KALIA
"I hope that you have learned from your mistakes, babe?" Callum questioned but I didn’t reply. Angered by my silence, he slapped me across the face till I tasted blood which caused me to yelp and cry out in pain.
"When I ask you a question Kalia, you’re supposed to answer immediately. Have you forgotten that you’re still my wife and that I have a claim over you?" He cautioned me and I felt the tears sting my eyes as they threatened to fall.
I have long concluded that the man standing in front of me is not my husband anymore. He is a completely different person. He isn’t the same man that I had married but a shadow of the man I once loved.
"Did you ever..." I wipe the tears on my face as they fall aggressively. "I mean, have you ever loved me, Callum?"
"No." He sharply replied. "I have never loved you Kalia. I love your stepsister, Celyn. Our marriage and this alliance was nothing but a facade between ourselves and our families. I only married you because you had something that I desperately wanted, your birthright as the first daughter and now, it’s mine."
With dazed eyes, I glanced at his face only to see him smiling at me in my wretched state. Anger, hurt and pain sizzled through my bloodstream as I stared at him but he didn’t seem to care. He never did and everything slowly began to make sense now.
Callum was the first son of Alpha Zade and when we were introduced to each other to be married for the first time, I thought that it was love at first sight.
He was not only charming but had a bright and loving personality. He always stood up for me and made me feel at home which was something that i never got to experience while growing up with my own family.
My mother was a helpless slave and Omega who got pregnant for my father, Alpha Williams Lockwood out of wedlock.
Growing up, I heard that she was accused of a crime and chased out of the pack by my father’s parents because they refused to accept her as my father’s lover.
Even my father doesn’t speak about her at all. I was told that he even rejected her pregnancy.
She died trying to save me from a ghastly fire accident when I was five years old and with nowhere else to go, I was reluctantly taken in and raised by my father and his new wife Vanessa, against his wish.
My stepmother, Vanessa was the only daughter of a powerful Alpha from a neighbouring pack and they had a daughter together, Celyn, who became my stepsister.
The first day I set foot into that house, my whole life turned into utter chaos. I was treated like a slave and was forced to serve them against my better judgement.
My stepmother never failed to remind me that I was an outcast. That I was nothing and was only a failed product of my father. With time, they succeeded in reducing me to nothing and that’s why I felt hope when Callum came into my life.
He was like a ray of sunshine that had come to brighten up my dark miserable life. A knight in shining armor that had come into my life to protect me.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t scared of dreaming. I wasn’t scared of the future or what it held.
I was prepared to face anything head on as long as I had him and when he proposed that we get married, I didn’t hesitate to accept his proposal.
But soon after our marriage, Callum began to change right before my eyes. I had no idea what had gotten into him or maybe I did but still chose to ignore the signs as they constantly presented itself.
He started with skipping dinners and then keeping late nights all in the name of work. I tried to question his actions but he denied ever doing anything to hurt me each time I brought up the topic.
That was until I caught him cheating on me with Celyn, my stepsister.
I had just conducted a pregnancy test which showed positive and I was overly excited to share the good news with him, thinking that this news will bring a little happiness to our marriage only for me to walk in on them naked in each other’s arms.
I was so furious that I attacked Celyn and instead of Callum taking responsibility for his actions, to apologize and tell me that he was wrong, he beat me up and locked me in his closet as punishment for attacking her.
It’s been two days and I haven’t had water or food to eat. Callum instructed all the maids not to give me even a single drop of water. To make matters worse, he only promised to let me out when I apologised to Celyn for hitting her.
"Since this marriage has been nothing but an inconvenience and facade for you then why don’t you just let me go?" I cried out desperately.
"Just reject and divorce me already. Let me go!"
He scoffed. "Not until you experience double the pain and torment that you inflicted on Celyn by hitting her. Sincerely apologize to her and I’ll let you go."
Just then, the door to his closet pushed open and someone walked in with heels gently tapping on the ground. I looked up to see Celyn staring at me with a smile on her face.
