Lyric "I'm sorry, father, but I want to leave," I said firmly. “But you just got back home, Lyric. Besides, we still have a pending agreement with the Darkspire.” My father disagreed with my wish to return to Draconis as soon as possible. Hours later, there I was, sitting with him in our living room, having this conversation. I no longer wanted to stay here. “I'm really not interested in Alpha Jaris anymore.” It was hard to get the words out, but I had to. Seeing him again had caused me too much pain. I just wanted to return to my normal life in Draconis, far away from all these people. My father’s face turned pale. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He was about to speak when two guards rushed in, looking urgent.“Alpha,” they bowed to my father, “we have a company. Alpha Jaris is here at the mansion.” My eyes widened in surprise. I wanted to believe I misheard, but my father jumped to his feet. That’s when I knew things were getting serious. “Please let him in, " my father said, quickly straightening his posture. I took a deep breath and folded my arms across my chest, sitting comfortably. I didn’t understand why he had to come here, since it was already clear to him that I didn’t want to marry him. My father forced a very fake smile, as if he wasn’t afraid of the sudden arrival. He stood up to shake hands with him. “What a surprise! You should have told me you were coming. I would have prepared a grand welcome for you. We would have shown you how we greet and welcome respected guests in our pack,” My father said all the right words dramatically, but the look on Jaris’s face told me he hadn’t come in peace. The handsome devil looked nothing but trouble. Jaris didn’t even shake hands with my father. He just stared at me, almost like he was challenging me. “There will be no need for that, Alpha Bennett. I didn’t come here for a grand welcome or to share a meal with you. I came because—” He paused, stepping forward and facing me directly. “—to hear directly from your daughter,” he said, his voice loud and clear. Thankfully, Nora and her mother weren’t at the house. “Your daughter told me she’s no longer interested in me.” Then Jaris continued, his eyes shooting daggers at me. I nervously licked my lower lip and tried to speak for myself. But the way my father looked at me and the way Jaris glared, I couldn’t find a response. “Can you say it again, Lyric? This time to my face,” Jaris asked, his hands in his pockets. His body language was calm, but his expression wasn’t. That was the most intimidating part. “What makes you think you can reject me?” He kept talking, taking control of the conversation.Even my father must have noticed how uncomfortable I was. Jaris spoke harshly, commanding the room. It was almost threatening. “Lyric, what is going on?” Thankfully, my father stepped in and broke the silence. I began to bob my head, kind of encouraging myself to speak up. But I guessed he really didn’t come here to hear from me again. He came to deliver the verdict. “Actually,” Jaris intervened, drawing attention back to himself. “I have come here to let you know that all our previous deals are dismissed now,” Jaris stated, and I noticed my father’s face turning paler than before. Our pack has a lot of collaboration with Darkspire. Darkspire possesses top-tier capabilities, and collaborating with them often brings immeasurable benefits to us. After my father incurred a massive debt, this kind of cooperation became even more valuable, almost indispensable.But this kind of relationship means that the powerful can stop everything at any time, and even use these benefits as bargaining chips to threaten us. If Darkspire refuses to continue trading with us, our pack will face unexpected troubles. “But Alpha Jaris, those deals are for the benefit of the pack members,” my father immediately began to urge him to reconsider. “I don’t think your pack deserves any help from me. All the debt you’re drowning in is your own fault. Why should I suffer helping you with it? I was doing it out of the kindness of my heart. But I’ve realized some people don’t deserve kindness.” Alpha Jaris directed the rest to my father, but that last sentence was aimed straight at me as he turned and shot me a deadly glare. That wasn’t fair. He was ready to risk the well-being of the entire pack just because I was rejecting his offer. How condescending was he exactly? And being blamed as the reason behind the pack’s downfall made me feel both guilty and worried.“But Alpha Jaris, those people—they are young mothers. They won’t have food for their children.” My father started to panic, his hands trembling at the thought of the pack’s future. If Jaris didn’t help, things would get extremely bad for us. “Alpha Bennett, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. I was giving you a deal, one where I wasn’t really going to get much, just a marriage to your daughter, to an arrogant she-wolf. And in return, all your debt was supposed to be cleared. All your pack members who were going to starve were going to relive the best of their lives. Tell me again exactly who was benefiting from this deal?” Jaris said, his aura so dark and imposing that I couldn’t even argue back. And what exactly was I going to say? I couldn’t ask him to help us when he’d made it clear there was only one way he would help my father. At that point, I could have just stopped caring and left the pack to live in Draconis. But the thought of the pack members suffering held me back. And then one of his men stepped forward with the papers my father had signed earlier as a deal with Jaris, promising aid to our pack members. Jaris held the papers in both hands, ready to tear them apart. That’s when I realized I couldn’t do this to the helpless pack members. I couldn’t do this to my father, even though he had been nothing but harsh to me before. “You don’t have to do that,” I suddenly spoke up. Jaris tilted his face, almost peeking from the side of the papers as he held them up, ready to tear them in half. “What do I not have to do?” he asked, slowly lowering the papers, his eyes challenging me. The satisfied look on his face told me he was one step away from victory, and I hated it. But I had no choice. “You made yourself clear. The deal is back on,” I said with difficulty, not even meeting his eyes. Because I hated to lose. I hated to lose to arrogant men like him. “Glad I made it clear.” He waved the papers back, handing them to his men. “Now, what were you saying about a grand welcome? I hope you do that some other day, especially when I’m the one helping your pack survive. And also bearing the burden of this ill-bred daughter of yours.” Of course, it wasn’t enough for him that I bowed to his orders. He had to insult me too. “The next time your daughter makes such decisions, I expect you to remind her what I’m capable of.” He locked eyes with my father, then looked back at me. “Do you understand, Miss Lyric?” I clenched my jaw and nodded. “I understand.” His eyes lingered on me before he turned to my father again. “Someone will be here to fetch her tomorrow, 1 p.m. She should be ready.” He said this and then left the mansion. My father said nothing, that was the effect of Jaris’s dark, imposing presence. The minute he left, I let out a deep breath and shook my head. This didn’t go as planned. Watching how he was ready to risk everyone’s life just because he was denied something made me more afraid than ever. With how bad things were between us, I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t make it out alive from this one-year marriage.