Alpha’s Second Choice

Belial.

Darkness gathered in Jo’s eyes and filled it. She quivered thinking about his name. Belial was incredibly powerful from when Jo remembered last.

Five years ago, he nearly captured her with his dark powers when she slipped through his fingers, by chance.

She had hoped the Demon king would have moved on but clearly not. He had sent out his right hand again. Was it to capture her or for something else?

The moment she caught the scent of the ominous scent, she knew Belial was back walking on the earth and not in hell, where he truly belonged.

The scent was faint but definitely there. Was Belial at the no-man’s border? Because the demon’s world was connected to this world through a portal. Same went for the fairy kingdom and some of the other mythical creatures. The only supernatural beings that resided on earth were werewolves and vampires.

Jo’s hand instinctively touched her face. The demon king tried to mark her once, against her will. She defended herself at that time but was left with an ugly scar near her eyes. If she lifted her mask and revealed her true scent, the scar would be visible for everyone to see. And Jo could not stand the horror it would inflict on anyone who dared lay their eyes on that scar.

‘What’s wrong?’, Lucy noticed Jo spacing out.

‘Nothing’, she lied.

*

The next couple of days, Jo tried speaking to Dante, but the king was so busy, she was not even allowed to go near his office. She cursed at the helpless situation she was in.

Time was definitely not on Jo’s side and with Belial roaming the no-man’s border, she did not want to risk any of her friend’s lives. She was happy Lucy had found her mate and the two fairies could probably take refuge in the royal kingdom, if they really did not want to return to their own land.

That left only her.

And Jo could not afford to stay here. Not even if she wanted to.

On the eight day, after being refused to be seen again, Jo really was on the last straw. Using the little knowledge she had about mate bonds in werewolves, she decided to pull a small trick to get the stubborn king’s attention.

She took a small dragger knife from the kitchen and slit the back of her hand with it. Blood instantly oozed out from the cut but Jo only pressed on the wound more.

She knew Dante would feel this pain too. Well, she hoped he would because she learnt from many years of living in Dark Slayer pack that fated mates could feel all sorts of feelings from the mate bond.

At first, Jo thought the mate bond was a simple, straight to the point connection between two fated werewolves as blessed by their moon goddess. But the mate bond was much more complex than that. The more layers you peeled, the complicated it became.

Jo stood near the pantry cupboard bleeding from her cut and lost in her thoughts when she heard one of the loudest growls ripping through the mansion.

She quickly put a nearby clothe and finally pressed on the bleeding as her work was now done. And she was not mistaken. She could smell Dante’s scent getting closer and closer. The raw woody scent was driving her nuts already and she did not like the fact that her body was already reacting.

‘Jo’, she heard an urgent pleading voice to find that the Alpha king had presented before her in less than a few minutes of her cutting herself.

‘How did this happen?’, the king took her bleeding hand in to his and inspected it closer.

Jo eyed the bloody dragger on the counter and swore at herself. She forgot to hide it. As Dante’s gaze followed the direction she was looking in, he realised what she had done.

‘I-just wanted to speak to you. Well, I have been trying for days now but kept getting turned away by your personal guards and warriors’, Jo replied trying to make her voice sound as strong as she could. The pain in her hand was overpowered by her mate’s presence. Just hearing him breath was relaxing, how magical were the mate bonds. This led Jo wonder if she really had any mate bond at all with Alpha Jayden. And if she did, why was it different to how the pull was with Dante.

‘I sincerely apologise Jo. Something came up near the no-man’s border that needed my attention. I-‘, the king stopped mid-sentence not wanting to bother his mate with all the unnecessary dangerous information. ‘I am sorry’.

Jo let out a relieved breath as she stared at Dante. His golden fiery eyes looked tired and exhausted, and Jo wondered if he was being honest.

Before she could ask anything, Dante lifted her bleeding hand and guided it into his hot mouth as he started sucking the blood out of it.

Dante breathing out hot air on her hand shot tingle sensations all over her skin. And the most unnerving thing of it all, was him staring right at her while doing it. The eye contact never broke.

There was an eerie silence. It was late in the afternoon and so the kitchen was temporarily empty. But Jo knew it would not be the same soon.

The palace omegas would soon return to make preparations for dinner and the kitchen would soon become a bustling place.

Jo tugged on her hands as she tried pulling back but Dante’s grip was firm, not loosening even for the tiniest second.

The same silver swirls were dancing in his eyes and Jo knew this cue. He was fighting with his wolf again. For once, Jo felt bad for the Alpha king. It must be difficult to contain and tame an Alpha wolf.

