Chapter 3 - Killian

I hadn’t seen the she-wolf sitting in the corner when I had first entered the room, but I turned to her immediately when she spoke my name.

“Leah,” I said.

My heart skipped as I took in her presence. Her round face bore a look of surprise as her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly. She clearly hadn’t been expecting to see me, and part of me felt bad for surprising her. Although I knew I would see today, I was stunned by how much her presence affected me.

Time had intensified her allure, and she had grown even more beautiful than I remembered. Her petite figure had become more curvaceous in the passing years, and I had to remind myself that there were others in the room to stop myself from taking her into my arms. Quelling my passionate urges, I turned my focus to Alpha Lex and the two people sitting across from him at his desk.

“You must be Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” I said, striding toward them.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Alpha,” the woman said as she stood to greet me.

She had Leah’s petite stature and curvy frame, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Leah’s features were soft and kind, her mother’s were harsh. She couldn’t be more than fifty years old, but her hair was nearly fully gray. The folds of her neck sagged like the skin of a withered apple, lined with wrinkles.

“And you,” I replied, fixing a smile on my face.

“Alpha Lex was just going over the particulars of this arrangement with us,” Leah’s father said. “We can’t tell you how pleased we are that our beloved daughter will be so well looked after by you.”

“Ha,” Leah scoffed from the corner. “As if I would marry him .”

I turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. I had expected that she would be less than pleased to see me here, but I was shocked by her outright hostility.

“I’m afraid that isn’t up to you, dear,” her mother said. I noticed that while her words sounded firm but kind, there was a threatening undertone to them.

“Leah, your parents have already arranged the ceremony,” Alpha Lex reminded her. “The guests are arriving downstairs as we speak.”

I saw the color drain from Leah’s face and wondered if she had even been told that the mating ceremony would be taking place today. If my mouth would allow me to put my thoughts into words, I could ask her, but it seemed that speech was lost to me every time I looked into her chocolate-brown eyes.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably and turned back to Lex.

“Alphas Jasper and Nile send their best regards,” I began. “They offered to accompany me today, but I thought it would be best to keep the focus on Leah. It is her big day, after all.”

“It’s no matter. The guest list was limited, and the ceremony shouldn’t take long,” Lex replied.

“Of course,” I replied, unsure what to say.

There was something odd about how they were discussing the event, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Most women looked forward to their mating ceremony and wanted to have as many pack members as possible in attendance. Aside from a werewolf’s first change, finding a mate was the most important day of our lives.

“Once you and our daughter are settled, my mate and I can’t wait to meet your pack,” Leah’s mother said to me.

“Um, yes, of course,” I replied, faltering uncomfortably as she laced her arm through mine. “It may take us some time to be ready for visitors, but I’m sure Leah will be looking forward to it. And myself, of course.”

“You’re so right, Alpha. There’s so much work to be done in the first few months of marriage. Especially during an arranged marriage like this one,” Leah’s father said.

“But we know you will be very pleased with our Leah,” her mother added. “She’s such a hard worker.”

I delicately untangled myself from her and moved closer to Lex’s desk. As much as I realized the importance of getting to know Leah’s family, there were more important things at the moment.

“Before the ceremony, I want to make sure that nothing has changed in regards to your alliances within Pinedale,” I said to Lex. “Although I am no longer a member of the Dark Moon Pack, I retain an alliance with Alpha Jasper, which I am honor-bound to maintain.”

“They remain unchanged,” Lex assured me. “And as long as you marry Leah today, then you will have an alliance with us as well, Alpha Killian.”

I heard Lex’s slight stress on my new title. When we had spoken about my intention to marry Leah, he’d seemed surprised that I would leave Jasper’s pack behind. Only promises that I was intent on marrying the Sparkle Hollow female to bolster the peace between the packs had been enough to convince him I wasn’t hellbent on a regional power grab. Based on his tone, it seemed that he still had some reservations on that score.

“It’s not often that a new alpha comes out of an established pack without a political rift or bloodshed,” Lex pointed out. “Our allies and I will be making sure it remains that way.”

I bowed my head to indicate my awareness of his veiled threat. It wasn’t necessary, as my main goal in becoming alpha was to win Leah as my mate, but the power of being an alpha meant I would have to be political now as well.

“I think it’s time we got this contract completed,” Leah’s father said.

I glanced at Leah and noticed she was still fuming at the idea of binding herself to me. But there was nothing I could do to back out of it now. I was an alpha now, and the peace between Sparkle Hollow and the three packs of Pinedale now hinged on me going through with the marriage ceremony—no matter how much my future mate detested me.

As I followed Leah’s parents and Alpha Lex out of the office and toward the courtyard with Leah on my arm, I knew that I wouldn’t back out even if there was nothing on the line. Leah was everything I had ever dreamed of. Somehow, I would find a way to break through her rough exterior and make her remember her love for me.

“You realize they haven’t even used your name once, right?” Leah asked quietly as we left the pack house, the sunlight shining down on us.

