“It doesn’t matter. You are willing, as it is either this or the dungeons.” Hazel finished and looked at her work. “When the Lycan comes, you have to greet him and accept him. If he refuses you, you will be taken to the dungeons where you will live for the rest of your life.”
Hazel tied jingle bells on her flower corsage. They chimed, singing the song of her doom with each step she took outside her house. She was going to meet the Lycan.
“The drive is going to take about an hour,” said her father as she climbed into the backseat, lifting her long dress up. She was so afraid that she was looking just as pale as her ***dress. Brianna too climbed next to her.
“Do you have your bag ready?” Kirk asked her, his blue eyes meeting hers in the mirror.
She had her father’s eyes, but whenever he looked at her with his, he didn’t see her as his daughter.
Rather he looked at her as an abomination and his biggest mistake..
“I have it,” she replied meekly.
“I hope you have everything in it.” he growled at her.
“Yes,” she said, clutching her bag.
“Good, I hope the Lycan accepts you. If he doesn’t, you won’t come back to us.”
“I just can’t wait for her to get out of our house,” Hazel said in a loud voice.
In a last attempt to save her life, River said, “Daddy, can I go to ****-in the human town? Please?”
In a blur of shock, Kirk grabbed her throat. He shook her wildly as she choked and coughed. Hazel had to force him to remove his hands from her throat.
“What are you doing, Kirk? She is an offering. Alpha won’t like to see marks on her throat. Her looks have to make an impression on the Lycan.”
With a menacing snarl, Kirk removed his hand from her throat. He turned back to the wheels and started the engine. River coughed and *****in a sharp breath of air.
Brianna watched her with a smirk. “Wipe those tears, ***,” she said, rolling her eyes.
As their car rolled through the winding path towards the Alpha’s house, she realized that she would be leaving the Crescent pack forever. If the Lycan refused her, she would never be able to see her pack again because she would be spending her life in the dungeons.
When they closed into the Alpha’s mansion, she practically vibrated with fear. They ***down a small road through dense woods before emerging into a huge clearing.
Her breath was caught in her throat when she saw a large number of shifters there. They were crawling everywhere, right from the roof to the ground, guarding Alpha’s house as if an army was about to invade. She noticed a black tinted sedan parked in the portico, and there were two very handsome and muscular men with dark glasses leaning against it.
Her father **to the driveway and parked the car beneath the portico. As soon as she got down, her gazes locked with Hector on whose arms Vitoria was draped like a viper. She looked at River with an emotion akin to jealousy. They both watched her from the landing of the staircase with loathe and repulsion.
Hector’s gaze heated her insides, and the ***attraction set in. Even though she was full of spite and ***, she couldn’t help the delightful shivers that ran down her spine and the craving she had for him.
However, what surprised her was that her wolf, Gia, wasn’t responding. In normal circumstances, Gia should have wagged her tail seeing her mate. The absence of her wolf worried her.
Kirk grasped her upper arm, sinking his fingers in her flesh painfully, and pushed her to move, snapping her out of her reverie. Hazel and Brianna followed them.
River lowered her head as she was dragged inside the house. She could feel the eyes of those two men on her back.
As soon as they were in the main hall, River noticed Alpha Maxim sitting along with five more men, and all of them seemed like they had seen a ghost. They were sitting, tightly wound up in their seats, looking slightly perturbed. Behind Alpha Maxim there were two armed guards.
A tall man with a strong physique was standing by the window with his back towards them, chewing the temple tip of his black goggles. He was wearing blue jeans with a black shirt that fitted perfectly over his shoulders. His longish black hair fell in big curls till his collar.
“Ah, there she is!” Maxim breathed a sigh of relief.
River’s heart was pounding against her ribcage so loudly she could feel the blood thrumming in her ears. Her father rounded the table and came to stand in the center of the room. The Lycan turned to look at her, and River’s heart started
beating like the wings of a trapped dove. Her lips parted as a rough exhale left her when her blue eyes locked with his sharp green ones.
He was heart-poundingly sexy. If Hector was a Greek God, this Lycan was The God. He was taller and so handsome that it was criminal. His penetrating gaze fixed her in her place until Kirk nudged her forward.
“This is River, daughter of Kirk Johnson,” Maxim introduced her to him.
And suddenly River felt extremely *****in her bridal dress. Kirk stood there along with her as the Lycan sized her up. as if looking at his cattle.
“And this is Alpha Hunter, the Lycan King of the Veil,” said Alpha Maxim to River as if such details mattered to her.
Hunter closed the gap between them, approaching her like a predator with confidence in his steps. River had thought she was going to meet some barbaric and kind of a caveman, but here he was. So beautiful and standing out. Yet, the Lycant looked like a ruthless, cold killer. Lena was right. River was ready to bolt if the Lycan came anywhere near her. She winced. Goosebumps prickled and danced throughout her skin, sending shivers throughout her body.
No one was brave enough to meet eyes with him or be in his vicinity. Even her father stepped back.
River froze in her spot as Hunter leaned towards her. His scent of cedar and mist surrounded her as she struggled to keep her mind clear.
He said-
