Enslaved By The Alpha
Chapter 104

~MAYA~

"She looks so beautiful up there, like nothing happened in the spa room," I whisper to Gabriella as Autumn joins Atticus.

She nods, "she's good at hiding her emotions. Maybe she's used to it because of the kind of life she's lived. It seems like they've both listened to their parents their entire lives, from what we heard. They've both made sacrifices for their families, and this wedding was yet another sacrifice." "I feel sorry for all of them," I whisper. "It's unfair that they're being forced into this. None of them look happy about it."

They weren't the only ones in pain. I was also in pain. I could feel the tension in the air. Kane still hasn't gotten over what Arthur said to me earlier. I knew that he was angry. I didn't have to look at him anymore to know this.

So far, the plan was working. If I could get him angry enough, he might snap and accept what we have. But what were we going to do about Maya? How would we prove that she wasn't the real Maya?

I'm not sure if Arthur and Gabriella are looking for a witch to help, but they haven't said anything to me. I believed that only a witch could help us prove that this Maya wasn't who she wanted everyone to believe she was. "They're about to kiss," Gabriella whispers. "I have a bad feeling about this."

I follow her gaze.

I had a bad feeling about it too. We heard Anya ask Atticus not to touch Autumn. It's not like he could refuse to kiss her in front of everyone. Maybe he could, but that would be a bit embarrassing for Autumn. I was scared to keep looking. I liked Autumn; she seemed like a kind girl; I didn't want her to be embarrassed in front of all these people.

There is an awkward pause between them as everyone waits for the kiss. Gabriella gives me a concerned look. The crowd is becoming restless. It already looks bad that they're taking this long. Any happy couple would kiss without a second thought; they were doing the opposite. You could sense the hesitation from both of them.

I'm not sure how long they kept staring at each other before they finally moved closer. Their lips touch for a second, and suddenly someone shouts a name. It took me a moment to realize that the person had called Anya's name. My gaze follows the commotion, and I spot the girl from earlier; I noticed her dress immediately. That was definitely Anya.

It looks like she's just fainted, and all attention is now on her as Dante and Damon try to reach her.

It's not a good sign when Atticus stops kissing Autumn the moment that his brothers shout Anya's name. It looks even worse when he pulls away from her and rushes to their side, helping his brothers escort a motionless Anya out of the room.

"I told you I had a bad feeling about this," Gabriella says to me.

"You were right. Things are in a mess now." I say to her. But there was nothing that could be done; Atticus and Autumn were officially husband and wife from today. And from the looks on their family's faces, nothing would change that. They seemed annoyed at what happened, but now they're speaking to the crowd and trying to play it off as nothing. They want the guests to believe that Anya was light-headed because she didn't eat earlier. Anyone that knows them knows the true reason why she fainted. She just watched her mate get married.

With all the commotion, I didn't realize that someone had joined us.

"Maya?" I hear him ask in disbelief as he looks at her. There's both pain and joy in his eyes.

"Lucas!" Lucy says happily.

Maya looks at him, and she doesn't have the same joy in her eyes as he does. He rushes to her side and pulls her into his arms, "I missed you, my little troublemaker! I missed you so much. I thought we had lost you for good. I'm so happy you're in front of me. I'm so happy to have you back safe in my arms."

She hugs him back when she sees everyone looking. Can no one else know that she isn't their real sister? There should be tears in her eyes after reuniting with her brother, but there are none. She looks exceptionally calm under the circumstances-another big red flag.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner. I've wanted to all along." He apologizes. "It's been killing me inside knowing that I couldn't come to you the moment I heard that they'd found you. I'm sorry your brother failed you. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you when you needed me the most."

Why wasn't she saying something to console him?

There is another woman that I didn't notice earlier. She is beautiful but her eyes look distressed. Something must be bothering her. She has long black hair and beautiful green eyes. She reminds me a lot of Arthur. She looks at him at the same time that thought enters my head.

"Arthur!" she calls out to him. She looks happier now that she spots him. How did they know each other? Even Arthur looks overjoyed when he spots her. The only other person I ever see him like this with is Emma. "Freya," Arthur whispers as he hugs her to him. "It's so good to see you. It feels like it's been forever since the last time I saw you. I can't believe how long it's been. Did anyone else come?"

"She's Arthur's sister," Gabriella explains to me. "The one Lucas married."

That would explain why she reminded me of Arthur from the moment I saw her.

