Replacement Bride for the Alpha of the North - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: PREPARATION FOR THE CEREMONY
“Alpha, she is sleeping,” Kynes said politely, she was still trembling at the sight of the alpha. The two of them still remembered how close they had been to losing their lives and seeing Fern everyday reminded them of what kind of fate they would have if they angered the alpha.

Zenith let Fern live, but she served as a walking reminder to the others why they should not take his silence for granted.

“She said her body ached all over and asked me to massage her,” Pyllo reported in a small voice.

Zenith listened to the report, but he didn’t say anything when he entered the room and saw Dawn was sleeping, curling herself under the blanket.

At first, he didn’t understand why she was sleeping like this, but later on, he learned that she was used to hugging herself to sleep because no one comforted her whenever she felt unwell.

Zenith sat on the edge of her bed and caressed her forehead. He brushed his thumb against the wrinkle between her brows. It seemed, her nightmares intruded her sleep again.

Dawn must be very tired, because she didn’t wake up even when her dream was not pleasant, but when she opened her eyes, she found she had overslept.

“Did the Alpha come this morning?” Dawn asked Kynes, she was startled because it was already so late, but Zenith didn’t come to wake her up for their training. It had been three days since she started that hellish training of his, her body slowly adapted, though she felt her muscles ache so badly.

Pyllo and Kynes looked at each other and both of them shook their heads. “No.”

The alpha didn’t come this morning, but he indeed left this morning after spending the night by her side, about which Dawn didn’t have any idea at all.

“So, there is no training for today?” Dawn beamed. She smiled so brightly, as she laid back on the bed, ready to fall back asleep. “You can go now, I want to continue sleeping.” She waved her hand lazily to make them leave the room.

Somehow, she remembered what Emily said to her, that being away from Blake would help her get rid of him from her mind quickly, and her nefarious step sister was right. She didn’t think much of that man, as if he was just part of her nightmare and the memory of them together slowly faded away.

It also helped that Zenith treated her so well, it was way more than she expected, which was very surprising to her, probably because she thought so low of the alpha from the north. If Zenith knew about her thoughts, she wondered what his reaction would be.

“You can’t sleep again, my lady. There is someone that you need to meet.”

“Who?” Dawn opened her eyes, she was not happy.

“A seamstress.” Kynes looked excited.

“The alpha said you need to see the seamstress so she can make a dress that you like for the ceremony!” Pyllo chimed in. She was thrilled too when she explained that it had been a long time since there was a ceremony in this pack.

“I have never seen a ceremony before,” Kynes said happily.

“Yes, me too!”

“During the ceremony, usually we will have a lot of food and drinks and entertainment, there will be music and…”

Dawn stopped listening, spaced out with the thoughts of her ceremony. She had told Zenith she wanted to know the people in this pack better first before they addressed her as the luna, but that cold alpha only said;

‘They should know you, not the other way around.’ Zenith’s second reason was; ‘So, nobody will get their tongues cut.’

And with that ‘grand introduction’ during her first dinner here, who wouldn’t know her?

After Kynes and Pyllo helped her change into a dress, they went to the seamstress’ place in a carriage that had been waiting for them.

The seamstress’ house was a simple house that looked so boring with various dresses on display. Snow piled up on its roof.

And when they were about to enter, someone came out. As it turned out, this was the gamma.

“Oh, the woman who doesn’t like lamb meat!” Darius remarked when he saw Dawn at the seamstress’ place. He came here to get a new cloak stitched because the one he had was destroyed after the monster attack last night.

Dawn thought, probably that was the reason Zenith didn’t come this morning for training, because he was dealing with the monster attack.

Little did she know, Zenith didn’t get involved at all in it. He chose to stay with her during the attack.

“That’s the only thing that you remembered from that night?” Dawn narrowed her eyes incredulously.

