Chapter 204: The Price of Arrogance
Alessandro's Pov
“Alpha Tony’s sister was a slave?
How’s that possible?”
My voice thundered in disbelief, the words tasting bitter as they left my mouth.
My father sighed deeply, running a shaky hand through his hair.
“Well… I thought she was at first. But only after I rejected her and married your mother did I discover the truth.
She was no slave, Alessandro. She was the daughter of Lucius, Alpha Tony’s father. She was his only daughter.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
He nodded grimly.
“She disguised herself. She had been trying to find her mate for years, but every man who came her way only wanted her for her father’s power or her wealth.
She never wanted a loveless bond. She always believed in the true mate bond, so she chose to hide her identity working as a maid, moving from pack to pack hoping that one day she would meet the mate the Moon Goddess destined for her.”
I stumbled back a step, staring at him in shock.
“And that mate was you?”
“Yes.” His voice broke.
“That mate was me.”
Rage and disbelief surged through me.
“So… so let me get this straight. The Moon Goddess gave you Alpha Tony’s sister, royalty as your mate, and you turned your back on her?
You rejected her?”
His jaw tightened, his eyes heavy with regret.
“Yes. I rejected her. Because when I first saw her, I thought she was just a lowly maid.
A slave. And my pride… my arrogance… it blinded me.”
I clenched my fists, my voice shaking.
“You didn’t even ask who she was?
You didn’t even give her a chance?”
“I didn’t care to know!” my father snapped, his own shame slipping into anger.
He slammed his hand against the desk.
“All I saw was a servant kneeling before me, claiming to be my mate. And I refused her.
I humiliated her in front of others. I told her she would never be worthy of an Alpha like me.”
My heart sank. “And then?”
He looked away, his voice dropping to a whisper.
“And then… she walked up to me again. During the pack’s moon ceremony.
She was so nervous, Alessandro. I still remember the way her fingers fidgeted, the way her eyes begged me to just look at her.
To see her for who she was. But I was too blind. Too foolish.”
I felt sick. “What did you say to her?”
He swallowed hard, shame flickering across his features.
“I told her the bond was a mistake.
That she wasn’t my equal. And when she tried to explain… when she tried to tell me who she really was… I silenced her.”
“Silenced her?” My voice cracked with fury.
“You broke her.
You destroyed her.”
He shook his head violently.
“No, Alessandro you don’t understand.
I thought I was protecting the pack’s reputation.
I thought if anyone discovered the Alpha was mated to a supposed ‘slave,’ it would make us look weak.”
I snarled, my wolf stirring inside me.
“You arrogant, selfish bastard.”
He flinched but didn’t defend himself.
“And then… after I married your mother, I found out the truth.
That she was Lucius’s daughter. That she was Alpha Tony’s sister.
And by then, it was too late.”
My chest heaved.
“Too late?”
“She couldn’t handle the pain,” my father whispered, his voice trembling.
“She believed she would never be loved, never be claimed. And so… she ended her life.”
I stared at him, my blood running cold.
“She killed herself… because of you?”
He shut his eyes, his shoulders heavy with the weight of his sin.
“Yes. Because of me. And Alpha Tony has hated me ever since. He swore never to forgive me.
And now… now that you’ve fallen in love with his daughter, he fears history will repeat itself.
That you’ll do to Aurora what I did to his sister.”
My fists shook, my voice a snarl.
“I would never do that to her. Do you hear me? Never.”
His eyes opened slowly, haunted but searching mine. His voice was low, trembling, but heavy with years of regret.
“I almost made you lose her… just as I foolishly lost my own mate because of my pride and arrogance.
I thought Aurora was a nobody someone beneath you. Someone unworthy of my son who would become Alpha of this pack.”
His hands curled into fists, his jaw tightening as his voice cracked.
“So when Alpha Tony came and revealed to me that Aurora is his daughter… I was shaken.
The past came flooding back into my mind. The curse, the mistakes I tried so hard to bury… they still haunt me, Alessandro. They never let me go.”
I felt my chest burn, not with pity, but with fury. I stepped closer to him, each word sharp as a blade.
“No, Father. That’s the difference between you and me.”
His gaze flicked up, startled.
“I don’t leave people. I don’t abandon them just because they don’t fit into some grand plan I built in my head.
I stay with the people I love until the end.” I snarled the last word, my voice echoing through the walls.
“You left your mate because you thought she was a slave.” My fists trembled at my sides.
“Even if she was a slave so what?
Don’t they deserve to have mates too?
Don’t they deserve love, a family, someone who won’t throw them aside because of a title?”
My father flinched at my words, the weight of them cutting into him deeper than any sword.
I leaned closer, my eyes burning into his.
“That’s where you and I are not the same.
You destroyed your mate because of your arrogance.
I will die before I ever let Aurora suffer because of mine.”
The vow tore out of me like fire, burning every ounce of hesitation left inside me.
The office door creaked open just then. Heavy footsteps followed, and I didn’t even need to turn to know who it was.
Alpha Tony.
His presence filled the room like a storm. His eyes, sharp as blades, flicked from me to my father, and for the briefest second, I saw a flash of something like approval in his gaze before it hardened into steel.
“So…” his voice rumbled low, dangerous, “you finally tell him, John.”
My father froze in his chair, his face pale, caught like a wolf in a hunter’s snare.
Alpha Tony stepped further inside, shutting the door behind him with a deliberate click.
“All these years you buried the truth. You rejected my sister, my blood, because of your pride.
Because she wasn’t dressed in silks or dripping in titles.” His jaw clenched.
“You made her believe she was worthless, and that mistake destroyed her.”
My father’s lips parted, but no sound came.
“You should have told your son from the beginning,” Alpha Tony continued, his voice rising.
“Instead, you tried to poison him with the same arrogance that cost you your mate.
You tried to make him reject mine!” His eyes flared like fire.
“Aurora is my daughter, John. She carries royal blood. And yet, bloodline or not she is worthy.”
I swallowed hard, my fists still clenched, my chest heaving from the weight of the vow I had just made.
Alpha Tony’s gaze snapped to me, piercing and testing. “And you, Alessandro Prickette.
Do you mean what you just said? That you would die before letting her suffer?”
I didn’t flinch. I met his stare head-on, my voice steady as stone.
“Yes. I mean every word.”
The quiet that came after was suffocating to me, my heart beating so loud that it was the only noise I could hear.
Alpha Tony after a while responded with one single slow and deliberate nod.
“That’s good. Then you are not at all similar to your father.”
My father reacted to the words with a grimace as if his face was being twisted but he kept his mouth shut.
Actually, the first time ever that Alpha John stays quiet without any power and the dominance of Alpha Tony’s shadow is evident.
“Will you marry my daughter, Alessandro?
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