Chapter 3 Sweet Lys

My skin prickled at the intense gazes from every corner of the ward. I swallowed hard, and parted my lips to speak when a knock sounded at the door.

A deep voice announced the President, and the door swung open before my family could react or clear the room. His scent preceded him, a mix of rich sandalwood, warm skin and body oils. Human. The president was the only human in his family, but looking at him, you would never guess it.

He stood still at the doorway, and his eyes traveled slowly around the ward.

Then he flashed a smile, and smoothed the lapels of his precisely tailored jacket. “A full house? Even better.”

His aide materialized behind him bearing a large bouquet of roses and a custom-sized gift basket. As he added it to the pile from well-wishers, the President stared at the wine stain trickling down the wall in red lines, and the shards of broken glasses twinkling on the floor.

“You wolves,” he muttered, and started to walk towards me.

I stared past him, surprised that Fentone was not behind him. That he was not here at all. The presidential aide stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

“Beautiful Lys.” President Miller stopped beside me. Unlike mom and dad’s disgusted looks, he stared at me like an intriguing spectacle. I shrunk under his gaze.

“I’m sorry about the Grand Ascension.” He placed a cool hand on my hair and caressed gently. My heart raced faster. He knew, someone had told him I could never walk again.

I lifted my gaze to the man who threw that party in my honor. The man who became even more desperate to have me as his daughter-in-law after I qualified for the tournament. Tears ran heavy down my cheeks. There was no doubt why he had flown down from D. C to be here.

This was the last time I would enjoy the favors of the president.

“Don’t cry, sweet girl.” He shushed. He waited till my hiccups subsided and then moved away. “You must have guessed that Lys and Fenton’s wedding cannot work anymore.”

My heart sank all the way to my toes. Our marriage would not have been a love marriage. We were not even fated mates. Our union was conveniently arranged between the two most powerful families in the country.

But this rejection stung.

The man who had lavished our family with gifts to convince them to give me out, was now rejecting the cripple.

Dad cleared his throat, “It’s the only right thing to do. We will begin getting Gianna ready for the…”

Time stopped, and for a second the voices around me distorted. I looked around the ward, hardly believing what I had just heard. But no one else seemed surprised.

Gianna? This was the plan all along.

My eyes found her where she still stood by the door, and the satisfied smile she was trying to hide sent a shiver through me. My suspicion had been right the whole time? She caused my fall. For a man?

“I’m sorry, Jonas.” The president cut off whatever Dad had been saying. “I really wanted you Grunders as my in-laws. You know how important it is to finally seal this divide between men and wolves. However, Fentone does not like your younger daughter.”

He winced.

“As his father, I did my best, but he is a grown man and I cannot force him to marry a woman against his will.” He glanced towards the bed where I was still reeling in shock, and gave a regretful head shake. “So long.”

He was almost at the door when Mom called. "Mr President."

He stopped, and then turned.

"There seems to be a misunderstanding here.”

“What’s that, Mia?”

“Our Lys will walk. We have already made arrangements with the specialists who will handle her case. As soon as she is discharged tomorrow, she will begin therapy.”

Arthur groaned. Dad hurried to him, and threw an arm over his shoulder, smiling.

President Miller squinted suspiciously, looking from Mom to Dad. “Is this true, Jonas? Why did you not mention this?”

“I did not think you would be willing to wait, or trust us.”

“Of course I’ll wait. This is Lys we’re talking about." He paused, those suspicious eyes narrowing further. "Who are these specialists? I spent my morning speaking with a couple of neurologists, and they were certain there was no medical solution to this.”

My mother closed the distance between them, all high-society charmer, “You forget we are not all human, Mr President. We have those who have broken past the ceilings your scientists keep hitting.”

President Miller grinned, and nodded away. "Fentone would be ecstatic, keep me updated."

He had barely left when Arthur roughly pulled away from Dad, “I'm gonna create a scandal so big it will cost your buddy his seat.”

Mom and Dad exchanged nervous glances.

“Why did you say that, Mia?” Dad questioned her decision for the first time ever, and she wrung her hands.

“They don’t want Gianna. We cannot afford to lose out on the Millers, it will work.” She stared up at Dad with doll eyes. “It will work, right?”

