Page 1

Chapter

One

“Scrub harder, Jade. It’s not clean enough.”

Alpha Holloway’s words echoed in Jade Albright’s mind as she scrubbed the concrete patio, her palms raw from the brush scraping against them. Her wolf stirred within her, restless and angry, but she smothered it. Losing her temper wouldn’t help her a damn bit.

She didn’t need the coming full moon to feel the weight of the alpha’s power—every blister on her palm was a reminder of his control and her utter helplessness.

The July sun beat down relentlessly, turning the air into a suffocating blanket of heat and humidity. Summers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula could boil water, and the alpha’s patio had soaked the heat up like a sponge.

Scrubbing the patio until her hands cracked and bled hadn’t been about her duty to the pack, it was straight up punishment.

A lesson in humiliation for refusing to bend the knee.

He’d called her rebellious, as if she were a disobedient child, stomping her feet and saying no with her fingers in her ears.

But she wasn’t rebellious—not really. She was tired.

Of pack politics. Of punishments. Of watching her packmates look the other way to her mistreatment.

She stood, brushed off her knees, and left the supplies in the storage shed behind the house before leaving without a backward glance.

The pack would gather in a few hours for the full moon hunt.

While her wolf would rather be anywhere but here, because the camaraderie she should enjoy with her packmates on the full moon was all but gone, she didn’t have a choice.

It wasn’t as if she could simply leave town and start over somewhere else.

Holloway had locked the pack down, refusing to allow anyone to leave without permission.

So walking away wasn’t an option. Not with the alpha’s eyes everywhere. And that was a hopeless kind of hell that made her feel like she was slowly drowning with no escape.

A restless afternoon spent watching the clock so she wasn’t late had left her feeling even more dejected. When the alpha’s house came into view, she couldn’t help but glare at the patio she’d spent the afternoon cleaning. She was pretty sure she was going to dream about that damn concrete.

The pack milled around the yard, males close to the house and females on the periphery. Jade stopped at the edge of the yard and let her gaze sweep over the pack members. She rubbed at her arms as a chill made her skin tingle despite the heat. Something seemed…off.

Holloway strode out of the house like a king before his subjects, flanked by the high ranked males. His gaze cut through the crowd, landing on her.

Her wolf bristled and a snarl threatened to rip from her throat.

She shoved the urge to bare her fangs and growl at her alpha away—barely—but refused to look away from his searing gaze.

Defiance bubbled inside her. Recklessly she thought about challenging him, shouting that he didn’t scare her, but she wasn’t that foolish.

It was kind of fun to imagine though.

Holloway’s lip curled and she heard the low growl.

She thought he might call her out or send one of his high ranked goons to punish her, but instead he ordered the pack to shift and hunt.

Her heart pounded as she turned away from his dark gaze and hurried toward the tree line.

She swore she could feel him watching her as she disappeared into the dark woods.

The feeling she couldn’t shake of him watching her? It was a stark reminder that no matter where she went in the territory, he was the alpha of everything.

She hadn’t made it more than a few yards when she felt once more like she was being watched. She looked around, not even daring to breathe, but didn’t see anything. Unease gnawed at her like a dog with a bone.

Jade exhaled and started walking again, her mind drifting to her father. He’d been distant, more figurehead than parent, but his high rank had shielded her from Holloway’s worst. It wasn’t until his death a year ago that she realized just how much he’d protected her.

Jade stopped, the weight of her situation pressing down on her. The constant punishments and reminder that without her father, she didn’t have anyone in her corner was oppressive. She fought for herself because she had no one else, but how long could she keep that up?

Unless something changed—and soon—she wasn’t sure how much fight she had left.