She-Alpha

Sasha’s POV I didn’t mind knitting. It was soothing, if nothing else, especially since I wasn’t surrounded by a bunch of annoying older women that day. Instead, the only person by my side was Iris, my personal maid and best friend. So, I should have been in a good mood, right? Wrong. Who would be in a good mood when her father had gone and betrothed her to some guy she had only met once—behind her back, no less? Adrian Rider was seven years older than me and had just become the Alpha of his pack. We had met at a boring party his pack threw to celebrate his coronation, and we spoke for less than thirty seconds. The guy hadn’t even looked at my face the whole time, too busy undressing me with his eyes. Then suddenly, he contacted my father last week to say that he wanted to marry me, and my dear old man decided that it would be a wonderful idea to give consent on my behalf and not inform me until yesterday because “you would have done something rude just to make a point and ended up ruining this opportunity for the pack.” Apparently, that was what I was now. A means of securing an alliance with Adrian Rider’s pack. "I can hear you plotting murder from here," Iris said, smiling teasingly. I attacked the incomplete scarf in my hands like it was Adrian’s head, messing up my flawless knitting. With a sigh of frustration, I tossed it aside. "I do want to murder someone," I said. "Preferably Adrian Rider." Iris was too sweet to be glared at, so I turned to glare at the scarf I’d abandoned like it had personally offended me. The whole reason I took up knitting in the first place was because it was supposed to be a relaxing activity, which the older women in the pack swore on the moon goddess would help me keep my “anger issues” in check. Nonsense. Anger issues indeed. When my father destroyed his desks by slamming his fist down or shattered walls with a single punch because he was angry, he was simply displaying the assertiveness expected of the Alpha of the Nightshade Pack. But if I so much as shouted at the men in the pack for being handsy assholes, I was diagnosed with anger issues. 'I wonder what they’ll say then,' I thought furiously, 'when I draw a knife and poke out Adrian’s eyes at the wedding ceremony.' "Please don’t," Iris said, like she could read my mind. "Don’t what?" I asked. "Don’t do whatever it is you’re thinking right now," she replied. "Why not? Adrian Rider would look better without eyes, don’t you think?" I said with a big smile. "Please don’t poke out his eyes," Iris deadpanned. "That would land you in his pack’s prison. And Alpha Vance would disown you because harming Adrian Rider would put our truce with his pack in danger." "I know all that," I groaned, flopping onto my side on the large sofa. I wished the bit about my father disowning me wasn’t so true, though. I knew he would never disown my twin brother, Ryan. But it would always be an option for me, simply because I was a woman. "How about killing him?" I asked brightly. It was Iris’s turn to groan in frustration. "My Lady," she said in a scolding tone. "What?" I responded. "I’ll be careful so I don’t get caught. We could hide his body—" "We are not killing anybody," she sighed. "I’m not marrying anybody either," I replied stubbornly. "The wedding ceremony is in three days. I have to do something!" Iris hesitated, chewing her lower lip in the way that showed she was thinking. "I…" she said quietly, "might have an idea." I bounced into a sitting position so fast that Iris nearly leaped into the air in shock. "What the?!" she shrieked. "Don’t scare me like that." "I’m so sorry and please, what’s this idea?" I asked breathlessly. "Well…" Iris was still hesitating. What’s so hard for her to say? I wondered. "Wait… you’re not about to suggest we sacrifice him to witches, are you?" I gasped. "What?" Iris stopped looking hesitant and started looking at me like I was crazy. Not that that was enough to stop me. "That’s such a lovely idea!" I went on. "Why didn’t I think of it first? He would disappear without a trace, and both his pack and ours would be so glad for an excuse to attack the witches that they wouldn’t check if someone sold him to them." "Uh… slow down…" Iris was saying, but I barreled on. "And on the brighter side, we get money from selling him. How much is he worth in the witch black markets, in your opinion? Oh Iris, you’re a genius!" "Okay, okay, stop it!" she exclaimed, looking low-key traumatized. "I wasn’t about to suggest selling him to witches. I wasn’t even thinking about selling him at all. And witches don’t even have black markets anyway. The Alphas got rid of those long ago." "Well," I shrugged helplessly. "Nothing wrong with a little hoping." Iris took a deep breath, looking to the ceiling for patience, and I struggled not to chuckle. "Now," she said with a sigh, turning to look at me, "are you ready to hear my idea?" "Of course," I replied. "Good. So…" she said, and her hushed tone had me leaning forward eagerly, "we could make him sick. So sick that he won’t recover in a very long time. He won’t even be able to wake up or stand, much less marry anybody." "Poison?" I said. Wow. To think that sweet, nice Iris would ever suggest that we poison someone. Iris scrunched up her nose like the word offended her. "Assorted herbs," she replied with great dignity. I cleared my throat very maturely to hide the laugh that made it past my lips. "Shadowsroot should do the trick," she hummed thoughtfully. Unlike Iris, I didn’t know a thing about herbs, but shadowsroot sounded fit for the job. "Great," I said, eager to get started. "So where do we find this shadowsroot?" "I’ll get it for you, easy. However, there’s a problem," she replied. "What problem?" I asked. She met my eyes, wincing slightly at the news she had to deliver. "In order to administer the shadowsroot, you’re going to have to sleep with Adrian Rider."