FATED TO ALPHA HUNTER BY VENNEH LISAH

𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

The breeze was cool as the day slowed down and all the servants prepared for dinner and end-of-day tasks. Rina and I were tugging white sheets from the clothesline, folding them by bringing the corners together and placing them in the basket. We had been working flat out most of the day, and Rina had been quiet for most of it. I knew she was itching to tell me something because she had tried a few times, but then she would fall quiet because someone was always around.

As we worked among the blowing winds and flapping sheets, Rina moved closer to me and dropped something into the front pocket of my apron. I glanced down before putting my hand in the pocket, feeling around for what it was. My fingertips brushed something cool, and I felt a paper. I twisted my wrist in the pocket to retrieve it and looked at what it was. It was a note.

The note read, "I am leaving at seven in the evening," and I looked at her. She chewed her lip before glancing around nervously and then reached into her shirt, bringing out a small key from her bra. She dropped it in my pocket.

"I stole the key from Dwight. It's for the laundry door," she whispered, nodding to the one we had just come out of. It ran behind the kitchens, alongside the far gardens where the fruit trees met the forest.

"Run along the river and head west. Keep going, and you will find a bridge. Meet us at the bridge. My mate said he would help me get you out. You have to be there at 7 PM sharp," she whispered, and I nodded, pulling another sheet down from the clothesline. My lips quirked at the corners.

"You convinced him," I smiled.

"Yes, but he said if you're late, we can't wait. He doesn't want to be caught waiting outside the town limits," she told me, and I nodded. Looking at the sky, the clouds were moving in dark and heavy, and it was going to be one hell of a storm when it hit. I just hoped I wouldn't get caught in it.

"I'm nervous. Are you sure he won't tell on me?" I asked anxiously.

"He promised me," she whispered before gripping my arm. "We will be free, not the freedom we used to long for, but actual freedom to live," she said, tears in her eyes.

"Always and forever," Rina whispered.

"More than my life," I replied.

"More than my life, always more," she repeated. We finished pulling the clothes in off the line and walked back through the laundry doors when Rina shrieked. I turned to look back at her, and she rubbed the spot on her back, growling. Laughter reached my ears, and Rina turned. I noticed the rotten apple splattered against her back.

"Percy, you little sh*t," Rina hissed, dropping her basket and chasing after him. She picked up rotten apples that had fallen beneath the trees. Percy was one of the stable boys, a teenager who was always up to mischief or making a mess any way he could. Rina shrieked when he pelted another apple her way. She lobbed one back, and I laughed, watching as she tried to hit him with the apples while her shrill cries and his laughter filled the silence.

Rina picked up another apple and tossed it where he went to dart behind the castle wall just as Desmond walked around. The mushy apple smacked him in the face, and he froze, stunned for a second before wiping the mush off. Rina snickered, trying to muffle her laughter at hitting the guard. Percy hid behind him before popping his head out and sticking his tongue out at Rina. Desmond wiped the mushy apple off his clothes and growled. I laughed, bits of apple sticking to his crisp, clean uniform, and a chunk was stuck in his stubble.

Desmond noticed Rina pointing at me, and his gaze followed hers. My eyes widened, and I shook my head, trying not to laugh at the sight of apple stuck on his face. However, I couldn't help but chuckle. Desmond raised an eyebrow at me and asked, "You think this is funny, my Queen?" with a hint of a smile on his lips.

I snickered before stopping as he walked over to the apple tree, making Rina squeal and rush toward me, using me as a shield. Desmond picked up a gross-looking apple that was almost crumbling in his hand.

He tossed the apple in the air a couple of times, letting it mush up more before he laughed and threw it. I shrieked and ducked, falling on top of Rina, only to hear him gasp, and Percy burst out laughing, holding his tummy and pointing behind us. Rina and I looked behind us to see Zara covered in the rotted mush. We both tensed, waiting for her scolding as she stepped closer, examining her soiled apron.

Zara looked back up, and her eyes went to us on the ground. Rina and I both pointed to Desmond standing by the apple tree with Percy. We looked in their direction to find Desmond pointing the blame at Percy.

Zara glared, and we all froze in place as the old woman stalked toward us. She ripped off her apron and declared, "Apple war it is then." She huffed before running over and scooping up some apples. Rina and I giggled before jumping up and joining the fray, grabbing some apples as well.

𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

Dwight was standing by my office window, entirely consumed with whatever he was staring at. He chuckled, and Gary looked over at him. I tried to ignore them while I put my head back down to go over my work. I was consumed with dozens of Ania's files, either to vindicate her or get enough reasons to put her behind bars forever.

My friend's death reminded me why I never allowed lycans to set foot in my castle grounds, except Alpha Kelly and of course, Rina and Ania, who were the first pure lycan servants we had. Lycans couldn't be trusted, and everyone was scrutinized before ever entering through my castle gates.

The sound of laughter reached my ears, making me tilt my head up. I looked up from examining Ania's files and saw Gary and Dwight watching out the window. Both of them held silly grins of amusement on their faces.

"They better run now. That old woman has a good arm on her," Gary chuckled before he cringed.

"Oh, that must have hurt," Dwight snickered.

"What are you both looking at?" I asked, and Gary turned slightly to look over his shoulder at me. "Apple war, my king," he laughed. My eyebrows raised, and he turned back to the window before snorting at whatever he was watching. Intrigued, I got up, walked over to the window, and stood beside Dwight. I looked down towards the gardens to see Zara, Rina, and Ania firing apples at Desmond and Percy, our stable hand boy. The cheeky little man threw horseshit at Dwight once, and man, did he go off. Dwight chucked him in the small lake by the stables that day. The kid was always up to no good, but he was a breath of fresh air.

I watched with amusement as Ania picked up an apple and lobbed it, completely missing her target, only for Desmond to hit her in the head with one. I saw the look of panic on his face when she rubbed the spot. He rushed over to her, only for her to move and facepalm him with the mush on her hand.

She landed on top of him after Desmond slipped on an apple in his haste to escape her. I noticed nervous glances from Gary and Dwight, as they continued to wrestle each other, as if they expected me to blow up over them mucking around. Percy rushed to help Desmond as Ania managed to get him to the ground, only for Percy to be smashed with an apple by Zara. The woman fist-pumped the air.

Ania laughed, climbed off Desmond, and then leaned down to smear her hand over his face, making him cringe before she ducked off. Thunder cracked across the sky. They all froze, looking up at the sky. Rina's and Percy's shoulders slumped. Ania wiped her clothes off as she made her way back to the laundry door, stopping beside Desmond and offering him a hand up.

He took it, and she pulled him to his feet before he bowed to her. Ania shook her head before waving goodbye to Percy. Rina skipped over to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing her head against Ania's shoulder as they walked inside.

"They seem to be having a good time," I murmured with a nod before walking back to my bar and grabbed a glass. I poured some whiskey in it and downed it before pouring another. Yet after the third glass, I realized that no matter how much I drank, it wouldn't subdue the jealousy coursing through me from seeing her fooling around with the guard.

"My king, feeling jealous?" Gary chuckled. "Of course, he is. Look at his red face," Dwight added, chuckling as well. "Another man's servant is another man's treasure," Dwight taunted, and oh boy, I was a second away from blowing up if they kept it up. Why did I order Ania to be my servant again?

"I wonder if Rina has told Ania that she's leaving this afternoon," Gary said, completely changing the subject, maybe because veins had popped all over my face. I huffed and looked over at him from where he sat on the armchair at my desk.

"Well, she'll know tomorrow when she wakes up, and Rina won't be here anymore," I told him with a shrug, cooling down.

"You should have said no," Dwight growled.

"He's her mate, and she asked to go with him. I won't deny her wishes if that's what she wants," I told him. We warned Rina, but she wouldn't listen, believing whatever lies Alpha Kelly fed her. Sometimes you just have to let people make mistakes.

"He doesn't deserve her," Dwight growled, glaring at my desk, and I sighed.

Gary gripped Dwight's shoulder and said, "She will see reason."

Dwight snarled in response, "By then, it will probably be too late."

Gary continued, "If not, when she wishes to come back, and you have given her your number, as well as the King's and mine, she can get a hold of Ania if she wants to return."

"I'll go get her," I said, finishing his sentence, and Dwight let out a sigh but nodded in agreement.

"What if he harms her?" Dwight asked, his face full of anguish at the thought.

"She's his mate; he wouldn't be able to harm her without harming himself," Gary reassured him, but that was not entirely true.She-wolves were always vulnerable to dominant men, especially alphas , but we couldn't acknowledge that in front of Dwight, though he probably knew.

"There are other ways to destroy someone; you don't have to physically harm them to break them," Dwight added, and his words made me furrow my brows in concern.