Riley POV
The office was so quiet Riley could hear her own heartbeat.
Darius sat behind his desk, waiting for her words to come. But her throat had closed up. Her mind was spinning in circles. She couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't do anything except stare at him like he'd just asked her to jump off a cliff.
"You're joking," Riley finally managed.
Darius didn't smile. He never joked about pack business.
"I'm not joking. And you already know I'm not joking because you understand what this moment means." He leaned back in his chair like they were discussing the weather. Like he hadn't just destroyed her entire future in three sentences. "Magnus Crane is the reason your father is dead."
That hit different. That hit like a fist.
"And you want me to marry him," Riley whispered.
"I want you to stop a war," Darius corrected. "Magnus doesn't want this conflict any more than we do. Both packs are bleeding. Both territories are suffering. The Neutral Council is preparing to intervene, and if they do, there won't be any winners. Just casualties."
Riley stood up. She couldn't sit anymore. She couldn't stay in one place while her entire body was screaming at her to run.
"I've already said no three times," she said, her voice getting stronger. "Three times to three different alphas. You know this. You were there for those conversations. You told me I was being difficult. You told me I was embarrassing the family."
"You were," Darius said simply. "And you were right to refuse them."
That stopped her cold.
"Those weren't matches that made sense," he continued. "Those were politics dressed up as opportunity. This is different. This is survival."
Riley felt something crack open inside her chest. A feeling she'd been holding back since the cemetery came pouring out like poison. Anger. Real anger. The kind that made her want to scream.
"You're asking me to marry the man who killed my father," she said, and her voice was shaking now. "Do you understand that? You're asking me to sleep next to a murderer. To pretend I care about him. To smile and play the role of his mate while I'm dying inside."
Darius stood up. He walked around his desk and stood directly in front of her. Up close, she could see how tired he was. There were lines around his eyes that hadn't been there before the war started. His face looked like it was carved out of stone.
"Your father wouldn't want this war either," he said quietly.
"Don't," Riley snapped. "Don't you dare bring my father into this."
"He's already in it," Darius replied. "He's in the ground because of it. And there are going to be more graves if we don't stop this now."
He walked to the window and looked out at the territory. Mountains in the distance. Snow covering everything. A landscape that looked peaceful until you knew what was happening in it.
"The supply lines are broken," he said, and his voice was flat now. Exhausted. "We can't get food to the southern camps. Warriors are starving. Three died last week from exposure because we don't have enough resources to keep them warm. We're losing ground on three different borders because we don't have enough fighters to hold them."
Riley didn't want to listen. She wanted to cover her ears and pretend he wasn't saying these things.
"Young pups are dying," he continued. "Do you know that? Not in battle. From sickness. From malnutrition. From the stress of living in a pack that's at war. Their mothers can't produce enough milk because they're scared. Their fathers are gone. They're scared too."
He turned back to face her.
"Seventeen children have died in the last two months, Riley. Seventeen. Not soldiers. Children. Not even old enough to shift into their wolf forms yet."
Riley felt her legs getting weak. Seventeen children. She could picture them. She knew some of them. Little ones who used to run around the pack house. Bright-eyed and happy before the war took everything from them.
"If this continues," Darius said, "we're looking at a complete collapse of our infrastructure. The Crescent Pack could cease to exist. Not from battle. From starvation. From disease. From the slow death of a community that's bleeding resources faster than we can replace them."
He moved closer to her.
"Magnus Crane is willing to end this war through a peace bond. One marriage. One year of you playing a role. That's all it takes to stop the bloodshed."
Riley's mind was screaming. One year. Just one year. She could do that. She could survive anything for one year.
But then the reality hit her like a physical blow.
"He'll expect a mating," she said, and her voice sounded broken. "A real one. I'll have to... he'll want..."
"Yes," Darius said, and for the first time, she heard something almost like sympathy in his voice. "That's likely. But it's one year, Riley. One year for the lives of everyone in this pack."
She closed her eyes and saw her father's face. The way he'd looked when she told him she didn't want to be married off for politics. The anger in his expression. The disappointment. The last moment they'd ever shared, and it was a fight.
