Page 13 of The Careless Alpha
“Annalise, you look so… sweet tonight,” she said, her eyes sweeping over my dress. “It’s a lovely color. So innocent.”
“Thank you, Veronica,” I replied, trying to move past her.
“Oh, but look, you’ve got a loose thread,” she said, her voice laced with false concern. As I glanced down, she feigned a dramatic stumble. A full glass of dark red wine arced through the air and splashed directly down the front of my dress.
The dark stain bloomed across the pale green fabric like a gaping wound. A collective gasp went through the room, followed by a ripple of snickers.
“Oh, my goodness!” Veronica cried, her hand flying to her mouth in a perfect picture of theatrical dismay. “I am so clumsy! I’m so sorry, your dress is ruined!”
I looked desperately toward Marshall. He was looking right at us, but there was no anger in his expression, only a mild annoyance. He raised his glass in a mock toast.
“Girls being girls,” he called out, his voice casual and dismissive. “Try to keep the drama down, ladies.”
He turned back to his conversation, laughing at something the birthday girl, Scarlett, had whispered in his ear. He didn’t see the malice in Veronica’s eyes or the triumphant smirk she shot me. He just saw a trivial accident. He saw me as a child, causing drama.
The humiliation was a physical burn. But just as I felt tears threatening, I felt a new sensation deep within me—not sadness, but a slow-burning ember of rage. It was a foreign feeling, but it was mine. I met Veronica’s gaze, lifted my chin, and walked away without a word, leaving her standing there with her empty victory. That small act of defiance, of not letting them see me cry, was a tiny seed of power planting itself in the barren ground of my heart.
That night, something had shifted. The broken-hearted girl was still there, but she was no longer alone. A part of me was getting ready to fight back.
It was a month later, on my sixteenth birthday, that I finally mether.
The sacred grove hummed with anticipation as the pack gathered for my first shift ceremony. Ancient oaks formed a natural circle around the clearing, their branches heavy with summer leaves that filtered the late afternoon sunlight intodancing patterns on the forest floor. Pack members lined the edges of the grove, their voices a low murmur of excitement and encouragement.
I stood in the center wearing a simple white dress that Luna Etta had sewn specially for tonight. Tradition demanded that those undergoing their first shift wear something easily torn away when their wolf emerged. My bare feet gripped the soft earth, grounding me to the pack territory that had been my home for three years.
Three years since Marshall had claimed me as his mate. Three years of Luna training and she-wolf harassment and learning to smile while my heart broke a little more each day. But tonight was different. Tonight, I would meet my wolf. Tonight, I would become a full member of the pack.
"Are you ready, Annalise?" Luna Etta asked softly. She stood beside me in the circle, her hand warm on my shoulder. Over the years, she'd become the mother I'd lost, patient and kind even when I struggled with the more difficult aspects of Luna training.
I nodded, though my stomach churned with nervous energy. "I think so."
"Your wolf has been waiting for this moment as long as you have," she said. "Trust her. Trust yourself."
Marshall stepped forward, his ceremonial robes marking him as pack leader and officiant. At twenty-two, he commanded the grove with natural authority, every inch the Alpha his father had been. "Pack members of the Cascade," he began, his voice carrying easily through the grove, "we gather tonight to witness Annalise Sloane take her rightful place among us as both wolf and future Luna to your Alpha."
Future Luna to your Alpha. Even after three years, hearing him claim me publicly as his mate sent a flutter through my chest. He may have been ignoring me, but I told myself thatwas only because of my age. Things would be different when I was eighteen. Marshall would be different when I was eighteen. He looked impossibly handsome in the ceremonial robes, commanding the grove with natural authority. At twenty-two, he'd grown into his Alpha inheritance, broad-shouldered and powerful in a way that made every she-wolf in the pack take notice. Not that they weren’t already.
I forced myself to focus on Marshall's words as he continued the ceremony.
"The first shift is both an ending and a beginning," he continued. "Tonight, Annalise will shed her human-only existence and embrace the dual nature that marks our kind. She will find her wolf, and her wolf will find her."
The pack murmured their agreement. I caught sight of some of the young adults in the crowd, those who'd undergone their first shifts in recent years. They watched with understanding and encouragement, remembering their transformations.
"Annalise," Marshall turned to me, "step forward and call to your wolf."
I moved to the exact center of the grove, where generations of pack members had experienced this same ritual. The earth beneath my feet felt warm and alive, as if the forest itself was welcoming me home.
Closing my eyes, I reached inward the way Luna Etta had taught me. For months, I'd been feeling something stirring in the depths of my consciousness. A presence that felt both foreign and familiar, like a friend I'd known forever but never met.
Are you there?I asked silently.
The response was immediate and overwhelming. Power surged through my veins like liquid fire, and I felt my consciousness split and expand. Suddenly, I wasn't alone in my mind.
I am here,came a voice that was fierce and wild and entirely mine.I am Sapphire, and I have been waiting for you, sister.
The transformation began as a burning sensation under my skin, like my bones were trying to rearrange themselves from the inside out. I gasped and fell to my knees as the first wave of change washed over me. The white dress tore as my body began to shift and stretch.
Let go,Sapphire urged.Stop fighting the change. This is what we are meant to be.