CHAPTER NINE
ALPHA ASHER
The ride back to my pack is quite a silent. Every attempt Freya has made to bring up a conversation with me was futile. I can’t even look at her in the face talk less of giving her the privilege of listening to my very soothing voice for a whole lot of hours.
She has a hazardous personality, shameless in all her ways and I swear she doesn’t deserve to have me as her husband.
She might think that she has succeeded with her plan of marrying the man of her dreams, but she has no idea what is ahead.
By the time I’m done with her, she will personally pack her stuff and run back to daddy dearest, with tears of pain and regret in her eyes. It’s just a matter of time.
“Asher” I hear her call and I turn to look with my poker face on.
There is a glimpse of sadness in her emerald green eyes and I harden my heart to not feel sorry for her.
She deserves this and every other treatment she will get.
“It’s Alpha Asher for you” I correct and she jerks backward in shock as she gives me an intense look.
“That’s too formal, you are my husband for crying…”
“Husband-to-be!” I correct with a raised brow and she swallows dryly.
“What difference does it make? You are already taking me to your pack to live with you as your wife”
“There’s a name given to this Kind of relationship, it’s called “engagement” and we are to call ourselves “fiancés”. These terms have a completely different meaning from the terms “married” and “husband” and “wife”. So you should learn the difference”
“Bullshit! Stupid human policies! We are not humans and we certainly won’t adopt their poli …”
“We are here” I cut her off with a quiet announcement and immediately, the car comes to a halt in my Castle premises.
I gently rub my forehead with my fingers and exhale tiredly as I wait for the guards to open my car door for me. I just want to go far away from Freya and her drama right now.
“Welcome home, Alpha Asher” The guard who just opened the door for me greets with a light bow and I nod tiredly and step out of the car.
“Thank you very much Louis” Freya steps out of her car and walks to my side still frowning and fight my urge to smile. She had better not meet Arya with such a face else she will forever be addressed as “grumpy potato”. She called me that for straight five years and you have no idea the errand I had to run for her before she dropped it.
Scheming little she-devil.
“Please tell the other servants to get the luggage from the car and bring them into my bedroom” I instruct.
“Yes Alpha” Once the guard leaves, I turn to Freya who is scanning the environment with so much admiration and I smile proudly.
My castle is about three times bigger than her father’s and she must be pretty shocked.
I cannot wait to shock her in other ways.
“This way please” I say and lead the way into the castle. As we are about to get in, I see Arya and Rowan approaching us and they both formally dressed and that surprises me.
What are they up to?
“Look who is here” Arya says skipping towards me and when she gets close, she jumps on my body and gives me a very rowdy hug. I hold her tight in my arms and kiss her hair that always smells like strawberries and smile.
“What did I say about the rowdy hugs?”
“Come on bro, I miss you”
“Crazy!”
“And…” She says smiling as her she averts her gaze to Freya who seems very displeased by what we are doing.
But who cares anyway?
“Could this be Freya? Your bride to be?” She asks stating the obvious and I just nod as I turn to Freya.
“Freya, meet my younger twin siblings, Rowan and Arya, and guys, meet Freya, my wife to be” I introduce hoping that she will at least smile at this instant but she doesn’t.
“You are welcome to the Crystal Moon Pack Arya, we promise to treat you well here” Rowan says stretching out his hand for a handshake, but Freya just looks at him like he’s some piece of shit and let’s out an exasperated sigh.
“I’m exhausted and I’d love for you to show me to our room instantly!” Then she walks away.
“What an impudent bonehead! How dare she!” Arya agitates in anger and I just chuckle as I shake my head “Don’t you dare chuckle, it’s not funny at all. She didn’t have to be so rude towards us? This is out pack for crying out loud!” She agitates all the more and I calmly rest my right hand on her shoulder and give it a gentle tap.
“Both you of you, meet me in my office in an hour time. We need to discuss on how things are gonna be ran around here” Then I stride past them and go to meet Freya in the living room.
Once we get into the bedroom, the bedroom I had assigned the maids to prepare last might. This isn’t my real bedroom. May the moon goddess forbid that I ever let a bonehead like Freya share my bedroom with me. For as long as she is my wife, we will be sharing this new bedroom.
