“Through the marriage of Elisandra to the son of the alpha of the Blood Moon pack, we have guaranteed a strong alliance to help us take control of the vampire plague that has been creeping towards our borders for the past few years.”

I spluttered, very nearly spewing my water across the table as a cacophony of sound echoed through the dining hall. There were a few surprised and confused exclamations, but the majority were cheers and whoops of excitement at the prospect of an alliance with the strongest pack in our state.

Asa and Valorie, sitting across from me, met my stupefied stare with eyes almost as wide as mine. They, too, were silent.

Our alpha continued after holding up a hand to quiet the thirty-odd wolves present. “I just received word today that Tobias, their alpha, agreed to this arrangement. As such, the Blood Moon pack will honor us with their presence first in their yearly travels. They will be arriving tomorrow morning. Ralph and I have updated the assignments for this week, so please be sure to check over them before tomorrow morning.”

Maddock turned and left, effectively granting permission for anyone done with their breakfast to leave. I stayed seated and watched as a handful of wolves approached him and congratulated him on securing the alliance. Other packs had tried to get an alliance with the Blood Moon pack for years, unsuccessfully. Though whatever powers of persuasion my alpha possessed must have worked; our White Fang pack was the smallest in the area and did not have much to offer a pack nearly a hundred wolves strong.

A few female wolves made to approach, but quick looks from Asa and Valorie had them keeping their distance. They could not, however, keep one of the alpha’s own sons from sneering at me and spitting out, “Finally good for something around here, huh? We’ll be glad once you’re gone.”

Normally, I’d have something snarky or insulting to shoot back at him. He had been singling me out ever since I turned him down for a date nearly a year ago. Clearly, his ego was still bruised. Must be a fragile thing, then.

Asa came to my rescue, turning to give him the iciest of glares. Bryce’s steps faltered as he met Asa’s eyes, and he flipped her off before strutting out like he owned the place, despite my father being Maddock’s beta instead of him or his equally annoying brother.

“What the fuck?” Valorie murmured under her breath. Her round, blue eyes were searching mine. “Why didn’t you say anything to us?”

Finally, I found my voice. “This is the first I’m hearing of it, too.”

“Your father didn’t say anything to you?” Asa asked.

I shook my head.

“Well,” Valorie said as she leaned back in her chair. “We all know Maddock likes to be dramatic. He probably ordered your father not to say anything.”

I almost chuckled. Maddock was one of the most melodramatic alphas I’d ever heard of. Valorie was most likely right in her assumption.

“You should go find your dad and talk to him about this,” Asa suggested, looking around the room for my father. “See what the deal is. It’s ridiculous.”

“Shh,” I hushed, looking around nervously. “I don’t need someone overhearing you and then complaining to Maddock that I’m questioning him.”

Most everyone had finished filing out of the dining hall when Stephanie, Valorie’s six-year-old sister, bounded up to me, skirts twirling around her always-bruised knees.

“Liza,” she sang, “can I be your flower girl?”

I smiled, reaching down to hug her. I envied her innocence.

“Of course you can be my flower girl whenever I get married,” I answered honestly, leaving out when exactly a wedding would take place or to whom. “You’ll have to help me pick out my dress, too, you know.”

Stephanie giggled and danced away, finding her mom over by the doors. Stephanie was one of the youngest children here. Some of the more old-fashioned wolves had started to put pressure on myself, Asa, and Valorie to start thinking about settling down with a wolf and making pups of our own. But since we either had to settle for the alpha’s sons or wolves ten to twenty years older than we were, the options were not so appealing.

It wasn’t as though we couldn’t find ourselves a nice human to fall in love with and marry, but those types of unions didn’t guarantee strong pups. My father had been lucky, finding my mother, because I ended up stronger and more dominant than any of the other women in the pack. And I was equally lucky that it did not cause any power struggles, being the beta’s daughter.

The last of the stragglers filtered out of the dining hall with a few of the women hanging back to handle the dishes left behind. I sighed, mentally preparing myself to find my father and ask what the hell was going on.

I could feel a few pairs of eyes on me as I wandered the halls, searching for my father. Asa and Valorie trailed behind, offering moral support and preventing anyone from trying to approach me.

As I neared his office in the business wing of the compound, as we called it, I could hear him speaking with a handful of other wolves who were complaining about something.

“…can’t make that work!”

“I see,” was my father’s calm response. “Connor, do you mind switching with Jay here on Friday?”

“I can do that, boss,” Connor easily agreed.

Before anyone could continue, I opened the door to my father’s office and walked in like I owned the place. Asa and Valorie stayed outside, one on either side of the door. They’d make sure we weren’t interrupted by anyone except Maddock.

“A word?” I asked simply, calmly. My father wouldn’t meet my eyes, but I was sure I was the only one to notice that as he looked at my nose instead.

“Of course,” he said after a second’s hesitation. “If you could all excuse me, my daughter and I have some very important things to discuss.”

The other wolves filed out of the room, and I watched as Connor shut the door behind him.

I turned my gaze back to my father. I didn’t need to verbalize my questions.

He sighed, running a hand through his slightly graying hair, and walked out from behind his desk to prop a hip on it instead, minding his laptop half buried under a disorganized stack of paperwork.

