Page 4 of The Alpha’s Forced Omega (Alaska Alpha Wolves #1)

It’s impossible that I’m overcome with intense exhaustion after only a few hours on foot.

I guess this is what happens when you’re out of shape. It’s not like I can help it—I’ve tried every possible method to get fit, and even tried to use my latent witch powers to develop my wolf, in the hopes that doing so would ensure a better standing in the pack.

Failing dismally at both, I am still the resident outcast.

Well, not anymore.

I may not have the full abilities of a werewolf, unable to shift at will, but I do have the instincts of my witch heritage that make navigating the forest easier than I thought it would.

Adrenaline pulses through my veins, deafening my logical mind that would keep me dwelling on the fact that the Snehvolk Pack was set on sacrificing me to the malevolent spirit of the demon.

I may not have encountered the creature or witnessed its wrath, but my grandmother told me enough tales about it to send a shiver down my spine even now.

It doesn’t help that the forest is dark and gloomy, and the chill that settles in my bones is way too strong for my dampened wolf to fight. A werewolf is supposed to be hot-blooded enough to stand the frigid Alaskan Winters, but right now, my wolf doesn’t seem to be working.

Staring down at my frostbitten fingers, I take a drawn-out deep breath, internally wishing I’d thought to bring a jacket along. I wasn’t counting on being this cold, but it’s more than just the biting weather with its snowfall that has me feeling chilled.

Alpha Elias is responsible for this. He’s the one who made the final push possible when I impulsively decided to leave Girdwood and the pack for good. The decision may have been spontaneous, but it was the right—

“Gah!” I gasp, startled when a sudden burst of heat erupts from my belly, spreading out to every nerve ending in my body and pulsing from the source at the apex of my thighs.

The jolt sends me keeling over, clutching my arms over my belly, alarmed by the frenzied sensations rolling over me.

The pain that grips my core is nagging, and I feel my face contort with anguish.

I can’t handle it anymore; my legs spurred into motion only to get me to a place of safety. Running purely on instinct, I can’t care if it’s a product of my witch or my wolf.

All that matters is getting somewhere, anywhere, that I’m not irritated by the snowflakes whispering across my cheeks or catching in my hair.

The stark contrast of the cold Alaskan air is frightening against the sudden heat that erupts throughout my body, and I need to find a semblance of sanity to make sense of what’s happening to me.

I’ve never been in such gnawing pain before, the gripping ache between my thighs forcing me forward until I find a cavity at the base of the mountain large enough to fit me. Scurrying into the cave, I fall to my knees and buckle over, hugging my belly as whimpers and groans leave my lips.

“What’s happening…?” I groan to myself, squeezing my eyes shut only to see the dark silhouette of a man flashing behind my eyelids. As a gasp of realization hits me, another one of Grandmother’s stories comes to mind.

The she-wolf’s heat…

Unlike the tale about the demon dog, a female werewolf in heat isn’t something unheard of. Every she-wolf with a reproductive system is bound to feel the surge of hormones when it’s time to reproduce.

Only my mother didn’t experience this since she wasn’t a werewolf. But even then, after conceiving me, my grandmother had witnessed the pain she endured when her hormones flared while she carried a werewolf’s child and went in heat.

The excruciating pain that I feel now is almost unbearable, and I cannot imagine what my mother went through when she suffered the same fate as a witch without a wolf to soothe her.

My own dysfunctional inner wolf isn’t strong enough to dilute this pain, and I’m left to ride it out, my breath coming in hot pants as sweat beads my forehead.

“Moon Goddess…I need you right now…” I pray under my unsteady breath.

I hardly have any reason to call out to the mother of all wolves residing in her ethereal abode in the skies, having faced too much trouble in the pack I grew up in to care about being an active devotee.

Mother Selene was cruel to give me the short end of the stick with my dampened wolf, and I never cared about those bonfires to celebrate her.

