Valentina

My world stopped when I saw the look in my father's eyes. I heard nothing but the hollow sound of my heart beat echoing in my ears. Until that moment, I had still been holding on to a sliver of hope that Sunya and my father would negotiate a solution that made logical sense. One that would be beneficial for both packs. As I stared at my father, I desperately clung to a new hope—that this was some joke he and Sunya were playing.

But as I felt his gaze settle on me, I could tell this wasn't a game at all. This was real, and it was happening fast.

“You can’t be serious!” I said over my thundering pulse. My throat dried as if I'd been thrown into a deep pit and sank further with every breath. I tried to focus on my father's voice, but he felt miles away. His mouth moved as he went on with the story of trying to defend Silver Ash against Sunya’s anger, but my heart thundered, and my thoughts came at me from a million directions.

Still, my mind raced back to the same thought:

Marry Sunya's son?!

Tears welled in my eyes and threatened to spill over.

“I wish I were joking, but Sunya was insistent that you marry Kenji.”

I inhaled, ragged and fast, to catch my breath. “I don’t understand. Why…why would he even want this?! If he’s so angry at Silver Ash, it makes no sense for a member of our pack to become a member of his family!”

My father explained that Kaori was a member of Hidden Spear nobility, and that she meant more to Sunya than she did to the rest of her pack. Kaori was valuable and had been murdered on Silver Ash land.

“There is an obscure clause in the Treaty of Twin Rivers that states if a high-ranking woman is killed, a woman from the pack responsible can be sent to replace her. It hasn’t been used for generations. I hadn’t even heard of it until Sunya mentioned it as the only way to resolve any conflict between his pack and mine.”

My father continued, telling me that Sunya had even pulled out the document to show him the clause. His eyes, which typically sparkled with life and purpose when he looked at me, had now dimmed. “Unfortunately, it's legitimate.”

As if that was supposed to be the nail in the coffin for me. As if that would make me accept the turn of events that were changing my life forever.

"That's bullshit!"

"Valentina..." my father said with a warning.

A gust of wind blew, filling my nostrils with the odor of my father's stress. Cassius' scent was a mix of regret and shame, a scent I knew as well as my own.

“Did he pull this clause out of his ass? You said yourself that you hadn't heard of it until today! How come Silver Ash doesn’t have a record of it? And I don’t care if it’s mentioned on the first page of the treaty! I refuse! There’s no way in hell I’m marrying a complete stranger!”

Even more troubling than marrying a stranger was the prospect of parting ways with the pack I had known all my life in exchange for a new one in which I would be considered an outsider. Despite my brother's resentment toward me, I couldn't fathom the thought of leaving his side. The familiarity of Silver Ash, the bonds that I’d forged over a lifetime, and the sense of belonging were all things I cherished. The idea of leaving it all behind was not just daunting; it was downright terrifying.

As the weight of the situation settled upon us, the once clear sky darkened with the ominous threat of impending rain. Brooding clouds rolled in, casting a shadow over the lush surroundings. The air grew heavy with an unspoken tension, and a chill ran through me so intense that it felt almost violent. It jolted me into my father’s arms.

“I don’t like the idea of you marrying Kenji any more than you do,” he said.

I stumbled backwards, never taking my eyes off him. It felt like a bad dream. Every inch of me begged for this nightmare scenario to be over. I wanted answers, all the while knowing that the truth could shatter me into a million pieces. My mind returned to the inevitable:

Marry Sunya’s son?!

“Why are you even considering this? The proper response would’ve been to laugh it off. To insist that Sunya get serious about peace between our packs. This isn’t ancient times! I refuse to be forced into marriage.” I wanted to shout—to scream—my rights at the top of my lungs as an individual and as a Silver Ash pack member. Hidden Spear was pretty old-fashioned, but this was as ridiculous as it could get. Antonio would never be slutted away and married off to some random pack chick just to stop a war, so why should I be? I was important to Silver Ash, too important to lose, too!

“If there was any other way to protect the tribe, including laying down my life, I’d do it. I told Sunya that much, but the man wouldn’t budge.” Cassius pulled me into a hug this time, and believing that he’d tried his best to refuse this agreement, I nuzzled my face into his powerful chest. Wrapping my arms around him, I squeezed tightly for extra comfort. My father. I didn’t want to leave my father. I’d already lost my mother, and I didn’t know how I’d ever survive far away from the big guy.

This is happening. This... is happening.

“This is one of those times when we need to put the needs of the pack ahead of personal interests,” he said into my hair. “You need to make a sacrifice for the greater good. Too many of us will die if you don’t, and I don’t think you could live with yourself if that happened, Valentina. I know I couldn’t.”

My eyes stung. A politician at heart, I knew my father was right if I looked at the situation objectively. I was too important of a high-ranking member of the pack for Silver Ash to lose, just as Kaori had been for Hidden Spear. The negotiation was fair and logical, even if my father hadn’t known about the bullshit clause. But did it have to be me? Did Sunya have a daughter he could have arranged for Antonio to marry? He is the future Alpha! But to challenge Sunya now might end in war—for real this time—between the men before it reached our respective packs.

Everything about this plan was so wrong, but it was the right thing to do. I hated to admit it, but I knew it would be wrong of me to defy my father.

I pulled out of his embrace. “You’re right. I can’t have the blood of the pack on my hands and you had no choice but to agree.”

My father sang praises of gratefulness—of being so happy that I'd accepted the proposal. In my own head, I only heard pieces of his words. Something about being wise beyond my years and being a true heroine to the pack. As I stood there, his words of pride and gratitude swirled around me, but it was as if they belonged to another world, a world where I hadn't just been forced into agreeing to marry Kenji, a world in which my choices for my life hadn’t just been suddenly restricted by this arrangement.

I wished I could make out his words, but my heart thundered in my chest and echoed in my ears. The sound of its pounding deafened me to everything else.

A rush of blood itched beneath my skin as panic set in. It felt like a surge of cold electricity coursing through my veins, leaving me tingling and breathless. My thoughts became a jumbled mess, a chaotic whirlwind of fear, confusion, and the overwhelming weight of this unexpected proposition. The field spun around me, and I struggled to keep my composure on the edge of this life-altering change.

“Valentina…” My name on my father’s lips jolted me back to the present, if only for a moment. “I always taught you that there are nuances to every situation—that there’s always a way to find a resolution that could work for both parties. This is no different, and I am so proud of you.” He pulled me into another hug, but as I scrambled to think of a way out of this, I pulled back again and ran a hand through my loose braids.

“There’s no reason that we can’t have a long engagement, right?” Preferably one that lasts the rest of my life! The wedding doesn’t ever need to happen.

My eyes grew wide with the possibility. “Even if we must wed, it can be a marriage on paper only. We can have the ceremony and then go on with life as if it never happened, right?”

Cassius shook his head. “I wish that were a possibility, but Sunya made it quite clear that you have to live with Kenji on Hidden Spear’s territory.”

There it was, the actual nail in the coffin. My stomach roiled, and the ground seemed to spin beneath my feet.

“He’s already set a wedding date … you have to marry Kenji next week.”