The Alpha: Claiming His Enemy's Daughter-Chapter 1026: SIDE STORY (DEXTER): THE BRIGHT LIGHT

"I had a woman before. She died." Dexter looked at Letto.

Dexter didn’t want to remember about this, but in the past, he used to have a woman that he liked, but with the life that he lived in, it was not possible to have someone by his side without risking their life.

Aria.

That woman’s name was Aria.

That woman was beautiful. Her smile was the brightest and Dexter had never seen someone, who could make him forgot about all the adversity in his life.

How long it had been since the last time he saw her? Twenty years? Twenty five years?

After all, the two of them were very young, probably sixteen? Seventeen? Dexter lost count. He was no longer counting days and just breezed through this life.

Aria. Her name was beautiful, just like her.

She had dimples on both of her cheeks, her brown eyes and brown hair made brown became the color that Dexter loved.

Every time she talked, her eyes would twinkle and even after so many years had passed, Dexter still remembered the day he met her for the first time.

He was the son of the head of their secret community, where his father was a respected figure and that day, his father took him and his sister to visit a small village.

It was a very poor village in the middle of nowhere, where people had to walk five hours to reach the nearby city.

But, of course, this was a perfect place for people like them. These people were easily fooled. These people were the perfect target for their ritual...

"You must be Sir Zeke’s son."

A young girl approached Dexter with a jar of water, she gave it to him with a bright smile on her lips. Water was difficult to get, but for the villagers’ gratitude for Zeke and his people’s help, they made their stay here became more pleasant.

Zeke came with a lot of food and opportunity for business in the city.

"Yes."

"What’s your name?"

Dexter had never had a friend, especially someone at his age, the people that around him would be his father’s follower and they definitely couldn’t fall into a friend category, the only person that was around his age was his sister.

"Dexter."

Dexter was not sure whether this was the right thing to do, because he was not supposed to be friendly with anyone, but he thought, this girl wouldn’t do any harm on him.

More so, he was a magic user, what this girl could do to him?

"I am Aria!" she said, it sounded like a song for him.

And since that day, Dexter would often be seen with her. She took him to play around with the other kid and even take him with her parents to the city.

"You shouldn’t be so close with her."

His father said one day. He looked at Dexter in the eyes. His son was very obedient, but recently, he started to give a sign of rebelling.

He spent so much time with the people here and created unnecessary bond with them.

"You will be in trouble if you created a bond with them. We are leaving in two weeks."

"What about this village?"

"This is not the first time, right? You know what will happen."

This was not the first poor village that they visited and of course, this wouldn’t be the last, but for all the villages that they had visited, it would be definitely their last.

"Don’t get involved with her too much. It will be difficult for you."

After saying that, Zeke left his son alone, but Dexter didn’t show any reaction. He just stood there and stared at his father’s back.

Two weeks and then this village would be vanished. The people would disappear and he knew exactly what would happen to them.

Two weeks.

"In two weeks will have a festival!" Aria said, she approached Dexter, as she climbed the rock and stared at the dessert. The sun was so bright, but it didn’t bother them at all. "This will be the first time our village will hold a festival, it’s all thank to your father. He is a very great man!"

Aria then talked about what dress that she would wear, the dress that she bought when they went to the city the last time. She was very excited for the festival, without knowing what actually would happen.

"Why are you very quiet? Don’t you feel very excited?" Her brown eyes looked almost like they were golden when the ray of light fell on her face. "Oh... I think you are not as excited as me because this must not be your first festival, right?"

She looked a little bit down, but her smile was so wide when she asked Dexter to tell her about all the festival that he had seen.

Yes, this wouldn’t be his first festival, but the end of the festival wouldn’t be as exciting as Aria would think.

There would be a lot of deaths after that.

"You need to leave," Dexter finally said.

"What do you mean?" Aria looked confused with what he said, but Dexter didn’t say anything anymore. He jumped from the rock and then left.

For the next few days, Dexter avoided her.

His father was right, he shouldn’t have involved with this woman. This woman was dangerous. Just like his mother. His mother was trying to kill him and his sister when they were little when she learned that they actively involved in the black magic.

His mother hated them because they inherited the same power like their father. Woman only brought trouble. That was what his father said. That was why, his father was so proud of him.

Because of that, Dexter had to live up to his expectation. He couldn’t let his father down.

He couldn’t tell Aria to run away because the night of the festival would be the night of the disaster. Therefore, he couldn’t keep seeing her.

However, when the day came and all the people in this village was in a good mood, Aria found a way to talk to him.

"Did I do something wrong? Did I talk something wrong? Why did you keep avoiding me?" Aria looked sad when she talked to him. She managed to drag him to an empty alley between two houses.

Meanwhile, in the distance, the festivity had started.

She looked beautiful like usual, wearing the dress that she had been gushing about. The dress was in the same color like her eyes and her hair.

"I told you that you have to leave," Dexter said through his gritted teeth.

It would be too late for her to warn her family, but if she just ran away herself, she might make it to the nearest city. His father and his people wouldn’t have noticed if there was one person went missing.

"You need to leave."

"But, why?" Aria couldn’t understand. In her eyes, what Dexter said didn’t make any sense and he didn’t offer a proper explanation to make her understand better. "Why I should leave? The last time you said the same thing."

Dexter shouldn’t have done this, but when he saw a firework was brightened up the night sky, he knew he didn’t have time anymore.

He stared at the woman before his eyes, the light of the firework fell on her face and she stared at the sky, astonished.

She looked genuinely happy, Dexter wanted to stare at her face for a long time. He felt like he could stare at her expression and his pure happiness for the rest of his life and be contented with it.

However, the reality was not so kind. He was going to lose her if they stayed here.

"Come. Come with me," Dexter said. He grabbed her hand and started to run away toward different direction from the festivity.

As they started running, they could hear the first scream that split the night followed by the second and the third and then all they could hear was everybody was screaming.

"What is going on?" Aria was terrified. "What’s happening?"

"Don’t look back, keep running!" Dexter shouted.

He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he needed to get her away from here. He needed to save her. All the people in this village could be his father’s sacrifice, but not her!

"No! My family is there!" Aria cried, she wanted to go back, but Dexter held her hand so tight, she couldn’t get away from his grip.

"There is nothing you can do! All of them are going to die!"

"What?" Aria staggered back, her mind went blank, but Dexter knew they didn’t have time. His life was also in danger for going against his father’s order.

"We need to reach the nearest city as soon as possible, we need to get away from here!" Dexter kept dragging Aria with him, because she was in so much shock, she couldn’t think of a better way to respond to this information.

Meanwhile, in the distance, the screams of the villagers were getting louder, it almost sounded like they were being slaughtered if that even made any sense.

"Wait... wait..." Aria was shaking, she couldn’t breathe. Her legs gave in after they ran for an hour straight. "Please, explain to me... what happened..."

"Later, I will explain to you later." He needed to save her. He needed to save her first.

"I can’t run anymore..."

Dexter knelt down and gave his back to her. "Hop on. We need to keep moving."