Chapter Three

Channon’s POV

She didn’t see my wolf standing only a matter of feet away in the forest. I can smell her, and I remember her unique scent from all those years ago as a child. The moonlight filters through the few gaps in the thick canopy overhead. Her blonde hair glistens, long and thick, I can smell the floral soap she used to wash it this morning. How many times has she thought about me over the years? Does she even remember me? Afterall she was only a pup when I was cast out. Jonas is far too excited and too unpredictable when he is like this. I hope he doesn’t make me regret making him my Beta. ‘Jonas’ I call him through the mind link, ‘someone is coming, leave her now.’ I watch Jonas turn and leave Keeva alone in the forest.

She is only alone for a few moments before a new wolf emerges from the darkness into the silver light of the moon. A growl rumbles up from down in the depths of my throat, my sharp teeth longing to feel the dense flesh of this cowardly wolf before me. Zev, Beta of Crimson pack. My human part begs me to stay put and not to risk everything he has worked for, but I want blood and I want it now. Keeva is leaving, clumsily climbing her way out of the forest. He knows I’m here, he can sense my presence just as easily as I sense his. As soon as Keeva is out of sight I burst from the shadows and land directly in front of Zev, his stink fills my nostrils. The stench of a liar and a coward. I growl turn my head with a snarl, he knows what and who I am. I am an Alpha, and he is below me. He dares not fight me because I will shred him to ribbons before he can even finish shifting.

                ‘You should be on your knees before me.’ I scream in his head. The silly fool really thinks Julius can protect him. I can taste only a small amount of fear in the air, the bitterness barley registering on my tongue, but he still backs away from me. My human half is screaming at me to either kill him or turn him to our side. With White Claw’s training and being an Alpha, my shift is fast and I don’t feel the pain of my bones bending and breaking. My fur recedes back inside my skin like pins pushed backwards through a thick cloth. Standing in the full light of the moon, which has broken through the trees, I feel Selene smile down on me. Revenge moves ever closer, and my birth right is finally within reach.

                ‘It can’t be! Julius said he killed you along with your mother that day.’ Zev looks shocked. As I stand naked before this traitor, I have never felt more powerful. Now in my human form I look at him again and notice his gaze lingering too long on my manhood, which I make no move to try and hide. ‘Never known for his truthfulness, your Alpha.’ The poison on my voice turns it to almost a hiss. ‘I will give you a choice Zev, if it were up to my kin, you would be dead already. However I still require the element of surprise and I know how you enjoy being on the winning team.’ The air is cold, and I feel my skin start to turn bumpy from the frigidness. ‘Jonas, bring me some clothes now.’ I order through the mindlink. ‘You turn your allegiance to me and help me retake Crimson pack. I will rebuild what Julius has destroyed or I will exterminate you like the vermin you are’. Zev listens intently as I give him his orders.

He agrees, as I expected he would. After all, he has heard of White Claw Pack from the southern territories, and our wealth and power. All it takes is a meagre amount of money and the chance to retain his Beta status for him to betray his pack. Zev leaves as Jonas appears with my clothes under his arm, I can’t help but smile. As soon as he has played his part, he will feel the full wrath of my wolf who has been growling and snarling inside me this whole time.

Keeva’s POV

Canagan helps me clean myself up, paying special attention to my shoulder. Even though the wound is not very deep it has only just stopped bleeding. If I had my wolf this would have healed already. Becky brings me her spare shorts and a vest which are a couple of sizes too big but at least I’m clean. I tell Canagan about what happened with Jonas in the woods, and admit how scared I was. I longed for my wolf, who was supposed to be my protector and be the stronger half of me. I couldn’t miss the look of anger and worry in his eyes as my story unfolded. ‘Don’t go into the forest alone, at least for a while Keeva. Trust me. I will never do any wrong by you, no matter what happened in the past.’ His kind face looks past me to the door. ‘Zev is waiting for you, please, be careful.’

 Zev leans against the passenger door of his white pickup as he watches me limp down the sidewalk. Why do I suddenly feel shy and on edge around him? I’ve never really noticed until now just how big he is, and that he is handsome, in a fatherly way. He reaches past me and opens the door but doesn’t step back to let me pass easily into the cab. Unsure of what to do I stumble on the curb. I feel the wind whip through my hair as I fall towards the tarmacked floor. Before my face smashes into the sidewalk, I’m aware my body is rising up, and the floor gets further away. Zev has caught me in his arms and I’m upright again, standing on my own two feet, but not yet free from his grasp. The voice in my head warns me that this is not ok, and to be careful. ‘Keeva, are you ok?’ No, I’m not ok, his touch makes my skin crawl, but I can’t be rude to the Beta. ‘Yes, thank you!’ I lie as I reach up and pull myself into the cab. His hands linger over my body as I pull myself quickly out of his grasp.

