Chapter 1: Alpha Rising

"Well, aren't you going to congratulate your brother?" Fitzgerald Everest asked as he poured himself a hefty glass of whiskey. Dimitri watched as his older brother downed half of it, refilling the glass again before turning back to face his siblings, one hand stuffed in his pocket. "The first of the three Everest children to be married off demands some congratulations, don't you think?" Fitz and his new bride were set to leave on their honeymoon in the morning, which gave Dimitri's older brother time to drink more of their father's whiskey as his payment for marrying Mandy Taylor.

Dimitri ran a hand through his light brown hair as he stared down into his own whiskey glass. "You don't sound like a man who wants to be congratulated as much as mourned," he said, before taking a small sip, the whiskey warming his belly, but doing nothing to warm his mood.

"I'm still not sure why you went through with it," Lainie said from the sofa, a glass of wine in her hand. "Do you even love Mandy? I mean, you two barely know each other. Hell, you've only been on, what, six dates? How could you possibly be ready to settle down with her for the rest of your life? I realize you wanted to please our father, but Fitz, this is your life we're talking about, your future. What happens if your panther scents his destined mate? You're already married. How would that even work?"

Dimitri watched as his brother struggled to answer, his jaw twitching, and saw the bitterness on Fitz's face as he stared down into his glass. Dimitri knew Mandy wasn't his brother's destined mate because Fitz had already told him about Kinsey, the one his panther had scented as his mate years ago. From everything Dimitri had heard about destined mates, Fitzgerald walked a dangerous path by ignoring that calling.

Although the notion sounded weird, the calling of the destined mate was part of the curse put on all shifters by the witches who cast the spell over three centuries ago. Salem was not the only town that had hunted witches and then hung them. Or burned them. In the township of Brighton Cove, terrified citizens persecuted witches, the trials unfair, the results unproven, and the death toll high. However, toward the end of the witch hunt, just before the last five witches were hung, they pronounced a curse on the citizens of Brighton Cove that would see the next generation and every generation after born with two sides—a human side and, within that, an animal side. The animal would always struggle for domination and, only by sheer will and practice, would the human be able to remain in control. However, as part of that curse, the witches added a small caveat—that each animal would be destined for one true love, one soul mate, who would then, and only then, complete them. The two would, somehow, be as one. Once they detected that bond, the two must mate or the pull of the calling would drive them insane. Their father had always claimed the mating call was rubbish and held to old school traditions centered on arranged marriages and family mergers, but Dimitri didn't believe that one part of the curse could be true while the other part remained a myth. He worried his brother had made a fatal error in judgment when he obeyed their father and ignored his panther's pull toward Kinsey Pickford.

"What makes you think Mandy isn't my mate?" Fitz asked before taking another long swallow of his drink. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand when he finished, almost bringing the glass to his lips again as soon as he was done. "Perhaps the calling just hasn't been triggered, yet."

Dimitri grabbed Fitz's arm and stopped him from taking another drink. "Perhaps because of the way you're drinking right now." He didn't out his brother in front of Lainie, but he hoped his look reminded Fitz he knew better.

Fitzgerald looked at his brother, resignation and determination masking his features as he pulled his arm from his brother's grasp. "We do what we have to do for the family. Father needed this for our business. Marrying Mandy strengthens our family by aligning it with hers. Besides, it's the way it's always been done."

"That's not a reason to get married, and you know it," Dimitri said. "Those days are long gone." However, he knew the argument fell on deaf ears. Even before his brother proposed to Mandy Taylor, Dimitri had tried talking Fitz out of abiding by their father's designs, reminding him of what could happen if he ignored his animal's mating call. Dimitri knew what his father hoped, that by combining their paper mill with Josiah Taylor's lumber factory, they would enlarge their businesses and improve profit margins. How their father intended to get out of his contract with Sutherlin Lumber, Dimitri had no clue. However, marriage should never be a business proposal, but rather, a proposal of the heart.