Free Web NovelChapter 41: Chapter 41 A Fucking Demand
Renzo’s POV
I stared at my father like I was seeing him for the first time.
Not Alpha Ashford.
Not the man the pack bowed to.
Just a stranger wearing my father’s face.
Cause what he said is something a stranger would say and not our father.
When we picked Jade up that morning, I had already decided something inside me had to die so something else could live.
That car ride had been our last sin. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Our last attempt at doing one thing right after a year of getting everything wrong.
Our last attempt to be in a close space with her.
We were going to reject her.
Free her.
Cut the bond that tied her to monsters like us who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air she did, monsters who had betrayed her trust, her body, her dignity, her grief. Monsters who had stood by while she was torn apart by rumors, by cruelty, by our silence.
I had told myself I could live with the guilt if it meant she could finally live without us.
And now my father stood in front of me, calm and immovable, and said we would be marrying her.
Tonight.
The world tilted.
“No,” I said before I even realized I’d spoken. “That’s not possible.”
My brothers stiffened beside me. Ronan’s jaw tightened. Ryder’s hands curled into fists.
Something cold slid down my spine.
“What’s going on, Dad?” I asked, forcing the words out through clenched teeth. “What do you mean we’re getting married tonight?”
My father didn’t answer immediately. He looked at the three of us the way a general looks at soldiers who have disappointed him, measuring, weighing, deciding what punishment would be sufficient.
“You really thought,” he said slowly, “that I left you alone all this time without eyes on you?”
My stomach dropped.
“I have people everywhere,” he continued. “And the moment I returned, I was informed that Jade Knight is your mate, and that you’ve been... indulging yourselves with her.”
Ronan took a sharp step forward. “That’s not....”
“And then,” my father went on, cutting him off, “Mr. Harris called me.”
Linda’s father.
“He told me you planned to reject Jade today.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“That was none of his business,” I snapped.
“It became my business the moment it threatened the structure of this pack.”
Ronan shook his head in disbelief. “You want us to marry her just because she learned she’s our mate? Even knowing who her father was? Even knowing she’s of treasonous blood?”
The word treasonous landed like a slap.
My father’s gaze sharpened. “Origin does not matter when it comes to the goddess’s will.”
I felt something crack inside my chest.
“You are future leaders,” Alpha Ashford said. “You rule by example. And you must learn that some rules are not meant to be questioned, only obeyed.”
I took a breath, trying to stay calm. “We don’t want this,” I said. “She doesn’t want this.”
“That,” he replied coolly, “is irrelevant.”
He gestured toward the car. “Get back in. Go home. Prepare yourselves.”
Then he turned to Jade.
“And you,” he said, voice unreadable. “You’re coming with me.”
My head snapped toward her.
“Absolutely not,” I said. “She stays with us.”
His eyes flicked to me. “You forget your place, Renzo.”
Jade hadn’t moved. She looked frozen, like if she breathed too hard she might shatter.
Seeing that made something inside me screamed.
Jade’s POV
I don’t remember agreeing to follow him.
I just remember my feet moving.
The car door opened, and I slid into the back seat beside Alpha Ashford. Mr. Harris sat in front, silent, rigid, his presence heavy and suffocating.
The door shut.
The world felt too small.
Alpha Ashford didn’t speak at first. He just looked at me, studied me, like I was a chess piece he’d finally cornered.
I folded my hands in my lap to keep them from shaking.
“I used to look forward to watching you grow up,” he said suddenly.
“If only your father had not made the choices he did.”
I swallowed.
“When he used to bring you around as a child,” Alpha Ashford continued, eyes distant, “you used to play with my sons. I had.... hopes of you ending up with then .”
I laughed weakly. “That’s ironic.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “It is.”
He sighed. “Let’s be honest, Jade. I don’t want my sons bound to the daughter of a man who tried to overthrow me.”
My throat burned.
“But,” he went on, “some rules cannot be bent. Not even by me.”
I turned toward him. "You have to bend this one,” I said desperately. “This is modern times. Mates don’t have to marry. We hate each other. We’d destroy each other.”
He regarded me coolly.
“When my beta and I left on our so called business trip,” he said, “we went to handle an uprising in the north.”
“They wanted me removed. They claim my bloodline has ruled too long. That tradition is outdated.”
He leaned back. “And do you know what I used to defend my position?”
I shook my head.
“Tradition, that same old tradition,” he said simply. “The goddess’s laws. The sanctity of mates is part of the goddess laws.”
“I cannot use tradition to secure my sons’ future,” he continued, “and then allow you and them to undermine it still.”
My voice broke. “So this is about politics?” freewebnovёl.ƈom
“This,” he said, eyes hardening, “is about survival.”
He turned fully toward me. “You will marry my sons tonight.”
“No,” I whispered.
“You will seal the bond,” he continued, unflinching. “And you will give them an heir.”
I shook my head violently. “No, I don’t want this. I don’t want them. Please....”
A faint smile touched his lips.
“You do not have a choice.”
My breath hitched.
“If you refuse,” he said calmly, “your mother will pay the price, just as your father did.”
The car felt like it was closing in.
I tasted blood where I’d bitten my lip too hard.
“So,” Alpha Ashford concluded softly, “If I were you, I’ll already be thinking of how to seduce my sons tonight, cause I want you fucking screaming in their room as they fuck the life out of you so you can get pregnant tonight"
