Chapter 5 Death or Marriage

AYSU

"Nope." Aysu shook her head as she tore her gaze off Alpha Ximun. Her feet retreated and she kept muttering, "Nope. Nope and nope."

"Aysu!" Her father's voice called from the front seat and Aysu felt more pushed to run away.

So, she engaged her legs and ran as far as she could even though she didn't know where she was headed. And she didn't stop until she found a secluded area where she could rest her feet and find a means to understand what was going on.

But what was there to understand? Her father fooled her and used her weak state as a chance to drag her all the way to the Night Crimson Pack which has been rumoured to be a breeding ground for constant bloodshed.

"Aysu, do you wish to live?" It was her father. Somehow he managed to find her.

Greatly angered, she stood straight and asked, "How could you do this to me?"

"I am sorry if I lied about where he is from or who he is, but he really is your only chance to live. Aysu," he took a few steps closer, " you have to do this. You have to get married to Alpha Ximun. Mate with him and be free."

"Dad." Aysu drew a sharp breath which she released in a rather threatening manner. "That man, that damned Alpha Ximun is the reason I am in this fucked up situation!"

"What are you talking about?" He frowned.

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Aysu scoffed. "He rejected me barely minutes after Mark Coleman did. That damned Alpha Ximun rejected me even though we had nothing to do with each other."

"What?"

"All I wanted was a means to survive but he stripped me of that. But, what?" Aysu's feet angrily scratched the ground. "You want me to marry him? You should just let me die."

"Aysu." Her father remained calm. "I understand why you would be scared and angry. But," he walked closer, "don't you think you have been wishing for death too often? If you wish to die, I don't wish nor do I want it to happen. If anyone should die first, it should be me. It's the child that is meant to bury her parents."

The thought of her father dying didn't sit well with her soul, Aysu quickly shook her head and said, "I also don't want to die, Dad. I don't want you to die either."

"I know." His fingers found the root of her hair and he soothed her with his touch just as he did when she first stepped into his house as a dirty, scruffy homeless orphan. "I know, my sweet daughter. But the curse will not respect what you truly want. So, we have to fight it."

"And we can only fight it if I get married to Alpha Ximun," Aysu completed his words, her breath from that moment heavy with sorrow and deliberations.

"Aysu, that man will not hurt you. I will make sure of it. So, please, for the sake of wanting to live, accept this situation and become the person you've always wanted to be."

"This is all so difficult, Dad," Aysu said, her lips smeared into a sad smile. "I really don't want to die. I don't want to marry that he-wolf either."

"Well, you have to choose, Aysu. Is it going to be Death or Marriage?" Aysu knew the response. But it was quite difficult for her to get the word out. "Aysu?"

"Marriage," came her dwindling response.

"Good. Marriage is better than death."

"Isn't it going to be a problem that I'll be getting married to the Alpha King of a main rival?"

"Hard times call for difficult measures. I am willing to take this much risk to make sure the curse doesn't take you from me."

"If this marriage becomes the death of me, I'll hate you forever," Aysu warned even though she didn't mean what she said.

"Okay, my daughter. If that takes your mind off things," his swifty fingers adjusted her hair, "please hate me as much as you can."

"Dad..." She groaned and quickly hugged him before she could regret her words. "I am going to miss you so, so much."

"I will miss you so, so, so, so much." Beta Richard's reply melted her heart and she wished there was a way to stay with him forever. But there wasn't. The moment the High Seer marks her and the stupid Alpha Ximun as married, she will become a part of The Night Crimson Pack while her father will be thousands of distances away from her.

So, Aysu chose to remain in that embrace for a long time. Even when her father reminded her that she had a wedding to grace, she remained glued to his side and they both walked together until they had to part.

Ω

"By the power invested in me by the Moon Goddess, I proclaim these two to be wed," the High Seer announced to whoever, and after, he instructed Aysu and Ximun to face each other. "Aysu and Ximun, the moment you stamp your chosen signs on each other, you officially acknowledge this marriage to be the bond that makes your soul one."

Aysu was tempted to mock the Seer's words but when she saw the grimness in Alpha Ximun's eyes, she became more concerned about what the man was thinking. She became curious about how and why he agreed to get married to her.

"Aysu?" The Seer called, his voice urging her to press the stamp in her hand against Alpha Ximun's forehead.

"Oh, okay." Aysu did as asked. She tiptoed to reach his forehead and pressed the blueness of the stamp against his skin. The mark was a drop of water. And that was going to be their sign till the day they decide not to stay married.

"Alpha Ximun?" The Seer directed the man who still failed to utter a single word.

Ximun dragged some of his hair backward and pressed the warmth of the stamp against her head. The moment he was done, the audience got to their feet and began to clap as though their life depended on it.

And the Seer whispered, a strange excitement in his eyes, "You two may further seal this a kiss."

Aysu looked into Ximun's eyes and she wondered if she wished to do as the Seer suggested. But before she could decide what to do, Alpha Ximun's buff arm brushed against hers and he walked away, not sparing her a glance for a second.

Aysu kept a manageable smile on her lips as she watched him but when she could not handle the level of pretence she was approaching, she let out a heavy sigh, sneered, made up her mind to show the man that she was no pushover, and rushed after him to give him a piece of her mind.

It took her a while to find him since she was new to the grand building which she guessed was his palace. But when she found him, his tongue was many centimetres deep into the pussy of a lady dressed in a fancy gown.

While the woman moaned and giggled, Aysu's rage increased and she quickly scanned her mind for what she could do at that moment. Surely, she could not walk away even though the sight before her disturbed her in a way she didn't like. It was not like he was a husband she adored, but she felt betrayed by the fact that he was doing something so disgusting barely seconds after getting married to her.

So, she made up her mind and reached for a bow and arrow someone had carelessly left around. With determination and fury in her soul, she posed and struck within seconds, the tip of the arrow almost pinning the moaning woman's head to the wall.

Alpha Ximun stopped what he was doing, his mark a little ruined. He frowned at Aysu who smirked with anger and asked, "My dear husband, may we have a word?"

She was not going to spare him at all.