Sentenced to The Ruthless Alpha

Chapter 17: Damn Near Perfect

Roman POV

Roman was seated in the private office of the alpha of Black Forge Pack. The elegant décor could easily pass for any of the many posh human offices he had been in inside the city. There was even a fish tank!

Black Forge pack was a liberal one. Unlike the other seven packs in the region, Black Forge didn't detest the human race. They agreed werewolves were superior, but the pack had consciously learned to co-exist and interact respectfully with humans, while hiding their identity.

The pack owned properties in the cities. Their kids vacationed and even studied with humans. They sponsored human researches, bought their weapons and welcomed them as mates. For that reason, the pack was the smallest in size since a lot of their more traditional members deflected to other packs.

However, they were the richest, and had the strongest connections in the city. And with their human weaponry, no other pack was foolish enough to pick a fight with them, except Roman of course.

He inhaled sharply now. He had been waiting almost an hour and the alpha hadn’t deigned to see him. Impatient, he surged to his feet and swiveled towards the door. Just as he pulled it, the alpha walked in.

“Aren’t you a gentleman,” she cooed, carrying a tiny Pomeranian with striking fur in her arms.

Alpha Astrid circled her table, settled into her cushy chair with her pet dog on her lap before looking up at her guest.

Roman resumed his seat. “Are you going to do this every time I stop by?”

“Do what?”

“Keep me waiting for almost an hour, Astrid.”

She tipped her head to give his question a thought. “Let me see. That depends. Are you going to keep harming my people and claiming it was an accident, Roman?”

He worked his jaw. “It wasn’t a false claim. Your men posed as policemen and took my wife from the hospital against my wish.”

Astrid set her dog down and it scampered to a corner to play with chew toys. She steepled her fingers, tapping the artificial nails with a menacing look in her eyes.

“Your wife? You mean the human who’s been relegated to be lower than an omega and constantly preyed upon by your pack? You mean the same woman whose life means so little to you that you were prepared to risk it by running over a car she was in off the road? Is that the same one you are pretending to care about to justify killing my men?”

“The fact remains that your men had no right to take what belongs to me. The human is married to me under my pack law. She bears my name…”

“You don’t give a f**k about humans, Roman! And since you badly needed an excuse to get her off your hands, I sent my men to bring her here. I just wanted to have a good look for myself. I had no intention of keeping her, unless you were interested in negotiating a tradeoff but you brutally killed my men. They weren’t even warriors!” Bracelets jangled on her wrist as she pounded the desk.

She let out a frustrated sigh. “Sending Gammas was my little way to show you that I wasn’t looking for a fight. You could easily have overpowered them and taken your human Luna. The fact that you murdered them tells me all I need to know.”

She lunged to her feet, her round earrings glittering like a disco ball. “You seem to be the only alpha who hasn’t learnt to think twice before harming a member of MY pack, especially when you know our numbers and our military might.”

Roman shot to his feet too. “Look, Astrid, I didn’t come here to…” Her finger in his face cut him off.

“It’s alpha Astrid to you. I’m not that little alpha heir that used to be obsessed with you. We are grown now. We’re alphas. I have lives under my care, and I won’t let anyone get away with harming my people, not even you.”

Roman could tell from the fire in her eyes that Astrid had indeed changed since taking over her father’s pack. Though the changes she introduced strayed too far from traditional werewolf custom, at least she had people loyal to her in her pack, unlike him.

Roman’s shoulders sagged with the weight of the impending Culling ceremony and the countdown on his reign.

“I’m sorry, alpha Astrid. I know my apology means nothing right now but I still want to say it. There’s no excuse for my behavior that night. My emotions were heightened because I had just lost five of my own people from a brutal attack by humans. I didn’t mean to take it out on your people.”

His apology clearly caught her by surprise. For a moment, the anger flickered in her eyes. Even when she spoke, the bitterness that had laced her tone earlier was subtle.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Astrid huffed out a breath. “Thank you, but an apology just won’t cut it this time, alpha Roman.”

“I understand.” He peered into her eyes, sought the girl whose love for him as a young pup never wavered even after he had failed the culling challenge as an alpha heir.

“Look, we’ve clearly suffered losses. There’s no point in making more. Ask for whatever I can give your people in compensation. I’ll do my best.”

When he saw her eyebrow slant upwards, he swallowed hard. Astrid sunk back into her seat and crossed her legs.

“My pack needs manpower. We’ve had to hire humans to help with most of the work around here because the other packs just aren’t receptive to us anymore.”

