Sold to the Alpha

by Cara Wylde

  “No. What’s it to you? If I don’t like it, it doesn’t mean I have to make it my mission to break you two up. And, if you move your lazy ass and read on your front porch, we might not even have to exchange pleasantries too often.”

  “I see…”

  Jocelyn understood Avelyn’s disappointment differently. “Look, if it makes you feel any better, I can tell you this, and you’d better pay attention because it’s the only time you’re going to hear these words from me: as wrong and bad as you are, you make Max happy. Since you’ve been here, I’ve seen him laugh more times than in the past 50 years. I could kick you out in a second, but I’d hate to see him go back to his brooding, depressive mood. If being with you brings him joy, then, by all means, you must be his bride.”

  Avelyn watched Jocelyn’s face closely, hoping she’d see some kind of sarcasm that would tell her she didn’t mean any of it. To her surprise, the she-wolf seemed to be honest. “Shit. This didn’t work out at all,” she thought.

  “Then, we’re friends?” Avelyn asked.

  “Hell no! Are you insane?” Jocelyn threw her hands in the air to emphasize her exasperation. “I swear to God, you have a special talent to make me lose my patience.” She stomped towards the door and opened it in a swift motion. “Now, get off my porch. Go read somewhere where I can’t see you or even smell you.”

  Avelyn smiled bitterly. If only Jocelyn had talked less and done more. She watched her disappear inside the Lunar Wing and cringed when the tall, heavy door slammed behind her. “Well, at least I tried.” She stood up, smoothed down her clothes, and started towards the Crescent Wing. She’d have to come up with another solution. And fast.

  ***

  Coming down here right before dinner was the worst idea ever. She had made sure Christine was busy ordering the maids around and making sure the table was laid out properly before slipping unseen through the small door in the library. She had rushed down the spiral staircase and ran straight to Sabine’s room. Her soft flat shoes barely made a sound, and Avelyn stepped as lightly as possible, even though she was in a hurry. At this point, she was too desperate to stop and think exactly what she was risking by visiting Sabine at this hour. She needed to ask for her advice. The trick with Jocelyn had blown up in her face, and she was out of ideas.

  Avelyn knocked softly. “Sabine? It’s me,” she whispered. She heard the bed squeak as the girl jumped off and came to the door.

  “What are you doing here? Everyone must be preparing for dinner, and Christine will be here at any moment.”

  “She’s busy with the cook and the maids. I had to talk to you.”

  Sabine hesitated and took a couple of deep breaths. “You haven’t come to tell me you’ve changed your mind, right?”

  “No, no. Stop worrying about that. Don’t you trust me? Our plan stays the same.”

  The girl on the other side released a long, shaky breath. “I’m sorry. I’ve never doubted you. You’re my best friend, Avelyn. It’s just that the closer we get to the big day, I’m more and more stressed.”

  “Nothing has changed. Except… I need your help with something.”

  “Anything! As long as I don’t have to leave the room.” She laughed and Avelyn smiled too. It was a bitter smile.

  “Max wants us to have the mating ritual tomorrow night, and for the life of me I can’t convince him to wait another month. I can’t ask him directly, because then he’d get suspicious. I’ve tried to play the ‘I’m-not-ready’-card, but it didn’t work very well. He keeps reassuring me it’s the right time and all his wolves are looking forward to it.”

  “Even Jocelyn?”

  “Jocelyn is a whole different story. She doesn’t like the idea, but she’s not opposed to it either. Believe it or not, today I went as far as to try to piss her off.”

  “How did it go?”

  “Poorly. She gave me a talk along the lines that if Max is happy when he is with me, then she won’t stay in the way of our happily-ever-after.”

  A moment of silence, then a weak whisper: “Oh…”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. It was a good idea, though.”

  “Thanks. The problem is it was my last one. That’s why I needed to see you so urgently. Can you come up with any other solution? Anything, really. I’m willing to try it as long as it doesn’t tip Max off.”

