Destined Love

Love Breeds Happiness

*Jonah's Point Of View*

    At first, I thought I heard wrong when Leon mentioned that Corin’s Beta was requesting to enter. What the hell was Richard Laverne doing in Arcada in the first place?! I was contemplating whether I should lock him up or kill him for having the nerve to show up at the estate when Alpha Noel jumped up from where he was sitting. 

    “Pardon me Jonah, I forgot to tell you that I have a business meeting with Corin’s Beta. Well it was supposed to be with the Alpha, but when they learned that I came to Arcada a day before the ceremony they sent Richard instead.” 

    “Don’t worry sir I understand,  but next time please inform me ahead of time. I don’t welcome just anyone into my home. As you can see I have my mother and more importantly my wife, to take care of.”

    Everyone remained silent and stared at me with confusion in their eyes. I didn’t care though, I wanted to make my point clear. I asked Leon to allow his entrance, stood up from where I was sitting  and then accompanied Alpha Noel to greet Richard. I didn’t like the guy, but with the ceremony tomorrow, I was still going to end up seeing him sooner or later. When we got to the front of the castle, I could see Richard on his horse in the distance. I needed to cool my head before that i***t got any closer. 

    “Jonah, although many might mistake you for an arrogant man because of what  you said back there, I’m glad to know my daughter is safe by your side. I haven’t been a good father to her, but she’s family and as we both know, nothing is more important than family.” 

    “Of course sir, there is nothing more important and even though it may not seem like it, Aurora worries about you very much. I hope that your stay will allow you to spend more time with her.”

    “I hope -”

    “Good Morning Alpha Nahrwold, Alpha Jonah. I can call you Alpha right? After All tomorrow is the big day.” 

     We were interrupted by Richard who was getting off his horse. He handed the reins to Leon as a form of offense, but Leon did not take them. Instead he called over one of the stable boys and he took the horse from Richard. 

    “I see Arcadians are very prideful.”

    “And here I thought Corinians knew a lot about ranks. That’s my Beta and he is your equal. He has no business taking care of your horse. Next time, you can do it yourself.”

    “I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I apologize.”

    “Okay then, welcome to Arcada Richard. Shall we all go to my office?” 

    “I’m afraid this is Corin and Archer business only maybe we can -” 

    “Listen carefully. You’re in my territory therefore I’m a part of anything you discuss within my borders whether you like it or not. Besides, after tomorrow, Archer and Arcada will be one so I decide if we need your business or if we simply terminate it.”

    I could tell Richard was angry by the way he was gritting his teeth, but he knew better than to go up against any Alpha since he was only a Beta at the moment. He turned to face Alpha Noel and then apologized again.

    “Of course, I never meant to give off any offense. I didn’t think before speaking so forgive me. Thank you for allowing us to hold this meeting in your home.”

    I only allowed that Beta to stay out of respect for Alpha Noel, but if it would have been any other wolf, he would have been dragged out of the estate in a second. For the next two hours he presented us with a business proposition regarding trade with Corin. It would end up being something beneficial to both our lands, but more importantly the new business would offer jobs to the wolves who lived near the borders. They would be able to make a living out of sailing boats and transporting goods from Archer’s docs to Corin’s docs. After discussing it with Alpha Noel we both signed the proposition and when it got closer to noon, we reunited with everyone  to have brunch in the dining room. 

*Third person’s point of view*

    For Jonah and Aurora, this felt like the longest meal in the world. It was only noon and they already felt like retiring to their bedroom. They had not had the chance to talk to each other because Jonah was busy speaking to Alpha Nahrwold and Aurora was speaking to Richard who was sitting across from her. They were both reminiscing about their childhood memories and Richard began to laugh at a funny memory of them falling on animal excrement when they played in the stables as children. Everyone seemed to disregard their small talk, but when Jonah saw them laughing and having he began to feel very irritated. 

    For the rest of the meal he continued to move his gaze from Aurora to Richard, clenching  his fist in the process. No one had noticed his reaction except for Janessa, who had been staring at him since they sat at the table. In that moment, an idea came to her head that almost made her burst out laughing. 

    “Is Jonah jealous because Aurora is talking to another man?” She asked herself. 

    In Janessa’s mind there was no way a person like Jonah could be attracted to Aurora even if there was a mate bond. She turned to look at Aurora and tried to find any sort of mark on her neck, but there was none. She relaxed and then began to come up with a plan. She would take advantage of Richards presence to plant a seed of doubt inside Jonah’s heart and then make her move on him to drive them apart. At the thought of her plan succeeding she smiled and continued to enjoy her food. 

    After their meal everyone went out for a walk in the gardens. Aurora approached Jonah in hopes that they would walk together and when he saw her he smiled and waited for her. When she was about to place her hand on his bicep, Aurora was interrupted by her father. He made it clear that he had something important to talk to her about. She looked at Jonah apologetically and then went ahead with her father. Jonah was only going for a walk to accompany her, but now that she was with her father he decided to go to his office to finish some final tasks before tomorrow's ceremony. He was already heading back inside when suddenly someone tucked at his sleeve. 

    “Brother in law won’t you walk with me? You see, my father usually walks with my mother, but he’s walking with my big sister right now and my younger sister is with my mother, so I have no partner.” 

    “Sorry um Janessa right? I have many things to do so I can’t walk with you. Why don’t you walk with Richard, he was supposed to walk with my mother, but she went back to her bedroom.” 

    “Oh no I could never do that to my big sister. She was alway so - oh no, I said too much.” 

    “She was always so what. You were about to say something right.”

    “If you walk with me I will tell you all about it.” 

    “Fine let’s go.”

    “Well you see, my big sister was madly in love with Richard because they grew up together. My father told me that many years ago the Corin Alpha would visit with his son and Richard would come along with them. From what I heard they were inseparable when they were children, but now they’re adults so I’m not sure if she still harbors those deep feelings for him. I care about my sister so much that I would rather not hurt her feelings by walking with her first love.”

    “Did she tell you she was in love with him?”

    “Yes! Not only that, when our father told her she was going to get married for the alliance, she tried to run away to avoid the marriage. I’m assuming someone was going to go with her because she would never go alone. Maybe that person was Richard.”

    “So she wasn’t able to get away?” 

    “No, we stopped her before she made such a big mistake, but I might be wrong because this all happened before she met you. I can’t imagine anyone being with you and not falling in love.”

    “We shouldn’t speak of the past.”

    “Yes you're right and you know what they say, love breeds happiness so if my big sister laughs around you more than she does around Richard then she must love you.”

    They continued to walk for a while longer, before Jonah excused himself and returned to his office. Janessa watched him enter the castle full of rage and she was unable to contain the smile that formed across her face.