THE ALPHA WHO HATED ME - Chapter 39: Chapter 39

**Celeste's POV**
The house feels like a graveyard after everyone leaves. Empty cups and dirty plates scatter across the patio like evidence of a crime. The platform where I stood as queen now looks pathetic in the moonlight, stained with pig's blood and my broken dreams.
I sit in my pristine white dress, still wearing the crown that feels heavier with each passing minute. My hands shake as I replay the night over and over in my head. The triumph. The laughter. The moment when I felt like I ruled the world.
Then him.
Ronan's voice cuts through my memory like a blade. The way he looked at me when he arrived. Not with love or admiration or even basic respect. With disgust.
"You went too far, Celeste."
The words circle in my head like vultures. He embarrassed me. In front of everyone. In front of Madison and Sarah and Emma. In front of students who look up to me. In front of people who were supposed to witness my coronation, not my humiliation.
My crown slips sideways, and I straighten it with trembling fingers. I am still the queen. I am still in control. One bad night doesn't erase months of careful planning.
But the doubt creeps in anyway, poisonous and persistent.
Did they see weakness when he challenged me? Did they see fear when his wolf roared? Did they think less of me when I couldn't control my own fiancé?
The patio door slides open behind me. Madison steps outside, her party dress wrinkled and her makeup smudged. She surveys the mess with wide, worried eyes.
"Celeste," she says softly. "Are you okay?"
I don't turn around. Can't turn around. If I look at her face, I'll see pity. And I can't handle that. Not tonight.
"It was perfect until he showed up," I say, my voice smaller than I intended.
"It was perfect," she agrees quickly. "Everyone was loving it. You looked amazing up there. Like a real queen."
"Then why did he ruin it?" The words come out strangled. "Why did he have to defend her?"
Madison walks closer, her heels clicking against the stone. "Because he's confused. Because she's messing with his head. But that doesn't mean anything changed between you two."
"Doesn't it?" I whisper. "He chose her over me. In front of everyone."
"He chose his image over yours. There's a difference." She sits beside me on the platform, careful not to let her dress touch the bloodstains. "The question is: what are you going to do about it?"
The question hangs in the air between us. What am I going to do about it?
"I'm going to destroy her," I say. "Completely. Until there's nothing left of her for him to defend."
Madison's smile is sharp as a knife. "Now you're talking like the queen you are."
She stands and smooths her dress. "Clean this up. Get some sleep. Tomorrow, we start planning your real revenge."
She heads toward the door, then pauses. "And Celeste? Don't worry about tonight. Everyone knows you're still the one in control. One bad moment doesn't change that."
She disappears back into the house, leaving me alone with the wreckage of my party and the burning need to make someone pay for my embarrassment.
That someone is Evangeline.
I pull out my phone and scroll through my contacts. Madison. Sarah. Emma. The loyal soldiers who helped me orchestrate tonight's entertainment. They'll help me with what comes next too.
But first, I need to deal with the real problem.
Ronan.
My fingers hover over his name in my contacts. Part of me wants to call him. To scream at him. To demand an explanation for why he humiliated me in front of everyone.
But that would make me look desperate. Weak. Like I'm begging for his attention.
I am not weak. I am not desperate. I am his fiancé. I am the daughter of Beta Morrison. I am the future Luna of this pack.
And I will not be replaced by some pathetic Omega who doesn't even want him.
The thought makes my chest burn with rage. She doesn't even want him. She slapped him. She told him to stay away from her. And somehow, that makes him want her more.
Men are so predictable. Tell them they can't have something, and suddenly it's the only thing they want.
But I've been his for two years. I've planned my whole life around being his mate. I've turned down other guys, other opportunities, other dreams because I believed in our future together.
He belongs to me. Not to some nobody who thinks she's too good for him.
I stand up, my crown finally feeling steady on my head. The weight of it reminds me who I am. What I represent. What I'm fighting for.
My phone buzzes. A text from Madison.
*OMG are you okay? That was intense. Call me tomorrow?*
Then Sarah: *Can't believe he did that to you. Want me to come over?*
And Emma: *So sorry babe. We'll make her pay for this.*
My friends. My loyal friends who understand what really matters. Who know that sometimes you have to fight dirty to get what you want.
I type back to all of them: *Emergency meeting tomorrow. My house. 10 AM. We have work to do.*
The responses come immediately. They're in. They're ready to help me fix this mess.
