Chapter 10
1221 Words
Edwina had soaked her pillow in tears after returning home from the cells. Her emotional state didn’t even allow her pay a visit to Benedict, as she headed straight home right after seeing her sister. Why is Sonia behaving like this? Why wont she let her worry about taking care of a disabled person? Why wont she let her worry about choosing to stay with a man she does not love?
But of all that had happened today, one thing moved Edwina, it’s that for the first time, Sonia considered her sister’s well-being first, despite the fact that it meant she wouldn’t have a life to continue with anymore, she wanted Edwina to be happy. She wanted her sister to be free, but how can Edwina have all that without any family by her side? Does Sonia not know that loneliness makes such happiness and freedom less relevant? What will be the point of all this if she had no family to share her joy with?
Probably this was why alpha Chase insisted that she had some time to think it over, maybe Sonia was right, she shouldn’t keep sacrificing her own well-being and happiness just for the sake of others, but why does her heart feel so strongly against this?
Sonia has made her decision; she has chosen to die instead. Not that Edwina is to blame for any of this, Sonia put herself in that situation and now she’s willing to pay for it. She has told Edwina to let go and move on, and if she does otherwise, Sonia threatened to take her own life. Edwina knows that one thing she won’t miss her sister for is her stubbornness, but no matter what, no matter how difficult and challenging things may seem at first, Edwina would always choose life before anything else.
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Alpha Xander was in his study on the afternoon of the next day when he received an expected visitor. It was one of the men at the gate that had come in to inform him that she’d come. Edwina didn’t need to worry about not being allowed in here anymore, as after she’d left the last time, he’d called all servants on duty to spread the word about anyone bearing her name who lacks the mark of the night howler should never be denied entry into this packhouse. They’d kept to his order, as this guard had specially come to the alpha to inform him of her arrival outside of court hours.
“Let her in,” Xander instructed as he folded up the bunch of letters he was attending to and rolled his chair to the middle.
A few minutes later, Edwina entered the study room with the guard behind her, this time he noticed sleeping bags under her eyes. She also appeared to have been crying.
“Edwina,” he called her name after dismissing the guard and offering her a seat. “Is everything all right with you?”
“Yes. Everything is fine, thank you sir.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look fine at all.”
“I am fine sir, nothing is wrong.”
Her responses were sharp, like she didn’t want to talk about whatever was going on with her. Xander knew something was wrong somewhere, but decided not to push it any further.
“You came here to see me today. Have you finally made up your mind?”
“Yes I have, sir.”
“Are you sure that you’ve thought it over? Are you sure that you’re ready to give me a final answer on what we’d agreed on?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay. Let me hear it.”
“I have decided to agree to your condition, sir.”
“You agreed? You will exchange your mate for me?”
“Yes, but…”
He was about to say something, but decided to let her talk first, “but what?”
“But please sir, there is one thing I beg of you to do for me if I agree to this. It’s not a condition, but a request.”
He etched his brow before considering what she’d said, “what is it?”
“I would appreciate it if my sister has no clue about this while she serves her remaining prison time. I hope she won’t stay there for long in her condition, but I also don’t want her to find out about this exchange at all.”
“Why?”
“I went to visit her in prison yesterday, and I found that she’s is not in support of this decision at all. She prefers to go along with the execution.”
She didn’t look at his face as he spoke, she knew that he might feel insulted by hearing what Sonia said, but still, he needed to hear the truth, and she needed his help in keeping everything away from Sonia for some time.
“The choice was yours and not Sonia’s. There is nothing she can do about it if you choose to carry along with it. It should be none of her concern.”
“Well, it involves me, and I’m her sister, so she sees it as her concern. She threatened to kill herself if I tried to interfere with the execution.”
“Don’t worry about that, Sonia can do no harm to herself while she’s in there.”
“How do you know that? There are so many ways that one can take their own life without a weapon.”
“She won’t take her life, because I will make sure she doesn’t find out. We will have a very quiet wedding, and our union will only be known to the closest members of this house. No one else needs to know what is going on.”
He looked at her face, she didn’t seem very convinced by what she said. Poor girl is so worried about what her sister might do to herself. How could someone as cold blooded as Sonia still get so lucky in life?
“I will double the security in the prison and place one to watch over her 24/7. Just tell me any other thing you need and I’ll do it.”
He seemed to have gotten to her with those words. He did, for Edwina, she rarely got asked for whatever she wanted, it was more of always doing what she was told.
“My sister was in a bad state when I met her. Her prison clothes were very dirty, and she looked like she’d been sleeping on the floor. I want proper care to be given to her in the prison, even if she’s not going to be released.”
“Done. Any other thing?”
She shook her head, “none that I can think of for now. Thank you for being so considerate, alpha Xander.”
He nodded, “now that everything is settled, we will now proceed with our agreement. According to the laws and customs of this pack, there must be a ceremony to mark our rejoining as mates. We will be doing this tomorrow.”
Edwina sighed, knowing this was all to settle her worries. Here goes the new life for her, the one her heart had chosen.
- Writer