“Eliza, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you ahead of time.” Ah, so Maddock had ordered my father not to breathe a word to me. Interesting. “This, of course, isn’t what I wanted for you.”

“But…?” I prompted, hearing the unspoken condition that had made my father agree, or at least not protest.

“You have to be livid right now,” he hedged, trying to change the topic.

“Whether or not I’m livid will depend on the reasonings for this arrangement.” I leaned forward and folded my arms across the back of the opulent chair in front of me. All the furniture was old luxurious and well-made, the product of generations of slowly acquired wealth for the White Fang pack.

He sighed again, an indicator of just how stressed he was. “I protested, originally,” he began slowly. “But…there are some things that Maddock brought to my attention, and some things that are need-to-know. This issue with the vampires… Maddock has been downplaying it. In the last month, a clan of them have broken off and established what we have assessed as temporary…lodgings…in the ruins of the old asylum not ten miles away from here. It is our belief that they mean to make that their permanent home once they’ve fixed it up a bit. Paul was talking to some other contractors in the area and learned that the vampires are looking to hire. Not us, obviously.”

My mind raced to connect the rest of the dots. “And if some of them are breaking off, that means that they are strong enough to split like that.”

My father nodded. “It means that our intelligence on them is likely faulty. That, or they’re bluffing.”

“Which I’ve never heard of vampires doing,” I admitted.

“I’m in agreement with you. So we no longer confidently have the upper hand in this situation.”

It was my turn to sigh; I could see where he was going with this. “And that’s why we need the alliance.”

“It’s not ideal, but…If you die because I am selfish enough to keep you here, with me…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, but I knew where his thoughts had strayed. He’d never forgive himself, just like he would never forgive himself for being a part, however much he tried to stop it, of my mother’s death.

A thought occurred to me, and a dry laugh escaped. “But, hey, I guess if an arranged marriage was all Maddock had to offer, he really had to sell me.”

My father grinned, but the sadness didn’t leave his eyes. “That he probably did. I would have loved to have seen his face when talking you up to their alpha.”

It wasn’t advertised, but it was well-known that Maddock had a misogynistic view of the world. Everyone had their own theories, but I believed that it stemmed from his own unfaithfulness in his marriage that caused his wife, his mate, to divorce him and leave the pack when their youngest was only two.

“And who knows? Maybe this alpha’s son is a real hottie.” My teasing was forced; tears of frustration threatened to fall. But I mustered up some courage and plastered a smile on my face for my father’s sake.

I didn’t like the reasons I was given for this arrangement. But I couldn’t say they weren’t valid in their own way, nor could I blame my father when all he was trying to do was ultimately protect me.

We both stewed in the slightly awkward silence before my father said, “Take Asa and Valorie into the city today. I take it you still have that credit card I gave you for emergencies?”

“…Yes?”

“Good. If everything goes as planned, I don’t know how much longer you’ll be here. Go rack up some debt; it’ll be good for you, and good for me to see you finally making use of it.”

“I have my own money, dad,” I argued, half-heartedly. Not that really I used my wages as one of the construction company’s secretaries for anything other than clothes, shoes, and books.

“I know. But let me spoil you anyways. You’ve always been too independent and responsible. Go have fun. Get lunch with your friends. I doubt you could do enough damage in one afternoon to cause me any financial trouble.”

He enveloped me in a tight hug, squeezing the air out of my lungs.

“I love you so much, Elisandra. You are so strong in ways that not many appreciate. I know your mother would be so proud of you because I’m proud of you.”

I was doing fine. Perfectly fine, keeping the tears in check, until he had to go and say probably the only thing that could break me.

He held me as I tried not to shake, as tears trailed gently down my face. He patted my hair, humming softly. After a couple of minutes, I managed to wrangle my emotions back in check. It wouldn’t do to have the beta’s daughter crying in her father’s arms. I’d learned that the hard way, years ago.

I pulled back reluctantly, wiping my cheeks and quietly sniffling. My father dropped his hands on my shoulders, holding me in front of him as he took me in. After a third and final sigh, he led me to his office door.

“Any longer, and I’ll start crying,” he joked. He opened the door and looked to my friends. “Ladies, you have a job officially assigned to you by your beta. Take my daughter into the city and make sure she spends too much money on things with my credit card. I’ll take care of whatever you were assigned for today. Got it?”

Asa and Valorie exchanged glances, grinning ear to ear.

“Yes, sir!”

“Not a problem!”

“Good. I’ll trust you’ll be back in time for dinner.” My father met my eyes again, gave me a genuine smile, and closed the door.

Valorie gripped my arm, bouncing with excitement. “Does that mean you’re buying lunch?”

My father’s voice trickled through the door. “Yes, she is! Make sure she takes you someplace nice!”

I rolled my eyes, grateful for the distraction of a day in town. I didn’t want to think about what, or really who, awaited me tomorrow.

Asa slipped an arm through mine. “I’ve heard,” she whispered conspiratorially, “that there’s a new hibachi place that we have to investigate.”

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed! Please feel free to leave any constructive criticism! This story will be progressing with mature themes and content (in what I like to call 'graphic romance') so please be advised.

This story will be updated regularly each weekend, starting on 1/14/22. The next two chapters are already available to read on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CatGracie