Chapter 4: Provoking a fight

Just when her car drove off, the friendly smile painted on that strange man’s face quickly disappeared. In front of him, there stood four other men. The look on their face seemed

merciless.

The strange man said to them: “They are at the back.”

With that said, the strange man stepped aside while those four walked their way into the bar.

No intruder could do any harm in Bailey's area. He would make sure those lone wolves imprinted that to their brain.

Talking about imprinting, the strange man eyed Giselle's direction until her car was just a tiny black dot and merged into the darkness of the night. He refigured about that woman and couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

She was definitely something else. She was not a fighter, but her attitude was somewhat stubborn and reckless.

In the strange man's pack, any wolves who were not a fighter usually had that solf look and were submissive to other fighters.

That woman, on the other hand, dared to invade another pack’s territory. And better yet, even her attitude screamed carelessly. As though she didn't even bother if she ever struck a fight between two clans.

She wasn’t a lone wolf. So, she must have known what crossing territory with another pack meant.

He didn’t know whether he should call this woman brave or she was just meant to do something else. Like provoking a fight, he thought to himself.

He frowned, his wedding was getting closed, he couldn’t risk anything.

Suddenly, the loud noise of glass breaking and thudding sound coming from the bar caught his attention back.

He clenched his teeth. Concurrently, his eyes were turning red, fuming.

Lady Dorris Bailey sat on her couch comfortably. A thin greyish blanket wrapped around her lower body. On her lap, there was an opened, half-read book that she had no attention to reading at that moment. Her fingers ran through lines of words on the same page for about ten minutes then. Her mind was wandering off. Something bothered her these days that she couldn't seem to get a hold of it. This unpleasant feeling bothered her wolf, too. However, her wolf knew that she should keep quiet when the Luna was drowning in her thoughts.

Dorris Bailey had been the Luna of Bailey’s pack for more than twenty years so far. Currently, she was the one in charge since her husband, Alpha of the pack, was deceased.

The thing was, even if she had the power, Dorris was still a beta. A beta position in the pack was less important than any alphas. Only alphas could lead the clan. Therefore, lots of members were against her reign. But still, there was also a part of the pack who supported her and stayed loyal to her.

Those two parties constantly fought back and forth. Until the council decided Dorris would temporarily replace her husband's place, leading the clan. And Dorris would be their leader until Marcus Bailey, who was the Alpha’s son came of age and got married.

The council had made their statement. And for this, the opposing party could not say anything against it. Yet, Dorris knew for sure that the opposing party did not give up that easily. They still tried to find a way to kick her and Marcus out of this pack.

They just had not found a perfect way to carry out their evil plans. They had tried but to no avail.

Dorris’s supporters had told her that they feared that even when Marcus got married and took the helm as the council had decided, there would still be those who disagreed. Those oppositions would find a way or even ways to oust Marcus at any moment. Marcus and Dorris were walking on ice then.

Dorris sighed for the hundredth time. Dorris had known that she needed support, a solid one. And the best support should come from Marcus’s future wife’s clan.

Of those packs that were the strongest in the city, Dorris did not seem to know any clans who their Alpha had a daughter. Reluctantly, the Luna had to think about middle-class packs. However, not all middle-class suited.

At the time, Raiz Bailey, brother-in-law of Dorris, who was on the supporters' side, had told Dorris that the Brownson pack was not a bad option.

Brownson's pack was the most promising pack of the East Side. They had good credit and were well-off. With their growing speed, to say they would step up their game and be one of the most powerful packs of the city within one or two years was not an exaggeration. 

Dorris considered this option for quite a long time. This suggestion seemed appealing.

The Luna knew it was essential to consolidate her son's foothold in the pack. Still, she did not want to force Marcus into any marriages that he would not want to have. The Luna and her husband both wanted their son to marry the person he loved and lived a happy life for the rest of his life. Like how she and her husband did for quite a time.

For this reason, if Dorris forced Marcus to marry the daughter of another Alpha to ensure his position in the pack, would their son have his happy ending?

It was constantly bothering her a lot lately. Dorris had sure that they needed this marriage. But when it came to the final decision, Dorris felt unsure.

Dorris Bailey sighed while touching her heart-shaped pendant, which her husband had given to her on their honeymoon. He said that he had made the pendant himself. Dorris still wore it until this day. It was a symbol of their love. Momentarily, Dorris felt like this symbol felt like a cuff to her. Pathetic much!

It felt like a cuff that choked around her throat, preventing her not to slipping out a word. A cuff that held her back threatened her not to force Marcus to do some permanent things like marrying for his foothold.

But then, she got lucky.

Dorris had done her investigation. She knew Alpha of the Brownson's pack had a daughter named Tina Brown, who had been seeing Marcus. They had been on dates for quite a while. Dorris could tell that Marcus had feelings for Tina. His eyes were full of awes and love for that Tina girl.

