Word Count: 2351

~Lavelle

The fairytale is well and truly over.

I shove into the tavern, pushing my drenched hood back off my head. The rain seems fitting tonight.

My night with Alpha Avi feels like a vague, intangible dream. Only three nights ago did it occur, but I could be convinced otherwise.

I don't usually venture onto this street in the village. This tavern is rowdy, full of intoxicated males and large chested females using their talents to pillage them of their money. As they should.

The stench of alcohol and sweat hangs stagnant in the air as I manoeuvre carefully around people. Ale sloshes from pitchers, making the degrading wood floor slick as my boots pick across it.

I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my sister, and the note she left me.

Someone's elbow digs into my ribs, and another's shoulder slams into mine. I shove at the overzealous males, cursing at their raucous behaviour as I wade to the bar.

I doubt Alpha Avi would take me on the date he promised if he knew I was here.

The seat is sticky as I slide onto it, and the bar itself is greasy. Beside me, sits my sister, swallowing mouthfuls of foamy ale until she sees me from the corner of her eye.

"Caroline," I greet tightly.

She slams her tankard back down, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She hasn't changed in the months it's been since I last saw her.

Her mousy brown hair is tied in a vicious knot above her head, akin to wild grown bramble. Deep slashes of violet shadow her under eyes, and the pallor of her skin is frightfully uncanny.   

"Darling sister." She smiles haphazardly, giving me a glimpse at a newly missing tooth on the bottom right side of her mouth. "I already have your favourite drink ready for you."

She slides the tankard over to me that she had just been drinking from. It's half full with a stomach turning film having formed where there were once bubbles.

"I don't drink." I press it away with my palm.

"Sure you do." She gives me a nudge. "I spent the money."

I huff. "What money?"

"Exactly. Drink." She pushes it in front of me again.

She's goading me. I'm easy to manipulate when I'm a little intoxicated, but if that's what's going to take to get through this conversation, then so be it.

"Fine." I take a sip, trying not to cringe at its sour taste. "Why are you here?"

Her note had been vaguely ambiguous, but hinted at the consequences of me ignoring my sisters call.

"Something went wrong...with Ambrose." Her shoulders sag as her gaze drops to the bar's filmy surface.

"Who?"
 
"He was my fiancé." She wiggles her naked fingers. "Anyway, he took all the money I had to my name. He made himself seem like a wealthy gentleman, but he was nothing but a scam artist."

I doubt she had much money to be stolen. She's always been skint. She gets her poor money handling skills from our father, while I obsessively cling to every coin like I'll never see it again.

She also has our fathers hazel eyes. They are predominantly brown, but close to her irises are flecks of green that remind me of how father always described our mother.

"What does this have to do with me?" I ask blandly.
 
"I need money." She raises her brows, pulling a face that practically says 'duh'.

"I have no money." I shake my head. "I spend all day working and all night tending to father. All my money goes toward rent and his medical supplies."

A crowd of males cheer animatedly from behind me, raising their fists in the air. I believe one of their hair-brained cohorts is draining his entire tankard in one go.

Males are so often like children. They find amusement in the darnedest things.

"Then perhaps you should get more money," Caroline drawls. "I know about your wealthy friend. I'm sure she will take a loan."

I flinch at that notion. The thought of asking Mel for money makes me physically ill —  mostly because I know she would say yes, and our friendship would be forever burdened by me owing her.

"I can't pay back a loan..."

Caroline snorts ungraciously. "Sure you can. You'll figure it out. You always do."

My shoulders slump forward. The other times Caroline asked for money, I had to go to great lengths to secure it. I emptied my own savings, then my fathers coffers. I sold off all our familial belongings and offered help to anyone who would take my work in my spare time.

Now, I have nothing to offer her. My pockets are as dry as my mouth currently is.

"Caroline...you can't show up after months and demand money from me again. You took all I had last time," I insist lowly, thinking of the night I curled up on my bedroom floor and cried at the horrid situation I was in.

She drinks some more, her stare unrelenting. "I agreed to keep quiet about what father did. You owe me."

"Where is your family loyalty?" I hiss.

Her face twists into something feral.

"He was a monster. He risked our lives, and you don't seem to care," she snaps. "You should have let him die. In fact, you still can."

"You can't say that." I've never been so grateful for the loud volume in this tavern. "I hate what he did. You know I do. That doesn't mean that I'm going to let our only family member die."

This moral quandary has been plaguing me since my father committed his terrible act. He got sick almost immediately after, and I had to make the impossible decision to save his life or let him die, as everyone would have wanted.

I couldn't kill him. I couldn't bear the weight of that on my shoulders.

"You and I could have been enough for each other." Caroline's knuckles pale around the handle she grips.

I snort with derision. "Oh sure. Right after you abandoned me before I was even eighteen."

Her running almost killed me. We may not have grown up very close, but some warning would have been nice. After she left I had nothing.

She pulls back an inch. "I had to go."

I look for regret, for shame, but she keeps it cloistered in the deepest recesses of her psyche.

"I'll get you the damn money alright." What other choice do I have? "But you must continue to keep father a secret. No one can know he's in town, nor that he is sick."

Grim satisfaction presses away the lines in her face. She's going to wring me dry once again, and she won't be burdened by her decision.

She leans close, the sour stench of alcohol on her breath.

"The townsfolk may have forgiven your sins, sister, but I never will." She claps me hard enough on the back to force the breath from my lungs. "I'll be around in a couple of days to pick up what I'm owed."

