He walked over and smacked her across the face.
Violet’s ears rang. She sat there, doing nothing, pretending like every cell inside her body wasn’t on fire with red-hot fury.
She and her sister could run away. They could go together. “Who is it, Father?” she asked. “Who are we going to marry?”
Why are you asking that question? It doesn’t matter who he is! If Father picks the male, then he’ll be cruel and harsh.
“Violet, your mate will be Jeremiah. He will provide you with a safe and comfortable life. And your sister’s mate will be Alexander. He will work hard to provide.”
Jeremiah. Oh God. She couldn't do it. She could not subject herself to this farce. Jeremiah was a big hulking wolf shifter. He was dull-witted and had no interest in the world beyond their pack. He was also just as traditional as her father. He’d beat her if she talked back. He’d take her food. He’d treat her pups just as badly. If she had any. She probably wouldn't survive the first year of marriage.
But there was no way for her to say no. Her cousin had tried it years ago. She’d refused to take a mate. When the mating had been forced on her, she’d run away. They’d found her, and she’d turned up dead a few days later. It had been a warning to all of them.
“We could leave,” she whispered to her sister late that night, hours after the pack had heard the news. Maybe her mother wouldn’t budge, but her sister might. “Leave and never come back.”
“But what about Mama?” her sister asked.
“She won’t be coming with us,” Violet said decisively. She’d finally accepted that her mother couldn't be convinced.
“I can’t do that,” her sister said. “I can’t leave our pack.”
Why was everyone so obsessed with the pack? It made no sense to be loyal to a group that only exploited the females and used them.
Does no one else feel this way? Am I the only one?
How was that possible? Why did they stay? Was there an invisible barrier that she didn’t understand? Her father wasn’t the only asshole in the pack. She was actually lucky. Some of the females were just as mean as their mates, but they directed it at their offspring.
She was turning eighteen in two weeks. That didn’t mean much in the shifter world, but it meant a lot to humans. She was going to leave this godforsaken area in the northern corner of Alaska, and she was going to join the human world.