THE WOLF I WAS BORN TO HATE

THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT It was a chilly Tuesday morning when Renee Vale got the letter from the North. Before breaking the seal, she knew what it contained!There were things she had learned that did not need to be seen to be feared, in her shaking hands sat the black envelope that its edges pried against. A silver wolf biting at a partition of its jaws, silent snarling was stamped in the wax. The Draven crest! For 24 years that crest had served as a reminder of a promise that she had never made but it was a pre-covenant made before her birth,Renee Vale held the envelope in front of her and took in a few deep breaths, as the minutes went by and her heart rate climbed. She knew that just as before, she was feeling the familiar niggle that was in her stomach, pulling out the questions from the deepest recesses of her mind. Why me?Why did her parents say that she would marry a man that she had not met?What did they consider about her and think she ought to take him as her husband as soon as she reached the age of eighteen? But no one ever had the courage to tell her the whole truth? Those questions she had been asking since childhood came.As she mentioned the marriage once again, her mother fell silent and her father became angry the dialogue was cut short, doors slammed shut and whatever was fact behind the dealings was driven deeper into oblivion. All she had ever been told of this marriage was that it had been arranged even before her birth.That was all. No explanation. No choice. No escape. It was now 24 years later and the promise made by her parents was now coming true,the letter was clamped between her fingers and shook.She broke the seal and she scanned down a page. Renee Vale,We have received a blood contract from House Draven, 24 years ago, and by the order of the Northern Alpha Council, we invite you to the Northern Territory.Her breath caught as she continued reading. It is a rule that you must appear in the Draven family's presence within 30 days. As soon as you reach the place the marriage covenant will be completed as you will be married to his Northern heir David Draven and you will be the daughter-in-law of His Highness's Royal Highness. Thirty days?One month from now? This was all she had to wait until she was asked to marry a man she did not even know. David Draven! Her mind was unable to grasp the name, it felt foreign but at the same time it felt like it already had a sentence on its shoulders. Renee lowered the letter, "A". Her face wrinkled in a wry smile and a bitter laugh came out and she wanted to fight for years and years, when this day finally came,she would refuse and would rip up the contract and say to her parents. "This is my contract, this is how it will be done." But she sat in her room all alone, gazing at the words that had ruled her fate since her birth and her gaze hardened. "No!" The word has fallen upon my ears.Then again, stronger. "No!"She stood. A fireplace blazed next to her, with sparks flickering in the shadows of the dark stone walls.Renee fled to it as they are always able to get the Draven's contract if they really wanted it.She made two folds on the letter,twice. After that she tossed it into the fire.The paper went on fire as soon as it touched it and the first thing to be engulfed by orange flames was the Draven crest.Renee did not twiddle her thumbs. There was a moment when it was all so beautiful and there she felt relief.It was done,none of the letters were there and the summons had been taken off. The marriage…. A sharp ache that came at once tore its way through her belly,Renee gasped.She was about to fall over backward and caught the edge of the table but under her skin, it was getting hot. Not ordinary heat.Something deeper.Something ancient.Her wolf was in a frenzy. Renee Vale! It was like the voice was ringing in her head and her wolf was different from the rest she was afraid of. Until now.Renee looked down. She was wearing a purple light-colored shirt, and her shirt was underneath the fabric.Her breathing stopped.Slowly, she turned up the crest and a symbol was being displayed on the skin of her belly on the lower part of her abdomen.A star! Not a common star! Seven sharp points surrounded one dark violet point which became its form as if she were drawing it in with an invisible hand inside her skin.Renee was amazed to see it in horror. "No!" The mark pulsed.Once then twice. After that, it was a wave of heat that went through her body.She knelt down at the ground in her mind she flashed back on pictures.A blood moon. And two wolves are standing under it. A senior citizen woman with a baby, both in a swaddling bandage in her arms.A black wolf with blood on its fur,two hands holding an ancient stone.And finally,a man that was unknown to her with dark hair,cold eyes and a wolf that was directly looking at her behind him. David Draven.Renee screamed! The purple star glistened with more light.Suddenly, though, all was quiet,the letter smoldered on in the fireplace. However, all the inscriptions on it were gone.They were in her inside her guts and blood contract was back to life. Renee put her hand in motion, shaking against the mark.She recalled one of her mother's stories when she was a very young child.A WARNING in a bedtime story. Little wolf, there are some promises that are made with words, and then there are some made with blood.Renee never knew what it meant to her. Now she did. Her parents were not only her fiancants but they had also arranged her marriage to David Draven.They had bound it. There was some secret between House Vale and House Draven, and it was a far older and much darker one than just a debt.Her eyes went back to the smoldering fire as she had believed that by burning the letter she was gonna be free. But rather it had roused the contract.The marriage was not just a matter of a piece of paper anymore,it was a part of her blood written in her blood.Somewhere in the North, but he did not realize it at the time, David Draven had just been made her husband. The star in the middle of Renee's belly once again began to pulsing.Like the moon itself sealed its promise and it seemed her destiny had come to her. And there was Renee that had a bad case of the "fate has teeth" blues.