My separation from my faith started the night of my eighteenth birthday when I waited for my wolf to emerge, and it never came. Growing up, I’d hoped that the coming of my wolf abilities would give me a better standing in the pack.

As if that wasn’t enough torture, that was the same night Alpha Elias rejected me. I couldn’t have drifted further from my dwindling faith that night, but tonight, I desperately need the connection to my creator.

It’s the only thing that might get me through this pain, and as I begin to climb down from the horror, my faith is mildly reignited.

Perhaps she’s watching me pitifully from her throne and knows that I can’t bear these punches anymore.

Perhaps that’s why she sent the vision of a man’s silhouette to help me through the worst pain of my life.

After what feels like an eternity, I’m able to breathe again, the pain subsiding into a dull ache that lingers between my thighs. It’s more intense than the cramps I get monthly during my menses, but what’s more alarming is the dark silhouette of a man behind my eyelids every time I close my eyes.

Who was that?

And why was he there during the most painful few minutes of my life?

There are so many questions running rampant through my mind, but one sticks out distinctly.

Why have I suddenly become so attuned to my inner wolf that I’m able to be in heat?

It’s never happened before, so why now, when I’ve left the pack?

Is severing ties with the Snehvolk Pack detrimental to my usually dormant wolf?

Sighing my discontent, I plop onto my rear with my back pressed against the moist rock of the cave.

It isn’t much in terms of comfort, but it will have to do for now.

After what I just experienced, I need to catch my breath and rest, even if it’s for an hour.

Then I can continue my journey to Hope—the small town that resembles Girdwood, occupied by humans who are unaware of the existence of supernatural creatures.

It’s where the werewolves of Snehvolk travel to gather resources, some of them walking amongst the humans to work ordinary jobs for the upkeep of their lifestyles in Girdwood.

Closing my eyes, a sigh escapes my lips as I’m about to doze off, but my moment of peace is interrupted when the fine hairs on the back of my neck prickle, alerting me to a sudden interruption. My eyes spring open, and the air that leaves my lips mists in front of my face.

A dreary chill sets in, amplifying the already cold temperature of my snowy surroundings. I gather myself forward on my knees and palms, sneaking a peek out of the corner of the cave’s rocky archway.

That’s when I see it, my breath catching in my throat just as my heart skips a frightened beat.

I’ve heard countless stories about the sinister spirit, the demon dog, but I never imagined the fear of seeing it with my own eyes. Almost paralyzed to the spot when I meet the dog-like creature’s maliciously dark eyes, I’m fixed in a trance that makes it impossible to breathe.

I can only move my eyes, my gaze flickering to the rest of the demon.

Its body is a tough shell of the darkest, shaggy coat, its paws coasting the snow blanket covering the surface of the ground in front of the cave.

It seems to be floating forward without haste, its every move calculated as it holds my gaze in the ominous, dark abysses of its hungry eyes.

A purple tongue juts out, and a set of razor-sharp, yellow teeth flashes under the glimmer of the moonlight. The vile creature is almost hideous, but the presence of evil and wickedness follows the demon as it saunters toward me.

Fear trickles down my spine and settles in my gut, churning my stomach and threatening to have me wrenching over my knees. But I can’t lose focus on the demon. I have to protect myself, even if I’m entranced by my fearful, mesmerized state.

Gulping hard, a low rumble in the pit of my belly erupts, heating that spot between my thighs that first signaled the onset of my heat. Even as the demon’s wide eyes train on me, its slow movements putting doubt in my mind, I get an idea.

Despite the pack wanting to sacrifice me to appease the malign being and protect themselves, it doesn’t seem to make any attempt to kill me.

It could if it wanted to. I’ve heard all about a demon’s unmatched speed and how it’s able to swiftly tear off limbs from its prey.

But this one doesn’t make any attempt to rush, watching me keenly with a silver glint in its eyes as if it’s taken some interest in me.

