by Alisa Woods
She had failed him. Completely.
Brad edged closer, his expression softening. “I know. I don’t want this to happen, Nova, I swear. I’ve tried to talk them out of it, but the only way they’ll stay is if…”
She blinked back the tears and peered up at him. “What? What is it?”
He grimaced. “They’re looking to me as their alpha. It’s what the pack wants. You know that’s how it works—they need a leader, and they’ve already decided I’m it. If you’re off with someone else…”
Her mouth fell open. It was getting hard for her to breathe. “They’d turn to you anyway.” And now that she knew Owen couldn’t shift, it was clear he could never be their alpha, regardless. If they would even accept him… which they wouldn’t. Her father’s pack would follow Brad. The company would go on, but it would be without her. And without her influence, her guidance, she knew exactly what Brad would do—he would port the game to consoles, add in-game purchases, all the things her father would never have wanted. The things she didn’t want.
Her father’s dreams would be a smoking pile of ruins.
Her heart was crushing under a tremendous weight. It hurt so badly she actually pressed a hand to her chest to stop the pain.
Brad’s hands were suddenly on her shoulders. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Nova.”
She blinked up at him, not understanding. “They’re abandoning me. Betraying my father. He’s barely cold in his grave—”
“They aren’t doing anything. You are.” His expression turned hard momentarily, then softened again. “It’s not too late to stop this.” He drew even closer. “You can stop this from happening.”
She shook her head, a strange buzzing in it short-circuiting all her thoughts.
She’d failed her father.
“How can I—”
“You know how,” he cut her off.
She stared up at him.
“Submit to me. Show them you’ve chosen me for your alpha. They’ll stay. It’s what they want to do, anyway. Do the right thing, Nova, and keep your father’s company together.”
“Submit to you.” She said the words in a daze, and they were even more thick and awkward in her mind than they were on her tongue.
He ran his hands up and down her arms and drew her against his hard body.
She numbly didn’t resist.
He pressed his lips to her hair. “You know I love you. You know I’ll treat you well, care for you, just as your father always has. I’ll carry on the company just as he would, I promise. We’ll do everything in his name, to honor him, just as you want it to be.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “But you have to show them, now, that you’ve accepted me as your alpha.”
“Now?” A tremor was running through her. He meant right now.
“They’re ready to bolt,” he said, softly, frowning with concern. “If you want to make the release date—”
“I have to submit to you. To show them.” A ringing in her ears numbed her… no, that sound was her wolf howling in the distance, protesting this. But she had no choice. She knew that. It was all coming apart at the seams, and she had to stop it now… or there wouldn’t be another chance.
She’d run out of time.
“Submit to me, Nova, and this will all work out for the best. I promise.”
She nodded, numbly, and then squeezed her eyes closed. She had to drag her wolf out of the simpering, whining ball she had curled up into, but eventually, she managed to shift. When she opened her eyes, Brad was already in wolf form, standing before her with his ears up, tail erect—the alpha pose.
Submit to me, he commanded, sending his thoughts washing over her.
A whine and a whimper came out of her wolfish mouth, but she stretched her front paws forward, raised her rump in the air, dropped her tail… and last of all, bent her head in submission. The magic pulsed between them, her submission bolstering Brad’s magic and bonding her to him. It was just a temporary bond—until the next full moon—but it was strong. He was a powerful alpha, and submitting to him flushed her full of magical uplift as well.
Rise, my love, he said, and the words jerked her up from her submission pose and beat against her heart, bruising it. She didn’t love him. Would never love him. But he was now her alpha, and any command he gave her, she would be hard-pressed to resist. Not without extreme duress for her wolf and herself. And soon… he would claim her for a mate. He would take her with his body and his bite, and then she would be magically bound to him forever.
This was her fate.
She’d thought she’d dodged it—thought she’d found a way out of it—but she was wrong.
Shift for me, my love, her alpha commanded. When she did, she stood naked before him in her human form. His tall, broadly-muscled body towered over her, his erection large and sticking out from his body. He swept her into his arms, pressing his naked flesh to hers, his hands touching her all over.
“I can’t wait to make you mine, Nova Wilding,” he panted into her ear, his voice hoarse, his erection pressing into her side.
She didn’t answer. The shudder that ran through her wasn’t pleasure… it was a numb sort of horror.
“Soon, my love, very soon.” Then he planted a wet, possessive kiss against her neck.
She shuddered again and kept her eyes downcast.
He released her. “Get dressed,” he commanded, and she did.
When she was done, back in the costume she had worn into work this morning, mere minutes and a lifetime ago, she stood before him, blinking and still in a daze. It wasn’t just the magical bond and the overwhelming sense of connection to Brad—her alpha—that put her in that state. It was the inescapable fact that she had submitted to him, that she would let him claim her, and that the fantasy she had last night about belonging to Owen in any way had blown away like so much smoke from a distant, lovely fire that was now dead.
“You know what you need to do,” Brad said to her, peering down to catch her vacant gaze.
She nodded and followed him out of the design room, down the hall, and to the chair outside her office to where Owen sat.
