The broken Alpha - Healed by innocence

She doesn’t have a what?

*Chase*

“Are you out of your mind?” Wade roars.

Fighting the urge to squirm, I stare into the writhing flames burning low in the hearth. Wade of all people should understand my desire to have a mate. Hell, he took my first one from me. He could at least support me in my quest to find a replacement.

"Maybe I am, but the town we're building hasn't done a whole hell of a lot to get she-wolves out here. Eligible she-wolves, anyway." I point out.

"You don't even know her!" He says.

I spin around and meet my brother's gaze. "I didn't know Briony either when I married her."

"You knew her a lot better than you know Alpha Arly's daughter. At least you wrote letters to each other. What in the hell do you know about this she-wolf?" He asks.

I shrug slightly. "She's twenty-six... and delicate."

"From what I hear, I don't imagine she's much to look at either." My youngest brother mumbles.

I snap my head around to stare at Blaise. He sits in a chair rubbing his shoulder, his face still masked with pain.

"What have you heard?" I ask.

"Riley Windscar told me she doesn't have a nose." He says, making a face of disgust.

I shake my head. "What do you mean she doesn't have a nose?"

Blaise lifts his uninjured shoulder. "He said rogues cut it off. Nearly broke her heart, so her dad fashioned her one out of wax. He took the wire off some spectacles and hooked it to the wax so she has a nose to wear... like someone might wear spectacles."

My stomach roils over. Why hadn't Alpha Arly revealed that little flaw in his daughter? Because he hadn't wanted to lose the chance to obtain the water and the land. I imagine the Windscar men are having a good laugh right about now.

"Call it off," Wade says.

"No. I gave my word, and by the Goddess, I'm gonna keep my word." I say, straightening my back.

He sighs. "At least go meet her."

I s***h my hand through the air. "It makes no difference to me. I want a family, goddammit! She doesn't need a nose to give me kids."

Wade picks his hat off a nearby table and settles it low over his brow. "You know, until this moment, I always felt guilty for taking Briony from you. Now, I'm damn glad that I did. She was a gift you never would have learned to appreciate."

"What the hell does that mean?" I ask.

"It means for all your empire building, big brother, you'll never be a wealthy man." And with that he leaves.

*Callista*

It is a she-wolf’s lot in life to live within the shadows cast by men.

I know that unfortunate truth and understand its ramifications only too well. With my hands folded primly within my lap, I gaze out the window toward the horizon where the sun boldly retreats.

I have never blamed my mother for wanting to run toward the majestic blues and lavenders that unfurl across the sky. She called it an adventure, but even at the age of twelve, I recognized it for what it was: an escape.

My mother packed one carpetbag and told me and Riley to bundle up our most precious possessions. She explained that Rowan and Ryan were too old to go on the journey, and Riley and I were too young to stay behind.

We were walking down the hallway when my father trudged up the stairs, his face flushed with fury.

I pulled Riley into a far corner, hiding his face within the crook of my shoulder while my father ranted and raved that Joe Strongwolf wouldn't be taking his mate, his property anywhere.

Horror sweeped over my mother's face. She turned for the stairs, and my father jerked her back. "That's right! I know! I know everything!" He backhanded her across the face and sent her tumbling down the stairs.

My mother's scream echoes clearly through my mind as though I had heard it this afternoon. For ten long years, I cared for the she-wolf who had once cared for me.

The accidental fall, as my father referred to it, had left my mother an invalid, with woeful eyes housed within an immobile body, her thoughts trapped by a mouth that could no longer speak. Only when my mother's eyes welled with tears did I know for certain that she lived within the withering shell that held her prisoner.

My mother had simply exchanged one prison for another, and now it seems as though I would do the same.

"Goddammit, Pa! There are other ways to get the water we need," Riley says.

Six years younger than me, Riley has always been my champion. Often his blond hair and pale blue eyes remind me of the foreman who disappeared the day my mother was injured. "You don't have to give Callista to that man!"

That man. I have only seen Alpha Chase Moonshadow once, and then only from a distance. He is taller than I am, broader than I am, and when he announced that the land he roped off was to be used for a town, the wind was gracious enough to carry his deep voice to everyone who had gathered around him. I don't think he is a man who would have accepted less.

Now he is demanding that I become his wife and mate. The thought terrifies me.

“This matter isn't open to discussion, Riley,” Rowan says. A tall dark sentinel, he stands behind his father's chair. Since we moved to Texas from Kansas following my mother's death, my father's health has diminished considerably. Within the family, Rowan blatantly wields the power. Only his love and respect for our father allows him to let outsiders think our father remains the true Alpha.

“When I want your opinion on a matter, Riley, I'll ask for it,” my father says.

He desperately try. “I'm only saying…”

“I know what you're saying, and I'm not interested in hearing it. I've already given him my word.” My father growl.

“Well now, you won't be breaking your word if he happens to die tonight, and we can certainly arrange that,” Ryan says.

I keep my gaze focused on the pink hues sweeping across the horizon. I have no desire to see the depth of their hatred for this Alpha. I have seen hatred that deep once before: when my father confronted my mother. I know of no way to stop it. As a child, I hid from it in a shadowed corner.

As a she-wolf, I have a strong desire to hide again, in my room, deep within one of my books. I fear Ryan is not in a mood to jest. As my father continues to hold his silence, I become concerned that he thinks murder might have some merit.

“Killing him won't get us the water!” my father finally bellows. “That's what this is all about. The water!”

“Moonshadow will treat her no better than a w***e!” Ryan roars.

Flinching, I clench my hands in my lap. I hate the anger and rage, hate the way it distorts faces that I love… for I do love my brothers… into faces that I fear.

“Callista, go to your room. Your brothers and I obviously have a few details to work out,” my father barks.

I rise to my feet, my hands aching as my fingers tighten around them. I had considered weeping. I had considered dropping to my knees and begging, but I learned long ago that when my father and Rowan set upon a path, nothing will deter them. I salvage what little pride remains, angle my chin, and meet my father's glare.

“Father, I'm not opposed to this marriage.” I tell him.

Riley looks as though I've just pulled a gun on him. “You can't be serious.”

I take a tentative step forward. “Try and understand. Father's dream is to raise cattle, and you have always been part of it. I've only ever been able to watch from the window. Now, I have an opportunity to be part of his dream. I am the means by which he can gain the water he needs.”

“You've no idea what goes on between a man and a she-wolf in private, Callista,” Riley says, his voice low. He abhors violence as much as I do, and I know he only follows Rowan's orders so his brothers will never question his manhood.

I look at my father, remembering when I was six and a nightmare sent me scurrying to my parents' room. My mother had been weeping. My father had sounded like a hog grunting as slop was poured into the trough. He had called my mother a damn cold b***h, and although I had not known what the words had meant at the time, the force with which my father had spat them had seared them within my mind. “I do know, Riley,” I say quietly.

“Then you should understand why Ryan and I are opposed to this. Chase Moonshadow hates us all, and he'll show you no mercy.” He says.

I try a small smile. “Surely, he's not that unkind.”

“Then why did his first mate leave him within a week of their marriage?” Ryan asks.

He stands like a pillar of strength, watching me as though he truly expects me to know that answer. Dark hair, dark eyes, it is only his usually sedate temperament that distinguishes him from Rowan.

“I want to do this,” I lie, for Riley's benefit and peace of mind if for no one else's.

My father slaps his hand down on the table. “Then, by the Goddess, it will be done.”