Promised to the Alphas

Vanya

"Smile," Joy—my stepmother—hissed from my left.

I forced a smile onto my lips even though smiling was the last thing I felt like doing. The straps of the shoe's Joy forced me to wear were digging into my skin. I was sure that by the time I got home my feet would be covered in blisters.

Not even to mention the dress that matched the shoes and the underwear!

I hated dressing up, but I had no choice since my father was a public figure—the Mayor of Ottawa to be exact.

When my mother was still alive, we'd stay at home and watch movies because she wasn't very fond of parties either. But it all changed when she died, and my father married Joy. She had him wrapped around her finger, and I hated that.

I hated her.

My eyes darted around as we walked deeper into the grand room. People were everywhere, dancing or standing in groups probably gossiping or sitting by the tables enjoying the buffet.

I'd rather be at the library sorting through all the new books that were delivered earlier in the day.

My hand shook as I grabbed a glass of wine from the tray of a passing waiter. Ignoring Joy's whispered order for me to put the glass down, I took a sip and nearly spat it back out again. I've never been a fan of alcohol, but I drank the wine anyway—anything to help me get through the damn night.

I glanced around the room again as I started following Joy. She stopped every few seconds to greet someone she knew. Joy made sure to turn and point me out to whoever it was.

I managed to smile and utter the right things even though my mind wasn't focused on what was being said.

The air got lodged in my throat when my eyes fell on him. He stood a few heads taller than anybody in the room—not that it was his height that was drawing attention.

Don't get me started on the man's good looks!

The man was sex on legs, and every woman on this island thought of him like that. However, they would never act on those feelings or desires because of whom, or rather what he was.

The Alpha of his Pride.

Alpha you ask? Well, according to town history, the animal shifters—or rather Hybrids—as the town folk called them, arrived on the island a few days after Halloween years ago. It was way before I was born, but they made sure that we learned about them in school.

Anyway, nobody knew exactly how they came to be on the island. They were discovered by chance. Since we're only human, the first reaction was to kill them, and they had managed to kill some of them, but it suddenly changed. That part wasn't included in our history lessons. Somehow they came to some sort of agreement, and as they said; the rest was history.

The Hybrids mostly stayed in the woods so we didn't see them all that much, but now and again my father would invite them to these big social events. Only two of them ever show up, and from what I gathered from watching them, they seemed pretty close.

I was snapped back to reality when Joy dug her nails into my arm. Flinching, I pulled my arm from her hold and rubbed the bruised skin.

"Pay attention," she hissed, "and stop staring. You're making a fool out of yourself."

"I'm not staring."

She gave me a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Someone like him would never be interested in you."

"W-who?" I questioned.

"Mike. You've been staring at him."

I bit back a laugh. "Whatever you say, Joy."

She stared at me silently for a few seconds before she turned to continue her conversation with the woman whose name I forgot.

Staring down at my glass of wine, I pretended to be listening until I knew Joy was no longer watching me from the corner of her eye.

My eyes automatically darted back to where he stood, but to my disappointment, he was no longer there. I glanced around, but he was nowhere to be seen. Disappointment hit me hard.

The only reason I attended these gatherings was to stare at the eye candy.

My shoulders slumped. Had he already left? After one last sip, I placed the glass down and silently excused myself. Thankfully Joy was too engrossed in whatever they were talking about to notice me when I slipped away.

I headed towards the bathroom but changed direction when I was sure that Joy wouldn't see me if she happened to glance around.

I smiled politely at a few people my father was acquainted with as I passed them.

Only when I reached the patio doors did I breathe a sigh of relief.

Making my way over to the stairs, I walk until I reached the stone path that led deeper into the big garden. So far back, there weren't many lights which made it harder to see, but luckily I knew my way around.

Once I made it to the bench, I glanced around to make sure that nobody was around before I started tugging my dress up. I winced as I pulled the scrape of underwear back in place. Joy had made sure that the underwear matched the dress. God forbid I embarrass her in public.

It wouldn't do to have a fashion scandal printed in the local newspapers.

