Four

I'm dressed in a black turtleneck sweater that has a high neckline and long sleeves. The sweater is made of a soft, knit fabric and has a ribbed texture around the neck and cuffs. Then over the sweater, I'm wearing a beige high waisted, wide leg pants.

 I'm usually not a fan of high heels, it hurts my ankles like crazy, but my mom made me wear it because according to her, wearing heels makes one look classy and I have to look classy enough to be worthy of being married into the Griffins family. 

I almost gagged when she said that. 

The car arrived at the parking lot of a famous boutique that only the rich in our town went to, and my mom and Aya came down from the car.

"What are you waiting for? Get down." Mom snapped at me when I still sat in the car. 

We all came to the boutique for clothes shopping because we are having a family dinner with the Rover Pack and Aya said all the clothes I had was trash and not dinner worthy, so here we are.

I came down from the car and trailed behind them quietly, with a lot on my mind.

Among other things, was the several plots of how I could escape.

I can't marry Mason Griffin or whatever his name is, I can't commit my whole life to being married to a total stranger because of the pack. I just can't. So I have to run away for my life.

I already left my family behind before and built a life for myself in Boston without their assistance and I was genuinely happy without them. I can do it again, I will run away like I did before and this time I will make sure they never set their eyes on me again. But the bone of contention now is how do I run away? with all the eyes on me, my father, my mother and especially Aya always have their eyes on me because they already suspect that I might run away one day.

"Hi, can you get us your most expensive and classiest dresses? My daughter here is getting married and we're meeting the inlaws." My mother said to the first worker we saw as soon as we entered the boutique.

The redhead lady with the name, Joan on her name tag, smiled awkwardly and nodded. She looked at Aya and I, wondering who the bride to be was.

"Oh, she's the one getting married. Not me, definitely not me." Aya said and pushed me forward.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, and I stood in front of Joan, with my head drooped and my hands folded in front of me. 

My mom suddenly separated my hands from each other harshly and snapped at me, "Stop doing that! You're about to be married to the Alpha to be of Rover Pack, you should stop slouching like a lowlife. This is all because you abandoned your root and got mixed up with the low lives in Boston. But you don't have to make that obvious, we don't want Mason Griffin to change his mind." 

Joan was trying hard to dart her eyes away and be professional and pretend not to listen to everything my mom just said. I looked around and realized that we were definitely not alone in the boutique, other customers heard every single word my mom said to me. While I stood there completely and utterly embarrassed, my own mother just announced to the whole town that I was about to be sold off to a stranger because of their influence.

I felt my heart start beating faster than usual, and beads of sweat starts forming on my forehead.

"Okay. It's nice to meet you, I'm Joan. I'll be in charge of your wardrobe today, you just need to tell me your tastes and preference." Joan says to me politely.

"I thought I already mentioned the taste of dresses we want, classy and expensive, something worthy of wearing to a family dinner with very respectable inlaws. " My mom said to Joan, sounding annoyed at her for asking the question.

Joan smiled gently, "I know, Mrs Thompson but your daughter is the one who will be wearing the dresses, right? So I'd like to hear from her directly."

This ticked my mom off and I saw her brows twitch in anger, but before she could react Aya came forward, "Listen here, you foul mouthed bitch, if my mom says get classy and expensive dresses, then get the damn dresses and shut the fuck up before you lose your stupid job."

Joan immediately blinked in fear and stepped back, completely intimidated by Aya which isn't a surprise. 

"I'm... I'm sorry. I apologize." Joan said.

"Keep your apology to yourself, now get away and get to work." Aya said giving her a hateful look as she scurried away.

My mom released a heavy, exasperated sigh and put her hand on her waist, "This is what we have been reduced to, a mere lowlife of a sales woman is questioning me in our own town, despite knowing that I'm Helen Thompson, the Luna of the Alpha of Moonlight Pack. We have lost all the respect and fear this town once had for us and this is because of you." She suddenly turned to me, pointing her fingers at me.

"What??" I exclaimed in surprise.

What did I do now?

"Ever since the town heard that my daughter ran away from home and abandoned all her responsibilities as a member of the Moonlight Pack, we started losing respect, and it only became worse when Camilla was killed. So Tiana, this is all your fault and you owe us one to fix it, which we have given you an opportunity for. That is why you are going to marry Mason Griffin, and a week after, the protection ceremony will be held and then once again, we will have our dignity as a pack back and nobody will be able to mention our pack without trembling first." My mom said in one breath.

More beads of sweat formed on my forehead and dripped down my face, my heart now beating rapidly.

My family already had it all planned out, I would be sacrificed for the protection of the pack.

"And your sister and your father keeps telling me that you plan to run away. This is a motherly advice for you and you better adhere, don't bother trying it, because as much as I'm desperate for you to marry Mason and protect our pack from the ripper, your father is much more determined than I am, he would do anything to protect his pack and if you attempt to ruin his plans, he will hunt you down and make you pay. And I'm sure you know your father as much as I do." 

My mom is right. My dad will hunt me down. And I know him too well, I'm aware of how merciless he can be when it comes to his pack.

My chest starts feeling too tight to breath properly as the images of what my father would do to me if I'm caught trying to run away, keeps flashing through my mind. I would be as good as dead.

I start gasping for air, and holding my chest tight.

"What is it??! Oh my god, why do you make it your life goal to embarrass me? Get out of this place now before people see you hyperventilating for no reason." My mom scolded me.

Still gasping for air, I managed to make my way through the boutique and step outside. My chest was still tight and I felt suffocated, both biologically and emotionally.

Now I regret ever returning back home. I shouldn't have. I should have known that even though these people were my biological family, they had no space in their hearts for me, just like it has always been. I should have just mourned Camilla in my own way and never set foot in this town again.

Just as I was feeling my breathing coming back to normal and was about to return inside before my mother or Aya, even worse, comes out fetching for me, I suddenly felt someone grab me by the arm and before I could process a thing or even scream for help, I was tossed into the car.

"What the hell??? Who are you?? Hello?!" I started shouting frantically, struggling with the car handle which the abductor already locked from outside.

The abductor opened the door to the driver's seat, sat down and started driving, it was when my head was no longer in a frenzy and he turned to face me that I recognized those captivating baby blue eyes that I would recognize anywhere.

"Alex?"