บท 5: Unless What?

Ed listened with rapt attention. While she was narrating, he could tell that none of her brothers had helped her with any combat; she had been fighting the war alone. Besides this, Ed was more interested in knowing as to how she had ended up with a broken rib. He waited patiently until the last part of the story when Adrianna told him that she had been thrown by an alpha while she was about to kill a female wolf.

Ed felt horrible when he came to know how she had fought alone, bravely, without any help. Exasperated, he threw his hands in the air and said, "You will not fight another war for Kuro! This was the last!"

Adrianna looked at him fondly and laughed.

They had their breakfast in silence before Ed urged her to finish eating quickly. He wanted her to go and meet her father, even though he wasn't looking for her. It was important that Kuro felt her presence around him at all times, and Ed didn't want leave any chances. With Adrianna around, Kuro was threatened, and Ed wanted to ensure that he continued to feel so.

Adrianna was not happy when she heard that she had to accompany Ed to her father's place. When she was young, her nanny used to take care of her; she never remembered her father asking about her or playing with her, even though he would take time to play with her older siblings. She would always look at all of them from far. No one encouraged her to sit with them at gatherings and feasts. As they grew older, the distance between her and the rest of her family only increased. She wanted to get out of that house desperately; her nanny had died, leaving Adriana to be alone all over again.

One day when she was only twelve, in a fit of anger and desperation, she ran away from her house. She had run to the periphery of the jungle when she came across humans. She hid herself as she could smell that they were different from her. Her interest piqued and she followed them to the main town outside the jungle. Human civilization was a huge shock for her. As she fearlessly walked around the malls and streets that day, unaware of all the danger lurking around her, she never wanted to go back.

Ed had gone to meet Kuro to talk to him about an alliance with the most powerful alpha, which Kuro had declined. From then on, Kuro had fought far too many wars with them, each time successfully making them retreat.

When Ed found out that Adriana had been missing from home for two days, he didn't waste a single second before leaving the house to find her.

Ed found her in a haggard condition loitering around in the streets. Adrianna had somehow managed to find food for herself during those two days. She had survived. She had controlled her wolf. She had shown that she had the grit to exist.

When Ed found her, he could no longer bear her loneliness and took the little girl under his wings from then on. Adrianna was practically staying with him, but he insisted that she should still visit her father every once in a while.

Ed once again insisted that she visit her father. Adrianna sulked; she didn't want to meet her father or her elder brothers or her sister, but Ed asserted himself and soon they were on their way to her father's place.

Although they could shape shift and get there as wolves, Adrianna decided to get there on the motorcycle which Ed had gifted her. Ed had taught her how to ride the motorcycle and she would often take it to college. Sometimes, when she went deep into the jungle to cultivate her inner energy, she would ride her motorcycle to her favorite spot.

It was a bumpy ride, but Adrianna rode it like a pro; only Ed knew what he had to suffer during that ride. Adrianna had made him almost fly off the motorcycle numerous times and he was barely just holding onto the edges of the seat. He must have shouted at her umpteen times asking her to slow down, but she wouldn't listen. She would just grin and call him an old man.

They stopped in front of the house her father owned. It was a huge house surrounded by many different types of trees. Inside, there were many rooms and the biggest was used for meetings with his allies. When Adrianna and Ed entered the house, they met Kuro in his meeting room. Kuro looked at his daughter and ignored her, continuing to talk to his two allies about the recent war.

Ed and Adrianna sat further away and waited for the meeting to conclude. One of the allies, Claus, gazed at Adrianna and gestured for her to come near him. Adrianna sighed and walked to him, bracing herself for the familiar discussion that she had face so many times before.

"Good afternoon, Uncle Claus," she greeted him drably.

"Good afternoon Adrianna. Kuro when are you sending her to my house? I have already told you that my son is the best match for her," said Claus, looking at Adrianna but talking to Kuro.

Kuro rolled his eyes and smirked at her. "Why do you want her in your house? She is a bad omen. She killed her mother as soon as she was born. Don't you know that?"

Kuro and Claus had known each other from a long time now and were fast friends. Claus liked Adrianna a lot and wanted her for his twenty-five year old son. It was a known fact that Claus's son hadn't found his mate so far, but he had seen Adrianna and had been strongly attracted to her. He had spoken to Adrianna about it once when he came to her house, but she had run away without replying to him. At that time, she was just sixteen. It had been three years since then, and he was still hoping that Adrianna would become his. He was hoping to mark her, thinking that it would create their soul bond.

When Kuro said that, Claus became quiet. He knew that Kuro was offended by this conversation, but he also wondered why Kuro had not given up on her if Kuro hated her so much, and what better way to get rid of her than marrying her off.

The meeting was over at that juncture and both the allies went out.

Ed walked towards his son and granddaughter and said, "Now that you have won the war against the chief alpha, what are your plans? In my opinion, you should focus on your people now. They are weary of fighting so many wars."

"I don't need your opinion Ed!" shouted Kuro.

Then he looked at Adrianna and said, "The alpha of the blue moon pack who had waged a war against us has warned us that he will continue his attack on us in the coming fortnight. Unless…" Kuro stopped mid-sentence and looked at the ceiling, shaking his head.

"Unless what?" asked Ed, growing impatient.

Kuro looked at Adrianna. "Unless you are being handed over to him in marriage," he finished the sentence as though he was still trying to make sense of it.