Page 7 of Tamed By the Alpha Wolf

But I’d fucked up. Marked him without consent. I’d let instinct run roughshod over my control and took what I wanted, just like dear old Dad.

What the fuck was I doing?

My wolf bristled at the comparison, but I shoved her back. She could snap and snarl all she wanted about my continued denial of our power, but this... this had taken the top spot on the ever-growing list of reasons I was unfit to lead. Hell, it’d been underlined so hard the paper tore clean through.

My father would have?—

No. I wouldn’t go there. I wasn’t him. Iwasn’t.

The bell above the door chimed and yanked me from my spiraling thoughts. I glanced up to see Maddy entering with little Violet nestled against her chest in a sling.

Something in me softened at the sight of the infant. Damn Rafe for being right about the pup. His whole justification for accepting an arranged mating with Maddy was to pop out an heir and give the pack something to rally around. And Violethaddrawn us together. We could go from smiles to a brawl in seconds, but every last one would wade into some casual atrocities to keep Violet safe.

I leaned over the counter, a gentle coo escaping my lips. Violet gurgled happily and waved pudgy fingers through the air. I offered my hand, and she latched on with surprising strength, shoving it toward her mouth.

“Hey there, little one,” I murmured as I kept out of that mawed doom. “Aren’t you getting big?”

Violet kicked her legs and bounced, apparently pleased with the greeting.

“It seems she thinks so,” Maddy said, sounding amused. “Can I get fifteen on pump three?”

I reclaimed my hand and punched buttons on the ancient register. “Sure thing.”

Maddy fished out her wallet and handed over two crisp bills. The money went in, and she got change. Routine stuff, except...

Except she lingered, which wasn’t routine at all. Normally, we’d do this dance with barely a word. She’d grab her gas or pay for something, and head out. No lingering, no chatting, no real friendship.

Maddy’s eyes met mine over Violet’s head, her expression a mix of warmth and determination that set my teeth on edge. I knew that look. It meant she was here totalk.

“Sooo,” she began, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. “About yesterday with Rafe...”

I stiffened, but Violet chose that moment to let out a happy squeal. The sound kept me from snapping, but only just. Maddy pressed on, either oblivious to the danger or—more likely—choosing to ignore it.

“He’s just trying to take care of the pack. If we want to stay our own, independent pack, we can’t rely on another alpha’s protection for our day-to-day lives. It just means we need to scale back.”

My jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth might crack. We’d already had a rogue slip into the territory. One more fuckable than dangerous, but he was hardly the first. Fates, a human had set up camp practically in our laps and caught us with our pants down. That asshole Bowen dragged us from our beds when he tried to torture us into submission.

But as I looked down at Violet, still staring up at me with those big, trusting eyes, something in me wavered.

Grudgingly, I had to admit that Maddy and Rafe weretrying.They weren’t even bad at it, really. Violet was proof of that—healthy, happy, surrounded by a pack that adored her.

We’d come out of our battles, too. A little more broken than before, but alive and kicking. We kept climbing to our feet,wiping the blood from our mouths, and squaring up to the next threat.

“Just...” Maddy sighed. “Give Rafe a break? Okay?”

I wanted to tell her to go to hell. To remind her that I’d given up my birthright for the good of the pack. That I’d stepped aside so Rafe could play alpha.

There was a reason rejects were killed in fights for alpha. Too many alphas in the pack were the evil twin of too many cooks in the kitchen. The friction they—I—caused was poison, otherwise.

For a long moment, I said nothing. Then, slowly, I nodded. “Fine,” I bit out. “I’ll try.”

Relief flooded Maddy’s face, and she gave me a tentative smile. As she turned to leave, a thought struck me, and my lips quirked upward.

“You brought Violet to soften me up, didn’t you?”

She grinned over her shoulder, utterly unabashed. “I use every weapon at my disposal.”

I snorted, oddly impressed by her cunning. Little shit.

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