Marriage alliance

“Yes, this all happened shortly after you left.” His teeth grind, seeming to hold back painful memories along with his aggression. “The alpha’s son took over at eighteen, and with both the Lions and the second wolf pack, we’ve struggled to keep our stronghold, Scarlet. We’re still at the top, but barely.”

This all started just after my mother died, while my father was attempting to cope with the loss of his mate. No wonder the Weavers pack had time to grow. My father was in a state of shock for years, and had even married my stepmom while still in that catatonic state. And I had seen the disgust and disdain he held for her and himself once he regained some of his clarity.

I wish I could’ve hated him for it. I wish I could have revolted against him long ago. But I couldn’t, not when I too went through the same thing, using alcohol and sex to mask the pain. Not when I was the reason his mate was taken from him too soon.

“So my father saw this and struck an agreement with the Weavers pack?” I probe, desperately pushing him to continue, to keep my head from the thoughts threatening to overwhelm me.

Ryan takes a deep breath, his gaze darting around the room, refusing to meet my eyes. Despite his suddenly dodgy behavior, his lips tighten, betraying the fact that this can’t be good news.

“Just tell me, Ryan.” I huff, losing my last ounce of patience.

“Yes, your father was in the midst of an agreement with their alpha.” His chest deflates as though he dreads having to utter his following words. “They were to bind the agreement with a bond of sorts.”

I let loose an exasperated sigh, the emotional toll of today finally settling in as the exhaustion weighs heavily on my body.

“Marcus, the Weavers pack alpha didn’t trust that your father wouldn’t turn against him, so they came to an agreement. Their deal was you Scarlet, your father promised your hand in marriage to cement the deal.”

My chest tightens, the weight that had settled throughout my body moves to press down on my lungs. My father wouldn’t have done that, right? He must’ve had some other plan to get around this. He hadn’t said a word, hadn’t prepared me for this at all. Had he expected me to just go along with it, to take this lying down for the good of the pack? A pack I hadn’t truly belonged to for twelve years.

“There must be some sort of mistake.” I almost don’t recognize my own voice, the sound hollow, emotionless, full of shock.

“I’m sorry Scarlet, I was there for the negotiations,” he says numbly, a pained expression crossing his face. “Look in the top left drawer.”

I reach for the handle to my left, my fingers shaking as they grasp the brass knob. I have to see for myself to honestly believe that after hiding me away for all this time, my father would use me as a bargaining chip for an alliance. My hand moves as though on auto-pilot, plucking up the document on the top.

Blinking down at the words, I force my sight clear and the black text comes into focus. I scan through the words, skimming over the legal jargon and deciphering the agreement for the two packs to merge as one.

My eyes catch on a yellow tab sticking out beneath a few pages. There was my dadsignature on it’. I recognize the same scrawled printing from my father’s lawyer on the tab and immediately turn to it. My stomach roils before I even read the neatly typed text, my heart pounding wildly as a cold sweat breaks over my skin.

‘The agreement between the my pack and the Weavers pack will become a binding agreement with the marriage of Marcus weavers and me.’

Two blank lines for signatures follow the short and concise passage. My future was summarized and decided in one mere sentence. Bile rises in my throat. So this is my reality now. The man I’d just spent the past few days mourning, whose wife I’d just fought to spread his ashes with my mom, had planned to treat me like little more than cattle. Like a commodity to be bartered.

Even with him gone, do I really have a choice? Do I truly have autonomy now that my fate lies with the pack, as their leader? I need to do what’s best for them, put their needs before my own. A tiny sliver of hope lights within me at the empty spaces, perhaps there’s some way to get out of this since the contract wasn’t signed.

“I have a plan, Scarlet,” Ryan murmurs, jolting me from my state of shock and dismay. I almost forgot he was sitting across from me while my mind spiraled further and further into the abyss. “Your father planned to keep Weavers out of the negotiations with the Lions, so the only way Marcus had any control over the situation was to make sure your late dad couldn’t back out of the deal. It should be enough just to include him and his betas when we meet with the slit.”

This alpha sounds like a treat too. He would marry a complete stranger for this alliance, regardless of my willingness? The man sounds like a real piece of work. I grit my teeth. I’d have to work with him regardless of my disdain for him.

I shudder at the thought of what this man may want to do to me. Who knows how sick and sadistic he is if he’s willing to force someone into marrying him in the first place just for an alliance.

“It’s that simple? You’re sure he’d be willing to dissolve that part of the alliance, just to be included in the dealings with the sleuth?” My stomach knots, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It couldn’t be this easy, right?

“That actually brings me to the next part of my plan,” Ryan says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I think that would be enough for him, but only if there was something in the way of you two getting married...” he trails off, letting his words hang thickly in the air.

I take a deep, steeling breath, preparing myself for what he’s about to say. How did my life come to this? Just a week ago I was in Enders, co-owner of one of the most successful nightclubs in the city. Living my life without consequences, no one else’s well-being to consider other than my own. And now—now I’m faced with either marrying a complete stranger, an alpha asshole that thinks he has the right to control a woman’s life—or whatever alternative Ryan has come up with. Honestly, I’m not liking my options right now, especially given all the squirming he’s doing at the moment.

“Just spit it out,” I huff out on a weary sigh and scrub a hand over my face, letting him see the bone-deep exhaustion that has set in.

He gently takes my hand in his, wrapping both of his around mine in a comforting gesture. I relax into the touch, letting his warmth seep into me as a shudder runs through my body. With all the revelations being brought to light right, it’s only now I register the chill from my soaked clothes. “We pretend to be engaged.”

My breath catches.Pretend to be engaged to him?I scan his face waiting for the punchline, but there’s no trace of amusement in his expression. His earlier hesitance is gone, his gaze now warm … and hopeful?

“No, Ryan, I can’t ask you to do that. Who knows how long it will go on for? I can’t let you put your life on hold for me.” I lean back, about to pull my hand from his, but he only grips me tighter, refusing to lose that point of contact between us.

“Would it really be such a bad thing, Sky?” he asks, his words coming out on a pained breath, and when I meet his eyes, I can see the hurt there, the sheen of moisture glistening in the amber orbs. “I know we lost time, but we used to be good together. We used to talk about getting married one day.”

My chest warms at his words. I had been scared that he would resent me for following my dad’s orders to stay away. Had thought he hadn’t genuinely cared because he never came after me, never broke my late dad rules. But I couldn’t hold that against Ryan when I, too, had been unwilling to endure his wrath.