10

The Big Bad Wolf II

Beta Wayne’s lips pucker with annoyance as he stares me down. His face is a marble effigy of contempt and for the first time since I have known him, I see the hatred in his eyes.

“Do you think I want to do this?” He asks and I throw my head back and laugh.

“I know you want to do this, you coward. How could you do this to my father! He trusted you.”

A shadow of annoyance crosses his face. “Mind your words, Crystal. I’m afraid I am running out of patience.” His voice is cold and exact but I don’t care. In a fight he cannot beat me and he knows it, perhaps that is why he has only been using his words.

My mother was right when she said they were a lot of things that I know which I did not have to learn. Fighting – hand to hand combat, sword fighting, guns whatever form of fighting – was one of those things. But I did not just know them, I was a pro at them, unmatched at all of them. It is like I have taken a lifetime to learn and perfect these skills and the beta knows these too.

“What would you do?” I say, moving close to him until our bodies almost touch. I am as tall as him and although I am slenderer and he is made up of more muscles, we know who has the upper hand when it comes to fighting. I am faster, more flexible than he will ever be. “If that patience runs out?” I hope he notes the silken thread of warning in my voice.

I swivel quickly hoping my warning has taken root inside him. Now I have to make the other men leave as well, it they think –

“It is what your father wanted Crystal.” He says slowly and softly.

I pause with my hands hovering just above the knob and turn to face him. I see that my warning has gone nowhere at all.

“There is a price if you don’t go with these men.” He continues. “The pack was in crisis. Why do you think he travelled often? What do you think he went to Silver Crest to do? This last trip which cost his life and that of your mother’s?”

I slid gracefully into the chair which the gentleman just exited and my eyebrows rise a fraction. “What do you mean?” I ask.

“It is all here.” He says and slid the files on his desk to me. I pick them up and glance through it. As much as I hate to admit it, Beta Wayne is right. Our pack was really in financial crisis and from what I am looking at in the files, it was getting hard for my father maintain the overwhelming needs of the pack. He was growing in debt and the High council of wolves were threatening to step in. Moon knows what would have happened if they did.

I glance up at the beta and see desperation on his face. “So, how does selling me off ends this crisis?” I ask. I know my father would never sell me and even if he has to, then it is the last measure, a last resort.

“The Alpha King wants a chosen mate. He is offering a lot to anyone who will accept his proposal. What he is offering is enough for us to pay off all our debts and begin afresh.” He answers.

“Is it the same Alpha king who is rumored to be disabled?” it is a rhetorical question – we can only have one Alpha King – but Beta Wayne answers anyways.

“Yes.” He nods. “Those two gentlemen you saw here are his Beta and Butler. The Beta is here as his representative and the butler, well, I guess is to escort you to your new home.”

I eye the beta warily. “I have not said I will accept this. Tell me, if he is offering so much, why has some other Alpha not sent their daughter to him? The offer is quite generous and enticing enough for all the other Alphas.”

He nods again. “Yes. But he was quite specific with what he wanted. He wanted a Lycanthrope with the pure Luna blood.”

I raise my brow questioningly. “Beta Wayne. They are seven other families with these exact traits.”

“Fine.” He huffs. “He asked for you in particular and your father needed the resources he was offering.” I watch him as he rises to his feet. “If you don’t do this, Crystal. We lose the pack. The high council will take over and that’ll be the end. Your father’s legacy will be gone.”

I stand up and push my hands deep into my pockets. Although my head is swirling with thoughts and my emotions are waging a war inside of me, I try to maintain a calm and cool exterior.

“Why did you not just explain this all from the start? Heck, why did my father never say a word of this to me?”

He stands to his feet bad begins to walk towards me but stops mid stride. “Your father was ashamed to face you with this. You know if there was another way, he would never do this and he did look for other ways. This was the only way to keep the pack. It is why I have invited Luth, as you arrive Grey castle, the Alpha King will send the resources and I will have to take over as Alpha. It is the only way the pack can survive.”

I nod and turn towards the door. “Let me think on this, Beta Wayne.” I turn the knob and open the door. “And I will not be able to come down for dinner.”

“Of course.” I hear him say as I close the door.

I pass the ‘gentlemen’ as I go up to my room and they each give me a curt nod. I try to guess which one of them is the beta had which one the butler is just to distract myself from the overwhelming thoughts.

Will my father really has sacrificed me for his pack? Did my mother know anything of what was going on?