Ten

"What is it you're saying, Jay?!"

Stella fumed.

Alpha Jayden didn't know what to say, so he kept mute.

"Are you kidding me, you want to give our daughter to someone barely known for some alliance?!"

Now, she was yelling the roof off and Jayden could swear that his ears would bleed any minute from now.

"What are you truly saying, Jay?" She breathed heavily.

Jayden remained silent as he still didn't know how to answer that.

"Jayden, are you planning on trading our only child for the sake of your political greed, what about her mate and even his mate?!" Stella asked, face turning red.

He could literally see hot smoke like incense ascend from her head at this point.

"I've asked you a question Jay and when I do, I expect an answer," she said through gritted teeth. "Answer me!"

"I don't know, okay!" He yelled back, throwing his hands up in exasperation. " I don't want our daughter married to that man either but this is beyond my control."

"Beyond your control? You're an Alpha!" She banged her fist on the armrest of his seat.

"They are the Council of Elders. You know what happens to anyone who goes against them!"

She did know but she'd never let her daughter be a bait to guarantee their safety.

"You have to do something about this, Jay." She was struggling to keep her anger in check. "Our child cannot marry that boy or anyone else other than her mate!"

Alpha Jayden only sighed in frustration. How was he to explain to this woman that this was beyond him?

"We are even mated and look how our relationship is. What would happen to my baby who wouldn't be mated by this man?" Stella asked, chest heaving as hot tears stung her eyelids.

"And whose fault is it that our relationship is so strained, mm?" He cocked his brows. He had kept it bottled up, maybe it was time he let the cat out of the bag.

"What, are you insinuating that it's my fault?!" She fired.

"Of course, it's your fault!" Alpha Jayden yelled back at her in anger.

"You blocked me out! I am your mate but you treat me like a total stranger, you avoid me like a plague!" Stella vibrated as she threw a stank eye at him.

"That's because you are!" The moment those words escaped his lips, regret washed over him.

Stella gasped and her lips trembled as those words pricked her like a thousand needles. For a moment he feared she'd cry.

"What about Mia, is she a plague too?" She asked in a brittle voice; heart sinking.

"No, I didn't-that's not what I meant," Jayden said with no fight left in him.

"Then what did you mean? I have had to wait day and night for you to at least show me that you see me and you know I exist. Mia has had to wait years!" Stella felt her stomach churn.

Alpha Jayden had dreaded this discussion for years and now that it was here, he hated himself.

Stella's eyes had welled up with tears. "She used to wait up all night refusing to go to bed until you came to see her or at least let her see you but no! You preferred to sit in that useless study of yours, choosing to ignore your family rather than things of the state."

A stray tear fell and she quickly wiped it away but alpha Jayden saw it and it only made him feel more like a monster. "She was only a child. Was she a plague then?"

Stella felt a clawing sensation in the walls of her parched throat.

"So no, I would never let my daughter go into a marriage that would be most likely loveless," Stella said through gritted teeth.

Alpha Jayden sighed again, running his palm down his face in frustration.

"We don't get to choose anymore, I'm sorry," He said in a broken voice, wishing things could be different but that was not possible.

"You're such a failure of a father and husband!" Stella snarled.

"Watch your tongue, woman!"

His anger had been rekindled and he used his Alpha tone on her making her wolf cower, too.

"What's going on?" Mia asked from the doorway.

Alpha Jayden and Stella both turned to look at Mia in surprise. They hadn't heard her come in. How could they when they were hell-bent on bringing down the roof with their yells and screams?

"It's nothing love, nothing to worry about,"

Stella said trying to dismiss her.

"It's not nothing."  Alpha Jayden countered.

"Jay, don't."

Stella warned in a deathly tone, glaring at her husband

"Don't what?" Mia furrowed her eyebrows and shuffled her gaze between her parents.

"Don't do anything, dear. You should return to your room now, love."

Stella cooed, trying to push her out of the room.

"You are getting married," Alpha Jayden announced.

There was no point hiding it. She'd find out soon, even if it meant she did on the wedding day. The marriage was inevitable.

"No, she's not!" Stella exclaimed.

Mia stared at them quietly still in shock from the news while her parents kept bickering about a marriage–her marriage.

"Why?" Was all she could ask.

"Don't worry your head on why you're not getting married." Stella smiled at Mia.

Alpha Jayden ignored his wife and explained to his daughter, "It's an alliance marriage and it's happening."

Mia's heart skipped a beat as she blanched, feeling rooted to the spot. She breathed heavily, repeating the words, "Alliance marriage" and curling her mouth upward at the bitter aftertaste.

What about her mate?

"Mia, don't listen to your father.  You're not getting married."

Her mother assured her.

"She is and it's not up for debate!" Alpha Jayden yelled, successfully shutting her mom up.

Mia's face paled even more. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out of it. She felt vomit racing up her throat but she swallowed hard, trying to steady her breathing.

They couldn't tell what she was thinking as her face was void of emotions.

Finally, she calmed her racing heart and spoke, "I'll retire to my room now."

Mia turned and walked away and they both stared at her retreating figure in silence even when she had exited the room, they stared at the door.

Alpha Jayden had expected a fight but the girl had awarded them none.

"Happy now?" Stella asked rhetorically, looking at her husband with a mixture of anger and disgust.

"Now I'll have to clean up your mess and go talk to her." He watched in silence as she exited as well, hissing loudly before slamming shut the door.

When the room returned to its usual quiet nature, he slumped on his chair totally drained.

He couldn't help but feel like a failure. He had let his family down again and there was nothing he could do to make things right.

He hated the idea of having to give his child out to an alliance marriage especially one with the young Alpha, Alexander Heartsman.

After a few hours, Stella went to Mia's room as promised.

She knocked for a while and when she was certain she wasn't going to be let in, she pushed the door open.

Mia stood in a corner; her head bowed and although all she could see was Mia's back view turned against her. She was certain the girl was crying with how her body shook.

"Oh, dear," Stella said, feeling her heart sink at the sad sight as she made her way to her precious child.

Stella threw her hands out and pulled her into a warm embrace.

After a short while of trying to comfort her daughter, she realized that she didn't smell the same and she seemed a bit taller. Stella fused her eyebrows into a deep frown.

She pulled away from the hug to take a good look at her child only to see a trembling Isabelle.

Stella blanched as her heart galloped and all the air left her lungs.

"Where is Mia?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.