003

~~ ARIA ~~

“Mrs Hale, I want you to be totally honest with me. Do you really not know what caused the fight between Thorne and Alec?” I ask her.

I watch her pause, and even though it is just for a second, I know that she never hesitates whenever she wants to say the truth.

“I have no reason to lie to you, sweetie,” she answers. “Now come on, let’s get you settled in.”

I sigh deeply, realizing that she knows something. Maybe not everything, but she definitely knows something, and she isn’t telling me.

I let out a tight-lipped smile and follow her back home.

The air in my room feels different. It is soothing and cozy. Maybe it is because I haven’t been here for five years.

Mrs Hale goes to prepare my favorite meal so I use that opportunity to meet up with Alec.

I need answers to my questions and I am not going to rest until I get them.

When I get to Alec’s study, I don’t bother knocking before I go in.

Because I know that if I do, he’ll know it is me, and I have a strong feeling he won’t want to see me.

So I just open the door and go in. I watch as he gets up from his seat ready to take a fight pose.

I shake my head, feeling sorry for him. He doesn’t even feel safe in his own home.

What kind of life is that?

He cusses under his breath when he sees it is me.

“Next time knock before you come into my study,” he says sternly before sitting down.

“Can you even listen to yourself? You were alarmed thinking it was someone coming to kill you. Why do you choose to live like this, when you can confide in me so we can come up with a solution to end all this?” I ask him.

But Alec, being the annoying person that he is, doesn’t even look at me. Instead, he focuses on the laptop in front of him.

Goddess knows I feel like taking the damn thing and smashing it against the wall so that he can finally look at me.

But I don’t.

“It’s been five years since our pack has been at war with Thorne’s pack. Each time I ask you why, you change the topic. Alec, I demand to know what is happening?” I lash out.

He finally looks at me and sighs.

“Aria, you are my precious sister. You shouldn’t worry about things that we men can handle. What you should be concerned about now is your marriage,” Alec says calmly.

My marriage? I frown.

“What do you mean by my marriage?” I ask.

“Aria, that is the reason you’re back. I’ve arranged a marriage between you and Alpha Magnus. You will get married to him tomorrow. All plans have been made, so you won’t need to stress yourself,” he smiles.

Yeah, he fucking smiles, as though he is talking about something casual.

“Are you talking about the Alpha Magnus I know? Or some other one?” I ask, trying to keep my cool.

“He has promised to treat you like a queen. He will cherish you, Aria,” Alec states, making me scoff.

I feel like punching something — anything. But I can’t. Instead I ball my palms into fists.

I should have known that something like this might happen when he suddenly calls me to come back home.

How can Alec arrange a marriage without my consent? And to Alpha Magnus? Of all people?

That man is my late Dad’s age mate.

“Wow, I can’t believe this,” I laugh bitterly and then look at Alec.

“He is the best man I can entrust you to. He will take care of you,” Alec tries to reason with me.

“Can you even listen to yourself? Alec, you’re talking about me marrying a 60-year-old man like it’s something casual and normal. You shipped me out to the human world where I don’t know anyone. You left me there for five years, and now you brought me back just to marry some old man?” I snap, fighting back tears.

How can he be so inconsiderate? How can he even agree to marry me off to an old man that everyone in all packs hates?

It is at that moment that I finally see it in Alec’s eyes. Frustration and guilt.

“You think I wanna do this?” He snaps in frustration, making me take a step back.

“Then why are you doing it?” I ask him, trying to be cool and hear him out.

“Financing the war with Thorne’s pack has cost us a lot of money. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy. Alpha Magnus has promised to give me any amount I need for free if I let him marry you,” Alec explains.

This explanation is supposed to calm me down, right? But it doesn’t. Rather, it fuels the anger in me.

“You’re selling me off to an old man because of something that is your fault?” I lash out at him.

“All I did was take the money to buy weapons for the war,” he points out.

He already collected the money from the man?

I groan, resisting the urge to slap Alec.

“The war is your mess. I don’t even know why it started, so why on earth will you marry me off without my consent?” I yell, my nose flaring.

Just the thought of Alpha Magnus touching me irritates me so much that I want to bring down the whole building if possible.

“This? The war?…” Alec yells back, “I’m doing it for the family.”

“Oh, you are?” I ask in a tone dripping with sarcasm. “Then marry Alpha Magnus yourself, because this… is your mess, and I want no part in it.”

I don’t even wait for him to respond, because if I stay one more minute inside there with him, I will end up punching him right in the gut.

So I storm out of the study only to bump into Mrs Hale.

She sighs sadly, and that is when I realize she has been listening in on my conversation with Alec.

“Did you know about this?” I ask her, my breath still a bit fast.

She doesn’t need to answer because the look in her eyes says it all.

I huff in disappointment and storm out of the house.

I can’t stand being in the same place with them.

How can Mrs Hale even let Alec make all these impulsive choices and decisions?

Isn’t she supposed to be his moral support? She is the only mother figure Alec and I have.

I walk for over thirty minutes, heading nowhere in particular, thinking of a solution to my problems.

However, no matter how much I think about it, aside from marrying Alpha Magnus, there is only one way out.