CHAPTER 12 : Arranged marriage

“No, I am not going to allow you to use me for your mere acts!” Clell furiously refused.
Fenris remained quiet just looking at Clell, knowing his son already had feelings for another girl and had been very consistent into getting her.
Clell continuously kept on complaining and refusing, giving a different impression to Connall and his family.
“I am not going to marry a girl I hardly even know!”
“I am not going to marry a daughter of a murderer--the mastermind of inflicting pain and suffering to the members of my pack!” He gritted.
“If you really are sincere with your intention of making peace with us, then you should make peace without any condition!"
“Clell! ENOUGH!” Fenris finally reprimanded him and tried to calm him down, “I didn’t raise you to treat guests like that. I raised you to be well-mannered.”
Nonetheless, Clell was so enraged that he couldn’t stop himself. This time, he glared at Ayame and Connall, and said, “Arranged marriage shouldn’t be a thing. Why would you want your daughter to marry someone she just met and doesn’t have feelings for? You cannot bereave the younger generation of their right to choose their own partner. I don’t want to marry a girl I don’t have feelings for. Your actions speak of how and who you are as a leader.”
Ayame was also in the edge now, not because she also didn’t want to marry Clell, but because she had now a strong desire to do the opposite. His strength, actions and point of view, made her heart skip a beat. She had always wanted to have a strong and dominant partner, and Clell was the perfect fit for that. For that reason, she was now determined to get Clell into this arranged marriage and find out why he was deliberately saying no.
“You’ll soon be mine. No matter what it takes.”, she whispered to herself, determination wielded in her eyes.
Knowing that Clell wasn’t going to calm down and stop any time soon, Fenris decided to call off the meeting. “Connall, I think you should go home. Let’s talk again some other time. I want to talk to my son first.”
“I understand. I still hope that our packs will eventually reconcile.”
With that, Connall and his family left Fenris’ residence, leaving Fenris and Clell alone in the office.
As soon as Connall’s family was out of the vicinity, Clell immediately approached his dad, “I thought you are going to agree with them.”
“Son, I am getting old and I also don’t want the pack to feel unsafe for the rest of their life. I am actually thinking that making peace with the Summer Pack is a good idea.”
“But what about what they did in the past? Are we all just going to forget that?”
“It is not like we didn’t cause any harm to their pack either.”
“You must be kidding me? Are you serious?"
“Do you want to be always wary? How about the girl you love? Pursuing her means letting her in to your world—our world. You wouldn’t want her to get hurt.”
“What’s the point though? Making peace with the Summer Pack means getting married to that Ayame. I am not going to be happy with the girl I love.”
"Son."
"You're going to let me, your son, marry the daughter of your rival? Are you really my dad?"
"This is your duty as the son of the alpha."
"You don't get to tell me what to do this time."
It’s supposed to be a good day, his day started off good and then got ruined right away—and the day wasn’t even half done yet. He still had to go hunting with the pack. Despite his dad being still the alpha of the pack, all the physical activities and other responsibilities of the pack were passed down to Clell.
So, after his argument with his dad, he went to his car and drove down to the pack’s territory again, meeting the group that he will go hunting with.
“I need to find ways to stop this marriage, but I need to do my responsibilities in the pack first.”
In contrast to his mood when he met the juveniles of the pack, Clell was still infuriated with what happened. Hence, he met the members, whom he will go hunting with, with a cold stoic look on his face.
“It’s time to hunt.” He ordered with a seething tone and everyone shapeshifted upon hearing him.
Along their way to the place where they used to hunt animals, one of the wolves started talking to Clell through telepathy, ridiculing him—scoffing about his strength—that he’s weak and he wouldn’t stand a chance to his father. The other wolves were just listening, while slowly shifting into defensive, to him as he mocked Clell. As their speed got faster and faster, the tension in the air got thicker.
They couldn’t hear Clell’s responses for he can block them out of his mind and can only talk to the one who ridiculed him. However, they can still follow through the conversation by just hearing one side of the party. With wary eyes and anxious minds for the circumstance of one of their peers’ demeanor, everyone else felt suffocated by the straining scenario unfolding between them.
Upon reaching to a spacious land in the middle of the vast forest, Clell halted and growled full of anger and strength.
“Everyone who wishes to challenge me, step forward. Those who don’t, stay at the sides.” He ordered. Three of the wolves remained embedded on their spot, while the others slowly moved towards the sides.
“You three dare scorn and challenge your next alpha?” he groaned with a voice full of anger. The feeling of displeasure urged Clell to make a rushed decision, displaying dominance and power, “Even if the three of you strike all at once, you cannot take me down.”
And so, the three plunged at him at the same time, one landing a scratch at the side of his face while the other two wounded some parts of his body. Clell countered attack, diving towards the wolf nearest him and knocking it down on the ground while incessantly scratching with his claws and biting its neck. The other two rushed down to help the one being dominated by Clell, banging him at the side. Clell growled again, inviting the three to attack in which they did. The two were running side-by-side while the other one went to attack on the back, Clell saw it as an opportunity to jump at the two in front of him, but making sure to kick the one attacking from behind.
Clell mauled over the two in front of him, making them step back and wince through the pain. They now knew how strong Clell was and was scared to fight back at him, but the one at back still wanted to put up a fight and jumped over Clell’s back attempting to bite him. However, Clell dodged him. Countering, Clell sank his teeth onto the shoulder of the attacker.
Being deeply wounded, the challenger backed down, leaving Clell as the victor. As their fight ended, the sun was also about to set. They needed to hurry and hunt, and return back to their pack’s territory right away. Without a brief second of halt and a minute to recover, Clell ordered, “Let’s get back to business.”
They others followed him as he led them, staying a few distance at the front. It’s when on a hunt that cooperation between a pack was most apparent, hence, they’ve completed the work in a short time and went back to their pack’s territory.