All Chapters of Shattered By The Alpha : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

"You were an accident, Zara. The sooner you accept that, the easier your life gets."My father said that to me on my twelfth birthday. He was standing in the kitchen, coffee in hand, not even looking at me. I had just walked in wearing the dress Dara helped me pick out the night before. I thought maybe — just maybe — he would notice.He noticed I was in his way.I stepped aside. He walked out. And I stood there in that yellow dress in the kitchen of the Beta's house and decided, right then, that I was done waiting to be seen by someone who had already made up his mind about me before I could even talk.That was five years ago.Now I am seventeen and I still live in this house, but I have learned to move through it like air — present, necessary for survival, completely unnoticed.My name is Zara Cole. My father is the Beta of Ironveil Pack. My brother Bren is going to take that title when he graduates. I am the girl whose mother died bringing her into the world, and in a pack that feed

My father is home when I get back. I know before I open the door — his car is in the driveway and the kitchen light is on, which means he is eating early and wants the house quiet.I come in through the side door."Zara."I stop. He is standing at the counter, still in his Beta uniform, a folder open in front of him. He does not look up."Yes, sir.""I heard there was a demonstration in intermediate training today." His voice is even. He has the ability to deliver bad news and good news in exactly the same tone, which means you never know which one you are getting until you are already inside it."Yes.""And you participated.""Commander Holt asked me to."A pause. He turns a page in the folder. "In front of the Alpha King's evaluator."My stomach tightens. "Yes."He finally looks up. My father has a face built for authority — square jaw, dark eyes, grey beginning to thread through his close-cut hair. He looks like a man who has never been uncertain about anything. I used to think tha

I am at the east gate at six fifty-eight.The morning is cold, fog sitting low over the training grounds, the kind of pale grey morning that makes everything look like it hasn't decided to start yet. I have my running shoes on and my arms wrapped in two layers and my hair pulled back. I told myself on the way here that if this turns out to be something I didn't expect — something that feels wrong — I walk away. I have always known how to walk away.Kade is already there.He is in plain gear again, nothing with rank on it, and he has his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the tree line. He looks like a man who is comfortable with silence, which in my experience is either a very good sign or the sign of someone who does not feel the need to fill space because they already control it."You came," he says."I was curious," I say. "I'm here for twelve minutes and if you say something I don't like, I'm gone in less."He nods. No pushback. "Fair."We start walking into the trail. Not runni