Mara
The dining room is one of the smallest places I’ve seen so far. It’s big enough to hold a six-seater table, carved by hand like everything else, a sideboard and serving trolley piled high with food and plates.
There’s enough room to move around, but no one’s going to throw any lavish parties in here. I get the feeling that it’s Johnathan’s private dining room, but somewhere in this massive mansion there must be some kind of reception hall for parties.
Wolves love to throw parties.
Preston is sitting at the end of the table with a lovely blonde woman next to him. She’s dressed comfortably in a strappy sundress. I remember when I was able to wear clothes like that. Jealousy tucks at my heart - not because the girl is a hundred times more beautiful than I am, but because she has the kind of freedom I’ve forgotten.
“Hello,” she chirps and sits upright. “I’m Ally, Preston’s mate. You are Mara right?”
I nod and smile at her. Like everyone else in Haven’s Crest, she’s almost uncomfortably nice. “Yes,” I say in a soft, demure little voice. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Jonathan loudly clears his throat and steers me to the head of the table. To the left of him and directly opposite me sits a boy who is almost an exact carbon copy of Johnathan. The only difference are their eyes. The boy has beautiful, clear, blue eyes.
He’s the cutest kid I’ve ever seen, with his chubby cheeks and fat little fingers. I forget all about the adults in the room and focus on the child. “I guess you’re Gregory, right? Your daddy told me all about you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he says very politely. “Awe you my new mommy?”
My heart melts into a puddle of goo. I always liked children, but I have no clue how to answer his question. “I am not your mommy,” I say when no one else offers an answer.
“Do you want to be my mommy?” Gregory asks.
Feeling helpless, I look to Johnathan who regards us with an amused grin on his face. He leans over and ruffles the boy’s black hair. “We spoke about this buddy,” he says, his voice filled with warmth. “Mara and I aren’t married yet.”
The boy pouts a little and defiantly crosses his arms over his chest. “But you said when Mawa gets heaw she’ll be my mommy.”
I try not to grab the boy and run with him. I’ll happily be his mommy. I know what it’s like to grow up without a mother. Every child deserves to have a mommy who’ll love and protect them.
Johnathan looks at me, his face filled with consternation. No one’s ever looked at me that way, wordlessly asking for help.
“I’ll be your friend,” I offer up. “At least for now. How’s that?”
That seems to mollify the boy a little. He gives me a wavering smile, but I see the tears pooling in his lovely blue eyes. He’s trying very hard not to cry, taking in deep breaths as he attempts to get his emotions under control.
Johnathan shouldn’t have made promises like that to Gregory. I can never be the boy’s mother, not really.
Without thinking about it, I walk around Johnathan’s chair to the trolley and start to uncover the dishes. “Uh, what are you doing?” the Alpha asks.
“Serving you,” I say without missing a beat.
“No, you’re not,” he says. “Sit down.” He pats the seat to his right. The official Luna’s place.
I glance at Preston and his mate who are looking at me with matching shocked expressions on their faces.
I blush all the way to my roots. “I- I’m sorry,” I stutter. “I forgot. Old habits.”
“It’s all right,” Ally says. “Preston told me your ex-mate was a brute.”
Does everyone know? I don’t want people to know about my shame. I lower my gaze and walk back to my seat. At the same time, the Alpha gets up and pulls my chair out. I sit down and allow him to slide my seat under my ass.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Ally goes on. “A lot of she-wolves here fled mates like yours.”
I want to crawl under the table and die.
“That’s enough,” Johnathan says and retakes his seat. “Mara’s past is not open for discussion. How would you like it if we start to discuss your past, Ally?”
The girls blushes and goes very quiet.
A door swings open and Chad enters with a smile on his face. Wordlessly, he starts to take plates from the serving trolley, loading every dish with food, serving Johnathan first, then me, Gregory, Preston and last of all, Ally.
When he’s done he moves to the corner where he awaits any orders, his hands folded in front of him.
He may not dress like a conventional butler, but he behaves like one.
