Page 7 of The Alpha's Heart

Guy bounds forward, throwing his arms around me. His breath is hot on my ear as he whispers, “If you change your mind… if you’d rather settle down with a delta who won’t terrify your wolf… come back home, Sofia. I’ll still make you mine.”

Luna, Guy. He might’ve been careful enough to pitch his voice so that only I can hear him, but what if the pair of betasdid? That’s a complication I don’t need.

I wiggle out of his hug after patting him on the back once. I don’t promise him anything because, well, if he hasn’t taken the hint yet, he never will.

Guy steps back. Declan immediately replaces him.

In for a penny, in for a pound, and all that jazz. This time, I’m the one who wraps her arms around the male, squeezing him tight.

Declan understands why I had to leave River Run. He’s sorry to see me go—he considers me his best friend as much as I do him—but he gets it. If his human mate understood the concept of fated partners like us shifters do, he’d be wrapping up the mating dance and making her his. Instead, he rubs my back, reminding me about the phone in my back pocket, before wishing me good luck as he breaks the hug.

I’ll miss him. I might even miss Guy, too. I’ll miss River Run…

…but as I move across the border, the Sylvan Pack welcoming me with a spark, I get the feeling that this is where I’m meant to be.

The older betais the actual pack Beta. A male named Harris, he was the one who served under the previous pack Alpha, Xavier. Weston is the presumed Beta-heir. Even though he is sixteen, according to Harris, when the Beta decides to hand over the reins, everyone in Hickory expects Bishop to name Weston as the next Beta.

This is a young pack. Kendall told me that Bishop himself is only twenty-one, two years younger than I am. He became the Alpha when it became clear to Xavier that the young alpha was the most dominant male in the pack. That left him with two choices: run Bishop out and keep his position or wait until Bishop realized that he could easily challenge Xavier to be the leader and lose it.

That’s how Kendall got to be in charge of River Run. Most shifter packs work like that. Seems that the Sylvan Pack is a bit of an anomaly. Xavier came up with a third option: he could peacefully transfer power to Bishop, then retire on the edge of pack territory as a former Alpha with his mate and his family.

He won’t interfere with any pack politics now. Hickory belongs to Bishop Dupuis—and as Harris and West guide me toward the Alpha cabin where Bishop is expecting to meet me, a new scent makes its way through the noise, straight to my nose.

Cloves. Missing a step, nearly stumbling as I do, I’m bombarded by the strong scent of cloves. It wraps around me, making me light-headed and dizzy, and as I right myself, I feel something snapping into place deep inside of me.

It’s a bond. One whiff of what must be the Alpha’s scent andwham. If I had any doubt that Bishop Dupuis was my fated mate, they’re gone in an instant. Because he’s the source of the cloves, erasing any sign of the former resident of the Alpha cabin in the short time he’s taken it over.

I don’t even wait for the two males to lead me toward the den. As if my wolf is answering a call from Bishop’s, I float ahead, being drawn to the door that leads to the noted addition on the side of the rustic cabin.

Behind me, I hear Harris tell West to follow me in and bring the luggage with him. I guess the Beta’s job is done now that I’m at the cabin, and he passes off the last leg of guard duty to the younger male.

I barely notice. Not when I’m about to meet my fated mate…

With West a silent shadow behind me, I remember how embarrassed I was when I knocked on Kendall’s den. This time, I don’t, and when I turn the doorknob, I’m not surprised to find that it’s open.

Taking a deep breath, knowing I’m on the precipice of forever, I shove in the door and take my first steps inside of Bishop’s den.

And there he is.

I don’t know what I was expecting. A twenty-one-year old Alpha who was willing to take me as his mate because the Luna said so… but the second I lay eyes on Bishop Dupuis for the first time, he blows any expectations I have out of the water.

A twenty-one-year-old human is a boy. A twenty-one-year-old Alpha is amale. And this male… he’s big. Huge. At least a hand-and-a-half taller than me, and twice as wide, he’s made up of muscles upon muscles. He has this deliciously golden-colored skin, thick hair as dark as the beard covering his jaw, and a pair of dark gold shifter eyes that go impossibly black as his nostrils flare.

I was right. He’s the source of the cloves scent, plus the crackle against my skin tells me that this might be the most dominant wolf shifter I’ve ever met in my life.

And he’ssnarlingat me.

It’s not loud. If I wasn’t so keyed into him, I might not even have noticed. But that pull toward him, the bond inside my chest stretching toward his flannel-covered one… his surprisingly long lashes flutter and I see even that.

His continued growl sends shiver up my spine.

His angry look has me seconds away from bolting.

Honestly? If it wasn’t for the beta wolf at my back, blocking me from the exit, I might have.

My wolf is panicking. I know I shouldn’t look at any alpha directly in the eye, but I can help it; he’s a magnet with a pull too strong for me to deny. He stalks around the front of his desk, eyes locked on mine, but he doesn’t say anything. The growl dies down. My pulse quickens. My human side wants the floor to open up and swallow me whole. He’s still glaring at me, and I’m beginning to think I made a huge mistake agreeing to this?—

A wave of calm rushes through me. Quieting my racing heart, I hurriedly tear my gaze away from Bishop’s glower.

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