CHAPTER 7

HAZEL

The guard's hand, heavy and deliberate, moved toward my face. I instinctively tried to pull away, but my wolf remained eerily calm, allowing the man to undo the muzzle. His movements were cautious, as if he feared my sudden reaction.

The moment the muzzle was off, my wolf lunges for his throat.

He curses, throwing me overboard with his robust strength and sending me into the water by the boat. “Damn you___fuvking bitch!” He screams. 

“And you are a fuvking fool,” the other guard in front snaps back. 

The boat begins to sputter as they take off, the blades on the back nearly catching my tail as they left. 

My wolf sinks under the waves, uncertain of how to swim. 

And the water is cold and freezing. 

Like ice.

I’m frantic, trying to take over, to tell her how to doggy paddle, to give her a way up. But she won't let me free. She won't even listen to me!

We’re sinking already.

Water is swirling around us as we claw at the murky depths, trying to figure out how to float or reach the surface. 

I’m panting hard but my wolf is whining.

I’m screaming in fear but she doesn't seem to care. 

My breath hitched under my throat when arms are suddenly wrapped around my torso and dragging me up. “What the fuck are you doing?” A male voice demands, his voice making me shiver both inside and out. 

‘Well, not out.’

My wolf is snarling at him, furious at his touch on her skin. 

“Oh, quiet,” he snaps back, his Alpha energy shimmering across my fur in a manner far more potent than Alpha Declan's ever did. 

The male is power personified.

And it instantly calms my wolf for the first time. 

She submit with ease, allowing him to drag us to the shore. 

I wonder, just for a moment, if she's faking it like she did on the boat a while ago. But NO. I can sense the lack of tension in my body now, the true will to submit to someone she believes is a stronger being. 

He doesn't immediately release me, instead rolling me to my side and staring down into my wolf eyes with a clinical look. 

I stared back at him, mesmerized by his ebony irises. So dark and alluring. At least until they narrow in confusion. “You're not an Alpha,” he simply tells me. 

My wolf grumbled in response, clearly not approving to his tone. 

Or maybe she really does understand him.

Hell, if I understand her anymore. 

“Shift,” he says.

I don't because I don't even know how to. Because my wolf won't even let me. Because apparently I have gone mad and allowed my animal to take over. 

“She can't,” another voice says, this one slightly accented and radiating even more power than the Alpha beside me. 

‘How is that fucking possible?’

Wait…I glance sharply at the newcomer, my wolf finally allowing me to take over for just a second. How do you know I can't shift? He’s the first person to sense it. The first person to realize I can't control my wolf. 

But any elation I feel dies as he steps forward, his aura humming with electric superiority. 

This is an Alpha.

Well, so is the guy beside me.

Both of them are Alphas.

Shadow moon pack Alphas.

‘oh, moon goodess…’

I swallow hard, my insides turning to ice as I suddenly remember exactly where I am. 

“Shhh,” the male beside me hushes, laying down as though to appear less aggressive but it doesn't work. 

He’s too big, too strong and too Alpha, to appear any less Intimidating.

“You’re alright,” he murmurs, his voice deceptively calm. 

‘I am definitely not alright.’ I want to tell him. I’m the complete opposite of all right. I feel fucking terrible and vulnerable right now. I’m trapped in my wolf form, accused of a murder I didn't even commit, and currently being cornered by two Shadow moon Alphas.

“Quiet the opposite, don't you guys think? She’s a bit wetter than I expected.” a third voice says, shooting Ice through my veins. “Not that I'm complaining. A wet woman is always welcome in my presence.”

‘fuvking Goddess, they are three shadow moon Alphas.’

Holy shit, I clearly most have pissed a moon deity in my previous life because my world has been officially turned upside down in the last few days. And now I'm going to die at the hands of this savage beastly Alphas.

Except the one beside me is stroking my fur with reverence I don't even understand. And he's…he’s humming nicely.

‘Why is he even humming?’

My wolf is completely relaxed, laying beside him like a wet log of fur. She has no concern about being surrounded by these Alpha's. Actually, she's…content.

‘What exactly is happening?' 

“Why can't she shift?” The male beside me asked. 

I perk up at that. Yes, why can't I shift?

“I have a few guesses,” the one with slight accent responded. He's crouching beside us now, his intense blue gaze taking in every inch of my form. When he leans in to sniff me, I instantly stiffen. At least inside. 

However, my wolf merely stretches like she wants to show off her legs for him.

Then, to my absolute horror, she starts to roll onto her back and show him her belly and then her ass. ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ I demand, livid. ‘You were all fierce and angry and now you want to submit to these three beastly Alpha males?’

“Hmm, I see you’ve taken control,” the blue-eyed Alpha murmurs, reaching down to stroke his palm along my exposed abdomen. 

“Are you protecting your human, little one? Hiding her from some sort of trauma?” 

I consider that for a moment. ‘Is that what you are doing?’ I ask my errant animal. ‘Are you allowing me to heal before you give me back control?’

“Or maybe your Alpha mate didn't give you permission to shift back?” He continues, his brow furrowing with his own suggestion.

My mind reels with the possibility.

Cosmo had inspired my wolf to come out. But he never forced me to change back to my human form. 

‘Is that why I can't shift?’ I wonder, my heart skipping a beat. ‘What does that mean? Will I be stuck like this until he brings me back?’

‘Oh moon Goddess’…Cosmo will never help me. Not after everything that's happened. 

‘I’m going to be trapped in my wolf body forever.’

“She can't attend your party in this state, Thea.” The strong Alpha speaks in a soft tone, but his words are underlined with authority.

“No shit,” the third Alpha drawls, moving closer. “She'll be mounted by all the wolves in this state.”

My wolf react to that, a low whine leaving her throat as she start to hide her belly again. The blue eyed Alpha allows it, giving her space to curl into a protective ball. But he continue to run his fingers along my fur, just like the one behind me now. He’s still humming, the sound oddly soothing..

“She's not an Alpha,” he says again, this time talking about me rather than to me. “A beta?” 

The blue eyed one runs his fingers along my neck, then up to my snout to draw a line to my nose. “She's small and fragile,” he says. “And she is submitting like an Omega.” He leans down to sniff me again, then shakes his head. “Her half-breed genetics are confusing my wolf.”

Thea joins him in squatting before me, his soulful eyes finding mine. He studied me for a moment, his dark irises seeming to swirl with knowledge. “She's not feral.”

“No, not at all,” the blue eyed one agrees. “Just very scared.”

Thea nods like he's responding to some sort of unspoken question. “I will cancel the welcome party.”

“Good idea, tell them she's exhausted and needs few night before she meets the pack,” the blue eyed Alpha says, his gaze still on me. 

“Where will she stay until then?” Thea asks. 

“In our den,” the one behind me says. “Where we can keep her safe.”

“And determine if she's a Beta or…” the blue eyed one trails off, but the others seem to understand the rest of his statement because they grunt. 

‘Or what?’ I want to ask. ‘An Omega?’

That's just impossible.

My mother always called me an Alpha female. All my test suggested the same. It was what made me suitable for Cosmo.

But these men keep saying I'm not an Alpha. And after feeling their strong auras, I very much understand why. Because compared to them

? Yeah, I'm definitely not an Alpha. 

But an Omega?

I almost snort. 

I’m definitely not that either. 

The blue eyed male sits back on his heels for a moment, climbing his finger through his thick hair. “I will come with you, Thea,” he says. “her entire scent is already in the air. They will have questions.”

"we need to act carefully,"