Page 17 of Rejected By the Alpha

“Yep, he has been, though he’d never admit it to you.”

My eyes widened. Had I said that out loud?! How embarrassing.

“Come on,” Hazel said, tugging me to my feet. “There’s a better spot to hang out in town.”

After a moment of hesitation, I gathered my belongings.

Well, if I would be locked away in this town until the day I died, then I might as well make some friends here. They didn’t need to know how much longer I had left, nor would I let anyone get that close to care.

Besides, a chance to piss off Mr. Drama Queen? I’d take that any day.

Chapter Ten

Davix

Bones snapped throughout my body as I shifted from my wolf into my human form. A sheen of sweat covered my abdomen. I posted an arm against the packhouse and leaned to catch my breath.

Twenty minutes to run twenty miles? My personal best.

It was seven in the evening. The sun had set long ago, and a crescent moon glowed in the deep blue sky. I waited for the other top warriors to finish up our nightly run. While Linda was a strong warrior, she wasn’t one of my top six yet.

So, she was out at Java, where I had told her that I’d think about meeting her, probably waiting for me to arrive. But I had too much shit to do tonight. At least, that was why I told myself I wasn’t going.

Ten minutes later, once Matt and Silas emerged from the forest with three other warriors, I nodded to the packhouse for our nightly briefing. Usually, we skipped these because the pack was fortified and strong enough, but not when I knew other packs planned on attacking.

“Good evening, Alpha,” one of my cooks hummed from the kitchen. “Need anything?”

“No,” I said, continuing toward the hallway.

Matt followed through the kitchen, but paused at the fridge, peering inside.

“Since when do you eat banana bread?” Matt asked, pulling it out.

“Since Blackmoon Grocery started making it with protein.” I snatched it from him and shoved it back into the refrigerator. “It’s mine for tomorrow morning. Amylie will cook you something else if you want it.”

“Goddess,” Matt said. “It’s just some bread. Don’t get your panties in a bunch over it.”

“Has anyone seen Hazel?” Silas asked. “She left hers at my place this morning.”

Matt arched a brow. “Her what?”

“Her pantie⁠—”

“That’s enough,” I growled, pissed because Silas wanted to get underneath my skin. He didn’t know when to stop, always pushing too far. My gaze flickered down to the harsh X-shaped scar on his neck. His scar was different from the others in my pack. Self-inflicted. “Get the fuck out of here and shut the door behind yourself. I don’t have time for your shit right now.”

“Come on,” Silas said, trailing behind the other warriors to my office. “You need me.”

Every Goddess-damn day, I wished that I didn’t.

“As you all know, the River Pride Pack plans to attack us by the end of the week,” Matt started. “After training this morning, Davix and I have been reviewing all battle plans in case they’re stupid enough to actually attack.”

“Do we know why they plan to attack? There has been talk for months. Why now?” a warrior said.

“One of our wolves couldn’t control himself while one of their packmates was in heat,” I growled, sitting in my seat and shaking my head.

Because the females in our pack usually died from the curse, we were heavy on the males. And sometimes, during prime-time heat, some of the males left our pack to find a woman in need of a mate, stole them from their pack, and brought them back to ours.

I had never known what to do with males who did that. Sometimes, I banished them; other times, it was harder because it was my family’s fault they had to do that. It was fucked up. But this was what the Goddess had left us. This was what she did to her own creations, and I would do anything to restore the balance.