Alpha's One Night Bride
Alpha’s One Night Bride – Chapter 19

Ronnie grew up under the influence of her mother, Melissa, and father Rock. For years, she’s watched the abuse happening under her nose, but she was too young to do anything about it.

Arina and Ronnie never had a good relationship, but secretly, Ronnie admired Arina for everything that she was. Ronnie was only a couple of years younger, but she somehow looked up to Arina like an older sister. Not that Arina ever cared to be a sister to Ronnie. To Arina, Ronnie was nothing but a nuisance, an intruder in her home.

It wasn’t her fault that her mother and Arina’s father had an affair and conceived her. How could she be of blame?

After Melissa and Ronnie moved into Rock’s home, Arina never made herself known. She would stay locked up in her room, much like her mother used to, and dissociate from the rest of the family. When she did make appearances, it would only be to fight with her father. They would get into such heated arguments, but he never once laid his hands on her.

Ronnie could tell he was holding back a lot and she secretly admired the fact that Arina had such balls to stand up to her father after knowing how badly he treated her mother.

“You aren’t my father! You aren’t any kind of father!” Arina would yell to him.

“As Alpha, you will show me respect,” Rock would hiss back.

“Respect? What would you know about respect!?” Arina shouted.

“Ronnie?” Melissa said from behind her. “What are you doing awake?”

Ronnie, who was sitting on the stairs, scooted over for her mom to sit beside her. Oftentimes Rock and Arina fighting would wake her up and she would scurry down the stairs to listen to them.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Ronnie admitted.

“It isn’t polite to eavesdrop,” Melissa warned.

“Are they going to be okay?” Ronnie asked.

“You know your father; he has a hothead. But he’s going to be fine,” Melissa assured her. Ronnie frowned.

“What about Arina?” She asked. This time it was Melissa’s turn to frown.

“Arina can worry about herself. She’s a big girl. She doesn’t need us to worry about her too,” Melissa answered.

Even then, that didn’t sit right with Ronnie. Arina lost her mother a few years ago. She didn’t have anybody in her life to worry or care for her. This family was all that she had.

“Hey, Arina,” Ronnie said in passing, one afternoon. Arina was heading into her room while Ronnie was standing out in the hallway.

Arina turned to look at her; her face expressionless and her lips were pressed into a firm line.

“What?” She asked dryly. Her tone took Ronnie back a bit. She wasn’t sure what she did wrong other than say “hey”.

“I just wanted to say hi,” Ronnie said, sheepishly. “We never talk and…”

“There’s a reason for that, Ronnie,” Arina cut her off. Ronnie stayed quiet so Arina could finish. “It’s because of you and your mother that my mother is no longer around. So no, whatever you want to say or do. I’m not for it. I want no part of it. I want no part of you.”

Arina disappeared into her room, leaving Ronnie there with her thoughts.

Over the short amount of time that Ronnie knew Arina, she tried to make a connection with Arina, but nothing she did was ever good enough. She didn’t understand why Arina blamed her and her mother for the death of Emlin. What happened to Emlin was unfortunate, but it had nothing to do with them.

That is until Ronnie found out the truth. She overheard Melissa and Rock talking about the night Emlin died and she found out they had everything to do with it.

“I did it for us, Rock. Don’t you understand that? You were never going to leave her, and she was never going to leave you. She was miserable,” Melissa cried to her new husband.

“She wasn’t supposed to die like that. Do you know how much trouble we could get in? This could ruin everything I’ve built,” Rock hissed to her.

“No one needs to know about it. They all think it was a suicide anyways. Rock, she was miserable. She hated being your wife and she hated being a mother. She wanted out. Everyone could see that,” Melissa told him.

“And if they uncover the truth? That you poisoned her with wolfbane,” Rock asked.

“They won’t baby. No one is going to know the truth except for us. I did it for us. I did it for you,” she told him. He didn’t say anything. “Look. She was going to keep talking shit about you to the pack. They were starting to question your leadership and your capabilities of being the Alpha.”

