Contract Marriage ||

Camille Loeka

“M A R R I A G E ?” The word was threatening to choke the life out of her.

No. Her father wasn't going to betray her like this. He knew how much she dreaded getting married.

She had never attended any of the district's galas to even see if she would find her mate.

Marriage was one thing she had never anticipated. She had made it abundantly clear, even to the men in the pack, that she wasn’t ready to let any supposed ship sail.

Not even when Devon had tried to talk to her about sex.

She craved to scream, to lash out, to grab hold of something, anything, yet her feet felt cemented to the floor. Her body was unwilling, refused to respond; she couldn’t even feel it anymore.

Opening her mouth to voice a protest, she snapped it shut when no words came out. Why did her tongue always betray her at the most critical moments?

She saw Alpha Loeka still droning on, but her mind was floating away.

Snap!

Feeling those familiar gentle tremors course through her veins like a jolt of electricity, she jolted back to reality.

“What…?” The word exploded from her lips.

With a quick turn of her head, a derisive snicker escaped her lips. “This is some kind of joke, right, Father?” she declared, seething with mounting frustration.

Camille looked from father to the breathtaking stranger sitting down calmly, clearly an irritant now, as she saw his eyes claw over her body, obviously eye-fu**ing her.

His eyes were roaming every curve of her body. From her collarbone to her perfect breast—not small or too much, just perfect.

This was normal. She got it all the time. However, it infuriated her right now.

She had an amazing face and body. At least the gods had spared her that lot but had left her wolfless!

Trade by barter, right?

Even the men in the pack were learning the hard way to keep their lust to themselves.

Two weeks before the academy resumed in the fall, and this is what she was getting from her father? Marriage?

Was this his twisted form of punishment for her being wolfless?

Rage pulsed within her, hot and furious.

“I apologise for my daughter's unrestrained behaviour. She isn’t always this poorly behaved,” Alpha Loeka said, directing his gaze toward Alpha Sigewuf.

What about her? Didn't she deserve an apology for this life-damaging news he'd just served her?

Alpha Loeka completely ignored her, just as everyone else in the family did—dismissing her very existence like she was nothing more than a ghost.

He passed on his piece, expecting her to shove it down, following suit like a lamb heading toward her own slaughter.

But no.

She was not going to do that.

Alpha Loeka's laboured breathing radiated tension, thickening the air around them, but Camille knew he was desperately trying to rein in his fury in front of Alpha Sigewuf.

Her own anger was unnerving.

My eyes turned to face the stranger, whose full lips suddenly made the words in my throat choke right there.

Goodness! He was attractive.

Mind you, she had never checked out a man in her entire life and she had no idea why she was doing that now

But it was a waste! This stranger, his handsomeness, all of it was a waste of her time.

She did not need an attraction that was going to change the course of her life.

Camille couldn't tell why the one stranger who made her insides tingle had to also be the reason why an important part of her life was about to be shattered.

He stood up. A perfect 6 feet”.

It didn't surprise her that he was that tall, almost making her own height insignificant.

The packs in the North were mostly lycans. The special breeds.

Lycans were hybrids and ranked higher in power. They were more brutal, and their pride—well, it probably would come Summa Cum Laude if it were a person graduating from college.

It was almost like the separation between the districts had been intentional since creation. The southern districts were made up of packs with wolves, while the northern district was made up of packs with Lycans. And then, the human district—the city, which she rarely heard about.

Alpha Sigewuf’s tall frame was clearly imposing as he stood above me.

A slow, predatory smile unfurled at the corner of his lips. A smile that was unpredictable and unpredictability made Camille uncomfortable.

He yanked her arm, pulling her to himself.

She didn't like the mixed feelings ravaging her from being this close to him.

“The gods seem to have taken a liking to you," he smacked his lips, "decidedly choosing you as my mate,” he muttered, placing his face around the nape of her neck as he sniffed in her scent.

Camille chuckled, freeing herself from his grasp as her disbelief rolled into another chuckle, then a short laughter.

Mate? A Lycan alpha as her mate?

She couldn't believe it.

First off, she was wolfless and couldn't prove what she'd just heard him say except for the mixed feeling circling her.

Secondly, she wasn't even interested in a relationship yet, much worse, marriage, or finding out about a living-breathing-lycan mate.

Alpha Sigewuf's eyes darkened.

Was she trying to play hard to get?

“With all due respect, I…” Camille began but was cut off as he cut her off,

“Shhhh,” he shushed her, placing his hands on her neck again as he pulled her closer to himself, sniffing harder.

"She smells perfect!"

"Absolutely" Alpha Loeka concurred, a mischievous smile on her face

Did they realise she was here? Standing before them?

Lycan or werewolf, if he thought he could impose himself on her, he had another thing coming.

Camille pulled away from his grasp, "What exactly are you doing?” she snapped, looking him in the eyes.

“You can't come here acting like a freak and…”

He gripped her neck. His whole fingers pressed deeply, cutting her words mid-sentence.

A flicker of something dark appeared on his face as she tried to pull away from him

“Being my mate does not give you the right to speak with such condescending words!”

“Mate?” I scoffed through clenched teeth

She turned to Alpha Loeka to come to her rescue, ask him to take his hands off her, but he looked away, avoiding her gaze.

Camille felt her lungs choke with betrayal.

Alpha Sigewuf released his fingers, eyes watching her like a hawk.

Camille didn't cower; her audacity was even more as she spoke again, "With all due respect, alpha, I am no mate of which you seek.”

His lips tilted upward, "You can't deny that when I'm this close. I can smell that musky-floral mixed in hot chocolate scent"

Camille rubbed a hand around her neck, "Well, I can't pick yours" she spat

Alpha Sigewuf's face twitched with surprise. “You… you can't pick my scent?”

Suddenly, the chasm between them felt agonizingly small.

Shit!

She should have just kept quiet.

His presence was suffocating; a heavy, oppressive weight bearing down on her, yet I remained rooted to the spot.

He moved closer, and the tenderness she'd seen in his eyes a few minutes ago was gone.

'You're wolfless,” he yelled, tone laced with disgust. “You're fu*king wolfless!” he snarled, smashing his fist into the wall behind her.

Camille shut my eyes.

Hearing those words repeated made her sick.

This was the only thing that got to her.

She was a wolfless fighter, and that made everyone see her as insignificant as the humans.

She was nothing without her wolf and that hurt badly.