His Wolfless Bride

CHAPTER 5: The Main Alpha's Offer

It’s a century-old law of our pack to get the Main Alpha’s blessing whenever two members decide to get wed. It shouldn’t be that complicated, right? But in our case, it is. Captain Haile is like a son to the Main Alpha, one of his most trusted officials while I am… Well, I don’t really know the exact term, but for sure, whatever it is, it’s not a positive one.

Alpha Marcellus’ face doesn’t flinch, making it hard to decipher what’s running through his head. He’s silent for a moment, perhaps thinking about his decision or maybe searching for something nice to respond to.

When his silence takes longer than I anticipated, it makes me wanna reiterate Captain Haile’s question, but that might irritate him, which I don’t wanna happen, especially when we’re asking a favor from him.

Alpha Marcellus crosses his legs and clasps his fingers together. Instead of answering Captain Haile’s request, he asks a question of his own, “Did you know what your mate did a few days ago?”

My muscles stiffen when my memory sends me back to the events outside our territory three days ago. I completely forgot about that! What if Captain Haile gets mad or disappointed at me for stealing a piece of bread and a pouch of gold coins that I didn't really steal?

Captain Haile turns his head to me. His brow knits, his eyes crinkle. He expects an answer from me. I guess it’s better that he hears the story straight from me rather than someone who just heard it from someone else’s incorrect version of events.

“I-uh…” I pause to find the right words to start.

I take a deep breath and set my shoulders back.

“I didn’t eat for days. I only have water to drink to fill my hunger, so I went outside our borders. I didn’t have a particular place in mind to go to. My feet just brought me to our neighboring pack’s territory. A nice lady bought the loaf of bread for me and a quite arrogant man gave me the gold coins. Then people started accusing me of stealing the bread and the coins because of how I look."

The way I deliver my last statement is full of mortification. That mortification transforms into vexation when Alpha Marcellus asks in the most sarcastic voice I’ve ever heard from him,

“Do you think your story is believable?”

My face clenches at that and I don’t even make any attempt to hide it from his view.

“Believe what you wanna believe. I'm done explaining myself to the ones who will only listen to what they wanna listen to.”

My voice is firm and exhibits the vexation that’s scorching my chest.

Captain Haile’s eyelids sag and so do his shoulders. He’s obviously disappointed at what happened. Even so, he isn’t mad. In the depth of his deep-set brown eyes is so much trust in me. His wolf, Umber, winks at me, an indication that he, too, believes my story.

Captain Haile turns to Alpha Marcellus, then says, “I apologize if she humiliated our pack in some way or another, but as you can see, Marguerite has already received the punishment for her action.”

As expected, Alpha Marcellus doesn’t make an effort to even glance at me to look at my bruised face or my gauze-covered arms and legs. He squints his eyes at Captain Haile, but softens them immediately.

“You’re right. She had been punished, but that wouldn’t change the fact that she disgraced our pack to the others. She negates all our efforts to improve the image of our pack to the entire kingdom.”

His words deaden my tiny remaining calmness and untether my dauntlessness. I slide my hand from Captain Haile’s and stand up with force.

“The best way to improve our pack’s image is to improve our members' quality of living! You high-ranking officials always get everything, while us, Omegas, get what’s left! And most of the time, there’s nothing left!”

My anger burns my chest, igniting faster heartbeats and slower breaths. Captain Haile stands up and stares at me. His eyes, pleading. His face, discomfited. His posture, ungiving. His sight hurts me more than he could ever know. Am I really this good at humiliating not only myself, but the people around me?

“It seems like your mate isn’t emotionally stable. She needs…”

“Thank you for whatever you’re offering me, but I don’t need anything.”

My interruption hardens Alpha Marcellus’ already hard facial features. I’m guessing he’s never experienced being disrespected by someone lower than him the way I just did and to be honest, it’s somewhat relieving.

“By the way, your mate is behaving in front of me. Do you think I’ll let you marry her?” Alpha Marcellus asks.

That hits me. He’s right. I let my emotions get the better of me and that is causing me my chance to marry the man I love. Still, I wanna tap myself on the back for doing a good job of not accepting more insults.

