“Have you heard anything about a new alpha?” I asked, steering her back to the important stuff. My palms were starting to sweat, clammy and cold. My heart was aching. It was as if with every frantic beat, a hand gripped onto it, squeezing it tight in my chest. The last thing I wanted to think about was the gaping hole that Dominic had left behind when he walked out on Marcy and me two years ago.

“Nope. Nothing,” Marcy said. “The pack’s not talking. Dad won’t say a thing. I even tried to bribe him with that father daughter day he’s been begging me for after he caught me looking at the pictures, and still, nothing. He won’t even tell me when it happened.” She looked me square on and leaned in so close that our noses were almost touching. “They’re trying to cover it up, Jade. Dominic came into the station and Dad actually shoved me in a closet so I wouldn’t be seen. He hid me from Dom. Our Dom,” she paused for a second, and her skin turned a pasty white. “Dominic doesn’t want a single breath spoken about Ray’s death. Shit, I really shouldn’t have told you.”

No shit, I thought. Why the hell would they want to cover it up? It made no sense. Alphas die. It happens … sometimes. And Ray was a class A douche bag. Why did Dominic care if people knew or not? He didn’t even like Ray and he never tried to hide it, not for a second.

Right then, I felt all kinds of guilty. It rushed over me like a flash flood, cold and wet. I started to sweat, my stomach turned, and for a second I thought I was going to be sick. Since when did I become such an insensitive bitch?

“Jade,” Marcy whispered and shook my hand, as if she was trying to get my attention, and she ripped me from my thoughts. “Jade, please don’t say anything. Not even to Dominic. Please.”

“Please,” I said, waving her off. I stomped down the turmoil that was swimming through my stomach and smirked. “Tell Dominic? Not a chance. You know I won’t say a word.”

The blare of a car horn made Marcy jump. We both looked up to see Mom’s blue minivan pulling up in the driveway. She waved at us and turned off the engine. “Hi, girls,” Mom said, as she opened the door. She jumped out and then reached back into the car, pulling out two big brown paper bags. When she turned back to us, she was smiling, but I thought it looked too big and too nervous. Or maybe that was because I felt so nervous that everything around me was suddenly looking … wrong.

“Hi, Mom,” we said in unison, both jumping up from the swing. Marcy gave me a pointed look, as if to say Not a word. I grimaced at her, and then rushed over to help Mom with the bags. Marcy was right on my heels.

“Dad’s busy tonight so it’s just us girls.” Mom grinned, letting us take the bags, which smelled deliciously like fried chicken, and then she reached back into the car and produced an armload of movies. “I brought home KFC and movies.”

CHAPTER 6

~ AIDAN ~

Steam curled around me. I stood rigid on a platform of rock, looking down into a pool of black. The hot spring fed the air with a misty fog, effectively reducing visibility for me as well as my challengers. Tonight was not just about strength. It was about the ability to fight with what you had around you. And I was ready, kind of, sort of, maybe.

The night air was cool but far from cold, and the canopy of trees blocked out any moonlight from above. I looked out over the crowd of twenty-nine werewolves standing just on the edge of the challenger’s ring, defined by blazing torches which lit their faces. They all watched me with leery eyes. All but one. Dominic.

He stood in the center of the ring, and nodded to me for the second time, a clear indication that it was time to start, and I gritted my teeth. Even when he was on the verge of trying to overthrow me, he still felt the need to act as my second and feed me cues. It was positively infuriating.

I moved to the side, stepping around the pool of water, and started down the carved rock staircase. “All of you who wish to challenge me, step forward,” I said, my voice strong and firm and cold, not giving any indication to the fury that was brewing within me. For a moment, I’d thought that maybe, just maybe, Dominic and I would be a great team. Too bad the thought didn’t last.

I continued downward, keeping my chin even and my shoulders back. Dominic held my eyes and a smirk grew upon his face. I smirked back, and raised an eyebrow. What was he playing at? Surely, he had to be a little bit nervous, but if he was, he wasn’t showing it.

I reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped onto the damp grass. I paused for a second, scanning the crowd, and as I did, most of them cringed back or dropped their curious gazes to the ground. The only ones that stayed firm were the pack enforcers, but they were the least of my concern. Enforcers rarely challenged for alpha. For the most part, they were more than content with the power they already held over the pack, and I was sure that I wouldn’t be going up against anyone from that team of five tonight.