“I was dealing with that. She wasn’t allowed to leave the house unless I granted her permission. Everyone understood that she was insane and a pathological liar. An unfit mother at that. No one was even looking in my direction or questioning my decisions,” Rock told her.

“I know. But she was never going to stop. She had to be stopped before she destroyed everything you’ve worked so hard to build. You told me about your awful past. Do you really want that to happen again?”

He didn’t answer.

“Do you want what happened to your sister, to happen to you?” Melissa asked him, eyeing him carefully. A flash of anger went through Rock’s eyes at the mention of his sister.

“Don’t you DARE speak about my sister,” Rock snapped. At that point, Ronnie could hear Melissa gagging for air as Rock had his hands around her throat and was closing off her air pipe. “She will not be mentioned to me again. Do I make myself clear?”

Melissa tried to respond, “Yes,” but her lack of breath was preventing her from getting the proper word out.

Releasing her, she coughed and tried to take in as much air as she could. Ronnie, backed herself in a far corner, hidden from sight. She was terrified about what she was hearing and about what she was seeing.

Could it be true? Her mother purposely killed Emlin so that she could marry her father?

Ronnie felt sick.

“Annika died because she was weak,” Rock hissed. “She died because she wasn’t strong enough to live. If she had listened to me and done exactly what I asked of her, she would have all the power she needed to stay alive. If she had sold the child like she was supposed to, she would still be here.”

“I’m sorry,” Melissa breathed, rubbing the tender spot on her throat.

That was the day Ronnie realized how truly evil her parents really were. She understood why Arina wanted nothing to do with them. She understood why Arina wanted nothing to do with her.

She told herself she wouldn’t bother Arina anymore after that. She kept to herself most of the time and watched as Arina continued to fight with her father. Ronnie wasn’t brave enough to stand up against her father or mother, but she admired Arina for doing it.

So far, Rock had never turned his anger towards Ronnie. She wanted to stay on his good side because she knew what he was capable of doing.

When Arina turned 10 years old, and Ronnie was 8 years old, that was the first time she ever saw her father turn physically violent against Arina. She wanted to help her, but she was too afraid, and Melissa wouldn’t let her go near them.

Rock had his claws out and sliced through Arina’s flesh; she was beaten to a bloody pulp, and she was unable to move. She wasn’t yet able to turn into a werewolf, considering she was still so young, so she was powerless and weak against him.

She put up a fight for a little bit, but he was too strong. He used his strength to knock her out completely. Ronnie didn’t think she was going to make it through. Her fair skin was dark blue from the caked-on bruises. Some of her beautiful blonde curls were ripped from her head, leaving some bloody bald patches. Her body had scratches from his claws. Her eyes were swollen shut and her lips were so puffy and scabbed.

He left her there and Melissa left her there.

She was left to die.

They wanted her to die. They were hoping that she would die so she would no longer be a bother to them. But Arina was strong and wasn’t going down without a fight.

Ronnie stayed hidden in the corner when her parents left the scene. She watched Arina for a long while as Arina struggled to maintain her breath. She was pretending to be knocked out completely, but by her short, yet deep, breaths, Ronnie knew she was working to recover her strength to move.

After what felt like hours, Arina finally gained enough strength to stand on her feet. She spits a mound of b***d on the ground and tears fell from her swollen eyes. Her body was trembling, and it was obviously painful for her to stand.

She watched Arina crawl up the stairway and into her bedroom. She stayed there for the next few days. Trying to heal in peace. Ronnie wanted to make sure she was alright but at the same time, didn’t want to bother her.

A few days later, Arina had left.

She found out from Melissa that Arina had gone to a new pack and won’t be returning. Part of her was relieved that Arina got away, but another part of her was jealous that Arina got to escape and start a new life.

She grew envious.

“As the sole daughter of the Alpha, you need to be an example to all the young wolves in Ironclaw. Do you understand?” Melissa asked as she helped Ronnie brush out her dirty blonde hair.

Batting her dark brown eyes at Melissa, Ronnie nodded.

“Yes, mom.”