The Last Chance

It was a normal morning like any other, I got up, did my hygiene and went to my morning studies, my mother had hired several etiquette teachers for me, but none could be as strict and cruel as the current one, so the last thing I wanted to do was to be late for my class. I went downstairs and, in the hallways, met up with my sister, Emily didn't seem to be having a good day, so I just said hello and headed for the dining room, breakfast had already been served and I was starving.

"Ellie, eat slowly, this way you look like an animal." -My mother said with stiffness in her voice.

"I'm sorry, I was a little hungry."

I went back to eating as slowly as I could as soon as I was done, I went to my classroom my class would start in less than ten minutes.

The rest of the afternoon went as normal, I had a little free time so I decided to take a walk around the huge property, I took a book with me, I wanted to find a quiet place to read in the garden.

Leo, my childhood friend found me, he came over to greet me in the loudest way he could. He ran up to me, even with his tall build, he still insisted on acting like a child, his black hair gave an air of seriousness to that extremely gentle boy.

"Ellie, what are you doing here!?"

"Well , I live here. I'm the one who should ask you what you're doing here."

"My father came to talk to your father."

"Do you know why?"

"The subject seemed boring, so I thought it was business."

"I think you should attend the meetings, after all being an only child you should be preparing to inherit the family business. "

"I don't want to get into that just yet, if my father starts talking business, he'll want to bring up marriage. He always takes the subject to my mate, that's very annoying."

"The weight of being an alpha is very sad."

"I don't know how you can handle all that. Your whole family is alpha, of the highest rank and your name is big, it won't be long before your parents want to marry you off too. "

"I think arranged marriages are a thing of the past, not to mention I need to worry about that for now, since they still have my sister to worry about."

"Lucky you."

"Go figure, it's not so bad to get married. With luck you might even find your mate before then."

"I'm convinced I don't have one, in the end I'll end up doing what my parents want."

Leo looked very sad when he said these words, after all he had always been a boy, more of a boy than a grown man, at the end of the day he also seemed to be a romantic. His father was always very close to the family, we grew up together since I was five years old.

Leo stood up and left me alone, he said he needed to find his father before he abandoned him right there, I laughed at his words, whenever I watched him too much, I had meaningless thoughts. I always thought that I saw Leo as a pity friend, nothing more than that, but as he grew the happy pink little boy became a really handsome man, his body changed, he became stronger, "An alpha always attractive" as my father liked to say, this made me start to feel strange around him, a kind of discomfort with shame that I preferred to avoid.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden, the shade of a tree was all I needed for a little peace, as the afternoon was drawing to a close, I returned inside the house for dinner time, everyone was at the table when I arrived, I sat down and dinner began to be served.

Before I could think of starting to eat, my father wanted to make an announcement.

"Before we begin our dinner, I wanted to announce that I had a conversation with Adam, my longtime friend and partner. We came to the conclusion that a marriage between our family would be a good thing for both of us, that being said, we have decided that Emily will marry Leo in the spring."

A dead silence settled on the table, none of us could say anything about it, Emily just stared at my father with a distant look, she didn't seem angry or sad, just indifferent. My father looked at me, I thought he would say something but he just continued with his speech.

"Our family will become stronger just like Adam's, the lineage of pure alphas will be maintained and everyone will be happy. I'm sure Ellie can assure you that Leo is a good boy."

So that's what he was thinking as he stared at me.

"Leo has always been a good friend to me, I am sure he will make my sister happy."

A shallow reply, with a forced smile that I never thought I would use in this house. This whole situation was uncomfortable for me, after the conversation I had with Léo in the garden, I was becoming more and more convinced that he wouldn't want it to end like this.