Fated To The Alpha: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (7 page)

“But we’re talking war here!” I said.  “They hit us, we hit them harder, they hit us harder… where does it end?”

“When every damn one of those filthy fleabag Morgandorf scum-suckers is belly up, that’s when!” old Tobias spat, practically frothing at the mouth.  Several others around him roared in agreement.

I looked around me, suddenly feeling helpless.  I could see now there was no stopping this; not when everyone around me was so full of bile and rage.

Then things got worse.

Leon put a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes.  “I’m leading this attack tonight,” he said.  “And as my future bride, I’m expecting you to be there.”

I felt the blood drain from my face as he said that.  “What?”

“You heard me,” he said.  “It’s obvious you don’t have a taste for what needs to be done.  But if you’re going to lead this pack with me, you’re going to have to learn.”

He turned back to the rest of the pack as I stood there, agape.  “The raiding party sets out at ten o’clock tonight,” he announced.  “Who’s going with me?”

“I am!” a dozen of my packmates shouted at once, raising their hands in the air.

After that, everyone started filing away, most of them looking to go tend to our wounded.  I simply stood there frozen, unable to move.  What could I do now?  There had to be some way out of this… was there a way I could warn Jeremy?  How could I?  He wouldn’t be expecting me, so it was doubtful he would be in our usual meeting place, and I couldn’t very well just waltz into Morgandorf territory; his pack would rip me to pieces.  Maybe if I came in carrying a white flag or something… it would be crude, but I had to do something…

“Don’t do it.”

I had been so caught up in my panic and uncertainty I hadn’t even noticed Charlene’s approach until she spoke.  I almost jumped when I noticed her standing beside me, speaking just above a whisper to let no one else hear. 

“What?” I said.

“Whatever you’re thinking of doing,” she said, “don’t do it.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

“Don’t I?” she said, and took hold of my arm and started guiding me away, out of earshot of anyone else.  “Tell me you’re not planning to run off and warn that boyfriend of yours about this?”

“I… no, I…”

“Don’t lie to me!” she barked as quietly as she could.

I set my jaw and met her gaze.  “Charlene, do you really want this to turn into a war?”

“Evie, wake up!  This already is a war!  It has been for years!”

“But what are we even fighting over?  Land?  Game?  Something someone said thirty years ago?  What is the point of all this?  It doesn’t gain us anything except more bloodshed!”

“You can argue philosophy all you want,” she said.  “But this is reality.  The Morgandorfs aren’t going to back off and stop attacking us just because you’re banging one of them!”

“So that’s it?” I shrugged pointedly at her.  “We just accept it, and keep fighting?  There’s no way around it?”

“It’s called pride, Evie,” she said.  “And if that’s not enough, try survival.”

“You know, call me crazy,” I said, “but the idea of more fighting and bloodshed seems counter intuitive to that.”

“So, instead you want to go out there, warn the Morgandorfs that we’re coming, and give them an advantage?  If you go out there, you will be betraying your own pack!  Is that what you want?”

“What I want is for all this violence to stop!”

Charlene frowned, and stepped back from me.  “Okay.  If you’re not going to let go of your fantasy, even if it means turning your back on all of us, then I wash my hands of you, Evelyn.  I am going to be there tonight, next to Leon and the rest of our pack, ripping the Morgandorfs a new one like they all deserve.  If I see that dirtball you call a boyfriend, I’m gonna rip out his intestines and use them to make a scarf!  And if you get in my way…”

She paused.

“If I get in your way, what?” I asked, nervous.

She hesitated.  “You’ve always been my friend, Evelyn.  So don’t make me do something we’ll both regret by getting in my way.”

With that, she walked away, as I stared after her in disbelief.  Did she really just threaten me?  She was supposed to be my best friend!

I looked around at the members of my pack around me, all riled up and hungry for blood, with me seeming to be the only one thinking differently.   Apparently, that made me a traitor to them.

As far as I could tell, my pack was betraying me.  This pack, which had always been my whole world, now seemed alien to me.

The only one who understood me belonged to a whole different pack.

As I stood there, I honestly started to wonder if betraying my pack would be such a bad thing right now.  It actually crossed my mind.  What did I really owe them anymore if this was how they responded to me when I dared to say that maybe they were wrong?  What was there really to stop me from just saying, “Fuck you all!” and running off and leaving them?

No.  I could not do that.  They meant more to me than that.  At least I thought they did.

*

The pack assembled near the edge of the woods at ten, just as Leon instructed.  Everyone was pumped and raring to go, several of them cracking their knuckles or hooting with excitement, or whatever got their blood pumping harder.

I was the last to join them, and everyone seemed relieved when they saw me approaching.  “Finally,” Leon said, shedding his jacket.  “I want you by my side for this, Evelyn.  When the Morgandorfs go to sleep, yours and mine will be the faces of the Caldours that haunt their nightmares!”

