Cursed By The Pack Lord

3

As I took a step closer, he opened his palm, and I jerked to a halt at the piece of technology he held. I’d never seen this particular device before, but as it was in my best interest to keep up with the cities, I recognized the flame and lightning strike symbol on the side. Reeves Industries was the leading manufacturer of weapons in the shifter world, and if my guess was correct, Gruff held a state-of-the-art taser that would send me into a partial shift, leaving me stuck between wolf and human form, and completely at his mercy.

“I’m not going to run,” I scoffed, my false bravado in the face of such a weapon thin at best. “I’m not an i***t. I’ve accepted my fate.” Total lie. But I had accepted it for now.

He twirled the small device in his hand, and I stopped breathing to keep my chest from expanding closer toward him. “Good to know you’re not as stupid as first appearances suggested,” he said, and I start praying he accidentally zapped himself. Asshole.

The door opened and another shifter stepped through, this one with strong alpha energy. The beta stopped f*****g around, straightening to his full height of exactly one inch taller than me, as he pretended he hadn’t just been juggling a very expensive weapon.

I hadn’t gotten a lot of scent traces from any of the shifters so far, outside of faint citrus and wolf musk. One of the few shifter lores Mom ever bothered to teach me, was that I’d only ever truly scent my fated-match. My mate. Thank the goddess that wasn’t happening here.

“Is she ready to go?” the new arrival said, his voice without inflection.

He was huge, like all alphas, with dark skin, buzzed hair, and a flinty stare. “Yes, sir,” Gruff said, a very slight waver of nerves in his voice to indicate this newcomer was important enough to warrant respect. “Are you here to escort her?”

He ignored Gruff and turned to me. “I’m Alpha Warrick of the Annandale pack. And one of the council members who will be overseeing your trial today. Are you ready?”

My throat dried out fast and I almost vomited on his shoes. With a fraction of my dignity intact, I nodded and stepped closer to the imposing alpha. At a guess, he was a few decades older than me, but with shifters’ extended lifespans, there was no obvious signs of aging, outside of a few wisps of gray visible in his buzz cut. “Ready,” I choked out.

Without another word, he wrapped a huge palm around my right biceps and pulled me from the room. He wasn’t rough so much as impatient, and I forced my legs to move faster to keep up with him. I wasn’t completely up to date with the structure of pack cities, but I knew there were multiple alphas who led smaller packs within the community.

A pack was a bonded group, sometimes sexually involved with each other, while other times a platonic family. If Alpha Warrick was an entitled alpha, then he was powerful enough to command other shifters. Maybe even other alphas. Add in that he was on the council, and they’d sent a VIP to escort me. Lucky me. Always the superstar.

“What’s your name, shifter?” he asked as we exited the generic room and marched along a lengthy hallway with many closed doors.

I debated lying, but there wasn’t much they could learn from my name. As far as I knew, Mom had ensured it was never recorded anywhere. For her own selfish reasons. “Emmeline Anders.”

Warrick grunted, using the preferred method of communication amongst dominant males. “How old are you, Emmeline?”

Fuck. Now I did have to lie. “Eighteen.” Another grunt, and I had no idea if he believed me or not.

“Where’s your family?”

Wasn’t that the question of the hour. “Dead. I’ve been an orphan since I was young. The streets raised me.” I’d only ever known my mom, and when she died I didn’t bother to search for anyone else in our f****d-up family tree.

“How did you survive on your own? What age did you shift for the first time?”

“Ten, and my wolf looked after me. She’s always had my back.” Except when she didn’t, which was never about survival; it was about her instincts to be with her pack. But even when I’d refused, she’d always stepped up and kept me alive. We hunted, slept in the woods… did whatever it took to make it through until I was old enough to get a job and apartment.

We did what it took to survive and had no regrets about it.

“Sounds like a tough life,” the alpha said, a sliver of sympathy in his tone, his dark eyes softer as he watched me. “Did no one ever tell you about the pack cities? Why have you kept running when you could have found shelter and support here, amongst your kind?”

I was well aware he questioned me to get a jump on the trial, and I chose my answers with that in mind. “Mom was killed by her pack, so it never felt safe to be around other shifters.” The goddess honest truth.

“Your mom was an omega too.” That wasn’t a question as he arrived at the true heart of the issue. The reason I had to get out of the pack cities before it was too late. Omegas were pawns in powerful alphas’ worlds, and I refused to end up with the same fate Mom had: destroyed by her pack.

Chapter

Three

W

e exited the building via a short staircase. “That’s the healing ward,” the alpha said, his grip remaining firm around my arm. “It’s next door to the main council chambers.”

We emerged into a city, a cacophony of cars, horns, and other “city noises” crashing into me. It was extra-loud after the sensory deprivation of the silent hall. The council chamber and healing ward were two large buildings sat side by side. The healing ward was square and squat, with white walls and lots of windows. The council chambers were nothing like that. They stood at least four stories high, and were built from gorgeous red brick with green ivy trailing up the sides of the archways leading to the main entrance. I had no idea what style the architecture was, but I’d guess it wasn’t built in this century.

Warrick walked us through the central doors, past a male and female shifter in a navy-blue uniform standing guard. They didn’t stop us, but both lowered their heads respectfully to the council member.

Warrick glanced down at me. “We take care of our omegas here. If they don’t have a bonded pack, they’re guarded and revered. They’re never forced to bond. In fact, we have very strict laws against that in Golden Claw.”

“Not everyone obeys laws, Alpha,” I said with a huff of sad laughter. “And it’s too late once it’s too late. If you know what I mean.”

Tension kept his broad shoulders rigid, and I wondered if I should suggest he take a weekend to enjoy a few cocktails and a massage. He was coiled tight. “I don’t expect you to trust us straight away, but if everything goes your way today, I promise that we’ll give you a reason to stop running.”

The very thought almost sent me to my knees. The hardest part of the path I’d chosen was… I didn’t want it. Secretly, deep in a place that I kept locked up tight and never visited, I craved this world. I wanted to be part of the packs with a bonded mate and family.

Yep, there was a sad and lonely little girl buried deep inside. I’d tried to burn her out, but like my wolf she wasn’t quite ready to give up on the dream. We were all pathetic, and at this stage I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t suffering from multiple personality disorder.