I laughed, a deep and belting sound that echoed through the clearing. I couldn’t help it. My nerves were jumping like grasshoppers in my belly. All these people watching me. It kind of sucked. I could fight. I could be a leader, but public speaking was really not my thing.

“Is no one going to step forward?” I asked, as I made my way into the center of the circle, feeling more confident with every step, and I took my place in front of Dominic. Part of me was hoping someone else would step forward. If I had to fight tonight, I seriously didn’t want Dominic to be the only person I fought against. I wanted … no, I needed a warm-up.

Dominic’s grin widened, and he took a step closer to me. And that’s when I noticed it. There was something in his scent. Something … not right. Everything was too calm about him. No trace of adrenaline. No anger. Nothing.

He took another step. He was close enough that I could feel his hot breath puffing against my face and his hazel eyes shimmered with flecks of gold. He held my stare for a long moment, his muscles taut and his stance ready, and just when I thought he was going to attack, he asked, “I didn’t fool you for a second, did I?”

“Nope,” I lied, keeping my face hard as stone. I felt a sigh of relief inching up my throat and I quickly swallowed it down. Relief washed over me in hot waves. From what I knew of Dominic, if he had wanted to fight, it would have been a fight to the death, and in that moment, I was shocked at how much I didn’t actually want to kill the jerk.

He clasped me in a hug, smacking my back. “Now the fun starts,” he whispered, except the tone he used made me think of anything but fun, and I stiffened slightly.

Dominic stepped back from me and looked out over the crowd once more, checking for anyone to step forward. When no one moved, he pulled the short wrought iron branding stick from his back pocket and walked over to one of the torches, holding it in the flame to heat. My jaw twitched. I could already feel the pain and it hadn’t even been done yet.

I turned to the crowd, a touch surprised at the silence. They were all watching me expectantly, waiting for me to speak. I swallowed hard, and said, “You all have spoken by staying silent. Today marks a new day for this pack. New leadership and some much needed change. Together, we will bring balance back into this pack.”

It all felt too easy. All of it. What had Ray done to these people? The silence was deafening and for a split second, I thought that someone might step up. Surely at least one of the males wanted to try to take the pack. They didn’t even know me. I just couldn’t believe that they would allow some new blood to walk in without a fight. But then I heard it. A soft clap. Just one. And that one was followed by another and another, and soon the clapping was louder than the silence.

I smiled and warmth rushed through me. Acceptance. I hadn’t let myself think that it could happen this quickly, but it was. Whether it was because they actually wanted me, or because they were too scared to cross me, I didn’t know, and right then, I didn’t really care. This was mine. All of it. My life was changing and morphing before my eyes. In just a matter of hours, I had gone from a lone wolf, running from my father, to an alpha. It was a rush. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and my smile grew wider.

I stripped off my shirt, turning my back on the crowd, and closed the distance to Dominic. He held up the branding iron, the ‘A’ on the end glowed, burning like embers. This was the last step to claiming my new rank. The branding irons had been created long ago, back when werewolves ran wild, and killed innocent people recklessly. They were infused with magic from the first pack, and were distributed as new packs formed. When an alpha was branded with it, the magic bonded with their skin and bones. It gave them the power to use their scent, channel it, enhance it, and call upon it, in order to control their wolves.

He mouthed, ‘You ready,’ which turned out to be a pointless question, because he didn’t wait for my answer before he stabbed my right pectoral with the magic infused, burning metal.

I locked eyes with him. My skin sizzled and my jaw clenched, but somehow I managed to stay still and not make a sound. It hurt like hell. The metal burning and melting my skin. Leaving the alpha’s imprint on my chest, but I didn’t flinch. I wanted this too much. Craved it. Needed it. I could already feel the magic seeping into my bones as my flesh melted around the smoldering metal.

When he finally pulled it away, my skin stung as it quickly stitched back together, leaving a raised scar that looked as if it had been there for years. Dominic dropped the branding stick to the ground and snagged up a bottle of rye. He handed it to me, straight faced, with awe shining in his eyes, and gave me a firm whack on the back, before moving back into the center of the circle.

I quickly twisted the top and took a deep swig from the bottle. The rye burned down my throat, and warmed my belly. My skin still stung, but the pain was tolerable. The soft buzz of the crowd drifted around me and it grew, louder and louder. I turned back to them just as Dominic raised a hand, silencing them.

The crowd inched forward, moving in closer to the edge of the circle, and I cringed on the inside as I watched the females, shuffling in, snapping and growling at each other, even in their human forms.