001 Meet Marcus

Gwyneth

I sat alone in my room, thinking of what to do. I couldn't believe it had come to this. The bloodshed was still fresh in my memory, and I was yet to get over the death of my friends. My father wasn't coping well. Our Alpha, Beta, and Gamma had been killed, and their families wiped out in the attack. The only reason we were spared was that my father had surrendered. Our pack was still mourning, and I doubted if we would ever get over what had happened. I was only nineteen years old.

My father came to check on me in my bedroom. I knew he had something important to tell me, but he was contemplating how.

"Gwen, how have you been holding up?" He asked while he sat on the couch in my room.

"All my friends are gone, daddy. I do not have friends anymore. I might never find my mate. This is a nightmare." I cried, and he came to sit next to me at the foot of my bed and held me. I cried my heart out, remembering the horrible event that had happened.

"I know it is hard, and I cannot promise you it will get any easier, my child." He said, and I continued to cry.

My father sighed, and I could feel his fatigue. He was tired. He was willing to die but had to surrender because of me. I didn't know if I should be grateful to him for his decision or hate him for it. Many of the pack members were grateful to him. His decision to surrender had made the Eclipse pack spare all our lives. They were already taking over everything. I learned the Alpha was an asshole, and he was very controlling and never smiled. He had a lot of money and owned several territories. Our territory was just an addition to his vast collection. I doubted if he would find us special enough to spare us slave treatment.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this." My father began, and I was attentive because I knew that whatever he had to say would not be pleasing to my ears.

"For Alpha Marcus to absorb us completely, I have to marry you off to him to prove our loyalty and surrender is genuine." He said, and the shock of his words made me pull away abruptly and stand up.

"What!" I asked my father, trying hard to process his words. What the hell was my father talking about? I was only nineteen. I was a virgin, and I hadn't met my mate. I hadn't lived or enjoyed a life long enough for my life to be given away like that. I began to panic and started heaving.

"You need to calm down, Gwen. It is completely beyond my power. He was the one that requested for you. I know he only did it to test my loyalty. If I had refused, it would simply mean we hadn't surrendered to him." He tried to explain, but I shook my head.

"No, daddy. My life cannot be used to buy peace." I argued.

"What do you propose? That I say no, and he slaughters all of us because he can do that," he said, and I continued to shake my head.

"That man has no feelings for me. Neither do I have feelings for him. I am only nineteen father. Alpha Marcus is twenty-nine years old. He has been mated. He has loved, and he has lived. This is unfair to me. " I said, but I knew my father wouldn't listen, so I did the only thing that I knew how. I ran.

I bolted out the door and out of the house and ran. I did not want to shift because that would mean I would arrive at my targeted destination naked, so I remained in my human form.

I wasn't thinking. I needed to get to the Alpha's residence, and I needed to irritate him and make him refuse the union. I needed him to see me as unworthy. I ran.

I had never seen Alpha Marcus before, but I believed I would recognise him in a crowd. I heard his looks were quite intimidating. I ran until I arrived at our former Alpha's residence which was now part of Alpha Marcus's collection. I was out of breath, and I was panting heavily, but I wasn't going to stop.

When I got to the place, I noticed that the front of the building was guarded by dangerous-looking men. None of them was a member of our pack. This was it for me. I Had come this far. I could not turn back now, so I advanced to the house. The moment I came close, the men were alert. They could smell me. I moved out of the woods to the open, and I was arrested immediately.

"I demand to see Alpha!" I yelled as they pinned me to the ground and bound me with silver. The chain burned, but I refused to give them the satisfaction of crying.

"I want to see Alpha!" I yelled again, and I heard some of them laugh at me.

They took me to the waiting room, and someone approached me. He was a hefty-looking man with brown hair. His green eyes looked very dangerous and imposing. I stared at him, never averting my gaze.

"What do you want with Alpha Marcus?" the man asked.

"I need to speak to him," I said, maintaining my confidence even though my wolf had started to feel we had made a terrible move by coming there in the first place. Well, there was no turning back for me anymore. My wolf and I would have to deal.

"Do you have an appointment," he asked me, and I shook my head.

"Very well then, book an appointment," he said and turned around.

"I am sorry I can't do that since my father plans to marry me off to him," I said, and the man raised an eyebrow and studied me with his eyes. I knew he was trying to see if I was lying, but when he saw that I wasn't lying, he paused.

"You are Mackenzie's daughter?" He asked.

"Delta Mackenzie." I corrected him.

"Not anymore," he responded, and I was angrier. They had taken everything away from us and my father's title and respect too. So why would he want to marry me?

I was about to ask a very stupid question when I heard a deep imposing voice coming from the Alpha's Office. If I wasn't in such a foul mood, I would have commended the voice. It was extremely masculine and daring.

"Follow me." the brown-haired man said, and I arched my eyebrow at him. When he couldn't figure out why, I shook my bound hands. He took off the chains. Although my hands were free, my wrists were burnt, and I knew it would take a day or two for them to heal completely. The bastard had used a glove to take them off. He wasn't even man enough to touch them with his bare hands.

I entered the office, and there he was. His face matched his voice. Handsome and imposing. I had never seen any man as masculine and as handsome as this man. His dark hair and eyes were perfect. His face looked so dangerous. It looked as if he never smiled, and I felt my heart skip a beat. This man would have easily been a woman's object of fantasy, but unfortunately, he was sitting on the wrong side of the fence, and I wasn't ready to melt away in the presence of an enemy.

"What do you want? I do not have all day," he said in the meanest manner ever, and I stood with my chest up to show I wasn't afraid of him.

"I do not want to marry you. Please ask for something else." I said, going straight to the point, and he stared at me for a while.

"Or else what?" he asked me, and his question took me by surprise. I hadn't come there to threaten him, but he had taken my words as a threat. I stood there speechless and feeling off. I honestly could not answer his question.

"Nothing." I finally said, being honest to both of us.

"Stupid girl, we shouldn't have come here." my wolf said in my head, but I chose to ignore her.

"A man like you should not involve himself with someone like me," I said, and he raised an eyebrow in the meanest way ever.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, and I knew I had to be careful with my words where this man was concerned.

"I am nobody. I am sure there are very attractive women in your pack. You do not need to saddle yourself with a nineteen-year-old nobody. Please, be rest assured that you have the full loyalty of the pack. You do not need me to make them comply." I tried to explain to him, and he shook his head.

"The pack isn't the issue. I need to be sure your father would behave himself." He told me, and I wondered why he was very particular about my father's loyalty.

"Your father is the Alpha's brother, and that makes him an Alpha too. I only let him live because he surrendered, and I have no qualms with him, but I do not intend to keep someone like him around without control. And you are right. You are not good enough for me and never will be. You will only be a form of insurance. I do not fancy women like you, and someone like you cannot handle my desires. The wedding will take place for the very reason I have told you, and if you run away, I will eliminate your father and the pack. I do not need them. Now leave my office. " He said to me, and I felt humiliated, but I didn't let it show.

"You are not my type either. I only came here so I could spare myself the torture of being married to an old man." I said, and I was about to turn around and walk away when the brown-haired douchebag held me back

"You've done it this time, Gwen." my wolf said, panicking and gearing up for a fight.

"I believe you have never heard of me before." Alpha Marcus said with a straight face. " I will not tolerate disrespect. The next time you speak to me in such a manner, you will be dealt with mercilessly. Now leave my office." He said coldly and calmy. I walked out of the office and left the building. The moment I was in the forest, I shifted and began to run.