5. Sealed With a Drink

Bryan

Hours had passed since our lunch with the witches and the information they had revealed was still hanging over my parents and me as we rode in the SUV over to the home of the Queen Regent. Tonight I would meet the Queen of the Witches, and we would have time to talk about this arrangement we had both found ourselves thrown into. Sophia had warned us that her daughter was quite angry with the whole situation, but that it seemed her anger was mostly directed at her family and ancestors for their betrayal. I felt pity for my bride to be, though I didn't want to imagine how it would feel to have my family turn on me.

We pulled up to an iron gate, and when it opened we drove up the drive to a large estate home. I could certainly understand why Sophia sued the city to get it back, as it was quite beautiful. Atleast I knew my bride to be had good taste when it came to home buying, albeit expensive taste. Ofcourse she did though, she was a Queen.

Sophia greeted us on the porch as we exited the vehicle and ushered us inside her beautiful home. All four of the redheads were present as she showed us around, before settling us into a rather large dining room. The red head women amused me, as they all shared similar features so you could easily tell they were sisters in the light of the day. One had short dark red hair, while another had shoulder length, slightly lighter hair. The one that looked the youngest had the lightest hair, and it flowed past her shoulders and half way down her back. Sophia introduced them as Wren, who was the oldest, Gwen, the middle daughter, and Quinn, the youngest.

She asked Quinn to go get Josie from her room, explaining that Quinn was the only one in the family that Josie didn't seem to have a grudge against. I imagined that it was because Quinn was around her age, and therefore still a minor when the witches had dethroned her. I also recognized her voice as the one that had whispered 'Gods help us all' the night I made the deal with them. We made small talk as we sat around the table waiting for Josie to come downstairs and dinner to finish cooking. The sisters were incredibly chatty which was a stark contrast to how they had been that first initial night. It was nice to be able to see the witches in a different light today than what I had seen that night.

Her scent hit me before she turned the corner into the room, as I would recognize it anywhere. It was just as subtle as it had been that night, and as deeply overshadowed by the smell of liquor as it had been too. She turned the corner and immediately froze when she saw me. Her hand subconsciously went to her neck and I had to look away. I never felt shameful of my actions, but watching her touch her neck in terror had me feeling deeply ashamed of my actions that night.

"I'm so, so very sorry for how I acted that night." I told her as I stood up to go to her, taking complete accountability for my actions.

She took a step backwards as I stepped closer, and I knew that I had already ruined this before it even started. I stopped in my tracks, letting her know that I wouldn't approach her if she didn't want me to. I knew I had to fix this, or this alliance and my people would be dead. She turned around and walked out of the room without even speaking a word as everyone stared at me confused.

"Seriously Josie, is that necessary? How much have you had already today? You have a problem." I could hear Sophia lecturing her daughter from the kitchen.

"Why don't you mind your own business or better yet, fuck off. I'm a fucking adult and if I want to drink, I'm going to drink. You haven't cared in the past 13 years, why start now?" Josie repied harshly.

I knew the first time I had met her that she was an alcoholic. A functioning alcoholic, but an alcoholic nonetheless. I could smell the liquor coming from her pores as if it was just a part of her natural scent. I thought it would make scaring her into submission that much easier, but I had been completely wrong about her. She wasn't afraid of me, hell, she wasn't even afraid to die. She threatened me right back, telling me that she would neuter me with her sterling silver stilettos if I didn't let her go. Her silver necklace burned my hand so I had dug my claws into her neck, hoping that it would scare her enough to pull her books on my people from the shelves. She told me that she had wrote them so humans would be aware that we lived among them because they weren't as disposable as us werewolves believed them to be.

As I thought back to that night it seemed obvious that she would infact be the witch queen. Afterall, Gerald had told me that the witch Queen had created laws specifically for the protection of humans against supernatural beings. It seemed that even as a human she couldn't stay away from the supernatural world, writing books to protect humans from supernaturals instead of laws. It seemed that she had a grudge specifically against my kind though, as she spoke of wolves treating humans as though they were disposable.

She walked back into the diningroom with a glass of whiskey in her hand, and though she smelled like a distillery, I couldn't deny that she was breathtakingly beautiful. She had her long coils hanging in her face and down past her shoulders. They were a sunset orange color, but I knew they had been dyed that color since they had been her natural dark brunette the first time I had met her. She was wearing a tight light green sundress that hugged all of her curves perfectly, with white strappy stilettos. This girl sure loved her stilettos and I was sure she had a closet full of them.

I remembered that her eyes were a deep coffee brown, and when I looked to them she was looking back at me. She had an eyebrow arched just like her mother had had the night we made the alliance agreement. I gave her a genuine smile hoping she would see that I was no threat to her. Sure, I wanted to make our alliance work, but I was also deeply intrigued by her. She was quite successful for as young as she was, obviously brilliant by both human and supernatural standards, yet she seemed sad, almost broken even. I couldn't help but to wonder what had caused her so much pain, even more so, I wanted to fix it. I had never seen her smile before, but I was sure her smile was just as beautiful as she was.

