The Barbaric Alpha

Knox POV

The Highbridge Pack was one of the fiercest and most well-respected Pack for miles until my Pack came around. The respect my Pack carried came from fear. I marched into the Alpha King meeting room with my trusted men. The large room consisted of the Alpha King, the crowned Prince and Luna Consort, the Luna and the Alpha’s puppets, but since the old King could barely think on his own I’d say he was the puppet.

“Glad you could join us, Alpha,” Prince Leo said.

I clenched my jaw. He was just a boy but he talked big. He didn’t even know what he was doing here.

“Let’s make this quick,” Jax said.

I slammed my fist on the table and locked eyes with Prince Leo and his High Beta. The Alpha King had been taken out of the equation a long time ago but I made a deal with the King. The ink on the document had dried and I held up my end of the deal.

“I want my land, Old Man,” I said.

“Don’t talk to the Alpha King that way Alpha Knox. You are a guest in this Pack show some respect,” the High Beta Bruce snapped.

I had fun getting a rise out of him.

“I can take it by force.” I raised my boots on the table and crossed them at the ankles. “The choice is yours.”

“Please, Alpha, let’s be discreet about this. We’re about to start the Mating Run,” The official Luna Stella begged.

“You have an engagement with Princess Chanel so legally our Packs will combine and we’ll share our resources,” Bruce added. “You shouldn’t be demanding our land when a plan’s already been set in stone.”

Jax raised his brow at me.

“I never agreed to that,” I grumbled.

That agreement was made by my council while I was away plundering another Pack. I would love to plunder my council but they were all my family members. Besides, how could I marry someone else when I found my mate? My mysterious mate.

And to think I didn’t want to come to the mating run but every Pack has to attend. We all contribute to the success of our lands. If anything goes wrong during the mating run, it means twelve long years of famine and the moon goddess’ rage. She could be a bitch when she wanted to.

“I don’t care what you agreed to Knox. The deal is done. Chanel is yours,” Bruce said and Leo smirked.

“My daughter is an Alpha female. She’s a fantastic warrior,” The Alpha King spoke for the first time that night.

Chanel wasn’t even in this meeting. She had an accident and has been in hiding ever since. I could ask what happened to her but I wasn’t in the mood to gossip.

“Thank your goddess for the Mating Run and you better hope by the end of it that I get my land or prepare to face my wrath.” I stood and my men rose too.

“Don’t underestimate us, Knox. We won’t lay down and receive your attack,” Leo barked.

I could tell Leo was on his way to being a cocky Alpha.

“Let’s go,” I ordered.

Once out of the door, my wolf ached to run through the forest several times.

“Why the hell were you so calm?” Jax asked.

He was my best friend. Sometimes. He knew what I was like.

“No reason,” I grumbled.

“Your head’s not on straight. You left everyone alive.”

“You heard them. Nothing wrong can happen during the mating run. Our Pack needs this to be successful too.”

“True… I’ve never liked this thing.”

We ventured into the living empty room. The mansion was huge with smaller houses surrounding it. Every guest Alpha was here. There was enough room for us not to bump into each other. The smell of blood grabbed my attention. The scent irritated my wolf. I scanned the ground and found a trail of blood leading to the sliding glass door.

“It’s her, it’s our mate,” my wolf growled.

Why was she bleeding? Who the hell was this girl? I crossed the room and gripped the glass door but Jax clapped his hand on my shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I snapped in his direction. What was I doing?

“Uh… going for a run of course.”

Jax stepped back. “Oh, okay.”

I knew the mate bond would fuck me up. I didn’t even know this girl’s name. I knew she was a liar and broke into my room. She had the most tempting eyes and these lips I ached to kiss. There’s so much about her that doesn’t add up. When I first saw her she didn’t smell like a wolf but then she shifted. Things like that don’t just happen at least not in my Pack.

Now she’s got me running around the damn property wondering why she left a trail of blood! A soft orange glow shone through the hedges. It smelt like smoke but her scent was strong. Her bloody shirt lay discarded on the ground. Her petite body sat close to the fire as she poked the wood with a stick.

I picked up the shirt in my fist.

“Who did this to you?” I barked.

She jumped and dropped the stick. She got to her feet. My eyes dropped to her bare chest then lower to her abdomen where the purple bruises were.

I stepped forward.

“You don’t have a lot of time to tell me who did this.”

She wrapped her arms around her chest when she realised she was half naked.

“Are you following me or what?”

It was like a hammer landed on my head. Was she serious was she pretending not to feel our bond? She looked mortified so I assumed she wasn’t aware of my desire to tackle her right now. Again, she was mysterious.

“That doesn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, what question do I answer first?” She asked sarcastically.

“What’s your name?” I asked with a grin.

She bit her bottom lip instead.

“Fine don’t tell me but who did this to you? Who hurt you?”

“No one! Can I have my first?”

She reached for it but I held it over my head. She couldn’t get it without flashing her breasts at me. The desire to pull her into my arms and kiss her until she was breathless was overpowering. Damn, my cock hardened and my jeans were suddenly too tight.

“You and I have a lot to talk about. Like who the hell you are and why you were in my room?”

I found the Obsidian Stone on the ground and all my diamonds intact. No one was dumb enough to steal from me and if she wanted to she could have taken one diamond and I couldn’t have noticed but she didn’t. The Obsidian Stone was worthless. It didn’t do anything.

“I-I I’m a slave. I was there cleaning that’s all.”

I frowned. “That’s the best you can come up with?”

“No, I really am a slave. I work here.”

Oh shit, my fated mate was a slave.