"Yes, Avery is around here somewhere. It's just the three of us." Freya answers him. "Father has this entire thing going on back home, and he wanted everyone else to stay back. He allowed Avery and me to come with Lucas so that it didn't look bad that none of us attended the wedding." Arthur looks disappointed, but he does seem happy to have her by his side at least, "how have you been? Is Lucas treating you right?"

Gabriella rolls her eyes, "he knows Lucas is a sweetheart. I don't know why he has to ask something like that."

Gabriella seems to also be very fond of Lucas and I think from Arthur's expression that he doesn't like that she's so close to him. But that was every typical mate. They didn't like their woman close to any other man but themselves, especially someone who wasn't a relative.

"Yes, Arthur, Lucas is the perfect gentleman. Maybe too much of a gentleman." She confessed.

Too much of a gentleman? What did she mean by that? I don't see why someone being too much of a gentleman should be a problem for a woman. She should be happy that he was.

"Well, that's good to hear. I hope you're not just saying that to protect him." Arthur says with narrowed eyes.

"Of course not," she disagrees. "I have no reason to do that. He's been so good to me Arthur. I couldn't ask for anyone better."

Gabriella hugs Freya then, "I'm sorry that Arthur is such a pain in the a*s. He may harass you about Lucas for the rest of your life."

"Sweetheart, aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Arthur asks Gabriella. "I can't make it easy for him. He must know that I will beat his a*s if he hurts my sister."

Lucas hugs Gabriella then, and Arthur growls.

"Why do men always growl when I hug their wives?" Lucas asks playfully. "I will never understand."

Gabriella laughs, "you haven't changed at all. That's good, Lucas. We were all worried about you. I'm happy to see that you look good."

His face looks tensed at her words, but he tries to pretend he's unaffected. Maybe he wants to look happy for Maya and his family. He doesn't want them to worry about him. And I can see why everyone so loves Lucas. He's a joy to be around, and something about him makes everything seem lighter. It's like his presence makes your troubles seem like less.

Not looking at Kane was giving me a chance to examine others around me. It was also a form of distraction. I had to keep my mind on anything but him for this to work. And it was working. Everyone had their troubles, and I hate to admit it, but it helped distract me from my own.

"You haven't introduced us to your wife," Austin says. "Do you not want her to meet your brothers? Are you scared we will embarrass you with the many stories we have of you while growing up?"

Lucas laughs, "embarrassed? Two can play at that game, brother."

He looks at Freya, and I can see the tension between the two of them as he finally introduces her to all of us.

"Avery!" Arthur says to a woman that just joined us.

"This is Arthur's other sister," Gabriella explains to me. I'm happy that she's here to tell me these things. I would have been lost otherwise.

I noticed that both Lucas and Freya looked uneasy the moment that he said her name.

Arthur hugs his sister, and she smiles at him, "We all miss you." She tells him. "Even father."

Gabriella looks troubled at the mention of Arthur's father; in fact, everyone here looks uncomfortable.

I also notice how Avery looks at Lucas when she thinks no one is looking, and when he catches her looking, the two of them seem to get lost in each other. I also see the hurt in Freya's eyes when she notices their connection. Plenty was going on between these three; I could tell by just looking.

Maybe not paying attention to Kane was not such a good idea. I felt like I was invading everyone's privacy by examining their reactions to each other.

Lucas breaks eye contact and immediately looks at Freya, she tries to hide her hurt, but he spots it before she can do that. I felt her pain.

Lucas seems conflicted about what to do, but he walks over to her and wraps his arm around her waist as if to tell her he is sorry for looking at Avery.

I can be wrong; I may be looking for something that wasn't even there. It was hard for me to believe that Avery would be interested in Lucas when he was married to her sister. She didn't seem like someone who would do something like that, and I'd only just met her. Lucas also didn't seem like the man to do something like that to his wife. There was something else going on here that was causing them to behave that way. I just wasn't sure what it was.

My heart aches the longer I look at Lucas. I want to hug him. Here I was acting all weird again. I often behaved this way whenever I was introduced to someone new from Austin's family. I knew that everyone here had a soft spot for Lucas, but it doesn't explain why I did as well. Seeing him so unhappy was bothering me for some unknown reason.

Why?

Who was Lucas to me? He knew everyone here for years, and that's why they were reacting this way. But I didn't know him at all.

He looks my way, and I don't know what happens to my heart when he does. Why does he feel like my little brother? Why do I want to protect him with all my heart? What is wrong with me?

"No one has introduced me." He said as he continued to look my way.

"I don't think we've met before." He tells me. "I'm Lucas. Everyone's favorite, as you can tell already."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lucas." I greet him. "I'm sorry, but I don't have a name to give you."

