Violets POV
I pushed hard against the drunk Mark, not giving him the chance to force himself on me. His breath reeked of alcohol, and the single fact that he was drunk was why I hadn't been defiled just yet. Our mating ritual had ended roughly three hours ago, and while I had spent the hours crying and trying to find myself amidst everything that was happening, Mark had busied himself with alcohol.
"No! I said no!" I screamed at the relentless Alpha while pushing him off of me for the hundredth time.
He stopped for a second, but I knew it wasn't because he was finally being obedient, it was simply out of shock. Why was this woman resisting him? Who did she think she was? Those were probably the things going on in his head, I knew it even though I could hardly read him through the drunken eyes he had on.
"Stop fighting me…it's futile.." he argued, attempting to throw his hands on me, but I jumped down from the bed and scurried towards the door.
"No, I won't let you do this to me!" I shouted, the tremble in my voice betraying the courage I had tried to work up. My hands fumbled over the latch, slick with sweat, but before I could pull it open, Mark's body collided with mine from behind, slamming the door shut with a deafening thud.
"You think you can run from me?!" he slurred into my ear, his hot breath making my skin crawl. "You're mine, Violet. The council said so. The gods said so!"
I struggled in his grasp, elbowing him in the gut with all the strength I had left. He groaned and stumbled back just enough for me to tear away from his grip and throw myself across the room. My bare feet scrambled for traction against the cold marble floor as I reached for anything to defend myself.
"I'm going to be your wife, that's what you want right?! But I won't be your pet!" I screamed at Mark, brandishing the knife I had picked up from the fruit tray. "If you for once think you can do anything you want to me, then you're in for a treat! I'll kill myself before I allow you to rape me!"
Mark seemed to sober up the moment I laid out that threat. His once dull eyes brightened up a little, and he stared at me with an expression that suggested he hadn't seen me before.
Without trying another time, he turned away from me and headed for the bed, collapsed onto it's softness, and in the next couple of minutes was fast asleep.
I still stood where I was, my hands still clutching tightly around the blade while I did my best to control my breathing. I hadn't expected that to work, but at the same time I couldn't be prouder of myself at that moment.
My knees buckled beneath me, and I sank to the floor slowly, careful not to make a sound. I didn't dare put the knife down. Not yet, not until morning came and I was sure someone would come to my aid.
The room fell silent, broken only by Mark's uneven snoring and the quiet rustle of the breeze against the balcony curtains. Slowly, I turned towards the man that I was going to spend the rest of my life with, and then I turned to the knife in my hands. Wouldn't it be better if I just ended it all now? How many more nights would I have to fight against my own husband, pleading for him not to force himself on me? How many more times would this threat of mine work? And just how much of his arrogance and hatred was I willing to endure?
The knife trembled in my hands, beads of cold perspiration trickling down my face as I slowly raised the cold metal to my neck. It won't be swift, I was going to suffer, but at least I would be free from this horror.
The silence was once again drowned by the sound of metal colliding with the marble floor. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't kill myself, and I couldn't give Mark the satisfaction of knowing that he got to me. My mother would hate me forever if I threw my life away because of a man, she would never forgive me.
It might not exactly look like it, but I was queen now. I was married to the Alpha, and queens don't buckle and yield whenever things got rough for them. They learned to adapt, played the game, and always found their way to victory.
That was exactly what I was going to do. Mark and Mateo were wild beasts that I must tame, they both needed me in order to put forward a claim to the throne, which meant I was an asset they couldn't do without. It wouldn't be easy, but my mind was made up now, I was going to live, and I was going to tame these brothers.