Without thinking, Jo touched Dante’s cheek with her free hand and his eyes instantly stopped flickering. He leaned on to her touch, closing his eyes in the process. Evelyn’s letter flashed again. It kept replaying itself inside her mind.

It was like a tune of music she could not escape.

‘Are you okay?’, Jo heard herself ask the king who looked extremely vulnerable at that instance.

‘No’, he whispered deeply. His actions reinforcing everything Evelyn had written in that letter. ‘I am not okay’.

Before the siren could ask why, the clock chimed with its melody. Jo’s eyes darted at the clock as the hour hand pointed to 4 PM.

Along the corridors, she heard murmurs of omegas returning to work in the kitchen. Jo distanced himself from the Alpha king.

‘Can we talk soon please?’, Jo looked at Dante who appeared slightly irritated from getting disturbed.

The king nodded his head and walked away. Jo could only see his broad shoulders as she watched him leave.

She looked at her hand that she had slit earlier to find that it was completely healed now. How in the earth did Dante heal her? She was not even a werewolf to possess such a fast body immunity.

Jo only mouthed a ‘thank you’ at her mate, it was the least she could do for now.

*

Olivia threw her comb at the life-size large mirror in her chamber, shattering it to millions of pieces.

‘That fu. cking omega bitch’. She saw her husband tending to a lowly omega’s wounds.

Olivia would have never found that out, had she not heard her husband’s loud growl. At first, she thought, there might have been intruders in the royal mansion. But as she rushed to her husband’s office, she saw him walking somewhere else, looking extremely focused and worried.

Olivia was confused when she saw Dante interacting weirdly with the sharp-tongued omega, Jo. What shocked her the most was him being intimate with her.

He was so gentle with her; one would think Jo was his mate and wife. And this was something the queen could not have at her door.

Olivia looked at the broken glass and watched her reflection in one of the shards. She saw multiple spilt reflections staring back at her.

That was it, she would not give up here or lose to a lowly omega.

She was the queen of the bloody werewolf world. And she loved her husband very much.

Olivia finally slumped into her leather couch as her mind starting racing on different plots. She knew it was better to plan calmly than to react.

Maybe her husband was still punishing her for the infidelity. That was probably it. He was punishing her and hurting her the same way she hurt him.

Once he was over it, they would be happy again. And go back to the way things used to be.

This was definitely it.

*

‘Huh? A ball?’, Jo asked again.

‘Yes miss. All the guest in the mansion have also been invited. The queen specifically sent out an invite for you and your friends.

‘Oh, we are totally in. Send the queen a flying kiss from me’, Daya excitedly squeaked.

‘Daya, please watch you are saying! Sorry about that. We will be there, thank you’, Jo responded trying to shoo the messenger away before Daya opened her big mouth again.

‘Miss, there was one more thing. The queen wanted this to be a special occasion. So, she sent dresses for everyone as well’, as soon as the messenger said that more omegas appeared holding a rack of dresses.

‘This one is for Lucy’, the omega announced handing Lucy a beautiful red wine-coloured long dress.

‘And these ones are for the twin fairies’.

‘Hey, we are not twins!’, Daya yelled back startling the omega presenting the dresses.

One stern look from Jo calmed her immediately, ‘But we are extremely grateful for the gift from the generous queen’.

Daya had a light pink coloured flowy dress that fell up to her knees with bow straps. While Mina got a teal asymmetrical flowy dress with the same length. Both of the fairies were in love with their dresses immediately.

The queen must have really put extra thoughts into the gifts or so Jo thought.

She was not prepared for what came next.

Jo was handed an extremely ugly looking dress, it almost looked like a granny’s night dress. The only good thing about it was the material and maybe the colour, if you looked past the atrocious frills on front part of the dress.

The siren had been a noble lady before in her own land and she knew this dress was hundred times uglier than what her servants back then used to wear.

Jo hesitantly took the dress and mumbled a quick thank you. After the omegas were gone, the girls continued staring at the ugly blue dress.

‘Um, the colour looks really nice’, Mina offered some of the positive side.

‘Yes! Look at this material. It feels so smooth’, Lucy quickly felt the dress’s material and rubbed her hands on it.

‘Man, that dress is FUGLY aka fu. cking ugly! Did you piss the queen off or something?’, Daya’s honesty finally broke the tension in the room.

‘Not that I can think of’, Jo tried brushing it off. So, it wasn’t just her. This dress really was out of the world hideous. Was the queen trying to send her a message or really angry at her for something?

The messenger reminded them before leaving that they had to wear the gifts from the queen. It was not really a request but an order.

‘I am sorry, Jo’, her friends felt bad for the siren who had to shamefully put on such an ugly gown in a gathering full of high ranked officials and pack members.

‘Nah, don’t worry about it. I always have a solution to every problem’, the siren replied as she rubbed her hands together.

