Chapter 43 Chapter 0043
•MASON•
\[ELEVEN YEARS AGO\]
"Do you think I would've arranged your marriage to this girl if it wouldn’t benefit us?" My father asked, closing the door of his home office. "Every decision I make is for the good of our pack. This would save us wars, loss, and enemies. Goldenmane Court has more allies than we do. Do you think the ones we have won't retaliate if they come into an agreement with them?"
He made sense, but why was I the one to be sacrificed? Marrying someone to end wars seemed unfair to me.
I hadn't even met my mate to be married to someone who would make my life miserable.
"So, what about me, Dad?" I scoffed. "Am I supposed to agree to marry this girl even though she won't be my mate?"
"Your mother wasn't my mate," he answered, sitting on the couch. "But I loved her with every fiber in my being. She was the most important—" he coughed and looked at me. "She was my Annabelle."
I remembered the story very well. My mother loved telling it to my little sister and me during bedtime.
She told us our father rejected his mate to be with her, and they've loved each other vigorously ever since.
They couldn't be without each other. But the moon goddess had other plans when she died five years ago with my sister, Zaria.
They were ambushed by rogues when they were returning home from a spa in the human territories.
Ever since that day, my father changed. He didn't hesitate to engage in war. He tracked down and killed as many rogues as he could find, just so he could avenge his wife and daughter.
But when he got sick three months ago, he changed. The medics had tried everything they could to heal him, but they didn't even know what was wrong with him.
Something was slowly eating him inside, preventing his wolf from healing him or shifting. He became a shell of himself, and now planned to get me married so I'd take over as Alpha.
"My story may not be like yours," I said as I sat beside him. "I don't want to make a decision that would cost me my future happiness. I want to marry my mate. Can't I do that?"
"I trust you will make a wise decision when you find your mate while married to her," he answered. "But don't turn Goldenmane Court into our enemies."
Someone knocked on the door as I was about to answer my father, and I got up from the couch and told them to come in.
Noah, his Beta, walked in.
He had been my father’s beta for fifty years after my grandfather's death. Even though he was roughly seventy years old, you couldn't tell from his slow aging.
"The car is waiting for you," he said as he leaned closer after closing the door. "Alpha Holland is waiting for us with his daughter."
When we arrived in Goldenmane Court, the Alpha showed us around while his daughter was with her mother, preparing for the wedding.
The courtyard was already decorated and ready for us.
"This marriage will pave a new path for both packs," Alpha Holland said when we returned from the tour. "Our allies will be yours and vice versa. In five years, all the bloodshed that happened because of the war between us would be forgiven."
My father nodded enthusiastically as he looked at me and then at Alpha Holland. "Silvercrest will take care of your daughter as their Luna. She won't lack anything, and hopefully, she won't miss home."
They laughed as I looked around, hoping to see her before the wedding, but she was nowhere to be seen.
I smiled as I turned to my father. "Is it time?"
"Yes," Alpha Holland answered first. "The elders are already waiting in the courtyard. The wedding can proceed."
I nodded and went to wait for Cassandra at the end of the aisle. I hoped that she'd at least be decent so the marriage wouldn't feel like a chore.
And in that moment, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I smiled when I saw a text from Nadia.
Nadia: "I hope this won't change things between us, Mason. It's only been four months since we've been together, and watching you be with another woman would hurt."
I panicked as I answered her, hoping she wouldn't think this was my decision. If my father had agreed, I would've married her even though she wasn't my mate.
But I didn't want to tell him I had been seeing his Beta's daughter for four months, and hoping she'd be my Luna one day when I am the Alpha.
Nadia said her father wouldn't take the news lightly, and that it would be more difficult than seeing each other behind their backs.
Me: "Mate or no mate, you will always be my first choice, Nadia."
I then slipped my cell phone back into my pocket and waited until Cassandra arrived.
Everything suspended in the air when I saw her. My heart stopped racing and beat slowly as she took each step toward me.
'Mate,' Ragnar murmured. 'We've found our mate.'
Even though I didn't want to feel anything for anyone else but Nadia, the pull between us was stronger than I had imagined.
For the first time in my life, I met someone who belonged to me. Her very heart was in sync with mine, and looking into her eyes brought me the most beautiful peace I had ever known.
There was nothing in the world I wouldn't do for her, and the thought of anyone hurting her made my chest tighten painfully.
By the time the head elder had declared us husband and wife, I couldn't let her out of my sight.
I kept glancing at her as she was saying goodbye to her brother and sister, trying to make sure that neither of them was squeezing the life out of her.
But after a month into our marriage, Nadia kept calling and texting, reminding me of the promises I made to her when I found out about the wedding arrangement.
My heart sank when she reminded me of the times I had sworn by the moon goddess, promising her she could trust me.
So, I made another promise to her: that in five years, I would be hers, and nothing would stand in our way.
But if I knew I'd resent that decision every single day, I would've made a different choice. I would've chosen my mate.