SOUNDTRACK: “Your Daughter” by Chase McDaniel.
*****
Getting out of my jeep in the driveway of the house that was the site of Cara’s torture turned my stomach.
My Alpha power—still difficult to contain at times, making me itchy and prone to aggression—surged as I took in the cracked cement with weeds and grass growing up, the overgrown flower beds now little jungles of three foot weeds, and the grass that was thin and patchy, and mostly dead.
This was the place that her fucking father had made her believe no one could love her. This was the place she’d been hurt.
This was the place I wanted to burn to the fucking ground. But for today, at least, that wasn’t the assig
~ RIG ~ I let my upper lip curl up and bare my teeth. Let him see that he was dealing with a helluva lot more than a spoiled rich kid. His instincts were dulled by humanity and alcohol, but even his dimwitted senses caught the flash of my teeth. He stiffened. I smiled. “My wife wants to share her wedding with her Mom—we eloped, but we’ve just watched some friends getting married and it’s making her think about what we missed, so we’re going to do it properly. Make another memory. And Cara wants to share that with her mom. So, we’re going to renew our vows in front of everyone we care about. Which, sadly, includes you.” He smiled and I wanted to bite his face off. “You are invited,” I growled. “But you
~ CARA ~“Shit.”I fumbled the keys, swearing as they made a shiny little arc towards the floor and jangled when they hit the carpet. I had to take a second to close my eyes and breathe before reaching down to pick them up and hurry out from behind the reception desk to the little alcove around the corner to the tiny dungeon of a back office. Then, when I tried to plug the key into the door, it just swung open anyway. Someone had left it unlocked. My boss was going to shoot me if anyone had vandalized it again.This day just kept getting better and better.With another muttered curse, I shoved the door open and turned to reach for the light. The library was one of the oldest buildings on campus, and this office had never been updated. The light switch was a cord that hung from the ceiling and had to be given a sharp tug, otherwise it wouldn’t click. And because this room was a cave—no windows, no light at all except the single, naked bulb in the ceiling—without that light the room was
~ CARA ~That night, I sat bored and tired, a cup of warm beer on the coffee table next to me, my temple leaned on my fist as my study-group, and half my classmates, got drunk around me.I was exhausted. After that run-in with Rig, my head had been scattered, and it had taken twice as long to do everything. I couldn’t leave work because the first payment for the year on my room and board at school was due the following week and I was still short. I had to pick up every extra shift I could and pray that I’d manage to get my studying done during the quiet hours at the library.Not that I’d gotten any studying done that day. Every moment I wasn’t helping someone, I’d found myself staring at a wall, or a book in my hand, replaying that kiss.It was so wrong, on so many levels… and yet, my stomach fluttered every time it entered my thoughts. Which seemed like it was every other minute.A ripple of gasps nearby snapped me out of the thoughts—again—and I looked up. The five people who’d been
~ RIG ~ Eyes locked hungrily on Cara, I watched her brown hair swing around her shoulders as she slipped through the crowd towards the door. My friends couldn’t stop laughing and nudging each other. “Oh, snap, Rig!” Jack chuckled, slapping me on the back. I shot a glare at my friend, whose gold, curly hair matched his personality perfectly. ‘I thought your Allure was irresistible?’ he laughed through the mindlink, so all of our packmates would hear. The Allure was a power given only to wolves. An ability to cut through fear or distrust in the human mind by overwhelming it with sexual desire. In ancient generations we had used it to lure humans into our grip to be devoured—literally. But generations of evolution and technology meant modern wolves had no need to eat humans. Instead, we used the Allure to soothe the dulled human instincts that warned their weak owners something was deeply wrong when a wolf was nearby. And for fun, of course. But as my friends teased and laughed, I
~ CARA ~The next morning, eyes aching because I’d only gotten five hours sleep, I followed the rest of my study group out of the Modern Lit lecture hall, sighing with exhaustion. The assignment we’d been given wasn’t due until midterms. I was going to be spending a lot more time with this group than I thought.“So, we need to find a time we can all meet and make sure everyone’s keeping up with their assigned pieces of the project,” Diana said. She was the kind of girl who turned heads wherever she went—shoulder length, wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, and a smile that would wrap guys around her finger, but would turn sharp as a blade at the sight of another beautiful woman.I’d spent enough time dealing with the crap dealt out by girls like that in high school. I had no interest in spending months working with her. But I had no choice. The professor had assigned our groups.“I work a lot,” I said as we all turned down the main hallway. “If you guys meet at the library, I can check in dur
