I gritted my teeth, doing my best to ignore the burning pain as I lifted the dumbbells into a bicep curl. I had done forty curls already, but Michael said I couldn’t stop until I did another ten. It had been three days since he started training me. Three days that I was in a constant state of soreness. Michael was nothing short of brutal. I had never been a violent person, but now I daydreamed of ways to get him back for all of this.
The worst was the smirk he always wore as he told me how pathetically weak I was. God, I wanted to do nothing more than slap that smirk off his face, but after I finished these curls, I didn’t think I could use my arms for at least several hours. “If you don’t quit smirking at me, I swear to God Michael I am going to throw this weight at you,” I threatened him. I knew I couldn’t follow through, but he didn’t.
Anger flared in me, hot and burning at that thought. I was the daughter of Alpha Gregory Finch of the Willow Pond Pack. I was not weak, nor was I a toy to be with how people saw fit. Pure adrenaline flooded my veins and with a growl, I tapped into my wolf for an extra push of strength. I reached back, grabbing Flinn’s hair by the handfuls, and pulled it all out. He made a pained cry and loosened his arm enough that I could face him.I jerked my knee as hard, hitting him right in the sweet spot. Flinn crumpled to the floor. I tried to tell him to go screw himself by at the attempt as pain stabbed through my throat, and no sound came out. Instead, I glowered down at him and Michael before stomping out of the room. I didn’t know where I was going, but I wanted to be away from them both. I was done with men!Instead of going to the medical wing, I decid
The next morning, I sat in the conference room with my council. We listened to Koreyon’s report on the rogue attack that happened last night while I was recovering from Flinn’s show of pride. “This attack was mild, and most of them fled as soon as they saw our enforcers,” he explained. Then after a pause of hesitation added. “The news that Howe’s here has spread. The ones we captured begged not to be brought to him.”“What is the deal with Howe?” Elder Edward asked. “If he is your mate, why hasn’t he claimed you or the alphaship of the pack?”I sat up straighter at the hint of reproach in his voice. “Michael Howe is none of your concern. When he will claim what is between him and me,” I demanded, doing my best to sound authoritative. “Koreyon, let’s use their fear of
Micheal couldn’t be alpha? What was he talking about? “What? Why not?”“Because violence is a big part of an alpha’s duty,” Doctor Evans said. “Any exposure to such an environment can undo any progress Mike’s made and will make.”I gritted my teeth. Frustration and helplessness filled me. I needed an alpha by my side. While Michael’s presence was easing some of the pressure from the elders already, I knew soon they’d want him to take the alpha position. I bit my lip as I thought. Maybe I could make this still work. “If you do your job right. He should be fine.”The shrink pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alice, you need to take into account the situation. I understand that since your family—”
My mind raced with everything Mario dropped on me. As he left, I got a call from Doctor Evans. “Hey Doc, what’s up?”“Hello Alice, I was wondering if you could meet me in the game room. I would like to discuss some things with you.”“Some things? What kind of things?” I asked, finding his request odd.“It’s better if we discuss it in person,” he replied.I didn’t answer at first. This all sounded like a ploy to get me to talk about my family. “Doc,” I started, intending to refuse. I had to meet with Koreyon and deal with a possible traitor, but I stopped. What if this was about Michael? “I’ll be down in a few minutes.” If this was about Michael, I could spare a few minutes.
The night was cool and clear as we left the pack house. A slip of the growing moon broke through the treetops of the large yard. Michael and I had said little as we walked around the perimeter of the yard. When we got near the pool, I leaned against the side, dipping my hands into the water. The smell of chlorine made my nose itch. Michael stopped next to me, his gaze up into the stars. We didn’t speak for a while.I wasn’t sure about him, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say. It had hit me, as we walked, that this was the first time since my family’s death that I felt normal. Just a girl enjoying a date with a guy she liked, and I liked Michael. Yes, he was broken and violent. Yes, he could be mean and a bully. I knew little about his family, but I suspected all that was the face his father made him wear.“What did you want to b
I frowned as Mario closed the door behind us. “This must be bad,” I said as I sat down in the large chair behind the desk.“It is,” Mario told me, sitting in front of me. “Evidence was found, suggesting the one that sabotaged our systems was Flinn.”The breath rushed from my lungs as I stared at him. It couldn’t be. Not Flinn. He wasn’t happy with me, but this was betraying the pack. “I can’t believe that. What evidence is there?”“Fingerprints and a witness,” he replied.“That’s it? He’s on the security team, Mario. There could be a lot of reasons for his prints to be there.”My beta shook his head. “The witness puts h
When I returned to the house, I went for a swim. Swimming was my go-to when life was too much. I used to compete when I was in high school and even considered continuing when college was still something I was going to do.Today, however, swimming wasn’t helping. Problems were ever present. The main one currently, watching me like a wolf watches a lamb as I got out of the pool.“Hey Michael,” I said as I walked over to the chair and picked up a towel. I dried myself, trying to ignore the way he looked at me.“Hey,” he replied, walking up to me and taking the towel from me. He wrapped it around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him and dried off my shoulders. “What happened?”Goosebumps broke out along my arms that had nothing to
Leaving my office, I search for Mario, but instead for the next best thing - Koreyon. I had forgotten we had a training session today. Which I was now an hour late for. “Sorry, I got a call from Alpha Stevens.”My chief of security grimaced. “That must have been fun.”“Whose Alpha Stevens?” Michael asked Koreyon quickly, and almost obediently, told him of the neighboring alpha/pain in my ass. “So what did he want?” Before I could even so much as take a breath, Michael added, “You tell me not to worry about it and I will make you train until you can’t feel your arms.”I shot Koreyon a warning glare when he snickered. “Alpha Steven didn’t believe the rumors that you are my mate. He thought it was a cheap ploy and told me so.”