He snarled at me, his fur bristled, and he crouched, ready to attack, guarding his food. The silver-white light of his alpha’s imprint shone through his chocolate-brown fur as he gathered his scent, giving me a silent warning to back off. I growled again, and all at once, his scent blasted at me with a staggering force. The pungent, bitter scent overwhelmed me, reminding me of the days I’d spent locked away while my father tortured me — taught me — to ignore the call of an alpha with his own alpha scent. It was crippling, demanding me to give in. Submit.

He channeled his scent again, pushing it out at me in a steady stream. I tried to shake it off just as my father had shown me, and I pushed my own scent at him. He cocked his head to the side, confused for a moment, but without the imprint to enhance the power of my scent, his confusion was short lived.

I kept my dominant posture, my lips curled even further, exposing my gums, and right then he launched at me. For half a second, I almost submitted to him. I was exhausted and hungry and I couldn’t think straight, but then his teeth sank into my shoulder and rage rushed through me, again. Hotter and deadlier.

Swift clarity came back to me in a rush. An image of the girl curled on the floor bleeding while Ray kicked her over and over surged through my brain.

I twisted, biting back. My teeth sank into his side, and then his legs, and in less than a second, he was pinned under me, his vulnerable neck exposed. The years of training under my father had paid off, making him an easy target, but he didn’t submit. He snarled and kicked up, trying to throw me off of him. He snapped out at my neck, his teeth grazing my fur.

I could feel the rest of the pack watching. Their tension and unease was palpable and my inner-wolf responded to it. They had submitted and he would, too. I pinned his neck down with my teeth, not biting, only holding him on the ground, but still he fought, bucking and twitching under me. He snarled again, and a chorus of whimpers rang out behind me.

“End it,” Dominic growled. “He will not submit.”

And I did. My teeth found purchase in his neck, and I tasted his blood, seeping into my mouth. And then, he stopped moving, stopped fighting, stopped breathing, and I let go.

I couldn’t say how long I stood over the dead alpha, staring at him, waiting for him to take a breath, before I had shifted back. I remember thinking that my father would have been proud if he knew that I had found my own pack and claimed the alpha rank. I had followed in his footsteps, just as he wanted. I could hear his words as if he was standing right beside me, ‘You can run, but alpha is in your scent. You can’t hide from it, Son.’ And I also remember thinking that I didn’t know how I felt about it.

I didn’t reach for my clothes which were piled behind me, marking the place that I had become a wolf. I was too stunned that I had won to realize that I stood in the middle of the bar stark naked. From the corner of my eye, I saw the beta pull the girl to her feet, and I noticed that she wouldn’t lift her head. She kept her body curled, staying small and passive, and all I could think was, How had that girl won the challenge? How many females had she beaten to become the alpha’s mate? And what had he done to her to break her so badly?

“The new alpha pair,” Dominic said, once she was firmly on her feet, and standing in front of me. He waved a hand at us as if he was introducing us to the world. The words shocked me. I hadn’t considered everything before I challenged him and the reality of my actions was slowly sinking in. Alphas do not lose their status if one of them passes on. What was his was now mine, and I was now hers. We were the new alpha pair.

“No,” she whispered. “Please. I just want to go. Let me leave. I don’t want the rank. I don’t want the pack.” She looked up at me; her eyes were full of tears, pleading with me to let her walk away.

I slid my thumb across her cheek, wiping some of the blood away, and she cringed at my touch. “Are you sure?” I asked. I needed to know if she understood what she was doing. If she stepped down, there would no longer be a place for her in this pack. She would be ostracized, marked as weak, and, in time, killed or run out of town.

She didn’t hesitate and said, “Yes, please take a new mate. Please. I’ll leave town.” Her voice was weak, and she dropped her gaze back to the ground. She quivered, shrinking closer to the floor with every passing second. I should have felt sorry for her. An alpha female should never show fear, not like this, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine how broken she must have been. But right then, I had no sympathy for her. I only felt relief. I would not have to babysit a mate that I did not want, and clearly, she did not want me either.

“Go,” I said. Just that. A simple command I had heard my father use countless times.

She let out a shaky pent-up breath and whispered, “Thank you,” still refusing to meet my eyes, and she scurried from the bar, without so much as a backward glance.

