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It's no secret that werewolves exist, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t extremists among the humans who want to eradicate our kind. Our cities have lived in peace now for centuries. However, werewolves and humans have clashed every now and then.
The conference room door bangs against the wall loudly when I shove it open. Marcus is leaning against the wall with his arms folded, looking rather angry about something. My father and John stop whatever they were discussing to look up at me just when I notice another girl in the room. She does not look impressed to be here.
I can tell she's Alpha John’s daughter by her scent. He has been struggling with her; she can be quite the troublemaker. I've heard of her a few times, seen her in the papers, and even glimpsed a few inappropriate photos and videos that have surfaced of her drunk and him dragging her out of different establishments.
“Ah, son, just in time,” my father says, standing up and motioning for me to sit. I walk over to the table but don’t sit down. I don’t like whatever the heck is going on here. My father hates Alpha John more than I do—he never did tell me what started their feud—so I'm a little shocked to see them sitting around chatting like they're friends.
“What the fuck are you doing on my territory?” I ask John.
He sits back in his chair and folds his arms across his chest with a smirk on his face.
ChapterTwenty-One
“We have a proposition for you.” my father says.
“Which I don’t fucking agree to,” John’s daughter says, cutting my father off.
“Ava, you will do as you’re told—now sit there and shut up,” John snaps, his aura rushing over her; I find it odd that she isn’t able to resist. She's definitely old enough to take over her father’s pack, so why hasn’t he handed it down to her yet? Is it the issue with the media?
“Son, please just take a seat,” my father says, and I growl, pulling a chair out and sitting down in it.
“Now, John and I have been in discussions over the last couple of weeks trying to find a way to put an end to this feud. We think we have come up with a solution that will benefit all of us. Tensions are running high in the city, and we need to show those who reside here we are united. But that won’t happen if a war is inevitable. So, Ava here is due to take over her father’s pack, but with recent issues in the media, it has her pack nervous.”
“This is bullshit,” Ava curses under her breath and shakes her head. My lips tug up at her defiance, and Alpha John glares at her before he speaks.
“My pack is nervous about my daughter taking over.”
“I wouldn’t have to take over if you didn’t–” she tries to protest, looking at her father with pure hatred.
“Ava, enough! Sit down and shut up. You have caused our family enough disgrace,” Alpha John snaps at her. I will give the girl one thing, she has no issues standing up to her father. Instead of backing down, she stands up, placing her hands on the table, and glaring at her father menacingly.
“I am not even supposed to be in the city; I wasn’t the one who was supposed to be Alpha. I should have been on the other side of the country in university by now, but you just had to get rid of–”
Alpha John stands up and slaps his daughter before she can say more. Aghast, I jump to my feet, a growl tearing out of me at witnessing him hitting his daughter. It disgusts me that he can smack his own flesh and blood. Sure, she may be a little wayward, but he shouldn’t have hit her.
“Sit down. You know not to mention that name,” John warns her, his tone threatening, and I wonder who he's talking about. Alpha John always kept his family on his territory. He rarely let his daughter off pack territory unless escorted, but once she turned of age, he couldn’t exactly stop her. I know Alpha John’s wife is rarely seen, only proving how controlling he is. But if Ava wasn’t supposed to be Alpha, who was?
Ava rubs her cheek. Her eyes burn with tears, but she sits back down. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Marcus’s jaw clench. My father nods to Alpha John, which pisses me off. How could he condone the man hitting his daughter like that?
“As I was saying, Ava here is supposed to take over the pack. Due to her recent behavior, it is making my pack members nervous, so your father and I have found a way to end this feud and help both packs.”
“I don’t understand,” I tell him, trying to figure out where he's going with this. I can tell my father is suddenly nervous as he loosens his tie, something he always does when he feels uneasy.
“You need a mate to produce an heir. I need someone to help take over the pack; my daughter clearly can’t do it on her own and has been troublesome. I need someone that can handle her, keep her in line.”
“What? Like you just did by beating her? And what the hell do you get out of this?” I ask, this time turning to my father. None of this makes sense to me; they hate each other. Why would my father suddenly be siding with him?
“Valen!” my father scolds. But it doesn’t matter. I’m not about to pretend him hitting her didn’t happen or that any of this makes sense. Sure, I'm an asshole, and so is my father, but not once did he ever raise his hand to me, and he sure as hell wouldn’t slap a child or a woman.
The outline of her father's hand stings her face like a red glow. I can’t help but feel disgusted. Doing that to someone you expect to take over your pack is repulsive. It's obvious that Alpha John needs to retire—he's the oldest Alpha in the city, and clearly his ways of dealing with things are out of date.
Ignoring my father, I turn to John. “I fail to see how your daughter is to help with that issue.”
“An arrangement,” her father tells me. “We think you should take Ava as your mate. She can provide a strong pup for you, and I can assure my pack they are in safe hands. It would also get rid of the negative media, and the city will look reunited.”
“I know you aren’t blind to those of our kind that have been going missing of late. We can’t be fighting amongst ourselves when we may have an inevitable war coming with the humans,” John tells me, but I'm still shocked at what he just asked of me.
I shake my head. No wonder the girl is so angry. I am outraged that my father would even agree to this.
