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2
A cool breeze blew around the back of the building, and it took everything I had not to shiver for the third time. Huddling into my jacket I growled. What the hell was that? Why had I let him do that to me? I was stronger than that. I’d been trained by two different Alpha wolves. I was a fighter.
I dropped my head into my hands and winced. I was covered in his scent. Leather and rainwater. Inhaling it deeply, I felt it roll through my senses and my eyes tingled as the wolf hidden deep inside me came racing to the surface. I felt the magic in my blood take over and the darkness of the woods just beyond the property line grew bright as day. I could smell the fresh pine, and the rabbits and birds moving around in the trees. Brave for creatures in wolf territory. After the funeral service most of them would either fly away or be dead.
Closing my eyes, I leaned against the wall by the door, and forced myself to take a few deep breaths. Counting each slow inhale and exhale. My energy settled, and the back door on the patio behind the bar opened. Squinting, I watched the pack start pouring out. One, two, three…everyone, even Sloane, came out, walked down onto the dirt and grass, and turned back to face the door. All of them waiting for Ronnie and Adrian to emerge.
The door beside me opened, and Maria slipped out quiet as a ghost. “Hey, let’s go stand with the others.”
I looked past her waiting for the door to open a second time, but it didn’t. “Where is he?”
“Over there,” she said jerking her chin toward the crowd milling closest to the edge of the woods. Jamie was standing with Zach and a tall skinny blonde I guessed had to be Zach’s best friend Dillon. The lanky one who’d stolen my first kiss when I was twelve.
Shaking my head, I sighed. “There are too many memories here.”
“Shhh,” she said, shifting me around to face the back patio behind the bar. She pointed up and I looked up just in time to see Ronnie walking out the back door, wearing a grey wrap dress, her long dark brown hair hanging in waves around her shoulders. She’d changed in the time it took me to talk to Maria and run into Jamie.
“Oh great,” I groaned under my breath.
Maria elbowed me in the ribs, and as my mother stopped at the top of the steps down into the yard, the door behind her opened again revealing the Alpha in all his sickening glory.
Adrian Lefevre strode into view wearing a cream-colored button-down shirt, jeans, and a pair of boots. His long shoulder length black hair was slicked back, and his chin covered in a salt and pepper colored beard. His skin looked pale, and it was all made worse by the piss-yellow preternatural glow of his eyes.
He moved slowly to the edge of the stairs, and as he came in range, my mother dropped down a few steps, sinking to one knee. She swept her hair to one side, baring her neck to him in submission and I winced again.
As the last Alpha of our pack, my father had never required her to bow. He hated the idea of Ronnie supplicating herself before the pack. She was his queen. In his mind she deserved their worship as much as he did. He made the rules after all, and commanded respect, but Adrian could never pull that off. He didn’t have the backbone.
Most Alphas took the throne by force. Made powerful by spilling the blood of the man before him. Made stronger byprovingthey were strong, but Adrian had taken the title by marriage. He was wed to my mother in an effort to keep the peace between the packs.
He hadn’t won anything. Father hadn’t died to a bigger wolf. He’d died in a fire. A fucking fire. The show was how Adrian kept control. He had to pretend to be powerful, that he might’ve been capable of taking my father’s life, but he was unproven.
Maria squeezed my hand, and I sighed. She knew better than anyone the problems I had with Adrian. I didn’t have to tell her how much it bothered me to watch my mother sliding off his boots and unbuttoning his shirt.
I took a slow deep breath and let it out through my nose. My mother stepped away from Adrian, keeping low, her neck still on display, and she descended to the grass, kneeling fully in front of him.
Adrian’s eyes scanned the crowd, and as the gift of the Alpha rolled over everyone, people began to drop, one after the other, taking a knee and copying Ronnie’s posture.
As the power hit me, I hesitated, letting Adrian see my defiance. His eyes met mine, and his lip curled. I felt his power push uselessly against me again. He never could control me.
Maria grabbed my wrist and tugged as hard as she could. It wasn’t by any means strong enough to get me to move, but I let it happen, dropping to one knee.
“My family,” Adrian intoned, letting his voice carry over our heads. “We are here today to honor one of ours that has fallen. Together we will race to the altar and sing her soul to the moon.Run with me, my family.”
At his word the men around us began stripping off their clothes, the women following soon after. Beside me Maria slipped her shirt off over her head dropping it at her side. Being away so long I wasn’t used to the lack of modesty anymore, but I had to follow suit.
Shrugging out of my jacket, I let it fall where Maria’s things were piling up. I kicked off my shoes and wiggled out of my jeans. My shirt dropped on top of the pants and my eyes wandered as I undid the clasp of my bra.
No one seemed to be looking at me. They were all focused on stripping away their own clothes or staring at Adrian waiting for their next command. Still, I could feel someone staring. Their gaze felt like a hot coal pressing against my skin.
My eyes passed over Dillon’s head, over Zack standing beside him, but none of them were the source of the feeling.
I shook my head, and Maria frowned. No doubt thinking my emotions were in a tizzy because of Annie’s passing. I flashed her a smile and rolled my shoulders back. The moon was already high in the sky, calling to me. I wanted to run, to let it all go. To be completely free for just one night. One. That’s all I wanted.
Adrian walked down the stairs and joined the mass of people waiting for him. “Come family, let’s run!”
Abruptly the power holding everyone in place snapped, and a ripple of energy roiled through my body. My wolf came surging toward the surface, and my feet moved without thought, carrying me forward to the trees, one step, two steps, each one faster than what came before until I was sprinting with Maria at my side into the darkness.
My vision cleared with the golden glow of my wolf’s eyes peering out, breaking free. Mid-stride a pain shot through my back, and I staggered. The muscles in my legs began to burn and I jumped, pushing myself off a fallen tree and sprang into the air.
