Page 5 of The Alpha's Reclaimed Mate

It took every ounce of strength I had not to wilt in the icy wind off his cold shoulder. I took my hand back and brushed a strand of red hair behind my ear. “Yeah, I can do that. When will you be back?”

“A week.”

I didn’t know what else to say after that. For a few more seconds, I sat and watched him, then rubbed my clammy palms on my lap and stood up, accepting that our conversation was over. He glanced at me. My heart shook, hoping for one last affirmation from him, but he only looked me up and down and grunted, “That colour doesn’t suit you,” before focusing back on his monitor.

I walked out of his office, fighting not to break under the crushing weight of his judgment.

It was all I could think about the rest of the day, and I suffered wondering why he had agreed on yellow for our colour scheme if he didn’t think it suited me. I wanted to crawl into a hole and cry but instead spent the next few days running errands like an automaton, lifeless, soulless. I was hardly even paying attention on a rainy Sunday afternoon when I bumped into someone on my way from the lower-status quarters with my mother’s dry cleaning in my arms. “Oh,” I froze, immediately embarrassed. “Sorry, excuse me.”

His hands went to catch the dry cleaning from tumbling out of my arms. “Aria! Hey, what’s the matter?”

Only then did I realize it was my cousin, Dax, standing before me. His warm brown eyes were a welcome respite.

“Hello?” he urged. “You must have a lot on your mind. You didn’t even smile at me just now. The mating ceremony’s got you that preoccupied, eh?”

“Sorry,” I said again, blinking. “Yeah, yeah.” Time to cram down my pain and bring that smile back, so he didn’t suspect anything. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be hunting for your pack?”

“Already ran a hunt today. I actually just finished having coffee with your dad,” he said. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

My dad was his uncle and his mom’s brother. His family was part of the Moonstone Pack, our closest allied pack, and he’d earned the esteemed rank of their Pack Hunter just last year. I wondered how nice it must feel to have the complete trust and confidence of his own pack. “Everything’s fine.”

Dax looked like he didn’t believe me. “It’s been a while since we hung out, you know. Why don’t you come for a run with me? Maybe clear your mind a little?”

“I have a lot to do…”

“Come on,” he insisted.

It didn’t sound so bad. Maybe it would take my mind off of Oswald. “Okay. I just have to get this dry cleaning to my mom.”

Dax grinned. He accompanied me back to the Lodge, said hi to my mom, and then just as quickly, we left the villa for the open fields beyond. My training and lessons didn’t give me much free time to indulge my wolf. Sure, I got to transform when I had combat training with Mr. Ross in our wolf forms and whenever our pack had ceremonial group hunts, but transforming was usually synonymous with manual labor, and I just didn’t do a lot of that. My life wasn’t as wild as my lower-status packmates.

At least the rain had stopped by the time we got onto the field. We’d stored our clothes in the shed outside the villa designated for such activities and morphed into our wolf forms. Dax was like a shadow, a mottled combination of black and brown fur, and far larger than me—he had a hunter’s build. I, on the other hand, was slender, muscular enough to hold my own but still lightweight, with fur as red as my hair. It made it difficult to camouflage myself when hunting, so I supposed that was as good a reason as any for me not to hunt. We raced across the field, the wet air leaving droplets in my fur and fingering through my pelt. It was nice, but it still wasn’t enough to heal what Oswald had said to me. Even as Dax led me to the tree line, my thoughts continuously returned to that moment in the office, wondering what I should have done differently.

The overcast sky swiftly turned the forest dark. I hadn’t noticed when I lost sight of Dax between the trees, realizing I was alone when I broke out of my thoughts and couldn’t see where he had gone. My wolf halted and rumbled in confusion, nose lifting to search for his scent. He should be somewhere nearby…“Dax?”I called in wolf tongue.

A woof sounded behind me.

I didn’t even register what scents were on the wind when I whipped around, breathing with relief at the sight of my cousin.“There you are!”

The wolf standing before me cocked his head, and only then did it occur to me that I was staring into stoic amber eyes instead of the mirthful browns of my cousin. His silver fur was fringed with black on his hackles and down his spine, his black-tipped tail swaying.

“Oh,”I said bleakly.“You’re not Dax.”

“No.”The wolf strode in a smooth arc around me, assessing me like I was some vintage treasure up for appraisal. I self-consciously followed his eyes but reminded myself that I was going to be Grey Creek Pack’s next Alpha Female—I shouldn’t be acting so sheepish, especially in front of someone who was nothing more than an IT technician. So instead, I raised my head and met Luke’s eyes, and he paused with a hint of intrigue.“Exactly what is the future Alpha Female of Grey Creek Pack doing out here by herself?”he asked as if he could read my mind.

I stood my ground.“That’s none of your business.”

The wolf tilted his head, expression mostly bare of emotion save for a twinge. I couldn’t determine whether it was annoyance or amusement.

“Shouldn’t you be busy fixing computers or something?”I added.

Luke’s ears tipped forward.“That’s only one of my many talents. Odd you’d know about it. I tend to keep my hobbies to myself.He continued circling around me, playing it cool and brushing off my defensiveness. “Your hobby must be getting lost in the wilderness at night.”

“That’s not what I was doing.”With a sigh, I looked away from him, trying to figure out why the scent he carried suddenly struck me as so overwhelming.“I don’t even have hobbies,”I muttered.

His paws hit the grass behind me. Without warning, he nipped at my haunch, and I jumped, turning to face him again. Luke pulled back and flicked his tail. We stared at each other for a minute as I struggled to understand what he was doing—meanwhile, I got the sense that he was boring into my mind, picking apart my inner thoughts, before he suddenly took off in another direction.

“Hey!”Did he seriously think he could nip at me, then run off like that?! The nerve!

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