Chapter 31| The Parting Wish.

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Guests from the Lichen Pack were ushered into the De Luca Pack Manor's largest receiving room. One of the most trusted men from the Pack stopped by the entrance texting on his phone. A few minutes later Arabella and Damon joined them taking seats beside Old Bea, Dominique Alberto and Francis who welcomed them in when they first came.

George, a warrior from the Lichen Pack strode past Arabella and perfectly placed a small piece of paper into her hands. She squeezed her palm close and emotionlessly excused herself from the lot.

The House was bustling with activities as everyone celebrated the engagement party of the Alpha and his Luna to be, a union which was said to be a Blood Oath and which would beget the strongest werewolf to ever live on earth. The fact that the said wolf would be a descendant of the De Luca Pack had most of the Pack members dancing on their feet wigh excitement.

Arabella smirked at everyone's enthusiasm to please her even before she became Queen. She relished in the attention.

Soon they'll bow for me as their Queen and Luna. She thought with a sinister smile.

Her steps matched the feelings in her chest as she pushed open the door that led to her chamber. She flattened her back to it before opening the paper in her grasp.

Meet me at the backyard of the third dilapidated building on your left seventy five steps away from the Pack Manor's south gate. The building has too many shrubs than the others near it. Be there at 6pm sharp.

There was no signature at the end of the letter nor was there any clue about who the message was from but at first glance Arabella recognized the handwriting.

Her smile widened as she took in the time which read 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

"I have time to prepare." She whispered to herself perfecting her lopsided grin in the mirror despite the erratic beating of her heart.


.....

Arabella took down the hood of her cloak right after walking past the door that led to the backyard of the building she had an appointment in.

"Why are you delaying the engagement?" A strange voice asked from the dark. Her lips pulled into an even greater smile.

"No hello or nice to meet you? Straight to the point huh?" She asked helping herself unto the lone chair in the vast compound of the abandoned building.

She knew it was probably provided by the man because he was aware of how time consuming their discussions always were.

"I'm not here for a frivolous dialogue Arabella, I'm here for your future." His tone grew angrier at every word making her curb any good humor and all other levity she came with. "What's the deal? Why aren't you deciding on a wedding date already and most importantly why isn't there a ring on your finger or a mark on your neck or the slightest smell of the pup on you?" He asked moving out of the shadowed wall to the light.

His tall but slightly lean frame loomed over her, what age took from his size it replaced with the authority booming in his voice. It always seemed to her that he aged less than every other average wolf or man.

Arabella snickered, "It's a long story, one you never thought could be possible. But first, the true Alpha has returned from the world of the unknown."

The expression on his face morphed from his usual nonchalance to ireful. With nothing to back-up her suspicion that her words had enraged him save for his expression switch she added salt to the wound.

"You haven't heard the worse of it," She snickered in derision, "He returned with Red."

The man's already reddened and provoked face turned ghostly in a way that seemed like all the blood in his face had disappeared within the blink of an eye and he staggered for balance until he settled on the slab of wood carelessly abandoned beside her.

"What do you mean by Red?"

"Oh you know who I mean, he returned with a breathing Isabelle."

"It can't be possible, she's long dead, she can't return from the world of the dead even if it is to fulfill an edict. It can't be." He added the last part to himself. "How do you know its her?"

"Believe me I got surprised too but I can recognize Isabelle anywhere and any day. The good part though is, I heard that she remembers nothing of her past so I gave no indication that I'd ever seen her before."

"Good," He nodded, "You did a good job. Any idea about how they crossed paths? Wait, why the hell didn't you tell me this sooner? You know I would've taken an action! I thought she was dead."

She scoffed, "Oh please, the only time I have the chance to be alone is when I'm in the bathroom, if Lucas isn't following me around which is rare, there's always someone else hovering over me at all times. They literally invade on my privacy there's no way I'm able to contact you." She uttered through gritted teeth, aggravated.

"Isabelle is supposed to be dead." He murmured, repeating himself.

"She's not, she's alive just like you and I are. Inhaling in the very same air we breathe in, but she doesn't remember anything like I said before so taking her down wouldn't be so hard." Arabella's eyes glinted with the pleasure her own words evoked in her.

She couldn't wait for whatever had the wheels turning in his head to be put into motion as long as it meant getting rid of the girl who stayed in her way of success and contentment.

"He is supposed to be at the Forest, George assured me that they drugged him. He swore they did." His voice shook with rage. "They should've kill him as I told them to, none of this would've happen."

Arabella shrugged at him before responding, "Well, I don't agree with you on that because he's too fine a man to be killed in his prime. Besides, I'm starting to like him, and I also love the mark George and his men left on him, it makes him appear the mortal he is and not the immortal wolf that people turn him into with their stories of awe and amusement."

"We have no assurance that he doesn't remember any of my conversation with him prior to the attack."

"Trust me he doesn't and it's clear that no one else does or I would've heard from Lucas or my assigned assistant. No one had a clue about where he was at our arrival, his return was a greater shock to me than it was to the others. They were like waiting for his return as though they had the assurance that he was merely away on a journey while I knew better."

"And you heard nothing about him telling anyone of where he came from and how he got the girl?"

Arabella shook her head in response pondering her next words. Imagining his reaction to her telling him how their scents were connected to each other and the evidence of his mark on her apparent on her neck.

"You haven't heard the worst part yet Grandpa." She willed courage to voice out the thoughts roaming rent free in her head restlessly.

Her grandpa only grunted in response. His stance was filled with displeasure at its peak.

"She was reeking of him and she had an obvious mark on her neck when they returned. I heard him claiming her as his."

His expression turned to a severe shade that she's never seen before in her life and Arabella had seen her grandpa vexed countless times to last her a lifetime in her next life.

He growled at the top of his lungs, the sound plagued with torment.

"He marked her, mated with her, yes." Arabella crossed her hands over her front as he stood up taking with him the slab of wood he was sitting on and flinging it to the farthest wall. Its broken pieces splinted off and scattered around the yard.

"You must do something to attract him, distract him while I do away with this insolent girl once and for all." He growled.

"Relax, just relax. I have a plan going on in my head. Why don't you send forth a demand to have the engagement party take place tomorrow. Your demand needs to be announced at the Pack Manor early in the morning stating that the edict needs to be complied with in haste. Hassle your De Luca men and sprout whatever threats you can to make them become more apprehensive of the consequences of not complying with the edict."

Her grandfather nodded in understanding before speaking "I'll do whatever it takes to have you engaged tomorrow before midnight. My men here are influential, trust me." He glared into the darkness as a sinister smile washed over his dark face.

Arabella and her grandfather parted with the promise of meeting a week later.

It was Martin's wish to have them meet instead of communicating over the phone, he trusted no one and nothing when it came to fulfilling his wife's parting wish, a sole wish with several branches.

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