I eyed the window at the end of the conference room and strummed my fingers on the long wooden table. I could make a charge for it, shift, and blast through the thing. We were only what, four stories up? No problem. I’d be on the ground and out of here in a flash. I could leave this city and strike up a new life out in the mountains somewhere. Hell, I could train with the bear shifters.

Except I’d never do that. I would never leave my clan in a time of need, no matter what the reason was.

I continued to tap my fingers until Mom put her hand on the back of mine.

“Please stop that, Loch,” she said. “It’s giving me a headache.”

Dad sat on Mom’s other side, and his eyes were closed. He wasn’t sleeping—I knew that sometimes he liked to meditate before important events. It was something he’d learned at the Fighting Arts School. I’d been taught it too, but I was too damn nervous to meditate right now. A robed officiant sat across from us, completely silent with his hands folded on the table. I squirmed. That window did seem mighty tempting.

Where were they? Maybe Tresten had convinced his parents that this was a terrible idea, and he wouldn’t show. Then I wouldn’t have to go through with this marriage.

It felt like my brain was tying itself into terrible knots. No matter how much I hated this, and how badly I didn’t want it to happen, I didn’t actually want Tresten to not show. Him not showing would mean a collapse in relations with our clans. And without the future financial support of the Crocs, my family’s position would be threatened. It could mean bloodshed.

I wanted to get this all over and done with as soon as possible. Sign the paperwork, enter our names in the clan registry, bam, alpha and omega bonded together for life. And then I could move on with mine. I’d never be able to get married for real, but that was fine with me. I was a fighter. There was no time for things like falling in love. If I had to live a life of one night stands and bachelorhood, that was fine with me. The warrior’s way was all I needed. Maybe once I knew my family was secure, I would go off to the woods after all. Training under a pounding, icy waterfall with the bear masters didn’t sound so bad.

The doors to the chamber unlatched and made my heart jump a billion feet. Two men in suits entered and took both sides of the door way, and in walked Julius and Desmond Croc. I felt my mom slap my shoulder, and I realized that my parents and the officiant were all standing. I quickly pushed my chair back, causing it to honk loudly against the floor, and stood up. Then Tresten entered behind his fathers. My mouth dropped for a split second before I managed to get control over it. He was dressed up in the traditional robe, the special one that omegas wore for a small number of formal events, weddings being the main one. I admit, I’d always loved the way traditional omega robes looked on a man. It was gorgeous and accentuated his physique in all the right places, and the bow in the front made him look… surprisingly adorable.

I was shocked at myself for feeling that way about Tresten Croc. He still wore his usual cold I-hate-you expression, but somehow it’d been softened by the robe. His blue eyes met mine, and he frowned and quickly looked away. His look might’ve been softened, but he still was the same old Tresten.

My parents and I exchanged greetings, but Tresten and I didn’t say a word to each other. We all took our seats, with him next to me and his parents to his left, and the officiant opened up a folder of documents and spread them out onto the table. I wasn’t listening to anything that was being said. I just wanted to take a peek over at Tresten. I was so used to seeing him in training mode: covered in sweat and dirty, wearing a battle robe, eyes filled with rage…

“…and this marriage will join the Luna family and Croc family through the bonds of blood,” the officiant said, pushing his gold wire framed glasses up his nose. “The final tie being the production of an alpha child who will represent the coupling of the two packs, and the future heir of the Ice River Pack. Is this all correct and good?”

Whoah, whoah, wait a second.

“Well and good,” my parents said.

“Well and good,” said Tresten’s parents.

“Well and good,” Tresten muttered. I looked over at him, shocked. He looked back at me and raised an eyebrow.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, waving my hands. The officiant’s glasses slid down his nose, and he pushed them up again with his thumb. I felt my parents’ hot glare on me. “Child? Heir? What?”

The officiant slid his finger across the paper in front of him. “These are the terms negotiated by your parents. You both will have time to finish your studies before you conceive an heir.”

“That’s not happening,” I said, shaking my head. Tresten was still staring me like I was crazy. How the hell was he not protesting this? “Tresten? Come on. Marriage in contract is one thing, but a kid?”

“How did you think this worked?” he said miserably.

“Loch,” Mom said, her voice strained. “This arrangement includes all the expectations which come with marriage. I thought you understood that?”

“I understood this was going to be an on-paper type arrangement. Maybe take some photos, make an announcement, not an actual marriage.”

Tresten pushed his face into his palm. “You’re an idiot.”

“And you’re okay with this, Tresten?”

He straightened. “As long as my family is in jeopardy, I’ll do what I need to, no matter how I feel about it.” His words didn’t match his tone. I could tell he was disgusted with the idea.

I slumped in my chair. I was in the exact same position. My family needed me, and for once, I had something that only I could do. “Well and good,” I grunted at the table. “Next you’ll be telling me we need to live together.”

Silence.

I looked up, and the officiant’s glasses slipped down yet again. He cleared his throat. “Well, actually, yes. The next stipulation on the contract is that the wedded couple will move into a home gifted by the Croc family and Ice River Pack.”

“Shit.”

“Loch,” Mom hissed, and Dad gave me a sharp glare. I kept my mouth shut.

That was that.

Not only was I getting married to Tresten Croc, we were now expected to have a baby together. Fucking insane.

The officiant cleared his throat again and shuffled through the papers on the table. “Now, before we have you sign the official documents, would you like to go through the traditional marriage vows?

The two of us spoke at the same time. “No.” If it were any other time, I would’ve laughed.

