I thought that I was more prepared than this, I knew what I was coming down here for, I just didn't know the ins and outs of everything. I thought that I simply met my mate, but it was so much more than that. My parents had decided to give me away to another nearby coven. Between the troubled past with our members and the near slaughter five years ago, we have found ourselves in a vulnerable state. We find it hard to find allies because we are portrayed as weak. Mama and daddy ended up finding one sole coven that was willing to negotiate. I was considered lucky to have actually found my mate in the process. I had to trust this arrangement, I had no reason to doubt that it was for the best. I just knew that it was going to be a tail spin from here. Things were going to be moving very quickly from here on out. I stood next to the table with my eyes cast down at the ground. I couldn't stop fidgeting and my hands were sweating profusely. The whole meeting turned to a blur when I heard the word contract. I knew what I was getting into but that didn't stop my body from going into shock once more. The air had been sucked out of the room with a vacuum, I felt like the last hotel piece on the monopoly board. The one that you try to sell off so you don't go bankrupt. "Edwina?" I blinked rapidly and looked up at him, my mate. The one that I would be bound to for the rest of eternity. One look at him and all my doubts fizzled away into thin air. "It's your turn my love." I refocused onto the contract and zeroed in on the last line that needed to be signed. I sucked in my lips and nodded my head. Daddy handed me a pen and a small blade. I had seen blood oath contracts before, I knew what to do. I stared down at the blade, I knew that it would heal immediately, but for some reason, I was nervous that it would hurt. I skimmed the words on the bottom of the page once more. "I, William M. Bright, hereby claim, Edwina K. Harrington, as my own. She is mine to protect and guide. She will forever be bound to me and the Bright Coven for all eternity. Should she break this contract, it will end in her demise." "Right here love." William pointed at the line that I was to sign. I took a deep breath and slide the blade across my palm without batting an eyelash. The small trail of blood began to disappear just as quickly as it appeared. I only had a couple seconds before I would have to slice through my skin again. I dipped the tip of the quill into a small pool, making sure to get enough. My cut was healed before the quill touched the paper. Smoke began to trail behind my signature, burning it into the paper forever. This document could never be destroyed, it could never be burned or tarnished in anyway. If it was, it would mean my death.

My responsibility is to be married off to the son of the MacKenzie clan. It is supposed to strengthen the bond between clans on either side of the river. We would be able to solidify our trading opportunities and double the man power when it came to our defenses. In other words, the lives of not just one clan, but two, rested on my shoulders. I would be expected to marry a perfect stranger and pop out a couple of his kids, and strengthen the morale of our clans and keep the peace. I was supposed to do all of that while keeping a pretty face and keeping my opinions to myself, sounds easy enough, right?

My size 16 figure wasn’t always excepted at school, I was teased and bullied for most of my childhood. By the time I hit 14 I was the only girl in my class that had an a*s and tits. The boys quickly changed their minds about me, suddenly they all wanted me to be their mate and wanted me to bare their pups. I rolled my eyes at the stupidity of male species, I decided to focus on myself. I wanted an education and a career and I wanted to be fit and healthy. When I was 14 I begged my mother to let me start training with the men. I wanted to be able to defend myself and I didn’t want to just be another pretty face that got swept up in the being the perfect mate. Fast forward four years later, I was one of the fiercest fighters in the pack. I went from being a chubby little no body to be a thick and ferocious goddess. The intense training helped me build muscle and melt my extra fat. I still had my large chest and wide hips but I carry my weight in all the right places and now have an hourglass figure. All of the rigorous training really helped when I shifted for the first time. I had always heard that shifting was painful so I was terrified for my first time. Because of my sudden increase in strength it didn’t hurt as much as I thought. That was the day that I met Scarlet.