“You’re fired,” she said to him.
Then she turned and walked into her office and closed the door behind her.
Owen couldn’t believe it—Nova had just fired him.
He stood there for a moment, staring blankly at her closed office door. His brain was still trying to make sense of it, but when he saw Brad’s big smirking face next to her door, it all fell into place.
“What did you do to her?” His body tensed up, ready to surge. His beast raged from his core like a volcano.
Brad crossed his arms over his chest, and his smirk grew into a small laugh. “I didn’t do anything to her.”
Owen lunged for him, unable to hold himself back from wiping that goddamn smirk off his face, but Brad was more than ready for him—he met Owen with a fist to his face. It knocked Owen back, making him stumble. By the time he was ready to go again, a half dozen shifters had hopped the cubicle walls and surrounded him. Some had claws out, others just their fangs, but their snarls couldn’t have been more clear. The only thing holding them back was Brad’s upraised hand.
Shit. Whatever had just gone down with Nova—whatever she was thinking with this business of firing him—he couldn’t do anything when he was vastly outnumbered by her pack.
Although… it appeared to actually be Brad’s pack.
And then it dawned on him. “She submitted to you,” Owen said, awe in his voice. He couldn’t believe it—she’d been in his arms all night long, and then she strolled into the office and submitted to Brad? He must’ve threatened her in some way. And that surged up Owen’s beast even more.
The smirk on Brad’s face had grown into a wide smile. Owen’s words—saying out loud that Nova had submitted to him—had rippled through the group. There were nods of approv
al and smiles of satisfaction.
“That was the plan along,” Brad said, casually. “Or didn’t you know? You were always just a distraction, a little Southern trash to play around with for a while, until she was ready to get serious and run her business. She doesn’t need you, Tex. Never did. So how about you get the hell out.”
His words were red hot pokers, stabbing through his chest with the truth—Owen had lost her. Never really had her in the first place. Whatever Brad had said to her in that conference room, she had submitted to him in a heartbeat. Now it was just a matter of time before he claimed her. For all Owen knew, Brad would stomp into her office, bend her over her desk, fuck her and claim her before his morning coffee.
And she had agreed to it.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have submitted to him in the first place.
Owen was speechless—and he could barely keep his beast from raging out. The tension in the crowd of wolves surrounding him clicked up a notch… fighting this was useless. She’d made her choice. If there were any hope of changing her mind, he certainly couldn’t do it if he’d been shredded by Brad’s pack. Owen slowly backed toward the door, keeping his eye on Brad and the others to see if they would attack anyway.
Brad just lifted his chin. “Tell Riverwise we’re taking care of our own security now.” A rumble of approval rippled through the crowd.
Owen made it to the door alive. But every step that took him farther away from Nova was like a dagger through his heart.
It had been four days since Nova Wilding broke his heart.
“All clear on the perimeter,” a voice spoke over his earbud. It was Jace supervising the personnel around the exterior of the building.
“Copy that,” Owen said into his mic. Since he’d coordinated the security for Nova’s tournament, Riverwise had put him in charge of security at Terra Wilding’s art exhibition as well. They had twice as many wolves at this event—half inside the gallery and half outside in the streets—partly because the exhibition was in the heart of downtown Seattle and open to the public, and partly because Terra Wilding was thoroughly freaked out about the possibility of being attacked.
It was a strange sensation, protecting someone who actually wanted to be protected.
Owen still couldn’t believe Nova had simply submitted to Brad of her own accord—she was just too damn stubborn for that. He sure as hell didn’t believe that line of bullshit from Brad about her just wanting a fling. Unless everything she had said the night before was a complete and utter lie, Brad had forced her into this. The problem was, Owen couldn’t figure out how… or find a way to undo it. Or even ask her what happened. Brad kept her locked up in the office or her apartment around the clock, and she wasn’t answering any of the dozen texts and phone messages he had left.
He wasn’t ready to give up, but he was definitely stuck on what to do next.
One of Riverwise’s guards wound through the crowd in the gallery, heading straight toward him. When he got closer, Owen recognized Noah Wilding decked out in the black body armor that outside security was wearing today. The uniforms were meant to be a show of force, and so far, it was working. There had been no chatter or any indications of trouble.
“Everything all right?” Owen asked with a small frown as Noah arrived at his side. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the back lot?” Noah was Daniel Wilding’s younger brother, and they were both military. Noah had just taken a medical discharge from the Army and come back from Afghanistan, and Daniel was active duty stationed in Seattle. Owen had tried to place all the military shifters on outside duty while the civilians manned the inside.
“Jace sent me in here,” Noah said. “He wants to know if you’re covering the after party.”
Owen suspected the twenty-one-year-old was hoping he might get a shot at party duty. He hadn’t been stateside for long, but Noah already had a rep for lovin’ the ladies. “I thought Terra wasn’t doing the after party.” Owen didn’t see the point in taking more risks, and he thought she had agreed to that.
“No, sir. Apparently, things are going well enough that she thinks the party is in order.”
