Chapter 5: Noella

Noella's POV

I sluggishly walked back to my duty post after hearing the news. I didn't know if I should classify it as good or bad news, but I know that within me, I was feeling envious as to sharing the man I had lusted after with my sister, and on the contrary, I wasn't the only one who had touched the Alpha.

"Argh!" I sighed in confusion, trying to push my mind away from it.

I started washing the dishes and, at the same time, rinsing them to fasten the pace of the morning chores. I took them to the kitchen to arrange them where they deemed fit.

The living room was as quiet as a graveyard; the Abels were not at home aside from my uncle going to the city to enroll Sara in college; Laura and Galvin were nowhere to be found.

I didn't bother to look for them, not when I was enjoying this little moment of peace.

I sat on the soggy armchair, alas, exhaling in relief. My eyes stared at all the hanging picture frames, and I couldn't believe that, in as much as I'm their family, my picture—not even one was found on the wall.

It was all theirs. I rolled my eyes in disgust and closed my eyes to rest for a bit, and my mind started reminiscing on the past—my encounter with Alpha Austin.

His touch, the warmth I felt being with him that made me almost forget he was my enemy, his hoarse voice that sounded interesting in my ears, and his amazing figure that can never be compared to any other in the whole of the universe What was I actually doing? Drooling over my nemesis? Feelings are uncontrollable, but I must control mine. I must not allow his cheap charm and fake attraction to quiver and sway me from the path I have chosen.

Either I die or he dies; it's a two way thing. Nature has already pictured our future; we can never be together, no matter what. The only right he has to control me is because he is the Alpha, and I better lay low and follow his commands so as to avoid having my head chopped off.

Almost lost in my thoughts, the flitting footsteps approached the living room, and immediately I heard them. I sprang up from the armchair and ran into the kitchen.

"I'll be skinned alive if they ever catch me sitting on their armchair." With that fear, I hid myself properly beside the kitchen door.

"Oh Lord, I would have just left the mansion entirely," I complained in a whispering tone, and the noise from the living room attracted my attention.

It wasn't my uncle. It was Mr. Frank and Laura's voices that I was hearing, and it seems they were in the heat of an argument.

"Why did you suggest that to my parents?" Laura asked in anger.

"If I didn't, then what? That's the only choice," Mr. Frank said in a sly tone.

"It wasn't the only choice. Why didn't you suggest me rather than my junior sister? Isn't this insanity!?" She queried.

"You know how much I love Alpha Austin and how far I can go just to make him mine forever, and you singlehandedly chose Sara for him?" She asked in a rhetorical, annoyed tone.

"I didn't take this decision out of interest. Your sister first claimed he was her mate before you; this brings me to the conclusion of bringing them together," he explained meticulously, where I was. I anxiously wondered what was going on.

I didn't know Laura was also a fan of love and Alpha Austin's admirer; he does have a lot of feelings for himself.

"Why? Why must you do this?" Laura wasn't willing to accept the heartbreaking truth.

"Do you want me to remind you of what happened three years ago? Your family conspired with Alpha Austin and killed Owen's family; if I hadn't lured Noella away, she would have also been a victim. This marriage isn't as easy as you think it is; it is for both a secret tie and a strong bond." These words came dropping into my ears like a blaring speaker and my heart like an explosive. I started shaking frantically and helplessly with my legs wobbling on the ground. I couldn't hold myself any longer, and due to the vibration, my hand mistakenly crashed into the dishes.

"Who's there?!" Their sharp, astonished voice called out in disgust, and with my shaking feet, I didn't wait to be tried; I used the back door and ran out of the mansion.

This is unbelievable! This can't be happening to me! The relatives I thought were just harsh and cruel to me also had hands in my parents deaths.

I rubbed my ears in confusion; maybe I didn't hear it properly.

"It's the fucking truth! The relatives you see today are nothing but your enemies; you're only alive by luck." My inner beast yelled the bitter truth through the mind link, yet I couldn't believe it.

For the second time since I was born, I transformed into my wolf form and took off hoofing and running into the thick, dark, and wet forest.

Should I still be with them? The rage in my heart has reached its peak, and if I don't control myself, I will kill them rashly.

I'm not too powerful yet; I need support to take my first enemy down.

Which brings me to the clear fact that, right from the day my parents and sibling died, I automatically became an orphan, with no parents or relatives. I'm just a maid to them, their bait and their rag; I was never significant in their eyes.

The cold almost got the best of me, and I transformed back to my human form, wrapping myself with my arms as I walked on the kind of bustling square.

Rumor spread like wildfire, and I heard gossip from both old and young wolves of different species talking about Sara's engagement with the Alpha. The news penetrated deeply into my heart, and for the first time, I had a reason not to be happy for any of their successes.

Since I can't find peace and happiness, then none of them deserve it. I swayed my attention away from the petty gossip and strolled back to the mansion.

"Hope no one notices my absence." I sighed, changing my steps into a wide, quick one.