Bride of the Wolf King

If there was one thing I hated more than being stuck in a room full of sweaty men, it was being stuck in a room full of sweaty men who wanted to kill each other. I sat at the end of a long, scratched-up wooden table, leaning back just enough to look like I was bored out of my mind. My iPad was open and my stylus was moving, but I wasn't just taking notes for the fun of it. My brothers, Stefan and Ivan, thought I was just the family secretary, the Quiet Ghost who did the paperwork, while they were out destroying things and beating people up. They were 100% wrong about me. While they were busy puffing out their chest to show the others that they were ready to break their bones, I was actually looking at the Massimo guards standing by the big doors. I had already mapped out the whole building’s security in my head. I knew that the fire exit behind me was jammed from the outside and that the guy with the neck tattoo on Mario’s left was hiding a backup gun inside his boot. I’m the brain of this family. I’m the one who makes sure my people don't walk into a m******e. And right now? This felt like a m******e just waiting to happen. Viktor, my father, sat on my left. He was looking old today. His hair was more grey than usual, and he kept rubbing his head like it was about to split open. Next to him were my brothers, Stefan and Ivan. On the other side of the table... well, that was the problem. The Massimo family. Or "the dogs," as Stefan liked to call them when they weren't around. But looking at them now, nobody was calling them dogs to their faces. They were all huge. Even the ones sitting in the back looked like they could bench press a car. And then there was Mario. Mario Massimo wasn't even looking at us. He was sitting right in the middle, slouched in his chair like he was bored out of his mind. He was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing off arms that were covered in thick, dark tattoos. He had this messy dark hair and eyes that were a weird, bright gold color. He wasn't saying a word. He was just playing with a lighter, flicking it open and shut. "We can't keep doing this," a man named Don Ricci said. He was the one who called this meeting. He was a neutral guy, old and tired of seeing his delivery trucks get blown up in the crossfire of our war. “The streets are a mess. My trucks are getting burned down. Your war with the Massimo pack is killing business for every single person in this city.” "Tell the dogs to stay off our land then," Stefan barked out. He looked at the other side of the table and made a mean face. "They blew up my cousin Leo. You really think we're just going to shake hands and be friends after that?” A low, vibrating sound started to fill the room. It wasn't a heater or a machine. It was coming from the chests of the men sitting across from us. Werewolves. Lycans. Whatever you wanted to call them, they weren't even trying to hide what they were today. Their eyes were way too bright and their teeth looked a little too sharp for a normal person. "My sister was having lunch at a cafe when your people planted that bomb," the man sitting next to Mario snapped. That was Marco, the Beta guy. "You want to talk about Leo? Let's talk about the innocent girl you put in the hospital." "Accidents happen," Ivan muttered, like he didn't even care. That was the breaking point. One of the Massimo guys jumped up so fast his chair flew backward. Stefan reached for the gun tucked into his jeans. My heart hammered against my ribs like it was trying to get out, but I didn't move. I just watched the exits and started figuring out which way to dive if the bullets started flying. "Enough!" Don Ricci yelled, his face turning red. "Viktor, you said you had a way to end this right now. Tell us, or I’m out, and the police will be the least of your problems." My father, Viktor, stood up slowly. He looked older than usual. His hair was more grey, and he kept rubbing his head like it was about to blow up. He didn't look like the scary Mafia boss everyone was afraid of; he looked like a guy who was about to lose all his money and was looking for any way out. He didn't look at the Don and he didn't look at Mario. He looked right at me. I felt a cold shiver go down my back. It wasn't the kind of look a dad gives his daughter. It was the look a guy gives a car he’s about to sell because he wants a better one. "I’ve lost too many men," my father said, his voice sounding dry and scratchy. "And the Massimo family has lost blood too. To show I’m serious about this peace, I’m offering a bridge. A blood tie.” "I am offering my daughter, Anne-Marie, to