I had spent most of the day since the afternoon dreading and anticipating this action.  I had paced around anxiously, racking my brain for ways to get out of this.  I had considered going back and pleading with him not to do this, but I knew even as the thought formed in my head that it would never work.  I had considered running away and never coming back—because if I did run away, I might just have to also do that second part.  I had considered going to the Morgandorfs, damn the consequences, and giving Jeremy the heads up to get out of there as fast as his four paws could run.

Ultimately, I’d come to a decision.  Ever since I made that call, I’d thought that actually doing it would be the most difficult thing in the world.  But as I stood there now, looking at Leon’s smug face, so sure of himself, so convinced that he had me where he wanted me, it suddenly became a lot easier.

I marched right up to Leon and said something to him that I’d never said to him before.

“No.”

All eyes suddenly whirled on me.  Leon’s in particular stared at me, open wide.  “What did you say?” he demanded.

“You heard me, Leon,” I said.  “I said no.  I’m not going with you.”

Dad stepped up beside me.  “Evelyn, don’t cross me now!  Obey your alpha!”

“I won’t be party to this!” I declared.  “I’m not going to run with you, and I’m not going to fight!”

“Evie…” Charlene said, cautioning me against anything further.

Leon stepped toward me, pointing a finger at me, as he looked me in the eye.  “Now listen, Evelyn,” he said, “you’re going to be my bride, so…”

“No, I’m not.”

Yes.  I said it.

Everyone around me gasped in shock.  Leon recoiled back, his eyes flaring.  “
What?
” he spat.

“I’m not going to marry you, Leon,” I came out and said.  “Because I don’t love you.   You can’t make me just because you are the alpha.  I’m not some property that you can just decide what I am going to do.” 

I was going to say more, but that was when Dad grabbed me by my collar and started pulling me away.  “It seems I need to teach her a lesson or two,” Dad said apologetically to Leon.  “Go on without me.  I’ll make sure to get her straightened out.”

Leon frowned, but turned with a sigh and resumed stripping.  “Let’s go, everyone,” he said, as the rest of the pack started shifting into their four-legged shapes and disappearing into the woods.

Dad pulled me along, making me walk backwards toward one of the houses, where he finally pressed me up against a wall and looked angrily into my face.  “What the hell were you thinking there?”

“I think I said pretty clearly what I was thinking,” I said.  “I don’t want to fight the Morgandorfs, and I don’t want to marry Leon.”

“I meant, what were you thinking trying to defy him?  Leon is your alpha!  He deserves your respect!”

That’s what Dad had always told me.  I didn’t think I really believed it anymore. 

“Why?”

Dad blinked and pulled his head back, as if he could not believe what he’d just heard. “Excuse me?”

“Why should I respect someone who doesn’t respect me?  He treats me as if I’m a new suit he’s picked out to wear to the ball!  And you want me to just go along with it because he’s the alpha and that’s how it is!”

A part of me knew I was getting in way, way over my head, but something would not let me stop at that point.  “In fact… is that really so different from how you think of me?”

Dad’s nostrils flared, and he pointed a finger at me, inches from my nose.  “You take that back right now!” he demanded.

“No, I won’t!” I barked, swatting his hand aside.  “I’ve bowed to you and rolled over on command all my life, but now you’re going to listen to me!  This whole marriage arrangement was never about me!  If it was, you would have at least considered asking how I felt about it, instead of just telling me to ‘learn to accept it!’  All you have cared about is having your daughter married to the alpha, so that you can have your precious legacy on the alpha line!  I’m not going to be your fucking bargaining chip!”

“Don’t you dare talk to me that way—”

“I’ll talk to you however I damn well please for once in my life!  I am my own she-wolf, and this is my decision to make!  It is my goddamn life, not yours!  Or Leon’s!”

Dad spent a long while silently regarding me.  He huffed and puffed quietly through his nose, while I waited, wondering what he was going to do.

He backhanded me hard across the face.  I dropped to the ground, holding my bloody lip, staring up at my angry dad.  “I have tried to teach you respect and obedience,” he fumed.  “I’ve obviously failed.  Now you’re going to go back to the house, and you’re going to wait for me, while I decide what to do with you.”

Then he actually turned his back on me.

Wow.  He really did not get it.

I sprang to my feet and ripped my clothes off, and I rushed toward the woods, changing to four legs in mid-stride.  I heard my dad shouting, “Dammit, Evelyn, come back here!” before he started to chase after me. 

I didn’t slow down for a second, regardless of what form of tree or rock or foliage sprang up in front of me.  I ran like a beast possessed, dashing and weaving through the forest, hell bent on reaching my destination.

I wasn’t sure how closely Dad was following behind, or if he even was anymore.  I no longer cared.  All I could think about was Jeremy.  I could only imagine the chaos about to unfold where he was… and if Leon or someone else in my pack got to him before I did…

It was too much to imagine.  I had to get to him first.

I didn’t exactly know the way to the Morgandorf village, but my pack had left a scent trail as conspicuous as a neon sign.  All I had to do was follow them… knowing they would already be there when I arrived, and praying Jeremy wasn’t one of the first ones they found.