‘Bwoccoli?” Gregory says and pulls a face. “I hate bwoccoli.”
“Then don’t eat it,” Johnathan says as he picks up his utensils.
“It’s touching my food!” the boy protests.
“I hate broccoli too,” I say as I watch the petulant child. “Do you know what I like to do when someone puts broccoli on my plate?” I ask and start to plant the broccoli florets in my mash so they’ll look like little trees. “I like to pretend I’m a dinosaur.”
“Dinosaws eat meat. Like wolves.”
“Some dinosaurs eat vegetables. Did you know the biggest dinosaurs in the world only ate veggies? And we are not all wolf right? We are part human, so you need to eat your veggies so you can grow up to be big and strong like your daddy.”
I pull my hair back, lean over and grab a broccoli tree between my teeth before I suck it into my mouth. “Num num,” I growl softly. “I’m a dinosaur, eating my veggies.”
Gregory giggles and starts to plant his broccoli. I glance at Johnathan who is looking at me with a deep frown between his eyes. The way we’re eating is rude. Bad manners. “Remember,” I say quickly, “we can only do this when Daddy doesn’t have company over, or we’ll give away our secret.”
“Whatch ow secwet?” Gregory asks around a mouth full of broccoli.
“That we know vegetables makes the biggest, strongest Alphas in the world.”
I give Johnathan a sideways glance. The frown is gone and there’s a small smile on his lips. He gives me an approving little nod, picks up his knife and fork and starts to eat.
Even though I suddenly feel very vulnerable and exposed, I finish eating my broccoli like a dinosaur because it makes Gregory happy, and every time I snatch the vegetables between my teeth, he giggles and does the same.
When I’m done, I wipe my face and watch with satisfaction as Gregory does the same. Then we both pick up our utensils and dig into our food.
Everyone eats in complete silence. The only sound is that of knives and works scraping against the plates, and soft polite chewing. Johnathan only speaks once - to ask Chad for more wine.
It’s unnerving, and I’m so unsettled by the unnatural quiet that I don’t dare to open my mouth. My father was a stickler for proper table manners, but at least we made polite dinner conversation.
At eight on the dot, a middle-aged woman enters the dining room. “Master Gregory,” she announces in a thick accent that I can’t quite place, “it is time for your bath.”
“I want Mawa to do it!” Gregory protests.
I look at Johnathan who nods his approval. Frankly, I’m relieved to get out of here. Besides, I enjoy the little boy’s company. Children don’t see what adults see. They don’t judge based on appearance or rank. They simply accept people for who they are.
Gregory hops off his chair as I get up and runs around the table to place his sticky hand in mine. “Can you tell stowies, Mawa?”
“I’ve never tried,” I say as we walk from the dining room. “I’ll guess we’ll find out together if I'm any good at it.”
MaraI climb the steps to my father’s mansion with heavy legs. Haley, my best and probably only friend, dropped me off at the gate because Lucas, my mate, won’t allow me to drive.The guard refused to let Haley in, and I was forced to walk up the kilometre long driveway, while my bruised and battered body screamed out in agony.I haven’t been home in two years. Today is my twenty-first birthday, and my father wanted to see me for the first time since I married Lucas Mattfield - the future Alpha of Red Ridge.I am in a sad state. I’m only allowed to eat once a day - Lucas wants a hot wife - and last night I took a particularly brutal beating. It was one of the worst he’d ever given me, and he laughed the whole time. I think it’s one of the reasons my father refuses to see me. I’m always covered in fresh and healing bruises now, and he can’t stand to look at the thing he had done to me.On the night of our wedding, Lucas took me into the bond room - the place where newly wed couples h
MaraI wake to the sound of tyres humming softly on the tarmac, the woodsy scent of Beta Preston’s cologne in my nose, and the more flowery lavender scent of a woman. Frowning, I sit upright and look out of the windshield of the moving SUV. Ahead of us is a long, deserted road and the setting sun.I have no idea where we are. Red Ridge must be far behind us. I’ve never seen anything so empty and desolate in all my life. The world here is flat, with nothing but the road and grasslands as far as the eye can see. How long was I out?“Hello lovely,” a chirpy voice says from the front seat. “Did yeh have a good sleep?”I look over at the platinum blonde sitting in the passenger seat. She’s in her mid-twenties. Her make-up is heavy, and she’s dressed in a tight, red dress that leaves little to the imagination. All I manage in way of an answer is a croak.“Give her some water,” Beta Preston says, his voice deep and even.He’s a handsome man, with salt and pepper hair, hazel eyes, and a be
