He Wants Me To Marry Him

Elena’s POV

My best friend, Loretta, found me sitting at the kitchen table of the small apartment I had been renting on the outskirts of Blackridge. Blackridge was a beautiful city, all tall glass buildings, rain, and endless green forests with so many different packs. 

The Lancaster estate was less than thirty minutes away. Thirty minutes, however, I hadn’t stepped inside my own pack. It was now renamed the StormCrest pack, like the rest of Lucian's packs that he had conquered.

Rain tapped against the window beside me as I stared at the deed Lucian Black had placed in my hands.

My family’s name was printed across the top. Lancaster. 

I hadn't seen this document in a long time, not since Lucian’s warriors had dragged me out of our home and replaced the Lancaster crest above the gates with his. I still remembered standing outside those gates with nowhere to go.

My family was dead, and my only brother was missing. I had nothing but the clothes I was wearing and now, six years later, he was offering it back. Loretta gaze fell on the paper. 

“What is that in your hands?”

I folded it before she could reach for it.

“Something Lucian gave me.” I didn't have to say who for her to know. Her ocean blue eyes hardened, and she growled, irritation bubbling within her. 

“What does he want this time?” She clenched her fists, Loretta was the Emperor Alpha's number one hater, second to me. I handed her the deed, and her face fell, defeated. She knew the shit that man put me through, because of him, I went through things no woman should. 

“Me.” My voice sounded quiet. 

It wasn’t a secret that Lucian had wanted me for years. He had made that very clear the first time he saw me, but I had refused him every time. 

Loretta was still as I let her take in the information. When she did, she pulled out the chair opposite me and collapsed in it.

“Elena…”

“He wants me to marry him.”

She zoned out again, quiet, just staring at me, yet not. She shook her head slowly. 

“No, babe. You can't."

“You haven’t even heard the rest.” I smiled, bitterly.

“I don’t need to.”

“He’ll return the Lancaster estate to me.”

Her expression changed to curiosity. Loretta knew how long I’d wanted that house back. Not because I cared about the wealth or because I wanted the Lancaster name restored. There was something inside that house that I needed to find. Something my father had hidden before he died. It might finally tell me where my brother was.

“I have to get back inside,” I whispered.

Trisha reached across the table and took my hand.

“And you think marrying Lucian is the only way?”

I looked toward the rain-streaked window.

“I’ve spent six years looking for another way,” I whispered. I found none. The front door opened, and James walked in. His eyes found mine, and I saw despair in them. 

James had been my father’s beta’s son, and my boyfriend. We’d grown up together, fought together, and somehow survived the fall of the Lancaster family together.

“He’s offering you the estate.” he said, voice gruff and angry, jaw clenched. 

I nodded.

“And you said yes?” he was offended.

“Not yet.”

James stared at me for a long moment, and he walked over and sat beside me.

“Elena, don’t.” his voice was quiet. Almost pleading. He had loved me since we were pups, and now I was about to hurt him.

“I don’t have a choice,” I whispered, tears welling in my eyes. 

“Come with me, Elena.”

I glanced up at him. 

“Where, James?!" I almost cried.

“Anywhere.” His fingers tightened around mine. “Oregon, California. Hell, we could cross the border and disappear. You don’t have to marry him.”

“No. I have a brother who may still be alive.” I shook my head, and James went still, I could see he was communicating with his inner wolf, and they were disagreeing. 

“And the answer is in that house...I have to find it.”

He looked down at our joined hands.

“What if Lucian knows what you’re looking for?”

I mulled it over. He would probably kill me, I guess. Up to now, I don't know why he spared me, maybe because he didn't think I was a threat to him, because I didn't have a wolf. 

I thought back to the look Lucian gave me at the party.  He had looked like a man waiting for something he’d already won.

I pulled my hand away from James. 

“I’ll marry Lucian Black.” I declared, and James’ face crumbled, tears gathered in his eyes. I hated myself for putting them there. I wrapped my arms around him, and he held me tightly, breathing in my scent like it was the last time he'd have a chance to.

For a few seconds, I let myself pretend this was another life. A life where I could be with James, and have his babies, not marry the man who had taken everything from me.