Page 1 of Wild Alpha (Cold-Blooded Alpha #12)
THREE YEARS AGO…
“ Y ou can’t make her go through with this,” my brother, Vaden, the pack’s head enforcer, glowers at Dad.
“Your sister belonged to Xavier the day she was born. She will mate with him tonight, or we go to war with Pack Leo.” Dad holds my gaze through his decree. “It’s a fight we can’t win.”
The bright overhead lights in Dad’s walnut office highlight Vaden’s burnished red-brown hair, a duller shade than my bright copper.
It’s early, just us for this meeting while the rest of the pack sleeps.
Vaden’s fury has awakened his wolf, and feral intelligence peers out through his silver-green eyes, a rare shade that marks us both as the Pack Rowe alpha’s two children.
With a growl, Vaden spins to face me, fists clenched, as reddish-brown fur sprouts on the backs of his hands. A shifter controls his beast, but that doesn’t mean the beast doesn’t sometimes lash out.
“I’ll help you get away, Ree,” Vaden says, his expression a mix of frustration and rage.
My decision can and will likely cost my brother, my father, and my twenty-strong pack their lives. If I fight this, they will die. I can’t let that happen.
“What do you think Xavier will do to Dad—to the rest of the pack—if he learns what you did?” I ask.
Just five minutes ago, I was yawning into my hand as I made my way downstairs for this early meeting with Dad. But now, I couldn’t be more wide awake even if I’d downed an entire pot of coffee.
Vaden growls his frustration, the way he always does when he wants to punch something and there isn’t anything close to hand.
I punch him lightly in the arm, already missing him. “Stop.”
He catches my fist, pulls me close, and hugs me. “Is there ever a day you’re not trying to punch me, sis?”
I smile when I want to cry. “Is there ever a day you’re not growling about something?” But my brief flare of amusement fades. “If there were a way out of this, Dad would have found it already.”
“But we could?—”
“ Stop , Vaden,” I gently cut in.
My big brother isn’t just family. He isn’t just one of my best friends or my fiercest protector.
He is Pack Rowe’s head enforcer. His hands are tied even tighter than mine.
It’s his role and his duty to fight for the pack.
To always put the pack—and its alpha—first. There’s no stopping this, no matter how much we might want to.
“Averie…” My dad gently cups the back of my head, and there’s a world of pain in his gaze. Sending his only daughter to a man known for his violence is destroying him.
“It’s okay, Dad,” I say, holding his wrist and smiling up at him. “I know you tried.”
He looks so tired. I’d be surprised if he got more than a few hours of sleep this past week.
He nods, not looking at me, his mouth a tight line, his gaze fixed out the window at the early morning sunlight hitting our pack land.
In the distance, beyond our forests, I can barely see Xavier’s territory. Pack Leo, our closest neighbor, is in Texas. We’re on the other side of the border in Oklahoma.
For decades, our two packs have been bound by an agreement that means we keep an eye on each other's borders, and we're both stronger for it. The alpha of Pack Leo has always taken his mate from the daughter of the Pack Rowe alpha. It’s a promise that's older than I am, older than my dad is, and it'll outlast us all.
“You’ve always looked out for the pack. For us.” He’s avoiding my gaze, and I understand why. His eyes are likely shimmering with tears because he can’t save the daughter he loves. “It’s time I did something for you. Something to save the pack.”
Nodding, he drops a kiss on the top of my head without looking at me. He goes back to his desk, sits down, and sorts through papers in a way that I know he's not reading a single word.
The bonds that tie a shifter to another are almost always permanent.
I’m nineteen, content to play and occasionally flirt with the males in my pack, at least for the next couple of years. To mate is to acknowledge that you’re ready to usher in the next generation of pups to the pack, and I’m not nearly ready for pups yet.
If I had a choice, it would not be Xavier. But if this is what my pack needs me to do to survive, then this is what I’ll do. “I’ll be ready, Dad.”
Ignoring my brother's call, I step out of Dad’s office, barefoot, and make my way quietly through the entryway of our still-sleeping farmhouse. My steps are quiet as I pull the door closed behind me.
It's only when I’m out in the open that I start to run. My feet guide me deep into the forest, where I can breathe in the scent of home and savor the happiness of our East Oklahoma life, before everything changes in ways I wish it wouldn’t.
I thought I would live here forever, run in these forests, hunt, splash around in the lakes, and sunbathe for hours on the hottest days.
For the pack, I’ll give myself to a vicious alpha who has left a trail of bodies too numerous to count in his wake. Nineteen years old, and I feel like my life is already over.
If I mate with Xavier, it soon will be.
