Chapter 2 - The Agreement

BRAYDEN

“Come on, son.  It is time.”  My father barges into my room with his head held high.  However, my stomach sinks at his words while dread washes over me. 

I can’t do this. 

I look up from my phone and shake my head.  “I don’t want to.”

His calm expression instantly disappears as he grinds his teeth and glares at me.  “Son, we have talked about this.  You are going to sign the alliance agreement today and the three of you have all agreed to the terms of it.”

I shake my head and tuck my phone back into my pocket.  “No, dad.  You didn’t even ask me.  You went ahead and decided for me.  I have never agreed to anything.”

When I was younger, I always did what my father wanted.  However, now that I’m about to turn 18, I know better.  I’ve seen what he really wants. 

A low growl fills my room as he marches towards me.  His feet pounds against the floor and echo against the walls, almost as loud as my pounding heart. 

I’m not afraid anymore.  But I still find myself sliding backwards on my bed against the headboard while my heart races.

Through gritted teeth, he growls, “You WILL COME to the meeting, and you WILL AGREE to the terms of the alliance contract.  I will not have you disobey me.  Not now.  Not ever.”

Disobey.  This isn’t disobeying.  This is sticking up for what’s best for me, which is something he isn’t doing as my father and the alpha of the Moon Earth pack. 

Before I can throw back a rebuttal, he lunges at me and grabs my arm.  Pain shoots through me as his jagged fingernails dig into my soft skin, but I don’t say a word as he yanks me off the bed and out of my room. 

My eyes sting as I fight back the tears.  I’m not going to let him see me as someone weak.  I must always look and appear like an alpha, and alphas don’t cry. 

I repeatedly try to rip my arm from his grasp, but he only clamps his hand tighter around me as additional waves of pain shoot through me. 

He finally loosens his grasp a little when his office comes into view.  Unfortunately, it is already too late.  I’ve lost. 

My heart twists as the alliance agreement swirls around in my mind.  Did the other two really agree to these crazy terms?  Granted, we have been friends since we were young, but this goes so far beyond our friendship.  If they go through with this, we will cross a line which we can never come back from.  Do they really want that?

As we get closer to his office and the meeting room, right next door, my father hisses, “You WILL go through with this agreement.  There is NO choice.  This will not only secure your safety, but it will allow the pack to grow and prosper.”

His two favorite words.  Grow and prosper.  

When I don’t respond, he tightens his grasp around my arm again and growls, “You WILL do this.  There is NO other way to keep your secret.”

I instantly tense.

I can’t have anyone finding out my secret.  It will put not only myself at risk, but the pack too.

Reluctantly, I stop fighting and let him guide me to the meeting room.  He pauses briefly outside the room and quickly runs his hand through his short black hair with specks of gray, trying to comb his hair back into place. 

I, on the other hand, stand there and stare at the door. 

Everything will change after the document is signed.  My life will never be able to go back to what it was, nor will my friendship with my two friends. 

My heart aches while my stomach sinks like a lead balloon.  A cold sweat breaks out across my back, as I wish there is another way.

My father plasters on a smile and opens the door.  As he pulls me inside, the others turn towards me while my father chimes, “Welcome, everyone.  I hope everyone has read the contract.”

I try to hold my head high and proudly walk beside him.  However, pride isn’t what I’m feeling right now. 

I glance at my friends, almost begging them to refuse to go along with this.  But they don’t pay attention to me or my pleas.  Unfortunately, I’m not able to tell whether it is because they want this agreement or their fathers won’t let them refuse, just like mine.

I politely nod to the two older men as I’m pulled down to the chair beside my father.  The conversation turns into incoherent mumbles as I sink deeper within myself.  After some time, my mind finally clicks and starts working again when my father asks, “Does anyone have additional clauses they would like to be added to the document?  We can handwrite them at the bottom.”

Heck, yes.  I do. 

I bolt up out of my chair and look at my friends.  With a conviction I didn’t have earlier, I confidently reply, “We can’t mark each other until we are 30 and haven’t found our true mates.  If we find our mates, this contract relationship is void and ends immediately.”

A wave of heat flows off my father as his fingers tighten around his pen. 

I quickly look at my friends and, with my eyes, beg them to agree.  

Luckily, the other alphas nod and in unison say, “I agree.”

I rejoice is my only victory for today.  The low growl rolling out of my father says he isn’t happy, but I have a feeling everyone will thank me for this later. 

Even though there is no chance for me to ever find my mate, I can’t live with myself if I know I’ve blocked my friends from finding and claiming their mates. 

Reluctantly, my father adds the clause to the multiple identical contracts and grunts, “Is there anything else we need to add?”

The corners of my mouth curl slightly upwards, but I quickly stop myself from actually smiling.  It will only enrage my father more if he sees it. 

I slowly sit back down in my chair.  Within minutes, I’m signing my life away.  My heart aches, but if this is the only way to keep my secret and to protect my pack, I will learn to live with it. 

I breathe a sigh of relief when my father puts his pen down on the table and announces, “The alliance agreement is finalized.”  He looks at the other two alphas and adds, “Why don’t we leave our kids to talk out some of the finer details while we go discuss some pack business?”

The three older men get up and leave the room.  As soon as the door shuts behind them, I push myself away from the table and stand up.  I have nothing to say to them right now.  I still can’t believe they didn’t try to stop this. 

As I turn to march out of the room, my feet stop and my breath hitches. 

“Bryanna.  Why…”

I whip back around and glare at them.  “You aren’t to use that name in public.  Only when we are in private and alone.”

Jacob flashes me a crooked smile.  His eyes sparkle as he waves his finger around in the air.  “We are alone.  It is only us three in here.” 

He rests his arm on the table and gives me a cheesy grin, almost daring me to slap it off him.  His t-shirt stretches tight against his broad chest and accents his well-defined muscles.  He has a true alpha body.

The sparkle in his light brown eyes shimmers as he leans forward.  In a deep, husky voice, he adds, “We know all your secrets.  Plus, we can see your true self.  The one nobody else can see because of the magic spell.  Should I go on?”

My heartbeat echoes in my ears as I stumble forward.  How could he act like this? 

Hunter slides next to Jacob and rests his arm on Jacob’s shoulder.  His t-shirt also stretches tight and clings to every muscle.  Just like Jacob, he gives me a cheesy grin while something mischievous swirls in his dark brown eyes.

He points to a copy of the alliance agreement on the table and, in an almost seductive voice, he adds, “We were the ones who suggested to add the contract relationship to the alliance agreement.  It wasn’t our fathers.”

I stumble forward again and fall back in my chair. 

What?  How could they do this without asking me first?