Zevrik's POV
I leaned back in the high chair placed at the aisle. Yes, I was sitting, I've been standing long enough to start looking like a fool.
The air in the Great Hall was thick with weak scents and anxiety of the Stormridge pack, but I could possibly care less about them. My fingers drummed slowly against the armrest of the chair, I belived every wolf in this hall could hear me, that was how silent everything had gotten.
To them, it was probably sounded like a heartbeat. But to me, it was a countdown.
"Have you called for Derek, Michael?" I asked my Beta.
"Yes, Alpha Zevrik. I've sent one of the guards." He replied.
The double doors of the great slammed open and my bride's father rushed inside. "Alpha Zevrik!"
"Speaking of the devil." I heard Michael whisper from beside me.
He halted to a stop in front of me, reeking of fear and desperation. Good, he should be scared.
"Alpha Zevrik, my apologies for the delay." He said with a shaky voice. "Isabella….she's just overcome with emotion. You know she's leaving her childhood home, the weight of the union, she's just making some final touches to her dress."
"Is she?" I asked, finally making eye contact with him. He flinched under my cold gaze.
"Yes, yes! The Luna is with her now. They'll be down shortly. We are so honored to solidify this treaty and-"
"Alpha Derek," I cut him off. The silence that followed was immediate, thick and sharp silence covered the Great Hall like a blanket.
I stood up slowly, towering over him. I didn't care about his history, his pack's honor, or the sweet words he'd used to sell me his daughter.
I had come for a bride but had to take the treaty along, if the girl wasn't part of the equation, this joke of a pack wouldn't even dare to breathe near my existence.
"I didn't come here for a speech." I said, stepping into his personal space until he was forced to tilt his head back, he gulped loudly looking at me with so much fear it made me feel alive. "I came for a bride, and my patience is very thin."
I glanced briefly at the expensive wristwatch sitting on my wrist and looked back at him.
"If Isabella is not standing at the end of the aisle in the next ten minutes. I will consider the contract breached and the treaty nullified."
I watched as his face went even paler than it was, giving me a sense of satisfaction.
"Alpha Zevrik, sure we can-"
"If this mating ceremony does not go as planned, I can assure you, I will take these lands by force, and I won't need a ceremony to take it. Do we understand each other?"
Derek swallowed hard, trying to compose himself. "Understood, ten minutes."
He turned and scrambled back out the hall, nearly tripping over his own feet.
I sat back down slowly and stared blankly ahead, trying to keep my anger in check. I didn't care if she was crying, I didn't care if she was scared and not ready. She was a piece on a board, and if the Stormridge Pack couldn't deliver, I'd simply flip the board over.
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Aria's POV
I held the flower in my hand tighter than necessary. Fear tearing through every inch of my body. My chest rose and fell in sharp breaths, I couldn't believe this was happening.
I was about to get married to the most cruel and powerful Alpha in the world, and I was not even his true bride. I would die tonight, that's for sure. Because he'll find out, one way or the other, that I was not his bride, and when his does, only goddess knows what's going to happen to me.
"Now listen, you worthless piece of shit. If this plans fails, I'll personally make your life a living hell." The Luna whispered in my ear and pushed me forward when the double doors opened and the music began.
I almost tripped over myself but I gained balance in time. I began to walk down the isle slowly on shaky feet.
If the plan didn't work?
The plan was going to fail whether she liked it or not. And if we successfully get married, he will see me when we reach his pack, and then what?
At the end of the aisle stood Alpha Zevrik.
His silhouette from a distance reeked of pure, terrifying power. He was dressed in midnight black, his shoulders were broad, his presence so heavy it felt like the oxygen was being sucked out of the room, out of me. It only grew my fear.
My wolf was whimpering, tucking her tail, terrified of the monster we were about to trick.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I chanted internally to the Moon Goddess.
I finally reached the altar and Alpha Zevrik reached out to me, his large, gloved hand gripped mine and a jolt of electricity ran through me. His touch was like ice and fire at once, and his presence up close was so suffocating if felt difficult to breathe.
"You are trembling, Isabella." He said coldly.
I couldn't answer. I just stared at his chest, praying for the floor to swallow me.
The elder Priest began the ceremony and the words became a blur of eternal bonds and blood-bound loyalty. Then we reached the most sacred part, the Mating Bond Formation.
This was the moment where the Alpha and his bride would put their blood into the sacred cup and the Alpha would bite the scent gland of the bride, sealing their souls together forever in the eyes of the Pack. An act I didn't think was necessary, but then they had to prove they were mated in the eyes of the pack.
That was the part I was afraid of the most. If the alpha didn't find out now, and I get successfully claimed by him, and he later finds out that I'm not his true mate, what would be my fate?
The mating bond formation commenced and we were asked to slice our palms to drip our blood into the sacred cup.
Alpha Zevrik went first, he took off his glove and sliced his palm open with the knife given to him and placed his palm over the cup. He didn't even react to the pain, or he just didn't feel any pain at all.
When it was my turn, I accepted the knife with shaking hands and slowly placed it against my palm, too scared to cut.
Before I could stall any further, Alpha Zevrik grabbed my hand and took the knife from me, then he took my hand and slided the knife against it himself. I gasp out in pain as my palm split open and blood dripped out into the cup, mixing with his.
That wound is going to take days to heal, omegas did not heal fast like the Alphas and Betas did.
The moment my blood began to mix with his, I noticed the flare of his nose and for a split second, his expression wavered, and a flash of shock, then a terrifying, dark curiosity shrouded his face and I felt myself begin to tremble.
Had he found out?
"By blood and by soul," the elder's voice cut through my thoughts. "You will now be bonded by the will of the Moon goddess, may your souls receive her purest blessings. Alpha Zevrik, you may now claim Isabella, daughter of the Alpha and Luna of the Stormridge pack to be your mate" The elder declared and took a step back.
Alpha zevrik stepped forward and his large, calloused hand reached out and gripped the back of my neck. I gasped, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird as he reached out to take off my veil, I held it firmly in place and watched him glare at me. But thankfully, he didn't fight me on it.
He just shifted my veil to the side and leaned down, his hot breath hit the sensitive skin of my throat where the veil shifted. My breath hitched as I felt his teeth scrape my neck. This was it, the bite that would seal my fate forever.
His teeth sunk into my neck and hot white pain flashed through me. I involuntarily gripped his arm and closed my eyes tightly to fight the pain.
Then just as it started, it stopped and Alpha zevrik leaned back and stared at me with anger and confusion.
And before I knew it, he gripped the veil and ripped it off my head. I immediately heard the shocked gasps that resonated through the halls. I stared back at him in pure terror, shaking like a leaf.
"What the hell is this treason?" He growled.
Before anyone could give him a reply,
The double doors of the hall slammed open, hitting the stone walls with the force of a cannon shot and a guard rushed in, face full of horror.
"Stop! Stop the ceremony!" The guard screamed in pure terror.
"Alpha Derek! Luna Elena!" the guard screamed. "It's Isabella! The Alpha's daughter…she's dead! We found her in the gardens, she's been murdered!"