Choosing The Alpha Brothers

I sniffed the windy night air and c****d my head to the side. Beside me, my younger brother growled impatiently.“How long do we have to wait? Are you sure you smelled a deer, or was it something else?” Patrick asked, and beside him, emerging from the shrubs where she was hiding, my best friend Elaine grinned at me.“I’m in love with your brother,” she whispered, and I rolled my eyes. I was pretty sure I smelled a deer. We would have hunted in wolf form, but Patrick insisted we hunt as humans. The spear in my hand was starting to get heavy, and my shoes felt itchy.“Darn it. I’m going home…” Patrick stopped as soon as our keen senses picked up the sound of snapping twigs. I shot him a smug smile.“It’s the deer. On my signal—”Patrick completely ignored me and let out a war cry, rushing at the deer that had just emerged from the bushes. The frightened deer tried to run, but with his incredible strength, Patrick flung his spear. The spear embedded itself in the deer’s back, and the animal collapsed to the ground, twitching weakly. Patrick turned to me with a grin.“There. It won’t escape again,” he said, and I rolled my eyes. Elaine blew Patrick a kiss, and he blew one back.“So, do we take the deer home to Father?” I asked.“Father won’t like it. You’re supposed to get married to the Alpha. You shouldn’t be hunting,” Patrick said dryly, and I shot him a glare.“The Alpha is going to let me hunt when we get married,” I said.Patrick threw his head back, bursting into mocking laughter. “Gosh, Cass, you’re so naive. Alpha Ken is not a softie, and he’s not a nice man. He’s just pretending to be. You should be scared. I hate Father for even betrothing you two.”I sighed. Patrick was too protective. Getting married to an Alpha was what I had always dreamed of. Sure, I loved hunting, but I always wanted to be the wife of an Alpha and give him many heirs.“You don’t have to worry about me, Patrick. And you’re wrong. Alpha Ken is the nicest Alpha there is—everyone says so.”Patrick just nodded. He hoisted the now-dead deer onto his shoulders and walked forward without another word.“He might be right, you know?” Elaine said beside me, and I sighed.“I want to get married. It’s all I’ve ever wanted,” I said.“Marriage isn’t a requirement for happiness. It’s a trap,” Elaine said, and I shook my head.“I’m not like you, Elaine. Yes, I love hunting, but I don’t fancy the idea of dating many boys. I just want to save myself for marriage.” Elaine grinned. “You’re still a virgin?”I nodded, and she shook her head. “Well, I’m not,” she said, and my eyes widened. I stared at her in shock.“Elaine! If your dad finds out…”“He’ll what, Cass?” Elaine interrupted. “For Lycan’s sake, I’m twenty-one. I can make my own decisions.”I nodded, still shocked. “Who did you do it with? Jasper? Colin? Cole? Or… oh, I know—Zander?”Elaine smiled at me. “None of the above.”“Then who?” I asked, and she smiled like she was about to drop a bombshell.“Patrick.”“What?” I yelled. For some reason, all I could feel for a moment was annoyance. I stared at Patrick’s back, sure he had heard, but he didn’t turn around once. He just grinned and kept walking. I still couldn’t believe Patrick had actually had s*x with Elaine, my best friend. Being brought up as someone who had to keep herself for marriage, I felt tempted too. To know how it felt, to be free to do with my body as I pleased.“Are you going to marry him?” I asked, and Elaine rolled her eyes.“Stop acting like a bloody saint. Cassandra, s*x is something we can do freely without having to marry each other,” she said, and I stared at her, surprised. That wasn’t what my mother told me. She had always insisted I keep myself pure until I marry Alpha Ken.“That’s not what my mother said,” I argued.“Loosen up. Your brother is a year younger than you, and we’ve already had s*x,” Elaine said, walking forward to join Patrick. I stared after her, pondering her statement. It was tempting, of course, but they didn’t know the obligation I carried. Dad always wanted ties with the Alpha family—and so did I. We reached our werewolf pack’s city, and I grinned. I always loved the view from here, emerging from the woods. We had always prided ourselves on being one of the most popular werewolf packs in the United States—and one of the most powerful. The people nearby turned to stare. It wasn’t every day we captured a deer, since they were pretty rare in our territory. Plus, Patrick, tall and muscular with a dead deer on his shoulders, was a formidable sight to behold.By the time we got home, my legs ached, and the spear I had been holding felt heavy in my arms. When I pushed open the door, the first thing I noticed was the silence and how full the large house seemed. Sitting there was my father—and a man with his back to me. Seven hefty guards surrounded them.Beside me, Patrick made a sound that was close to a guttural growl. He hated strangers in our house, especially those he hadn’t met before they were welcomed in.“Dad,” I said, and my father raised his head. His brows furrowed when he took in my dirty appearance. But then the other man turned, and my breath caught. No, it couldn’t be… it was… Alpha Ken? What was he doing in my home? He smiled warmly at me, and my knees weakened.“Cassandra, I’ve heard so much about you!”