Part 14
/Aiden's POV/
I stalked out of the cabin, my breaths coming out in puffs due to the cold weather. Still, I wasn't much affected due to my thick skin. My blood was boiling the more I thought about the omega in my cabin. How could my father agree to such a sham of a marriage?
During the ceremony, I had no choice but to go along with it. Many pack members gathered around, and walking away didn't seem like a reliable option. Running a hand through my hair, I banged on the door to his study.
"What's wrong?" My father opened the door, bleary-eyed, sweat clinging to his forehead.
"Are you seriously asking me that?" My voice raised. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed other pack members giving us a weird look.
A burst of murmurs waved through the crowd to which I decided to step in.
The Pack Alpha closed the door behind me.
"Take a breath and tell me what happened."
My teeth gritted at his tone. He was so calm while I was trying to control myself. Taking a deep breath, I met his eyes. "Why did you send that omega in my cabin? What are you planning to do, dad?"
"Planning?" He scoffed. "I merely told her to act as your Luna. What's wrong with that? She will be yours better half in few hours anyway."
My blood ran cold at that. So he was willing to accept her?! I expected my father to gave the same view as me. Rose is an omega. I couldn't imagine living my entire life with one.
"Trust me; she's a good omega. You'll be happy with her"
"But what if I am not, dad? Then what?" I kicked at the ground angrily, the sound reverberating across the room.
"You don't know what. You are just angry now."
I shrugged. "I do know. I don't need an omega." My inner alpha was screaming at me at the blatant lie. I managed to push the thoughts away and turned to my father.
"And what if she has some other mate? What will we do then? So it's easy if I reject her now and save us both the pain in future."
Even though I knew that she's my mate, I kept it hidden. If my father came to know, he would never let her leave. That's the risk I was not willing to take.
My father rolled his eyes. "I see what you're trying to do here, Aiden. It's not going to work. People in our pack have bonded with others who are not their destined mates. They are still happy."
My shoulders slumped at that. Why was he so adamant on having Rose around? She's a pathetic omega. Her sister was a better match for me, and it still irked me that Rose replaced Cara. Why would she do something like that?
Unless Rose had an inkling to our bond, maybe that's why she asked her sister to step away and took her place. That omega might be tempted by the Luna position and all benefits it bought along. As I thought about it, the more it made sense to me.
Red fury bubbled in my stomach. "Whatever, dad, I am not keeping that pathetic..."
"Bite your tongue." My father glared at me. "You are to be living with her, and that's final."
"Or what?"
"Or forgot about ever becoming Pack Alpha. I will make sure that you never get the chair."
I flustered at that. The position meant everything to me. He cannot take that away! I bit back the retort on my tongue. It wouldn't do me any good to argue.
My father cleared his throat. "Is that all?"
Twisting my lips, I simply squared my shoulders and shook my head before turning on my heel. Opening the door, I welcomed the cold gust of wind hitting my face. A defeated sigh escaped my lips as I recalled the conversation.
If my father was not letting me reject her, then fine, she can reject me, right? A smirk curled around my lips as I thought of that. I can easily make her walk away and regret meeting me.
After a few minutes of aimless wandering around, I finally began to trek to my cabin. The snow had started falling quickly, and it was thick, making me blink dozens of times to clear my eyes. For once, I was thankful that my cabin had a fireplace and food, just in case we got snowed in, which was a great possibility.
I entered through the doors I had gone out of and closed them behind me. Kicking the snow off my shoes, I heard some rattling from inside. The hair on the back of my neck stood, but then I relaxed, knowing it must be Rose.
But the thing that caught my attention most was the sweetest scent I had ever encountered. My eyes rolled back as I was involuntarily drawn towards it. It smelled of thick flowers, feminine and soft, with undertones of vanilla. It made my heartbeat quicken, my inner alpha jumping to find the source, but I quickly squashed the thought down.
A growl threatened to escape my throat, claws jutting out as the heady scent started to get thicker. Where was it coming from?
"Rose?" I almost grunted.
She rushed out, holding a bottle of liquid—scent blockers. My eyes flashed at that. What was she doing with that bottle? Taking a deep breath, I regarded her with a look.
"Yes, Alpha?" Her cheeks were red; her eyes trailed on the floor.
"Is that your scent?"
The omega shyly nodded her head. I inhaled sharply, sucking more of her scent through my nose. She hesitantly blinked at me, those wide dove eyes staring back.
"I meant to use my scent blocker."
"There's no use..." I tried to appear nonchalant when in reality, it bothered me. "Everyone in this packhouse knows you are mi—I mean our Luna. It doesn't matter."
She beamed at me. "Okay"
There was a twinkle in her eyes, cheeks blooming. What was there to be happy about? I shook my head. I shouldn't be noticing those things instead of thinking of how to make her reject our bond.
"I have more rules."
Her smile dimmed. She was so expressive it's crazy.
"I like my house to be clean, so if you make it messy, I'll punish you. You are to serve me breakfast, lunch, and dinner according to my schedule. I will not eat with you. You can eat on your own, and when I'm done with my meal."
Rose chewed on her lips as if biting back from saying something. I motioned her. "Follow me."
Walking through the living hall, I took her to the hallway. I took a left and led to the door furthermost from the staircase. "This is your bedroom. We will not be sharing a bed as I already told you before."
My inner Alpha was going crazy at the number of rules I imposed. They had to be done. If my father was not letting me reject her, I had to go the hard way. Even if that meant being cruel to my mate.
"We will have a mating ritual after the ceremony tonight." I clenched my jaw as I said those words out loud. It almost slipped my mind before. "The elders will need proof in the morning, so we will do it in the guest room at night."
"W-Why the guest room?" She nervously took her bottom lip in between her teeth.
I glared at the omega. "Because I don't want my room filled with your putrid scent."
Lies. Her scent was anything but that. She didn't need to know what I thought.
"Oh." The omega sadly sighed, sinking into herself. "Okay."