Page 3 of Alpha's Forbidden Bond

“You don’t know?” She asked. I shook my head. “In the Moreno pack, we can pass the title of alpha onto people who are from a different bloodline, as long as they’ve proven themselves worthy.”

“Hmm,” I said. “I had no idea. Very interesting. And here I thought all werewolf packs were annoyingly strict about that kind of thing, but perhaps not.”

“I take it that means you guys don’t have the same kind of leniency?”

“Not at all.” I pointed to the smaller house behind my oversized one. “That’s the guesthouse, by the way. Down the hill.” We made our way towards it.

“I’m surprised the idea of opening up the ruling class hasn’t been floated in the pack before now,” Sarafina went on. “Especially considering how young you are. No offense.”

She was referencing the fact that I was the youngest alpha to ever take over in Vilks’ history. After my mom passed away unexpectedly, there was no one else to take the title, and while I had been planning on being alpha my whole life, nobody ever expected me to be put in charge so soon.

“Maybe the pack was talking about it, and word just never got back to me,” I said. “I’m not really sure.”

“You accusing your pack members of mutiny?” She smiled at me.

“No, not really. I just know a lot of people weren’t sure about letting me rule when I hadn’t even turned thirty yet. Not that I blame them. They had every right to be wary. I wouldn’t have wanted to be led by someone as young and inexperienced as me, either. But it is what it is, and I think they have started to see that I’m not a complete failure. I hope this merger will give them more faith in me.”

“I think it will,” said Sarafina. “But maybe I’m just saying that because I also need this all to go well. My pack needs this just as much as yours does.”

I looked at her for a second as we came to the front door of the guest house. Seeing her in profile, with the side of her face illuminated by the setting sun, Sarafina was a true vision. Stunning and elegant, her skin smooth and vibrant, and I tried right then and there to picture myself falling in love with this woman. I really pushed aside all my cynicism and practicality and thought about what Mikeal had said earlier, how this marriage didn’t have to be entirely unromantic.

Sarafina caught me looking at her and turned her head. “What?”

I smiled. “Oh, nothing. Sorry. I was just lost in thought for a second.” I opened the door to the guest house for her. “Let’s go inside, shall we? I’ll give you the grand tour.”

“Sure,” she said, taking a step over the threshold. I watched her walk inside, her hair flowing in the breeze and her dress brushing against the back of her silky legs, and felt absolutely nothing.

Chapter 2

Diana

“Look out below!”

Georgie was standing on the second-to-top rung of the rolling ladder, reshelving some books that people hadn’t put back properly, and she accidentally knocked over an entire stack. They came tumbling down to the ground and crashed on the floor near where I was standing, but thankfully, none of them hit me.

“Sorry!” She looked down at me with an apologetic expression. “I really thought I had a good hold on that stack, but I guess not. I need to learn to be more careful when I’m up this high.”

Considering this sort of thing happened at least once a week or so, I wasn’t all that phased. “You’re fine,” I said. “Just as long as you’re not dropping any heavy hardcovers, I’m really not too concerned.”

I bent down and started gathering the paperbacks littering the area around my feet. It was nearing closing time, and I was happy to be given a task that would take me to the end of my shift. I always grew a little restless as we came to the end of the day, eager to clock out and get home but also wanting to close the store with all my work being done. I gathered the pile of books in my arms and straightened up to hand them back to Georgia, aka Georgie. She, on the other hand, no longer seemed interested in reshelving them.

“Diana,” Georgie said as she climbed down the ladder. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

I laughed. “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Do you ever want to get married?” She was at the bottom of the ladder now, leaning back against it with her feet flat on the ground. “Like, were you one of those girls who used to dream about her wedding day when you were growing up? Or were you a tomboy?”

“I wouldn’t say I was a tomboy, but I also wasn’t dreaming about my wedding day. Why do you ask?”

“I guess I just spent a lot of time daydreaming today. You know how I do that when things are a little slow. But really? You never thought about it when you were a girl?”

“Not at all,” I doubled down. “In fact, thinking about that sort of thing used to make me very upset when I was a kid. Weddings and marriages were things my parents took very seriously and would involve themselves heavily in if my sisters or I got married, so I wanted nothing to do with that path in life. That sounded like a true nightmare to me, and I didn’t even want to think about the kind of man my parents would’ve wanted me to marry.”

“That’s right! I always forget that you’re a Pearl and not really a Silverleaf local. I think it’s the way you carry yourself or something. You just give off a different vibe.”

At the center of this compliment was something of an insult, but I knew Georgie hadn’t meant it as such. I hated being reminded of the fact that my family had separated themselves from the rest of the town. My great-grandfather built his house on top of a hill overlooking the valley and would hardly ever come down himself. Instead, he would prefer to send members of his staff to do all the shopping and run his errands. That way, he didn’t have to socialize with the ‘commoners.’ My grandparents and parents followed in similar footsteps, sending me and my sisters to a private boarding school in upstate California and never inviting anyone from town to any of their dinner parties or auctions. That said, after years of living on my own in Silverleaf, I was glad to see that people like Georgie were finally starting to think of me as one of their own.

“What about you?” I said, turning the conversation around so I didn’t have to think about my past anymore. “Do you dream about your wedding day?”

---