It's not a long drive back to the pack reservation through the majestic red wood forest. We enter through the tall gates, and I can already see my father stood waiting for me. He doesn’t look happy if the scowl on his face is anything to go by. Julius doesn’t cast a threatening shadow by werewolf standards, but those who know Julius know there is more to him than meets the eye. A vicious and ruthless killer, he now commands his pack by consent. The white pickup stops about ten feet from where he is stood. ‘Remember Keeva, he always does what he believes is best for the pack.’ I give Zev the only smile I can muster and jump down from the seat, sending a cloud of dust swirling up around my feet.

We have a small house which is whitewashed on the outside every summer, so it looks clean and fresh. There is a kitchen and dining room downstairs which leads on to a spacious living room and sunroom. The hallway leads through the middle of the house, with my bedroom and bathroom on the right-hand side, and a staircase leading up to Julius’s private bedroom at the end of the hall. It’s nothing like the old mansion that lays in ruins on the other side of the lake. I explored it as a child and spent my days imagining the pack living in the luxurious rooms and picturing the gardens Canagan had described to me. I have never been upstairs in the house I share with my father, the only people other than Julius to ascend those stairs are the women he takes for the night. Since my mother died all those years ago, he has not had a fated mate bond with another. The Wolf he chose as his mate when I was young, perished in the fire that took away the pack’s home. Now he picks and chooses who he wants and keeps them for as long as he wants them. I have seen them leave in the morning with tears still wet on their cheeks, carefully walking down the hall with pain etched into their faces with every step.

‘We need to talk Keeva.’ He turns his back to me and enters the house. That’s not what I expected, and it unnerves me that he is so calm. Does he know that I had planned to run away? That I can’t take being ridiculed by the rest of the pack because I am human. No wolf wants a human as their mate, and I don’t want a wolf as mine. ‘When you didn’t shift on your eighteenth birthday it confirmed to me, and to the pack that you are human. I am the Alpha, and you are my only living blood heir Keeva. When I was given a daughter I chose to believe the Moon Goddess had given me the strongest heir, a future Luna, to guide our people through this changing and dangerous world. Instead, I was simply given a useless human child.’ He didn’t look at me. He is in our living room standing between the two comfy couches that face each other and are made from the softest crushed velvet. There is a small thin table running between the two with a vase of white flowers in the middle.

‘Have I not been a good daughter?’ My voice barley above a whisper. I haven’t even fully entered the room before a couch flying through the air and hitting the wall next to my head. It breaks and splits into four pieces, dropping to the floor with an ear-splitting crash. ‘I can’t have a weak pack Keeva, and I will not allow you to run around looking for a human of your own. Leaving the pack is not an option’ his voice is now just short of a scream and froth gathers at the corners of his mouth, making him look like a rabid beast. ‘The risk is too great, and you cannot be trusted. I hope you can see that I can’t let you betray me or the secrets of this pack.’ Somehow, he knows that I have planned to run away.  This is too soon, there hasn’t been enough time for my escape plan to work.

‘I have found you a mate within our pack.’ In disbelief I raise my head looking and meet his angry stare. ‘You will be united together under the full moon tomorrow night, in front of the whole pack so they are under no illusion his protection is yours. Make no mistake this union was not settled upon easily. Zev will see to it that you are looked after when I am gone. Be a good mate to him and obey him Keeva’ His last words are a warning.

Zev! Zev is to be my mate. How? why? He would never have chosen me to be his mate. Julius must have commanded him to do this, and I will not accept him. I have accepted that I am human and I just want to leave this place and be with my own kind. Julius walks from the room, only turning back to look at me as my small innocent body collapses to the floor, there is no fight left in me. I lay on the cold, hard floor with the light of the moon streaming through the window and I cry. I have no way out and no escape. Tomorrow I will become the chosen mate of the Beta and I will have to endure him in every way.

Zev’s POV

She crumples to the floor. What an ungrateful little bitch? Julius is a coward, using the Alpha command to make me take his common human child as my chosen mate. I’m the Beta of this pack, how can he show me such disloyalty after all I have done for him? But he is the Alpha, and if he commands me to do so then I must, or the consequences will be severe, for now at least. The chance meeting in the woods tonight has given me much to think about. I told Julius to kill that child fifteen years ago, but he was soft even then.

                I continue to watch as her ample body shakes from her sobs, and she looks up to the Moon with her blue eyes pleading for help. My wolf’s eyes can see further than she can imagine, and my ears hear more than she could think possible. I heard the whole conversation, and yes Keeva, you will obey me. Tomorrow night you will be mine and I will take you as my own, just like your father has ordered me to. The feel of your body outside the bar excited me, but I couldn’t show you how much. I must control myself until it is too late for Julius to change his mind.