Eero's perspective
"Why are you doing all of this? What is it to you? What is the benefit that you'll get from this?" I asked him. Miguel smiled at me. I sighed, and right at that moment. I wanted to run away from all of this and leave with my son away from these.
"Our family will be united, and through that union, our pack will become stronger. Mering the Blackthorn Pack and the Regulus was all that my father wanted ever since," Miguel said with a smile.
"You'll go through this mess and suffer in the misery of being in a loveless marriage, with me possibly seeing my second chance mate for your father's validation?" I asked, and those words came out as if I was mocking him when that wasn't my intention.
I wanted to pat his shoulder, but before I could touch him, my wolf stopped me.
"Please say yes to this engagement, your grace. Marry me, and I'll let you do anything that you want." I stared back at him. A bitter smile painted on Miguel's lips.
"When Alpha Ruiz, my father, received a decree from the Alpha King stating that you had chosen me as your second chance mate. That was the first time that I felt him so proud of me." I shook my head at Miguel.
"It wasn't me. I didn't choose you as my second chance mate. That's the doing of my father."
"I figured that out when Claudius came up to me to ask for my help to accept you and marry you." Miguel reached for my hand and gently held it.
"We will perform our duty as a married couple. We'll please our fathers, but then we'll be free to do anything as we see fit. This is a win-win situation. This is not a bad deal."
"Fine, but when I become the Alpha Queen in the future. I'll set you free, Miguel. You deserve to find a shifter that would love you truly," I said to him.
"I know, but given our situation. I think I will settle for a spiritual love that you can offer for now." Silence swirls between us.
"I'll be a good father to Perseus while Claudius was away and if you want. We can find a way for your family to be together once or twice—"
"Hush, now, Miguel. I get it, and I accept you and this marriage." I bit my lower lip.
"Really?" He asked, eyes glimmering with happiness. I chuckled at his reaction.
"If there's someone who should be begging for this marriage to happen. That should be me, right?" I asked him. Miguel smiled, and he offered me his hand.
"It's my father. He's looking for us," he informed me about the mind link that he just got. I intertwined my hands.
"Miguel?"
"Hmm?" Miguel hummed and tilted his head to shift his gaze to me.
"It's not easy for me to trust anyone again, but when it comes to you, it's as easy as breathing. My wolf and I feel like you'd never betray me."
Miguel cupped my cheeks. I was caught off-guard after he damped a kiss on my forehead, "I don't love you, Eero. I know that you'll never love me too, but my loyalty will be yours, always, and I hope to have your loyalty too, as a friend?" I nodded at Miguel, and then we heard murmurs of awe from Miguel's mother.
"Moon Goddess, they remind me of Ruiz back when we're still at their age and head over heels in love with each other," Luna Gazelle said.
"Hey, are you saying that we are no longer head over heels in love with each other now that we are old?" Alpha Ruiz asked his wife, which brought laughter to everyone.
"No, but you know what I mean. The thrill of a young love and a newly discovered bond is different, right Luna Queen Aelice?" Luna Gazelle asked Aelice. She beamed an awkward smile.
"I wish I could tell that I knew what you were talking about, but I don't Luna Gazelle. One day, I might know about the thrill of such a bond," Luna Aelice said, and although she said it with a soft voice, that didn't help to lessen the insult that the Alpha King might have been feeling right now.
Alice and I's eyes met. Not only does she look coldly at me, but I can feel her hostility, too.
I quietly leave the hall to spend some alone time with myself. I bite my lower lip. I gazed at the century-old Sapphire stone on the engagement ring on my finger.
"When the Alpha King married me. He didn't give me the heirloom ring of his family since she buried the late Luna Queen with it." I instantly put my hand down and stopped adoring the ring that the Blackthorn pack had given me.
"When I decided to just accept my fate as the Alpha King's chosen bride. I didn't just do it to be the Luna Queen or for the power. I did it because I do not wish to put you and your claim in danger if my father and the Alpha King found out that you were the one who helped me escape."
I was shocked to hear this. I turned to look at her.
"You should have told me then, Aelice. If you did, it wouldn't make me feel like you betrayed me."
"I know that you felt that way on my wedding day. You can say that we are even now."
"Huh?" I asked, frowning at her.
"I lied to you, and you did the same thing. We both betrayed each other, Eero."
I sighed.
"You said we are friends! We are allies, but how come you that you managed to lie to me?" Alice asked.
"No, she wasn't mad at us. She was hurt, Eero," my wolf whispered.
I hugged her and rested my chin on her shoulder as I cried, too.
"I didn't know what to do or how to tell you the truth when you confronted me earlier. I thought that–"
"You thought that I would use it against you? I'm Octavio's daughter, but I'm not like him, Eero! I would never use your dark past to bring you down because I value you as my friend, and it hurts me that you thought that I'd do that."