“My Alpha,” Captain Haile begins. “Marguerite has experienced so much trauma in her life. Instead of judging her, let’s help her.”

“And you think it’s your responsibility to help her?” Alpha Marcellus asks with one eyebrow raised.

Captain Haile fixes his posture and, with full resoluteness, responds, “Yes, because she's a member of our pack and she’s also my mate.”

His response warms my heart, alleviating my anger a bit and untangling my twisted nerves.

Alpha Marcellus’ face turns impassive again. He says, “You’re such a kind man, but where would your kindness bring you?” He pauses for a moment, before continuing, “If you really want to marry her, I won’t interfere. But, I’ll demote you as the Gammas’ chief captain to just a regular Gamma.”

My chest twinges as a prickling sensation zooms all over me. Though he speaks with calmness, it’s definitely a threat. I look at Captain Haile. His shoulders are slumped. He’s quiet, all of us are.

When Alpha Marcellus has maximized his satisfaction of staring at us, he finally speaks again, “I give you my blessing to marry her. You can now go.”

No one budges, even him. It’s easy to assume that he’s waiting for Captain Haile to change his mind about marrying me. I also wait with bated breath if Captain Haile will… No! He loves me! He’ll choose me over his rank! But what if he doesn’t? I shake my head, shrugging my doubts aside.

Still limping, I walk past Captain Haile in an attempt to get closer to Alpha Marcellus, but then stop when Alpha Marcellus lifts his palm.

“If begging is what you’ll do, it won’t work,” he says.

Begging? I hate begging! But… without my intention, that’s really what I was about to do.

“I won’t beg.”

My voice hitches at the back of my throat and it’s too noticeable to even pretend I’m not lying.

Ultimately, my pride surrenders to my desperation. I earnestly ask, “What can I do to make you approve our wedding without demoting Captain Haile?”

Again and like always, he refuses to look at me. His eyes are only glued to Captain Haile’s surprised face. If I push through with our wedding, aside from demoting Captain Haile, he might also put him in unfortunate situations. They might abuse him or, worse, starve him too. I can’t allow that! Maybe we could postpone our wedding? But if we do, what’s our assurance that this situation won’t happen again?

Just when I’m about to reconstruct my question, Alpha Marcellus speaks.

“There are two things that you can do. If you agree, I can guarantee your mate’s safety from anyone. I promise she won’t starve again. On top of that, I can also promote you to a Beta position.”

Instead of relief, his offer makes me more uneasy. Beyond that offer, he’s trying to pull something that is far from acceptable coz the expression of the black wolf in his eyes says so.

“What are you trying to pull?” I ask.

Alpha Marcellus slowly stands up, walks a few feet from us and, with his back to us, says, “My daughter, Naomi, is very fond of you, Captain Haile.”

One simple statement and I already have a strong inkling of where this conversation will lead us. I wanna stop him from continuing, but for some reason, my words get stuck in my throat and they won’t come out no matter how much I try.

“In exchange for a better life for this Omega and for your promotion, I recommend you reject her and marry my daughter instead.”

Hell, I’m right! His offer is unacceptable! What does he think Captain Haile is? A candy that he could just ask or steal from me? I won’t give away Captain Haile to anyone! We’re mates! He loves me, I love him! And they have to suck that to death!

“No, it won’t happen,” I say.

My answer isn’t the one he’s expecting to hear, it’s Captain Haile’s he wants, so he keeps his back on us. Very arrogant!

It’s understandable where Alpha Naomi inherits her attitude and her behavior. Her mother is ill-tempered and her father is a d.ouche. I pity her more than I do with myself. I'm luckier to be an orphan than to have parents like hers.

There’s no reason to continue with this nonsense conversation anymore. Alpha Marcellus has already given us his blessing and that’s what we came here for, nothing else. Therefore, we’re done here.

I turn to Captain Haile and my heart stumbles down to my stomach at the unexpected expression on his face. My eyes widen as tears sting around them. He should be angry or disappointed, but he isn’t. Though there’s discomfort in his body language, his eyes flicker in temptation. He's obviously considering Alpha Marcellus’ flagrantly insulting offer.

Is he going to accept it? Is his promotion more important than me, his mate?