Chapter 1:
Aria:
My name is Aria Blackstone and I am the Alpha’s daughter of the Silverclaw Pack. I’m seventeen years old but have the weight of the world on my shoulders. I know, I know, it sounds cliche but it’s the truth. I’ve felt it since my birth.
I wish I could say I have a loving, understanding father who genuinely cares about my happiness.
But the truth is that I don’t.
While my father isn’t loving he does possess many, many other endearing qualities, ones that I have inherited as well.
My father is what you call a true Alpha warrior. He bleeds Alpha warrior from his blood. For him, one wouldn’t exist without the other.
And I share those qualities, too.
But when men are strong, fierce, and stern they are referred to as leaders.
But women are strong, fierce, and stern; they are referred to as bitches.
The vast distinction between the two genders is why I am the way I am.
I am my fathers daughter, through and through, I don’t have a ‘girly’ or ‘sensitive’ bone in my body. I act tough because well, I am tough.
My mind was built that way—-and same with my personality. I don’t take shit from anyone.
And I realize that attitude would be normal if I was a man, but I wasn’t and that’s where the problem laid.
My mother died in childbirth, after she gave birth to me—maybe that’s the reason why my father is the way he is. Trauma does that to a person.
And maybe that’s also why my brother and I are the way we are as well. We were taught to be unemotional—to fixate on war and military planning—to fixate on training and fighting—we were taught to be competitive—we were taught to keep close eyes on our enemies. Our entire childhood was fixated around strategizing, the same as our adulthood.
At seventeen years old nothing much has changed in my life except for one thing….I’m two days away from my eighteenth birthday.
And with turning eighteen, a lot will change but not how you think.
Wolves at eighteen usually reach the age of being able to find their fated mate.
You’re supposed to be happy—it’s supposed to be a coming of age ritual where you’re supposed to find your actual goddess given mate.
But my birthday will go a little differently.
My eighteenth birthday isn’t going to result in the discovery of my fated mate or be a day of pure abundant happiness.
It’ll be a day of convenience—of strategy—of alliance.
My father has decided that love is not worth the same as alliance is. He believes alliance trumps the potential of love.
I don’t necessarily not agree with him, in fact I see his perspective and I’m fine with it. I understand why he chose a husband—-a mate—-an Alpha for me. I understand what mating means to my father now, and what my hand in marriage means to him. And I understand why he sees that way.
I mean can you imagine what he went through? Losing his goddess given mate to child birth—to the birth of his own daughter?
That’s why my father rationally decided that I shouldn’t suffer the same fate that he had—losing his goddess given mate to death.
I know what the loss of my mother did to him and what the severance of the mating bond did to him. I’d happily agree to not go through the same.
My father paired me off to a nearby Alpha who isn’t particularly an enemy but also isn’t particularly a friend either. His strategy in pairing us as matches was that our alliance would strengthen our packs. After all, my father wasn’t known for having friends. He was only really known for having enemies, especially in the packs who bordered our territory.
Four packs bordered our territory. One being the pack I’m marrying into—-the Blackwater pack. The Alpha of the Blackwater pack was just as you imagined him to be—ruthless, cold, and a warrior, similar to my father, brother and I. His name is Ares and he’s twenty eight years old. Alpha Ares’ of the Blackwater pack is to be my chosen mate. And let me tell you, I’m not mad about it either.
The three other packs who border us are more of enemies than they are allies.
My soon to be mates pack, the Blackwater pack is at our furthermost south border, while the Moonlight Pack reaches to our furthermost northern border while the Starlight pack reaches to our furthermost western border and the Midnight pack borders our furthermost eastern border.
Out of the four packs, the Blackwater pack is our closest ally. They are similar to us, fixated on war just as we often are. In their younger years, my father and Alpha Ares’ father Zeus always got along. They both saw each other as equals in a way.
In contrast, our top enemy out of the other four packs was the Moonlight pack. Their previous Alpha didn’t trust my father, he was just as competitive as my father was, but the only difference about him was that he was ruthless but fair. He wasn’t willing to push the same boundaries with war as my father would, so they just don’t see eye to eye in those terms. Which in wolf pack eyes means your enemies. The Moonlight pack’s current Alpha is the previous Alpha’s son, he’s twenty seven years old and his name is Axel. He’s not a bad warrior, strong and strategic. With those two qualities in mind, you need to be watchful and consider him an enemy.
The Starlight pack is one of our rivals as well, though they are smaller in size compared to the Moonlight Pack and less threatening, they still have a strong warrior force. Their pack is now led by the previous Alpha’s son, Bryan. He’s the same as the Moonlight pack’s Alpha, a strong warrior with a fierce force behind him, not to mention he has ten brothers. Still, an enemy is an enemy, and we make sure to keep our eyes on them.
The Midnight Pack keeps to themselves often. Still, we don’t let them out of our sights. We keep note of their training and their interests. They’re not an ally, so that makes them an enemy automatically. Their pack is run by their current Alpha Clark as he’s waiting to pass the pack down to his son, Theo. His son turns eighteen this year, the same that I do. Their pack is around the same size as ours, the Moonlight pack’s and the Blackwater pack’s.
Nevertheless, out of the four packs, I’m glad I’m being mated off to Ares pack. My father knows out of the four packs that his pack is the only one we could truly trust. The only ally we truly had.
Not only will he be a valuable ally to my old pack, but Ares is one of the greatest Alpha warriors out of the four bordering packs. He’s fierce, ruthless, and decisive. He’s exactly who I imagine myself mated to. And to mention the fact that he’s handsome with light blue eyes and caramel colored wavy hair. He stands over 6 foot 2 inches, smaller for an Alpha but still much taller than me, with chiseled broad shoulders, arms, legs, and abdomen. He’ll be a suitable mate to say the least.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking how could I possibly be okay with mating with someone I barely know? Someone who’s cold and uncaring? How am I willing to give up my goddess given mate for this type of mating?
Well, I promise you I’m okay with it. I’d rather have a chosen mate than a goddess given mate. There’s less hassle—-less pain—-less problems.
Not caring actually sounded appealing to me. I would be left to focus on the important things in life—my family, my pack, my training, and my children’s training.
With both a father and mother as warriors, we’d be sure to have strong children, especially ones who had Alpha blood running through their veins.
That’s what mattered to me—teaching my children to be strong and to be warriors whether their gender was male or female.
In two days time, life as I know it would change, and for the better. I would be mated to Ares and my life would truly begin. I would honor my family with our mating. And I would bring further honor to my family once I birthed his children.
48 hours to go until my life was changed forever.