"It's a long story," Gabriella says. "We can explain it to you later. For now, I think that we all want to catch up on how things are with you. I'm sure Arthur also wants to know how everyone back home is doing."

"Of course," Lucas says. "My wife can tell him everything he wants to know."

"There is going to be a dance soon," Gabriella says suddenly. I think she's reminding Arthur that he needs to introduce me to some men. We had to get Kane to show his real emotions around me. Time was running out on us. I didn't want to wait any longer. "I'm excited," Lucy says. "I'm always looking for excuses to get Austin to dance with me."

"Can you excuse me for a few minutes?" Arthur asks as he disappears into the crowd.

Gabriella gave me a mischievous glance as if to say it was almost time to put on the most significant act of my life. I had to pretend to enjoy being in the company of whoever Arthur was going to bring for me.

I'm not excited over this, but I was trying to stay positive. I kept telling myself that this was the only way for me to move forward.

"I think he's bringing one of the Fawn brothers," Gabriella whispers as she tiptoes to better look at Arthur returning.

I try not to look; I'm nervous. I don't think looking at my potential date for the rest of the wedding would make things easier on me.

The tension is even greater than earlier when Arthur shows up with a man that has light blonde curly hair. His grey eyes are a perfect match for his gorgeous face.

"Arthur chose well," Gabriella whispers under her breath.

"This is Griffin Fawn." Arthur introduces him to me. "I already explained your situation."

I'm not sure if he's referring to my situation with Kane or that I can't remember my name.

Griffin looks like a player by the way his lips curl into this gorgeous smile that I'm sure will make any girl that isn't in love fall to their knees. It doesn't work on me because I'm already crazy for Kane. But I had to pretend at least that it had some effect on me. I pretend to blush and act all flustered. How embarrassing must I look to the others around me?

"It's nice to meet you, beautiful girl with no name." He says as he brings my hand to his lips. I'm shocked at his actions, but I quickly mask my shock with pretend awe.

"And it's nice to meet you as well, Griffin."

"I'm happy that Arthur didn't let me down yet again. He chose the right woman for me to spend the rest of my evening with," he says. "And if you keep blushing in front of me, we might have to make your stay here a little longer than just for the evening." He winks. I'm surprised by how forward he is, and now I'm hoping that Arthur did indeed explain to him that I was in love with Kane. I didn't want him to think that there was a chance for us. Since he did seem like a player, hopefully, he will quickly move on to the next girl that shows him any attention.

"They're about to have the bride and groom dance," Lucy says as we notice Autumn and Atticus returning.

Atticus looked even more frustrated than he did earlier. Autumn was still good at masking her feelings.

How beautiful would this have been if they had been in love? They both suited each other in looks, and they looked lovely together under the lights as they swayed to the slow song.

I sigh. Life was unfair sometimes.

-KANE-

What the f**k?

The motherfucker just kissed her hand in front of me. It was taking all my self-control not to snap his damn neck in two.

How could she move on so quickly? She was blushing and acting all shy in front of him. It was making me pissed. I can't remember the last time I felt like this.

I remember all the times she looked at me that way.

I know I should be happy. I was worried about her all this time. The past few days had been hell for me without seeing her, without knowing anything about her. I wondered if I was too harsh on her and had done the right thing. That day I was so hurt and guilty that I was only thinking about Maya. And that was how it was supposed to be. Maya was always the only one I was supposed to be thinking about.

I've spent these days trying to give her as much love as possible. But the more I gave, the more I felt less for Maya. I was forcing myself to be with her at this point.

I knew now that I had a mother and a father. I had other brothers and sisters. I had a family. And now I had Maya back in my life.

Then why the f**k do I still feel so damn lonely?

My heart still beats for the woman now looking at another man. I knew that I had to let her go to keep Maya happy. I knew that it was the right thing to do but damn it, why did it hurt so much?

I knew the right decision was never easy, but why is it so hard? Why can't I watch her with another man and be happy for her? Why do I want to stab his eyes for even looking her way?

I was a selfish a*s for wanting to murder the one man she showed any attention to since she met me. She was just another woman that was too good for me. Maya deserved more, and she did as well. I've said this a million times, and I meant those words. I don't know why they ever fell for me. I was never worthy of anyone's love. I still am not worthy of it.

I watch as Griffin extends his hand, and she takes it. I exhaled and wiped a finger over my bottom lip.

I didn't know how to f*****g survive the rest of this damn wedding. How? How could I stand here and watch her be with another man without losing my f*****g mind? And how did I pretend that it wasn't ripping me apart?