Whatever it is, it gives me enough time to think fast, to use the heat of my reproductive system and focus it elsewhere—on my palms, where I should be using the powers of my maternal bloodline.

Tearing my gaze from the demon, my face contorts with concentration as I stare at my palms and feel the first stirrings of my heat vibrating through my veins.

I gasp in shock and awe when the lines mapping my palms light up in a soft shade of lilac, the power of my heat climbing into my hands. My latent witch ability seems to be stirring, and my temples pulse as I focus on that power that gives me a sudden jolt of intuition.

The demon dog hasn’t found me as a sacrifice for the Snehvolk Pack. It’s sauntering forward with keen interest in my dormant witch powers.

That’s what it wants.

And that’s what it’s going to get.

A gust of courage spreads through my veins, and I look up just as the demon steps over the stony threshold of the cave’s entrance. A sense of fearlessness compels me to lift my hands as I harness my wolf’s heat into bursts of lightning bolts directed at the demon.

“Goddess!” I exclaim in surprise at my own sudden ability, watching as the demon dog nimbly dodges the attack by swaying backward, but not without a thin bolt of forked lilac lightning striking a cheek.

It whimpers in protest, the sound bordering on anguish and anger when black, slimy liquid oozes from the gash.

So, the demon bleeds.

Somehow, that information amplifies my courage, allowing me to stand up on my feet as another round of energy works its way into my palms. This time, it’s stronger, setting my heart alight with determination as I take a bold step forward and aim my palms at the demon.

“Take this, you ugly beast!” Even my voice is more imposing, stronger now that I’ve unearthed my hidden witch gift that allows me to shoot purple fire from the core of my wolf’s feminine heat.

I’m about to mentally send a bolt its way when a sound enters my right eardrum, and my concentration becomes scattered.

Impulsively turning toward the crunching sound, I’m taken aback by the pair of glowing hazel eyes that stare back at me, equally as shocked by what he must have witnessed just now. Elias McGruff’s jaw drops, and he stands unmoving near a snow-capped fern bush.

“Elias…”

“Aurora…”

We breathe each other’s names in tandem, but all I see is his mouth moving on the three syllables. Momentarily startled, I couldn’t believe that he caught up to me in the valley or found me in the first place.

Unfortunately for me, the distraction of seeing Alpha Elias here is to my detriment, but to the demon’s advantage.

A sharp, metallic snap of its teeth zaps my head in its direction just as it lifts onto its hind legs that float on the ground, distending gruesome black, whetted talons from its front paws as it prepares to attack.

The demon lunges for me, claws slicing through the air as acrid saliva shoots from between its teeth.

My heart stops beating, and there’s a tiny part of me that remains only mildly aware that Alpha Elias is close by.

He’s about to witness my demise, but it’s exactly what he wanted—to sacrifice me to the demon.

I close my eyes defeatedly, the weight of the surrender to my fate dimming my powers.

It’s not like I have much control over them since it’s my first time using the gift of my witch heritage.

I don’t know how to throw lightning bolts again, and truthfully, knowing the Alpha is here to see the sacrifice through is what dampens my spirit.

It’s for the greater good of the Snehvolk Pack , I think, as a last-ditch attempt to accept my fate. It’s not much of a consolation when I never fit in with that very same pack, treated with hostility as if I was at fault for even being born; it was never a pack I truly belonged in.

What difference does it make that I’m about to die?

No one will care, and life will continue as before, with the pack safe now that I’ll be sacrificed to the demon.

Taking one final breath, I feel the heaviness of the malignant being envelop me, keeping me pinned to the spot without a flicker of willingness to fight.

“Aurora! Watch out!” Elias’s voice bleats through the air unexpectedly, prompting me to snap my eyes open just in time to witness his shift into wolf form.

I gasp when the white alpha wolf stands in full form, his eyes radiating dominance as they glow and narrow at the demon. I don’t expect him to come rushing forward, but when he does, it’s clear that he’s about to save me from the malevolent spirit.