Page 11 of Brutal Alpha Beast
I raise an eyebrow before rushing over to Shea and scooping her up into my arms. She giggles as I nudge my headtoward her face. “Is that so, huh? Maybe Ishouldbe playing with dolls all day.”
“Let’s play now!”
I gently drop her, and just as I’m about to take one of the dolls, my phone buzzes. I already know it’s Monroe.
“Hey, what’s up?”
My chest is tightening again. I feel tense, too tense, like my body knows something that my mind hasn’t been made aware of yet.
“You gotta come back,” she tells me, her tone primarily neutral but laced with a hint of urgency. “Penelope has called an official coven meeting.”
***
As we gather around a large bonfire that’s been lit in the center of our village, I stare up at the clear, twinkling night sky to calm myself down. Holding a coven meeting outside in the open air is a big deal. It means that there’s something important to be announced, and Penelope wants us close to the healing powers of nature so that we can approach whatever she’s going to say with a clear, open mind.
Everyone is talking around me, expectantly discussing with hushed tones about what they think is going on.
As Penelope rises, the fire reflecting its shadows off her cool face, we fall silent. Monroe squeezes my hand.
“My sisters, thank you for gathering. As I’m sure you will all expect, I have a very important announcement to make.”
Penelope looks around the fire.
“The protection of our coven, of course, will always be my number one concern. I know we’ve all been working hard to ensure the protection of our land, but as we’ve recently discovered, it doesn’t hurt to have help. That’s why I would like to announce to you all our official alliance with Alpha Ellis’ pack.”
I hold my breath and grip even tighter onto Monroe. Even though I sort of expected this, I still feel as though the ground is falling out from under me.
Sure, my old pack doesn't remember me or Monroe due to the spell, but I ran away all those years ago to get away, to never see them again. Now we’re allied. What will this mean?
“We’ve decided that in order to make this alliance smoother, we will need to facilitate an arranged marriage between one of ours and one of theirs.”
The silence of the night is replaced by a couple of gasps of shock. No one would dare speak while Penelope is talking, but a werewolf-witch marriage is a big deal—it’s hard for everyone to contain their responses.
“And we’ve decided that Danielle will be the perfect choice. Danielle, since you’ve lived under that pack before, I believe that you’ll be able to relate to them the most. You’ll understand the rules, the expectations—the union will be smoother.”
I freeze as a bunch of my coven sisters look at me now. I can tell they’re relieved they haven’t been chosen.
I can barely register what’s going on. My heart is beating ferociously, my ears are ringing, and my face is piping hot.
“We won’t force you,” Penelope announces. “Danielle, the choice is still yours.”
Dread pulses through my blood and my veins, and I’m speechless. The thing is, my coven, Penelope included, doesn't know the extent of what my life was like there. They don’t know that I was a loner, or that Ellis broke my heart.
When I came to them, and when Penelope crafted that memory spell, all they knew was that I was upset and wanted to move on, as is any witch who shows up at the coven’s door.
They don’t know how I’m probably an awful choice for this marriage, but how can I refuse them when they’ve given me so much? I’ve always wanted to find a way to repay Penelope, and now is my chance.
I just wish it didn’t have to be this way.
“I’ll give you some time to think,” Penelope says. “For now, sisters, let’s enjoy the outdoors.”
Everyone resumes chatting, and before anyone can talk to me, sensing my shock, Monroe takes me off to the side. I’m hardly in my body as she leads me to a quiet area behind some cabins.
“It’s worse than I thought,” she says. “Oh, Danielle, how can you-”
“I know,” I say, snapping out of my trance and gazing back at her familiar green eyes. They’re the same color as my own, just a different shape. “But if Penelope thinks it’s best...”
“But she doesn’t know the...”
