Chapter 17|The Decree.

.....

Martin's wife Vanessa listened intently as her husband disclosed the details of what went on between himself and his two friends with the De Luca Pack's Seer seven years ago fully. True he has told her some parts of it but never had she gotten in on the whole story. Vanessa inspected her well-manicured fingers, probed on the skin of her palm with a fingernail before halting her husband mid-sentence.
"The time has come." She announced, taking up on her feet, going in circles around the room. "The time for my family and I to glow and shimmer like the stars in the sky not as mere asteroids or comets." The last part of her words were spoken from between clenched teeth.
Martin turned to her wearing an expression that expressed the depth of his perplexity. He was lost as to what led to her words and to what he was smelling in her. He'd always known his wife's penchant for wanting more than she had. If she had an apple and her friend had two the day couldn't end without her having a dozen.
She's always been like that but as his mate and wife Martin has never shied away from satisfying her wants, appeasing her whims and quenching her lust for worldly dreams.
"You know if you weren't my mate I would've ended up with an Alpha right?" Her crimson red lips pulled into a sinister smile at the thunderous expression that swept over his face. "Men and their possessiveness." She muttered under her breath. "But because you darling are my mate I accepted the fact that I wasn't meant to be Luna in this lifetime. Having two daughters I anticipated with eagerness the event of their meeting their powerful mates, I wished for an Alpha for both but then I compromised and agreed with myself that one would be okay, but what happens next? They met their two equally foolish, useless, cloddish and obtuse so-called mates and what did you do?" She looked around the room theatrically before looking him in the eye again. "You ran a knife through my yearning and let them mate and marry those two rankless imbeciles."
Martin heaved a sigh, "Here she goes with it again." That was a thought in his head. He cleared his throat, "Julie's Husband is the Delta of his Pack, Natalie's, Robert is one of the finest warriors we have here. They are not insignificant. Those men are important." He assured her despite knowing her will couldn't be bent or trampled on.
"Not one of them is a King, they do not count." She grinned, approaching Martin with calculated steps. "If you want me to cease complaining about your inadequacy I have one wish you have to fulfill."
"It should be reasonable Vanessa." He uttered warily.
She smiled most innocently and curved her hands around his head. "It is the most reasonable thing you would hear from my lips throughout the year perhaps, I assure you."
Martin nodded feeling incited by her aura. "I'm all ears."
So she raised on her toes and whispered the words directly to his ear. "One way or the other I want one of my daughters to birth the next Queen. I want her to be from my bloodline. Look at it from my perspective darling, Rebecca is a human, Samantha is a human married to a filthy human, their chances of birthing a werewolf is as slim as my chance of going bald which is nonexistent. Do you think a human is capable of mating with the De Luca heir? Talkless of birthing the strongest wolf to grace our world? Pfft!" She laughed at a thought that crossed her mind.
"I've known you to be an intelligent man, don't let me assume that I'm wrong in my observation. Humans do not have the strength of bearing strong wolves. The only reason why Rebecca lived after bearing Drake is because he's a wimpy lame one. Would've been content with my Julie but he had to go and find his mate in a worthless Omega." She visibly bristled at her own words.
"Martin. You need to do something about my words, think, ponder, I give you three nights to rethink this through, after that I want to know if you're with your family or with people whom your existence isn't worth a dime to." With that she turned on her heels and with a display of feminine theatrics sauntered out of the room and letting the door close with a bang.
Martin winced as the depth of her graveness dawned on him.
The next few days she let her words hang around the air before reminding him how little time he had to come up with a plan and make a decision. On the fourth night as they lay in bed she gave him a very much detailed explanation of what life would be for them if their kin turns out to be the De Luca pack's mate. Martin pictured it quite alright but he was still content with his position and didn't feel his determination towards being with his friends waver one bit.
He decided to ponder on the matter and concluded that he was going to wholeheartedly tell his wife that he was in support of her decision while at the same time wasn't letting go of neither of his friends.
If she could be cunning, he could be too.
His worry was why their daughter's mates were never up to her standard. Their mates were two strong warrior wolves, Natalie's Robert was from the Bane Pack while Julie's Edgar was from a neighboring pack from the west of Britain, the Lichen Pack, he was the son of the Pack's Delta while Natalie's was one of the strongest warriors the Bane Pack had.
Two Years Ago.
