Page 3 of Alpha’s Wife

I only make it about twenty feet after leaving the cabin before my wolf is riding me about how she got under my skin.

I can’t deny it, but I don’t like it. I knew there was an issue with the witch; my wolf had already made that clear when she was brought in, so I planned that meeting carefully. I knew all the angles; I knew how I wanted it to go. I walked in expecting a caged woman, held for two nights, and probably ready to bargain or beg for her freedom. Maybe she’d have fire in her, throw a plate or two, or try to use her magic. I brought extra wards just in case.

Instead, I was met with a witch who looked beautifully composed…beautiful, full stop. Her hair was in dark waves down her back. She didn’t look terrified; she looked stunning, and she was sitting on the couch like she owned the place. She looked at me like I was an anomaly.

Sorry to disappoint, though. Perhaps I can muster a sob, if it helps.

I shouldn’t have liked that line so much, but I did.

I keep walking, but my wolf is increasingly restless, pulling me back toward the cabin like there’s a rope tying me to her. I plant my feet firmly on the ground and take a breath, pushing him back. Not that he’s going to listen; he hasn’t listened since the night my men carried her in through the main gates, limp and pale from the drug I told them to use. I looked down at her face, and I knew. My wolf knew.

Mate.

One word, so certain—like I’d been waiting my entire life to think it. To say it.

I’ve had two days to make my peace with it, but I haven’t. The truth is, I don’t want a mate bond; it makes people weak. I’ve seen it. How many men have joined our pack broken by a mate’s betrayal or rejection, led astray by the mate bond, or reduced to being a fool? Too many. I’ve seen men lose it all, lose their edge, and give up their dreams, all over a woman. I think the mate bond gives hopeless men hope, and that can be dangerous. Because once you have something to lose, you’re vulnerable.

I have spent thirty-two years making sure I have nothing that can be taken from me, so I’m not about to hand some random witch the knife to stab me in the back.

I’ll have her. I’ll use the bond magic, and I’ll lock her into a mating contract sealed by magic by the end of the week, but I won’t allow my wolf to bond with her the way he wants to. I already know the magic will only work if she’s willing, but I’ve always been very good at making people do what I need them to, so I’ve no doubt I can have her just willing enough to take what I want. The body is one thing that I can use, but the rest of me will stay mine alone. It won’t mean anything.

At least it won’t be a hardship—she’s beautiful. I’ve known beautiful women before; I’m sure some thought they were using me while I used them right back, but not one of them ever made me forget why I’d walked into a room. And that witch managed it within five minutes. She threw my own crimes back in my face and threw me off balance in ways I’m not used to. I never doubt myself.

I keep thinking about her mouth, and not just the pouty pink lips that drew me in, but the sharpness of her tongue. The way her crystal-clear light gray eyes never dropped from mine but seemed to reach for the challenge. I wonder what it will be like when she stops sparring with me and reaches for me instead. If I’m honest, I can’t wait for that bit now. Almost as much as the power underneath.

Brushing the thought away because it’s dangerously close to admitting to myself that I just straight up want her, I push on, ignoring my wolf’s protests.

The settlement spreads out below me, as I’ve set Selene’s cabin up on the outskirts to avoid too much scrutiny until I’m ready to reveal my plans. It’s early, but the streets are already busy as families start their days, with pups running around on the way to the small school that the teacher, Cara, started a couple of years ago. It seems to get busier every year, and she’s always asking for more funds to grow it, something I never mind investing in.

I swerve a particularly rowdy bunch of boys and turn down toward the shoreline. Sitting in a cove that always seems to be obscured by low fog, I see the docks I built one stolen plank at a time that now hold a fleet of boats ready to slip out at night and return full. The warehouses hold the stock, and the trucks run haulage across the state. What started as nothing more than a dream is now a highly efficient operation that has enabled my brother and me to build this cove from a handful of rundown cabins to a thriving, albeit criminal, enterprise.

Some might say that should be enough, but I’m only just getting started.

As our numbers grow rapidly, I’m reminded of how my responsibilities have grown along with the settlement. All these wolves had nowhere to go until they found their way here—usually thrown away by their original packs because they were too weak, broken, sick, or their faces didn’t fit. We’ve even got a couple of witches, which have proved useful where the wards are concerned. People call them rogues, but most didn’t want to be packless, and now they have a home.

I took them in, fed them, gave them jobs, and became the alpha they needed. And in exchange, they’ve all pledged to help me get what I want. Something that lies beyond this settlement.

I take the path that leads past the clinic run by Emma and Dax, two healers whose packs abandoned them when they needed them most. Emma, when her mate died, and the loss of the bond nearly killed her; they thought she was useless and forced her out. And Dax, who was so scarred from a fire that he couldn’t shift anymore, and whose pack bullied him instead of helping him. Both healers have come back to life, serving this pack of rogues, and are universally loved because of it.

I spot Bram, the young recruit who has been taking the witch her meals. I wave him over, and he knows exactly what I want to know before I even ask.

“She’s eating the food,” he says. “I’m going back to collect the tray soon. I thought she’d be angrier, but she’s actually quite friendly.”

“Good,” I mutter, suspecting she probably is quite friendly to the young recruit. Certainly less sardonic.

“She asked for my name yesterday,” he rambles, “but I didn’t tell her much. I think she wanted more information.”

The kid is keen, which is exactly what I want; he also doesn’t even know anything useful. Which is on purpose. So I put my hand on his shoulder. “Sounds like you did fine,” I tell him.

He beams with pride as he nods and heads off back up the hill, while I carry on down to the dock to meet with Cole. I saw the boat come back into the dock an hour ago, and they should be almost finished unloading now. I easily spot him on the dock with his clipboard. Cole is a mountain of a man and loyal—mainly because I found him half dead in a ditch and refused to leave his side for three nights until he was well enough to move. Men don’t forget that shit.

“Two runs came in clean,” he says, falling into step with me as we walk to the warehouse. “Medicine, food stores, and a crate of high-end wards they’re definitely going to miss. One of the new recruits lost his nerve at the cove; could’ve been nasty, but he’ll be alright.”

“The masking held?” I ask.

“All the way there and back,” he says, voice thick with pride. “They still don’t see us coming. Where do you want us next?”

I think it through, the way I think everything through carefully. Examining the facts, fast and cold, turning the island over in my mind like it’s a gameboard I’ve already played a hundred times. “Move the drop to the northern cove,” I tell him. “We’ve used the south one twice, and that risks becoming a habit. I won’t have sloppy habits getting men killed. I’ll send the manifest for the next raid once I have the information. I want to make sure my brothers over there are left chasing their tails with nothing concrete to go off.”