~ RIG ~“I heard she ignored you when you winked.”I stood in the middle of the living room of the packhouse, gaping at Mack. The house is mine—purchased for me by my dad for my university years. But all my friends live with me. Dad said it was a good chance for me to learn how to live with other males and establish dominance.“How the fuck did you hear about that?” I said, trying not to growl and give away my surprise.“Diana Fowler.”Even Charlie and Jack in the kitchen groaned. Diana was one of the humans who instinctively sensed the power of the wolves and was drawn to it. She seemed to pop up everywhere. She’d been with Cara the day before when I saw her in the hall. I should have known.“Diana Fowler wouldn’t know a subtle flirt if it bit her in the ass. I didn’t get ignored, trust me.”“Whatever,” Mack piped up. He’d been grinning all morning. I could scent the competitive challenge wafting off of him. “Cara’s not going to fall for your shit. I can’t wait to see you rolling on
~ CARA ~I wasn’t sure quite how it had happened, but I ended up walking through the Art and Lit building with Mack, who was being a gentleman.It was weird.I was only two halls into the building and admiring the architecture—I’d always loved this building with its Victorian era paneling, crown molding, and carved panel frames—when a shadow fell over me and a low voice murmured, “Good morning, Beautiful,” in my ear.Right in my ear. So close, his breath fluttered in my hair.I’d startled and turned quickly, surprised to find not Rig, but Mack walking next to me, grinning.“I’m not that scary,” he said good-naturedly when I just gaped at him.I sighed at the butterflies I got from his smile, uncertain if they were nerves or attraction. Nerves, I decided. I would not flutter over these playboys!“What are you doing, Mack?” I asked, a little bit annoyed with myself for the fluttering.“Just wanted to make sure your week started right—with a smile from a friend.” Apparently his apology t
~ RIG ~I was awakened the next morning by my father, appearing in my bedroom, unannounced.Awkward, since I wasn’t alone. But also, unnerving. Dad wasn’t one for familial chats.I had only a second of warning—footsteps on the stairs that my instincts recognized. I sat bolt-upright just as the door swung open and my father strode in, scanning the bed, me, and the crumpled lump under the quilt next to me.My father’s nose wrinkled, but he spoke through the mindlink. ‘A human? Really Rig? You’re disgusting.’I growled, but gently shook the girl awake, who blinked and smiled at me, then looked horrified when she caught sight of Dad in the doorway.“I think you better go,” I muttered, then stared at my father until he took the cue to turn around and let the girl get out of the bed without being watched.Wolves were far more free with their bodies than humans—yet another reason my father had such disdain for the “weak fuckers.” But this one clearly had good instincts, because instead of ar
~ RIG ~ I let my upper lip curl up and bare my teeth. Let him see that he was dealing with a helluva lot more than a spoiled rich kid. His instincts were dulled by humanity and alcohol, but even his dimwitted senses caught the flash of my teeth. He stiffened. I smiled. “My wife wants to share her wedding with her Mom—we eloped, but we’ve just watched some friends getting married and it’s making her think about what we missed, so we’re going to do it properly. Make another memory. And Cara wants to share that with her mom. So, we’re going to renew our vows in front of everyone we care about. Which, sadly, includes you.” He smiled and I wanted to bite his face off. “You are invited,” I growled. “But you
SOUNDTRACK: “Your Daughter” by Chase McDaniel. ***** ~ RIG (Three weeks later) ~ Getting out of my jeep in the driveway of the house that was the site of Cara’s torture turned my stomach. My Alpha power—still difficult to contain at times, making me itchy and prone to aggression—surged as I took in the cracked cement with weeds and grass growing up, the overgrown flower beds now little jungles of three foot weeds, and the grass that was thin and patchy, and mostly dead. This was the place that her fucking father had made her believe no one could love her. This was the place she’d been hurt. This was the place I wanted to burn to the fucking ground. But for today, at least, that wasn’t the assig
SOUNDTRACK: “Unbearable” by Nathan Wagner. ***** ~ CHARLIE ~ Watching Mack salivate over Natalie as she walked up the aisle was a very specific kind of torment. Because even though I was supposed to be watching our friends publicly vow themselves, my eyes kept drifting back to Meg who, alongside Cara and Tessa, was standing with Natalie today. She looked… stunning. Natalie, always with the impeccable taste that I didn’t understand, but could fully appreciate, had draped all the girls in floor-length, light-green, figure-hugging-but-not-clinging dresses that revealed flesh without being suggestive. It was fucking torture.
