1. Political marriage

Gianna

*

“Damn it! Why is there no proper road in this forest?” My driver kept cursing because of the poor road, as it was getting hard for him to drive the car. 

“If only I could leave this bitch in the middle of the forest,” he grumbled, making sure that I heard that. 

“You know we can’t do that,” The guard, holding the gun, spoke, sitting on the passenger seat. He was sitting in the alert position, making sure no wild animal attacked the car from the side. “We have to drop her near the pack border, even if that means risking our lives for the bitch.” 

Bitch!

That was what I had been hearing from everyone ever since I started to understand my surroundings.

It was because I had golden eyes like those of the lowly mutts, unlike any of the family members.

‘I’m Gianna Vane, the eldest daughter of the Vane family, who are humans by nature but hunters by profession.’

To maintain the peace between werewolves and hunters, a marriage alliance was suggested by the Alpha King, and Dad happily accepted the suggestion because, of course, there was no way we humans could surpass the strength of those werewolves in the long term.

“I’m glad that with this marriage, we can get rid of the only stain in Vane’s family."

I bit my lips, controlling my anger because the stain that they were talking about was me.

Instead of receiving treatment like the eldest daughter of Vane’s family, who used to be royal in the past, I was treated worse than a dog.

I was locked away when I was a child, hoping to die, and was sent as a hunter to the front line in the frequent war with vampires as a teenager, hoping to get killed.

All my life, I struggled to survive, and now in the werewolf territory, I would have to do the same. After all, I was nothing but a political pawn in this marriage.

‘Should I just die before getting married? What if I receive the treatment worse than I received it with my family and my people? It’s not that this wedding proposal was for me in the first place. It simply mentioned the daughter of Vane’s family. If not me, Vanessa could take my place. That’s a different thing that she would rather die than marry.’

*

Flashback

*

‘Dad never said to visit him whenever I got hurt during the war with the vampires. Why now? Maybe because I almost died this time? Or maybe because he wanted to know the name of the hunters who traded my life to the vampires?’ I thought on the way to visit my father after getting discharged from the hospital.

It had been ten years since we last saw each other’s faces. Who knew he might have stopped hating me?

“Vanessa, I don’t think it’s a bad deal. Why don’t you think about it?” I heard my stepmother’s voice from behind the door. My stepmother, Josephine Vane, was a maid in this family, and after my mother’s death during my birth, she seduced my father and became the new mistress of this household.

“No. I would rather die than marry a mutt,” Vanessa yelled. “How can you expect me to spend my whole life with him?”

“You don’t have to spend your whole life.”

“Yeah! Of course, I’m allowed to leave after giving birth to his heir. And guess what, Mom? The child doesn’t appear just by getting married, does it?”

“Shut up, both of you. Where the hell is Gianna? Go and bring her here.” Dad’s voice boomed. Maybe he ordered a servant or someone else who might be present in the room. Before they learned that I was eavesdropping, I knocked on the door.

“Dad, I’m here.”

“Come in."

“Good Morn…”

“Skip the formalities. Let’s get to the point,” he spoke before I could even greet him. “The mutt king has proposed an alliance.”

‘Those arrogant dogs proposed a marriage? Why? Even though we hunters were powerful with weapons, we could never compete with the strength and supernatural ability of those dogs. Then why?”

“Do you know what it means? They finally understood that they couldn’t stand in front of us."

I doubt that.

But I couldn’t say it loud.

“With this political marriage, we will become a family, and then those dogs can protect us from those blood-sucking leeches."

That was my point: why would they go to this length for the person who was their enemy? 

“So, Gianna, you’ll have to marry the heir of the Alpha King, who will become the king after taking you as his Luna.”

Now, I understood the previous conversation between Josephine and Vanessa.

“No,”

Why did they even think that I would agree to marry a mutt? I, too, hated them just like Vanessa.

“I wasn’t asking you, Gianna. That was my order, and if you dare to go against my order, then your brother has to pay the price of your rejection.”

“My brother is also your son, Dad. How can you use him to threaten me? He has green eyes, just like you and your other children,” I reminded him, because my brother was an extra replica of my father.

“I don’t consider that whore’s children mine.”

I wanted to argue that my mother wasn’t a whore and she didn’t cheat on him; then again, I didn’t have any proof. Furthermore, I looked neither like my mother nor my father.

My mother had blonde hair with brown eyes, while I had black hair and golden eyes.

“I tried to kill you multiple times, but you survived. And now that you’re alive, wouldn’t it be better if you married that mutt and became of great use to my family?"

“Bitch and mutt, what a perfect match,” Vanessa snickered.

“I accept your order, Mr. Vane." He flinched when I suddenly called him by his surname instead of Dad. With this incident, I lost my hope of being recognized by him in his family.

*

At Present

*

“We are here.” At the voice of the driver, I pulled myself from my thoughts to finally face my enemy.

*

#TBC