CHAPTER NINE
1144 Words
ALESSIO’S POV
I never asked for a Luna.
And I sure as hell didn’t ask for a wife.
The contract lay open on the table in front of me. My name already signed in dark ink. My mother’s handwriting sprawled next to mine in elegant cursive—strong despite how weak she was now.
I stared at the paper like it might disappear if I glared hard enough.
No such luck.
“She’s not going to bite, you know.” Lucia De Luca muttered from her velvet chaise, her voice thin but still sharp.
“At least not until after the wedding.”
I rubbed a hand over my face.
“I agreed to marriage, mother, not to… companionship.”
“You agreed to make your dying mother’s last wish come true,” she said with a raised brow.
“Don’t get noble on me now, caro.”
I turned toward her slowly.
She looked smaller than she had last week.
The white in her hair had spread, her skin more translucent. She was fading. I knew it. She knew it. The entire pack knew it.
But none of us talked about it.
Instead, we made plans for weddings I didn’t want and alliances I didn’t believe in.
“This girl.” I muttered, pointing at the document.
“Silver Night? She’s been compromised, publicly humiliated by her pack, stripped of her title, according to what her father told me. and now they want to ship her off to me like some secondhand heir.”
“She’s still an Alpha’s daughter.” Mother said.
“And she’s smarter than most Alphas I’ve met—including you.”
My jaw twitched.
“You’ve never met her.”
“I’ve read her pack records, her training reports, her scores, her council endorsements—I’ve seen her. She’s a leader. A better one than most males you’ve sparred with. I wouldn't have suggested her for you if i didn't do my findings. Your mother may be weak, but I am not stupid.”
I said nothing.
She wasn’t wrong.
But it wasn’t about Silver.
It was about what came with her.
Responsibility. Attachment. Trust.
Things I couldn’t afford.
Not after what happened with—
No. I shoved the thought away.
“You want a Luna.” I said, quieter now.
“Not a ghost of one. Not someone I’ll keep locked away behind a door I’ll never open.”
Lucia tilted her head, her gaze softening.
“Then don’t lock her away.”
“It’s not that simple. I don't want her.”
“It never is. That’s why it’s worth doing.”
I turned away, walking to the window.
The Cassano Pack courtyard stretched below. Soldiers trained in silence, wolves patrolled the hills. Everything I built was stable. Disciplined. Cold.
I liked it that way.
The way of orderliness.
Love had only ever made things burn.
I built this pack from its burning ground after my father had almost destroyed it with his pride and womanising.
I swore never to be like him.
But the very thing I despised was what I was becoming.
“She won’t want to marry me, that i know of. Any lady with half a brain would not happily agree to marry a man they have never met.” I said flatly.
“She has no choice. They’re pushing her into it. We’re just the lesser evil.”
“That makes two of you.” Lucia said softly.
I glanced over my shoulder.
She coughed then, hard. Blood speckled the handkerchief she pressed to her lips.
I was beside her in a second.
“You need to rest.”
The only person I ever loved other than myself and my pack was my mother.
I loved her more than life itself.
She was the only one who stood by me during my sperm donor's abuse.
I couldn't even call that man my father.
My mother was the reason why I agreed to any of this.
“I need to see my son married before I die.” she rasped.
“That’s what I need.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
“It’s the truth, Alessio. And you’ve ignored it long enough. I know I'm dying and not getting any better. It is best we accept and prepare for the worst.”
I clenched my jaw.
I hated it when she was right.
She was always right.
Mia cara madre.
She reached up and placed her cold hand on mine.
“She won’t be your first love, I know that.” she whispered.
“But maybe she’ll be the one who saves you.”
I didn’t respond.
Because I wasn’t interested in being saved.
Especially not by a girl sent to me as penance.
I didn’t bother to correct my mother either on my first love.
I was never in love with Nadia.
She was my fated mate, not my first love.
But she was still my mate till her demise.
“She will arrive in two months' time.” Lucia continued.
“Everything is being prepared. You don’t have to meet her until the wedding day.”
“Good.” I muttered, pulling my hand away.
“The less she expects, the better.”
Lucia sighed like she was disappointed.
But she didn’t argue.
I didn’t bother to see this Silver Night even when her father offered for me to see her and how a beauty she was.
I was not interested in her beauty whatsoever.
I didn’t want anything to do with her.
I left her room and headed for the East Wing.
My steps echoed in the empty halls.
Lorenzo was waiting near my office, eyes sharp, arms crossed.
“The Night Pack signed it,” he said without looking up.
“It’s official now.”
I nodded.
“Still time to back out.” he added, watching me. “You don’t owe anyone a damn thing, Ale. la decisione spetta a te ”
I looked at him. My beta. My oldest friend.
He was with me till my father died, loyal all the way.
“She’s coming either way.” I said.
“Might as well play the part.”
Lorenzo raised a brow.
“You going to lift her veil? Kiss her? Non ti immaginerei mai baciare qualcuno.”
“No.”
“You going to greet her?”
“No.”
“You going to speak to her at all?”
“If I have to.”
He snorted.
“Romance isn’t dead—it’s just hiding in your damn coffin.”
I ignored him and kept walking.
Because this wasn’t about romance.
This was about duty.
And the only promise I ever made to my mother…
Was to get married.
Not to love.
Not to feel.
And definitely not to let anyone in.
- Writer