Both our parents said nothing, and I silently thanked them for at least giving us that dignity.

The officiant nodded. “Then leave your signatures here, and a paw stamp at the bottom.” He pushed a long document across the table to us, which was filled with lines of delicate script-work. I took the pen, and with a deep breath reluctantly scribbled my signature onto the bottom. Tresten did the same. The officiant took the paper from the table and then set it onto a wooden tablet on the floor, and laid an inkpad next to it. Tresten and I both shifted into our wolf forms, and I couldn’t help but take a moment to notice how his robe looked on his wolf. As out of place as it might’ve been for Tresten to be wearing an omega wedding robe, it really did look good on him.

I tamped my paw onto the ink pad and then hovered above the paper for a moment. This is it. No turning back now. The window is still right there, you could break through it and be out of here.

I made my print, and Tresten followed suit. We shifted back, and the officiant handed us both wet towels to clean the ink off our palms. I glanced over at my new husband. He stared ahead, his blue eyes distant.

“You are now a mated pair,” the officiant announced. “Bonded in marriage. Congratulations.”

* * *

The Crocs hadn’t spared much expense with our new home, and seeing the grounds actually made me believe there was a silver lining to all of this craziness. It was located on the outskirts of the city on Ice River land, not too far from Tresten’s family home, and was bordered by a large evergreen forest. The house itself was huge, with five bedrooms and a full training studio that had been fully equipped with all the same gear we had available at school. Out in the back there was a full-sized dirt combat circle.

Tresten and I stood at the front of the house and watched as our parents pulled away, leaving us alone together for the first time. I opened my mouth to say something, and then heard the front door open and close behind me. I turned around, and saw that he’d already gone inside.

During the ceremony, some extremely efficient movers had packed all of our things in boxes and moved them into the main room of the house, and Tresten was already in the process of lugging his boxes into one of the bedrooms.

“My Pa bought this place because the layout is split up so we can both have our own space,” he said. He’d tossed the traditional robe onto the floor and had pulled on a pair of loose sweatpants. He was shirtless. “By all rights, we shouldn’t ever have to see each other except for in the kitchen. I’ll take the rooms on the left side of the house. Both are the same size. We can both have a study room, and the fifth room is a guest room. Is that fine?”

I put my hands up. “No complaints here. Less face time the better.”

“Good.”

So much for any extra softness. I grabbed the first of my boxes and lugged it to my bedroom. Like the house, my room was huge, at least three times bigger than my already spacious room at my family home. Life might not be so bad here—if I didn’t have Tresten as my roommate.

No, he was my husband. I had to remind myself to think of him that way, because there was an image to uphold. Eyes would be on us. I could care less about my own image, but I had my family name to protect.

Which also meant… No more hookups.

Could I manage that?

For now, sure. But for the rest of my life?

“Look, Tresten,” I said when we both came back to the main room to grab another box. He had broken out in a fine sweat that made his skin shimmer, and for some stupid reason, my eye was drawn to his chest. Not anything you haven’t ignored dozens of times before. When he crouched down to wrap his arms around the box, I caught a whiff of his scent in the air. Something about it smelled different than usual.

He ignored me and hauled the box to his room. “Tresten,” I said again when he returned. “We probably should talk.”

“I’m not really in the mood to talk right now, Loch.”

I sighed and moved a few of my own boxes to my room. “There’s logistics we need to work out,” I shouted.

His voice shot back across the length of the house. “You stay on your side, I stay on mine.”

I walked back outside. Tresten was hoisting up the last of his boxes. “Our parents don’t actually expect us to have children,” I said, half asking and half stating hopefully. “That would just be fucking ridiculous. There’s no legitimate reason for it. Our families are already bound by legal contract.”

Without giving me a response, Tresten lugged the last box back to his room. What the hell was his problem? I grunted and followed after him. “Hey,” I said. “Look, we might as well talk to each other—”

He threw the box halfway across his room and it exploded onto the floor, sending its contents flying everywhere. He spun around, his blue eyes piercing and cold. “I don’t want to talk with you, Loch. Okay? Please, leave me alone.”

He shut the door right in my face. “Fuck you too, then,” I muttered.

I didn’t have many things, so I left the boxes unpacked in my room and walked around the house. It was sparsely decorated, but the Crocs had purchased furniture and stocked the kitchen. I checked the fridge and was surprised to find it full of fresh ingredients. I took note of what was there and decided on what I would cook for my meal that night, and for school the next day.

My parents had someone to prepare meals, but I found he didn’t cook to specifications that I’d researched and measured for my training, and so I’d taught myself how to make my own food.

I walked aimlessly around the house for a while, wondering if Tresten was going to come out of his room. Seriously, what the hell was his problem? I knew he disliked me, but I also knew he was resilient and strategic, and so I was surprised that he wasn’t working with me to solve the problem we had on our hands. Why was he being so difficult?

The two rooms that I guessed were meant to be studies were empty, but the fifth room was obviously the master bedroom, and, judging from the king-sized bed, had been intended for both of us to share. Tresten must’ve made the decision that we were going to take the actual guest bedrooms so that we didn’t have to be around each other. I wasn’t complaining.

After deciding there was nothing to do and that Tresten wasn’t coming out, I went down to the basement where the training room was. I flicked the light switch and the fluorescent bulbs popped on in succession, illuminating the room from one end to the other. I smiled. A well-stocked kitchen and training room were all I needed.

I tossed my shirt aside. If this place was going to be my prison, then I’d at least make the most of it. This was the start of a very long journey.