The chair scrapes against wood as she peels back from the bar. She drains the rest of her drink before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

I watch warily as she pushes my tankard closer to me. "Drink up sis. This round was on you."

I gape after her as she sifts through the crowd and disappears. When I turn again, the tavern keeper is looking at me expectantly, but no matter how deep I shove my hands into my pockets, I can't find a single coin to spare.

"I'm sorry. I have no money," I exclaim, dejected.

A dark, horrible scowl deepens on his face. I doubt he has any interest in hearing about how I spent my money on medicine this week and don't get paid for another two days.

Hopefully he'll just throw me out and demand I never return, rather than leave me with a broken limb or bruised skin.

The sudden sound of coins clattering on the bars surface has me shifting my gaze to the man who's slipped into where Caroline was sitting.

"It's on me." He looks up at the tavern keeper. "Another one of these for her, please."

Oh no. It's Zyre.

He's settled into the seat like he owns it, shoving back his black hood that is mottled with rain. The ends of his dark hair are wet and beginning to curl against his temples.

When he turns to look at me, he appears...grim. It's gone in a blink, replaced by an easy smile that I'm sure has charmed many into his bed.

"Uh..." I should go.

Sensing my intentions, his look sharpens. "It's too late to run. I've already seen you, Lavelle."

My elbows bump against the bar as my head sinks into my hands. "Shit. Fuck."

"Pleasant language." He laughs a little to himself, just under his breath. "What brings you to this unsavoury tavern, so far from good society?"

It's over. Zyre has spotted me here and he's going to report this back to Avi, who will then deem me unworthy of courting. Just like that, my life will return to its usual mundane bleakness.

All because of one aggravating male.
 
"None of your business," I snap at him, lowering my hands so he can absorb the full brunt of my glare.

He doesn't balk at my look. He slides the freshly filled tankard closer to me.

"Indulge me," he purrs.

I study him for a moment, weighing my options. Either I accept failure and leave this bar right now, or I fight for what I want.

"You can't tell Alpha Avi I was here..." I try not to sound too desperate. Secretive, elusive males like Zyre know how to take advantage of those in predicaments like mine.

If only it mattered that he's here too. He doesn't look remotely as proper as he did at the ball. Although, while he's lost the suit, he can't shake that Alpha bloodline look that he carries everywhere with him.

"Why not?" He takes a long drink of his ale, seemingly unbothered by its cheap taste.

I lean closer. "Please promise me. I'll pay you."

It's a fools deal to make. Zyre clearly knows it, as amusement dances across his face, followed by a short, abrupt laugh.

"With what money? You can't even pay for your drinks."

"He can't know, okay? He told me he wanted to court me, which is a desire I imagine will disappear once he hears how I was sighted in a tavern of this nature." I gesture around me.

Mind you, Zyre is here on his own accord as well. What about this place he feels is appealing doesn't matter, because his reputation isn't impacted. His secrets are still safe behind his impassive façade.

"You're not wealthy." It's not a question.

I pause. "You say it like you know me."

He's silent for a moment, his eyes glistening as he takes a long drink from his foamy beer.

"I know you secured an invitation to the ball off the back of your very wealthy friend, Melora. I know she entertains you as her poor, unfortunate friend." He says is so casually it barely feels like the insult it likely is.

"Excuse me?"
 
"I know you aren't apart of the society you pretend to be. I know you scrape by, barely able to afford food and rent let alone lavish parties and an apartment in the best part of town," he continues, peeling back my poorly constructed mask with every word.

Defeat curls in my chest. It's over. I'm not sure how he has done it, but he's learnt enough about me to destroy my prospects entirely.

"How do you know any of this? You only just arrived to this pack."

"I know a great deal about this pack and its inhabitants." He absently brushes his thumb over a golden ring I hadn't noticed before on his middle finger. "Are you trying to extort my cousin, or what?"

His accusation isn't launched with animosity. In fact, he sounds like he's teasing me, like he already knows better.

"No! Of course not!" I don't want Avi's money.

"Then why the ruse?"

In any other situation, I would tell him to mind his own business. It's embarrassing, admitting my insecurities, and how unwilling I am to gamble in this situation. But he holds my fate in the palm of his hand, and lying to him won't garner any sympathy.

"I don't stand a chance with him otherwise." I cup my tankard with both hands, take a sip. "I never intended to take an interest in him, but the ball just happened to me, and now...now I would like a chance with him."

His stare is unflinching. "You wish to marry him."

"Perhaps. If he proves himself to be kind and loyal." I shift uncomfortably, getting the feeling Zyre is very displeased about the idea of marrying Avi. Tension is radiating off him.

What is his problem? Am I really such a repulsive option for an Alpha?

"Such admirable, desirable traits." He drums his fingertips against the bars surface. "Will you test out his bedroom skills as well?"

I pull back. "How dare you ask me such a thing."

His wolfish grin returns, the dimples on his face irritatingly distracting. It's like they exist to disarm me. Everything else about him is harsh and imposing, except for those damn things.

"Well, your aspirations are high, which I appreciate. I also seek to gain a great deal, so I shall help you."

I straighten. "You won't tell him about my misfortune?"
 
"I won't." His eyes glisten.  "At a price."

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If you want to read ahead, you can find this story on Inkitt 15 chapters ahead! The first five chapters are available for free (:

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~Midika 💜🐈‍⬛