Joanna's POV
I stood at the side, watching Alpha Caramel walk out of the house once more today. My heart was pounding in my chest, and for a moment, my throat was dry. For years, I have been scared of this day—the day in which he would come to take my little princess from me.
I did this, which I was well aware of, but it broke my heart. Lavender was not aware of any of this, and I did not know how she was going to react. For years, I have allowed her to live like a normal human. She has no clue about herself, and neither does Axel.
“What is the meaning of this, Joanna?” Axel’s voice made me turn to him.
He looked visibly upset and shaking with anger. Why not? A man he did not know came into his house with his daughter and told him something I had hidden from him since the moment it happened.
“That man…” he paused, his anger getting the better of him.
“Let's take Lavender upstairs to her room,” I told him, trying to dodge the question he wanted to ask.
I watched as Axel walked over to where Lavender was lying in an uncomfortable position on the couch and carried her, heading for her room. It warmed my heart, knowing how much Axel loved Lavender, even though he knew she was not his biological child.
He cherished and loved her like his own, and it was something I loved about him. Lavender’s father did not want her, but Axel made sure not to allow Lavender to feel the absence of her father or even question her relationship with him. He was that good of a father to Lavender.
He always protected Lavender since she was little. I had feared he would not love her since she was not his. After all, I was told of how humans could be when a child was not theirs. I had thought about it day and night, but when Lavender came into the world, what I had expected was completely different.
Axel would stay up with me. He would play with her, buy her toys, and would always compliment her. He would speak about her and tell me all the plans he had for her after college, but now those plans cannot be carried out.
“I will be calling the police,” I heard Axel say as he walked down the stairs, taking out his phone.
I rushed over to him, shaking my head with my eyes wide. “No, don’t,” I told him.
He looked at me in disbelief. “We need to protect our daughter from that man. Those plans of his cannot hold,” he said.
I shook my head. “But he will. He was serious.”
Axel smiled, waving his phone. “The police will stop him, I guarantee you.”
“Please don’t,” I held his hand before he could click on the call button.
“Why? Do you want to see her go to a man we do not know?”
Axel’s voice was laced with disbelief, and I did not blame him. Unfortunately, I was finding it hard to say the words. The words that could simply explain everything. “Please let’s sit,” I told him.
“I will protect Lavender,” he said instead, which I nodded to.
“I know, but there is something I need to tell you,” I told him.
He stared at me for a couple of minutes, his forehead filled with wrinkles. He was finding it hard to do what I asked of him. For a moment, he was hesitant to sit down. Eventually, he did, and I exhaled before taking a seat beside him.
For the longest time, I could only look at him, wondering where I should begin. It was a lot to tell all at once. “It better be a good reason for you to stop me from calling the police on that man,” he said.
“The police cannot stop him,” I broke the news.
“You doubt the power of the police. That man would not be able to stand them. Moreover, we are her parents, if we say we do not consent to him taking her away, then he cannot do it,” he boasted.
“He is not a man that can easily be shaken by mere police. He has allies that are bigger and more influential than the police. I am one hundred percent sure that if they see him, they will not be able to do anything,” I said.
“So you don’t want to fight for our daughter?” He questioned, his gaze already revealing disappointment.
“I will fight for her, but this is not the fight that we can do for her. Fighting him will only make things difficult for our daughter.”
He shook his head. “I cannot accept this. That man cannot take Lavender to who knows where.”
Axel was stubborn, which was good to have if it were something ordinary we were handling. Alpha Caramel was the alpha of a strong pack. Standing against him was standing against his entire pack. It would kill us even before we started.
“I consented to it,” I informed him, my eyes on the floor.
I heard him hum in confusion, his eyes on me. I lifted my gaze and took it to him. “Years ago, I promised to give Lavender to him if he helped me.”
Axel went quiet at the revelation. His eyes only remained on me without saying a word. For a brief moment, I could already tell what was going through his mind. He was questioning everything I was saying, but he could not say the words.
I breathed in to gather the strength to continue. “He helped me. If not for his help, I would not have been able to come here,” I explained further.
