The Wolf's Bride

Chapter 11

Apparently being smart wasn't something I was supposed to be. Being smart got me locked inside a house. It got me isolated from everyone. It got me writing on black sheet of paper over and over until they were too stained by ink to read anything. It got me baking and cooling and eating until I threw up, only so I could cook and eat again. It got singing around just to fill the silence, just to forget how alone I was.

Twice a week, I was brought supplies, only at night, when I couldn't see them coming. I would find the boxes at my door in the morning. No one came close to my house. No one.

The silence got so heavy that I found myself, half naked, standing in front of the Alpha's house in the middle of the night. To beg. What I was going to beg for, I didn't know. For my life? Possibly. For alcohol? Probably.

The cold night air made my skin crawl, it was even colder than usual, which made my poor choise of clothing even more foolish. What was I hoping for? Show some ankles and hope he'd bark?

Gulping, I forced my hand up to knock on the door. There was only silence to answer me. I tried again, louder, but nothing answered.

My will started wavering. What if I was walking straight to my death by doing this? I hated not knowing what to do. I hated myself and I hated my husband. Most importantly, I hated my father for putting me into this position.

Nothing made sense anymore, not my life, not my marriage, not my family, and I had no one to go to, no one to listen, no one to help. If I cared enough to admit it to myself, I was scared. Scared like never before.

Stifling a sob, I took a seat on the porch, bringing my knees to my chest as I rested my head on a pillar. I didn't want to hate him, or myself. Alekin gave shoes. He was providing me with food and didn't even force himself on me. He never even insinuated that I had to do my wifely duties. I wasn't cleaning or cooking for him, or anyone for that matter. Just for myself. Forever alone, fated to a cruel death and a crueller life.

Steps sounded behind me, from the house. I wiped my tears away and stood up quickly. But it wasn't my husband looking at me with a frown.

"Why are you here at this hour?" she asked, stepping outside, her face lit by the moon. Alekin's mother truly looked like a goddess.

I took a deep breath, letting the night's air cool my lungs and body before I dared speak. "No one comes to me."

The woman's brows furrowed, her eyes searching me insistently, alertly, as she put a hand around my shoulders, bringing me into the house. It was warmed inside, even with the lights off, I could still recognize the hall I passed through last time I was here. All the curtains were pulled back, letting as much moonlight pool inside, illuminating the portraits and furniture.

I thought it was Alekin's presence making me anxious, but he wasn't near me now, yet I still felt watched by every portrait, every vase, even the rugs seemed to have taken a disliking to me, since I almost broke my neck tripping over one of them. I decided I hated that rug. The rug was most definitely the cause for all my unhappiness.

Miranda sat me down on a couch in a different room than the one we had taken the dinner in. It was a smaller room, still bigger than my bedroom. There was something in the air making me want to puke, making me want to run.

"Is he here?"

It certainly felt like he was. Miranda shook her head.

"No, sweetie, he left with Cressida not long after you had that fight two weeks ago."

"It's been two weeks already? Gods, I went crazy..." Then another bit of information dawned on me. "Is Cressida his mate?"

And Miranda's hand left my shoulders. Her eyes bore holes into mine. Suspicion, skepticism. I was losing her.