Page 17 of Claimed By the Alpha Wolves

When the song changes, I move away from the girl with the tinsel in her hair, who pouts at me playfully, but moves onto the next alpha with little resistance. I keep moving through the crowd, deciding to try my luck around the walls.

She was shy. Didn’t want to be around the people and the party. If I’m going to find her, it’ll likely be in an alcove somewhere, her pretty little face hiding behind her hair. I imagine her face when she sees me again, that mix of interest and caution. Just enough of a chase for it to feel good when she gives into me.

I think about her waiting for me along the wall, then picture another alpha finding her before I can, and something hot and possessive pulses through my veins.What the hell?The emotion is foreign and upsetting to me, but it doesn’t make me slow in my search for her. If anything, it makes me move faster.

Taking an interest in this omega means nothing.It doesn’t. One pretty face doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want an omega. It doesn’t change the fact that I’d rather be dragged over hot coals than give up my life of fun and traveling just to be saddled with an omega. Stuck with my father and my pack, like a miserable prisoner.

That’s right. I can want this omega, just as long as I only want her for the night. That’s all I can offer anyone right now.

But first, I have to figure out where the hell she went.

Ezra might be able to help me find her.I reach into my pocket, fishing out my phone and trying his number. It rings through twice.That boring bastard is probably already upstairs, tucked into bed so he can get up early and prepare for the day’s events.Damn it. I need his help.

For all I know, every time I move to one area of the room, she heads for the other. This could all just be a game to her. A game I could win with Ezra’s help, if only he’d pick up his damn phone.

Suddenly, there’s a body on mine, and a massive alpha is laughing as he tries to regain his footing. I push him playfully back into the group, though I am annoyed that he’s interrupted me. When I look back out into the throng of dancers, I see the guy rejoin the fun, an omega immediately coming to grind on him, two others sidling up to each arm.

What the hell am I doing, looking around for a single girl, when there’s a whole room full of them ready to fall at my feet?I push back into the crowd, taking a shot from a nearby waiter and downing it. I’d hoped the liquor would make me more reasonable, but my entire body is burning for her.When I find that girl again, I’m going to have her, just to get her out of my head.

My body loosens up and I snatch a girl from a nearby alpha, who bares his teeth at me but is immediately distracted by a different girl in a red dress. The girl is pretty. Nothing likethe other, but good enough for some fun. But my body doesn’t respond to her.

That doesn’t mean you have to turn her away.

Just as I’m about to get my hands on the woman in front of me, my phone starts to ring, and I curse under my breath, fishing it out of my pocket. It could be Ezra, whom I haven’t seen since we drank wine together at the start of the ball. And if it’s him, he can help me find the omega and finally calm whatever fire started burning inside of me.

But, of course, it’s not Ezra, who is probably tucked away and fast asleep in his room.

It’s my father.

He’s probably calling about The Selection. To see if I’ve chosen an omega, if I’ll be bringing her home to the pack so we can settle down and have a million children and never leave the territory again while he rules over us with an iron fist. He wouldn’t trust me to pick one myself though. Instead, he’ll call me every hour, on the hour, giving me instructions about who to choose and why. He’ll want me to walk him through everything I’m doing, so he can criticize and try to control what I’m doing.

Like always, I’m unable to stop the flood of anger and resentment that crashes into my body when I think about him. The rage is so powerful that I have to take deep breaths to stop myself from shifting in the middle of the party, and I hate that he has that kind of control over me.

Ezra and I have always been close, in neighboring packs, but our childhoods couldn’t have been more different. Ezra was always treated with respect. The golden child. He always made the right decisions, and even came to council meetings with his dad, so he could learn about the process of one day being the leader of the pack.

My dad on the other hand? He was always assuming I was going to fuck something up. He didn’t even give me a chance toprove myself. He sent me away from important meetings, never allowing me a chance to stand on my own feet, but muttering about the ways Ididspend my time, even though he didn’t want me around.

For me, growing up under my father was a constant battle. He expected me to be perfect, to have every answer, to grow into the perfect son, just like Ezra, but he never gave me the benefit of the doubt, or challenged me in any meaningful way. He just seemed to want me to naturally be everything he ever wanted, without teaching me a single thing. It was impossible. A no-win situation for me.

Instead of taking the responsibility onto himself for failing to raise me properly, he just told people that some people aren’t natural leaders. He just watched me spend my time with girls and booze, smirking about the complete fuck-up I’d become. Like he didn’t have any part in it.

The phone continues to buzz in my hand.

Someday, I’ll be able to outright block his number. But today isn’t that day.

I stare down at the caller I.D. for a long moment, until the call eventually rings out. Then I slip my phone back into my pocket and find a woman to grind on, my thoughts going back to the beautiful omega. The one I’d stay away from, if I was smart.

Unfortunately, as my father often reminds me, I’m not a very smart man.

NINE

Faye

The front lawn of the castle stretches out until it meets up with the woods, the carefully maintained lawn standing at complete odds to the wild forest surrounding it. The air is warm. Conversation buzzes around me, both from the side of the lawn with the omegas, and the side with the alphas, and I try everything in me not to think about last night.

About Kurt.

Addilyn had done her best to help cover up the bruises on my throat with her makeup, so I wouldn’t draw attention to myself at breakfast, muttering about that bastard Kurt the whole time. Luckily for me, she was an omega who understood that speaking up might be more dangerous than staying silent, especially after she saw what I went through with my brother’s murder, so she’d promised to keep my secret about what had happened. She’d also, kindly, allowed us to drop the unpleasant topic, knowing I didn’t want to keep talking about it, which was a relief.

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