Page 3 of Wolf’s Fated Bride

Chapter 2

Runa

My brother, Sören, paces the length of the bedroom I share with my sister.

We live in a castle with over seventy rooms, but Maren and I have shared a room ever since my parents caught me sneaking out with one of the pack enforcers. My father, the Stormcrest Alpha, sent the enforcer away to fight with the humans in one of our many territorial wars against the Fireborns and then placed me with my sister, thinking Maren would snitch on me if I snuck out again.

But ever since the Council that rules over the world suggested we solidify the treaty with the Fireborn pack through marriage between Maren and a Fireborn alpha male wolf, my sister has been monitored by the human alchemists, and our father has restricted her movements severely. She’s barely allowed outside now.

Maren rebelled, and we started sneaking out together.

I wish the humans hadn’t pushed this on her. And I wish my father weren’t so eager to approve the marriage. It just goes to show how little power we have over our decisions.

Ash Fireborn is the single most feared person in the world. With good reason. History recorded him unleashing his wrath and nearly immolating the entire world in a single week. If my dad, who controlled the water element back then, hadn’t united with the human alchemists and fought against the raging fire, we wouldn’t have survived as a species.

The alchemists and my pack stopped the fire alpha from killing everyone, and we’ve been at war ever since. But that all stops tonight when the Fireborn and Stormcrest packs sign a treaty. Maren’s arranged marriage is a big deal.

“That was not the fire wolf,” Sören repeats for the tenth time.

I braid Maren’s platinum-blonde hair while she pours another glass of wine for herself. It’s her eighth glass, so the second bottle. Werewolves have a fast metabolism, and we can drink more than humans without falling over, but we can still get drunk. Maren is well on her way.

I think my sister might be upset over the marriage now more than before because she’s shagging the new Regulator, a human alchemist who lives in a werewolf pack and helps elemental alphas regulate their element.

When my father was growing up, there were no Regulators. The position came about after Ash Fireborn lost his shit. The laws require Sören to ingest potions that make him sick just so the alchemists are appeased. If he refuses, they’ll kill him, and the water element will find another host, one who would obey the laws.

The Regulators are here for Sören, but they report any activity in our pack. The new Regulator has been keeping an eye on Maren, requesting that she be confined and her movement limited. But I think there’s something going on between them now. My sister is very beautiful, with soft, feminine features, a small nose, and eyes that look like she’s perpetually sad.

We’ve been told that human men fetishize omega wolves. Our faces have slightly larger eyes and smaller noses, and our lips tend to be plush. There are also predators who Maren and I should stay away from. We are careful and try our best to identify males who want to hurt us.

Just last night, I caught Maren making eyes with the Regulator as we strolled past his laboratory. I hope I’m wrong. While Regulators have disappeared from our territory before, the tension and stakes are higher now with the treaty this marriage represents.

“No way it was him.” Sören stops in front of us and raises an eyebrow. “Did either of you get a look at the impostor?”

Sören wears black-on-black, a stark contrast to his platinum-white hair and stunning deep-sea-blue eyes. Sometimes, if you look close enough, you can see the waves move inside his eyes.

The water element is the best. Fire? Not so much. Besides, the fire alpha is a loner. A grumpy loner who’s not very nice.

“We don’t care if it was an impostor or not,” Maren says, her speech slurred. I’ll have to make excuses for her later tonight. Maybe that’s her game. Get drunk and piss off our father so he’ll send her away.

It’ll only work while she’s unmarried and inside our territory. The moment she marries the Fireborn Alpha, our father won’t be able to control her life anymore. Just mine.

Lucky me.

“Wait, if you think that was an impostor, do we think the fire alpha didn’t show up?” Maren asks.

I groan. “Sister, please try to sound less excited at the prospect of not meeting your betrothed.”

In the vanity mirror, I catch Maren rolling her eyes. “As if.”

I pass her the lipstick.

She rejects it.

“You must look like you’re trying. If you don’t look your best, Mother will take revenge and lock us up after the full moon.” Werewolves get itchy if they don’t run. The wolf wants free rein to run, and if we don’t shift often and connect with our inner nature, it feels like fire ants are running under our skin. It’s an awful sensation.

I used to get in trouble quite a bit, and Mother would lock me up during the full moon. That’s how I know.

Maren walks to the bed and dramatically falls, face-first, onto the mattress. She mumbles something we can’t make out