Marked by the dark Alpha

Chapter 3

Madoc Saint

I could still taste the deer blood from my hunt on the back of my tongue when I kicked open the double doors of the throne room.

“You cannot walk out on the elders of this Pack, Madoc! This behavior is unacceptable! We will NOT condone it!” Yurif’s enraged roar echoed behind me and I whipped back around to see the scowling faces of a dozen elders still seated at the round table.

The grand expanse of the brightly lit throne room yawned before me, with a glossy black carpet that stretched all the way to the marbled dias of the throne stage.

Creeping green vines curled around the gold-rimmed white pillars that stood on either side of the carpet.

Rage pumped through my body faster than the adrenaline could get it out but I kept my hands balled tightly by my sides.

I couldn't believe I had stopped my hunt for this!

“Why don't you come out and say your bullshit plainly Yurif, I think I've condoned YOUR excesses for far too long,” I growled, marching back into the hall before Gillian’s hands pushed against my chest, forcing me away from the brood of elder wolves.

I could see their jagged canines flashing before the chilly night air embraced me and I cursed under my breath, turning away from the string of uniformed guards who wisely avoided my eyes.

“What the hell are you doing Madoc? Are you trying to tear this pack in half?” Gillian hissed hotly, and I glared right back at the blonde wolf and the way his chest rose and fell with bated breaths.

“I will not be forced into some sham marriage by your elders, Brother, and if that tears the pack in half then so be it,” I snarled right the f**k back, forcing him to back away from me with a shake of his head.

It had been a while since I flexed my sword in a fight, and every tensed muscle in my body was just straining for a come-on.

“Madoc-”

“Did you even listen to their bullshit Gill? They want to make the Titans stronger? We have three hundred feet of reinforced iron walls surrounding this bloody castle! How much f*****g stronger can that be?” I roared, jabbing my finger toward the ring of grey wall sheets in the distance.

I didn’t care for women the way my brother did. Gillian had always been the nice cool-headed one out of us two, and I was not about to take that from him now.

Men like me didn't fall in love, we could only destroy and ruin. It was a damned good thing in war…not so much in a bloody marriage.

“You’ve always been selfish haven't you, not doing anything you don't want to because you don't care about the pack-” He started, trailing off when I leveled him with a frosty look.

There was no one who cared more about our pack than I did, and our unbeaten record in war proved just that.

“If they want a woman so much Gill, why don't you have one and leave me the f**k out of it?” I sneered, shouldering past his scowling face before I felt his claws snap around my arm to stop me.

Any other wolf would have lost that arm, but I jammed my teeth instead and turned back to face the blonde wolf.

“Three women Madoc, f***s sake, that's all I'm asking of you, you don't like any of the three princesses the elders have selected, then no one will speak of this ever again,” Gillian hissed, his wild gray eyes searching my face when I hesitated for too long before I snatched my arm out of his vice grip.

Fuck! I wasn't ready for this, any of this! There was no cute s**t like love and relationships in the goddamned Alpha handbook!

My brother’s steady voice was lined with a sharp edge that made something uneasy grind in my gut as tension strained between us.

“The pack needs this Madoc, dammit, just think for a second, if something were to happen to me…to you even-” He started and I barely held back the snort that rose to the base of my throat.

There was not one wolf army in all of the mountains that was capable of killing me. I was almost two centuries old and had never left a war without wiping out the entire pack.

I gave him a look to let him know he was going to have to come up with something more original than that but the little s**t continued on without missing a beat.

“I would want to know our pack was safe without us, that our father’s Titan legacy wasn't going to end up in some dipshit’s hands,” He spat, and I felt the blood turn to lava in my veins.

There it was…the nail in the freaking coffin.

“How dare you bring Father into this?” I hissed through clenched teeth and caught the heat that flashed in his iron-gray eyes.

Lenon Saint had been the most ruthless Alpha without counting me, and the Titans had damned near fallen apart after his murder.

“Everyone wants this Madoc. Our mother…she needs something to make her happy again okay? Like a grandchild. Please,” My brother pressed and I stabbed my fingers into my temples to reduce the pounding pain before snatching my hands away when it didn't work.

I didn't know if I had ever seen my mother, Madeline Saint, smile after my father’s death, and the thought made the thorns in my heart spread.

I swallowed thickly, hearing the bitter chuckle that passed through my lips as the wind whistled through the pink bonsai trees surrounding us on either side.

“Three women. Three nights to make up my mind. I better not regret this Gillian,” I muttered under my breath, and watched the wolf’s stunning face relax into a grateful smirk.

“You won't, I'll make sure of it,” Gillian chirped, patting one heavy hand against my shoulder before his broad back disappeared into the fog that had settled around the castle.

“Surely, Madoc, it can't be that bad. All you’ve got to do is reject every gold-digging b***h the elders suggest, and you’ll be free, right?” I hissed inwardly as more of the deafening thunder peaked through the sepia-blackness, staining the thin white mist with steely blue lightning flashes.

But the creeping feeling in the base of my spine told me it was never that easy…that simple. Something was bound to go wrong like it always did in Titan Pack since Father died.