Sold To The Ruthless Werewolf King

Snow I was going to be Luna tomorrow, but tonight, I felt like a target. I watched Clara’s face, trying to memorize every detail. Tomorrow, everything would change. I wouldn’t just be Snow anymore; I would be a wife and the mother of the pack. I looked at the shadows stretching across the grass and felt a shiver. Why did I feel like I was saying goodbye to more than just a friend? “I really wish you could be there,” I whispered. “Everyone else is just waiting for me to fail, Clara. You’re the only one who actually loves me.” “Snow.” She took both my hands in hers. Her eyes were already wet. “You think I want to miss your wedding? But my mother is so sick. I have to go to her.” I did know. That was the hardest part. I couldn’t be angry at anyone, but I already felt lonely. The grass looked the same, the path looked the same, yet it felt as though something were quietly being removed from the world around me. “I’ll be back before you’ve even settled into the Alpha house,” she promised, squeezing my fingers. “And when I come back, I’ll call you ‘Luna’ to your face until you beg me to stop.” I laughed and hugged her tightly. She held on just as tightly, and we stayed like that for a moment, two girls who had grown up side by side in this pack, who had shared every secret and every fear—saying goodbye without saying the word. “What are you two whispering about?” Sebastian’s voice came from behind us, warm and easy. I pulled back and wiped my eyes quickly. “Clara won’t be at the wedding.” “My mother is sick,” Clara explained as Sebastian dropped onto the grass across from us, completely at ease, as he always was. That was one of the things I loved about him; he was always calm and kind. He made me feel safe and happy whenever he was around. “Then you go take care of your mother,” he said softly. “We’ll save you the best seat for the celebration when you’re back.” Clara smiled at him, then at me. “By then, I’ll be addressing you as my Luna.” “You will do no such thing,” I told her. When Clara left, Sebastian walked me home. He took my hand, his skin warm against mine. “She’ll be back before you’ve had time to miss her,” he said. “I already miss her.” He smiled. “That’s because you’re loyal to the people you love. It’s one of the things I—” He stopped, glancing at me sideways with that particular expression that still, after all this time, made my face warm. “It’s one of the things.” I rolled my eyes at him, and he laughed. At the edge of the path where it split into two directions—one leading to the Alpha house and the other to my family’s—he stopped and turned to face me. He gently brushed a strand of hair back from my face with the back of his hand. “Rest well tonight,” he said. “Tomorrow changes everything.” “I know.” “Are you nervous?” “No,” I responded. “I’m ready.” He kissed me on the cheek and walked away, and I stood there longer than I meant to. My mother saw my face the moment I walked through the door. “You’re glowing.” “Mother.” I sat beside her and took her hand. “Tomorrow is real. It’s actually happening.” “I know, my love.” She cupped my face with both hands, the way she had done since I was small. “My little girl. A bride tomorrow.” “I keep thinking I’ll wake up,” I admitted. “That it’s still months away. That I still have to wait.” She laughed, the soft, full laugh she reserved for purely happy moments, and we sat together as the evening darkened outside the window, talking about nothing and everything, her hand in mine. Then the front door opened. My father came in, and I knew immediately from the set of his shoulders that something was wrong. “Father.” I stood and went to him. “You’re back. Is everything alright?” “Sit with me,” he said. We sat. He was quiet for a moment, his hands folded, his eyes on the floor between us. “Talk to us,” my mother whispered. My father looked at me. “Snow... is it too late to ask you to stop this?” The warmth in my chest went very still. “What?” “I’m asking if—” “If what, Father?!” “Can’t you marry someone else?” he mumbled. The room went dead silent. “What!” I yelled, jumping to my feet. “What are you talking about, Father?” “I don’t trust him,” he said plainly. “Something about him sits wrong with me. I can’t name it, and I know that’s not enough for you, but—” His voice broke slightly. “I can’t send my daughter into a life I’m afraid of for her.” “You can’t name it,” I said with a trembling voice. “You have a feeling, and based on that feeling, you want me to walk away from the man I love. The night before my wedding.” “Snow—” “No,” I snapped. “Do you understand what you’re asking me? Sebastian has been good to me. He has been kind, patient, and constant. He loves me, Father. I know what that looks like because I grew up watching you love Mother.” My voice cracked on the last word. “Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you just—” “He isn’t your fated mate.” The room went quiet. I had known that. Of course, I had known that. In our world, the mate bond was treated like the only valid form of love—the universe’s endorsement, the spiritual seal that made everything legitimate. I had spent years making peace with the fact that Sebastian and I didn’t share it, and I had concluded, after long and careful thought, that what we had was worth more than a bond I hadn’t chosen. “I know he isn’t,” I whispered. “I’ve always known. And I’ve decided it doesn’t matter to me. My fated mate is a stranger somewhere in the world who may never find me, who I may never find. Sebastian is here. He has always been here. He chose me without a bond forcing him to, and I chose him back.” I looked at my father directly. “That was my choice. I made it with my whole self, and I am not a child.” “If you can’t see reason—” he started. “Bless them,” my mother said quietly. Both of us turned to her. “Our daughter loves him. She’s not asking you to love him, just to trust her.’" My father looked at her for a long moment. Then he looked at me, and what I saw in his face wasn’t cruelty or selfishness—it was fear. Raw and genuine, the fear of a man who had loved his daughter his whole life and was standing at the edge of something he couldn’t control. That almost made it worse. Because I could fight against unreasonableness. I didn’t know what to do with a father who was simply afraid. “I will marry him,” I added. “With your blessing or without it, I will marry him tomorrow. I would rather have it. But I will not change my answer.” I turned and walked toward the stairs. “Snow.” I stopped, but didn’t turn around. He didn’t say anything else. I heard him exhale—long and slow—before I went upstairs. I sat on the edge of my bed in the dark room, pressing my hands together and taking deep breaths. My heart was still pounding hard, not from doubt, but from the argument. It took a lot of effort to stand firm against someone I loved. Tomorrow, I would stand before the entire pack with Sebastian’s hands in mine, and I would say the words I had been waiting my whole life to say. My father was afraid of something he couldn’t even name. But I knew he was wrong. He had to be wrong.