"Please let her go babe." She pleaded in pretense, sounding so childlike as she held onto his arms. "I’m sure that she’s learnt her lesson already. Don’t torture her any further."
"She still has to apologize to you my love. Not only did she disrupt our privacy but she also hit you. How dare she lay hands on my woman." He teased and she blushed while they swooned over themselves as though I wasn’t there at all.
"Kalia." Celyn called and crouched to the ground next to me. I was too tired, too hurt, too weak to answer her so I just remained silent.
"Just apologize so that Callum can release you. I’m your sister right? Can’t you do this much for me."
I wanted to laugh but I couldn’t bring myself to. I may have been dumb and naive all my life thinking that I would always have to please everyone but not anymore.
I spat on her face, my eyes glaring in rage. "I will never apologize to you Celyn. Over my dead body."
She wiped her face slowly and grabbed my hair, pulling it by the roots causing me to cry out in pain.
"You want to die so bad right? Fine. I’ll make sure you die a painful and miserable death." She swore vehemently.
"I won’t let you get away with this Celyn." I threatened as I struggled to pull myself away from her grip but she slapped me and pushed me against the closet wall.
I hit my back and fell to the ground when I felt an excruciating pain pass through my entire body. I let out an ear splitting scream and held onto my stomach tightly as the pain shot up my stomach down to my abdomen.
"My baby." I muttered to myself with bloodshot eyes as tears slid down my cheeks uncontrollably.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked, my voice dipped in hurt.
"W-What have I ever done to you that you decided to hurt me in this manner? You know that I love Callum and you know that he’s married to me so why..."
She scoffed. "Callum is married to you? Please..." She rolled her eyes at me nonchalantly.
"The only reason why Callum got married to you in the first place was because you threw yourself at him." She accused me.
"He has always loved me but he took pity on your naive and desperate ass and that’s why he ended up with you. If he had known that you weren’t really my father’s daughter from the start then he wouldn’t have bothered about you in the first place."
"W-What?" I blurted out. My eyes widened in bewilderment. "What do you mean by I’m not our father’s daughter? I’m his first daughter, his child. We’re a family. He and my mom—"
"Grow up Kalia! Are you really that desperate for love and affection?" She snapped at me.
"Aren’t you tired of acting like you didn’t know? Everyone in this pack is well aware that you’re not related to us. Your mother cheated on my father. She betrayed him and accused him of being responsible for it. That’s why she was thrown out of the pack."
"If she hadn’t died, he wouldn’t have accepted you into our lives. He had no choice but to raise the bastard child of another man and that’s how you ended up with us. You’re not my sister and you’re definitely not my father’s child by blood."
I shook my head in disbelief, tears falling from my eyes like twin rivers. "That’s not true. I don’t believe you. That’s a lie."
She clicked her tongue amusingly. "Believe it or not, the choice is up to you. I’m just being a better person by telling you what you need to know. No one cares about you and no one will come to your aid. You will rot in this disgusting place and that’s a promise."
With that, they shut the door and locked me up again. "Make sure she doesn’t leave that place until she reflects on her actions. Witches like her need to be taught a lesson." He declared coldly before walking away.
Curled up in the darkness, I gasped for breath as more tears streamed down my eyes. I felt blood seep from my privates and soak the floor which was a clear indication that I had just lost my baby.
I wailed bitterly as I lay there in the dimly lit corner of the closet. The air was tight and I could barely breathe. With every sob that cracked out of my throat, I slowly felt my life force draining away.
With shaky hands, I caressed my stomach, overwhelmed by sorrow for the child I could never bring to this world. Memories flooded my head like sharp blades piercing my soul.
"It cannot end like this. I need another chance, p-please." I croaked out in a throaty breath as I said my last prayers to the moon goddess, hoping she would hear me this time and come to my aid.
She has already abandoned me years ago but now, I has to prove herself to. She needed to.
"If I should ever meet any of them in my next life, I promise to make them pay." I swore in a pain filled voice. "I promise to avenge my death and make their lives miserable as they have made mine."