Page 15 of Forsaken Desire (Ruthless Wolves #1)

I twitched, fiddling with the seat belt, and trying not to feel awkward in the simple tan dress. At the same time, I was struggling not to freak out. What if the Alpha didn’t like me?

“Thank you for picking me up from Karol’s,” I said, awkwardly.

Mid-drive, the babysitter had called, and she’d had to go back to her house.

It had been just when I’d been about to ask her more about the Alpha.

Then the call came and she was on the phone, talking to her little one until we got back to her house and I hadn’t been able to ask anything.

“You can relax, you know.” Alex grinned, peeking at me from the side. “I’m not going to bite . . . unless you want me to.”

His shot at levity relaxed my shoulders. I appreciated him trying to make me chill out, I’d felt like I was going to snap in half during the entire drive.

“Thanks, Alex.” I cleared my throat and peeked at him again, debating whether to ask him if he knew Lucian. But honestly, I was scared and the pit in my stomach wasn’t helping.

“You don’t have to keep thanking me, hun, I’m happy to help.” That was what I needed for the balloon of tension to drain away. “And word of advice. Stay out of the Alpha’s way. He’s an utter dick.”

I snorted and clamped my mouth shut.

“I should probably not laugh at someone whose pack I’m trying to join,” I muttered.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from my brother.”

“Brother?” I gawked. Fuck.

“Mhm.” He smirked. “The asshole is my brother, so you have my permission to bash him. Just make sure I’m there to protect you.”

Based on what I had heard about the alpha, I was even more grateful my mate was Lucian, who was so incredibly kind.

“Are you an Alpha, too?” I turned a bit in my seat to face him more.

“No,” he scoffed, shaking his head. “Thank Moon. If I had been, I would have probably ended up leaving this pack. The dominance wouldn’t allow it.”

I frowned.

“Wait, there can only be one Alpha in a pack?” The holes in my memory were a damn inconvenience.

“Yup.”

“Are there other packs nearby?”

“Yes, there are plenty of territories.” He grinned. “Lucky for me you ended up in mine.”

The truck bumped over the pebbled drive, taking a sharp left to join the rest of the vehicles.

There were so many cars. He stopped in front of a wide structure that seemed out of place.

It looked like a community center. Alex cut the engine off and hopped out.

I didn’t wait for him to round to my door, even though I saw his approach.

I didn’t want to give him a chance to touch me.

My mate would definitely hate that. Alex stopped a foot away as I stretched my arms up.

The drive took a while, but fortunately, it was a woodsy view.

“Let’s get inside before he comes; he’s extra moody when we’re not ready. Unless it’s Cierra running this meeting.”

I forced myself to relax, and I let myself study the acreage.

In the distance was a single home, too far away for me to get a good look at it in the darkness.

“That’s my brother’s place.”

“The Alpha.” I hummed. A muffled shout echoed from the community center.

“Shit, it’s already started.”

He waved me forward, and I quickened my pace after him.

“After he addresses whatever the meeting is for, I’ll introduce you to him.”

This was all making me want to take off in the opposite direction. I didn’t want to offend the Alpha.

“Maybe I should wait for a meeting during the day?”

“It’ll take too long, and by the time you can get to him, he’ll be irritated that you didn’t ask permission to be on his pack land. And even more so, working in his hotel.” Alex winced. “Sorry, hun, my brother’s a dick.”

That didn’t make me feel any better. I smoothed my expression into an impassive one. Prison life made it easy for me to disassociate.

“And this is the entire pack?”

“Mostly, there could be a few exceptions.”

“Karol isn’t going to get in trouble, is she?”

“No, anyone who can’t show up texts one of the top three.”

“Top three?” He’d said that as if it should mean something.

He cocked his head.

“Have you ever been a part of a pack?”

Fuck. I didn’t want to answer that because I could tell it would come with many more questions. He was a talker, I could tell. Much too smooth for me to take on, and I’d surely slip up and put my foot in my mouth.

“It’s a long story. Much too long for right now.” I would avoid this specific question as much as I could.

“Be ready for questions from the Alpha,” he warned. I slipped through the double glass doors. Toddlers played on the jungle gym inside. The entire front seemed to be some babysitting area. A few younger teens hung around, lounging on the chairs with their eyes on their phones.

“Alex.” A middle-aged woman grinned over at him. Her eyes briefly met mine and then returned to the shifter beside me. Wide strides had her before us within moments. She carried a baby, rocking him in her arms.