In all my nineteen years, I had never seen a pack like this. Werewolves were supposed to be a protective bunch. It was ingrained in us. In our blood — our bones. But this pack … whatever Ray (and I was certain it was because of Ray) had done, had ruined them. Right now, though, my biggest worry was how close Dominic really had been to his old alpha. I needed to be sure he was with me. Tonight could change everything and if he wasn’t backing me … I didn’t even want to think of the chaos that could happen.

My phone began to vibrate against my hip, jerking me from my thoughts, and I fished it out of my pocket. Dominic. His name flashed on the screen. I tapped the flashing call button, and brought the phone to my ear.

“I’m going to be late,” Dominic barked into the speaker before I even had a chance to say hello.

“Anything wrong?” I asked, keeping my voice low, and peeking at him again. He had folded one arm across his chest, and his body tensed, as he leaned against the car.

He looked like he was considering what to tell me and then, after a moment, he said, “No. I just need to deal with something.” He relaxed slightly, and sighed into the speaker, or at least I thought it was a sigh; it sounded like a crackly burst in my ear.

“With what?” I pressed, wishing I could get closer. From this far away, I could barely pick up his scent, and I wasn’t entirely sure if he was lusting after someone or completely frustrated. The scent was so diluted; mixing with the grass and leaves, and most of it was taken away on the breeze before it reached my senses.

“It’s personal,” he snapped with a rumbling growl.

I was about to tell him that nothing — absolutely nothing — was personal when his alpha was asking, but right then, the double doors banged open and a girl stormed out of the school. She was average height, maybe five-foot-six, slim with curvy hips, and long brown hair that curled softly at the edges and around her shoulders. She was cute and she looked furious, which in my opinion, made her look even cuter. She had a fiery spirit; anyone could have seen it just by looking at her. Her hands were clenched at her sides and her cheeks were bright red. She squinted against the glare from the sun and then her eyes landed on Dominic. If she had been furious before, she was murderous now.

For a second, she looked as if she was about to dart back into the school, but then Dominic turned to her and she froze.

“I’ve got to go,” Dominic growled into my ear, and the phone went dead.

CHAPTER 3

~ JADE ~

As soon as I walked out of the school, I spotted his silver VW. And then I saw him. Dominic was waiting for me. He was leaning against the driver’s side door with one arm folded across his chest and his cell phone glued to his ear with the other. His short blond hair was sticking up as if he had been running his hands through it over and over. His jaw was set in a rigid line, and he really didn’t look happy.

I probably should have guessed he’d be waiting for me, but in my defense, I was a tiny bit flustered. I figured I had an excuse, though, seeing as my clothes had been stolen, and my head was pounding as if it had its own heartbeat. I was about to turn around and run back into the school to find another exit, when his hazel eyes met mine. He snapped his phone shut before I could make a move and strutted up to me. Yes, strutted. It wasn’t a walk or a stroll; it was full of coolness and confidence, and more than a little conceit.

Dominic closed the distance between us faster than I would have liked, and when he was only inches away, he asked, “You okay?” although the tone of his voice insinuated that he really didn’t care if I was or not, and he scanned me over, from head to toe — twice.

I wanted to yell at him, because really, I wasn’t fine. Far from fine. And it was his fault that Erika was picking on me. He could stop it. He could make them leave me alone. He was the beta for Pete’s sake. They had to listen to him. But he hadn’t done anything about them, and clearly, he knew what they had been up to. He had just brought my clothes back.

I looked up at him with narrowed eyes and I straightened my shoulders, masking myself with an air of confidence that I really didn’t feel. “I’m fine,” I said through clenched teeth, and with my chin held high, because I seriously didn’t want him to know how much the she wolves had upset me this time, I walked past him and into the parking lot. And the whole time my werewolf survival mantra echoed through my brain, Don’t show fear. Stay strong. Be the dominant one.

“Jade, just get in the car,” he called after me.

I huffed, and kept walking. “Leave me alone, Dominic.”

“I don’t think you should walk home alone.” His footfalls echoed around me and I almost started running — almost. It took a heck of a lot of restraint not to. Dealing with werewolves was kind of like being trapped in a horror movie; no matter how fast you ran, the evil villain would still catch you at a walk.

Suddenly, Dominic was in front of me, blocking my path. I gritted my teeth and glared at him. “I don’t care what you think,” I said, sidestepping him.

“Come on, Jade.” He groaned and darted back in front of me. “Just get in the car. I said I was sorry. What more do you want?”