Brutal Alpha

Kael Darko

~Kael

Marriage? They were talking about my own marriage when all I want to do was make the word extinct from the dictionary. Lucas Nadal or let's say my future father in-law was all smiles while talking when beneath his genial tone and expression he was a snake. A snake I wanted to trample under my feet

We had adjourned to the dining room soon after my rival. The smell of steak and other dishes I didn't give an actual s**t about wafted into my nose. Moon goddess forbid I ever eat here. f**k it, I was already here, I might as well eat. He couldn't poison me, not when he had much to gain from this union.

Distate curled through me. Of course he’d want his daughter getting hitched by an Alpha as soon as possible. Men like Lucas would do anything to increase their social standing, including selling off their daughters to the highest bidder and even finding the balls to blackmail me in my own territory a month ago, without even an ounce of dignity. He might have think he struck gold but he sure would be surprised at the cheap saw dust he was going to get.

Fury reignited in my chest. I could have killed him, have his head severed from his body but that wouldn't give me the satisfaction I wanted. Besides if I did, more enemies would spring up. I needed to make a lesson from him, maybe if his wretched life is ever given another chance to come to this world, he would steer clear off anything that concerned me. So, for now I had to play nice to get what I wanted.

"You would have to make an announcement about your engagement, make it known that you have found a bride. Everyone would be delighted or is it a problem?"

“No, it won’t be,” I said, wrapping my fingers around the stem of my wineglass, imagining it was Lucas's neck I was strangling instead. The wrench was having the time of his life trying to mess with me, looking delighted. “But no one will believe I’m marrying someone with such short notice unless there’s a compelling reason. For example, your daughter is pregnant, and this is a shotgun wedding, you wouldn't want them thinking you raised a.....”

The half spoken sentence had everyone shifting in their seats while I kept my face blank and my voice bored. Restraint didn’t come naturally to me. If I didn’t like someone, I made damn sure they knew it, but extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary measures.

Lucas's mouth thinned. “Then what would you suggest?”

"A year is a more reasonable timeframe.”Never was better, but sadly, it wasn’t an option. A year would do. It was short enough that Lucas would agree to it and long enough for me to find and destroy the blackmail evidence and ruin him. Hopefully.

“Announcements should also go out later,” I said. “A month gives us time to craft a proper story, considering your daughter and I have never so much as been seen in public together before.”

“We don’t need a month to come up with a story,” he snapped. Although arranged marriages were literally the bane of how relationships are formed in werewolves society, but giving that my standing of not wanting to get tied to another was always made clear, it would be hard to not have people suspecting though I cared less but a scandal isn't what I wanted now. People were watching in the dark waiting for the right moment to pounce, so I wasn't even trying to give them any chance.

“Two weeks,” he said. “We’ll announce the weekend Rosie moves into your pack. You know she needs to be familiar with the surrounding she is going to be presiding over as the Luna.”

My jaw tensed. Beside me, Rosie stiffened, clearly caught off guard by the revelation she’d have to move in before the wedding. I expected her to at least whine about moving but not a single resistant. I was dreading this union, f*****g kill this man. I hated people invading on my personal space.

"I’m sure your family would like the announcements to go out sooner rather than later as well,” Lucas continued, placing a soft emphasis on the word family. “Don’t you agree?”

I held his stare until he shifted and looked away.“Two weeks it is.” The announcement date didn’t matter. I’d simply wanted to make the planning as difficult for him as possible.What mattered was the wedding date. One year. One year to destroy everything the Nadal's have slaved for. It would be a huge scandal, but my reputation could take the hit. They couldn't couldn’t. For the first time that night, I smiled.

Lucas shifted again and cleared his throat. “Excellent. We’ll work together to come up with—”

“I’ll do it. Next.”I ignored his glare and took another sip of grape wine. The conversation devolved into a mind-numbing rundown of guest invites, dress code, and a thousand or million other things I didn’t give a s**t about just like the food, the wedding and this shitty lupine council family.

Restless anger churned beneath my skin as I tuned Lucas and his ever blabbing wife out. Instead of cooling in my resort, I was stuck entertaining their bullshit on a starry night. Beside me, Rosie ate quietly, appearing lost in thought— it might have been a lot to take in but I'm certain she's elated by the opportunity. I mean she was marrying the Kael Darko, Alpha of Moon Haven pack— too bad I would never let the day happen.

After several minutes of strained silence, she finally spoke.

“How was your drive?”

“Fine.”

“I appreciate you taking the time to drive in to our small house, we could have met somewhere conveniently close to your pack. I know you must be busy.”I cut a piece of veal and brought it to my mouth.

"I didn't drive here, I took a flight."

She looked at me like I had two horns "But you just said fine when I asked of your drive. You know what nevermind."

Rosie's stare burned a hole in my cheek while I chewed leisurely. “Seems people were correct though— the more zeroes one has in their bank account, the fewer words they’re capable of speaking.” Her deceptively pleasant voice could’ve sliced through butter, and for the umpteenth time that night, my wolf— Clementine stirred. “You’re proving the rumor correct.”

“I thought a high werewolf like yourself would know better than to discuss money in polite company.”

“As you said— polite company.” She did an imaginary air quote with her hands "The keyword is polite."

A ghost of a smile flickered over my mouth. Under normal circumstances, I might’ve liked Rosie.

She was beautiful and surprisingly witty, with intelligent green almond eyes and the type of naturally refined bone structure no amount of money could buy. I inhaled several times in rapid succession, filling my lungs— How the f**k did she smell so good like a sweet and savory blend of chamomile, lavender and freaking Jasmine.

. But with her primp and overly proper clothing, she looked like a clone of her mother and every other uptight high standing werewolves daughter out there, who only cared about their social status.

Plus, she was the nitwit Lucas's daughter. It wasn’t her fault she was born to the bastard, but I didn’t give a damn. No degree of beauty could erase that stain on her record.“It’s not polite to speak to a guest that way,” I mocked softly. I reached for the salt. My sleeve grazed her arm, and she visibly tensed. “What would your parents say?”I’d already clocked Rosie's hangups less than an hour into our acquaintance. Perfectionism, non-confrontation, a desperate need for her parents’ approval. Boring, more boring, most boring.

Her eyes narrowed. “They’d say guests should adhere to social niceties.

"Yeah? Do social niceties include dressing like you got hit by a mom closet truck” I flicked a gaze over her suit and pearls.I didn’t give a s**t if people like Madeline wore such an outfit, but Rosie looked as out of place in the dowdy clothing as a diamond in a burlap sack. It pissed me off for no good reason.

“No, but they certainly don’t include ruining a nice dinner with discourtesy,” Rosie said coolly. “You should buy a nice set of manners to match your suit, Alpha Kael. As an influential Alpha, you know better than anyone how one ugly accessory can ruin an outfit and this behavior doesn't exactly match your expensive suit.”

Another smile, still faint but more concrete. Not so boring after all. However, the embers of my amusement hissed into a smoky death when her mother inserted herself into our conversation.“Kael, is your mother going to be coming all the way from Russia to the wedding ? Isn't it best you start making plans for her arrival?”

“Excuse me.” I pushed my chair back, cutting chirpy Madeline Nadal off mid-sentence. The legs scraped against the floor with a satisfyingly harsh screech. “Nature calls.” Silence thudded in the wake of my shocking rudeness.I didn’t wait for anyone to speak before I walked out and left a fuming Lucas, flustered Madeline, and a red-faced Rosie in the dining room. Best bet— they didn't see that coming.