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“I guess there’s no easy way to say this,” he said. “Are you familiar with the exercise that was going on downstairs?”
Eleanor raised an eyebrow in confusion, but nodded slowly, wondering what that had to do with anything. “I am. I mean, I think I have an idea.”
“Good. I will spare you the boring details, then. We ran into an unexpected problem, and it took us quite a while to come to a solution. But we did find a solution, and we are all in agreement that it is the best one we have.”
Eleanor frowned. “I’m glad to hear that you were able to solve your problem, but I don’t see how this concerns me. Shouldn’t you be talking to Xander about this?”
She noticed Pierce flinch and Tony grit his teeth. Both men were as tense as springs, like loaded guns waiting to explode. She had a feeling they were not done with their message.
The silence between them swelled, thick and oily. Uncomfortable. They usually never involved her with pack politics or burdened her with administrative reports. That was reserved for Xander.
More often than not, Eleanor had no idea what was going on in the pack, except when her brother decided to fill her in. Not that she was ever really concerned, to begin with.
“That’s the thing,” Pierce said from behind Tony, who looked obviously relieved that his companion had taken things up from where he’d left off. “We intend to inform the alpha about our decision, but seeing as it concerns you, we thought it would be better if we informed you first.”
“Concerns me?” Eleanor’s confusion was at its peak and quickly turned into irritation. “Look, I’m busy inside and I’m tired of your riddles. Why did you come here? What do you want? Why should I be concerned with whatever ritual was being carried out downstairs?What do you want?”
The last part came out a bit louder than she intended, but she didn’t care. She had a sick feeling in her stomach. She didn’t want to believe what her gut was saying, but she wasn’t stupid. It was the only possible reason for them to have come to her at all.
Their bearing and posture wasn’t helping matters in the slightest, and that just irritated her even more. She didn’t want to hear what they had to say, but at the same time, she wished that they would just come out and say it regardless.
“What do you want?” she repeated.
Pierce stepped forward, his lanky frame leaning toward Eleanor. “We went through every single woman in the pack, Eleanor. Everyone. When nothing happened. We tried the younger women. Nothing. There’s no one else left, Eleanor. No one but you.”
She bit her lip, her heart pounding in her chest furiously. Her ears could hear the words, but her head refused to process them. She refused to arrive at the answer for them. “What do you want?”
“I think you know what we want,” Tony said. And for the first time since she’d known him, she thought she saw softness in his eyes. “We made a blood oath with the Yellow Cicada pack, that in ten generations we would mix our bloodlines.
“We have no idea why the seal didn’t select anyone, but we have decided that the outcome must be the same. The alpha from Yellow Cicada will marry a woman from our pack. And given your status and position in the pack, we think that you will make the perfect match.”
Right on cue, Pierce chipped in, “What Elder Tony here is trying to say is that you have been selected to marry Alpha Blake Bennett of the Yellow Cicada pack.”
Eleanor glared at both men, anger burning hot and fierce in her chest. She wanted to rant and protest but found that she didn’t have the words to do so. Instead she said, “Does my brother know about this?” Her own voice sounded strange to her.
“Not yet,” Pierce replied. “As we said earlier, we thought it would be better if you were informed first. Naturally, he will be briefed on the situation as soon as he returns.”
“I see,” Eleanor said bitterly. “And you expect me to just go along with this? I’m just supposed to agree to your joint decision without questions asked? And what if I decide not to? You can’t force me to marry anyone, and I’d like to see you try.”
She saw a spark of anger in Tony’s eyes and she bared her fangs at him. Her blood was rushing through her head and she could see her vision coloring red. She knew it would mean exile to attack an elder but she didn’t care. They were both dangerously close to finding out just how little she cared for their rules and traditions.
Pierce placed an arm on Tony’s shoulders and tugged him backward with unexpected ease. “There’s no need for this, you two. Eleanor, you may spend most of your time in the lovely company of your human friends, but I’d like to inform you that you’re a wolf first. And the life of the wolf is nothing without the pack. The wolf is the pack, and the pack is the wolf. There comes a time when you will be called upon to serve the pack. That time is now, it seems.
“We don’t intend to force you to marry, but we do intend for you to do your duty to the pack. Even if it’s something you hate. Now, we are sorry for the inconvenience and the suddenness of this. We will give you some time to think things over, but I assure you a decision has been made. Come on, Tony.”
She watched both men walk down the hallway and all she wanted to do was cut them down to shreds. She wanted to scream until her throat was chafed raw. Anything. Anything to let out the rage she felt.
Instead, she stepped into her bedroom and slammed the door shut. They had no right.
She would just have to go to Xander and talk some sense into him. He was the only person who ever had her back. She needed him to explain to the elders that it was pointless hoping for her to agree to their sick plan.
She’d found the idea of an arranged marriage to fulfill some blood oath barbaric, and she’d even felt sorry for Blake and whoever the poor girl was who had to marry him. It seemed like a cruel joke that she was the poor girl, after all.
She slumped into her bed, her head still reeling and spinning. She needed to speak to Xander. She picked up her phone to call him, but changed her mind. It would be better if they had the conversation in person.
She paced her room endlessly, walking from bed to window and back to bed continuously. She had a thousand thoughts running through her head, but she was finding it hard to process anything.
She tried to remember what she knew about Blake, but it was precious little. She’d been pretty young the last time they’d seen each other, and she hadn’t really paid a lot of attention to him back then.
