Mated To The Alpha Who Hates Me

*****LYRA POV****

“Don’t you have crumbs to lick up somewhere, glutton?” Miss Emilie…our cook… taunted as she he dropped the tray of food on the table.

The pack members laughed at her words while I shrank in embarrassment.

“Aunty Emilie, please don't say that to her… she might cry…again,” one of the pack members taunted with a malicious pout, making everyone laugh at my dismay.

I quickly stood up from the dining table and rushed upstairs as the tears threatened to fall. I couldn't give them the sick satisfaction of seeing me fall apart.

I locked my door with a loud bang, leaned against it, and burst into tears.

My body shook as I clutched my chest. This wasn’t the first time I had heard those demeaning words.

I should have gotten used to it by now… but it still hurts. Badly.

“Lyra, are you okay?” my sister's soft voice came through the door. I immediately wiped my tears with the back of my hand.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” I muttered. But my voice cracked, betraying me.

I heard her sigh. “Open the door.”

Just like that, I moved away and fumbled with the lock. My eyes were still red and puffy when I let her into the room.

“Oh, Lyra… I told you to stop letting them walk all over you,” Aurora scolded when she saw me.

I shook my head and gave her a sad smile. “It’s nothing… I was just overreacting.”

Aurora clenched her fist and dragged me out of the room. With angry stomps, she marched downstairs, pulling me with her.

I tried to pull my hand away when we reached the bottom of the stairs, but her grip was too strong.

“Now everybody listen to me! If any of you dares to bully my baby sister again, I swear to the goddess, I will rip you apart!” she shouted, her voice firm and echoing across the hall.

“But we’re just stating facts, Lady Aurora. Lyra looks like a whale…” Marcus, the beta’s son spat in disgust and they all burst into laughter.

I bit my lip and subconsciously tried to hide behind Aurora, away from their prying eyes. But it was impossible.

They were right.

Unlike my elder sister, I looked like an elephant.

Where Aurora was tall, slender, and beautiful with striking blue eyes…

I, on the other hand, was short and fat… nothing close to beautiful.

It was as clear as daylight. I was absolutely hideous.

SMACK!

Aurora’s hand left a stinging mark on Marcus’s face. “Don’t you ever say that about my sister! I’m warning all of you. Now get out!”

At her command, they all rushed out of the dining room, their tails tucked between their legs in fear.

Beyond her beauty, Aurora was confident and strong…something I clearly wasn’t.

“Thank you, Aurora… but you didn’t have to,” I said genuinely as she let go of my hand.

Aurora chuckled and ruffled my hair. “You’re still my baby sister, no matter how old you get.”

I chuckled at her antics as I playfully pushed her hands away. “You're ruining my hair,” I smirked, fixing it.

“What’s all the fuss about this morning?” my father’s voice boomed from upstairs, making me freeze in my tracks.

When did he return?

My father—Stormson Valoric is the Alpha of the Ravenwood Pack. We have been at war with our rival, the Shadow Pack, for more than five years.

When did my father return from the war?

I heard his footsteps descending the stairs and immediately hid behind Aurora in fear.

“What are you doing here, Lyra?” he asked in irritation the moment he saw me in the dining room.

“Please don’t be mad. I told her to come down for breakfast,” Aurora lied.

My father clenched his jaw in anger. “I have warned you to always stay in your room, Lyra. What if someone visits and discovers I have a daughter who looks like a whale?!”

I shivered in fear and held onto Aurora tighter. “I’m so sorry, Father… it won’t happen again,” I pleaded, staring at the floor.

He took a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself. “You’d better thank your stars that I’m in a good mood today, or I’d have given you the beating you deserve!”

I trembled at the mention of beatings. I still remembered when I was fifteen and disobeyed him by leaving my room while guests were around.

The scars are still on my body as a constant reminder of my disobedience.

“Did something happen, Father?” Aurora asked, changing the subject. I sighed in relief.

My father grinned as he sat at the dining table. “Sit, Aurora. I have good news.”

Aurora pulled out a chair and sat, while I remained standing by her side.

My father had forbidden me from sitting at the dining table since I was eight, claiming I was too fat and would likely break the chairs.

Maybe he was right.

“What’s the news?” Aurora asked as she began eating the steak Miss Emilie had served earlier.

My father smirked. “The five-year feud between the Ravenwood Pack and the Shadow Pack has finally been resolved.”

“What? That’s amazing news!” Aurora jumped to her feet, eyes wide with joy. I couldn’t help but smile. It was a relief, so many warriors had been lost in that war.

“I know, right? That greedy bastard Alpha Lucian has finally decided to make peace,” my father scoffed, tossing the apple on his plate into the trash.

He had always hated Alpha Lucian. I’d heard from others that Lucian was cold and merciless.

Well, the Ravenwood Pack had been the one to challenge the Shadow Pack in the first place, and since then, Alpha Lucian had refused all peace offers.

I wondered… What changed his mind?

“What did you offer him this time?” Aurora asked, her mouth full.

It was no secret my father had tried everything; offering gifts, surrendering land, but Alpha Lucian had always refused.

My father let out a strange, hollow chuckle as his eyes flicked to Aurora. Something in his expression didn’t sit right.

“A tribute,” he said slowly, “a human tribute… as a symbol of alliance.”

Aurora’s brows knit. “That’s… so old-fashioned.”

She wasn’t wrong. The practice was barbaric. Masking slavery with words like tribute and alliance didn’t make it any less vile.

My stomach churned.

Then he said it so casually as though he were discussing the weather.

“The Alpha wants you, Aurora… as a tribute.”

The room fell into a deafening silence. Aurora’s spoon slipped from her hand and hit the floor with a clink that echoed like a gunshot.

“What?!” she screamed, leaping to her feet.

“Hell no! You can’t hand me over to some monster like I’m property! I won’t marry a man I don’t love!”

Without waiting for an answer, she stormed out, fury radiating off her like wildfire.

I moved to follow her, heart aching—until my father’s grip caught my arm like a steel trap. He yanked me back so violently I crashed to the floor with a cry.

I looked up at him, stunned, but what I saw in his eyes chilled me to my core.

“If Alpha Lucian believes I’d send my precious daughter to be his whore, he’s delusional,” he spat.

Then his gaze turned to me, cold and calculating. “But you? You’re perfect.”

My breath caught.

No.

No.

Please, no.

“You’ll be the tribute in Aurora’s place.”

The world spun. My limbs went numb.

“Father, please…” I choked out, collapsing to my knees. “I’m only tw….”

SMACK!

The blow came without warning, and I tasted blood.

“You should be grateful I’m finally giving you a chance to be worth something,” he hissed.

“You’ve been nothing but a disgrace since the day you were born.”

He grabbed my chin in a bruising grip, forcing me to look him in the eye.

His voice dropped to a venomous whisper.

“No one outside this pack knows you exist. You better not mess this up, you bloated disgrace.”

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I gave a trembling nod, sealing my fate with silence.

“If you do,” he growled, throwing me aside like a broken doll, “I’ll rip you apart with my bare hands.”

I lay crumpled on the cold floor, heart shattered, breath ragged. His footsteps echoed as he left the room.

And in that moment, one thought pierced through the terror.

How in the gods’ names was I supposed to convince the entire Shadow Pack that I was Aurora Valoric when we weren’t just different; We were opposites.

And if they found out… they wouldn’t just kill me.

They’d make me wish I was dead.