Everyone wanted to be married to the Alpha Prime’s daughter because of the prestige and the possibility that one of her male cubs would also be a Prime. The fact that she was an Alpha Femme, capable of healing and sending out calming energy, added to her value. Like she was a prize cow, she thought resentfully.
Pack tradition had required that she attend the death match, and she remembered Beck sinking his teeth into Roy’s chest – right before Roy pulled away and killed his rival. The only thing that left a scar on a wolf shifter was the bite of another shifter.
Her father met her gaze with a steady, ice-cold glare, his blue eyes glittering. She felt the waves of power intensify, and fought the overwhelming urge to submit, to hang her head and whimper her surrender. Her head hurt, but she didn’t flinch or blink. Instead she visualized the power rolling over her and washing away, and after a minute her father leaned back in his chair with a growl of anger and dropped his gaze.
She stifled the urge to smile in victory. Her powers were growing stronger; a year ago her father would have been able to make her double over with the force of his will.
Well, now she had a reason to fight back. She had gone along with this farce long enough. She’d let her father push her into dating Roy, and then he’d announced their engagement without even consulting her.
She’d never loved Roy in the first place, although she’d found him physically attractive. No surprise there. He was as handsome as a Greek god. Roy had turned on the charm and courted her enthusiastically, and for a brief while she’d managed to convince herself that she had some feelings for him.
The charm had worn off fast, though. Roy had started to act bored and distant as soon as the engagement was announced. She’d tried to bring it up with her father, and he’d brushed her off every time. For the last month, she’d been agonizing about what to do. Breaking off an engagement to the son of an Alpha was no simple matter.
But this? Him screwing another woman a month before their wedding? It was the last straw.
Her father finally broke the silence. “Well, you two aren’t married yet, so technically it isn’t cheating.”
“What?” she exploded. “You can’t be— Are you actually—” She was so angry she could barely form words.
“There’s nothing in our agreement that says he can’t be with other women before the wedding. Or after, for that matter. This is a mating of convenience, after all. As long as he’s discreet, you don’t really have anything to complain about.”
She felt a wave of fury flood her body, and instead of trying to hold it in, she let it roll outwards. The air practically crackled with fury. An Alpha Femme could only broadcast her feelings to someone who was close to her, like a family member or a mate. It was enormously disrespectful of her to let her Alpha Prime feel her anger, her disapproval…and she couldn’t have cared less.
“I’m not marrying him, ever, and you can’t make me!” she yelled. God, she hated how talking to her father made her sound like a tantruming toddler. She knew how ridiculous she sounded, and it made her even madder. “You like him so much, you marry him!”
Her father shot to his feet, and despite herself she let out a gasp and took a step back. Her father was six and a half feet tall – a huge, towering presence. Dakota wasn’t exactly petite herself – she’d inherited her mother’s curvy physique. But her father was like a tank who could grow fur and sprout fangs.
“Nobody speaks to the Alpha like that. It’s only because you’re my daughter that I don’t strike you dead or cast you out from this pack.” His voice shook with fury, and now he was so angry that he wasn’t bothering to direct his emotions just at her; he let them blast across the room. She heard whimpers of pain and dismay from the other pack members, all the way across the room. Fur sprang from her father’s face, and she heard the bones under his skin cracking as he struggled to retain human form. His ears sharpened to points with tufts of fur on them, and his fangs curved out from his gums as his jaw lengthened.
Percy, his Omega, hurried forward, ready to absorb the dark energy pouring from his Alpha Prime. He stood there, eyes closed, face paling with the effort of calming her father. Her father was close to losing control. If Percy failed, her father would not only shift, but he might attack in a wild rage, hurting everybody close to him before he could stop himself. The great power of the Alpha Prime also came with some downsides. There were tales of Alpha Primes who’d lost control of their animals and killed their entire families before they could stop themselves. Those Alphas were hunted down by their own packs and killed with silver bullets – the only thing that could stop them.
Dakota realized she was holding her breath, and she let it out slowly, not moving a muscle. After a long, long moment, her father’s fur sank back under his skin and his fangs retracted. Percy was as white as a sheet and covered in sweat, and he sank to his knees, trembling.
Brandon fixed his daughter with an ice-cold glare. “You will go to your quarters, and you will stay there until your wedding,” he gritted out. “Which is moved up to next week. No visitors. And I don’t want to hear another word out of your mouth – and you’d better keep your feelings to yourself too.” He gestured violently at his Beta, who rushed over so fast that Dakota heard the whoosh of air in his wake. “Drew, escort her out of here.”
As she turned to go, her father reached across the desk and grabbed her cell phone, crushed it into pieces in his fist, and dropped the pieces on the desk.
Head held high, she blinked back tears that she refused to shed. She walked out of the room with Drew right behind her. In silence, she let him escort her down the hall, through the enormous great room, and upstairs to the wing of the house where her quarters were located.
Chapter Two
They stopped at the door that led to her suite of rooms, and she stomped through the doorway and turned to glare at Drew.
“You can’t come in. No boys allowed,” she said coldly.
He stopped by the doorway. “I’ll be standing right here, so don’t try anything,” he blustered.
She raked him with a look of contempt. “Bite me.”
At that, he looked worried. “Er…you mean like…claim you? Your father would tear my head off.” Drew’s smarts were in direct inverse proportion to his strength – and he was very strong.
Dakota snorted in contempt and slammed the door in his face.
Her suite was made up of half a dozen rooms, and her bedroom was at the end of a long hallway. As she passed the laundry room, she heard Vinessa and Tiffani, two female pack members, speaking in low voices.
“Hey, did you finish ironing the lazy cow’s dainty underthings?” Vinessa asked scornfully. “Since she can’t be bothered to lift a finger for herself.”
“Right? Her Royal Hiney wouldn’t want to break a nail or something,” Tiffani griped. “And did you see what she was wearing today? Her skirt has ruffles. On those hips. Does she shop at the Short and Fat outlet?”
