Weeping Bride (1)

"Drag her here!"

Ophelia struggled against her captors, giving everything she had to escape the men who stole her in the dead of night. 

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

Tears streamed down her face as she fought to break free from their strong arms. She had no idea where they were taking her and didn't want to find out. Each time she tried to call out for her parents, a hand clamped over her mouth. 

In a final act of defiance, Ophelia bit the man who had a tight grip on her hair, dragging her toward her cruel fate. Her fear fueled the little strength she had left.

"You!" she heard, right before a kick landed on her side.

Ophelia cried out in pain, her body momentarily too weak to fight but when she noticed she was being dragged to a cart, she started to struggle again.

"Just knock her out," came an order.

"No!" Ophelia screamed, her world turning black as something hard hit her head.

Hours later, Ophelia woke up in a fancy room that belonged to a wealthy family. Why had they brought her to this place?

She abruptly sat up, only to be stopped by the pain in her side and the noise of a chain.

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

A rusty chain was secured around her right foot. Ophelia tried to get off the bed to go to a window, but the chain was too short to allow it. Despite the pain from the kick and the discomfort from the chain, Ophelia looked around the room for clues about her location.

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 king's wedding have to do with me?"

Freya, the daughter of the man who owned the mansion, walked to the bed. "It has everything to do with you. The king expects to find his mate here because it was foretold she would be here. I do not want to marry that awful man, so we have you."

Freya had not believed the servant who claimed there was a young woman who looked like her and had a wolf who couldn't shift. Yet, the woman before Freya was the perfect replacement.

Freya dreaded the thought of being with the king, 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.

"We do look alike, don't we?" Freya asked, curious if the stranger noticed it too. "Could it be that you are my father's bastard?"

Freya pitied the woman before her, seeing she had no clue what she was about to be thrown into. "My father was against it, but I thought you should get a good look at the woman you will help."

"I have a family to get back to. I have a mate waiting for me. Please let me go," Ophelia pleaded. 

Freya's laughter interrupted Ophelia's pleas to be let go. She had already explained why Ophelia was here, but she was too foolish to understand.

Freya approached the right side of the bed where Ophelia cowered. She reached out her hand as if wanting to comfort Ophelia but struck her before she could move away.

"Stop whining your family and mate. I need your face," Freya said, roughly grabbing Ophelia's face to inspect it better. "You will make a good sister for me. What is your name? Answer me before I am forced to hit you again."

Ophelia bit her tongue, not wanting to be obedient to someone who struck her, but she had to do just that to survive. "Ophelia," she whispered, but Freya heard it.

"You are now Ophelia Porter. I don't trust you're smart enough to keep up with a new name. From this day onward, you are the bastard daughter of Joel Porter, and you will marry the alpha," Freya informed Ophelia.

Ophelia did not believe the young woman's words that she would marry the alpha. Since when did the likes of her get married or mated with an alpha? She was at the bottom of her pack. A runt as many called her. 

Ophelia did not have much time to think about what was said as maids started to fill the room.

"We cannot have the bride be late. If you so much as say anything to the alpha's group about this, my father will have your family killed. Do you understand?" Freya asked, forcing Ophelia to look at her.

Ophelia nodded. It was already bad enough that her life was in danger. She could not drag her family into whatever this was.

Ophelia was then stripped of her old clothes, washed, and dressed in a white wedding dress. Her mind was filled with thoughts of what would happen to her when the alpha king realized she was not the woman destined to be his mate.

Ophelia was forced to a mirror to see her appearance.

"There will always be someone nearby to make sure you are well-behaved and don't ruin the plan. You must remember that your family can die the second you make a mistake. Had you not put up such a fight to get here, I could have prepared you a little more," Freya said as she straightened Ophelia's dress.

"Just stay silent and enjoy your wedding night. My father will tell you about your duties in the morning," said Freya.

There wasn't much time to turn Ophelia into the perfect lady since it had taken so much time to find a woman who matched Freya's looks and then to bring her to the mansion took even more time.

"I almost forgot," Freya said, taking a necklace with a special gem from a maid. "Your necklace. You can never take it off unless you want to die. It will give you the scent of my family so you can pass as my sister."

"Take her," Freya ordered her maids.

Ophelia was freed from the chain around her foot and pulled out the door. She was taken outside to where people she didn't know had gathered. Many of the guests flaunted their ability to shift by attending in their wolf form.

Straight ahead was a man with a terrifying gaze fixed on her. He was no doubt the alpha who had recently taken the title of king to rule the kingdom.

Ophelia tensed up, afraid of what the future held for her.

The maid released Ophelia's hand once they got close to the king.

Ophelia dared not meet the eyes of the man she would call her husband because she was too afraid.

As the wedding proceeded, tears fell from Ophelia's eyes. All she wanted was to go home, but she was stuck here with people who would kill her. She didn't dare speak the truth or attempt to run away, knowing her life might come to a quick end if she did.