Two years into their Julie and Natalie's marriages with no sign of an offspring Vanessa decided to take matters into her hand, she searched widely for physicians for herbs to make her daughters conceive easily. Her efforts bore fruit because not long after Julie conceived and at exactly eight months later she gave birth to a healthy, hale and bouncing baby boy. Vanessa nearly sent her daughter to the bowels of hell for birthing a son but got her anger subdued by her husband.
The year Julie gave birth news came that the former Alpha Christopher's daughter fell in love with a human and wanted to marry him. Vanessa felt ill until her husband apprised her of the man's common blood, she cried in ecstasy at the thought that no strong offspring could be gotten from Samatha's mating with a human.
To cool her off better, Martin told her he heard that the man was impotent and that according to another fortune teller he had no seeds to impregnate his wife with. He did all that to curb her anxiety.
To say Vanessa was elated will be an understatement, she was brimming with joy.
Exactly eight years after Alexander's birth Vanessa forced her herbs on Natalie, a few months later Natalie brought home news that she was pregnant. That day Vanessa couldn't sit from the excitement churning wildly in her belly.
She warned her daughter not to make the same mistake her sister did.
Natalie couldn't understand her mother's insistence but nonetheless prayed for a female child.
Seven months later came the news that rendered Vanessa into a faint that eventually elongated into a coma. Vanessa didn't revive consciousness until three days later and by then the edict was already completed.
.....
The three men commended for their courage, power and loyalty Stephano De Luca, Christopher Knight and Martin Miles sat upright on their chairs in the De Luca Pack's meeting room. All three men stood as a crouched figure slipped into the room in a darkened cloak, Old Ynes the seer pushed back her cloack uncovering her wrinkled face. Her weight was supported by the stick she held unto as Stephano moved to help her unto a seat.
"The Luna has been born, I felt her scent all the way from the Bane Pack to my cottage. Our beautiful belle." She announced taking no heed to exchanging pleasantries for that wasn't what she was there for. She had business to cover. "Our Luna has hair the shade of fire, eyes like molten gold, skin like the purest milk. Our Alpha has gotten his Mate."
All three men inhaled after her announcement, they were aware of which daughter Old Ynes meant from the explanation. While Christopher's granddaughter had Red hair, Martin's had strawberry blonde hair. Isabelle's round doe eyes had bronze orbs glowing in them while Arabella had eyes the same shade as the sky in daylight.
Their feelings differed as one felt overwhelmed, another in peace while the other in sat in a trance as words, events and warnings flooded into his head.
Old Ynes took off her cloak with a brisk shake and asked for Alexander's presence in the room, his grandfather did as was told and had his grandson sent. The silent boy stood by the side as the seer whispered gibberish over the fireplace where a very enraged fire burned.
"Today we celebrate a union like none other, the strongest of all. The betrothal edict can only be completed if the future Alpha's blood is used to versify the information necessary on this vellum." She took out a worn out parchment from her satchel.
Alexander complied by moving forward bravely, he had no idea of the reason behind the summon but he knew he was the future Alpha whose blood was to be used.
Old Ynes had Stephano slice a little bit of skin from Alexander's left and right arm, blood dripped unto her awaiting palm and as hastily as she could Ynes used the blood as ink and scribbled comprehensible words unto the vellum. Words that sealed their betrothal decree.
After writing, she moved closer to the hearth, voiced a few incomprehensible words before placing the parchment into the fire.
Stephano moved to object only to be stopped by Christopher. The men sat back and observed as the fire made noises, turned black before it all turned quiet and the raging fire doused instantly leaving only the vellum blazing. They were surprised by the factual change obvious in the parchment, it had turned into a piece of item that was harder than a brick and how the seer's written words from Alexander's blood turned to indentations on the vellum-turned-stone that couldn't be altered.
On it were the words,
"Alpha Alexander De Luca, belongs to the Luna and the Luna, Ysabel Bane belongs to the Alpha and shall remain his even after death. All thou who bear witness, hold unto your steadfastness and thou shan't deviate from the right path."
"Stephano De Luca, Christopher Knight, Martin Miles, Myself Ynes Lomabardi De Luca and one other person bear witness to this decree and shall honor it till the day we perish. This is an oath we take." Old Ynes struck her stick once on the ground after speaking and bowed her head respectfully to the young future Alpha.
They concluded that Alexander was the other unnamed witness unbeknownst to them there was another lurking in the shadows of the vast room.