Chapter 2 METTING ALPHA GWEN

We arrived at Moonshine Pack just as the sun was setting. The gates of the town were still open and our truck and car drove directly to the Alpha's Villa.

I would have done anything to escape my present situation. Even if it means killing Damon. But I could not escape, for I had no doubt whatsoever that my mother would suffer horribly for it, and my mother had suffered enough at the hands of Damon D'Angelo.

I was almost numb with despair as I mounted the stairs to the great hall. Damon had not lied when he talked about the number of moonshine pack werewolves. They look strong and muscular, armed, and in great multitude.

The inside of the great hall was filled with tables and chairs set for the evening meal, the wall displaying Alpha Gwen's wealth in useless weapons of polished silver and gold, most encrusted with fine jewels.

Omegas were in abundance. One or more to serve each guest, but Alpha Gwen did not waste his money. Their clothes were nearly rags, their bodies none too clean, their demeanor cowed to the point of trembling hands and haunted eyes, and little wonder. In the space of crossing the hall to the raised dais where Gwen sat like a king in state, I saw three Omegas cuffed for no apparent reason, one struck so hard that he fell to the floor, only to be kicked twice where he lay unmoving.

I was so appalled by what I saw that I stopped walking, but the crowd at my back pushed me lightly.

I had avoided looking towards Gwen's table. Maybe he will vanish if I keep ignoring him. And I nearly cried out in horror when I at last did.

He was worse than I had imagined.

Alpha Gwen wasn't just old. He looks like a corpse.

His skin was a pasty white, and so deeply wrinkled there was not an inch anywhere to be seen that could be called smooth. What was left of his hair was white, except for one narrow streak of blond to attest to what the color had been. His body was so bent that I stood taller than him, and I was only a few inches above five feet. His eyes were round and too big for his small face, and the whites of his eyes were dark yellow. I also noticed a white film covering the iridescence of one of his irises. He was almost blind. His bright silk robe, trimmed at the neck and sleeves with costly fur; merely made him look more ridiculous.

A hard, loud voice soon boomed in the large hall as our pack Beta shouted introductions. "My name is Beta Cohen, and I have been delegated to supervise the marriage preparation until my Alpha arrives. I want you to meet your wife-to-be, Princess Bella."

"Enough," Alpha Gwen said with a cackle, revealing the only two teeth remaining in his mouth. "Take her to my side of the fortress. I will see her at the chapel for the wedding."

I turned and then summoned an Omega to take me to whatever room he had prepared for me. And it was in my room that my blinding tears were finally released until I finally fell asleep.

I woke with some kind of disorientation that lasted only for a moment. And at that instant, my blood turned cold as dread seeped into my bones, keeping me immobile on the bed.

"Do you want to lie in bed until the priest arrives?"

"Moana?" My eyes gasped in surprise as I recognized that dear voice.

"Yes, my sweet one."

I sat up and saw my maid sitting on a chest that had not been there when I first entered the room. It was my chest, and my maid was sitting on it.

Moana has been my maid since I can remember. And before that, she had served my mother. Moana was a tall woman with a round girth. Her weight was expected since Moana loved eating.

"What are you doing here?"

"Your uncle allowed me to come after receiving feedback on your cooperation...I saw that old man when I arrived this morning. How could you agree to wed that?"

I fought back the tears gathering in my eyes, but my lips still trembled as I said, "Damon was hitting my mother. I doubt he would have stopped if I didn't agree."

"Oh, my goodness," Moana cried and then came swiftly forward to gather me in her arms. "I knew Damon was a monster but I never expected him to be worse. He dared strike his half-brother's wife."

"God forgive me, but I hate him now. He only thinks of his gain and has no thought of my well-being."

"I heard he planned to take back your land from that Monstrous Alpha Baron.

"Not for me. Damon will never give back my land. I'm just trying to get pregnant to secure Moonshine's wealth and warriors. And when Gwen dies, Damon will have me back as well, to marry off again the next time he finds himself in similar situations."

"Oh! Is that his plan?" Moana asked indignantly. "But Gwen is so old. Do you think he can still have an erection?"

I snorted. "Exactly my thought. But I guess no man will like to be told that."

"I learned that Alpha Gwen had tried to get another son to replace the ones who died during the war. He has taken four wives in just recent years."

"What happened to them?"

"They all died one way or the other. But I suspect foul play. I learned he had repudiated them because they couldn't give him the so-needed son as quickly as expected."

"So if I did not give him a son, he is likely to hate me within a year. "

"No. Alpha Gwen will not last that long. He should have been dead since. Why he is still alive can only be from a pact he made with the devil."

"Shush," I hissed and then made a sign of a cross over my chest. Yet, I was forced to agree, had I not thought he already looked like a corpse.

"Do you truly mean you are going to marry Alpha Gwen?"

"Yes. Do I have a choice?"

"You do. We can kill him instead."