“Why did you not tell me all this while?” He found his voice. “Why wait until this moment to tell me about this?”
“I’m sorry for doing that. I thought he was never going to come. I wished he didn’t.”
“Then let’s stop him,” he placed a hand on my lap, trying to convince me, but I shook my head.
“We can’t,” I informed him, and he took his hand back.
“He is a good man,” I added.
“If he was, he would not be trying to take away our child forcefully. And what help did he render that you had to use Lavender as a tool to get it?”
“I needed to leave the country for this, and he helped me do it,” was the simple answer I gave.
He turned quiet, and just by looking at him, I knew he was deep in thought. “The law can protect her,” he muttered to himself.
“He is too influential. It would not be hard to get out of it quickly. He might choose to come after us if we do that. Either way, it was best we hand over Lavender to him peacefully instead of him taking her without us knowing. She will be safe, I promise.”
“Have you told her?”
I sighed. “I will. I just need time to do that.”
Axel went back to being silent, with his eyes on me. I could see he really wanted to help. He wanted to stop his daughter from being sold out to a man who just popped out of nowhere. “I want to protect my family,” he said with a nod, looking away from me.
“But you don’t want me to. You want her to go just like that, and there is only little I can do,” he stood up, despair in his eyes.
“You aren’t making things easier for me. The law can protect her. She is young and should not be married off so quickly. Are you sure you want to do this?” He threw a question at me, to which I quickly gave an affirmative answer.
He sighed. “Since you have chosen not to fight for what is right, I’ll let it be,” he said before turning around and leaving the room.
I opened my mouth to call him back, but I had to stop myself from doing so. Calling him back only meant I would have to tell him who Lavender truly was. She was not a normal child, so she cannot live the life of a normal teenage human who would have the free will of getting married to who they wanted.
The moon goddess has paired them up through this means, and we cannot fight it. I wish there was another way to tell him this. This white lie is the only thing I had, and it was best as of now. This was the only way to protect all of us.
If Lavender did not go with him, we would not survive the defiance. No one dares to go against the alpha. I sighed; now the issue lies in whether Lavender will agree to go with him peacefully.
Lavender’s POVI could not stop the groan that left my mouth the moment I woke up. My head was aching so badly. I flung my hand to it, rubbing my forehead in hopes that it would calm down. I fluttered my eyes open, and I hissed in irritation at the light in the room.The door to my room opened, and I turned to the side to have a look at who stepped in. It took a while for me to see who the person was as my vision was a little blurry. “Mum,” I called as she placed a glass of lemon juice on my bedside drawer.She refused to say anything to me for a couple of minutes. Instead, she walked over to my wardrobe, bent over to the drawer, and took out a first aid kit where she then took a couple of medicines. She looked upset.“Mum, what happened? You look upset,” I inquired, but she said nothing and just passed the drink to me followed by the medication.I took them from her but I kept looking at her, waiting for when she would answer me. “Did I do something wrong?” I questioned, and a short
LAVENDER’S POVI was very much enraged at this revelation. My best friend wanted to sleep with me without my consent, and she was trying to apologize. If that man had not saved me, would he have stopped? Caleb would have had his way with me, and he would expect me to be happy about it.He would want me to accept it just like that. I knew it was evil of me to think he should have gotten more than he had gotten. I folded my fist as I slammed the door shut behind me, shutting my eyes briefly so as to push the tears back to where they were threatening to come from.He did not deserve my tears. He was the monster that brought this upon himself and not me. I should not give him my sympathy or even bother to care about him. He was nothing to me now. As I stood there for a couple of seconds trying to calm myself, I noticed everyone's confused gaze at me.Mum was about to ask, but I just walked off, leaving all of them confused with my anger. I hit the butto
