Page 6 of Alpha's Forbidden Fate

Then I let my hand fall to the ground.

And I wait… for the other wolves to attack.

For them to kill me. I thought I could fight them off, but I can feel all my strength seep from me.

Is this how I die?

Oh, I don’t want to die out here.

For a moment, I think about my siblings. Would they even mourn me if they found out how I died? Would they grieve me?

Perhaps not. I was always a disappointment to them.

Maybe I should stop fighting to stay alive.

It’s a little too quiet.

My eyes are closed as I wait.

Chapter 2

Liam

“No, Layla. I am going to come by tomorrow,” I say into the phone that is pressed to my ear. She has been calling me all week trying to get me to join them for family dinner, but between the long hours I dedicate to my restaurant, and the hours I work as the Protector, I have very little time left to give.

I took over the role of the Protector after it was assigned to me, when my father, who previously held the role, retired. This means that most nights, I am roaming the city looking for any disturbances or rogue supernatural creatures. We have treaties in place to keep all humans and supernatural creatures safe and it is my job to enforce it.

Layla, my half-sister and one of the most powerful fairies in town, works at Night Corp, our family business. She does so with the help of Colt, my half-brother. We all have the same father, Gabriel, but their mother, Jade, is my stepmother. But honestly, I don’t think of her like that. Ever since she came into my life, she’s been “Mom” to me. They are my family, and I love them.

My favorite sibling, however, happens to be Grayson Night0 or as I like to call him – Gray. He is barely fifteen and has been away all summer at camp. I can’t wait for him to come back. We got close as soon as he was born, and it’s part of our routine for me to pick him up from school every day.

I look forward to our one-on-one time. He is the only person who knows and understands why I deviated from the family business, Night Corp. The corporate world wasn’t for me. I needed to pursue my passion for cooking.

Cooking is a skill I got from my nanny, Mariya, who was with me practically my whole life. She was the only “mother” I had, until my father married Jade. This is why my restaurant is called “Mariya’s” in her honor.

“But you promised you would visit,” Layla whines, which is very unbecoming for a woman of twenty-four.

“And I will. I will come over soon. You know you can drop in at Mariya’s anytime. I am almost always there.”

“I know. I will. Maybe Tuesday afternoon.”

“Sure,” I say, but between this conversation, trying to flag down the bartender, and trying to get my mind off the woman I just met, my attention is a little scattered.

“Great. I’ll tell Mom and Dad you said ‘hey’.”

“Please do. Love you, Layla.”

“Love you, Liam,” she replies before finally hanging up. Family is great, but it can also feel like a lot, especially when you don’t feel like you quite fit in with them. Don’t get me wrong. I love them dearly, but Dad and I are the only pure wolves in the house, which can make a sibling feel a bit different than the rest.

I was four when my Dad met Jade. I am a little hazy on the details of it all, but I know they had their back-and-forths before finally deciding to settle down and have a family. My father is a werewolf, my step mother is a fairy; which has resulted in Lisa being a fairy and Gray and Colt, being wolves.

Being the oldest, I’ve had to watch over them my whole life, but it doesn’t escape me that I am not one of them. They have hybrid blood running in their veins, whereas I was born of a union between two wolves.

My mother left when I was very young, and I never followed up on that. If she doesn’t want to know me, then I don’t want to know her. Anyway, Jade has always worked hard to make sure I felt like I belonged.

Most days, I did. Between her and Mariya, I’ve always had a mom.

There were some days, though, that I preferred Mariya’s company.

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