The Last of the Golden Wolves Breed

The Forced Alliance. Clara wanted to run, but there was no escape from what seemed to be the only path mapped out for her.

Her father, his face marked by years of struggle and sacrifice, stood before her, his gaze shifty, like a man cornered. Clara did not understand. She, the daughter of the leader of the pack, raised to believe that nothing was more sacred than the pride and honor of their lineage, now found herself reduced to a mere pawn in a game whose rules she did not know. Her father's voice trembled slightly, but he forced her to hear it, those words that had sealed her fate.

"Clara, there is no other solution."

She looked around, searching for any sign that would allow her to deny what he had just said, to ask him that it was a bad joke, a nightmare from which she could wake up. But nothing. Her father's gaze was fixed, resolute, as if all hope had disappeared in an ocean of debt.

"You must mate with the alpha of another pack," he continued, almost in a whisper. "Elias."

The name seemed strange to her, like an incantation she couldn't decipher. Elias, this man she didn't know, but who seemed to be able to decide her future.

"You mean... a marriage to settle the debt?" Clara took a step back, her voice shaking slightly, barely audible. "A marriage to a man I've never seen, a man I don't know?"

Her father nodded slowly. "Yes, Clara. He is the alpha of a rival pack. This is the deal he made to cancel the debt and save our family. This marriage is the only way to preserve our future. Everything else is secondary."

Clara felt her heart tighten in her chest. She wanted to scream, to rebel, but her father's voice, filled with regret, made her speechless. He knew what he was asking of her. He knew it would destroy her, but there was no alternative. The debt her father had incurred with Elias, for bad business, was not something that could be easily gotten rid of. They were cornered, and it was she, Clara, who had to be the sacrifice.

"And you?" Clara managed to utter, the words barely coming out. "You, Father, do you really think I'm going to accept this?"

His father's eyes clouded over with pain. "Clara... I have no choice. This is the only way out."

Clara bowed her head, holding back the tears that threatened to spill over. She felt trapped, caught in a fate she hadn't chosen. What else could she do, anyway? To reject this offer would be to doom everything she had ever known. Her family, her brother, her people... everything would be lost. Marriage wasn't an option, it was an order. An order she didn't have the luxury of refusing.

The days that followed were a whirlwind of preparations and silence. Clara went to meet Elias, the alpha of another pack, the one she was to marry. The man was a legend among her kind, a feared and respected alpha. Clara had only ever heard rumors about him, and no one she knew seemed willing to share more specific details. His name had always been whispered in hushed conversations, a mixture of fear and respect. He was a hard man, no doubt. But that wasn't what troubled her.

She stood before the massive door of Elias's manor, hesitating. The wind whistled between the stone walls, and the cold air bit at her skin. Clara took a deep breath, her heart beating faster than ever. The moment she stepped through that door, her life would change forever. There would be no turning back. It was now or never.

As she stepped into the shadows of the entrance, the vastness of the hall hit her hard. The manor seemed frozen in time, the walls covered with old portraits of ancestors, frozen in their steely gazes. The dim light only served to accentuate the heavy, distant atmosphere. A man stood there, far in the shadows, motionless, like a ghost.

Elias.