Roman swallowed, sensing the direction she was going.

“I could borrow you fifty strong men…”

“That’s not the point and you know it.” She stood up and paced her office. “I love my people and I know they love me too. I also know that in as much as they love everything we’ve achieved, they miss fraternizing with other packs.”

She eased a hip on the edge of her desk. “I hear from the grapevine that you’re planning to host the Culling ceremony. I want your promise that my pack will also get an invitation like the other packs.”

“You have my word.”

“And…” She angled her head, sliding a sultry look his way.

Goosebumps exploded on Roman’s back. It was never a good sign when Astrid gave ‘the look’.

“And?”

“I want Regan’s hand in marriage.”

***

“I beg your finest pardon?” Roman couldn’t believe his ears.

Astrid chuckled. “Wow. That’s all it took to get you to speak like the humans you clearly detest?”

“Cut the jokes, Astrid. I’m being serious.”

“As am I.” She folded her arms across her chest. “A marriage alliance between my pack and the Valcourt family will go a long way to boost our reception in our community. Right now, we are displaced. The humans we interact with don’t know what we really are, and our werewolf community is wary of relating with us. My people need this. It's the best compensation my people could ask for.”

“Why Regan?”

“Because I am an alpha that’s only willing to marry into the alpha bloodline and YOU are not available.”

Her rawness made his throat tighten.

“But even if you were, I’d still pick Regan. Our perspectives align. He isn’t revulsed by humans like you are. He’ll understand me better, welcome my people as his. Plus, I can easily feed his curiosity with everything I’ve learnt from the humans.”

Their lips were inches apart. Gently, Roman pulled back. “And if he refuses? What alternative compensation would you be willing to accept?”

Astrid smiled without teeth. “I’ll take one hundred Valcourt pack soldiers on a twelve-months loan, and Thora Storm!”

Roman snorted, earning a frown from Astrid.

“Sixty men and I’ll let ten of them marry your women. That’s the closest to a marriage alliance we can get while I am still on thin ice as alpha of my pack.”

“You know damn well that’s not true, Roman. You still have a lot of leverage to pull strings. Regan is a born royal. He knows his marriage is expected to have political gain. I also know his fated mate died. If he refuses my proposal, my alternative compensation cannot be varied. It’s either those or we go to war, blood for blood.”

Roman balled his fist. She clearly planned to back him into a corner. “Thora is out of the question for obvious reason.”

“No, the reason isn’t obvious to me at all. Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“We’re married”

“And that doesn’t mean s**t in your pack.”

“Still, we’re bound together for a few months longer per my sentence.”

“Your sentence? If you were that eager to fulfil your sentence, you’d have consummated the marriage, not so?” She grinned, edging close.

“I know that getting a divorce is your utmost priority right now, Roman. You’ve been trying to force your high council to change your sentence or approve your divorce, right? What if I told you I can make arrangements that will leave them no choice but to take the human off your hands.”

Roman quirked a brow. “What kind of arrangement?”

“I have powerful human leaders on speed dial. I could put out an amber alert for Thora Storm, make her a national concern and throw in an anonymous tip of the Vermont estate being her last known location. Think of search parties and officials bursting through your gated paradise. At the risk of exposure, do you really think your pack members won’t weigh in on the elders to approve your divorce?”

Roman could see it all play out in his head.

“C’mon, you know I’m right.”

“You understand she’ll never walk away from this alive because we can’t risk her exposing our existence.”

“I do, and that’s why in the heat of the chaos, I’ll fake her death and smuggle her out of there. I’ll handle everything else from there.”

He jammed both hands in his pockets “And you’re doing all this for the human? Why?”

“Because unlike you, I see them as useful, Roman. And my pack could use more loyalists.”

Roman gritted his teeth. With Astrid’s support, it was a damn near perfect plan. Yet, he simply couldn’t let Thora go, not before he knew what the marker in her blood could do. Not before he understood why Axel thrived with her touch.

“You want an in with the other packs? Prepare Black Forge to prove their mettle at the Culling. I’ll arrange for rewards and other perks that will help your people ease back into society and get back to you.” He spun and made it as far as the door when she spoke up.

“I can understand why you’d protect your brother's scarred heart but the human?”

Roman turned, perplexed.

Astrid continued. “I know you can’t be in love with her which begs the question, why won’t you let her go?”

He gulped as she advanced closer.

“Tell me, Alpha Roman, why exactly are you holding on to Thora Storm?”