A sound from behind me had me spinning around. I could just make out the silhouette of a figure only a few feet away. At first, I thought that it was one of the guests who had wandered off, but when the person moved, the moonlight reflected off something the person held in his hand.

It took me all but two seconds to realize what it was. But the time my fight or flight instinct kicked in, it was already too late.

My scream got cut off when a sweaty hand clamped down over my mouth. The cold tip of the blade pressing against my throat made me freeze.

"Make a sound, and I'll slit your throat," he muttered against my ear. "Should've stayed inside, princess."

My instinct to fight finally kicked in when he started pulling me backward with him and deeper into the darkness. I whimpered. If we made it into complete darkness, he would kill me. He could do anything he wanted to me because nobody would hear me scream.

"You smell good," he said, rubbing his nose up and down my neck.

He stopped moving, but his hold only tightened. I shuddered in disgust when he licked my neck from my collarbone up to my ear.

Surely Joy would've noticed me missing by now. If not Joy, then my father. Someone would've noticed, right? But as the seconds ticked by, nobody came to my rescue.

"I'm going to have fun with you, and then I'm going to kill you for ruining my plans."

And I wasn't going to let it happen, I silently screamed at him. All I had to do was wait for the right moment. But what if it was too late?

His hold on my mouth loosened. I held my breath when his hand slid down to grope my breast. The knife was still pressed to my throat, but I'd rather risk having my throat slid than having him rape me.

Before he could do anything else, I slammed my elbow back into his ribs. The man gasped, and his body jerked, but my action didn't have the reaction I was expecting.

He spun me around so fast; his hand shot out, and he backhanded me. I fell to the ground and cupped my cheek. His next hit was just as unexpected—the man kicked me in the stomach before he straddled me.

"Help!" I screamed.

"Shut up!"

Another slap had my head snapping to the side. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. I could feel the sting of my lip where it had split.

"You're not worth it."

He raised his arm, and for a second the moonlight once again reflected off the blade of the knife he held in his hand before he lowered his arm. I waited for the pain, but it never came.

Something suddenly slammed into the man and knocked him off me. There were a few low growls that sounded so scary that I nearly peed myself.

I was about to roll away, but something thankfully stopped me. Shaky hands slowly moved down my stomach. I froze and sucked in a shocked breath when my fingertips brushed against the handle of the knife.

"Oh god," I gasped in panic.

He had stabbed me! He had actually stabbed me before he was ripped off me, but I hadn't felt a thing. My hand slid a little lower. The wetness was already starting to soak the material of the dress. I knew it was my blood, and that only made me feel sicker.

I was panting. It was a struggle to suck enough air into my lungs to breathe normally, and the darkness was there too, at the edge of my vision, waiting to suck me in.

I'm going to die. I wasn't ready to die. I had so many things I still wanted to do.

My body jerked when someone suddenly leaned over me. I thought it was that man again, but it took me a few seconds to realize that it wasn't a man—or human at all.

It was an animal—a very large one at that—with skin that felt velvety soft.

A bit of the panic inside me started to fade when the animal started purring. It lowered its upper body until it pressed against my chest and purred a little louder. The vibrations from its body and the sounds he made were having a calming effect on me.

I never wanted it to stop, but he did. A whimper fell from my lips when he pulled away. I wanted to reach for him, but my limps wouldn't co-operate.

"N-no."

A cold, wet nose nudged my cheek before he moved away. Something snapped loudly a few feet away, over and over, and then it suddenly stopped. There were a few minutes of silence, followed by a low groan.

"Vanya?"

"Y-you know my name." I opened my eyes and stared up at the figure hovering above me.

It was too dark to make out who it was, but somehow he seemed familiar.

"Of course, I do, sugarplum." He moved before he pushed my hands that were pressed to my stomach away. "The knife's not that deep, but I won't risk pulling it out."

"S-sugarplum?"

He chuckled. "You like that colorful sweet stuff. I've been told that it's called Jellybeans."

"W-who are you?"

"Your knight in shining armor." I heard him say before I was swallowed up by the darkness.