“Oh, I remember you are the cause of someone losing their tongue, but I was being polite and not bringing that depressing topic up,” Darius said lightly, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

Kynes and Pyllo lowered their heads. They were still afraid at the mention of that night.

But, hearing what Darius said, the corner of Dawn’s lips twitched. “Thank you,” she said sarcastically, but the gamma actually smiled with joy at her.

“You are welcome!” Darius crept closer to her and then whispered. “How can you change the alpha so much? Have you both known each other before this?”

“No.”

Zenith said they had met before, but for Dawn, she had never seen him.

“That’s weird…” Darius contemplated, but he didn’t dwell on the matter too much. “I heard you have been training with the Alpha, how was it?”

“It’s hell…” Dawn couldn’t help but sigh.

“I know, right?!” Darius was so loud, he clapped his hands excitedly, as if he just met with someone that had the same thoughts as him. “He was too harsh, right?!”

Seeing him like this, Dawn was pumped. “He forced me to run even when I was out of breath. He tackled me to the ground too, and also…”

“Right? Right?! Right?!”

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“Can you stop doing this?!” Emily was very angry with Blake. She was on the verge of crying, because the man had been ignoring her for days. No, actually he had never treated her well ever since Dawn left the pack. “You will fall into insanity if you can’t let go of her! What can she do that I can’t!? I am pregnant with your child for God’s sake!”

Blake glared at her. His father was in his hair about how he should treat Emily better and how he should be a better mate for her, because he failed to be one when he was with Dawn.

However, his heart couldn’t accept it. He longed for Dawn. Her voice, her touch, her laugh. Everything…

Every corner of this pack reminded him of her and it was unbearable.

He had tried to like Emily, but he couldn’t. She was the reminder of why Dawn was miles away from here and why he couldn’t see her again. The thought of her suffering in the north under the cruel alpha left him nauseated. He wanted to save her from that place.

“Don’t. Touch. Me.” Blake emphasized his every word, he glared down at Emily. He didn’t raise his voice, because if his father heard him, he would reprimand him again about not treating her well, since she was pregnant with his firstborn.

“How can you abandon me after you got what you wanted!?” Emily screamed at the top of her lungs, tears streamed down her face. She was really upset to the point she was trembling.

“You are not what I wanted!” Blake shoved her body away from him. Her scent disgusted him.

“You didn’t say that when you made love to me!”

“You seduced me!” Blake finally lost it. If it was not for her advances, he wouldn’t have done it with her. She was the one who threw herself at him. “You are so cheap, you wanted to hurt Dawn so bad, you came after her mate!”

From the distance, the two of them could hear footsteps approaching and they knew it was Beta Jason.

Out of her rage, Emily immediately knelt down and held her stomach, she wailed painfully. “It hurts… It hurts…”

“What happened here?!” Beta Jason was shocked when he saw Emily’s current state. Not long after, Blake’s mother came because she heard the commotion. She chided her son for stressing out Emily while she was pregnant with his child.

Blake despised Emily so much.

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“Where is Zenith?” Dawn asked Darius when they were having their dinner in the dining hall. She rarely saw Zenith join them at the dining table.

“I told you, right? He doesn’t like to eat with others.” Darius gobbled up his meat happily, though it was only two hours ago that he ate.

Dawn frowned, she knew Zenith didn’t like to eat with others, but he used to attend dinner at the beginning. It had been four days straight and he didn’t make any appearance, but the people didn’t seem to be surprised with this.

“Where are you going?” Darius asked when he saw Dawn pick her plate up and stride toward the door.

“I am going to eat with him.” Dawn was sure the cold alpha was in his study room.

Darius was about to say she didn’t need to bother and Zenith might throw her out, but he remembered Zenith’s peculiarity whenever it involved his future luna, so he simply shrugged his shoulders. “Good luck!”

It was not hard to find Zenith’s study room and the warriors, who guarded there, let her in without any ruckus.

“How easy… what if I have bad intentions??” Dawn mumbled to herself.