The Alpha's Other Woman by Vielle Nye (read a book .txt) 📗

I paused, gathering my thoughts. Sweat gathered at the memories I couldn’t forget, but I had no intention of sharing the grisly details with Carrie: a child ripped apart as it tried to escape from the wolf that was dragging it, my father overwhelmed by wolves, the luna being torn to shreds, and my alpha, killed as he wept over her mangled body. I did not want to increase the dismay I could see on her face and I could feel through the bond. It was enough that only I carried the burden of my past failures.

"I fought, of course. I was severely injured, although obviously I survived, and I was taken prisoner. They let me heal, for a few days, but then they tried to force information out of us—information none of us had, some nonsense about vampire collusion—and they were not gentle about it. After a while, Stonemason let most of the prisoners go, but there were nine of us who their alpha considered too dangerous to release. He was going to execute us, but with some help from the inside, we escaped and fought our way out. Porter, Max, and I stuck together, united by the common goal of trying to get Kain to safety. And we managed to.”

Her deep eyes were dewy with sympathy. I didn’t want to make her sad, so I quickly moved on with my story.

"I won't bother with the details after our escape. It took weeks before we were confident we had lost Stonemason, and then we had to figure out what to do. Our birth pack was dead or scattered, our ruling members dead. Packs were reluctant to allow unknown fighters to join, even when we claimed we were from Glenhaven—apparently some rogues had been claiming that to enter packs and make trouble by that point—so we four continued on as a group. A few of the packs might have taken in Kain since he was a kid and Max since he’s so disarming, but they wanted to stay together with us."

She looked sad. I didn’t like that, any more than I liked dwelling on it myself, so I quickly continued.

"We became something like a pack, and then we decided to make it official. I got bullied into being alpha, and Porter became my beta. He was only a fighter part time, but his construction experience has come in handy. He didn’t really want a position, either.”

Carrie smiled. “Why not? Too much responsibility for rogues?”

I chuckled. “Something like that.”

“Then why didn’t Max become beta instead? I bet he could have done it.”

“Max used to be a warrior, but he never wanted a position beyond that, especially now. His mate is still alive somewhere and he never felt her die, so he knows she's out there, somewhere. He doesn’t want to be tied down. He's actually going to leave again to look for her and search for other survivors while he does next week. They're free to join us if they want. Some might, but many have found their mates or put down roots. Beginning a pack is rough, and it's not for everyone."

I met her eyes. "Honestly, besides the fact I’m afraid that I can’t keep you safe, I also didn't think you'd want to do this. I know you were a rogue, but you were living like a human. Who would want to give up that comfort for this risk?" I was well aware that we were sitting in a trailer, eating barely decent pack food because everything was still tight. I hadn't had the life of luxury of an established luna to offer my mate. I still didn't and likely never would. Most packs had wealth built up over multiple generations.

But they had to start somewhere.

She spoke, her voice tentative. "I already told you I don’t care about that, Jason. I like that we’re building a pack. I wasn't really satisfied with my life as a rogue among the humans without a pack. I wasn't really satisfied with my life, waiting for my mate, either." She inhaled sharply, and then met my eyes, her unease seeping into me. "And I wasn't truly satisfied with my life as acting luna of Greenwoods."

My breath caught in my throat as I understood her meaning.