Chapter 12 And what if we don't win ?
Chapter 12 And what if we don't win ?
CHAPTER 12.
BLAIR POINT OF VIEW.
Ronan hated politics, that was no news. Everyone in the pack knew it, but only I knew he wasn’t using his full potential. He needed to dabble in politics if he wanted the pack to win.
The Nightshade pack has had only two advantages over us over the years,they had the Alpha president in their pack and ran hundreds of businesses under their wings. The first step to taking power from Dominus Jones was making sure he didn’t win the Alpha presidency. The balance of power had to change. That was the only way we could stop a war and the only way I could gain my freedom.
But, of course, I didn’t expect Ronan to understand. Right then, I might have been asking for too much; I might have been forcing him to dip his hands into something he didn’t want to, but that was my best shot at revenge and independence for myself.
For the next couple of minutes, I didn’t move. I stood in one spot, looking at my surroundings.
The only feeling I had at that moment was nostalgia. I chose not to think back through everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. If I did, it would break me. I raised my head, and Ronan was at the edge of the garden, sitting on a kid's swing—one we used to ride together years ago.
He had a cigarette in hand. I watched him take out a lighter and ignite it.
It was hard. I knew it was. He had always hated politics. All of his cousins and nephews had positions, but he didn’t.
He had rejected all they offered him, and honestly, I commend his strong will, but there was always room for compromise.
For a moment, I just stood there watching him puff his cigarette and blow the smoke into the air.
Tired of watching, I walked over to him, taking the back route behind the rose fence.
When I got to him, I slowly slid my arms around his chest and pressed my cheek against his shoulder.
He paused smoking for half a second, then exhaled slowly, ignoring me.
“Why did you come back?” Ronan asked out of the blue.
“Dominus never announced a divorce; he just brought his mate back so why did you come back?”
He turned his head to me, forcing me to stand straight. “Is that why you left?”
I exhaled heavily. “No, that was not why I left. Why I left is nothing to be worried about, Ron…..The only focus right now is moving to Night Vale as we have always wanted to.”
He chuckled and turned his back to me. “Of course, Mrs. Blair Jones.” he said sarcastically.
I froze when he mentioned my full marital name. I walked around to stand in front of him. “Is that what we’re doing now, huh?”
“No, it’s not. I was just thinking how stupid I was trying to whisk someone else’s wife away.”
I scoffed loudly enough for him to hear. “I’m no longer with Dominus. That’s what you want to hear, right?”
“Now you have it, Ronan Sinclair!” I added flatly.
“Then why haven’t you divorced him and gone to the pack hall to break your marital bonds?” He narrowed his gaze toward me, not tearing his eyes away as if he were watching to catch every twitch of my eyes or lips.
“I can’t,” were the only words that escaped my lips.
“How is that?”
I didn’t say a word. Silence stretched for a while as my current life dawned on me.
I couldn’t divorce Dominus now,he wouldn’t accept it, and he had the upper hand.
Divorcing him right now might cost him the elections, and I knew he would never let that happen.
No pack wants a single Alpha president. Worse still, no one wants an Alpha who’s divorced.
First, it leaves a bad taste on his name—if he can’t manage a home, then he can’t manage a whole kingdom.
The men might vote for a divorced man, but the women won’t; they can’t relate to that, and I’m sure Dominus knows all of this. He’s a political genius.
“Why… can’t… you divorce him, Blair?” Ronan stood up, his eyes burning into my skin.
“He won’t accept it,” I told him. “He would never accept it because it might cost him the election. Over the last two decades, no single man or divorced man has ruled the werewolf kingdom. If he divorces me now, it might just cost him the elections, and if I divorce him, he won’t accept it for the same reason.”
“What sort of political crap is this, Blair?” He chuckled softly. “Go to court and get it done. This is what you’re good at.”
I stared at Ronan for a good two minutes, trying not to snap at him. I have a short temper, and he knows it.
“You think if I could, I wouldn’t go for it?” I arched a brow. “Who runs the court? ... You still do not get it?”
“Power resides in the Nightshade pack, and there’s no way we can win against them. The only way is to help Darius become Alpha president.”
I saw his eyes roll, Ronan's disgust for politics didn’t go unnoticed by me.
But I continued. “You have to join him and run the campaign. All hands on deck—that’s the only way forward.”
“And what if we don’t win?” Ronan threw my greatest nightmare right in my face.