  “Let me think…”

  Avelyn checked the time on her smartphone, and leaned with her back pressed against the door frame. She was too nervous and stressed to sit down on the cold stone floor as she usually did. She heard Sabine pace the room.

  “It’s complicated, you see? If he had wanted, Max could have had the ritual last month. An Alpha doesn’t need the approval of his pack or clan to take a bride.”

  “I know. Jocelyn told me.”

  “So, it’s like he has already postponed it once as a favor to you and his wolves, to give you a chance to know them better and give them some time to get used to you. Now, if everyone has accepted you as the Alpha bride, there’s no reason to wait much longer.”

  “Couldn’t I just… I don’t know, go through with it and then run away?”

  “Two problems here. One: if you attend the full moon celebration tomorrow night, then there’s no way we can run. You’ll be busy all day getting ready, then you’ll actually have to be there until morning. Two: once you become the official bride, running away can result in some ugly consequences. The clan can even start a dispute with the boarding school that sold you, or worse, bring the matter up at the Annual Summit and challenge the peace treaty. You see, a bride is like a tribute. Humans fail to pay the tribute, they’re screwed.”

  “Shit. That has never crossed my mind. I thought it was just a stupid protocol.”

  “It is, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be turned into something else. So no, going through with the mating ritual is not something I’d advise you to do.”

  “Then what? I was stressed before, but now I have a feeling I’m going to lose it. Can’t take this anymore. The tension, the waiting. I want to be done with it and move on with my life.”

  “Take it easy. Freaking out won’t help. Just let me think… there has to be something.”

  “There’s no time to think.” Avelyn checked her phone again. “I’d better get going in the next ten minutes.” She heard Sabine fumbling with something. The soft click of porcelain on porcelain almost made her scream in frustration. “Don’t tell me you’re thirsty now.”

  “I was just taking a sip of my tea.”

  “Are you kidding me? Do you want to get me killed?”

  “It helps me think.”

  “That’s it, I’m out of here. I’ll figure something out, but, just so you know, it’s not fair to expect me to do all the work.” Avelyn made to leave. The pressure was too much for her, and at that moment she simply could not calm herself down and think clearly. She felt like everything and everyone was against her. To make things worse, the sensation that she was missing something, that there was a detail, a small piece of the puzzle, that didn’t quite fit had grown in the past few days. The last thing she needed was to realize she had been tilting at windmills.

  “Wait! I know, I know!”

  “What?”

  “It won’t be easy to convince Max, but it might work. You have a fair chance if you play your card right.”

  “What card? I don’t have a card.”

  “You do. Just come over here. You’re making me speak louder than usual.”

  “How in hell’s name does she know I stepped away from the door?” Avelyn thought. She looked down at her shoes. They were made of soft leather that barely made a whisper of a sound when they came in contact with the stone floor. Intrigued, she tested her theory by taking the three steps that separated her from the door. “For fuck’s sake. I can’t hear them, and I’m wearing them.”

  “Good,” said Sabine. “Now listen: given that Jocelyn doesn’t particularly want you, which means that she’ll probab
ly never respect you as the Alpha bride, you can ask Max to give you a chance to convince her, to win her over. You tell him this means a lot to you, that you’ve come to love the clan and you can’t live with the thought that you’re not completely welcome among all the wolves.”

  “How is that a new solution? I’ve tried it. Besides, there is no way I can win Jocelyn over. Not in a thousand years.”

  “There is one: if an Alpha bride is pregnant at the moment of the mating ritual, then the entire clan thinks way higher of her. It’s not about acceptance anymore. She has already proved she’s the right one for the Alpha and his pack by bearing the first heir. Clan Blackmane is in dire need of an heir, and not even Jocelyn can deny that. If you gather all the wolves around you during the full moon celebration, right before the mating ritual, and you give them the news that you’re pregnant with their Alpha’s child, they will literally kiss your feet, believe me. Each and every one of them, including the Moon Children. Give Jocelyn the news that she’s going to be an aunt, and she’ll tear up and thank you for it. Heck! She might even take it upon herself to make sure you have everything you need during your pregnancy.”