“You do know you should have at least returned their greetings, right?”
“Why? Are you going to bring up a fight on the very first day I arrive at your pack?”.
“A while ago you called it “our pack”. Why the sudden change of pronoun?”
“Don’t you dare try to taunt me” She warns and I snort.
I would rather go play with the pigs in the field than waste my time taunting her.
“Anyway, that shouldn’t be a cause for a misunderstanding between us. Get settled, I’ll send some servants to help you with that. I will be heading to my office to round off with some work. Dinner is at seven pm, don’t be late”
“Wait, what? I just got here and you are just gonna leave me here all alone? What kind of fiancé does that?” She nags and the fact that she used the term “fiancé” makes me smile.
She is a fast learner after all.
“I’m impressed by your fast learning ability. It gives my so much joy when people use the right words at the right time and for your information, you are engaged to an Alpha. I presume you have lived with one for the better part of your life and you very well understand the kind of workload he has to deal with everyday of his life. You better start getting used to me being away if you want to be happy.” Then I turn and start walking towards the door, but half way, I turn around again to face her. “And also, a word of advice. If I were you, I would try not to get into the twins’ black list. By the twins, I mean Rowan and Arya, they could mess you up if they wanted to. So be careful.”
Before she can say whatever it is she wants to say, I walk out of the living room majestically with a smirk on her face.
Alpha Adolph wants his daughter to marry the love of her life, cool, he has gotten what he wanted, but no one said it has to be a happy marriage.
“Damn it! I hate her!” Arya shouted the moment I walked into my office.
“We all do Arya”
“Why did you bring her here in the first place?”
“Arya, I thought we already had this talk. I had to bring her here so her father would not order for a massacre in this pack. I’m doing this for peace”
“Ugh! I hate her! I hate them all!”
“All this lamentations won’t remedy this situation and you know that! You can do better”
“And how exactly can I do better?”
“You are the queen of sass. Well known for putting people in their right spots at the right time. I want you to do that with Freya. She’s a spoiled brat, lacks almost all basic manners and she’s gonna be needing some lessons from you. I trust you to teach her well, the hard way, I mean”
“You mean, you are giving me the right to go against your fiancé?”
“I’m giving you the right to iron her up, teach her some basic manners”
“And I will do just that”
“And what will I be doing?” Rowan asks with furrowed brows.
“Just keep training the students. This is women issue, don’t get yourself involved in it. But if she’s rude to you, teach her some manners as well. Just don’t hit her, that goes to you too Arya”
“I’ll try” She responds in a bored tune and I know she’s bluffing. If ever Freya starts up a physical fight with Arya, may the moon goddess save her soul because Arya will mess her up!
“There is something you are not telling us, spill it” That’s Rowan.
He always knows when I’m hiding something and that’s a mystery I’m still to uncover.
“I saw a girl”
“Ooohh!” Arya coos as she scoots closer to me. “A girl!”
“She is actually Alpha Tarlishi’s daughter, the rightful Alpha of the Black Wood Pack, but Adolph has turned her into a slave, she …”
“Astrid, her name is Astrid, right?” Rowan cuts me off and I look up at him astonished.
“Yeah, Astrid Tiva Tarlishi, that’s her name. How do you know her?”
“Remember dad used to take me out for his meetings? We attended a few meetings at the Black Wood Pack and I saw her, she’s poorly treated over there”
“Yeah, I actually saw it for myself. I want to get her out of that pack”
“And how do you intend to do that without causing havoc?” Arya asks with a worried look on.
“Yeah, she’s like their slave and taking her away from there will only cause trouble” Rowan adds and I rise up from the chair and take a few steps around, thinking critically.
They are both right, taking Astrid out of there will cause an uproar, a conflict between both our packs and that will not be good.
That means I need to do this strategically if I want peace to reign.
I don’t like the fact that Astrid is their slave over there and I want to get her out of that place.
Nothing is going to stop me from doing that.
“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!” I whisper to myself as I make a gracious exit from my office, probably leaving both Rowan and Arya dumfounded.
I’m going to do this, successfully!
“Astrid Tiva Tarlishi” I whisper her name to myself with a smirk plastered on my face as I make my way to my new room.
I’m going to get her.