Page 16 of The Careless Alpha
For the first time in three years, I fell asleep feeling hopeful instead of heartbroken. My wolf was right. I was no longer the thirteen-year-old girl who'd accepted Marshall's claiming with starry-eyed devotion. I was sixteen, I had my wolf, and I was finally starting to understand what it meant to be Luna.
Through the shared wall between our rooms, I could hear the low murmur of voices from Marshall's bedroom. Scarlett had stayed, as I'd known she would. But instead of the usual sharp pain that accompanied such realizations, I felt only a cold determination.
Let her have tonight,Sapphire said with predatory satisfaction.We have the rest of our lives with him. I promise we’ll make her pay for her actions.
I closed my eyes and dreamed of running through the forest on four strong legs, faster and freer than I'd ever been on two.
The girl was gone. The wolf had arrived. And everything was about to change.
Chapter 7
Annalise - Age 17
Ayear had passed since my first shift. At seventeen, I was no longer a child, a fact I repeated to myself like a mantra. The tentative girl was gone, replaced by someone who had her own wolf, her own strength. Sapphire’s presence was a constant, warm hum beneath my skin, a secret well of courage I could draw from. She made the waiting easier, made the casual slights from the other she-wolves feel smaller.
I had thrown myself into my Luna training with a new ferocity. If I couldn't have Marshall’s heart yet, I could at least earn his respect. I would be the most knowledgeable, prepared Luna this pack had ever seen.
That afternoon, I was in the pack library, a quiet, dusty sanctuary filled with the scent of old paper and leather. Sunlight streamed through the tall arched windows, illuminating the history of our people bound in ancient tomes. I was deep in a book on inter-pack treaties, my fingers tracing the faded lineage of the mountain packs, when the heavy oak door creaked open. The scent of expensive, cloying perfume preceded them.
Scarlett and Veronica entered, moving with a predatory languor that immediately set Sapphire on edge. They didn’t bother to pretend they were there to read. Their eyes, sharp and assessing, were fixed only on me.
“Look at her,” Veronica said, her voice a low purr. “Working so hard. You’d almost think she really believes she’s going to be Luna.”
I placed a leather bookmark to mark my page and closed the heavy book, refusing to let them see my hands tremble. “Iamgoing to be Luna,” I stated, my voice even. I met Scarlett’s gaze directly. “The Moon Goddess chose me for Marshall. That’s not a matter of belief; it’s a matter of fact.”
Scarlett let out a soft, pitying laugh. It was a sound more cutting than any insult. She glided over to the table and leaned against it, her hip brushing against my neat stack of notes. The cloying scent of her perfume, a mix of expensive florals and something sharp like jealousy, seemed to soak into the air, choking the familiar, comforting smell of old books.
“Oh, you sweet, naive child,” she said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. “You still think this is about the Goddess? This is about an Alpha. A man. And men have needs the Goddess doesn't always account for.”
They are liars,Sapphire snarled in my mind.Do not listen to them, sister. Our mate wants us. Just waiting for human to be eighteen.
“Marshall and I are mates,” I said, clinging to Sapphire’s certainty. “Nothing you say can change that.”
“Of course you are,” Scarlett agreed with a saccharine smile. “That’s the whole point. You’re his fated mate, his destiny, the one he’s stuck with.” She let the word hang in the air, a poisonous dart.
I felt my shoulders twitch, a small, betraying movement I hoped they didn't see.Stuck.The word echoed in my head,stripping away all the romance of being fated and leaving only the cold weight of an obligation.
“Have you ever stopped to wonder, Annalise? Have you ever truly asked yourself why, after all these years, he’s never stopped seeing me? Or Veronica? Or a dozen others? If you were truly the one he wanted, wouldn’t he be preparing himself? Making himself worthy of his pure, untouched little mate?”
The question was a cruel one because it was a question I had asked myself in the dark of night a thousand times. I had always answered it with faith, with the belief that he was just waiting for me to be older. But hearing it from her lips gave it a terrifying new weight.
“He is the Alpha,” I said, my voice faltering slightly. “He has… pressures.”
Veronica laughed, a sharp, ugly sound in the quiet library. “Oh, he has pressures, alright. The pressure of pretending to care about a child he was saddled with, all to keep the pack elders happy. The pressure of having to wait until you’re legal so he can finally be free.”
“Free?” The word escaped me as a whisper.
Scarlett leaned closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial, venomous murmur. “You poor thing. You don’t get it, do you? He can’t reject you now. You’re the pack’s darling, the little orphan Luna-in-waiting. Rejecting you before the bond is finalized would cause a scandal. It would make him look weak, cruel. An Alpha can’t afford that.”
She is twisting the truth,Sapphire insisted, but a frantic edge had crept into her voice.She lies!
“But what happens,” Scarlett continued, her eyes glittering with triumph, “after your eighteenth birthday? An Alpha has the right to reject his fated mate. It’s an ancient law, rarely used, but it’s his absolute right. And once he does it, no one can question him. It’s clean. Final. He upholds his duty to the Goddess bywaiting for you to come of age, and then he exercises his right as Alpha to choose a more suitable Luna.” Her gaze was pointed. “Me.”
The air left my lungs. The entire room seemed to tilt, the shafts of sunlight becoming dizzying, accusatory beams. I looked down at my hands, at the book of treaties, at the life I was so carefully preparing for, and it all felt like a sham.
My mind raced, replaying every interaction I’d ever had with Marshall through this new, horrifying lens. That warm smile at the feast—was it for me, or for the pack members who were watching? His praise after my first shift—was it pride, or a perfunctory duty he had to perform? His constant distance, the way he always had an excuse, a meeting, another woman—was it because he was busy and trying to be respectful of my age, like I thought, or was he simply biding his time, waiting for the clock to run out?
“He’s kind to me,” I whispered, the words a desperate plea.