Page 16

GRAHAM

I leaned forward on the hard, worn bench. My mating would take place inside the modernized barn I hosted pack meetings and events. Pack members bustled around me, organizing and decorating the raised platform with flowers and ribbons. The large wooden structure stretched wide enough to fit two hundred pack members. Close enough to the amount in my pack. Sweat beaded on my forehead. I wanted to crawl out of my skin and take off at a sprint. Duty wasn’t new to me, but the thought of taking Hester fucked with my head.

And it had everything to do with that sweet female inside my house. The very reason I rushed the entire mating. Closing my eyes, I bowed my head forward.

A Luna was vital to an Alpha, even more importantly, a strong Luna. Something that little female was not physically.

The way she licked and tongued my cock drove me mad. I couldn’t fucking stop thinking about it. Once I had her, I wouldn’t be able to screw anything. As it was, I doubted my cock would get hard enough for me to fuck Hester during our ceremony.

I needed to get this done before I backed out and put my pack in danger. Once the deal was cemented, then I could work on chipping Violet’s defenses. I’d show her that although I took a chosen, she would come first.

It was all I could offer her. It was wrong of me, I should ignore the small female.

She deserved more than me, but I wouldn’t let her go. After today, I’d move her into my bedroom. Then I could fuck her as I pleased.

The way she licked me, so cautiously—I squeezed my lips together with a scowl.

There was no getting away from this attraction.

I wanted her.

Hester was a means to an end. I would mate her for my pack.

“What the fuck is going on?” Whitlock’s familiar snarl raised my hackles. I stood with my teeth bared, turning to face him. He strode over with determined, clipped strides, fury on his features. This male would be family in just a few hours. My lip lifted from the instinctual disgust. Hate for him and his pack breathed through me.

Whitlock stopped a few feet from me, a snarl fixed on his mouth.

“Preparing for the mating ceremony in a few hours. Do you have a problem with moving it along?” After all, we were attempting to mend fences by doing this in the first place.

“Not at all.” He bit out. “The change of plans seems rushed.”

The grin was too wide, too wolfish, too false.

“Let’s not put up false pretenses. There is no fondness between your sister and me. We’re here for one thing.”

He sneered.

“She is not a duty for you to toss aside?—”

“She agreed.” I narrowed my eyes.

He scoffed and I could see his temper flare.

I’d thought he’d be glad to leave my pack earlier than we anticipated.

“Alpha Graham.” Aunt Savannah waved at me from the wide-open doors. I put my finger up for her to give me a moment.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not at all.” He curled his lip. “Get it over with then.”

I nodded stiffly and went to see what Savannah needed.

* * *

SIMON

This wasn’t the fucking plan. My pack wasn’t ready for the attack I’d organized against Beaumont Pack.

That bastard had to know something. What else could be the reason he moved his mating to Hester forward?

I sucked in another drag from the cigarette dangling from the corner of my lips and exhaled a puff of smoke. I wasn’t much of a smoker, but fuck, this had me stressed out.

Adan approached, weaving past the wolves carrying benches into the barn.

“What will we do, Alpha?” he asked, leaning against the tree. His eyes were red rimmed and his exhaustion palpable, but his mental state wasn’t my business. As long as he completed his duties, he could have all the late-night benders he wanted.

“Maybe.” He licked his lips. “Maybe we don’t go through with it?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he dropped his gaze. What was with him?

“Stop talking like a fucking pussy.”

He lowered his head, submitting. The plan had gone to shit, and I needed time to think of how to attack.

“Standby,” I ordered and dragged another round of the cig. I flicked the half-smoked stick on the dirt. Soon, Beaumont Pack would be mine, and my father’s murderer would be dead by my teeth.