Page 22 of Forced Alpha Bride

I can’t go back. If Damon doesn’t complete the ceremony, then he can’t officially be named alpha, and he will have no power at all. They can depose him, and Galen can have him tried for my death. No one will get hurt.

Except me.

I shove myself forward, practically crawling through the snow. I try to hold back my tears, knowing they will just freeze on my cheeks and carve permanent marks into my skin.

I’ll die with tear streaks burned into my cheeks. How appropriate.

When a little snort of laughter rattles in my throat, more unhinged thoughts drift around in my mind. Even though I know I’m losing it, I don’t care anymore.

I don’t bother to reach for my wolf. I know if I did, she wouldn’t answer me. My relationship with my primal side wasn’t great before this, and now that I know she wants to hurl herself at Damon’s feet and beg to be his luna, I doubt I’ll ever shift again.

I keep crawling forward, and to my shock, a small thicket of trees appears in front of me. Keeping my belly to the ground, I slither underneath them and curl up in a small hollow.

The snow is still getting in, but I’m mostly out of the wind. The ground is frozen, but now I can’t even feel it.

I’m actually starting to feel very warm.

Warning bells go off in the back of my mind, but they are easy to ignore. I relax against the ground, and it suddenly feels like a feather bed. I can hear the crackling of a fire and the soft voices of my family around me.

Go to sleep, Winnie, they seem to say.Everything’s going to be alright.

“Okay,” I mutter. “I’m okay.”

I drift off into the quiet, letting everything go. It’s as if there was something important I had to remember, but it’s gone now, and I can’t get it back.

Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it when I wake up. I’m so tired… I just need to sleep now.

Warm comfort wraps around me like a thick duvet. Peaceful clarity fills my mind, and there’s no more pain.

Then my perfect world rocks around me like there’s been a slight earthquake.

We don’t get earthquakes up here…

I let that dreamy thought fade as the drugging quiet takes me back.

The world shudders again, worse this time.

You’re okay, Winnie.

“I’m okay,” I repeat softly. “Everything’s okay.”

“No, you’re not okay!” a harsh male voice roars. “You’re fucking dying!”

“What?!”

The scream rips out of my throat, burning my lungs as I take in a gasp of freezing air. I struggle against the ground, feeling the branches of the bush scratching at me, the freezing snow under me.

And a pair of very strong hands holding my arms.

“Wake up!” the voice yells, shaking me. I manage to get my frozen eyelids to open slightly, and when I see the inky black hair and shadowed eyes, I know who’s got me.

Damon. How the hell did he find me?

“Don’t,” I mumble, trying to struggle free. “Leave me alone!”

“Was this seriously your plan?” he snaps. “Suicide?”

“No,” I say stubbornly. I can barely make my lips move, and I can’t keep my eyes open.