Alpha Brandon's Replacement Bride

Luna Vivianne extended a red, manicured hand toward Lucille. It clawed into Lucille's shoulder, leaving deep fingernail marks behind. And yet, the young woman in a white bridal gown did not even wince.

"Do not forget, Lucille Mooncreek. From this second on, your name is Sienna Flamewood. If you don't play along, then..."

"Then you will kill my entire family. Luna Vivianne, I am neither deaf nor stupid. I will do as you wish, but I do hope that you will not go back on your promise," Lucille snapped in annoyance.

"Arrogant wench," Luna Vivianne smirked. "You and your entire family members are nothing but slaves of the Nightstalkers pack right now. What makes you think that you can make any demands of me?"

Lucille slowly turned to look at the elder woman who stood behind her.

"I am taking the place of your daughter and offer myself up to the Blue Moon Howlers pack. Is that not good enough?"

Luna Vivianne sneered.

"Good? On the contrary, you should consider it an honor that we allow you to take Sienna's place. Slaves are worth less than mud."

Lucille scoffed.

"Luna Vivianne, I just want to remind you that you too will become a slave once the Blue Moon Howlers pack flatten your pack just like it did mine. Do not think that you will forever sit on top."

Luna Vivianne's face was distorted into a terrifying mask. She would love to backhand the insolent young woman, but she was supposed to marry Alpha Brandon today. The Alpha would surely question the inexplicable slap mark on his bride's cheek.

The elder woman grabbed a comb from the dressing table and started to run it through Lucille's light brown, silky hair. When it got stuck into one of the knots, Luna Vivianne ruthlessly pulled at the knot. Lucille's lips parted from stinging pain. Tears started to well in her eyes.

But still, she refused to grant Luna Vivianne the satisfaction of hearing her pained cries. Slave or not, she was an Alpha's daughter. She must uphold her pack's honor. Inside her, her wolf Livia clawed at her being.

'Lucille, let's teach this woman some manners!'

'No,' Lucille decided. 'Livia, be patient. We will be rid of her soon enough.'

The wolf howled unhappily in Lucille's head.

"Are we ready here?"

A voice rang out behind them, so suddenly that Luna Vivianne dropped the comb to the ground in fright.

Alpha Brandon's attendant stood at the door. He narrowed his eyes at Luna Vivianne and the bride. Lucille's glassy eyes did not escape him, but he dismissed it as parting tears between mother and daughter.

"Y-yes," Luna Vivianne answered before she lowered Lucille's veil.

She gave Lucille one warning look before she took her hand and led her to the wedding venue.

It was a wedding ceremony between the Nightwalkers pack and the Blue Moon Howlers pack. It took place in a vast clearing with a lake at its center. Pink, red, and white flower bouquets with silk ribbons were attached to the pillars, table clothes, and also seats.

In the middle of the lake stood a heightened platform with rose petals on the floor. An elder from the Blue Moon Howlers pack stood there with Alpha Brandon, waiting for Lucille to arrive.

It was a wedding ceremony between the Nightwalkers pack and the Blue Moon Howlers pack. It took place in a vast clearing with a lake at its center. Pink, red, and white flower bouquets with silk ribbons were attached to the pillars, table clothes, and also seats In the middle of the lake stood a heightened platform with rose petals on the floor. An elder from the Blue Moon Howlers pack stood there with Alpha Brandon, waiting for Lucille to arrive.

As Lucille slowly walked toward the heightened platform, she thought about the grand, and yet deceitful wedding event.

Alpha Brandon did not ask for Sienna Flamewood's hand in marriage. He asked her father to hand Sienna over as a hostage. This wedding was just an excuse to keep the Nightstalkers pack in check. At least until the Blue Moon Howlers pack decided to attack the other pack in the future.

With the veil covering her eyes, Lucille was unable to see Alpha Brandon's face. The only impression she had came from the moment when Alpha Brandon took her hands and squeezed them.

Lucille's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

In eighteen years, she had never held hands with a man. Her father was very strict. He did not want her daughter to be a loose woman. He kept telling Lucille that she was supposed to maintain her chastity for her future mate.

Who would have known that her father would die in a pack war and that she and the rest of her family members would become slaves?

How ironic.

And there she was, acting as a replacement for a hostage bride and marrying a man that she did not even know.

A deep, masculine voice pulled Lucille out of her trance.

"I, Alpha Brandon of the Blue Moon Howlers pack, take you, Sienna Flamewood, to be my mate and the Luna of the Blue Moon Howlers pack."

He gave Lucille's hands a gentle squeeze. In response, Lucille choked out her wedding vows, "I, Sienna Flamewood of the Nightwalkers pack, accept you, Alpha Brandon of the Blue Moon Howlers pack, to be my mate and my Alpha. I accept the Luna position wholeheartedly. I shall dedicate my life to serving the Blue Moon Howlers pack from now on."

The attending members from both packs broke out in a cheer. Alpha Brandon's large hands reached out into Lucille's veil and lifted it.

Lucille held her breath when she came face-to-face with the man she just married. Alpha Brandon was a tall, handsome werewolf with ink-black hair and a pair of stunning, deep blue eyes.

But that was not all.

Lucille's heart stopped beating when their eyes were locked on each other. All air was sucked off her lungs by an invisible force. For a brief moment, time stopped and their surroundings were blurred out. Lucille only had eyes for Alpha Brandon, and he for her.

'Mate!' Livia shouted in Lucille's head. 'Lucille, fated mate! Our fated mate!'

Lucille froze on the spot. She even felt a little dizzy.

Alpha Brandon was her fated mate? What? How could it be?

The time flowed regularly again.

Opposite Lucille, Alpha Brandon regained his composure. He gently cupped Lucille's face in his hands and pressed their lips together in a kiss.essed their lips together in a kiss.

It was Lucille's first kiss, but she could tell that Alpha Brandon harbored no love for her at all, fated mates or not.

Could the situation be more messy?

After the ceremony concluded, the wedding guests were invited to a lavish banquet in the grand villa.

Anxiety and excessive worries dispelled the hunger within Lucille. She was, in fact, nauseous from the turn of events. She thus excused herself to skip the brunch and go back inside for some rest.

Inside the dressing room, Lucille sat in front of the mirror and stared at her reflection. In her head, Livia kept chatting non-stop.

'Lucille, what are you doing? Why are you not talking to our fated mate? Why do you leave him out there, all alone???'

Lucille took a deep breath. She inhaled and exhaled a few times to calm down herself before she answered her wolf.

'Livia, you know the circumstances of this marriage. The fact that we are fated mates makes everything a lot worse. How do I have the face to see him again?'

Livia huffed in displeasure.

'You still have to face him, sooner