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He snarled at uarding his food The silver-white light of his alpha’s iathered his scent, giving ain, and all at once, his scent blasted at ent, bitter scent overwhel me of the days I’d spent locked ahile nore the call of an alpha with his own alpha scent It was crippling, deain, pushing it out at me in a steady stream I tried to shake it off just as my father had shown me, and I pushed my own scent at him He cocked his head to the side, confused for a moment, but without the imprint to enhance the power of my scent, his confusion was short lived

I keptht then he launched at me For half a second, I alry and I couldn’t think straight, but then his teeth sank into ain Hotter and deadlier

Swift clarity cairl curled on the floor bleeding while Ray kicked her over and over surged throughback My teeth sank into his side, and then his legs, and in less than a second, he was pinned underunder et, but he didn’t sub to throwTheir tension and unease was palpable and my inner-wolf responded to it They had submitted and he would, too I pinned his neck doith round, but still he fought, bucking and twitching underout behind rowled "He will not submit"

And I did My teeth found purchase in his neck, and I tasted his blood, seeping into , stopped breathing, and I let go

I couldn’t say how long I stood over the dead alpha, staring at hi for him to take a breath, before I had shifted back I re that my father would have been proud if he knew that I had found my own pack and claimed the alpha rank I had followed in his footsteps, just as he wanted I could hear his words as if he was standing right beside me, ‘You can run, but alpha is in your scent You can’t hide fro that I didn’t kno I felt about it

I didn’t reach forthe place that I had become a wolf I was too stunned that I had won to realize that I stood in the middle of the bar stark naked Froirl to her feet, and I noticed that she wouldn’t lift her head She kept her body curled, staying sirl won the challenge? How many females had she beaten to become the alpha’s mate? And what had he done to her to break her so badly?

"The new alpha pair," Do in front ofus to the world The words shocked ed hi in Alphas do not lose their status if one of them passes on What was his was now mine, and I was now hers We were the new alpha pair

"No," she whispered "Please I just want to go Let me leave I don’t want the rank I don’t want the pack" She looked up atwith me to let her walk away

I slidsoed at my touch "Are you sure?" I asked I needed to know if she understood what she was doing If she stepped down, there would no longer be a place for her in this pack She would be ostracized, marked as weak, and, in time, killed or run out of town

She didn’t hesitate and said, "Yes, please take a new mate Please I’ll leave town" Her voice eak, and she dropped her gaze back to the ground She quivered, shrinking closer to the floor with every passing second I should have felt sorry for her An alpha female should never show fear, not like this, and I couldn’t even begin to iht then, I had no sympathy for her I only felt relief I would not have to babysit a mate that I did not want, and clearly, she did not want me either

"Go," I said Just that A simple command I had heard my father use countless times

She let out a shaky pent-up breath and whispered, "Thank you," still refusing to meet my eyes, and she scurried frolance

In all my nineteen years, I had never seen a pack like this Werewolves were supposed to be a protective bunch It was ingrained in us In our blood -- our bones But this pack … whatever Ray (and I was certain it was because of Ray) had done, had ruined theest worry was how close Dominic really had been to his old alpha I needed to be sure he ithme … I didn’t even want to think of the chaos that could happen

My phone began to vibrate against hts, and I fished it out of my pocket Do call button, and brought the phone toto be late," Dominic barked into the speaker before I even had a chance to say hello