Miranda shook her head, dropping to sit on a chair, as at that moment, she felt so weak her legs couldn’t even carry her, “no… I don’t understand… why? He knows how important this wedding is to me and my pack, why then did he decide to bail on me at the last minute??? A day before the wedding? This makes no sense at all.”
Beta Finn’s face held sympathy, “I’m sorry princess Miranda, but the Night shadow alpha just has too many responsibilities choking him on the neck, he tried to make it, he tried so much… but he just wasn’t able to come for the cardinal conference, the burdens he’s carrying are too overwhelming. I’ll even be the one representing the night shadow pack’s leadership for the sacrifice this year.”
“He couldn’t make it? For his own wedding??? He knows how important this engagement is to the Lotus pack! To me!!!! What could have been so important for him not to be able to come???” Just then, she remembered something, something that he had told her earlier through a phone call, same thing that made her storm with rage.
“I should have known… It’s Samara, isn’t it???? She’s the reason he couldn’t make it here today, right?!!!”
“Ummm….” Finn couldn’t answer.
“Don’t lie to me, Beta Finn! I can see right through you! Tell me the truth!!!”
“The beta sighed, giving up, “I’m sorry princess, but Samara was severely injured and the alpha couldn’t help but blame himself for it. I…”
Miranda cut him short, with an empty laugh… “so all because Samara is injured? He cancelled his own wedding??? Ha!”
“He didn’t cancel it dear, he only moved it to next year, to the next cardinal conference… he promises that there will be no more excuses by that time and the both of you will get married, he says to tell you he’s sorry.”
Miranda was not only heartbroken but devastated, and the words of the Beta only hurt her more,
“Follow your heart,” she heard her wolf, Lily, suddenly whisper within her then. Lily hardly came out to speak and when she did, she knew it was because it was time to make a hefty decision, a decision that would change everything…
“Tell your alpha to save his explanations, he can go ahead and marry his Samara. I am calling off the engagement. I’m not doing this anymore.”
“Miranda!” She heard her father’s loud voice call this time, her father rarely shouted, but this time he did because the words she’d let out shot him like an arrow in the chest, of course no alpha would like to see his pack’s downfall because of his daughter.
“Father!” She turned to see her father holding his chest, struggling to breathe, he’d panicked and now he’d gotten an attack. Fear suddenly erupted in her heart. Oh no! This is not good! This is not good at all!!!
“Guards!!!!” As soon as she yelled, two uniformed men stormed into the meeting room, upon seeing the alpha in a state of attack, they held worried looks on their faces. Miranda then gave instructions.
Take him to his room now and send for the healer immediately!
“Yes milady!” They quickly ran past her to where the alpha was struggling, nearly falling out of his wheelchair. Lifting him up to take him out of the room, leaving Miranda and the beta alone, but her mind wasn’t conscious of that fact, the only thing she could feel right now was tremendous guilt prickling her insides, she should have known better than to say that in front of her father, who doesn’t take too well to bad news because of his condition.
“Princess…” her mind was interrupted by Beta Finn’s voice.
She turned to him, “yes?”
“I’m sorry about what happened to your father dear, I guess there are things in life that happen beyond our control.”
By things that were “beyond control,” Miranda knew he was referring to the unfortunate happenings in the Lotus pack the past few years, the pack was badly damaged after the last war, it was unexpected but it happened of course, taking many lives. Alpha Luther was the best leader any pack could have, and if it weren’t for him, the lotus pack wouldn’t even be in existence any longer, he fought for their protection till he could fight no more, but it was not enough to uplift the prosperity of the pack, there’s only so much one wolf can do, all other packs has managed to scale through and succeed after the war period, but the Lotus pack keeps getting worse, especially without an alpha who can’t even stand on his own two feet.
“Princess? … Princess???”
Her thoughts were interrupted again, she realized then that the beta had been calling her a couple of times, there’s just so much going on in her mind right now, making her oblivious to her surroundings.
“I’m sorry… what is it you were saying?”
“I’m taking my leave now and I have to send feedback to the alpha before heading to the cardinal conference, I understand that you calling off the engagement so quickly might have just been reflex; of course, no one likes to hear that type of news just before the main day, I understand if you’ll need some time to think things through, I can tell that to alpha Walden instead.”
Miranda shook her head, “I’m not thinking anything through. My decision stands and nothing will change that. Tell alpha Walden what I told you earlier, the engagement is called off, I’m not doing this anymore.”