“How's it going, Lucy?”

“Good, good, it’s my turn to take care of the little ones.” She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Do you know why we’re meeting so suddenly?”

“No.” He sighed and rubbed his palm over his messy curls. “I didn’t even know he was going to do this.”

“It wasn’t the Alpha. The Luna called this meeting. She had Duane send out the message.”

Alex whistled and shook his head.

“He’s not going to like that.”

“I’m sure Cierra told him. She would never move without his approval.”

“For her sake, I hope you’re right.” He winced, shaking his head in disapproval.

I shuffled, lacing my hands in front of me. Lucy turned toward me, and her gaze bounced back to Alex, a question obvious in her clear blue eyes.

“Right, this is Joey Garcia. She’s petitioning to temporarily join our pack.”

“So like a test run?” Lucy asked, meeting my eyes.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be staying in town,” I answered noncommittally.

I didn’t know what it would be like to be a part of their pack, plus, I wasn’t sure they’d accept me with my record.

At the very least, I had to ask permission to be in this territory.

Since Alex mentioned there were other packs nearby, they could be another option for me, too .

. . the problem was I’d ended up working at a place owned by Wilder pack.

“Oh.” Her lips formed a circle, and she nodded. The chatter coming from the hall settled noticeably. “Oof, you both better get going.”

Alex smiled and shuffled me forward with his hand on my back. I picked up my pace, hoping he’d let me go. Lucian might smell him on me later, and I couldn’t have that.

“Are you sniffing me?” I asked, meeting his gaze. Red spread on his face.

“Uhm, sorry, you smell good.”

“Thanks?” I muttered, trying to bite back my laugh. I had to change the subject ASAP. “So the Luna can call meetings, too?” I kept pace with Alex, our feet scraping on the carpet.

“She’s not officially the Luna yet, so no.”

“Why is he waiting to claim her?” He slowed to a stop and faced me.

“I . . . don’t know.” He frowned. “The switch-up happened years ago. I think they got into a fight or something. Everyone is wondering, but ‘that’s not something to concern me,’” he said the last bit with a deeper intonation.

It was obvious he was mocking someone. He shrugged and continued walking.

“They’ve been promised to each other since they were born.

Our parents are super close, so I don’t think anyone’s concerned about it, not with how enmeshed all the business stuff is. ”

We reached the open double doors, and I followed Alex as he guided me to a seat in the back of the auditorium.

It was a decently sized space. I wasn’t tall enough to see over the row in front of me.

Shifters’s scents mingled in my nose. I scratched at my arms to try to ease the anstiness crawling over my skin.

My instincts rose to the surface. I didn’t like being around so many other people. They could all turn on me and attack. I let out a breath. A touch on my spine brought my attention to Alex. He leaned close and inhaled again, being so obvious in sniffing me.

“Are you okay?”

I straightened until his hand wasn’t on me anymore and nodded, smile stiff. Cierra’s voice echoed from the stage, and I focused on it to get out of my head.

“The next Blood Moon is only two weeks away, and it is a perfect time to cement our mating.”

“This could have been an email,” the guy on Alex’s other side muttered, and I snorted. Every shifter in my vicinity turned to look at us, and I pressed my lips into a thin line, trying to play it off.

Alex made a point of coughing into his fist, and it sounded a lot like the snort that had escaped.

Everyone turned back around after a few more disapproving looks.

Seemed like no one wanted to go head-to-head with the Alpha’s brother, something I benefited from.

I cleared my throat and didn’t meet anyone’s disapproving look.

Cierra was going on about something or another, her voice echoing across the large space.

None of what she said applied to me, so I let my mind wander.

Getting used to this was going to take a while.

What I managed to learn about shifters after my accident was all from Tate.

She’d been my cellmate for a few months.

Fortunately, the first one, so I’d had the chance to learn a little about what I was, or relearn it, not that I would know what I had known before my memories were wiped.

The psychologists called it a severe case of dissociative amnesia, but not everyone believed I had lost my memory.

Waking up in a turned-over car with who I later discovered was my father, his head bent at an impossible angle, would always live in my head.

I’d been so disoriented, and my thoughts fuzzy.

Even though I hadn’t had memories of him, every time the image filled my head, my stomach ached.

Some part of me recognized him, but the hint of emotion fled my grip as quickly as it appeared.