Almila
The moment my name left his mouth, the room fell into a heavy silence. Most of the eyes at the table turned toward me. I rested my cheek against my hand and looked him over from head to toe.
"If you're excited about this offer, why don't you go as their bride?" I said.
A few people tried, but failed to hide their quiet laughter.
When Hyde heard that, he looked ready to explode. That was always the result when this immature pup tried to pick a fight with me, he could never control his emotions. Slamming his fist against the table, he jabbed a finger in my direction and started shouting.
"You're already this old and still don't have a mate! What good are you anyway, you hag?! I'm saying this for your own benefit!"
By the end, he'd shouted so loudly his voice cracked, and the veins on his forehead stood out.
I almost pitied him for looking so pathetic. "Stop barking and sit down. You're giving us all a headache," I said quietly.
My calm tone only made him lose it even more. He pushed back his chair and stormed toward me. Within seconds he was at my side, grabbing me by the collar and yanking me up from my seat.
I let him, and stared blankly into his furious eyes.
"What did you just say?!"
His grip on my collar was loose, too loose. I could feel the tremble in his fingers.
I clenched my teeth and let my aura flare just slightly, he recoiled instantly, jerking his hand back as if he'd been shocked.
"You and those disgusting pheromones of yours…" he hissed through clenched teeth.
While backing away, he stumbled and had to grab the edge of the table to keep himself upright.
Once he retreated, I sat back down.
The wolves beside me were showing clear signs of discomfort as well, subtle shifts, stiff shoulders, darting eyes... My aura was getting to them. A few even pushed back their chairs and moved away from the table altogether.
My grandfather, who had been watching the entire scene, finally lost his patience. "Enough! Stop fighting and sit down!" he shouted.
At my grandfather's shout, everyone returned to their seats.
I kept my eyes on Hyde, watching him until he finally sat down. He held my gaze the entire time, until he eventually broke first and looked away.
Only then did I turn back to my grandfather. The expression on his face was both stern and troubled, like he was bracing himself for the words he was about to say.
The entire table fell silent as everyone waited for him to speak. I was unsettled by the silence and the expression on my grandfather's face. I couldn't wait for him any longer.
I was about to stand up and leave the table but I turned back at what he said.
"They want Talay's wife as their bride."
Hearing my father's name for the first time after all those years, sent a scalding shock down my spine.
And when I grasped the meaning of my grandfather's words, I froze where I stood. He turned back to me, I could almost swear I saw pity on his face.
Then the emotions I'd been holding down began to spill out of my body.
All at once, everyone in the room started coughing, making strangled sounds that told me they couldn't breathe.
They bowed their heads toward the floor, groaning as if they couldn't lift them again. My eye twitched, I clenched my teeth. My molars began to itch.
I wanted to flay the skin off every person in the room and chew it between my teeth.
My grandfather, too, was affected by the aura leaking out of my body, bracing himself with one hand on the table to keep his balance.
I turned to my mother. The bride they wanted was her. But my mother, with that emotionless expression on her face, was staring into emptiness, just like always.
A deep ache bloomed in my chest. It felt like the insects crawling inside me had begun to gnaw at my flesh, at my organs.
She was the only one in the room unaffected by my aura. Yet she was also the only one completely unaware of anything.
They were mocking us, and mocking me.
When my father went to that filthy northern mutt pack that night, he must have done something etched deep into their bloodline, because taking his head clearly hadn't been enough to satisfy their thirst for revenge.
"How exactly do you plan to answer them?" I said through teeth that were beginning to settle into something far less human.
My grandfather's eyes stayed locked on mine for a moment, unresponsive, almost as if he'd disappeared inside them. Leaning on the hand he'd braced against the table, he finally spoke.
"We have no other choice."
The moment those words left his mouth, I slammed my fist onto the table. One of its already-cracked legs snapped clean in two under the force.
The table toppled sideways, everything on top crashing to the floor with a deafening clatter.
"What do you mean, we have no other choice?"
The words scraped out of my throat, my voice so muffled and strange that even I barely recognized it.
My grandfather was struggling more and more against my aura, but before he could answer, the murmuring to my side caught my attention and I turned.
"What else can we even do…? If they came with an offer like this, refusing means they'll attack our pack…"
It was my aunt speaking, the one who had pulled my mother away from the table and taken her to the corner of the room.
My mother had her head resting against the wall, staring into nothingness. On her other side, my other aunt was unconscious.
She must not have been able to withstand my aura, she was an omega, after all.
Seeing them like that, I tried to get myself under control, but because I struggled to contain my power, I failed to suppress my aura on the first attempt.
When I clenched my teeth with all my strength, my jaw began to throb, and I felt my teeth pressing painfully into my gums.
Hyde's mother, who had been trying to keep him steady where he'd collapsed on the floor, shouted.
"Get a hold of yourself already! The omegas have passed out, don't you see?!"
Emboldened by her outburst, the others also began yelling at me with whatever strength they had left.
As their voices echoed through the room and slid slowly into my ears like centipedes, I closed my eyes.
When their voices gradually blended together and turned too fluid for me to even distinguish anymore, I felt the faint crack of the teeth I had been clenching for so long.
Then suddenly, I said the first thing that crossed my mind.
"Then I'll be their bride."