MURDERED BY THE ALPHA (Now I'm His Nemesis And Obsession)

CHAPTER {4} MATE!!!

>>>ZANE<<<

I’m sitting at the head of this goddamn table, the loud music searing into my skull like a blunt axe.

My pack is acting like a bunch of mindless cattle, dancing, sweating, and getting piss-drunk on whiskey that smells like fuel.

The whole hall reeks of wet fur and adrenaline. I don’t give a flying f**k about any of it.

The only thing that feels real is the small silver hairpin digging into the meat of my palm.

It's Vivienne's. I keep turning the damn thing over between my fingers.

I can still see her standing by the car earlier tonight, giving me that soft, cute smile.

Her eyes looked at me like I was some kind of god, not the monster about to drive a knife to her chest.

Her hair felt like raw silk when she kissed me, and I tangled my fingers in it.

The pin had fallen off while I played with her hair, but she didn't even notice. She had no f*****g idea I was about to end her.

My mate. My wife. The woman I swore to protect while I was busy planning her funeral.

I press my thumb down on the sharp point of the pin until the metal bites through the meat of my skin.

The pain is sharp, and then comes the red, thick blood, sliding down my palm, soaking into the sleeve of my leather jacket.

I don't flinch. This tiny cut isn't a fraction of the s**t I deserve for what I did to her.

My wolf, Kael, grumbles in my head. He's pissed.

He hasn't said a f*****g word to me all night.

He’s been dead silent since the murder, and honestly, I prefer it that way. The bastard almost tore my ribs apart when I used the knife, howling like I was killing him too.

Now, he’s just a heavy, dark weight in the back of my mind. I’m not gonna poke the beast, either. It’s one less voice trying to boss me around or making threats like he’s not the one who’s supposed to be taking my goddamn orders.

Edna comes over, leaning her weight against the table while Karl’s arm is wrapped around her waist.

Her silver hair looks like a bird's nest. Her lipstick is smeared like she’s been eating raw meat.

Good for her. At least one of us still has a mate to f**k without feeling like they screwed up.

Karl’s standing there with that smug, punchable look on his face.

He’s been eyeing my throne for three years, waiting for me to trip so he can step on my neck.

The only reason he’s still got a head on his shoulders is because my sister loves him, and I happen to love her more than I want to see his brains on the floor.

“Aren’t you gonna make a toast, Zane? You plan to just sit here and ruin the mood all night?” Edna slams her hands on the wood, looking at me like I'm her target for tonight.

I don’t give her s**t. I just keep staring at the silver pin.

“Come on,” she sighs, her voice dripping with fake patience.

“Stop being so f*****g gloomy. You’re finally free from that Moongold w***e. You should be celebrating with the rest of us.”

I lift my head and stare at her mouth—some mouth that just called my wife a w***e.

If she wasn’t my own blood. Damn if she wasn't a woman, she'd be counting her teeth on the floor by now.

“Watch your f*****g mouth, Edna,” I threaten.

She rolls her eyes, completely unfazed. “Oh, shut up, Zane. Don’t act like you actually loved her. You did what the pack needed. Mother would have been proud of you. I’m proud of you.”

I stare at her for a long, heavy second. “You’re proud of me for butchering my own mate?”

She reaches out and touches my hand, her palm is as cold as her heart.

“I’m proud that you put the pack first. That’s what it means to be an Alpha, Zane. That’s what Mother died for.”

Mother. It’s always about the dead woman who turned us into soldiers before we could even walk.

I don’t argue with her. I just let the silence sit between us until it gets uncomfortable.

“Make the toast,” Edna says, her voice softening into a command.

“Tell them something they want to hear. Lift their spirits so they can go back to being the wolves we need them to be.”

“That's right!” I grunt, finally sitting up from my velvet couch, towering over the table till the room starts to go quiet.

I pick up my glass and hold it high. “To loyalty,” I say. My voice carries to the back of the hall without effort.

“To the pack. To the bloodline we finally buried in the dirt tonight.”

The roar that goes up is deafening. It makes my stomach turn with disgust.

“May the Moongold name rot in the ground,” I continue, looking every single one of them in the eyes.

“May their lands become our playground. May every trace of them be wiped from the earth and from our memories.”

More cheering and howling shakes the walls.

“May we never speak of them again,” I finish. “Because they don't exist anymore.”

I sit back down and ignore the noise. Only I knows how much s**t I’m currently choking on.

And maybe Ace understands too.

I look over my shoulder and see him sitting in the shadows, swirling his drink, looking like he wants to kill someone.

He’s the only one who actually understands the bill I paid tonight.

