001

ELARA VANCE

“Alpha Lance wants you to get married,” my mother suddenly said at dinner.

My eyes narrowed slightly as I looked up from my food. “Why? To whom?”

She cleared her throat softly, “How about we go there tonight after dinner? He’s going to send a driver to pick us up. We can talk more about it with him and Luna Maya.”

“But you won’t talk about it with me?” I raised my brows slightly. The fork hit the plate as it left my fingers. “First, why are you talking with Alpha Lance?”

“Why should I avoid him?”

“You know what he did.”

“He did nothing,” my mother replied with a sigh. “I don’t believe he hurt our family, Elara. What happened was fate.”

“It wasn’t,” I stated as a matter of fact. “You all have blamed fate for too long, don’t you think? Give the owner of the blame his cross to carry,” I pushed my chair backwards, moving towards the stairs.

“And is the owner Alpha Lance?” My mother asked, making me halt. My fingers tightened on the stair rails. “Is it Alpha Lance, or Alistair?”

Anger surged through my veins at the mention of his name. I turned to “Mom.”

“Answer me!” She shot.

My insides twisted, my heart hurt. Like I had been stabbed with a hot iron right inside of me. Pressure built behind my eyes, but I didn't let the tears fall. I was past this stage, past the stage of breaking down every night and living in denial. That was my past; my present was making sure we had nothing to do with the Roux’s.

“I have a statistical test tomorrow. Apologies, I won’t be able to make it to the Alpha’s house tonight,” I said, and without waiting for a response, I turned, running up the stairs to my room.

“Elara–” the door banged closed before my mother could complete her sentence.

I twisted the lock behind the door and walked towards my table, picking up the picture fixed on it.

Three of us, a perfect little family.

My fingers moved over the surface, stopping on my father’s face,

“I miss you…dad.”

~~~

My eyes flashed open the next morning from a painful dream. One where I walked down the hall dressed in red, flowers in my hands.

Ridiculous. What my mom had said yesterday was getting to me.

I pushed myself up from the bed, walking towards my table. Picking up my glasses, I walked down the stairs. My mother was in the kitchen, probably preparing breakfast. I sighed, my toes curling in my flops. Last night had been too heated for a woman who also lost something like me.

I just couldn’t understand why she couldn’t blame them, just like I did, why she simply said everything was fate.

“Mom,” I called, stopping at the kitchen door.

She turned, “Elara, you are awake. I was trying to make a simple breakfast before I left for work since you said you had a test today.”

I bit my lips.

“Were you able to read last night?” she raised her brows. “Our conversation–”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I shouldn’t have lashed out the way I did. I guess I was just being on edge with everything. I really didn’t want us to be acquainted with the Rouxs.”

“What happened to your father was unfortunate, Elara, but things like this are expected. Sadly, it was your father it happened to,” my mom said.

I gulped, “But—”

“In a pack,” my mom grabbed my hands, staring into my eyes, “the safety of the alpha, the luna, and the alpha prince comes first.”

In essence, she was saying that it wasn’t Alistair’s fault. But it could have been avoided. If only Alistair—

I pulled my hands away from her suddenly.

“I’ll be late. I need to take my bath now,” I turned, running up the stairs and back into my room.

“You are late,” Kris fell into step with me as I walked towards the classroom.

“Well, I had some issues at home,” I muttered, scrolling through my phone. I barely read last night after the argument with mom, and I was settling for nothing less than a perfect A+ today in the statistics test. Besides, there was going to be a present for the highest scorer, and unfortunately for everyone, fortunately for me, I had a sick obsession with winning prizes.

“What is it about? I hope nothing is wrong with mom?” she asked, referring to my mother. I wondered why she called my mother ‘mom’ when I usually referred to her own mother as Auntie. But then again, when have I ever understood Kris?

“No,”

“Okay…I have something to tell you that will shock your brains—”

“Elara,” a voice suddenly called, and I raised my head, adjusting my glasses to stare at the person.

Alexander Roux.

He walked towards me. “Finally, I've been searching for you all morning.”

Kris practically melted. “Hi, Alex.”

“Oh, hi Kris,” he waved, before turning back to me.

I folded my hands. ‘What for?”

“Why didn’t you come to our house last night? My father summoned you and your mother,”

“Summoned?” I raised a brow. “When he makes a gentle request inviting us, "I'll think about coming.”

Alex pressed his temple. “He’s the Alpha of the pack, Elara. You don’t expect him to give in to your terms and conditions."

“That was what he promised; he should keep to it.”

“For how long. It’s been five years, Elara, five years. Are you isolated from the pack?”

“No, I’m isolated from your family,” I frowned.

“As long as you remain in this pack, that is not possible.” Alex groaned, ‘By the way, did you know—”

“About the marriage?”

“Oh, right? The marriage is there. What exactly is father thinking, pairing you—”

“I rejected it already, so you don't have to feel pressured. I’m not getting married to you.”

“Why would you get married to me in the first place? I don’t want to marry someone older than me,” he flinched, staring at me like I had just created the greatest scandal of our time.

“Fine, you didn’t have to say it that way. And stop staring at me like I'm shit,’ I clicked my tongue.

He adjusted his face, pocketing his hands. “Then why would you think of getting married to me in the first place? Didn’t you say you wanted nothing to do with our family?”

“Well, if it’s you. I would politely refuse, so I would not hurt your ego,” I said flatly.

He chuckled lightly. “Oh, I wanted to tell you this. Alistair–”

My watch beeped, cutting him off.

I stared at him. “It’s time for my test. Why don’t we talk about it later?”

I grabbed Kris’s hand, pulling her to the classroom. The teacher was already there, so I practically just threw my bag in the locker before walking to the front seat.

Whispers moved across the room the moment I sat down. Formation, I guess. A fancy word for malpractice. That’s what they are all about these days.

Kris leaned towards me. “Elara, someone is in school—”

“Kris?” The teacher called.

She moved away from me as fast as lightning. “Sorry, miss.”

“We’ll talk about it after the test,” I mouthed towards her, and she nodded slowly.

Forty minutes later, we submitted and exchanged the sheets. The marking was done as fast as possible, and all the papers got back to her.

My legs shook impatiently as I waited for her to call my name.

“Elara Vance,” she called. My eyes brightened at that moment. “You got a perfect score as usual.”

I stood up, walking towards her to collect my script. As I waited for my prize, she spoke again.

“Someone else got a perfect score today, which is quite shocking,” she said.

What?

Murmurs spread through the classroom, like some already knew what was going on.

Miss Claire proceeded to call the name.

“Alistair Roux.”

I froze. A drop of sweat rolled down my back, sending a tiny shiver down my body.

Alistair…

My eyes narrowed as a figure stood up from the very last seat, rising to his 6 '2 height. It’s been five years since I saw him, and though he looked different, he still had that air of aura that unmistakably gave away his identity.

He walked towards Miss Claire and took his papers from her, before staring at me.

“Hi, sweetheart.”