Page 2 of Forced By the Alpha

The grey male shouldered her away. “Enough. Rain is coming, and I want to be back before then.”

Golden Eyes snapped at him, more for show than anything, spittle flying. A standstill. Then she relented.

“Fine. We’ll take her.”

Behind her, the pack moved in, tightening their circle around Beth. She whimpered, the sound slipping out of her before she could stop it, fear turning her legs to rubber. Better to die free, she repeated to herself. But the words had lost their strength with the other wolves so near, their breath hot on her fur, their teeth sharp and close.Headstrong but too weak to back it up. All bark and no bite.Spencer’s words had never rung so true before.

“One step out of line, and I will rip you apart,” Golden Eyes promised as Beth fell into line.

Surrounded by the White Winter pack, Beth was forced back into the woods. The Rosewood border grew farther away, and she hoped for a rescue with it. The wolves snapped at her heels when she slowed, catching fur and, once, skin. She nursed her wounds in silence, but her mind raced. Why were they taking her to their territory? If they hoped to ransom her to Spencer, they had another thing coming. He would probably pay them to take her off his hands.

“Whatever you think you’ll gain from this, you won’t get it,” Beth said to the lone female, Golden Eyes.

They’d get a war. Spencer might not care about her, but he cared about the reputation of the Rosewood pack. This would not be ignored.

Golden Eyes whipped around, and Beth braced herself for a bite. Her eyes were bright and mocking. “The alpha wants you, sweet little thing. And so the alpha will have you.”

Chapter 2 - Devon

“Your guard is slipping.” Devon followed his verbal correction with a physical one, landing a right hook on Jonah’s cheek.

Jonah stumbled and caught himself, swearing. He launched at Devon, but the bigger man slipped to the side and took him down with a kick.

“Tighten up. You’re not going to beat a Rosewood grandmother with that kind of fighting.” Devon stretched out his hand to help Jonah to his feet.

“I was going easy on you. Can’t beat up the alpha, you know.” He swiped the back of his hand over his bleeding lip. “Otherwise, I would’ve had you.”

“Right, right. How about next time you don’t hold back then, and we’ll see what happens.”

Jonah scowled. He held up two fingers, barely an inch apart. “You’re holding on to your position by about this much, big man. This much.”

Rage pulsed across Devon’s body. He grabbed the front of Jonah’s shirt and yanked him close. “Do you want to find out what I’ll do to keep it?”

Their eyes locked. Devon waited for Jonah to look away. His grip tightened.

“Calm down. I’m not interested in your job.”

He let go and slapped Jonah on the back. “I need you in my corner, Jo.”

The White Winter pack was tied together with a thread. Pull on it, and the whole thing would unravel.

“I’m there.” Jonah held up his hands. “So maybe you should go easy on me once in a while.”

Devon snorted. “I need you strong. You’re my beta. And you know Em wants that spot.”

“Not that I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but why isn’t Emma your beta? She’s your sister,” Jo said, wiping sweat off his brow with a towel. “She’s strong as hell and the scrappiest fighter I know.”

Dev sat down on the weight bench. “She wants to be alpha.”

“Yeah, dude, we all do.”

He was right. Their pack was a cobbled-together group of misfits that couldn’t fit in anywhere else. Most of them had attitude issues that got them kicked out of other packs, and most thought they could run the White Winter pack better than Dev could. On his worst days, he believed them.

“She wants ittoomuch. Like, sleep with one eye open too much.”

“You don’t trust your own sister?”

“Have you met her?” Dev pulled his water bottle from his gym bag and downed half of it.

---