After many persuasions that led nowhere, the beta realized then that Miranda’s mind had truly been made up, she was calling off the engagement for real, even though she knew what the repercussions would be, but yet she remained adamant in her decision.He gave it one last attempt before he left.“I understand that you are angry, dear Princess, anyone would be. I’ll be taking my leave now, I’ll tell alpha Walden what you said, but I do hope you’ll change your mind later when you calm down,” he said, standing up.Suddenly the guards burst in to deliver the news of her father’s state to Miranda.“We have called the healer milady; he is now in the alpha’s chambers attending to your father, he has the situation under control.”Miranda nodded, “thank you, I’ll go and see him now, before you go, please escort Beta Finn out of the packhouse, see to it that he makes his way out,” she then turned to the beta, “thank you for visiting sire, you may take your leave now.”********** Alpha Walden l
Right from childhood, Miranda and Walden have chosen each other as mates and were to be married on one of the future cardinal conferences, things went well between the two until the rogue war which disrupted the gatherings, the packs gradually became isolated from each other and Miranda and Walden’s relationship suffered, before he started getting closer to Samara, the daughter to the beta of the night shadow pack.After the gatherings resumed, Walden was no longer as close to her as before, probably because her pack’s status degraded, it was like he was even ashamed to be seen with her. Whenever they met, it was always Samara this… Samara that, she didn’t need anyone to tell her that Walden didn’t love her anymore, but what could a princess who wanted to save her pack do???Now that she’s made this decision, she’s going to stick by it till the end, she doesn’t know what the outcome will be, the only thing she is sure to do is what her wolf says, “follow your heart….”“Ma’am?”She tur
The cardinal conference, the mother of all gatherings amongst the twelve wolf tribes, held annually at the goddess’s crescent, also known as the great wolf’s headquarters. Every year, all pack members would gather there for the grand event which involved performing an ultimate sacrifice to honor and worship the wolf gods, this was a very crucial sacrifice that no tribe dares miss out on, everyone can’t attend of course, but the law states that every single tribe must be represented on the sacrifice ground, and even though the Lotus pack members do not really have the chance to attend, there must be a representative from the pack there to join in the ritual. The Beta of the Lotus pack, Beta Valledor, is usually the one to perform this honor, and has been doing it for a few years now…. But amongst all the warnings and proceedings of the great sacrifice of the cardinal conference, only one wolf tribe dares to flout the rule of representation, and that tribe is none other than the great s
Soon after a few minutes of waiting, the receptionist came to inform her that Beta Valledor was seen in the guest lounge.“Thank you!” More than happy to leave this pit of snakes, Miranda got up and headed towards the guest area, led by the hotel attendant.Valledor was in the guest hall among other pack leaders that were lodging in the hotel for the conference, they were all seated in the lounge, drinking, celebrating, exchanging conversations and laughter. Valledor couldn’t help but boast amongst his peers about the wedding tomorrow.He was a bit tipsy from drinking, but still found words to say, “those of you who look down on the Lotus pack and say bad things about us, you will eat your words when our princess marries the night shadow alpha tomorrow, once we join forces with them, you will never dare to say bad words about us again.”“I hope to see that day,” one of the alphas of the twelve tribes, Caspian said. “But for now, that your princess hasn’t joined alpha Walden in matrimo
Lily ran until her legs could take her no farther, her legs ached after running for so long, till the point at which she felt she would die if she took any more steps, stopping underneath a tree to rest with her head laid down on the forest ground. She looked up panting for a few minutes as she lay, telling the time from the skies, evening had come, she’d better be running home now, else she’d have everyone at home worried. Even though she still felt crappy at what happened a few hours ago, it still didn’t make her change her decision, neither did it make her regret what she did. Nothing, no matter how worse things got, would ever make her regret her decision of refusing to marry Walden.After resting for a while, she got up from the ground, it was a good run, and it was time to go home now. It was when she looked around that she then noticed that she’d entered a different territory. With the different trees and plants that grew around this area, also with the different soil, she coul
“Move it miss! You dare not keep the alpha waiting!”Miranda trembled as each step she took brought her closer to the silver packhouse court, where her fate would be decided for intruding on the pack’s territory, her head was bent as she walked in chains past the city gates, where the majority of the silver wolves lived. As she passed, she could feel their glances pinned on her; the strange prisoner that was being taken into the court to meet with Alpha Damian, she was a she wolf, and she looked so small and innocent, mixed glances of worry and pity overshadowed her as she was taken in.Finally entering the court,“On your knees!” The guards behind her didn’t wait before pushing her mercilessly, so that her knees hit the ground with such painful force. She’d heard a lot of stories, but she never thought it would be this intense. Why were the silver wolves so cold to strangers entering their lands in such manner? And why the HELL didn’t she check properly before wandering into this pla
“Kill her!”Maybe this was the end; this was truly the end for her, she wasn’t sure that there was anything she would say that would move him further, this man was harder than a brick wall, with a heart made of steel.She saw the executioner approaching her then, wearing a mask, a large axe hanging from his hand, ready to carry on with her sentence.Her wolf cried out then.“What are you doing!!!! You can’t give up! You can’t let him kill you just like that!!!”Lily was right, she can still do something about this; maybe there’s a chance her life might still be saved. She began to plead again, her view in line with where alpha Damian was, holding his gaze with desperate eyes, Lily tried to see if she could reach out to his wolf too.“Please! Don’t kill me alpha Damian! Please…. there has to be a way! Anything! I’ll do anything to prove my innocence to you! Anything!”It was almost too late! As the headsman held out the axe standing behind her, in a few seconds, it would be the end, he
Watching the body being taken away, fear pierced Miranda like a knife at his words, but still she didn’t know where the courage to speak so boldly came from.“What do I have to do to prove to you that I am not the enemy?”Everywhere became silent as the alpha contemplated on what to do to regarding the lotus princess’s claim. It took him a while to finally figure out the best way she could vindicate herself. The silence was once again cleared by the sound of his voice.“I will send a message to your father that I am holding you captive for trespassing on my lands. He has to respond to me within three days with the official seal of the alpha of the Lotus pack, only the alpha holds such power. If he does this, then I will know that your claim is true.”“But….”“What?”“What if… what if he can’t….? What if he is unable to respond by that time?”“Then I’ll know you’re a fraud, and you’ve already seen what I do with frauds.”She began to cry again, “No, no, no….! You don’t …. You don’t und