kill him, Freya's father quickly thought of a way to protect her. Ophelia would die in Freya's place.

Before Freya could speak again, Ophelia got up from the bed and ran toward the door. This was her chance to get away from this place.

"Stop! Guards!" Freya yelled at the top of her voice. "She's running!"

Ophelia didn't look back even for a second as she ran to the door. She turned the knob, her heart pounding as she anticipated making her escape but her moment of escape was quickly ruined. 

"Alex!" Ophelia gasped, horrified by the sight of Alex standing with a knife to his neck. "No," she softly spoke, taking a step forward but stopping after the knife was pushed further against his neck. 

She was too afraid to move. If she did, Ophelia knew well he would be injured.

"Don't, harm him," Ophelia told the captor whose eyes gleamed with satisfaction due to having control at that moment. 

Ophelia's mind raced, searching for a solution, a way to turn the tables. She couldn't let Alex suffer because of her. She had to be strong and had to find a way to outsmart their captor. But time was running out.

Freya came to the door and grabbed Ophelia's arm. She was furious she needed to run after Ophelia. "We already have the one person you care about and as you can see, the moment you run off, he's going to have that pretty knife in his neck. Do you think he can heal from that?"

"Ophelia," Alex cried, his right hand reaching for her but he was pulled back so he couldn't. "Just run. Go!"

Ophelia shook her head. She couldn't do that. She couldn't live with herself knowing she got him killed.

Freya rolled her eyes at the pathetic sight. "He is now our prisoner. If you want to keep him alive, I suggest you get back in that room to prepare for your wedding."

Ophelia was still at first, wishing she could do something bold to free Alex so they could run away together and go to her home. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do. 

Her wolf was of no help. She was weak, unable to shift like her peers.

Ophelia didn't have any other choice than to step back inside the room, accepting that she would be marrying the alpha. 

"Well done," Freya complimented the guard. She returned inside the room with Ophelia. 

When the door closed, Alex's expression returned to normal. No sadness, no anguish. Only indifference. He rubbed his neck where the blade touched him. 

"She'll be fine," He muttered to himself with a small smirk, "If anything, she should be thanking me." 

Alex loved Ophelia, but the debts were a heavy burden. He even struggled to put food on the table. With Ophelia's sacrifice, the debts will be gone soon enough. He even got promoted to being a guard. 

He sent her to her death, but at least she knew what it was like to be the luna.