Page 8 of The Forbidden Alpha

“We might get to see the Mad King.”

Someone laughed. “I don’t want to just see him.”

Something moved through my chest—a word at the tip of my tongue, in a language I’d never learned.

Mavy sat at the table in the center, and I quickened my pace.

“Adea!” she sang out, waving me over. Nikki was already there on Mavy’s right, her features unimpressed as she watched Shane’s friends gaze on me.

I sat down, a sacrificial lamb at a feast of wolves.

“Hey, Chica!” Nikki greeted.

“We’re talking about the Ball,” Mavy said, her eyes dancing. “Nikki is doing your makeup, and Daddy is paying for the dresses. No excuses.”

Nikki glanced at me and we both rolled our eyes. Once Mavy got started, there was no stopping her.

“Let’s go shopping tomorrow,” Nikki said, leaning forward with a glint in her eye. Nikki was an enforcer’s daughter, and her attitude and demeanor reflected that. Mavy was the heart of our group, but Nikki was its teeth—even if those teeth were currently covered in a coat of designer lip gloss.

“Okay.” There was no point in fighting the inevitable anymore. The weight of her father’s charity was another link in my chain. “Just promise me you won’t make me wear something too flashy.”

“No promises!” Mavy beamed, scrunching her nose. “But seriously, Nikki and I were thinking simple yet elegant. Highlight the curves to make the men beg for your attention.”

My eyes locked with Shane. He was tracking the conversation, a cruel smirk playing on his lips as he watched my discomfort. The ass would enjoy it.

“You can put makeup on a pig, but will it ever be pretty?” he joked. Behind him, Devin and the others let out a rough howl of laughter.

Mavy’s smile dropped. “Har har. You’re sooo funny, Shane. Not—that wasn’t nice.”

Nikki clapped back without hesitation.

“Let’s not pretend you don’t have a huge crush on Adea, Prince. But come on, bullying the woman you like is so elementary.”

“It’s fine, Nik. He’s just kidding,” I whispered, trying to keep the peace before the Alpha’s son decided to make a real scene.

Nikki paused, looking at me in a way that said she knew I was lying and she was letting me.

“No, he’s not. Why are you such an asshole, Shane?” Nikki snapped. Her glare could have stripped paint off the walls. A thrill ran down my spine. In one second she’d done what I’d wanted to do for years.

He blinked three times. His expression shifted before a smirk pulled at one corner of his lips. “My apologies, Nik. You’re right. I took it too far. I’m sorry, Ady.”

His eyes said otherwise. He didn’t look like a man who was sorry; he looked like he was counting down the minutes until he had me alone.

“See, girls? Just a joke,” Mavy said. Nikki folded her arms, but said nothing to Shane. I picked at my salad.

The rest of the day was a blurred haze of how to keep a handle on your beast’s instincts—lessons that were a cruel joke to a woman whose soul was still silent. My mind drifted back to the hidden pool in the pines. I closed my eyes and imagined a version of myself that didn’t exist yet: a massive wolf with russet fur, her paws hitting the moss with a weight I’d never felt. In my head, I watched her dive into the water, free.

But reality snapped me back. Every day that passed after my eighteenth birthday made that wolf less like a promise and more like a ghost. I wasn’t waiting for a shift anymore; I was mourning a woman who might never be free.

My phone vibrated in my pocket as the final bell rang. One message.

Gym. Now.

Chapter 4

I gripped the straps of my bag until my knuckles turned white. The gym stood apart from the cluster of buildings—a looming structure of gray concrete and iron secluded from the rest of the campus. As I pushed through the heavy steel doors, the silence of the empty hall pressed against my eardrums, heavy and thick. It was a tomb, and I was stepping right into the center of it.

Alone.