I stared at my family as they acted like I wasn’t even there when this was in fact my life. Being a slave to the sex gods, marrying the president’s son, or going on to compete in the Grand Ascension. It should all be my decision to make.

“I have never seen a pair more foolish than you two,” Grandma spoke at last, shaking an angry finger in the air. “Do you realize your disgusting solution means she dies at the end of the year? It is bad enough that you can even conceive such depravity for your own daughter, but at the end of the year, those men would perform the ritual to extend their immortality with her youth as they have done with all the other women before her.”

“What then?” Her voice rose even higher, “Tell me, what then? What would you tell your president if she died right around the wedding?”

“It only matters that she becomes Fentone’s wife,” Mom paced the ward in agitation as she shrugged off her tweed coat. “Even if she were married for a day, the deal would have been done. And who says she has to wait one year? She will wed Fentone as soon as she is healed.”

“Good grief.” Grandma staggered, and Arthur rushed over, gently pushing her onto a couch. “You would have her cheat?”

“Fucking speak!” Gianna yelled. And I blinked, startled to find she was referring to me. ”Have you no voice? Why sit there like a bloody moron? What do you want to do?”

“Gianna!” Dad thundered. Pin drop silence fell in the ward. His gaze burned hot as a lazer, his face red with rage. “We will come back to the fact that you did this to your sister...”

She gasped like she had been punched in the belly.

“You think we’re stupid? I already have your accomplice in the silver cage, and we’ll deal with that later. But stay out of this. Not every child is as worthless as you and your brother. Lys would never disobey us.”

And long after they left, I stayed awake in bed, thinking about that last statement as heat coiled in my chest.

Lys would never disobey us.

No one took me seriously. Every single person who walked in here today did so with the intention of deciding my fate. Not once did they ask me what I would like to do.

But my little burst of defiance vanished just as quickly at the grim choices before me. The Hearthrown Alphas. A shiver whispered over my scalp just at the thought of them.

I had no idea where the Alpha tag came from, as they were in fact gods.

No one spoke their names out loud, and the information our city had of them was from rumors. There was the 250-year-old wolf who was the ultimate Alpha of Hearthrown city. And his even more fearsome partner, a dragon who our elders claimed was over 500-year-old.

Besides ruling all seven districts of Hearthrown city from their shadow halls, the whispers said they enjoyed collecting broken things… like crippled me.

The thought of being their... lover? It made me dizzy.

I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, Ginna was standing over me. My eyes widened, and she smiled darkly.

“You’re back to being the center of attention, beautiful Lys.” She stressed sarcastically, “Everyone wants you even though you’re a goddamn lettuce.”

My eyes searched the ward in panic. Grandma must have gone to the bathroom, and Arthur had probably gotten bored and wandered off to a bar, even though he'd vowed he would never leave my side.

I was all alone, helpless against the sister who hated me. After Grandma's warning, shifting to defend myself was out of the question. I would be useless in permanent wolf form.

“I’ll not let you keep walking all over me!” Gianna shrieked suddenly, her eyes shining a dark blue as her wolf raged. “We both cannot be on the same planet, you take up too much damn air.”

The thought of her viciousness pushed me to tears, and my belly flipped at whatever sinister plan she could have for me this time. She confirmed my fear.

“Shift!”

“No, please no.”

“Shift, dammit!” She growled, barring her fangs. The windows in the ward shuddered in their frames, rattling violently to the power in her voice.

“Grandma!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Grandma, help!”

“Shift, bitch.” She struck me across the face, and Rhea howled. Rearing her head up, my wolf pumped a surge of dark current through my veins and my eyes started to burn.

“There you go,” Gianna punched me on the chin this time, “I’ll beat you bloody if I have to. What’re you going to do about it, big sister? Shift and fight me!”

Rhea, no, I begged from far, far in the corner of my mind where my human essence was receding. Rhea took up more and more space in my body, flooding my bloodstream with blinding heat, sharpening every hunting instinct I’d learned to control.

“Fight me, Lys!” Gianna threw her head back and howled to the ceiling in challenge. Doors slammed open and shut, windows rattled till one flew apart, sending a spray of shattered glass all around us.

Finally, my body arched, and a growl tore out of my throat.