Page 2 of Alpha's Arranged Mate

"What exactly is it that you are proposing?" Braxton blurted just as Dash raised one foot to step over the lip of the cell's threshold. Had he not been a werewolf, Dash might not have heard him. After several days without food or water, Braxton’s throat was raw, and his tongue so dry that he struggled to move it in order to speak. No doubt it was a way of encouraging him to talk without physical torture. Had he been only human, he might have cracked days ago for a simple sip of water.

But he was not human, and he would likely have been able to survive days more if not for the thought of his children and how desperate he was to see their faces again.

Dash turned in the doorway, his intrigued face illuminated from below by the lantern held in his hand.

“What I propose is a lifetime binding alliance,” Dash said. He met Braxton’s eyes without blinking as he added, “One between yourself and a female of our pack.”

Would you stop beating around the bush? Braxton thought, his entire body quivering with anticipation, growing more and more certain that he knew exactly what the Silverdale wolf was suggesting.

Before he could press for further details, the alpha finally came out with it. “What I propose is an alliance ritual, a marriage between Travers and Silverdale. Braxton Travers, you will marry a Silverdale she-wolf, or you shall forsake your pack.”

Braxton’s mouth opened, though he wasn’t at all sure what he was about to say. However, he never got the chance to say a word, because Dash turned and stormed the rest of the way out of the cell. Behind him, the door slammed and the bolt slid home. Braxton was plunged once more into utter and total darkness. Even his keen wolf eyes could not see a single thing. But he could hear the sound of footsteps walking away, more than one set, though he was certain he also heard the telltale sound of breathing that suggested his cell was still being guarded, just as it had been morning, noon and night since his escape.

It was clear that the Silverdale wolves weren’t certain he wouldn’t try to escape again. And yet, suddenly, Braxton had no intention of trying to do so. The thought of what Dash had proposed was all too intriguing; more than that, it was hope, a chance to see his children again.

He closed his eyes, and even in the utter darkness, he could see the she-wolf who had helped him to escape. Blonde hair, blue eyes, porcelain skin. She was not the kind of she-wolf that anyone could forget with her curvaceous, slender yet athletic figure, and somehow Braxton found himself wondering if he could possibly gain the opportunity to marry a woman like that.

For a second, his heart swelled at the thought, but then his head reminded him all over again of the warnings and propaganda his father had passed on over the years, all the things that Silverdale wolves had done to their kind, and he bared his teeth against the conflicting emotions warring deep inside him.

One question remained no matter what he decided. Will this torment ever end?

Chapter 2 - Lottie

Lottie shouldn’t have been there. She knew that. She had known it for over a week now. And yet she couldn’t help herself. Every chance she got, she snuck to the door of the dungeons, unable to stop herself from doing so, but also unable to allow herself to go any further.

She was loyal to her pack, to the Silverdales who were not only her pack members but also her blood relatives, and yet the urge she felt to go down into the dungeons burned within her every single second of every hour of every day. It was infuriating and intoxicating in equal measure, and every time she closed her eyes, she could see the face of the man she had tried to help, the man who had been caught and returned right from whence he came.

Perhaps it was only the knowledge of what would happen to her if she was caught that stopped her from going any further than the main door of the dungeon, but she wasn’t sure. Maybe deep down she knew that whatever this pull was toward the demon wolf couldn’t possibly be worth her loyalty to her pack. Or maybe it was quite simply fear of what could be?

Either way, the moment she heard footsteps coming up the stairs on the other side of the main dungeon door, she slipped into the nearest alcove. In the darkness of the basement, she hid behind one of the stone brick pillars that decorated the walls and held her breath, hoping that whoever was coming would be too distracted to notice the sound of her heart beating.

“Why do demon wolves have to be so damned stubborn?” came an all too familiar voice. Max, the pack’s second in command, sounded just as grumpy as usual, his voice growing louder as the door was opened, squeaking on its heavy iron hinges.

The sound of scoffing was the only response.

“I still can’t believe you’re even giving them a chance,” Max continued, and Lottie sensed the two burly werewolves slipping through the door. It slammed closed behind them, and in the second that it did, she dared to take a breath, holding it again. “Those damn demons don’t deserve a single ounce of mercy.”

“If one or even a few Silverdale wolves committed a heinous crime, would you expect the entire pack to be slaughtered?” Dash asked as the two passed by Lottie’s hiding place. She cringed, imagining exactly what he was suggesting.

Max paused right beside her alcove, and for just as second, she feared that he might have sensed her there. The sound of sniffing hit her ears, and she braced herself with her hands tightened into fists, unable to come up with any good and reasonable excuse for hiding in the shadows.

Just when she thought that he was about to give her away to Dash, he instead said, “Well, I suppose when you put it that way.”

From her vantage point, Lottie saw the burly wolf shrug his shoulders.

She didn’t dare to breathe until the two wolves had continued up the next set of stairs and out onto the lawn beyond. When she finally did, she couldn’t stop from wondering what the hell she was even doing there.

She wasn’t on guard duty. She had absolutely no reason to be down in the basement or anywhere near the dungeons, especially not after what she had done. Even more so, she had absolutely no excuse to be hiding away from her packmates.

I have to get out of here, she thought, even as her stomach began to growl, reminding her that she had yet to have breakfast. With a growl of her own rumbling in her throat, she followed Max and Dash at a slower pace so as to not risk bumping into them.

It was only when she reached the top of the stairs and pushed open the door that led out onto the lawn and into the gardens beyond that she realized she had walked right into someone else instead.

“What the—” she began, barely managing to stop herself from stumbling back down the steps.

Immediately, she was grabbed by the upper arms and yanked from the doorway, shoved hard against the nearest wall of the manor. The growl that erupted in her ear was threatening and aggressive, but it did little to Lottie save for making her angry.

“What the hell, Macie?” she snapped at her sister, shoving the raven-haired she-wolf away from her. The two couldn’t have been more opposite, with their parents often suggesting that they were two sides of the same coin; one blonde-haired and blue-eyed while the other was black-haired and brown-eyed, not a single person would look at them and suggest they were sisters, save for the porcelain skin that they both shared.

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