MaraI stare in wonder at the winding road ahead of us. It disappears around several bends, leading all the way to the top of the mountain, and the town of Haven’s Crest.Who the hell builds an entire town on the top of a mountain?We crawl up the road. There’s literally nothing between us and a sheer drop into the canyon below, but it’s idyllic, with the green mountain rising up against the bright blue sky. Cotton candy clouds drift in the azure heavens.As we round one of the many dangerous bends, a waterfall comes into view. Rainbows dance in the misty water that vanishes into the pond below. “Wow,” I gasp.“Pretty, ain’t it?” Rhoda says with a soft laugh.I can’t tear my eyes away from the beautiful scenery. It’s like a postcard sent from some exotic place I never knew existed. Far below and in the distance, a blue lake glimmers in the bright sun. At long last, we reach the top. A massive white and black sign welcomes us to *Haven’s Crest - A home for every soul.*I smile wryly.
Mara“Your father asked me to take you off his hands,” Jonathan says in a straightforward, almost bored voice. “Actually, he put you on the open market. There was a fierce bidding war for you.”My eyes almost bulge out of my skull and fresh tears burn my throat. How could my father do that to me? He did not put me on that market to sell me to an Alpha. It’s a slave market where wolves sell their used up wives or unwanted daughters. Most end up as breeders or prostitutes in the wolf pleasure houses.“Everyone thought you came with an inheritance and that you were worth the investment,” Jonathan goes on.I have no idea how much he paid for me, but my father would not have settled for anything less than the compensation Kysan and Lucas demanded. “My father disowned me,” I whisper. “You won’t get your money back.”“I know. Preston told me.” His eyes slide over my ravaged face. “That is not why I bought you. You do not need to fear me,” he says and leans over to take one of the drinks. “I
JohnathanI take out my phone and pull up the listing for Mara. She has been removed from the site, but I screenshot it right before the auction came to an end.I spent roughly half the money in my bank account on her. It’s way more than I can afford to waste on a she-wolf. I did not need someone like Mara. Technically, I can take any mate and declare her my Luna for my pack to be recognised by the council. But I wanted Mara.Establishing a new pack takes a lot of money. Money I don’t have. The modern world destroyed a lot of packs. Humans are encroaching on our territories, and to keep the unknowns, as we call them, out, we have to buy the land that has been our homes for centuries. The human authorities who are aware of our existence also keep increasing our taxes. They are convinced we’re rich even though most of us don’t even have a pot to piss in.Douglas used the word heiress in Mara’s listing, knowing that a lot of Alphas are struggling to get by now and would jump at the chan
MaraI thought I’d enjoy my excursion into town with Rhoda, but I’ve been isolated for so long that all the people made me nervous.Everyone seemed to know who I am. People stopped me to introduced themselves, welcomed me to the town, and asked me if I’m happy to be here, when the wedding would be, if I like the Alpha, and wanted to know who bruised me up. Who dared to touch a hair on our Luna’s pretty little head? Is your father happy with the new arrangement? All questions I couldn’t answer, or didn’t want to answerRhoda was no help. She basked in the attention. Or perhaps people here are just like that and she’s so used to it that she didn't even notice. I couldn’t quite figure out which one of the two it was.By the time we made it back to the mansion, I was exhausted and ready to crawl into a hole. There was a time, not so long ago when I think about it, that I enjoyed going out. I was popular in school - no doubt because of my father's money - and I had no shortage of invitat