CHAPTER 4 The Arrangement
1093 Words
Mia's POV
The ride home from the match-making party is silent. Madison must have informed my father about my actions at the event and he is fuming. I can feel the anger rolling off his aura in waves. He is gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles are turning white. I know that I am in for a lecture when I get home, but I don't care. As far as I am concerned none of those men at the party are worth my time.
As we pull up to the pack house, I try to get out of the car before my father even places it in park.
"Not so fast, Young Lady," my father growls at me. "You will be in my office in ten minutes."
Madison is smirking at me with a satisfied look on her face and so is my half-sister Cora. They both know that I am in trouble.
I place a sweet smile on my face and push my lip out in a pout. "I hardly think that is necessary. I think that tonight was a great success."
Madison scoffs loudly and crosses her arms over her chest. "You behaved like a common w***e," she practically screams.
I wait for my father to come to my rescue but he doesn't. I should have known better, I think he probably hates me more than Madison does.
"The driveway is neither the time nor the place for this conversation," my father says simply before he turns and walks into the pack house. Before he opens the door he turns back to me and yells out, "Ten minutes."
My shoulders slump over and I can hear Cora snickering behind me. Spinning around I growl at her but it doesn't sound menacing at all. The sound of my growl only makes Cora laugh louder.
"Who do you think you are trying to intimidate?" Cora laughs at me. "I don't even know why you bother to growl. It's not like you have a wolf. Goddess, you are such an embarrassment to this family. I cannot wait until Father marries you off and we are finally rid of you."
My face turns red with embarrassment as I look at my half-sister. She has been conditioned to hate me like the rest of the family and the rest of the pack. When I was about five I had hoped that Cora and I would be close but I was wrong. Madison wouldn't even let me near her daughter.
I remember her words just like it happened yesterday. "My daughter will never play with an outcast like you."
I was only five at the time and I didn't understand exactly what her words meant but I knew they were not kind. I tried to tell my father and he told me to stay away from both Cora and Madison. So, that is what I have done for the past fifteen years.
Shortly after that interaction I was pulled from the main part of the pack house and moved into the Omega's quarters. I didn't get to go to school with the rest of the kids my age. The only schooling I received was from a kindly Omega named, Maggie. While everyone else treated me like I was contagious, Maggie took me under her wing. She assured me that it was not my fault that my mother died. She was everything that I needed growing up.
The sound of fingers snapping pulls me out of my deep thoughts and when my eyes come back into focus I am staring into Cora's bright blue eyes. "Earth to Mia," she says with annoyance in her voice. "Goddess, you are so annoying."
"Was there something else you needed?" I ask her.
"Yeah for you to drop dead," she says with a smirk on her face.
"You first," I say with a smile on my face.
Cora gasps loaded, clearly offended. Before she has a chance to say anything else to me I run inside the pack house. I am sure that I will hear about our little exchange later. Cora will definitely twist the story to make herself look like the victim.
As I stand outside of my father's office I try to prepare myself for what I am sure will be an unreasonable punishment. Taking a deep breath, I raise my hand and knock on the door.
"Come in," my father's voice growls through the hardwood of his office door.
Slowly, I open the door and spread a fake smile on my lips. "You wanted to see me, Daddy?" I ask in my most innocent voice. My father is standing behind his desk and Madison is standing in the corner with an unreadable look on her face.
My father doesn't bother to hide his disdain for me. "Don't call me that," he hisses at me.
"Yes, Father," I correct myself. "You wanted to see me?"
"What is this I hear about you kissing Alpha Thomas in front of Alpha Richard?" My father places his hands on his hips while he waits for me to answer.
Instead of answering my father, I simply glare in his direction.
"I asked you a question, Young Lady," he hisses at me again.
"Let's be honest with one another," I spit back at my father. "That match-making party was a f*****g joke. Alpha Thomas was the only man who wasn't old enough to be my grandfather."
My father storms toward me. I stand with my shoulders back as he approaches me; refusing to be intimidated by him any longer. Raising his hand he backhands me across the face. Tears begin streaming down my cheeks, but my father doesn't care that he hurt me. He never has.
After his little outburst, he sits down behind his desk. He clears his throat awkwardly. "You are lucky that your little stunt didn't chase Alpha Richard away."
My eyes dart to my father's and panic rises in my chest. "What do you mean?"
Madison steps forward from the corner of the room with an evil smile spread across her face. "You will be mated to Alpha Richard."
"You can't be serious," I scream out. "He is old enough to be my grandfather."
"He will make a powerful ally and that is all that should matter to you," my father says sternly. "You may leave."
"No!" I scream again. "I do not agree to this arrangement."
"He will be here within a week to pick you up," my father tells me, leaving no more room for argument.
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