But as I walk back toward the house, another thought stops me cold.
What if it's not just about her anymore? What if Ronan's feelings for Evangeline are deeper than I thought? What if the mate bond is stronger than his duty to his family?
What if I'm fighting a war I can't win?
The thought is so terrifying that I physically shake my head to get rid of it. No. I refuse to believe that. I refuse to accept that some random girl who's been at our school for less than a year could destroy everything I've built.
If my father knew what I was planning, he'd stop me. If Ronan found out... no. He won't. I won't let him.
I am Celeste Hartwell. I am beautiful, powerful, connected. I come from money, from influence, from a family that matters. I have been groomed for this position since I was born.
She is nothing. A charity case. An orphan. A girl who doesn't even know who her father is.
I will not lose to her. I cannot lose to her.
Inside the house, I walk past the formal dining room where my parents first discussed my engagement to Ronan. Past the living room where we've hosted pack gatherings for years. Past the family photos that show me growing up in this world of privilege and power.
This is my life. This is my world. And I will not let anyone take it from me.
In my bedroom, I sit at my vanity and look at myself in the mirror. My makeup is still perfect. My hair is still styled. My dress is still white and pristine.
But my eyes look different. Harder. Hungrier.
I stare at the girl in the mirror — glossy lips, perfect lashes, designer white. But under her eyes? There's a hunger. An emptiness. A rot that's been growing since the moment Ronan looked at me with disgust.
Good. I need to be hard. I need to be hungry. Because what I'm about to do requires a special kind of cruelty.
I open my laptop and start typing. A list of ideas. Plans. Strategies for making Evangeline's life so miserable that she'll transfer schools just to escape me.
But as I type, a darker thought creeps in. What if making her miserable isn't enough? What if I need to do something more permanent?
My fingers pause over the keyboard. I've never seriously considered actually hurting someone before. Not physically. Not in a way that could cause real damage.
But tonight changed something in me. Tonight, I saw what it looks like when someone tries to take what's mine. And I discovered that I'm willing to do anything to stop it.
There are ways to deal with a mate bond. Old ways. Forbidden ways. My grandmother whispered about them once when she thought I wasn't listening. Ancient rituals. Blood magic. Things that could sever connections permanently.
Anything.
I close the laptop without finishing the list. Some plans are too dangerous to write down. Too dark to share with Madison and Sarah and Emma.
But that doesn't mean I won't consider them.
I take off my crown and set it on the vanity. The metal is cold against my fingers, and as I lift it, one of the sharp decorative points catches my skin. Blood beads on my fingertip, bright red against the white gold.
I stare at the drop of blood, then slowly bring it to my lips. The taste is metallic, bitter. But it doesn't disgust me. It reminds me of the pig's blood that stained Evangeline's dress. It reminds me of what I'm capable of.
Tomorrow, I'll put the crown back on. Tomorrow, I'll remind everyone at school why I'm the queen and she's nothing.
Tomorrow, I'll start the real war.
Because Ronan thinks he can defend her? Fine. Let him try. Let him waste his energy playing hero while I systematically destroy everything about her that makes her worth defending.
Her confidence. Her friendships. Her safety. Her sanity.
And if none of that works, if she somehow survives everything I throw at her, then I'll try something else. Something final.
Because I would rather see her dead than see her with him.
The thought should scare me. Should make me reconsider. Should remind me that I'm supposed to be better than this.
But it doesn't. It just makes me smile.
Ronan is mine. He has always been mine. And I will do whatever it takes to make sure he stays mine.
Even if it destroys us both.
The moon shines through my bedroom window, casting silver light across the floor. In that light, I look like a ghost. Pale and beautiful and utterly without warmth.
Perfect.
Because ghosts are what you become when you refuse to let go of the past. When you fight so hard to keep something that you're willing to lose everything else in the process.
And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
I'm going to haunt Evangeline until she disappears. I'm going to make her life so unbearable that she'll have no choice but to leave.
And then Ronan will realize that I'm all he has left. I'm all he's ever had.
He belongs to me. And I belong to him.
Forever and always.
The blood on my finger has dried now, leaving a dark spot on my perfect skin. I don't wipe it away. Instead, I press it against my lips one more time, making a promise to myself and to the darkness growing inside me.
If I can't have him, no one will.