In the next room, with his ears and that of the house hold servants pressed against the wall, Kurt's bright smile instantly fell off hearing her odd demand.
This strange girl, what did she think she was doing being so rude to the future Alpha of Rune Pack?
Resisting the urge to go out to the living room, he pressed his ears tighter against the wall when Dean began speaking again.
"What? Is being gone for a month that torturous? If it's too much, I'll try to finish everything in three weeks and get back to you as soon as I…"
He was still talking when she suddenly stepped forward and gripped him by the arm.
Then without a word, began dragging him out of the house.
She just realized why the house was so quiet.
Knowing the kind of father she had, the house hold servants were obviously nowhere to be found because he told them so.
That pesky, shameless man.
"Is three weeks still too much? I'd try to return in two weeks then. I'll work twice as hard to get rid of the…" thinking she still didn't like the time range, Dean was on the verge of compromising again when she snapped.
"Shh! Stop! Stop talking!" She hushed, pressing a finger against his lips.
His pupils dilated, and his skin tingled violently from the touch.
Trying not to concentrate on the electrifying feeling, his gaze on her intensified.
"You talk too much. Why do you talk so much? Didn't I tell you I have a boyfriend? It was just one night, why are you being so clingy? What, marry you? The audacity to curse me in my own home is just ridiculous!"
Though now soliloquizng out of bitterness recalling what she went through the last time they were married, the man listened to her in astonishment.
"Curse you? Saying I'll marry you is me cursing me?"
She retrieved her fingers from his lips and snapped them at him irritably.
"Hey, are you deaf? I said no!"
Turning him around, she gently pushed him until he was standing a few meters away from the house.
Then she turned around to leave but thought of something and turned to him again.
"My boyfriend usually comes to see me at night. I don't want to risk him seeing you lurking around, so please leave."
Then she hurried into the house.
Watching her really close the door behind her, the man walked over to the pool in the house and peered at his reflection in confusion.
He didn't suddenly become ugly, so why did it seem like she couldn't stand seeing his face?
Swallowing, he looked up at the house, his eyes settling on her in her room window waving at him to leave.
Turning, he left the compound and didn't stop until he found Connor and the other warriors from Rune Pack.
"Dean, the area around the pack is vast and it seems it'll take a little more than one month to take care of everything. I'm thinking two months."
Dean was silent for a brief moment before he sucked in his teeth. "Two weeks."
Everyone's eyes snapped toward him and his darted across their faces as he firmly repeatedly.
"Two weeks, that's what we have to finish everything."
As his cousin, Connor was the only one brave enough to try to reason with him.
"The area's too vast to finish in two weeks. Remember you wanted to be done with everything as soon as possible and return to Rune Pack?"
Dean exhaled. "Simple. We split our time. Spend two weeks chasing rogues and the remaining two resting until we've taken care of them all."
"Resting? Didn't you want to get out of here?"
"Connor, are you questioning my decision?"
"What? No. Of course not. I would never."
With that, the group dispersed.
As they dealt with rogues outside, the Alpha of Zephyr Pack called a meeting amongst the high-ranking wolves to discuss their failed attempt to marry a member of the pack into Rune Pack.
Earlier, Kurt Pietro had interjected and did everything to make that decision fall on his daughter, but since he failed this time, no one paid him any heed during the meeting.
But the surprising thing, however, was that the man, who usually flattered his way through meetings, sat quiet this time and didn't comment until they came to a decision.
As a wealthy man, his opinion wa highly respected most of the time. Coupled with his shamelessness and ability to flatter people to the moon, he almost always got his way.
So they simply assumed he wasn't saying anything as the boat for his daughter to become another pack's Luna just sailed past her.
After coming to a conclusion on what young girl should be used, Kurt leaned forward to make a suggestion.
"Dean Meadows says he will be gone a month, but he works fast and efficiently, so I say we host an event at the end of every week, making sure this girl who should get his attention would always be at a positive spot to attract him more."
Indeed, it was a nice strategy, so the alpha went with it.
The pack was running law on armory and rogues had killed and injured most of their warriors.
So knowing they'd be at a disadvantage once the people from Rune Pack left, the Alpha was open to doing anything to have them leave some trained men behind just until his men recovered.
But Rune Pack didn't exactly need anything from them, so this was the only way to keep them around.
Whilst the pack plotted, Carrie was somewhere catching her breath after running 2 miles.
"Why even do this? At the end of the day, we all die and become skeleton. Is something like this something I should really be bothered with?" She lamented every time she stopped to catch her breath and chug down a bottle of water.
Forget it.
She had to do this for her unborn son.
After encouraging herself, she'd begin running again.
That evening, Kurt shifted uncomfortably in his seat when he saw the table filled with vegetables of different sorts.
The only thing different on the table was the plate of steak in front of him.
Watching his daughter furiously chewing the leaves, he grimaced, "Honey, you do know we do better with meat right?"
"Dad, I said if you won't support me, leave me alone." The girl huffed amidst mouthfuls.
The man pressed his lips together and went silent before he raised his eyes toward her again.
"Jessica Muse is the new girl chosen to marry the alpha. If everything goes well, our pack should get security by the end of the month."
Then he squinted his eyes to watch her reaction.
That day Dean visited, she had dragged him outside to speak, so he couldn't eavesdrop without making it obvious, but he was quite curious about what as going on.
"That's good. Jessica is pretty. And lean. She's tall too. And blonde. The moon goddess has favorites, doesn't she?"
"You know she's not as good looking as you, and if you want to be blonde, then have someone dye your hair blonde." The man immediately huffed.
Carrie chuckled.
After a while, he voiced out again.
"Today will make it two weeks since Dean Meadows left with his group. Jessica and some girls will be waiting at the brothel they're likely to stop at once they come into town. Why don't you go join them? She needs as much help in enacting this plan."
Forking lettuce into her mouth, she sneered, "She's so petty, why would she need any help. The Alpha only wants the other girls there so her beauty would stand out better for that Dean."
Kurt smiled bitterly.
Indeed, he knew that. Naturally, he wouldn't let his daughter be part of such a degrading thing, but it was an order.
"I'll go once I'm done with dinner."
"That'd be good."
After dinner, Kurt went through the sales of the day with his accountant and as he did, Carrie changed out of her clothes and went to the brothel.
She had never been friends with the other girls in the pack, so she quietly went to a corner to sit.
The lights had been arranged to shine on Jessica Muse the moment anyone walked in so she was pretty much the first thing anyone saw.
She would smile from time to time, the glitter blush on her cheeks spreading across her face whenever she did.
In her boredom, Carrie made several trips to the front desk to get coconut water before she just sat there.
After a while, she got up to make use of the restroom.
Inside a stall, she smelt the familiar musk of a man and paused.
"Uh… this is the female restroom."
The person seemed to realize he was in the wrong place because she heard the door open and close again.
Putting her guard down, she left the stall to wash her hands.
As she did, she subconsciously glanced at the mirror, retracting her gaze in a split-second but immediately froze when she realized there was someone standing behind her.
"Did you miss me?"