Page 1 of Tamed By the Alpha Wolf

CHAPTER ONE

ELISE

“You can’t just roll over and show your belly every time Declan snaps his fingers, Rafe!”

The screen door slammed shut behind me. I stomped off my porch and into the clearing where the rest of the pack gathered in anticipation of the moonlit run. Tension puffed into the air from them like human-shaped diffusers. It made my wolf stir, and I hated her for it. Hated myself for noticing.

Rafe’s shoulders heaved with his deep inhale. His jaw clenched tight as he slowly turned to face me, a muscle ticking beneath his skin. Good. Let him feel some of the frustration churning in my gut. This argument had been building for days since he dropped the news of no more assistance from the Crescent Hollow pack, then fucked off for days on some work trip without the decency of a debate.

“We don’t have a choice, Elise,” Rafe said, his tone measured. Always so fucking measured. “The landscape has changed. We need to adjust with it.”

“Adjust?” I spat the word like poison. “Is that what you call leaving us exposed? You want the humans and your pup left vulnerable?”

The words landed like blows. Orion and Kai stiffened where they stood. Brielle and Claire—their human mates—exchanged a wary look. Tara shrank back, but Maddy growled at the implied threat to her daughter and stepped up to Rafe’s side.

I should have cared. Should have stuffed myself back into the cabin that became mine when the new alpha installed himself in the pack house. Should have wanted to keep one shred of dignity left.

The proud papa himself narrowed his eyes, but Rafe’s voice stayed infuriatingly calm. “We’re not vulnerable, Elise. We’re adapting.”

“By reducing patrols? By letting our guard down?” I stalked closer, fury building with each step. My wolf snarled and snapped through my head, devouring any hint of patience or calm. “Have you forgotten what happened with Bowen? With Lincoln?”

With every other fucker that tried to destroy the pack? Hunters. Rival wolves. Monsters on two legs, and four.

My own father, fates torment his soul.

“Of course not.” A flicker of something—anger? Guilt?—crossed Rafe’s face. “But Declan can’t keep loaning us wolves from Crescent Hollow. We need to stand on our own.”

“Then bring back the wolves who left!” I glared at Rafe, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. I hated relying on the neighboring pack for help guarding our territory when the straightforward solution existed. “Call them home. We need the numbers, Rafe. We need?—”

“No.” Rafe’s voice cracked like a whip. “I won’t force anyone to return against their will. I refuse to be like?—”

He cut himself off, but I knew. I fucking knew.

“Like Marcus?” I snarled around the dagger of pain lancing through my chest. “Is that what you were going to say?”

Rafe’s silence was answer enough.

Father. Murderer. Warmonger. Marcus Whitman’s crimes deserved the final justice of a quick death. Deserved to have half his pack turn on him while the other half abandoned him to his daughter’s fangs.

I could still taste the blood on my tongue.

“You think you’re so much better than him, don’t you?” I sneered, the words pouring out of me like acid. “Saint Rafe, the reluctant alpha. So noble. So fucking righteous.”

“Elise—”

“No.” I cut him off, my voice low and dangerous. “You don’t get to play the martyr here. You took this position. You accepted the responsibility. And now you’re failing. You’re weak, Rafe. And your weakness is going to get us all killed.”

I asked for this, too.

I hadn’t wanted to step into my father’s shoes. For the good of the pack, to heal wounds left by a Whitman, I’d begged Rafe to take a role I won by spilling blood.

And now we were weak. Our downward spiral looked more like a straight plunge into extinction. One by one, the wolves who stuck around after toppling my father’s rule found themselves needed elsewhere and asking to be released from Dusk Valley obligations.

“Maybe that’s the plan. Leave us as easy pickings until you’re free to fuck off without all thisbaggage.”I scoffed. “I’m sure Declan would love to claim this territory for his own. Maybe cede it with a kiss?”

I saw the words hit their mark. Saw the way Rafe’s shoulders tensed and the hand he threw out to keep Maddy from charging for me. His face remained impassive, but I could smell the anger rolling off him in waves.

But he didn’t snap back. He refused to rise to my bait.

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