The Alpha’s Dangerous Obsession

2.

“It’s not possible, son.” Dad put his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe you were near Skylar when it happened, but it has to be someone else.”

I gave him a flat look. “Give me more credit than that, Dad. I know who these feelings and emotions are for. I’ve known for a long time, but I…” It was hard to say this stuff to my parents.

“What?” Dad asked. “You what?”

“I kissed her,” I said in the quietest whisper I could manage. “That’s when the burn started.”

Dad’s eyebrows settled into an angry line. “Dragons don’t mate with humans,” he said in a growly, deep voice.

I wasn’t taking it, though. “Obviously, they can,” I hissed and shoved my forearm under his nose. “Or this is just a figment of my imagination, I guess?”

What happened next changed the course of the rest of my life. Dad dropped his voice deeper, going into his alpha register. When he gave a command with that voice, nobody in his clan could refuse him. “You will go tell your friends the party is over. Invent whatever excuse you want to. You’ve got until the end of the week to say goodbye. You’re going away.”

I couldn’t argue, however many retorts sprang to mind. I’d never been so angry in my life, and no doubt the entire clan was close to losing it out in the party thanks to my father’s emotions and now my anger.

Fate chose Skye for me, but my father was so prejudiced against humans that he wouldn’t even consider that.

“Go, send them away,” he growled.

Biting back my retorts, I turned on my heel and walked into the party. “Sorry, everyone. Something has come up.” I waved my right arm.

The tattoo had begun to glow enough that the entire clan could see it now. Humans never would be able to, such was the magic that made it, but all of the clan now knew why I was sending everyone away.

Tessa’s face caught my eye. She looked overjoyed as she stared at my arm, still waving in the air. Her face had a glow of hopefulness on it. I’d suspected for a while that she had a crush on me. Now I was sure. That was going to be nothing but inconvenient, at best.

I got everyone out the door, shrugging at Skye as she went along with the crowd. “Call you later,” I mouthed as she let herself get hurried out the door.

Everyone would probably think we were even worse of a cult now that I’d ended my party like this. It would’ve been better all along to just have had the party with the clan.

I’d put it off as long as I could. She’d been texting and calling me, but I’d sent excuse after excuse not to see her. Now my bags were packed, and with my dad being all alpha-hole, I had no choices left.

“Hey.” I scuffed my toe as she walked up and stood close. For a second, she seemed like she wanted to give me a hug, but I firmly kept my hands in my jeans pockets to discourage her from touching me. “Thanks for meeting me.”

My dragon retreated deep inside me, sullen and confused about why we couldn’t be with Skye. He was part of me, and I of him. It wasn’t like he could talk to me or vice versa, but sometimes his emotions overpowered me.

Like now. I wanted to cry and wrap my arms around Skye, proclaiming my love for her and promising never to leave her.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Even if I’d tried, the alpha commands on me prevented it. My dad was being a total douchebag about it, which was so unlike him. I didn’t know what the hell to think.

“Of course.” Skye touched my arm. “What is going on?”

I blurted out the lie we’d come up with. It sounded wooden and rote even to my ears, but I pushed forward with it anyway. “I got a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school in England. My parents are making me go.”

Skye snorted. “Your parents are loaded. What do you need with a scholarship?”

I looked around the park, trying to think of what to say. “Did I say scholarship? I meant I got admitted and they didn’t think I would. It will really help me get into a good college and medical school, so they’re putting their foot down about it.”

Skye’s face went from amused and disbelieving to confused and a little angry. “Okay, so England. We can video chat, and you’ll be home in like two years to go to college. Maybe we can work on going to the same one.”

Leave it to her to try to be optimistic. We’d been best friends for so long, she couldn’t conceive the rest of our lives apart.

Well, neither could I. Especially with the burning that was still on my right forearm, which worsened now that we were together.

“Sure, yeah,” I said, but we both knew I was lying.

Skye’s eyes registered betrayal as she recoiled. “So, that’s just it?” I watched her chest rise and fall as she tried to hide her upset.

I pretended I couldn’t hear her heart beating out of her chest, and backed away. “I’ll see you around, Skye.”

I had to get away from her. Her pain spurred my own and I barely made it back to my family’s land before I shifted, my dragon taking the reins and launching us into the air. Once upon a time, shifting was painful for dragons, but painless shifts was another byproduct of having a clan witch. She spelled each of us once a year to have painless shifts. What would we do without Sammy?

My parents were somewhere nearby, flying. We were able to communicate telepathically, and I couldn’t stop myself. I’ll never forgive you.

I tried not to think about how much I hated them, but it came through anyway because, within a few seconds, awareness of them disappeared from my mind. They’d shifted back, probably unable to stand feeling my pain.

Good. I hoped it haunted them.

Chapter 1

Skylar

Eighteen Years Later

“Put that under your pillow.” I handed the teddy bear to my patient. Kendrick was eight and about to have his appendix out. “If you get scared, tell the teddy. He’ll keep your secret.” The little guy was nervous, but his big brother was out in the hall, waiting for me to finish my presurgery exam. I was fairly sure Kendrick was too worried about his big brother thinking he was a sissy to be honest about how terrified he was about the surgery.

Kendrick grinned at me with a couple of missing teeth. “Thanks, Nurse Skye.”

I winked at him and went into the hall, typing the info into my tablet. It would notify the surgeon that I’d completed the forms needed, and his mother had signed everything.

“That’s it for me.” I plopped the tablet down on the charging station and plugged it in. “All the paperwork is caught up, and I’m going to lunch.”

The ward clerk gave me an amused look. “So eager to escape the floor?”

Laughing, I held up my hands. “Of course not. But I am starving.” Normally, I worked in the primary care clinic on the other side of the hospital. When the peds floor had requested an extra half-shift so their head nurse could go to yearly s****l harassment training, I’d volunteered.

Why not? I had nothing better to do, and I loved my job. After telling the rest of the team goodbye, I headed to the cafeteria. There was a cafe on my side of the hospital, and I almost always stopped there. Today, I’d come to the cafeteria on this side. Someone had mentioned they had taco salad, which I loved.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see anyone I knew, so I grabbed a small booth and played a game on my phone while I ate. This was preferable to going home and cooking for one.

A woman’s voice behind me had my ears prickling. “Have you seen him yet?”

I didn’t mean to listen in, but they were in the booth directly behind mine. I couldn’t help it.

“No,” a new voice said. “But I heard he’s gorgeous.”

I took a big bite of my taco salad and tried to mind my own business. It wasn’t easy.

“Dr. White had to go on emergency leave this morning, and…” Someone dropped a tray nearby and I missed the new doctor’s name. “He was already in town and had applied at the hospital, so he got brought on immediately.”

“What’s wrong with Dr. White?” the second voice asked.

“His mom fell and broke her hip. He’s going to take some time off to take care of her. Must be nice to be able to do that. When it happened to my Nana, we had to put her in a state-funded home.”

She sounded a little bitter, but I didn’t blame her. I would’ve been in her shoes, too. But I never had a Nana, so what did I know?