be the bride of the Lycan King. A marriage to seal the treaty forever." The world didn't just stop. It shattered into a million pieces. My stylus slipped through my fingers and hit the concrete floor with a sharp ping. I didn't reach for it. I couldn't even move my hands. I just stared at the side of my father’s head, my mouth hanging open like a complete i***t. What the actual f**k? I looked at him, waiting for the punchline. Waiting for him to laugh and say he was joking. But he wasn't. He was looking straight at Mario. I wasn't just shocked; I was horrified. I'm human. Mario is... well, he's a beast. He's the man who ordered the hit that killed my cousin Leo. And my father was just handing me over like a bag of rice? I wanted to stand up and scream. I wanted to flip the table and tell them all to go to hell. But I couldn't move. My heart was beating so hard against my ribs I thought it might actually break one. I felt like I was underwater. "A marriage?" Marco, the werewolf guy, asked. He looked at me, then at Mario. "You want our King to marry a human girl? A Lukasz?" Mario finally stopped flicking the lighter. He shifted in his chair, his golden eyes finally landing on me. He didn't look impressed. He looked like he was looking at a boring piece of luggage he had to carry through an airport. His gaze was cold, hard, and totally unimpressed. "She's a good girl," Stefan said, and I could hear the smirk in his voice without even looking at him. "She's quiet. She doesn't cause trouble. And honestly? She's a virgin. You can f**k her however you like, King. Break her in, use her, whatever. We just want the trucks to start moving again and the shooting to stop." I felt the blood rush to my face. It was so shameful I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. My own brother was sitting there talking about my body like he was selling a second-hand car. I looked at the table, my hands shaking so hard I had to hide them in my lap so no one would see. I'm going to kill you, Stefan, I thought. I'm going to find where you sleep and I'm going to end you. Mario stood up. He was huge. Even taller than he looked while he was sitting. He walked around the table, his boots making a heavy sound against the floor. Every step felt like a drum beating inside my head. He stopped right in front of me and I had to move my neck all the way back just to see his face. He smelled like wood and something strange. This strange smell made my skin feel weirdly itchy. He didn't say anything at first. He just leaned down, his face inches from mine. I could see the gold flecks in his eyes. He looked me up and down again, and I felt like an ant under a microscope. "You're very small," he said. His voice was a deep, rumbly growl that made my skin crawl. "Do you even speak, or did your father forget to give you a tongue?" I wanted to bite him. I wanted to spit in his face and tell him to get lost and take my father with him. But I knew if I opened my mouth right now, I’d probably just start screaming, and that wouldn't help me at all. I stayed silent, my jaw tight, just glaring at him with every bit of hate I had in my heart. Mario let out a short, dry laugh, like he could read my mind. Then he glanced back at my father. "Fine," Mario said, his voice sounding bored again. "I'll take her. If it keeps your idiots from shooting at my men, I'll put up with a human in my bed. But don't expect me to be nice to her. She's a Lukasz. She's lucky I don't just kill her now." "We understand," my father said quickly. He sounded relieved. Don Ricci clapped his hands. "Then it is settled. The wedding will be in three days. A public ceremony to show the city that the war is over." Three days. I had three days of being a free person before I was handed over to a man who hated me, a man who saw me as a trophy of war. As everyone started standing up and talking, shaking hands like they hadn't just spent years trying to murder each other, I stayed in my chair. I felt sick. My brothers were laughing, joking with the werewolves about how delicate I was and how Mario should try not to break me too fast. Mario didn't join in the laughing. He just turned around and walked out of the warehouse without looking back at me once. I stood up, packed my bag, and walked out. I didn't look at my father, or my brothers. I just walked straight to the car, my mind already spinning. I was a Lukasz. I was the brain of this family. I was the one who solved everyone’s problems. But as I looked at the grey, ugly Chicago sky, I realized that for the first ti me in my life, I was the one in trouble. And the only way out was to marry a monster.