Too Beautiful for the Alpha

With my bedroom door cracked open, I can hardly hear my mother answer the door.

"Hello, can I help you?" She asks whoever is there.

"Yes, I'm looking for Ms. East. I'm assuming she's your daughter. Alpha Grant is expecting her presence."

"Yes, she's upstairs. Might I ask what for?"

"I was told nothing but to retrieve her."

Well, I know his last name. That's something. It's not enough, but still something. I know of him, this Alpha, his pack is a little farther than the ones that usually come to the gathering. It's a strong pack, one of the strongest. That's all I know.

I know my mother is going to call for me, but I do not want to go downstairs and off with this stranger. He was told to retrieve me, so the Alpha told him to do so. Part of me wishes that the Alpha would have continued to ignore my existence, just as he did when we had our encounter on the path. Maybe he is going to reject me. Maybe that's why he needs me—it's only for a moment then.

It will hurt, I know that. I can't help it.

"Rae, there's a man here for you," my mother calls, on queue.

Glancing at my bag, I sigh and head through the door, ready to get this over with. It'll just take a minute; then I can go back to the way things were, my lovely, mateless life. Maybe I'll move to the city, live amongst the humans and pretend to be one of them. Humans die alone sometimes, so I will fit in there. We'll all be alone together.

I'll be shunned from my pack, hell, the entire werewolf kind will reject me if they find out, but I don't need them in my life. I can live as a human. It sounds pleasant, the human life.

What a dream.

"Rae," my mother calls again, and I steadily make my way down the stairs.

It will only take a second, I repeat to myself, chanting in my head. It will hurt, the rejection, but I'll be okay. I've lost people in my life. I know how this works. If only the mate bond was nonexistent—it would be a breeze without it. "I'm here," I say at the bottom, and the two look to me. "Where are we going?"

one of his guards. "To the Alpha, at your pack house. He is with your Luna and Alpha, but he will give

Instructions? "For what?"

you leave the

She must not know that he's going to reject me, or maybe she does. Maybe she's just trying to hide

murmur, "let's make

daydream about. They dream about the Alpha, what it would be like to be mated to him, the feelings, sensations only he could give. Some girls say that's why the Luna is so

few steps behind him. He will glance back at me, maybe making sure that I haven't run away off into the

woman with Alpha blood to replace her. And even the woman of Alpha blood—a highly desired woman—isn't as good as a Mate. Nothing can replace ones true mate, but I suppose this Alpha Grant has his backup for when he

guard grabs my attention when he comes to a halt. I peer up and realize that we are here.

myself

just take a

not. I am a woman about to

voices further in, and just before I expect to unmask their owners,

and somehow, it works. The further down the hall we walk, the more potent it grows, wrapping around me like a warm

the need to ditch the situation, but it's too late,

him hurts. It's like staring at a glass of water when ones been deprived

to be here with him; I don't want to be anywhere at all. There is no place for me, and under his gaze, I shrink to a pulp. This man, this Alpha, my alleged mate, makes me feel like nothing to him. He

me, ready to stomp on the bug,

says firmly, "Be ready

he have the time to reject me now? "For?" I murmur,

get you around eight," his voice—words confusing me—sounds like a dream. I want him to whisper in my ear how much he—wait.

closed door. Like a drunk woman, I stumble a bit and I find the

do so until we are freed from the pack house,