The Hybrid Luna

Better dead than wedded

Kimberly’s POV

It felt like my life over the last few days had happened very quickly, I did not catch a break to know what was going on. One minute he was giving me the option of marriage or death, the very next, I was standing in front of a mirror, with swollen eyes and in a wedding dress.

This was nothing like I had envisioned my day to look like. The heavy fabric was clinging to me, the sheer weight feeling like I was being buried—it did feel like I was. I was dead on the inside. My reflection stared back, pale, hollow-eyed and lost as my mother adjusted my dress behind me.

“Mum…” I called in a faint tone. I was going to plead with her to not give me away, but what good was that? I had been pleading for the past two weeks, leading up to this day, but no one listened—I was sure no one cared.

“Everything is going to be fine.” My mother reassured me, even though deep down we knew she had no way of saying that. “It’s for the family, the future of all mergers and more importantly, yourself.” She said,

‘How dare she?’ I thought almost as immediately as she dropped her sentence. No one was listening to me and the mere fact that she mentioned me last in her sentence was evident that this was not about me at all.

She adjusted my wedding veil and then walked away. Tears quickly welled up at the base and edge of my eyes, but they wouldn’t stream down.

“He’s a savage! I can’t marry a savage!” I whispered, as my mother shut the door behind her. Of course I knew she couldn’t hear me, but what difference did it make? Even if she did, she wouldn’t do anything differently.

I stared deep into the mirror and took a deep breath, maybe coming to terms with my fate.

“There’s my princess,” my father said, walking into the room, not long after my mother had gone.

I didn’t need to turn around to give him a death stare, I did so perfectly from the mirror as I watched him walk towards me.

He paused behind me and then took a deep breath. “Kimberly, you do understand why we have to do this right?” he probed, but I didn’t respond.

‘What was the point of talking if no one was going to listen?’

“He is our ally against the rogue wolves and Lycans, we cannot lose him.” My father pitched calmly.

“We have other allies,” I finally responded, assuming that his calm tone meant that he was finally ready to hear me out.

“Well, he’s our strongest and we cannot lose him! We will not lose him!” His tone switched very quickly, and he stormed out of the room, in quite the distinct opposite of the way he came.

I couldn’t move a muscle. It was like my feet were planted in the ground. I rolled my eyes hard when I heard the door knob open again. This time, it was Enzo.

“The whole family already coerced me to be here, you all don’t have to show up to threaten me. You made it clear I do not have a choice, nor do I have a voice.” I said to him, tears not only welling in my eyes, but my voice cracking alongside.

Enzo came to me with a hug. “You’re a merger, this is no way to walk down the aisle.” He said softly.

I didn’t ever think that walking down the aisle was going to be this pathetic. I didn’t have a lot of experience with love and marriage, but I was sure this was not how the bride of that man was feeling, twenty-five years ago when she walked down the aisle. If it was, they weren’t going to be here, twenty-five years later, living what obviously was going to remain my fantasy.

“The ceremony is starting,” Enzo said, holding my hand softly and leading me out of the room.

He handed me to my father at the entrance of the ceremony hall.

As my father and I walked through the stone corridors, murmurs filled the air. My intestines felt they were tying into knots as I sighted the werewolf guards waiting with their predator eyes. My feet got buried in the ground once again, reality hitting me.

“Presenting the bride. Kimberly of the Mergers.” My father gave me a nudge and I proceeded to Ogar.

Ogar stared down at me, leering. His tongue stuck out, wetting his lips as he gawked at me. It was at that very moment I knew I could not do it—or more accurately put, it became crystal.

‘If I was going to do something, now was the time!’ In one swift motion, I tore myself free from my father’s grip and bolted. Gasps erupted around me, but I didn’t turn around or look back. I ran through the corridors, almost tripping on my dress as I struggled desperately to escape.

My dress tore in the process and I could hear them calling me back and a few feet running after me, but it didn’t stop me—for a few minutes it didn’t.

I felt a strong, paralyzing grip around my arm—a grip very tight, it immediately stopped blood flow.

“I will make you regret this.” Ogar said, squeezing my hand very tightly. “No one! No one humiliates me or tries to.”

I scurried for shelter, but there was none. My father was extremely disappointed, he turned his back on me.

Before I got the chance to say another thing, I felt a strong force push me away. I fell backwards and hit my head on one of the corridor stones.

“Pick her up!” Ogar ordered.

As the men surrounded me, my vision was slowly blurring. My whole body was already aching, and the fact that I hit my head was not enough prompt for my parents to do something.

‘Hold on a minute!’ This could only mean that my parents had handed me over to him and I was now in his mercy. My vision was blurring out faster and I remembered his words on the first day we met.

‘‘Marry me or die.’’

‘What if I chose death?’ I thought, just before I felt another thud and darkness covered me.