Edna follows my gaze and snorts. “Your Bloodbound looks like you poured him a glass of vomit.”

“He looks like he’s got a conscience,” I mutter. “That’s something the rest of you vultures don't have.”

She waves it off like it’s nothing. “He’ll get over it. You’ll both get over it once we have that land.”

She leans in closer, her face turning serious. I already know what’s coming. There’s always another fire to put out.

“The land, Zane.” She says.

“I know my job, Edna. I’m meeting Horrace tomorrow and we're finally signing the deeds.”

She looks relieved, but I’m not done.

“I’m just hoping he doesn’t spend the whole meeting talking about the other thing he’s obsessed with.”

Edna stiffens with panic. “What other thing?”

I let her sweat for a second, enjoying the way she gets nervous when she isn't in control.

“Relax, Ed. It’s nothing serious. Horrace wants me to meet his daughter. Apparently, she’s the pride of the Eden family.”

“And Horrace doesn't seem to mind giving me the pride of the Eden family… As a wife.”

Edna freezes with wide eyes, then she barks out a laugh that sounds like a cough.

“A human girl? Are you f*****g kidding me? Do they even know what we are?”

“They don’t know shit.” I take a long swallow of my bourbon.

“That’s the beauty of it. Humans think we’re just like them, until we’re shifting and tearing their throats. Then they just piss themselves and die a confused death.”

Edna shakes her head, smiling again. “Just get the land, Zane. That’s all that matters to me.”

“That territory was a gift from the Goddess herself. If we lose it, the ShadowHowl pack is as good as dead.”

And she's darn right about that.

The Moongold pack thought they could claim it. My mother tried to negotiate like a civilized person and they mauled her until there wasn't enough of her left to put in a coffin.

That’s why I wiped them out. Every last one of them.

Except Vivienne. I found her on the night Edna almost finished her off, and I did the stupidest thing a man could do.

I scented her. I claimed her. I thought I could keep her as a secret trophy. But she started becoming… more.

Started stealing parts of my heart I didn't want to give to a Moongold.

But tonight, I finally finished the job.

I should feel like a king, but I just feel like a piece of s**t.

I take another sip of my drink, trying to drown out the sound of Edna and Karl making out like animals right next to me.

I'd be delighted to boot them, so their bodies get flying across the hall and out the door.

“Get the f**k out of my sight Ed…”

The words are still in my lips when the air in the room suddenly explodes.

A new scent hits me.

It’s sharp, sweet, and it reels through the stench of whiskey and sweat, finding me.

My body knocks into a f*****g frenzy and I shoot up from the velvet couch.

It’s a scent that hits like a sweet migraine.

Sharp, intense, and dangerous.

It tastes like a storm and smells like a goddamn miracle.

My blood doesn't just roar; it turns into lava, rushing straight to my c**k until it’s straining against my slacks with a painful throb.

“MATE!!!” Kael roars so aggressively that it shakes my very soul.

He's back and the bastard sounds like he’s finally got the strength to rip my guts.

“She’s at the gate, you pathetic piece of s**t!” Kael snarls.

“Shut up Kael!” I grunt.

“The goddess just saved us another chance, wake the f**k up, Zane. Something better just arrived.”

I don't have time to argue with him, I lunge.

Swimming through the sea of useless faces, knocking down their wine glasses as I shove past them.

I storm down the quiet corridor, my heavy boots cracking against the floor like gunshots.

I reach the porch and stop dead.

Through the rain and the shadows, I finally see her.

She doesn't feel like a stranger, she feels dangerously familiar.

She’s wrapped in a red dress that’s too short and too tight, clinging to curves that look like they were carved by satan.

She isn't the kind of girl you bring home to meet your mother. She’s the kind of high-priced trouble that makes a man want to throw her over his shoulder, lock the bedroom door, and break her till she’s laughing and singing your name with praises.

I can’t see her face yet, just the silhouette of a woman who looks like she can bite.

Corin is standing in her way, his thick arm is blocking the path like he’s actually got the balls to stop her.

"Corin!" I bark.

The big guy jolts, backing off so fast he nearly trips over his own feet.

He knows if he doesn't move, that hand of his will be nailed to the pack house door by sunrise.

I step closer, my heart hitting the walls of my chest like a feral beast.

I stop just inches away, letting my tall shadow swallow her… physique.

Up close, she smells even better. Intoxicating, fresh. f*****g impossible.

I look her up and down, my gaze lingering on the way that red fabric strains against her chest.

Brown eyes that scream trouble, long dark hair that touches her hips.

Well… If the Goddess ain't such a f*****g p***y, then tell me why I’ve got a world-class ruin standing at my door on the very night I'm mourning my wife.