She rolled her eyes at my smile and took her seat at the table directly across from me just as her mother and aunt began bringing the food to the table. They made two trips each, sitting down the most delicious smelling food infront of us.

"Alright, now we have jambalaya, fried okra, collard greens and cornbread. It's all just the way you like it sweetheart, please eat up. I am worried about you, whether you believe it or not." Sophia spoke as she sat down in her seat at the head of the table.

Kara popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and began going around filling everyone's glasses. She hesitated when she got to my bride to be's glass, eyeing her nearly empty whiskey glass.

"Well don't be shy. I'm not picky about my alcohol, I like it dry, wet, neat, on the rocks, straight, mixed, and even bubbly. Afterall, this is my wedding to a werewolf who is a complete stranger that we're celebrating." Josie told her dryly when she noticed her hesitation.

My mom nervously eyed me from her seat between me and my father, worry evident in her eyes. Josie had spent the entire 10 minutes of our initial meeting expressing her dissatisfaction with this arrangement, and my mother was worried about how this was all going to play out. I'm sure my father was concerned as well, but much like myself, he was great at keeping his feelings well hidden.

"That's precisely why we are here this evening, and for the rest of the week. That way you and Bryan have a chance to get know one another before the ceremony next weekend. I know that we are more than happy to welcome you into our family, and that Bryan will spend this coming week showing you that." My father smiled across the table at her.

"So your name is Bryan? Good to know, though I probably won't remember it tomorrow morning, or any morning really." She giggled to me with a mischievous smirk as she shook her whiskey glass slightly before finishing off its contents in one large gulp.

Yea, this was definitely going to be an interesting arrangement. Andu was going on in my mind about how screwed we were with the protection of our people being in the hands of a drunk, but I only smiled back at her as I shook my head. Truth be told, her boldness was quite admirable. She had no shame in expressing her true feelings, and didn't seem to give a damn about what any of us at this table thought of her or her antics.

"That is enough Josette. Have you no shame? These people came hundreds of miles to be here and you would disrespect them like this? It's incredibly disappointing. I raised you better than that." Sophia spoke sternly and calmly as she glared at her daughter.

"They came hundreds of miles because they need me to save them, mother. Don't act like they are doing this for me, because everyone at this table knows they aren't. They are doing this for themselves. And I'll be damned if I sit here and pretend like this is something that I want to do, because I don't. I don't give a damn about getting my power back, or taking back my throne. You can have it." She slammed her fork down and glared right back at her mother before turning to my family and me.

"I'm not doing this to save the werewolves, quite honestly I couldn't care less about whatever supernatural wars are raging on. I'm doing this for the only witch that was ever completely loyal to me. I'm doing this to reverse her fate. I don't care to know you, Alpha Prince, afterall, I've already seen your true colors. The only thing I care about is freeing my cousin from her perfectly painted prison of lies, so that she doesn't make a choice she will regret. So, if you were hoping for some sort of magical love story, you're delusional. I will hold up my end of this deal. I will marry you, and I will defeat the demons for you, but that's what this relationship is, a business deal. I have no interest in becoming a part of your family, or even being your friend. Hell, I have no intentions on allowing this arrangement to affect my life at all, which is why after our wedding I will be going back to school to finish my degree before I wage war against the demons on your behalf. Are we clear?" Her voice was thick with venom and a deep hatred burned in her eyes as she spoke.

The table was silent now, everyone had stopped eating and no one had even dared to move. I wasn't sure if it was because they feared her, or because they feared what my and my parents' reactions might be. But I held my composure as I smiled across the table at her. She wouldn't get the reaction she was hoping for from me, I wasn't going to ruin this deal. My people needed her, our survival relied on it. So, I said the only thing that I could.

"Crystal clear, your majesty. You don't actually care about us, or your position and power. Only your cousin. But I will be going back to school with you after the wedding. Afterall, you will be my wife, so until you have held up your end of the deal, you are stuck with me. We will be living together, two separate bedrooms obviously. No worries though, I have no intentions on interfering with your very obviously fascinating life. I do have rules though. You don't have to like me, or even get to know me, but you will NOT cheat on me. There will be no other men in your life, not that I imagine that will be much of a problem since you are so incredibly charming. Those are my terms, take them or leave them." I told her sternly though some of my words were dripping with sarcasm.

She glared at me from across the table, but I could only smile back at her. She was used to always being in control, so she never suspected that I would challenge her. She smirked at me and I knew she was formulating yet another plan in that beautiful mind of hers. Little did she know, I am far from a fool. No doubt she believed that once she had her power back she would be able to control me, but little did she know, as had no intentions on giving her power back until she needed it. I would have to talk to her mother about this cousin she was so fond of, so I could understand her motivation behind agreeing to this marriage though. However, if she didn't want to engage the demons until she finished school, then I wouldn't mark her until she finished school. Afterall, what use would she have for her power while going about her life as a human? If she wanted to continue pretending to be a human, then she could stay human.

"Fine. Looks like we have ourselves a deal then Alpha Prince." She told me a she raised her champagne glass and held it across the table.

I picked mine up and clinked it against hers, sealing our marriage alliance deal, and with that we both took a drink.