MATED TO THE LYCAN MAFIA KING

The Wedding Arrangements

Lia

“Some of us don’t get the luxury of marrying for love, Lia. Your duty to the pack comes first, everything else is secondary.” Father’s words echoed in my mind as I stood, weighing the decision I would have to make in just a few days.

“Is that why you always treated mom like s**t?” I’d retorted.

Those were the last words I spoke to him before I walked away from our pack for good.

I’d just turned eighteen and the idea of being coerced into a marriage felt suffocating.

I spent the next few years after I left our pack, cursing the moon goddess for my birth, blaming everyone else but myself for the choices I made.

How could I not?

It was easy to rage against the world than face the truth.

Ever since I got my wolf, it felt like my life stopped being my own.

Every choice seemed made for me. Like I was bound to be someone I didn’t even know how to be.

Most people in our pack spoke of how exciting it was to get their wolf, but that wasn’t the case for me.

Getting my wolf only reminded me that I wasn’t like the others. I would never know or have free will, and I hate to say I was right.

Now, with my wedding just days away, that truth weighed heavier than ever. My fiancé and Alpha of our pack, Luca Sundani had become even more distant.

Despite his indifference toward our wedding, I wasn’t bothered much. I knew between leading our pack, and his dealings with the Mafia, Luca must have had his hands full.

Still, a small part of me wished he cared more, wished he’d spare a moment to focus on us, or at least the wedding preparations.

I kept telling myself that everything was fine, under control, trying to ignore his dismissive and unappreciative treatment towards me.

The truth is, our relationship has always been strained.

Deep down, I knew things between us would never get better. No matter how hard I tried to connect with him or support him, he always brushed me off. However, it didn’t matter how I felt. I had a duty to my pack.

“How long are you going to keep making excuses for him?” My wolf, Lydia, cut in sharply.

“That’s enough, Lydia.”

“I don’t know why you bother. You do everything around here. The least he could have done is help you pick out your wedding dress.” She pressed on.

I sighed heavily and turned toward my bedroom window.

Lydia was right. I handled most of the paperwork concerning our territories and made the alpha decisions, but Luca was the one everyone admired.

They all thought he ran the pack, and I couldn’t say anything about it. I’m not supposed to.

These days, I understand my mother better. She carried the same burden. Handling all the problems within our pack, while my father… Well, just like Luca, he took all the credit and never showed any appreciation to her.

When she dared to challenge his decision to marry me off to Luca, he banished her from the pack, and because of that, I’d ran away from our pack, and swore to never return. But the news of his death changed everything.

My father, Drago, might have been a cold, detached man, who acted like he didn’t care for anything or anyone, but he was still my father.

I’d spent days after his death, regretting the things I said to him before I left, riddled with guilt and pain, so much I felt the only way of ever making amends was to honor his final wish and marry Luca.

Even when Luca made me feel like an afterthought, I thought I owed it to my father. But as the wedding day crept closer, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was only repeating my mother’s mistakes.

I heaved a tired sigh and looked out the window. That’s when I saw Luca approaching the castle. I’d been waiting patiently for him to come home tonight, hoping for a chance to go over some preparation plans for our wedding.

We didn’t share a room. It was part of our pack’s customs. We weren’t supposed to consummate our marriage until after the bonding ritual on the night of our wedding.

But as much as I wanted and hoped that that would bring us closer, I couldn’t ignore the fear gnawing at my stomach at the thought of sleeping with him.

His footsteps echoed loudly along the narrow hallway leading to our room breaking me out of my thoughts.

Without hesitation, I hurried out to meet him.

“You’re home early. Can we talk?”

“I need your suggestions on something concerning the wedding.”

Luca just stood there, his expression cold and dismissive, and then heaved a disgruntled sigh, “I just got home, Lia. Whatever this is, it can wait.”

“Luca, this is important. We’re running out of time to put the necessary arrangements in place.” I argued.

“I said it can wait!” Luca growled, and without waiting for my response, turned and walked into his room, slamming the door in my face.

I tried so hard not to crumble right there in the hallway. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, and I raised my hand to cover my mouth, trying to hold back the sobs that threatened to fall.

I had put in so much effort to make our wedding special, and all he did was ignore all of it.

“Don’t let it affect you so much my Luna.” A gentle voice sounded behind me, and I quickly wiped my tears before turning around.

“Nadia,” I said, trying to gather myself as I turned around and saw the housekeeper standing behind me with a basket full of dirty clothes.

“I didn’t know you were there.”

She approached me slowly, her face filled with sympathy, “He’s just stressed about the Lunar ball tonight.”

“The Lunar Ball?” I repeated in shock.

Luca never mentioned anything about it.

Seeing the stunned look on my face, Nadia bit her lip realising I didn’t know about it. She bowed and turned to leave quickly, and that’s when I spotted something in the basket of clothes she was holding.

“Wait!” I called, walking slowly towards her.

“Whose clothes are these?”

Nadia hesitated, her confusion evident,

“They’re Master Luca’s.” She answered cautiously.

My eyes widened as I pulled out a pair of pink panties, feeling a sting of betrayal.

I didn’t need anybody to tell me what this meant. I could not believe that after everything I’d done to make this wedding special, everything I’d given up to make our relationship work, he was cheating on me.

Lydia was so angry and I could feel her threatening to let loose.

My heart broke even more, realising that this had been going on for a while now. That this was the reason for all the late nights, the distant looks and his indifference toward our wedding.

I could not take it anymore. As much as I wanted to scream, to confront him there and then, I knew I couldn’t, not yet.

But the worst part about it all, was that I knew I had to pretend I didn’t know. Had to turn a blind eye to his infidelities and keep up appearances until the festival.

If I acted now, I would risk losing my position as Luna.

At that point, a new resolve formed in my mind. I had to attend the Lunar Ball, and there I would confront him.

Whatever happened there, I’d have the council elders as witnesses. I’d have their support when I exposed their Alpha’s betrayal.

I won’t let him get away with this. Not anymore.