Now she was about to do exactly what he'd told her she was selfish for refusing.
"If I refuse," she said slowly, "more people die."
"Yes."
"More children die."
"Yes."
She opened her eyes and looked at him. Really looked at him. She could see in his face that he wasn't trying to manipulate her. He was telling her the truth, as brutal as it was. This wasn't a trick. This wasn't a test. This was a Alpha being honest with her about what the world actually demanded.
"More families get torn apart," she whispered. "Like mine just got torn apart."
"Yes," Darius said. "If nothing changes, that will happen again and again and again until the Crescent Pack has nothing left to lose."
Riley felt like she was drowning. Like the weight of thousands of lives was being placed on her shoulders and she was supposed to carry it. She was supposed to just agree to marry the man who had killed her father and somehow stop a war.
It was impossible.
But refusing was also impossible. Because refusing meant more orphans. More graves. More families destroyed by violence and loss.
She thought about Sarah. About her sister's face at the funeral. About the way Sarah was probably still standing in the snow, watching their father's coffin get lowered into the ground.
Sarah would die before she let anyone hurt Riley. Riley knew that with absolute certainty. Sarah would fight to her last breath. And if Riley refused this, Sarah would be expected to fight in a war they couldn't win. Sarah would probably die for nothing.
Unless Riley said yes.
Unless Riley walked into Magnus Crane's territory and made him believe she was his mate and made the world believe that peace was possible again.
Unless Riley became the sacrifice that stopped the bleeding.
"When," she heard herself say, "would I have to go to him?"
Darius's expression didn't change, but something shifted in his body. Relief. He'd known she would say yes. He'd always known she would say yes because she was her father's daughter, and her father died protecting people he loved.
"As soon as possible," he said. "The Council is meeting in four days. We need to present the peace bond as a done deal before they intervene and make it worse. You'll leave tomorrow morning."
Tomorrow.
Riley couldn't breathe. Tomorrow meant one night to say goodbye to everything she knew. One night to pack her life into bags. One night to understand that when she woke up in the morning, she would be someone else entirely.
"Your sister will go with you," Darius continued. "Sarah is a skilled warrior. She can serve as your escort and ensure your safety in Shadowpine territory."
At least she wouldn't be completely alone. That was something. Not much, but something.
"There's one more thing you need to understand," Darius said, and his voice was different now. Harder. "What happens between you and Magnus is your burden to carry. The moment you step into Shadowpine territory, you're no longer Crescent Pack. You're his mate. His property. His responsibility. If he decides to hurt you, I can't protect you. The pack can't protect you."
Riley felt her blood turn to ice.
"The only protection you'll have is whatever you can create with him. Whatever relationship you can build. Make him care about you, Riley. Make him value you. Because if you don't, you're not just sacrificing yourself. You're walking into a trap with no way out."
She wanted to argue. She wanted to tell him that was impossible. You couldn't make someone care. You couldn't force love.
But then she thought about her father again. About the last words he'd ever spoken to her. About all the words that would never come.
Maybe that was the point. Maybe sometimes love wasn't about being chosen. Maybe sometimes it was about choosing the harder thing anyway. Choosing survival over comfort. Choosing the pack over herself.
Choosing Magnus Crane.
"Pack tonight," Darius said. "Leave at dawn. Your entire life changes tomorrow, Riley. You need to understand that. The girl who walked into this office won't walk out. She'll be a woman stepping into a war zone with nothing but her wits and her will to survive."
He paused.
"And one more thing. Don't tell anyone what Magnus truly is until he decides to tell you himself. His reputation keeps him alive. Let him keep it until he decides otherwise."
Riley nodded, even though she didn't fully understand what he meant.
She walked toward the door in a daze.
"Riley," Darius called out just as she reached the handle.
She turned back.
"Your father would be proud of what you're doing," he said quietly. "Even if he died angry with you, he would understand this choice. He would respect it."
The words should have comforted her. Instead, they made her heart break all over again.
Because her father would never know what she'd chosen. He would never get to apologize for the fight. Never get to tell her he was proud. Never get to hold her one more time and tell her it would be okay.
She was sacrificing herself for a peace that he would never see.
And somehow, that made it matter even more.