CHAPTER THREE
Isabelle stood deathly still and looked at her father in disbelief, refusing to believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. What did he mean to get married? To why? Why? Surely, he wouldn’t sell her out like she was cattle like she didn’t mean anything to him. But even as the thought entered her head, she knew...she knew deep down that her father was capable of doing that.
“I don’t understand...” Isabelle said slowly.
Fiona scoffed as her eyes roved the length and breadth of her stepdaughter’s form. “Are you hard of hearing?” She asked in annoyance. “What is so difficult to understand in what your father said?!”
Alpha Zane raised his hand in his wife’s direction, not willing to have her involved in the conversation. He sighed heavily, terribly hating to be the bearer of such news, but knowing that it was necessary, that it needed to be done if the pack was to move forward without any more hardships.
He leaned back in his chair and looked at Isabelle, truly looking at her for the first time in a very long time and all he could see was his late mate. It hurt to look at her, to see the love of his life every day in the flesh even though her body had decayed in the ground. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
‘Yes,’ he thought to himself. ‘Sending her away is for the best. The sooner she left, the better for me.’
“Sit down, Isabelle,” Zane said and watched as she settled herself into one of the chairs across from him. “The man you’re going to marry is Alpha Khalil of the Moonlight Shadow.”
The color drained from her face as she heard the name of the man that she was to wed. He was notorious, known throughout the lands, and feared for how cruel he was. And that was the man that her father wanted her to wed. Chills ran down her spine a fear enveloped her. She could hardly believe that this was happening. A part of her kept waiting, kept hoping that this was a dream, that she would soon awake from her slumber. But the longer she sat there and stared at her father, the more she realized that this was reality. This was her reality. And there seemed to be no escape from it.
“But...but...” Isabelle started. “What happens when I find my mate?!”
Her father shrugged, “You would have to reject him. People do it all the time.”
“Besides,” Annabelle began, tired of not being included in her sister’s misery. “Why would you think that the moon goddess would be so cruel as to make anyone your mate? Have you seen yourself? You’re nothing but an ugly pig!”
Isabelle watched her stepsister and stepmother as they laughed at her predicament. They were the only happy ones in the room.
“You should be grateful to your father for organizing this match for you,” Fiona chimed in. “Goddess knows it's better than whatever you could have done for yourself.”
Isabelle continued to look on in disbelief. A part of her kept refusing to accept that this was happening. Her brain kept turning, looking for ways to turn this decision around, and kept coming up blank. She felt the tears roll down her cheek, and she let them. Her vision was blurry, the pain in her heart rivaling the one in her head. She continued to think, trying to find the silver lining, but all she could see were dark clouds that had gathered above her life.
“But why must I be the one to marry him?” Isabelle asked in a last-ditch effort to salvage herself. “I’m your first child. I’m to be the next alpha of this pack!”
Fiona scoffed and fixed Isabelle with a scathing look. “Weak idiots do not make good alphas, Isabelle,” she said. “That position is going to your sister.”
Isabelle turned sharply to her father for confirmation, and the way he lowered his eyes told her all she needed to know. Her eyes blurred anew with fresh tears and she let them flow. She knew her father didn’t like her much, but she couldn’t imagine that he would do this to her.
“But why must I marry him?” Isabelle asked, defeated. “I thought our packs didn’t like each other?”
Her father nodded. “That’s why you’re going to marry him. Put an end to the rivalry and prevent a war between our packs.”
“So, I’m the sacrificial lamb...” Isabelle said and drew in a shaky breath. “But...Khalil...he’s a cruel man...”
“Yes!” Annabelle answered, her eyes sparkling with excitement and joy at her sister’s pain. “I heard that he hunts children for sport!”
Fiona giggled. “I also heard that he had a mate before and that he carved their child out of her belly and left her to bleed to death!”
Isabelle’s eyes widened in horror as they continued to regale her with stories of the man who was to be her husband...her mate. She turned her pleading eyes on her father who waved their words away dismissively.
“Those are just rumors, Isabelle,” he said reassuringly. “You have nothing to worry about.”
“Father, please...”
Zane raised his hand. “My mind is decided. You will marry him.”
“But...”
“You will marry him in this office this evening, and we will have a ceremony to celebrate with the pack tomorrow.”
Isabelle was crestfallen. The finality in his voice told her all she needed to know. That he would never change his mind. She had thought that her life was bad, only to realize that it was about to get worse.
Meanwhile, Fiona breathed a sigh of relief. A part of her had thought that Zane was going to follow through on his earlier plan to wed Annabelle to Khalil. But the gods forbid that she would let her daughter be mated to that beast of a man. Her daughter deserved the best, and Isabelle...well, she deserved the crumbs.
Isabelle slowly rose to her feet, her heart heavy with pain and sorrow. She stood for a few minutes, staring at her father, waiting for him to change his mind, even though she knew that she was waiting in vain.
She turned and headed for the door, her heart breaking with every step she took. By the break of dawn tomorrow, everything would be different for her. Everything would change and not for the better. She stopped at the door and turned to face her father.
“If my mother were alive, she would never allow you to do this to me.”
And with those final words, Isabelle turned and charged for her room, resigning herself to her fate.