Chapter 20
"I love you..."
There was a time he had believed those words from a certain someone, and his naiveness was taken advantage of by the person he trusted the most. He had lost everything; his parents, his home, during the last war because of love.
It was painful and hard, but life did not stop for him there. He rose again, escaped from imprisonment, formed a coup, and conquered the bastards who had taken his life from him. He regained the leadership of his pack and became the powerful Alpha he was born to be. Since then, he had never let "love" or any such nonsense blind him so foolishly again, and he never would.
Then, he heard a knock on his door, distracting him from his thoughts. Katrina just left, and he did not summon anyone. So, who could it be? He was not in the mood to speak with anyone but later changed his mind. At the very least, any person who decided to be bold enough to disobey the rules deserved a chance to be heard out before he decided what to do with them.
He came out of the inner chambers and sat on the couch in the sitting area.
"Come in," he answered.
The door opened slowly, and a trembling Miranda walked in.
The Lotus Princess, of course. Her time was up, but her supposed lover never came. His mind was so occupied to think of anything else. He was supposed to kill her now, but he did not want to. Why did he not want to? He had never been like this towards anyone before. "Mercy" was not a word that existed in his dictionary, but what was it about this girl he could not comprehend?
After closing the door behind her, she dropped straight to her knees and bowed her head down. 'What is she doing?' He wondered.
She did not say anything, only remained on her knees, and the worst was that he could not interpret her actions. He could not tell whether she was asking to be killed or pleading for mercy. Finally, he decided to speak.
"Miranda. That is your name, correct?"
She raised her head, nodding, "Yes."
"You were supposed to be executed this evening."
She tried to close her eyes but could not hold back the tears choking her throat. She burst out then, crying as she spoke, "I- I came here to tell you that you could go ahead and kill me since my lover didn't come. But I know now that I don't want to die. I want to live not for me but for my people. They've suffered so much, and I'm the only one who can restore the Lotus Pack's honor. If I die now, there'll be no chance of that happening."
"Miranda."
She then sniffed and replied, "Y-y-yes?"
"What do you want me to do now?"
"Perhaps there is another way I can prove myself to be the Lotus Princess. There has to be another way."
He remained silent as he pondered on her words first and said, "Fine. I will spare your life if you give me your soldiers."
Even with the tears, she raised a confused brow and asked, "My soldiers?"
"Yes. If you claim to be the Lotus Princess, you're a high-ranking member of the Lotus Pack, which means you must have some troops trained under you. You can prove your authority by swearing in a batch of soldiers to the Silver Pack. I will visit your territory to come and take the men myself. I will also meet with your father, so he can confirm if you are truly his daughter with his own mouth, even on his sickbed. If he says otherwise, I'll kill you in front of Alpha Luther. Of course, he will not mind that since you aren't his daughter anyway. But if you are truly princess Miranda as you claim, I'll hand you back to him in exchange for your men."
"But..."
"But what? Have I not been fair enough? What is the matter this time, Princess?"
She sniffed and said, "It's not that, Alpha Damian. You've been more than fair to me by not killing me. However, the Lotus Pack has only one elite batch of soldiers. I don't have any troops I've trained under me as there aren't even enough men even to fight our wars."
The answer shocked Alpha Damian. He had always heard of the Lotus Pack and how badly they had suffered in status, but he had never imagined that things were that terrible for them.
"You are aware that the rogues are growing their forces daily, and they can attack any of the packs at any time, right? They might have failed in the last war, but they'll keep trying until they succeed. How do you intend to defend your pack when that time comes?"
"A marriage was supposed to happen between the Night Shadow Pack's Alpha and me. Alpha Walden would have lent us defenses whenever the rogues attacked due to the agreement from our union."
"But you mentioned earlier that the engagement got called off?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that. The only thing I can tell you is that the Lotus Pack needs help, and I'm the only one who can help us since I was the one who called off the engagement with the Night Shadow Pack's Alpha. I need to be out of here so I can help my pack, and I can't do that if I'm dead."
"I want your elite group, Miranda, the best of the best, and they're the only force that still keeps the Lotus Pack strong. I heard that they are outstanding."
"Yes, my father trained them himself. But ever since he got sick, the pack hasn't been the same. Many of the soldiers quit and joined the other packs when I took over because they refused to be led by a female. I'm sorry, but my father won't be able to give you what you want, not because he doesn't want to, but he can't. Given the situation of our pack now, I won't let him. I'd rather die because we are done for if we lose our last troops. Please, Alpha Damian? I know I'm asking for a lot, but there has to be another way to resolve this."
There was silence again. He pondered on her words again before finally coming to his decision.
"Okay, Princess, I don't know why you called off your engagement, but I want those men. We can agree to do what you planned on doing before, which is marriage. We will work together and support one another. The Silver Pack will lend the Lotus Pack as much needed support during the next war, and in exchange, your elite forces will be handed over to me. I will marry you, Princess Miranda, and our engagement will represent an alliance between the Silver and Lotus Pack."