Page 35 of A Female Alpha for the Lycan Prince

“You deserve so much better,” she huffs, anger flashing in her eyes. “He should kiss the floor you are walking on and be grateful for being mated to such a strong wolf and wonderful person. But it’s his loss, not yours.” She pauses. “What I’m saying is, once the heartbreak lessens… once you can open your heart to others again, why not allow yourself to look around a bit? You are an alpha through and through. Men line up to be with you.” She smiles. “Celine, you have a choice. And you have more than one choice! You can go for a strong warrior to help you defend the pack, you can go for a beta to help you with strategy, a kind omega to be the luna of the pack. Fuck, Celine, you have so many options. I doubt Marius is aware of how many options you have.”

The Heirs to Silverlake

*MARIUS*

I’vebeenhauntedbythe same nightmare for years. Yellow eyes are staring at me. The look in them is one of malice and disgust. And that menacing grin almost doesn’t match the dispassionate voice, one devoid of any emotion.

No one will ever love you.

You are weak.Weak. Weak. Weak.

I’m weak.

My eyes snap open. Not again. It’s been a while since I’ve had this nightmare. There is no fighting, no yelling. But still, there is this lingering sense of danger and threat that consumes my very essence, frightening me and making it impossible to move out of sheer terror.

I crawl out of bed to grab a bottle of whisky, downing a few glasses before dropping back onto the mattress. I don’t normally drink alone, but tonight, I need it to sleep. I’m so drained. At least it will knock me out. The bruise from Celine’s punch hasn’t fully healed yet, and looks like it’s going to take all night. That’s way longer than my normal healing time. It should have been long gone by now, especially considering I’m an alpha.

Eventually, the alcohol pulls me back into a deep, dreamless sleep, but it makes no difference. I wake up as tired as I was when I went to bed. However, I figure there’s no use in trying to sleep anymore, and drag myself out of bed to get ready for the day.

I’m earlier than usual for breakfast, and some of the others are already here. Aryanna is here, obviously happy that our little mission was a success, along with Liam and Dante. Annie, Ella, and Jun are missing though, which is surprising. Especially since Annie usually makes a point to eat with the rest of the pack. She thinks it makes her accessible and approachable, and considering the number of pack members normally hovering around her, she’s probably right.

“Wow,” Aryanna grins. “You look like shit, Mari.”

I groan. “Thanks for the compliment.”

She chuckles softly and hands me some coffee. “It’s strong,” she promises. Dante and Liam exchange a look between each other before Liam glances at me worriedly, but thankfully, he doesn’t say anything.

When we were teens, Liam would come to me and ask what was going on. He’d want to know if he could help or if he’d done something to upset me. He didn’t like that I was avoiding him. I’d cruelly push him away, saying mean and hurtful things on purpose in the hopes that he would stop asking me if I was ok. Then one day, he did stop.

I thought I would feel relieved, but now I realize that pushing him away just hurt more, and I have no one else to blame for it but myself.

After breakfast, Aryanna and I head over to training. I might not look like much at first glance, but I’m pretty strong and skilled. It comes naturally due to my lycan alpha blood. I normally train under Liam, along with Aryanna and the other elites. But the last few training sessions, I’ve felt my strength is weakening. I need to put a lot of effort into my training just to keep up with basic counterattacks.

Shit, why is this so difficult!?

I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but when I casually look around at the end of training, I notice how Liam’s gaze lingers on me. Why again does my brother have to be my alpha? He knows me too well; sees too much. Talk about rotten luck. Liam ends the training with some encouraging words; I know he’s proud of his elites, they are fantastic. The other wolves from my class gather around in a group to chat before they leave.

Liam links me.A word, please.

I sigh. Of course. I nod toward Aryanna. “See you later for lunch?”

“Yep.” She nods and clasps my shoulders. “And I’m counting on you to come with me when I visit the witches.” She grins.

I nod and wait for her to leave before I approach my brother. He’s waiting outside, leaning against the fence surrounding the huge park. The little kids from the nursery are playing there at the moment, giggling and laughing. Liam smiles as he watches them.

“Hey,” I say, pulling him out of his thoughts.

He turns to look at me. “What’s going on?” he inquires.

“What do you mean?”

“What is wrong with Cyrus?” he asks sharply.

How the fuck did he notice!? “Cyrus?” I try to sound surprised because I thought I hid it better.

“Your wolf is strong. I know that. What’s wrong with your connection to him?”

“I… I caught a stomach bug,” I lie. “And have trouble focusing on our connection.” I’m shocked myself at how real it sounds, at how skillfully I lie. I’m careful of Liam not to touch me in any way though. Liam’s gift is to detect lies when he touches someone.