Page 20 of Midnight Moon
“Nothing so material,” Chase said. “Our pack request a more permanent alliance.”
I frowned.
Permanent alliance?
What did that even mean?
“Speak plainly, pup,” Alpha Orlando spat out. His pack members grumbled, sharing in their leader’s frustration with Chase’s vague words.
Chase lifted his chin and confidently said, “Should the Wilds Pack win the Alpha Games, we request a mating alliance with the Summit Pack.”
“A mating alliance?” Alpha Kurt sounded just as surprised as the rest of the room.
The proposed reward wasn’t unheard of, but it had been a long time since any pack had requested such a prize.
In fact, I bet it hadn’t happened since the last time the Wilds Pack participated in the Alpha Games.
Mating alliances used to be more common to mitigate conflicts between packs, but the practice was outdated. Now, shifters used other methods of diplomacy to keep the peace with one another… like the Alpha Games.
“Yes,” Chase responded to Alpha Kurt, stirring up more whispers and murmurs around the room.
My father finally stood.
His face was void of emotion, but his fisted hands revealed his irritation. “What are the conditions of the proposed mating alliance?”
Chase met my father’s gaze. “If the Wilds Pack wins, the alpha of the Wilds Pack requests a mating alliance with the heir of the Summit Pack, Blair Hemmings.”
Six
Blood pounded angrilythrough my head, roaring in my ears. For a split second, the room fell silent. Then, outrage was unleashed.
“Absolutely not.” My father’s alpha power coated the words, making the hair on my arms stand at attention. I cringed, but quickly straightened when I realized half of the room stared at me. I needed to keep my composure even if I quaked inside.
I was the next Summit alpha. I couldn’t mate with someone outside my pack, let alone another alpha. Even in my wildest imaginations of what would happen during the Alpha Games, I never believed I would find myself in this situation. It felt too fantastical to be real.
“She is our pack’s future,” Beta Nathan shouted. He’d leapt to his feet the moment he heard the details of the absurd request. “She will not be traded to a no-name, backwoods pack as a prize.”
Once again, Chase and Asher kept their cool despite the insults. No doubt, they’d expected resistance. How could they not? No sane pack would agree to such a ridiculous proposal.
The thought made me wonder if their proposition was a farce. Maybe they truly wanted something else—something more difficult to obtain.
Asher and Chase’s absurd mating alliance could be a strategic maneuver. First, they requested a controversial prize. Then, when Alpha Kurt rejected their proposal, they would counter with what they truly wanted—something valuable that would be granted because it wasn’t as controversial as a mating alliance.
My idea made sense, but Chase’s next words dismantled it one brick at a time.
“Mating alliances were once a regularly requested prize.”
“Not in this century,” my father threw back, “and not between two alphas.”
“There has never been a female heir before,” Chase countered, looking the picture of ease despite the bomb he’d just detonated in the meeting hall. “That is why two alphas were never proposed to mate. But alphas often requested to mate with daughters of other alphas to solidify alliances. That is our pack’s request.”
“She is my heir. I will not allow her to mate outside of the Summit Pack.”
I pressed my lips together.
I didn’t plan to mate with anyone outside of my pack, but that would be my choice, not my father’s.
Undeterred by my father’s declaration, Chase said, “Our proposed award remains the same.”
