Ariel's POV

I stared outside through the window, watching the sweet sighing of the trees and the animals moving freely in the forest as tears gradually dropped down from my eyes.

I was locked in the room as per my father's orders because I loved hunting and always wanted to be in the woods which he strongly disapproved of because I was a Luna princess.

He wanted me to behave like royalty, just as every other wolf princess out there. But one thing that he did not understand was the fact that I did not care a single inch about my royalty, all I wanted was a simple life.

"I will have to sneak out of this place," I said to myself. I jumped down from the bed and got dressed in sack clothes that covered my body from head to toe so that nobody would be able to recognize me.

I came outside slowly, dodging the palace guards as I found my way outside the pack house into the woods to have a feel of nature once again.

"Yes, I am finally free," I yelled out loud, jumping for joy as I ran speedily into the forest to continue with my expenditure.

I played with the tree and the animals in the forest and I wasn't the slightest bit tired until it was night and I had to leave them for the pack house before anyone would realize that I wasn't in my room where I was supposed to be.

Just the same way I had sneaked out, I sneaked back into my room, turning the lights on but the sudden creature on the bed made me shiver hard with free and cold shivers running down my spine.

It was my brother sitting down on the bed with a frown hanging on his face.

"You want out again? After all the warnings?" He shot a friendly smile at me but I was still startled.

"I just had to." I returned.

"Well you are not supposed to say that to me, save your explanation for Father, he seeks our presence," he said to me and we began to advance to his room.

As I walked, I could feel my heart beating hard against my chest as though it was going to burst through.

I didn't know what he wanted to say to us but knew one deadly truth, this meeting was going to determine my eventual fate, good or bad.

We continued to trend in the hall as my racing heart formed a beating pattern with my feet.

Then, we got to the room and I saw my father sitting on his bed like someone stripped of his life and I knew for sure that something was wrong somewhere.

I have never seen him so frustrated all my life and I knew that something was wrong.

"Father." The three of us said with a slight bow while our father looked up at us with his fatherly eyes.

The pack is about to come to an end, a pack that can never be defeated has threatened to wage war against us and we are way too me to fight by," he said Solely and soberly.

At the sound of his words, I could feel my heart beating hard against my chest and cold shivers already running steeply down my spine as I thought about the pack going down in ruins.

"But what can we do Father to stop this from happening," my brother inquired with urgency in his eyes.

I was trembling listening to them, so bad that I could hardly balance my feet on the floor together with my racing heart.

"I am sorry to say this but it is certainly out of my power,". I saw my father speak to the alpha like a weak helpless man deprived of life.

"Follow me," he beckoned to us and we followed him closely from behind. From the point he took, I knew that we were heading for the throne room but how could that room be a solution to our problems now?

When we got to the room, I discovered that all the alpha dukes and important personalities were around.

"Here she is," he announced, presenting me before everyone in the court and the hall broke into commotion with everyone staring at my beauty.

"No wonder he wanted her," I heard one of the dukes saying.

"No wonder who wanted what?" I inquired but there was certainly nobody there to give me any response.

"Can someone please tell me what is happening here," I yelled out, already getting frustrated and the noise in the hall ceased almost immediately.

"You are getting married, daughter," he announced.

"What," I exclaimed at the top of my broken voice. "But I don't want to get married, I want to stick to my books and the trees," I tried to say but he would not even give me breathing space to complete my statement.

"What do you want us to choose over you, or the pack?" He inquired and I shot a deadly glare at him but the words resounded in my head.

"YOU OR THE PACK," as tears gradually dropped from my eyes.

"I can't get married to someone I don't even know," I sobbed.

"isn't there another way?" I inquired, still trying hard to process everything that was happening there.

"No, there is no other way," he returned.

"Gulp," a large lump went down my spine.

"Okay, at least who is this strange anonymous alpha that is sending cold shivers down all your spines?" I inquired.

"That's the problem, it's not with getting married, it's about who you are getting married to. The alpha of Nicah is the one that is about to wage war with us and unless you get married to his son, he has threatened to raze the packdown to the earth.

"What!!" I exclaimed at the same time with my brother.

The alpha of that pack was the cruelest alpha the world has ever seen. He has never lost any battle and it was even rumored that his packwas where witches and Demons resided.

Gradually, my soberness vanished under a glare.

"No, I am not getting married to anyone, never," I glared at everyone present and stormed out of the room.