The Luna found herself feeling relief at the discovery. After all, this marriage did not seem like forcing at all.

Be that as it may, the Luna could feel her wolf unsettling at the thought of having Tina as her daughter-in-law. That Tina girl gave off some odd vibes to her. Tina was beautiful, gorgeous even, the Luna might say. But at the same time, Tina felt so fake and untrustworthy.

The Luna knew it was wrong to judge someone by their look like that, but it was her instinct, and her wolf agreed. They are both uncertain about Tina.

Nevertheless, if it was not Tina, then who? Tina was the only best choice then.

Of course, Dorris had mentioned the wedding with Marcus. When Luna told her son that his future wife would be the daughter of Brownson's pack's Alpha, Marcus was so excited. He thrilled at the news. He was looking forward to it.

Suddenly, the Luna’s phone rang. Its ringtone stroke through the silence of the fancy penthouse, which made Dorris startled. She picked up the phone to see it was Edsel Brown calling.

"Edsel Brown - Alpha of the Brownson’s pack."

Dorris reminded herself.

Dorris contemplated whether she should pick up or not. She didn't like Edsel Brown or his Luna either. In short, she disliked the Edsel family of three. This family made her feel like they were very calculating, very selfish people.

"Yes?"

Finally, Dorris Bailey picked up the phone, trying to be as normal as possible, not to reveal her boredom.

"Good evening Lady Bailey." Edsel politely said.

"Good evening Mr. Brown, do you call me about the marriage of Marcus and your daughter?" Dorris asked directly.

She had met and discussed Marcus's marriage to his daughter beforehand. Edsel and his wife – Brenna – said they would respond to Dorris soon. And their "early respond" was three days later.

"Yes, ma'am. We should meet again to discuss this. Or..."

"Oh, there's no need for an appointment. I've been pretty busy lately. We can just talk on the phone." Dorris replied. She didn't want to see the Browns again.

"Yes, I also know that you are very busy, so I called you. Let me be honest with you, my Lady. We, Brownson's pack, are happy to join Bailey's pack. My daughter Giselle can't wait to get married.

She saw your son's photo and immediately got love struck. To my surprise, she insisted on getting married as soon as possible. You see, the kids nowadays are so bold." Edsel half-jokingly said.

However, the name of his daughter confused Dorris a little bit. She asked again: "Giselle?"

"Yes, that's my daughter's name. Giselle Brown. I'm going to ask you out to let you two meet. But since you’ve said that you were busy, I'd probably send you a picture of her." Edsel laughed.

Dorris reflected for a moment, saying: "I'm not free today. But on weekends, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Irish café on the second floor at the Brighton Hotel?"

"Wonderful. I'll see you there."

Dorris hung up. She frowned, indescribably. Wasn’t the Browns only got one daughter whose name was Tina? Why is there another Giselle?

Or did the detective she had hired fail to investigate this family throughout?

Dorris pondered for a moment and called her private detective, asking for an investigation into a girl named Giselle in Brownson's pack. She didn't say the girl's full name. Because Dorris thought Edsel must have had something fishy to hide from her. Then it was best to look for a girl named Giselle instead.

Dorris had just hung up, and it had not been quiet for long before the Luna got another call. This time it was from Raiz Bailey, her brother-in-law.

Dorris frowned. She felt a little uneasy at this.

Marcus sat on the bar, his hands out behind him to create a prop, his back reclining. Marcus looked up at the ceiling, where the yellow lights were merely light up the room, clearly not enough to light up the even small bar space. But it was okay since the sun was about to rise anytime soon. It was almost morning.

He took a deep breath, sat up straight. Marcus' feet loosened, swaying back and forth. He rolled his eyes around the messy bar. The tables and chairs skewed up, the cups broken, those wine bottles and beer cans scattered around. The glass door shattered as well.

This messy space was solid evidence of a hot fight that had just happened. It was an intense fight. The result was in everyone's predictions, those wild wolves had been chased away by Marcus and his friends.

From the beginning, those wild wolves had no intention of fighting. The prey they targeted ran away. Of course, they had no intention of causing trouble any further. They just hoped they could get out quickly.

It was okay to let them go, but Marcus couldn't let them just run away like a breeze that easy either. These wild wolves must have acted on someone's orders. If so, Marcus made sure to let their master know that Marcus Bailey wasn't a useless Alpha-to-be. He had trained hard for the day he took over the pack. Marcus was a tough guy.

Never think of deceiving him or provoking him. The worse result was not his to take, but his rivals'.

Thinking about it, Marcus couldn't help but sigh.

His inner wolf, on the other hand, roared in anger. It was still hungry for blood: "We should have broken their necks, then sent those rotten bodies of them weak wolves back to their master."

Marcus implicitly agreed with his inner wolf. He should have had done that.