Page 3 of Wanted by the Wolves (The Last Shifters #2)

Chapter 2

Nova

T he pungent scent of ammonia forces my eyes to open. My head is pounding, and every muscle aches. I blink, and the world is off kilter, with a slight spinning that makes everything seem too fast.Before I can get my bearings, someone pinches my chin and draws my eyes upward. I wince, and the fuzzy shadows and light are replaced by an alpha crowding over me.

What the fuck? Or maybe where the fuck?

I blink again, but the alpha’s large shadow remains unclear amid the specks dancing in my vision.

“You’re quite the little troublemaker,” the alpha says, his voice laced with something dark and hungry. “And the gods have seen fit to give you to me.”

The cruel and possessive violence in the cadence of his voice rattles my bones. It's all alpha power, pressing his will against mine. He bounces to his feet from his crouch, looking behind me and raising his arms to cheers.

I swallow my fear, blinking through the dizziness, and look around the room. This is some kind of meeting room, wooden and open. The packed-in wolves are barely contained, all eyes on me—their prey. The room pulses with pheromones, the thick, spicy musk edged with lust.

Memories filter in—the tent square, my need for the herbs, running into the guardsman, and trying to fight for my freedom. There was a rushing crowd of alphas, then darkness.

The guardsman must have fought his way out of the tents and brought me here… but where is here?

The alpha's commanding voice forces my attention back to him. He’s big, but so are most alphas. Something in his stance, though, betrays his savagery. That thinly veiled threat makes my gut clench and fear race up my spine.

Wherever here is, it isn’t good.

He speaks to the crowd, but his eyes are on me. “Brothers, this is the sign that we’re following the right path. The gods have blessed me, given me a mate, and given us all an omega queen for our new kingdom. We have risen from the Outskirts and taken back the throne. Under the full moon, we will make a new future for wolves, just as our ancestors did before we were lost. The omega will be mine by bite but all of ours by right. Let us take her together."

Growls and cheers explode around the packed room, the alphas stomping their feet in a thunderous roar of approval.

His words are splinters digging under my skin. This must be the new Alpha King. He means to mate me and let the others breed me under the full moon. The shock of his plan pulls me into action, and I drag myself off the wooden floor.

My body smarts with aches, and pain lances my head. My wobbly legs want to collapse, to give up right here because it’s hopeless. What can one omega do against an alpha army?

But I refuse. I let the shock of the Alpha King's treatment fuel my resolve. Not so long ago, omegas were cherished. They were integral parts of packs, and they were protected.

In the age of Vikings, the shifter wolves were made by Odin to be the people’s protectors. Omegas give heart to that purpose. This new Alpha King believes he can fix our problems by taking an omega mate by force? It’s an affront to everything we are.

His audacity makes me laugh. It bubbles from my throat and spills into the space between us until the alphas in the room are frozen by my hysteria.

I know my worth. I won't be reduced to a breeder for a pack of wild wolves. They will have to kill me first. That knowledge frees me, lets me give away my humanity to my wolf.

The Alpha King takes my face between his palms, his hands too tight and his lips turned down. “You laugh now, bitch. Just wait until the full moon. I will own you.”

I spit in his face. “You will never own me.”

My wolf takes my skin. She attacks, her jaw clamping down. She misses his throat but snags his ear.Something hits her side, sharp and swift. Darkness rushes to meet me. Right before passing out, I hear the rip of his tearing flesh.

A triangle of light breaches the darkness. I stir, trying to gather my bearings. Down here, in what the guards call the pit, time is without meaning.I don’t know how long they’ve held me here, but the aching warmth in my gut and the slick between my legs tell me the full moon is close.

After I bit the Alpha King, I woke up here. At first, the king came to me and tried to coax me into submitting. He’s offered almost everything but my freedom. When promises of fine clothes and comfy nests didn’t work, he tried to convince me with his talk of fate and his plans to right the wrongs done by our last king. His pretty words didn’t fool me.

Any semblance of kindness vanished after that. He left me to the guards, ordering them to persuade me with their fists. That cut through all his bullshit to the truth: I’m his prisoner, and he plans to claim me during my heat.

A guardsman approaches, the scent of the soup he carries combating the sharp tang of my piss. He’s guard number four. My wolf managed to maul the first three before they wised up and put me in a wolfsbane-coated collar. No more shifting. But even as a human, I will strike if I get an opportunity.

The alpha tentatively puts the tray on the dirt floor.

I lunge for him, teeth bared. Chains yank me back to the wall. White-hot pain sears my neck.

The alpha gives a throaty laugh. “I can’t wait to see how much fight you have left after a pack of wolves has knotted you. I bet you’ll be sweet as pie, strung out on dick like a good little omega.”

I hiss, flinging the tray against the stone wall. The mess splatters us both. His laugh bounces off the walls, flooding the room with his pheromones. His excitement at my resistance is as clear on his face as it is in the boisterous sound of his laugh.

The way my fear makes the guard hard pisses me off. I snap, this time sinking my teeth into his thigh. The clap of his backhand throws me into the stone wall, the too-tight collar chafing my skin.

“I like that you’re a biter.” The dark-haired alpha’s fangs glint in the shallow light. “Just remember, omega, I’ll bite too.”

His big boots shuffle up a cloud of dirt on his way out, his oily scent following in his wake.

My wolf growls, the sound vibrating in my chest. I don’t know if omega wolves can go feral, but if my wolf gets a chance, she will rip out every one of their throats.

A stabbing heat hits my stomach, and I crumble at the cramping ache reverberating inside me. Panting through it, I curl into a ball and force myself to think of the wide-open green of my forest home.