Mated to the rogue alpha

[FIVE YEARS AGO]

DIANA'S POV

"Don't neutralize her just yet," my husband, Eric Heart, says to a group of scientists surrounding him, his voice calm but laced with obsession.

"I need to be certain she's the one."

I watch them through hazy eyes, trying to stop the tears threatening to rush down my cheeks.

I should have known from the start that Eric had never truly loved me...just like everyone else. I was too overwhelmed by the idea that someone might care for me, despite all the rumors, despite my abnormalities. I had believed he loved me, but I was wrong.

We've been married for only two years, and now he's showing his true side. It's still better than my parents, who had shown their hatred for me since I tried eating my way out of my mother's womb.

Eric turns toward me. When he sees I'm conscious, he smirks, not like the man who once pretended to love me, but like a psychopath obsessed with proving his twisted theory that supernatural creatures walk among us.

"You're awake, my love," he says groggily, walking toward me, his boots clicking against the marble floor.

My heart races as he approaches. Normally, I would have done anything for him to be near me, but now his presence unsettles me.

For the past week, he's revealed the monster he truly is.

"Don't you dare touch me," I mumble when he attempts to cup my cheek.

He stops, slides his fingers into his pocket, and lets out a cold, bitter laugh. "Oh, Diana, my love. But you'll do anything to have me touch you."

I look away, pressing my trembling lips together. Since we got married, he was rarely around. Either traveling for months out of New York or disappearing all day for work.

When I first discovered what Eric was... I was terrified. My only friend at the rehabilitation center, Catherine, had warned me to stay away from him. She said I wasn't normal and men like him liked not-normal, but not in a good way.

I wanted to believe I was normal-I am normal. I didn't want to believe I was a monster. That's why I stayed with Eric. Maybe I should've listened to Catherine.

My eyes drop to the scars on my wrist, and my heart breaks. He once kissed those scars and called them beautiful, said they were proof I had survived. Now he wants to cut me open for science.

"You know I love you, right?" he says, and my heart tightens. My hands shake, and I don't dare look at him.

He exhales. "But I love my job more. And I'll stop at nothing to get what I want. Out of all, Diana... you are my favorite lab rat."

"Is that all you ever saw me as?!" I snap before I can hold myself back.

I flinch at my own outburst. The last time I snapped at him, he smashed my face against our closet. That knocked me out cold... until today.

He bursts into heavy, cynical laughter. I feel the blood drain from my face.

Then he suddenly pauses and speaks in a blood-curdling voice. "Look at me, Diana."

My whole body trembles as I look up at him. His blue eyes are completely dark now, cold and evil. He stares with a blank expression.