The Cursed Alpha’s Mate by Moon Flood
Chapter 99 (VALENS)
“I promised you would feel my wrath, didn’t I?” I looked down at the girl I once called my friend. I looked down at the girl that I once favored. She made numerous sacrifices for me. She fought for me and with me but at the end of the day, she did not know not to mess with me
“I have prayed for forgiveness,” she said, looking up at me. “I have prayed away my sins. At this point, Vee, I don’t care what you do to me.” She sat down, her feet trapped underneath her.
‘‘If you had not come back, I would not have known. Do you know what you took from me?” Why did I quiz her still?
I wanted to reconcile the Clover I used to know with the one before me. I wanted to see if there was anything left of the other girl, a person to mourn, perhaps. I never loved her the way she wanted me to but I loved her. She was my friend. My confidant. Now, she was my enemy.
“How do you even know the child was yours?” She looked up at me. “All I ever wanted was to protect you, Vee.”
“No, you wanted to have me,” I corrected her.
“Was that a bad thing? Was I not worthy of you? Did I not earn my right to stand by your side?” Her words reminded me of similar ones I had spoken to my mate. I remembered how I told her she had to earn her title as my Luna. Did I give Clover that same illusion? Did I make her believe she could earn a spot beside me if she continued to fight for me and with me? If I had, I was sorry. I never had a spot beside me for anyone asides from my mate who was created to stand beside me.
As I thought of my mate, I remembered her revelation to me in the hospital. The moon goddess had created her for me. She made her to be my curse breaker, there couldn’t have ever been anyone else for me when the goddess herself had picked a soul and a body, put in so much attention and detail into creating Aysel just for me.
Aysel.
She was made for me. She suffered so much hardship in Redville pack because I was her destiny. She was created for me and everything she suffered, she suffered for me. She was rejected and broken because I took too long to find her.
The knowledge was mind-boggling. It stole the breath from my lungs when she made that confession and tilted my world on its axis. I would not be lying when I said I wished she had kept that information to herself.
I suspected she may have had something to do with those who cursed me considering her magic, but I never would have suspected how close. Perhaps I would have but I did not want to. I did not want to believe the person I loved so much was the same person I had vowed to annihilate.
Aysel was everything to me but vengeance had kept me going for the longest of time. I would first d*ie before I harmed Aysel, yet, the information was hard to digest. A direct descendant of the woman who cursed me. My curse breaker form a lineage I swore to destroy. Her lineage was now joined with mine. To destroy her lineage would be to destroy mine. The goddess knew that and specially chose Aysel for me to stop me from my vengeful path.
“Are you going to k*ill me or are we here to stare into space?” Clover’s tired voice dragged me back to the present.
I looked around me. We were in the graveyard like I told my mate we would be. Clover was scared of graveyards. It was one place she had been chained to when she was kidnapped in the past. She swore she saw ghosts rise out of the graves at night so she never came here. I had ensured she never had reason to be in a graveyard but today, I brought her myself. We were right next to her grave even. I had it dug already.
“You know I am scared of this place. If you are not going to k*ill me, then let’s leave here,” she said in a cool voice that betrayed her fear. “Valens…”
“You betrayed me,” I muttered, examining my claws.
“I know. I am…” I pulled her from the ground before she completed her sentence.
“Look me in the eye,” I said when she stood. She was one of the few people on earth who didn’t shy away from looking me in the eye but at that moment, she could not.
“Valens…”
“Look at me.” An Alpha’s command. Looking at her made me boil from inside. She disgusted me but I was still her Alpha and she could not disobey my command.
“I – I am really sorry, Vee.” She started to cry when I wrapped my hands around her neck My claws poked into her skin.
She grabbed my hands, her eyes still fixed on mine. I would like to punish her, drag out her punishment, but I could not stand to think of her walking the same earth I did. She played me for a fool. She lied to me, took a life and endangered my mate. She belittled Aysel and I couldn’t help but feel as if I encouraged it. “Valens – Alpha – Please…”
“Rest well.” I tightened my grip on her neck, watching blood coat my hands from the punctures I made in her neck.
“I – “ Her eyes bulged, her f*ingers tore my skin as she fought to be free but I held on.
It felt like hours before she went limp but I held on still. For the first time in my long years, taking a life hurt. My heart beat faster as I let her fall into the grave beside me, my hand coated in her blood.
“Goodbye.” I poured the first bit of sand on her corpse, washing my hands as I walked out of the graveyard after instructing some men to cover her grave. She didn’t deserve to be buried considering her sin but it was my final gift to her.
From there, I had to witness a hanging. I met Aysel in front of the crowd. Jabari had pronounced the sentence already and Skylar and her father were about to be executed. I came to stand beside my mate. She wrapped her hand around me once I arrived.
“How do you feel?” I asked her.
“I don’t – I don’t feel good,” she admitted. I hadn’t expected her to. Not a lot of people would come out to witness something like this. Most people around were those that had travelled with me and less than ten people from Redville pack.
“If you don’t want to be here, we can leave.” I took her hand while she hid her face in my jacket. The oracle was saying prayers for the criminals while my mate shook in my arms. “I thought – I thought I would be satisfied to see their end.”
“You are not?” I asked her.
“I – I feel relieved that they will no longer bother me but…” She looked around, her eyes gravitating to the oracle and her ritual. “Please take me away from this place.” I did not need to be asked twice. I grabbed her hand and people made way as we left.
“Aysel!” A wretched voice screamed. We both turned on instinct. Skylar looked dead already, her eyes lifeless and head hanging at an odd angle. K*illing your mate by accident would do that to you. She had nothing to live for but Zavier – he looked frantic. His eyes dashed around the place as he tried to find a means out but there was none.
“Keep walking,” I said to my mate, pulling her forward. She reluctantly turned her back on the scene and proceeded to walk away. She could not see them but she could here them. Zavier screamed her name, begging.
“Aysel! Don’t’ Don’t turn your back! I spared you! Spare my daughter!” His screams were horrible and I knew they affected my mate by the way she stumbled while walking. She broke into a sprint. I followed. She ran and ran. For over thirty minutes, she was running. I kept pace with her, wanting to comfort her but I did not know how to, considering I had Clover’s blood on my hands. I needed to run too. From the guilt that came with this responsibility. So, we ran.
We stopped at a deserted forest. My mate leaned into a rotten tree, her eyes swollen from crying.
“I can’t – I can’t stay here anymore,” she wheezed.
“Give me one week. I will wrap everything up and then, I can take you home.” She looked up at me in surprise.
“You – You still want to take me to the Alpha Pack?” I didn’t understand why she sounded stunned. “I – You don’t hate me?” My eyes widened. Where had she gotten such an idea – Ah!
“No, Aysel, I love you.” As if it was possible to hate my savior. It didn’t matter who her mother was. Who she was had become more important to me.
“You…” She teared up again. “I love you, too.” She flung herself at me and I caught her, pulling her into a kiss. Those words – they were melody to my soul.