Chapter 3

Rachel's POV

As I was being driven by my brother, Cole to the Moon Stone pack whose territory was in the West, I leaned back in the passenger seat, staring out the window and reflecting on why we were heading to the Moon Stone mansion. I couldn't help but think of how I was being forced into marriage with this pack's Alpha, Damon.

After the incident at the party two nights ago when Alpha Damon had blatantly called me his mate, word had quickly spread that the Alpha of the Moon Stone pack had found his mate. Then my father had summoned me to his study and informed me that arrangements had been made with Alpha Damon's father for us to get married. He reasoned that our union would strengthen his business alliance with the Alpha's father, and hopefully Alpha Damon, too, and I had no choice in the matter.

He had threatened that if I dared refuse, he would rather cast me out from our pack than let my unreasonableness affect his business dealings with Alpha Damon's father. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle being a lone wolf, after I'd heard both good and bad stories about being a lone wolf. So I caved to my father's wishes.

I wasn't too thrilled with the whole idea, seeing as his reputation of being a cruel Alpha preceded him, and I didn't want to submit to any man, mate or not. But I also didn't want to risk incurring my father's wrath by refusing.

Cole glanced at me. "What are you thinking about, Rachel?"

I shook my head slowly. "Nothing. Just wondering what my life is going to be like from now on."

"You're worried about how Alpha Damon will react to having you as his wife, aren't you?" he rightly guessed.

I sighed. "I honestly never imagined being in this kind of position. I mean, I've heard stories about women getting sold to Alphas as their mates for different reasons and whatnot, but I never thought I'd end up in a similar situation."

Cole scoffed. "But I guess looking on the bright side, you didn't get sold off, right? This was a different kind of arrangement."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. I was given two impossible choices to choose from. I'm not sure which one you'd have preferred I chose."

"Hey." He raised one hand up in a gesture of peace. "I'm not blaming you, okay? If anything, I'm actually glad you didn't choose to be cast out from our pack. Contrary to what you might believe or might've been told, not every lone wolf is stronger than a pack," he said in a somber tone. "Not every lone wolf can last long enough out there."

I knew that I had made a mistake when I had decided to speak out against what I felt was my father's cruel treatment of some of the weaker members of our pack, but I couldn't just stand by and watch as others suffered. And to make matters worse, I had refused to back down even when he lashed out and threatened me. It wasn't until after the whole incident that I was made to realize that my actions had served as a start to undermining his authority before the rest of the pack and that wasn't something that could be taken lightly. That was probably why he was so eager to get rid of me now.

I have always been an independent and strong-willed she-wolf. I grew up in a pack that had been harsh and unforgiving, and valued tradition and hierarchy above all else, but I had always felt stifled by my father's strict rules and regulations. Our pack was led by my father who ruled with an iron fist and who could be quite cruel and abusive sometimes.

I had been one of the few females in the pack, and I had been constantly belittled and mistreated by the males, especially because I had been expected to have my first turning at the age of seventeen which was the ideal age, but it didn't happen until I turned twenty. During the years in-between, my father had felt that since it hadn't happened, it was never going to happen. In my family, I was the only one who failed to turn at seventeen years of age.

My brother Cole cared for me and protected me in his own way, being careful enough not to coddle me and risk incurring our father's wrath. Our father had raised us both with an iron fist so we hadn't been allowed to show excessive displays of emotion towards one another, even if we wanted to.

Even our mother was widely, albeit discreetly regarded as the ice queen among the members of our pack because of her constant cold, and sometimes harsh, demeanor. When in public, you would've hardly guessed that we were her children. Her constant coldness and aloofness sometimes made me wonder how my father still loved her as much as he did. Maybe in their private chambers, behind closed doors, she was an entirely different person; a softer, kinder person. But if that was the case, we never got to see that side of her.

Her excuse for being this way was that in a world filled with creatures, including those of our kind and others, who were out to capture and subdue us, we needed to be tough and she and our Alpha were helping us achieve that.

As I grew older, I had fought hard to gain the respect of the other wolves and I believed that I had proven myself to be a skilled hunter and a capable fighter. However, I eventually saw that my efforts had been in vain. It was as if they didn't care how hard I'd tried to prove myself, they had already concluded and ruled me out.

So I had become determined to break free from the oppressive environment of my pack by speaking out against the injustices I observed. Little did I know that trying to break free would lead me down this path. Hell, the Alpha was my father and I thought I could leverage off that and his love for me as his daughter, even though I knew that he didn't take such pride in me; I just didn't think he would retaliate in this way.

As we rounded a bend, we arrived at a well-cleared path and my eyes grew wide with bewilderment as a familiar and strongly inviting scent hit me. The scent of a sexy masculine fragrance blended with leather, wet earth, lavender, creamy vanilla, and a subtle metallic scent that probably came from an animal that he had hunted. The scent belonged to Alpha Damon and I knew he wasn't very far away.