The Alpha's Sacrifice.

CHAPTER 6: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER.

Marigold's POV.

We all sat around the table awaiting the letter that would determine my irrevocable fate.

CLANK CLANK.

A knock from the door broke the silence.

“Enter!” Father declared.

The door opened and through it came a maid writing a letter in her grasp like it was a fragile vase.

She scrambled through the entrance and down the stone steps and made her way towards the wooden table.

Which my Father sat at the extreme end of.

After taking a few quick steps she presented the letter to him with a light bow and left just as quickly as she had come in.

The guards at both sides of the door also exited the room.

The tension in the air was thicker than any blade could cut through.

At a point, the utter silence became almost unbearable, as I became aware by the sound of my very breaths.

“It has been decided by I and the Kingdom elders that we shall abide by the Ironfang packs' request, lest we face irrefutable consequences,” My Father began.

Grabbing a small blade from a nearby plate, he tore open the letter, revealing a deed of some sorts.

I stretched my neck slightly to get a better view of the writings, but it proved useless as I still couldn't make sense of the gibberish I saw.

Leon stiffened.

I could only wonder why he was in such a panic.

“This is the deed of evidence from the bet placed at half past noon, on the 3rd day of the sixth month, in the year fifteen hundred and three.” Father continued.

My mother gripped my palms in hers softly, her nails unknowingly formed crescent moons on the back of my hands, as Father finished off his sentence.

“The payment remains a child from the losing pack..”

Before he could finish, a sharp inhale from my mother interrupted him.

“The offer must be made at the crook of dawn by to-morrow night, marking the twenty-fifth year of outstanding payment; if not paid, then we are left to assume the un-cooperation calls for WAR.”

He folded the letter back into the way it was, then raised his head to examine us.

My mother sat closest to him on his right, while Leon sat to his left, and I sat beside my mother.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as his gaze shifted from one person to the next, in a near apologizing manner.

He looked at perhaps my mother's pale face, or Leon’s unreadable expression, or my callous look.

Nonetheless, he inhales a deep breath then starts again.

“The elders and I have decided that we will offer Marigold as payment for the bet.”

My mother gasped softly as her hands left mine and flew to her face.

“This shall not be possible, I will not bear it.” She said, slamming her fists onto the table and riding to her feet.

“Aceta..” Father tried to pacify.

“No, no, she is my only daughter. How can you be of agreement to this?” Mother cries out, as she raises me to my feet and starts leading me out of the room.

“Aceta, I did all I could to have them reconsider..”

“Apparently, not well enough, my daughter would not leave my side, especially not to a rival Pack. Never.”

She hugged me close to her body, wrapping her violet cloak around me.

I kept my facial expression neutral, despite wanting to let my emotions get the better of me.

My eyes scanned the room as tears of pain clouded my vision. This was the last time I would even sit in this room.

I blink back the tears.

My hands shivered lightly at my sides, until they finally reached up to gather the material on my thighs.

My eyes come in contact with that of my father and for a brief moment, I could almost see the pain in his eyes, but in the blink of an eye the pain is gone, and the only thing left is his expressionless face looking over at me.

Mother led me out of the room, with her arms still wrapped around me.

The moment the doors closed behind us she turns to me and cups my face in her palms.

“Hear me Marigold, I will not depart from you.”