Owen just shook his head. Wilding women were unpredictable and stubborn—that much he knew from Nova, and her cousin Terra was rumored to be twice as wild.
Owen cocked his head. “I reckon you’d like that duty.”
“Yes, sir.” He grinned. “There’s a whole different breed of woman here. I could get used to this.”
Owen smirked. Terra Wilding’s black-and-white artistic photography of the city certainly did attract a different kind of female. Lots of black clothes and dark, soulful eyes. They were all human, of course. Female shifters were rare—and jewels like Nova Wilding even more so—which meant most male shifters found themselves in human beds more often than not.
Owen let his face go serious. “All right, I’ll put you on party detail. But I have a question for you, first.” He waited until Noah’s excitement disappeared under his solemn stare.
“This isn’t a question about women, is it?”
Owen shook his head. He and Noah had a lot in common, in spite of the fact that Noah was years younger than Owen’s twenty-five. They had both been imprisoned, both experimented on. While Noah hadn’t been in the cage as long as Owen, in some ways, his time there had to be worse—Noah’s own father, Colonel Astor Wilding, had been in charge of the operation.
Owen held his gaze a moment. “I heard you went back overseas after you were liberated from the cages.”
Noah’s face took on a hard look. “Yes, sir.”
“Why’d you come back?” The word at Riverwise was that Noah had returned to Seattle once he heard the hate group was targeting the Wilding pack. But he hadn’t taken leave—he’d somehow swung a medical discharge. Those could be anything from a fake sprained ankle to get rotated out sooner, often with the blessing of the CO for extenuating circumstances, to a serious PTSD-level meltdown that the Army wanted to make sure was on the records. For someone like Noah… a shifter who had been experimented on… it made Owen wonder.
Noah gave him a piercing look. “It wasn’t as easy to leave behind the cages I thought.”
He nodded. He hadn’t discussed this with anyone besides Jace and Nova, and he suspected it was the same with Noah—after all, how do you tell people you suspect you’re a monster?
“Did something happen overseas?” It was a pretty damn personal question, and Noah looked as uncomfortable as Owen felt asking it.
Noah dropped his gaze to the floor. “Man, I’d really like to just enjoy the after party, you know?”
Owen put a hand on Noah’s shoulder and squeezed briefly. “Sorry for probing, man. I’m just having some of my own troubles and… never mind. Not your problem.”
Noah peered at him. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”
Owen smirked. Old habits die hard. “What’s on your mind, private?”
Noah’s young face opened, and suddenly, he looked much wiser than his twenty-one years. “I was raised by a Wilding woman. I’ve got a sister who is an amazing person, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to cross her. Ever.” He lifted his chin to Terra holding court with her fans next to one of her larger pieces. “And the crazy artist types are an even bigger handful. But I’ve heard the rumors about what happened with Nova. All I can say is that sometimes the Wilding women don’t always make the best choices. But their hearts are always in the right place. Every time.”
Owen pressed his lips together and had to fight back the surge of emotion ripping through him. “Problem is, I don’t know if it’s her choice or not.”
Noah’s face darkened. “If someone’s forcing a Wilding female into something, especially with regards to mating… you do me a favor and let me know. My father was the kind who did that sort of thing. And I’d like to kill a fucker like that.” He was dead serious about the killing part. And it was easy to picture the Colonel being that kind of asshole�
��—the kind who would force a woman to mate.
Owen frowned. Had Brad forced her to submit? It was possible. But she sure didn’t look under duress when she fired him. Sad, maybe. Or empty. Giving up. But she wasn’t fighting it.
“I don’t think she’s been forced… not in that way, at least.”
Noah nodded. “There aren’t many men who could force a Wilding woman to do something she didn’t want. Not without being mated first. But sometimes, my sister and our cousins get a little carried away and forget all their options. Sometimes they need someone else to point them out.” He gave Owen a meaningful look. “Fight for her, man. It’s what she would want.”
Owen dipped his head and stared at the ground by his polished shoes. “Well, you know my life is really fucked up when I’m considering advice from a private.”
When he looked up, Noah was grinning again.
“Go on.” Owen waved him off. “Get back to your station. Tell Jace you’re taking my spot at the after party. I have some business to take care of, anyway.”
“Yes, sir.” Noah smiled wide, then strode back through the gallery, weaving through the patrons and throwing a few flirtatious smiles to some of the younger women.
Owen just shook his head. But the kid was right—he could sit by and watch this whole thing roll out, or he could do something about it. If he wasn’t already too late—if Nova hadn’t already been claimed by Brad—then Owen was going to fight like hell for her.
“I’m not sleeping on the couch tonight, Nova.”
It was Brad—her alpha—leaning against the doorway of her bedroom, raking her body with his eyes. She had submitted to him, which meant if he ordered her to let him into her bed tonight, she would have to do it. Or, at least, it would be very difficult to say no to him. That didn’t mean she had to enjoy it—any of it, even the sex that he so clearly wanted from her.
“All right,” she said. “But the carpet really isn’t that comfortable for sleeping on.”