‘What do you mean?”, Lucy asked puzzled, scratching her blonde hair.

‘It means all of those years of sewing and grooming classes are finally going to pay off’, Jo replied simply.

*

Lucy nervously walked with the two fairies. Jo had asked them to go without her as she still was not done working on the dress.

The ball was being held at the main chambers of the mansion under the grand chandelier.

Lucy stole a quick glance at her two friends. They were both looking amazing with the colour of their dresses matching their hair. The girls managed to accessorise their dress with some bangles, earrings and light makeup.

Lucy had her blonde hair tied up in a high bun and had some gem beads put on the bun. Her dress complimented her rosy cheeks and the red lipstick made her look bold. Lucy was a bit hesitant to try the red lipstick but Jo insisted it went well with the dress, so she decided to give it a go.

Once they neared the entrance of the chamber, they were ushered in by the royal guards. The ball was in a full swing with hundreds of the guest in attendance. The main chambers were so spacious that it could easily accommodate at least a few hundreds more.

The grand chandelier was lit and shone bright lights throughout the place. There were elegantly dressed people everywhere and Lucy felt a pang of guilt for wearing a pretty dress too while her friend wore a shabby one. But Lucy trusted Jo and knew she would find a way out of it.

She could already feel a few of the male guests eyeing her as she shifted a bit uncomfortably.

The two fairies had already left her side and gone up to get drinks. So much for begging them to stick with her throughout the night. Lucy felt like she was on display as she stood alone in a bustling gathering. She had worked as an omega for as far as she could remember. Hence being here amongst the highly ranked officials made her feel out of the place, completely.

A drunk royal general approached Lucy as he tried introducing himself to her.

‘Hey there, you gorgeous looking thing’, the man slurred.

Lucy could smell the alcohol from his breath but did not know how to politely decline the advances. She had never been to a place like this before, how was she supposed to know?

‘Hello there, general Fin. How is your wife doing? I heard she was almost nearing the end weeks of her pregnancy’, a familiar voice interrupted her train of thoughts.

The drunk general started stumbling as Caleb stood near Lucy grabbing her lightly by the waist.

‘I see you have met my partner for the night already’, Caleb announced, a hint of threat present in his tone.

‘Commander Caleb, greetings. I did not know she was your partner. My wife is doing fine’, he blurted out in one go and scrammed away.

Lucy disgustedly watched the fleeing man who was hitting on a young girl whilst having a pregnant wife.

‘Don’t worry, there are still good men out there, like me’, Caleb spoke reading her facial expression.

‘You look absolutely gorgeous tonight. I wish I could hide a gem like you from everyone’.

Lucy lightened up a little. ‘Thank you. You look not too bad yourself’.

As a matter of fact, that was an understatement. Caleb had his silver hair brushed back giving him a very sophisticated look in his black slim fit suit. He looked godsent, at least in her eyes.

Many of the she-wolves present were already stealing glances at him. He was after all one of the most eligible bachelors in the werewolf world. Being the right hand for the Alpha king and an Alpha of your own pack made you stand out from the rest of the competition, undoubtedly.

‘Please bow before the Alpha king and Luna Queen’, the announcer spoke after halting the music.

Everyone started bowing down as the royal couple made their grand entrance. They looked very attractive in their matching navy-blue suit and dress. Although the king looked far less excited to be at the ball. He looked like he had better things to do.

Olivia’s dress had almost the same material and colour as Jo’s, only it was prettier. It was a long gown with a V-shaped line. The dress had a slit on the left side exposing the queen’s godly long legs.

The queen looked around hoping to spot the ugly dress she had sent to that lowly omega. But she could spot it at all. After she started mixing in with the crowd and exchanging pleasantries, she almost forgot about Jo when she saw her husband pause mid conversation and look in the direction of the entrance.

She looked in the same direction and found Jo standing there. Wearing what she had sent but not quite.

It was the same dress but modified. The ugly frills were all gone and what was left was a smooth even surface of the statin blue material. The large hand sleeves were cut off and the dress only had two long straps on both sides of her shoulder. The length of the dress was also shortened and was now barely covering her knees. Gone were the straight front line of the hideous dress, now it had a low-cut V-line that accentuated her breast in the right places.

For looks, Jo had gone for a smoky eye makeup with only a clear lip gloss on, her red hair was swept to one side exposing her collarbones and neck. It took her nearly five hours to make turn the dress to this and it was worth every minute of the look on Olivia’s face.

Dante was looking at her. Most of the males in the room were also already looking at her with lust and hunger. She clearly won this.

But she was not prepared for when she heard a loud growl through the ball.

‘MINE’, she heard someone say.