  “I… I really can’t imagine Jocelyn having that reaction, but… all right. Is that a wolf thing?”

  “Yes. It’s not because only Alphas and Betas can take human brides in their tradition, but also because even with human females it has become more and more difficult to birth children. Two hundred years ago, a wolf-bride would give birth to five or more pups, one every year. For whatever reason, it seems that the rate has decreased.”

  “I… had no idea about that.”

  “Yeah, it’s something no shifter likes to brag about. You probably wouldn’t hear it in school.”

  “So, what you’re saying is that I should lie to Max by asking him to postpone the ritual until next month because I intend to get knocked up and impress everyone?”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time you lied to him.”

  “No, obviously… But it seems so cruel to get his hopes up like that for something that is truly important to him and his clan.”

  “Yes, it is important to him. So important that he locked me up because of it.”

  Avelyn fell silent for a few seconds. It felt wrong. It seemed even more unfair than telling him that she loved him while she was planning to leave him forever. At least that wasn’t a lie. Leaving him would hurt her just as much as it would hurt him. Somehow, that made them even in her mind. He lied to her about having had another bride, she lied to him about not trying to escape ever again. But making him believe that she would offer him a baby when she was actively avoiding getting pregnant… that was a whole different story. Seeing his eyes light up with pure joy and excitement, knowing she wouldn’t be here the next day… could she do it without choking on her own guilt?

  “You’re right,” she finally said. “He did this to you, and it’s unacceptable.”

  “He’d do it to you too, have no doubt about it.”

  Sabine sounded so sure of herself. Sometimes, Avelyn remembered the times when she participated in debates at Alma Venus. Once, she had come unprepared and she was forced to join the audience and leave her team short of a member. Before declaring a winner, the audience had to listen carefully to both sides. Right now, Avelyn had only listened to one side. Was it wise?

  “Well?” Sabine pressed on, clearly uncomfortable with the silence. “Are you going to do it? I don’t think I can come up with another valid solution, and you should be going. Christine can show up any minute now.”

  “Yes, I… I’m going to try. I don’t have anything better anyway. Worth a shot.”

  “Good. I hope this works out.”

  Avelyn could feel the smile in Sabine’s voice. “See you tomorrow night, then?”

  “You bet. Don’t take too many things with you. There’s a long way to the closest exit, and we have to move fast.”

  “I’ll find a backpack.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  Avelyn knew she should have hurried down the dark corridors and up the iron stairs, but she didn’t have the energy to run. She checked the time again and decided she was safe. There were too many thoughts in her mind that she needed to sort out, and the fact that everything was happening so fast made her panic. She had to think of the best way to tell Max her plan and convince him it was worth waiting another month. Her fake plan. The success of her real plan depended on the acceptance of her fake one.

  ***

  Avelyn was soaking in the hot, rose-scented bath. Eyes closed, she inhaled the heavenly perfume and let her body relax. She focused on each muscle in her legs and back, wishing the tension away. Dinner had been great. Jocelyn had been in a rather pleasant mood, Ryan had grumbled less than usual, and Max and Kevin had made jokes at which even Christine laughed. Each time they all dined together, she missed Karl and the perky, geeky Matt. She had really started to feel like home here, at the Schloss. Too bad that was going to end the next day. This might have been the last hot bath Avelyn had in the crystal bathtub, so she sank deeper under the water and pearly bubbles, determined to enjoy every second of it. She heard the door to the bedroom open and close, and the heavy steps told her it was Max. She opened her eyes and smiled up at him when he peeked his head in the steamy bathroom.

  “May I come in?”

  “Please do. I need your magical hands on my back.”

  Max took off his shirt and threw it in the laundry bin. “Only on your back? I’d be glad to give you a full body massage. All you need to do is ask.”

  Avelyn took in his perfect torso, and her eyes followed the thin, happy trail down to his blue jeans, where it disappeared. “I’ll think about it. For now, let’s start with my neck and shoulder blades. They’re killing me.”