I hadn’t realized it. I had been too busy focusing on not making a fool of myself in front of her and heard only half of what her parents were saying.

“What have they been calling me?” I asked.

“Alpha,” she replied. “That’s the only reason we’re here, you know. They didn’t want a mate for me. They wanted power for themselves.”

“Too bad for them that they won’t be getting any,” I muttered.

I didn’t know the whole story of what had transpired between Leah and her parents, but I could tell that they didn’t care for her the way she deserved. After seeing how they ignored her wishes and bargained her off to any alpha they could find, I was even more determined to do the right thing. She deserved love, and I would make sure she got it.

In the courtyard were a handful of Sparkle Hollow wolves. When we entered, Leah’s parents were greeted with warm smiles and kind conversations as they joined the crowd while Lex walked to the arbor at the end of the garden. The wooden trellis was overgrown with blue morning glories that let off a faint fragrance.

Leah continued to ignore my glances as we joined Lex there and prepared to say our vows to each other. I wished she would look at me the way she had before, but I knew I had a lot of work to do before she would open her heart to me again.

“Thank you for gathering here today for the mating ceremony of Alpha Killian, formerly of the Dark Moon Pack, and Leah Smith,” Lex began.

The crowd halted their conversations as he started the ceremony, but they continued shifting on their feet. It was clear that none of them were excited about Leah’s marriage. I wondered why they were here instead of her close friends. Now that I thought of it, I couldn’t remember if she had ever mentioned any friends. Perhaps there had been one, but I couldn’t remember her name.

“Killian, you may say your vow,” Lex said.

“I, Alpha Killian Stone, take you, Leah Smith, to be my mate,” I said.

I felt a faint thread of energy leave my body as I said the words. It wasn’t overpowering, but noticeable. I wondered if the mate bond would strengthen over time or if this feeling was what everyone spoke of when they told me about it.

Lex nodded at Leah to indicate she should follow with her own vow. She didn’t speak immediately but cast a glance at her parents in the crowd. I saw her mother give her a hard look. I wondered what Leah had been told about her responsibility to go through with becoming my mate.

“I, Leah Smith, take you, Alpha Killian Stone, to be my mate,” she said quietly.

“You may kiss,” Lex said to me.

When Leah’s dark brown eyes widened in fear as she looked up at me, I realized I couldn’t kiss her now. I had seen women who had been forced into physical affection before, and I never wanted to make my mate feel afraid of me.

Instead, I bent down and kissed her gently on her dimpled cheek. I heard her sharp intake of breath as my lips contacted her smooth skin. I pulled back and saw that her eyebrows had furrowed slightly in confusion.

“I won’t force you,” I mumbled so that only she could hear.

“Thank you all for being present,” Alpha Lex said, addressing the assembled wolves. “You are all invited to stay for a reception in the dining room.”

Leah and I turned forward to greet the guests, but none of them were looking at us. Unlike other ceremonies I had attended, there was no celebration of the fact that we had just pledged our lives to one another. I looked at Leah to assess her opinion of the guests’ reaction, but she was gazing into the distance listlessly. It seemed she hadn’t been expecting a loving reaction from any of them.

The guests, including Leah’s parents, meandered into the pack house with us following behind them. When we got inside, her mother accosted me.

“There you are!” she exclaimed. “Come this way, I want you to meet my friends.”

Without another word, she pulled me by the arm toward a group of women holding champagne glasses. I grabbed Leah’s hand as I was dragged away and felt a slight resistance as we approached the group. Her small hand felt limp in mine, and I could tell she wanted to be anywhere other than in this room with me.

“Dears, this is my new son-in-law, Alpha Killian,” Mrs. Smith said to her friends, batting her eyelashes at me as she spoke my name. “Alpha, these are my closest friends.” She proceeded to introduce them by name.

“Pleasure to meet you, ladies,” I said politely.

I answered their queries as briefly and succinctly as possible before excusing myself and Leah to greet the other guests. At each group we came to, all attention was on me. Most of them didn’t acknowledge my mate at all, and the few who did looked her up and down judgmentally without speaking to her.

“Don’t you have any friends here that you want to talk to?” I asked Leah quietly.

“I only have one friend,” she replied. “And it looks like my parents didn’t invite her.”

I sighed as she confirmed my suspicions about her treatment in the pack. “Then we need to go,” I said.

“Why?” she asked, surprised by my abrupt declaration.

“Because if one more person looks at you disrespectfully, I might just take their head off,” I said simply. “Where are your things?”

“Um, I think they were going to put everything in your car,” she said uncertainly.

“Great,” I replied.

I grabbed her hand and strode from the room. Leah walked quickly to keep up with my long strides as we headed for my car.

“Shouldn’t we say goodbye?” she asked hesitantly.

“Do you want to?” I asked, stopping short just in case I had misread the situation. “I didn’t get the impression you were overly fond of anyone there.”

She shook her head, confirming my suspicions.

“Then no,” I said. “I think everyone got what they needed from today. No need to prolong their false affections, don’t you agree?”