Chapter 6

ALISTAIR  “What the actual f–” “Quiet!” Duncan hit me in the arm, and I glared at him with such intent that his wolf crumbled under the pressure. “Quiet,” he repeated softly. “She is a werewolf too and can hear you!” “Is she?” I snapped. “She didn’t seem to respect her Alpha and…” “Technically, you are not her Alpha,” my friend reminded me. “She is your fiancée in an arranged marriage and you need her more than she needs you.” A growl emerged from me, as I knew that it was true and I hated every bit of it. I didn’t want a wife. But I needed this woman to marry me as soon as possible. This was an order from my father, the king of Phevran. If I disobeyed or disappointed him once again, then he would officially disown me. He had wanted to do that for a while now but couldn’t without a good pretext. And I wasn’t going to give him one. Not to mention that an arranged marriage would happen sooner or later for the heir to the throne. So, what was the difference who the bride was? If not this Eiryn, it would be someone else just as annoying. It made no difference. So, all I needed to do was seal the deal as soon as possible. And after that, we wouldn’t even have to see each other too much. She’d have her life and I would continue with mine. “Listen,” Duncan mused. “We need to keep her happy. At least for now. Then once you are married, you can put her into a separate house and visit her once a month as every normal royal does.” “True.” I had to agree, my Beta had always been reasonable. Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I hated it… “Anyway, it’s best if the two of you are on good terms. You will need her cooperation when you meet with your father,” Duncan pointed out. “He’d hardly care about that.” I snorted. “As long as we are married and he has that alliance, nothing else matters to him.” “You need to marry her first, though,” my friend reminded me. “We have an engagement party date but not the wedding date. All that is just talk for now.” “She is here, isn’t she?” I raised my brow. “She arrived with a few guards and a maid. Looks like in the mind of her family she doesn’t need protection at all.” “Then they trust you and that’s great. Now don’t ruin it!” “Fine.” I rolled my eyes. “But something is off with her. What was that just now?!” “I have no idea.” My Beta chuckled. “But it sure as hell was fun and she managed to get rid of the competition faster than any other woman before her.” “Competition?” I suppressed laughter. “That would be an overstatement. Is this Trixi girl even fine?” “You mean Tanya?” He gave me one of those looks. The ones that a father should give to a son. Yet mine never did. If anything, he taught me how to use people and discard them later. Especially women. And now that man wanted me to marry. What a joke that was! “Doesn’t matter,” I brushed it off. “Just set the wedding date tomorrow and let me know when I should arrive. In the meantime, let my wonderful bride do whatever she wants. In reasonable amounts.” Boy, I hoped she could be reasonable. She gave me that crazy vibe that irked me. It was very different from the first time I met her back in her country a few weeks ago. She didn’t make much of an impression then, other than being a spoilt brat. And my wolf had been unsettled since the moment he saw her today. Not that he was of much help lately since he claimed he saw our mate that day. Some girl from the streets… He must be kidding me. But since I refused to run after a carriage like an i***t in the middle of a foreign country, we don’t talk much. And who cared? Not me. A growl emerged from within, letting me know that he was still there. Alive and kicking. As if I didn’t feel how restless he had been since we saw our bride again. That was a very bad time for finding a mate and I didn’t want anything to do with it. Especially not with the wedding that was already on my doorstep. Bad. Timing. “I think it would be best if you two spend at least some time together.” Duncan exhaled through his nostrils and started to pick up random things from the floor. “We have to please her, remember? Try to be…charming.” We looked at each other and burst out laughing. Charming was not my thing. “Just be civil,” Dunc suggested. “Girls love you anyway.” “Fine.” I exhaled and watched him gather more stuff around,. “What are you doing?” “Cleaning!” He snorted. “You heard her. She expected more and we should not disappoint her. I’ll go wake up the omegas and ask them to clean tonight. They’ve relaxed too much lately anyway. Everything must be sparkling by the morning.” Yeah, I didn’t like that girl. In the morning, when I went for a run, I didn’t recognise the house. Everything was shining, not a bottle or a drunken warrior anywhere… There even were flowers in the vases and so much light that it was blinding. When I came back, Duncan was already there with clothes prepared for me. Something formal. Goddess, these would be difficult months for me if he continued like that. But I decided to go with it. At least