  He stepped closer to the bathtub and knelt beside it. He could see Avelyn’s perfect curves through the crystal, and he took a long minute to feast his eyes on her body.

  “Like what you see?”

  He laughed at the naughty way she spoke the words. “Oh, you have no idea.”

  Avelyn changed her position to give him easy access to her neck and upper back. She sighed when she felt his strong hands rubbing her in just the right places.

  “You’re so tense. Are you okay?”

  “Yes. I guess I’m nervous for tomorrow night.”

  “We’ve talked about it. You have nothing to worry about. Or… don’t tell me. You haven’t written your vows yet and you have no idea what to say.” He chuckled and pinched the sensitive skin on her shoulder.

  “Auch! No, it’s not that.”

  “So, you’ve written them?”

  “That’s none of your business, sir. You’ll know at the right time. Gee… men. Always in such a rush…” She shook her head to emphasize her point.

  “Be still, baby. Don’t wanna hurt you.” He knew exactly how to control his werewolf strength, but he couldn’t be too careful. “Seriously, though, you shouldn’t be nervous. Christine, Daniel, and Caleb are taking care of all the details. It will be perfect. The best and most romantic mating ritual this clan has ever seen.”

  Avelyn laughed halfheartedly. “I’m not worried about that.”

  “Then, what’s wrong.”

  “Jocelyn…”

  “We’ve been over this a dozen times. She doesn’t love the situation, but she doesn’t hate it either. She cares too much about me to cause any troubles, and you two will eventually grow closer in time, you’ll see.”

  “But what if…” She had to tread carefully. She had one shot at this, and she couldn’t afford to blow it.

  “What?” Max’s thumb reached over her shoulder to touch the tip of her nose playfully. It was his way of encouraging her to continue.

  “I don’t know… I’ve been thinking about something, but it’s stupid.”

  “Nothing you think about is stupid, sweetie. Just tell me. You’ve made me curious now, you can’t back down.” He squeezed her shoulder gently and leaned dow
n to place a kiss on her warm skin.

  “I… I want to give you a baby.”

  His hands froze on her shoulders and for a few seconds he couldn’t breathe. Had he heard her right, or was he dreaming? He felt her muscles tense again under his fingers, and he tried to clear his mind. “Where… where did that come from?”

  “Shit,” she thought. “That’s not the reaction I was aiming for.”

  “It might be early, I know.”

  “Not at all, it’s not early. It’s just… unexpected. You’ve never mentioned this before. Why now?”

  “I know how important it is to the clan to have an heir. I’ve made my homework, so to speak, and I know how well regarded a bride is if she is already pregnant during the full moon ritual. It’s like an insurance policy that she is the right Alpha bride for the pack, and the wolves respect her more. I was thinking that if you give me more time, until next month, and we try to conceive a baby, then I can win Jocelyn over and start on the right foot with her.”

  “Wow!” Max was truly shocked. He wasn’t sure how to react. He rubbed his beard in deep thought, trying to sort out his feelings. On one hand, what Avelyn was saying was wonderful. It was the perfect plan to have the entire clan root for her. They would love her the second she’d tell them she was carrying Max’s baby. On the other hand, for the life of him he couldn’t understand why she had such an obsession with gaining the wolves’ trust and love, especially his sister’s. Avelyn? The stubborn, selfish, arrogant vixen Avelyn? Yes, he loved her, but that didn’t mean he was blind to her little flaws. Although… she had changed a lot in the past month. It was obvious she wasn’t the girl he had brought from Alma Venus anymore. Maybe, just maybe she was doing this because she genuinely loved him. It was true she had never expressed her desire to have children before, but people changed. Their goals and dreams changed.

  “I… I’m sorry,” whispered Avelyn. He was being too silent, and his silence scared her. She had really messed up, hasn’t she? “If I said something wrong… I didn’t mean to. I know how much this means to you and your clan. I’m not joking around, Max. This is not a game. I’m being serious.”