~ MACK ~ When Natalie and Cara finally reached us on the stage, I knew that there was an exchange with the officiant. Cara and Rig said something, but I didn’t hear it. I just took Natalie’s hands and pulled her up to stand in front of me. I was aware of people speaking after that. The officiant—a wolf who’d been among the rebels, whose aunt was human, and had become ordained—spoke for a few minutes about marriage and what it meant, but all I could think about was the deep pools of her eyes, that hollow in her throat that she’d offered me the night before last, and how my entire blood hummed with love and desire and— There was a ripple of laughter. “Oh, what?” I asked. Someone had asked me something. Oh, right. “I do!”
SOUNDTRACK: “Don’t Give Up on Me” by Andy Grammar ***** ~ MACK ~ I had been shitting myself. Absolutely, one hundred percent, about-to-claw-my-own-hair-off, crapping my pants. When Cara told me about the human traditions around a wedding, and what she was planning to do with Rig for their vow renewal—which included not seeing or sleeping with each other the day before the ceremony, which sounded crazy—I’d joked with Natalie that we should do that too. I’d thought it would be cute and maybe increase anticipation for when we did come back together after the ceremony. I hadn’t banked on my mate getting cold feet about doing this in front of the packs, and how her nerves would kick my insecurities into gear—and that the whole damn thing would b
SOUNDTRACK: “Break Your Fall” by UNSECRET and Marc Scibilia. ***** ~ NATALIE ~ “This is stupid and… and indulgent and it doesn’t matter! I should never have agreed to this. It’s nothing but a dumb, human tradition and… it means nothing. I’m not doing it.” I stood in the bedroom that we’d made into a bridal suite—complete with three-way mirror—and folded my arms. I’d been staring at myself and all I could see were the imperfections. Tessa had done a beautiful job on my make up, but everything else just felt… sticky. My dress was a touch too tight around my breasts. There were too many people here and they were all going to be staring. I could feel Mack out there panting with nerves, but what if he didn’t like the dress? I should have shown it to him! Why had I let Cara talk me into all this traditional nonsense? “Natalie, you get your gorgeous ass out there and marry that man before he sweats through his Armani suit,” Cara growled. “Seriously, don’t make me turn it into an orde
~ RIG ~I started towards her, but was halted almost immediately as I watched in awe while my mate carved through lines of wolves as if they were butter.Claws, teeth, whirling body—despite her bulk, she moved like liquid, tail lashing and claws like wicked hooks designed to tear through fur and flesh.I shook and trembled because my father’s power was shifting to me and my veins were boiling with it—while the rest of me simmered in the rising rage and terror of the wolves around us.The transfer of Alpha should have been peaceful. There was an established hierarchy waiting, swelling with the newfound power. But my father was a liar and cheat, and he’d encouraged his wolves towards the same.The hierarchy, the elders, his advisors, every pack and family of power rolled towards us, howling in rage and fear.And my wolves, newly risen and brimming with the triumph of victory and the added confidence of success, tore right back to meet them.Mack, Charlie, Jack, and Natalie tore for me,
SOUNDTRACK: “Legendz” by AG and Devvon Terrell ***** ~ RIG ~ Everything slowed to a crawl, time seemed almost not to move at all as I watched my father go for my mate and I turned, twisting, pushing my body in ways I never had, panic screaming in my head, frantic to reach him before he got her. I couldn’t move fast enough. He was going to land at her feet before I did and his power would carry him right to her throat. She wasn’t equipped for this… It all washed through me in that second—the rage for what he’d done, the fury about his injustices, the anger that he would still cheat, even before the witnesses, and the shocking weight of grief because that was my mate. But then the second wave arrived that left me desperate, panicked, humiliated and hating myself. If she died right now it was my fault. My side screamed in pain as I launched myself after him, but my father seemed to hang in mid-air. I had time to see Cara bare her teeth and crouch. Everything moved so slowly I could
~ RIG ~My father saw the opening he’d been waiting for, gathered himself on his haunches and launched at me, the light of victory in his eyes.Instinctively, I didn’t even try to meet the attack, just leaped straight into the air in an attempt to deflect, dropping my chin, trying to hide my throat as my father snaked in—and to my horror, he would have taken me, except that was the moment Stephen howled in the link, then sent images to us both:Himself. Head bowed. Shoulders rolled forward. His human form submitted.To me.It was a boom of thunder right over my head. In any context, the submission of an Alpha brought al