Chapter 30
As he left the meeting room, Valledor pondered on what to do next, his mind suddenly hatched an idea, Miranda...
There should still be a way to try to convince Miranda, all he needed was her consent and if he could make her change her mind; if she no longer wished to carry on with the wedding, there would be nothing that Silver Alpha could do to force her because he was no longer in his territory, lest he wanted war. Yes, Miranda could still change her mind; he would just have to convince her to do so.
He went back upstairs to her room, entering to see Miranda seated in front of her dressing table. Miranda, upon sensing another presence, turned and became surprised to see Beta Valledor back in her room, but this time, he seemed to have calmed down. He didn't have the angry scowl he carried the last time here, instead, he now held a more welcoming face, smiling at her with all forms of anger on his face forgotten, but Miranda wasn't fooled.
"What do you want, Valledor?"
"Miranda dear, forgive me for my reaction the last time. I was just unhappy to hear that you have made yet another sacrifice at your expense for the good of this pack. I understand that you may have been forced into this marriage because you were a prisoner whose life was in his hand but I want you to know that you are in your territory now and you have a choice; you can agree to call off the wedding now and Alpha Damian won't be able to do anything about it here, lest he wants war. We are ready to support you all the way and you don't have to carry on with this marriage if you don't want to, the Lotus Pack will find another way to restore itself."
"Thank you for the offer, Valledor, but I have to refuse, Alpha Damian and I made an agreement, and I do intend to follow along with it as I promised, you should know better than anyone that the most important of all virtues a true royal wolf must possess is honesty and transparency which I must not fall short of, I will not go back on my words simply because I have a higher edge over him now that he's in my territory."
"I understand that you want to keep to your words, but haven't you considered the fact that you are marrying someone you don't love? Aren't you considering your happiness anymore?"
"I know, but love is the least of my problems. How can there be love when there is no peace? We can love later, but for now, the safety and existence of this pack depend on our agreement with the Silver Pack. After the war, then we can begin to think about love."
This wasn't working, he then tried approaching from another angle, "Yes.
I understand, that is a valid reason, so when do you intend to get married to him?"
"We have fixed the wedding for the day after tomorrow, the Luna ceremony will be held here before he returns to his pack."
"But that's too soon, remember that your marriage has to take place during a cardinal conference. You cannot abandon the normal customs of the twelve wolf tribes Miranda; you cannot hold an Alpha marriage outside of that conference, it is forbidden. I mean, how will your marriage be blessed and protected by the Moon Goddess if you do not even offer a sacrifice afterward?"
"The Silver Pack has succeeded just fine without refraining from the normal ritual for years, I'm sure we'll be fine as well. Also, we cannot wait for a whole year when there are a lot of things to plan before the war. When I take over the Alpha rank, the Lotus and the Silver Pack will be joined as one, and we will find our blessings and protections amongst one another."
The Beta began to rage again, "You are delusional if you think that you are going to abandon the traditions, we have stuck to for decades simply because you are joining the ones that have chosen to go astray, you dare to bring calamity upon us with your actions but I will not allow it!"
Miranda stood up to him, "I am going to abandon the traditions, the conference council that doesn't give us the respect we deserve as a pack shouldn't be the one we should bother ourselves for."
"How dare you?" Valledor couldn't control himself anymore; this girl has been showing an incessant amount of boldness today, he needed to teach her to control her tongue, as he was about to lift his hand to land a slap on her face, he felt someone grab his raised hand.
"What the..."
"Alpha Damian had entered the room, his fiery eyes reddened, after grabbing Valledor's hand, he threw it right back in the direction it came from and stood in the way, blocking the path between him and Miranda, he shot a glare straight to the Beta's face.
"Why were you about to hit her?" He growled.
"Your Majesty, this girl has been nothing but disrespectful."
"I overheard your conversation, and I heard all she said. The only one who seemed to be nothing but disrespectful here was you. If I didn't step in just now, you were going to beat her."
"But sire, I only..."
Alpha Damian didn't care to let him finish, giving him a strict warning, very few words that held a great message. "If you ever dare to lay a hand on my bride again, I will not give a damn if the Lotus Pack has to find another Beta to replace the dead one."
Upon hearing Alpha Damian's words, fear sprung through Valledor, making him feel like wanting to crawl into a small hole at that moment. Of course, he was no match for this ruthless Alpha, it was better not to do or say anything more to embarrass himself, but this would not be the end! He promised himself, he then passed a scowl in Miranda's direction before leaving the room.
After Valledor left, Damian turned to face Miranda, "Are you okay?"
His actions surprised her. She wondered then what other likable side there was to this wolf she was about to get married to. We hope there would be more, Lily, we just hope that there would be a non-ruthless side to this Alpha after all.
"Miranda..."
"Oh, sorry... Um, yes, I am fine, thank you."
"Good, because I just wanted to inform you that I've moved our engagement plans forward. We will be getting married tomorrow."