JOANNA’S POVI sat still in the living room, unable to move due to how far my mind was traveling. It was really difficult for me to say what I did to Lavender. I knew that was going to be her reaction, but now I fear if Alpha Caramel was going to allow her to have that choice.Moreover, I already made the choice for her a long time ago. We could not possibly go back on our word, or he might not take it lightly with any of us. Only I know the extent of Caramel's power, and it was scaring me to the bone.I knew he was not a bad man, but I also knew when he was angry, he did things, and it was not something anyone would want to do. My heart was racing, and I was trying to calm it down. A loud knock on the door made me jolt out of my head.My head snapped to the door. The knock went on in haste, and I wondered who the person was. Before I could stand up, the door had already been opened, and Alpha Caramel walked in. It felt like the air that was meant to go into me seized as I watched him
LAVENDER'S POVFrom Mum to my supposed soon-to-be husband's voice, I heard them both, but I chose not to answer. They should do their worst if they want to, but I was not planning on leaving this room. The same way he came, he should leave in that same manner.I did not want to see his face. He was a monster that wanted to take me away from all I knew just because of a single act of kindness he did for me. There are other ways to repay him that did not involve me marrying him.Or was that why he helped? To get married to me and since he knew Mum was scared of him she would oblige. I asked myself so many questions while I heard every word they uttered. They were not going to convince me to leave this room.Some of th
ALPHA CARAMEL’S POVI drove to the airport where my private jet awaited our arrival. The closer we got to it, the larger it became. It stood majestically at the center, and I turned to Lavender, who stared at it in awe. I’m sure she was not expecting that we would leave so soon and even better, with a private jet.I got down and was about to turn around to open the door for her, but she did that on her own. I sighed as she rolled her eyes at me, already aware of what I wanted to do. She really did not want to get close to me. I let her be, though, and led her to the door of the airplane.I stood at the side of the stairs, waiting for her to get in. The moment she walked past me, I joined her in, then locked the door. “Follow me,” I told her, which she did without question as her eyes feasted on what was around her.“Sit,” I instructed, and once she was seated, I helped her with her seatbelt.Usually, there would be no seat here, but I made the modifications specially for her. I wanted
LAVENDER’S POV I spun around in front of the mirror for the umpteenth time since I had it on. It was a big gown that made me look fat. The color was so pale I was irritated by it. It looked as though it was dirty even though it was not. I glanced at the maid who had brought it for me, who stood there with a nervous expression. “I don’t like it,” I firmly told her. I had to take it off and put on the only nice clothes that I was given but the problem was that it was nightwear. The clothes I wore to this place have been taken to the laundry and only later today will I be able to get them after it was dry. “Where’s Alpha Caramel?” I asked the maid. “
LAVENDER'S POVI gave myself one last twirl in front of the mirror before stepping out. Luckily, Mitchel was just getting into the car when I stepped out of the building. She was surprised to see me also getting into the car, but she said nothing.I wanted to join in too. I had specific tastes, and I was not going to allow anyone to choose for me. Not like I was doubting her, but I would be more comfortable if I was there. Moreover, I doubted Caramel would be able to tell my right size.We knew each other for how many days, and he already knew what size I put on? I scoffed at the thought. He was definitely trying to pull my legs, and I was not going to let him deceive me into believing he was right. We headed to town.A town I was not well versed in, but the driver knew where we were headed to and dropped us at a mall. From the look of it, it was famous around this part because of how busy it was. It was either that it was just that good for there to be so many people at once when it
ALPHA CARAMEL'S POVI found her action funny. It was not long ago that I arrived in the building. I had been training a few of the recruits, one of the things I loved doing, and even after taking my bath, I chose to be shirtless. After all, no one came into my room without my consent, and she was so cute about it.I had to trick her into turning around again because I felt if she saw it again, she would not bother about it. Now, I was happy that she did not worry about me being shirtless, but then she became worried about my meat.I could not help the chuckle that left my throat on hearing her words. Yes, humans don't take raw meat or they could fall sick. I was not human. We werewolves looked human but were not, which helped to reduce our animal instinct sometimes.However, we still need to use our sharp teeth for something good, can't we? So here I was enjoying my meat when my wife chose to tell me not to, thinking I was making a jab at her cooking skills. Even if she cooked terribly