for the first day, I needed to establish some kind of connection with my fiancée and talk about some boundaries… All right, talk about a lot of boundaries. I came into the dining room and cringed at how crisply clean it looked. And empty. None of my friends were eating or drinking, no one was cracking jokes… The long table was set for three and my guess was that those three would be me, the bride, and Duncan to serve as a buffer for me. Great. “Great that you are here.” The Beta arrived right after me and we took our places. “Where does everybody else eat today?” I said, shooting him a question that was more of a reproach. “Look, we all agreed that it would be best for her not to be overwhelmed with us. Tanya already told everyone about your first encounter here…” “Who?” I looked at him, clueless. “Trixie,” Duncan sighed heavily, and I remembered the girl with the cracked rib from the previous night. “By the way, where is she?” I decided to change the subject. “I thought I was late…” “You were,” my Beta said calmly. “So, where the hell is she?!” I demanded. “Getting ready, probably. For you.” “I don’t care.” “And that’s one of the things you’d better not say to your fiancée!” my right hand added without emotions. “Or she may dump you. And you will not become king. And you will not be able to change a thing. And all your damn plans will go to waste…” “I got it!” A growl escaped me. We waited for her for another fifteen minutes, which quickly turned into half an hour. And after an hour, we sent a maid, who returned with the news that she was already on her way. That annoying woman knew how to piss me off. As if she was doing it on purpose! When after another half an hour she still didn’t turn up, I was about ready to go and get her myself. Probably dragging her by her hair if that was needed. But as if she had some danger meter inside of her, she waltzed in, wearing a ridiculous frilly pink dress and a wide smile, signalling that she was in the best mood. “Morning, gentlemen.” Her voice was like honey and for a second I even calmed down. But I quickly shook that feeling off, remembering why I disliked her when a strange white bird flew in right after her and landed on the back of the high seat, which she immediately took. Her maid and one of her guards stood behind her. I especially didn’t like the guy with his dirty blond hair and dull grey eyes . He looked shady, not the kind one would hire to protect their priceless daughter. “What is that… thing?” I pointed at the creature next to the woman who I was supposed to marry. “Oh, this is Filin,” she said cheerfully, like it explained everything, and then added, “He is an owl.” “I can see that.” I grasped my napkin hard, as if I were trying to squeeze some kind of juices out of it. “What is it doing here?” “Oh, silly!” She giggled loudly. “Filin is my best friend, and he is always with me!” Great. My future wife’s best friend was a bird. Nothing wrong with that… “Don’t worry,” she continued. “He is friendly. Aren’t you, Filin?” She turned to the owl and stroked its feathers. “Go say hi to your future daddy!” she commanded, and the bird flew towards me at once. The desire to break his neck was overwhelming. And hers. The owl landed on my shoulder of all places and controlling my temper suddenly became way harder. “What is he doing?” I said through gritted teeth, watching her amused face. “He wants to be your friend!” She smiled and tilted her hand. “I think he has a present for you… But I am not sure you are going to like it.” With that the bird bent forward and started producing strange noises as if it was coughing or suffocating. And I prayed to the Goddess for the latter… when something strange looking, brownish, and ugly landed on my plate. “What the hell is this?” I asked her, then noticed how she was waiting for my reaction. So, I added a bit of a smile to my question, which made her facial expression change. “A pellet,” she said and I looked at her questioningly. “And that is?” “Oh, don’t worry! It’s completely natural. These are the remainders of the mice that he ate. Like bones, fur… He can’t digest them so here we go!” “You mean to say that your bird just defecated on my plate?” I snarled. “It’s more of a regurgitation,” she corrected me quickly, and I had to remind myself that killing off my own bride would not be a smart political move. “I’ll get you a new plate!” Duncan jumped up and one glare at the bird was enough for it to return to its master. I looked at her again and noticed a cheeky glint in her bright green eyes. Always hated that colour. “I hope Filin did not ruin your appetite?” she asked as servants started to bring in dishes. “Of course not.” I smirked at her as I stabbed one of the steaks and moved it to my new plate. “We are werewolves, aren’t we? What’s some fur and bones to us?” And with that I sent a piece of the rare meat into my mouth, enjoying the discontent on her face.Book by Marion Artwood exclusively for Stary Ltd (Dreame, Ringdom, Innovel). All rights reserved.