At midnight, under a brilliant full moon, I stand in front of the man who will be my mate. I’m wearing a white slip dress with thin straps that reaches my knees. My hair is loose, as is customary for a moon blessing ceremony.
With his dark hair, piercing green eyes, and chiseled jawline, Xavier is even more handsome than when I last saw him three years ago.
Back then, I was sixteen and too young to mate.
He was eyeing all the pretty girls in my pack, while they avoided the alpha known for his sharp tongue and explosive temper.
He’s naked, which is not what was agreed.
There was no reason for him to make an already awkward duty any worse. Tonight, he’ll take me back to his pack, and we’ll mate there.
Since there’s only one shifter with a worse reputation than his, I keep my mouth shut and mentally order the rest of my pack—especially my impulsive big brother—to stay silent, not wanting to provoke his anger.
Swallowing a yelp as my wolf growls at being manhandled, Xavier pulls me into the ceremonial circle, his hard fingers digging into my skin.
Out of the corner of my eye, Vaden’s hands are clenched tight in a fist, his gaze fixed on Xavier with such furious intensity that I know my brother has imagined killing him at least fifty times today.
Everyone is wearing white. Again, a traditional custom in a bonding ceremony.
My father watches, eyes haunted and lost, but there is nothing he can do. Not if he wants his pack to survive. My pack mates chew on their fingers, shuffle from foot to foot, and their gazes briefly land on me before dancing away again. They want to save me, but there is nothing they can do.
There is nothing anyone can do.
My body trembles, though not from the biting cold in the thin white linen dress I wore for this ceremony.
Fear .
This man will destroy me, and there is nothing I can do to save myself without my pack paying the price for it.
This is your duty, Averie. Do your duty for the pack. He will bite you on your throat, take you to his bed, and this day will soon end.
Xavier rakes his eyes over me, lingering on my breasts. He licks his lips, jerks his head toward my father, and declares, “I’ll take her in the traditional way.”
Naked on my hands and knees.
Mounted .
All the blood in my veins turns to ice.
“A traditional moon blessing?” I whisper, backing away.
It’s one thing to mate in the dark, in a cabin, behind a closed door.
I will not do it in front of my family. “No.”
Slap .
I cry out as I fall, raising a trembling hand to my burning cheek. My wolf snarls in my mind, but I’m facing down a powerful alpha. I can’t win this fight against him. Neither can she.
As I stand up, I keep my head down so Xavier won’t see the anger in my eyes.
My wolf is feeling murderous, and if he knew how much, I’d be looking at another slap, if not a punch.
My brother is having a heated exchange with someone I can’t see, probably one of Xavier’s enforcers who’s refusing to listen.
Xavier drags me against his chest. Hard . There’s no mistaking his arousal this close. The tips of my fingers itch, my claws wanting to emerge. The human in me wants to run; the wolf in me wants to maul.
“We didn’t agree to this,” my brother growls as he steps forward, almost breaching the moon blessing circle.
“I will have what I want, and what I want is my mate naked, on her hands and knees under this moon.” Xavier grips my dress, preparing to tear it off me, when he suddenly stumbles.
His grip on me loosens.
A strong, calloused hand grasps my arm and pulls me away from Xavier and out of the circle. The scent—a mix of wild fern and fresh mint—is familiar.
“Dad?” I spin around to face him, my heart racing with fear, terrified that Xavier will target him and the pack.
He steps up to Xavier, silver eyes cold, lips flat, fingers elongating into claws. “Take your hands off my daughter.”
He intends to stop this.
I can’t let him.
“Stop, Dad. We’re outnumbered,” I shout at him, but he won’t listen.
Vaden shoves me farther away, shouting, “ Go , Averie. I’ll hold them back as long as I can. This is not your fate. Run .”
“But I?—”
Vaden grunts as he staggers away from me, blood spreading over his neck. He drops to his knees, twisting around to punch one of Xavier’s enforcers.
My pack strips out of white linen, shifting and lunging at Pack Leo as they shout at me to go. They planned this. As I prepared to meet my fate, they intended to save me.
My dad grabs me and shoves me back again as I step closer, trying to join in the fight. I trip, and he yells, “Go!”
He grunts as someone slams into him, driving us apart.
Xavier punches his fist into Dad’s chest. I flinch as hot blood splashes across my face. My eyes drop, seeing the claws embedded in his heart.
“No,” I whisper when I want to roar it. “ No .”
My dad's eyes meet mine, even as his knees buckle. “Go.”
Xavier rips his bloodied hand from his chest and twists to face me, but I’m moving on autopilot. My wolf growls at me to run.
He gave his life for this. Run.
A wolf howls its grief into the sky.
With tears streaming down my cheeks, I flee the screams of agony and the roars of fury that shake the forest that has always been home.
And I run.