Page 5 of Ruthless Alpha
I would have no such little joys on Ensign. Every other island knew to fear them, that their island was one of blood and brutality, utterly without beauty. In my naivete, I had hopedthat perhaps they were wrong, that the island was less than its reputation, but the moment I stepped off the bridge and onto their land, that hope died. It was colder on Ensign than it had been on Telaxis, and even then I’d been shivering in the revealing dress that had been fished out of the common store in an attempt to entice potential customers. I’d seen Xander’s eyes linger on my exposed chest, and I tried not to think about what that meant.
For now, at least, my new owner seemed to be doing his best to ignore me as we crossed the bleak plains of Ensign toward the town I could barely make out on the horizon. The island was almost entirely flat, with the exception of one great gray mountain looming over the landscape, so the wind whipped fiercely across it, barely held at bay by the sparse trees to the west that passed for a forest.
Xander didn’t seem phased by the chill wind at all, despite his lack of layers. The Alpha wore nothing but a pair of faded jeans and a tight-fitting t-shirt that stretched across the muscles of his chest and arms. I supposed that Ensign shifters were used to the cold. Would I become used to it, or would I be cold for the rest of my life?
The rest of my life. I would be spending the rest of my life on this island. I would never find my mate. I would live as this Alpha’s property until one of us died. The truth of it hit me all at once, and I stumbled from the weight of it, my vision blurring with the sudden onset of tears.
“You good?”
His voice was gruff, low, and utterly detached. I stared at the ground, trying to stop myself from trembling. I could feel his gaze on me, could imagine his irritation with me for stumbling, for stopping. I forced myself to nod, and heard him breathe outhard through his nose. I braced myself for a rough hand around my arm, tugging me forward, or even a palm against my cheek, but none came. When I dared to glance up at him through my eyelashes, Xander was only staring at me, waiting. He looked like he was chiseled from marble: a strong jaw and prominent cheekbones, with a Roman nose and eyes so dark it was like staring into a void.
When I was younger, I used to dream that I would meet my mate, that he would be handsome and strong enough to protect me, that he would take me away from my uncle and the miserable life I led on Arbor. In theory, Xander was all of that, but this wasn’t a dream—it was a nightmare. I didn’t want to be the Alpha of the most brutal Pack in the archipelago. I didn’t want to live on this half-dead island. I didn’t want to leave behind something awful, only to find myself somewhere worse.
I didn’t have any choice about any of that, so I forced my legs to keep moving, torn between the desire to keep my new owner happy and my fear of what awaited me once we reached town. Even from a distance, the place looks sharp and desolate. There were no familiar wooden cottages, each with its own plume of smoke curling up into the evening. Instead, all I could see were long, low buildings, all the same shade of stern gray.
“It’s probably not what you’re used to,” my new owner offered. It was an understatement. “I know other islands live in family units.”
He said it as if the concept was a novelty, as if it was abnormal or strange for mated couples to be housed together with their children.
“How do you live here?” I dared to ask.
“In dormitories, separated by sex,” he explained. “Mated females and their children under sixteen in the east quadrant.Unmated females over sixteen in the north quadrant. Males to the south and west, housed by rank. The training hall is also in the west. In the center, we’ve got things like commissary, laundry, that kind of thing.”
I nodded, as if the whole concept wasn’t foreign and terrifying. Was that where I would sleep tonight, in a dormitory surrounded by strange women I didn’t know? Would he take what he wanted from me and then send me off to sleep elsewhere?
My mind was racing as we entered the town proper, so much so that I barely took in my new and strange surroundings. We were coming up from Telaxis in the south, so that meant we entered the town through the males’ dormitory area. The scent of them was thick in the air, aggressive and overpowering, but we encountered no one on our walk through the maze of buildings. The streets were empty, but not quiet: the sound of raucous shouting, growling, and crashing came from within the buildings we passed, and each fresh sound made me flinch.
“They will have gotten out of training about half an hour ago,” said Xander, “and they’re waiting for dinner. Things can get a little fractious when they’re hungry.”
As if to prove his point, a crash and a sharp snarl came from the building to our left, and I startled. He smiled, like my fear was funny,and said,
“You’ll get used to it.”
I didn’t want to get used to it. I wanted to be home, even if its only comfort was familiarity.
Only once we reached the center of town did I start to see Pack members out in the street. They were no less raucous than their peers in the dormitories, and I flinched at every loud shout and sudden movement.
“Keep your eyes down,” Xander muttered. “Don’t look anyone in the eye.”
I might be new to Ensign, but I wasn’t a child. I knew full well the dangers of eyeballing a male. It wouldn’t go down well on Arbor, but I had a feeling it was even more dangerous on Ensign. Still, it was difficult to keep my eyes fixed on the ground when I didn’t know where I was going, when I couldfeeleyes on me from every direction, smell the scents of unfamiliar shifters, cooking meat, and sweat.
Suddenly, those scents faded into the background, and a new one took over. It was dark and volatile—gunpowder and blood—and I couldn’t help cringing away from it, even as I felt the heat of a male body come up close behind me.
“Who’s the girl, Alpha?” The voice was close, and I could feel breath on the back of my neck.
“Where’s she from?” Another voice up ahead. I could see dirty bare feet, smell copper and ozone. “They don’t make ‘em like this here.”
“You bring us back a present from the market?”
My stomach turned. Wasthatwhat he’d bought me for? Did he plan to share me out among his Packmates like a prize? Before my thoughts could spiral any further, a furious growl ripped through the still night air. The feet stumbled back, the scents smothered by Xander’s woodsmoke and pepper, and someone muttered,
“Just asking, no need to get aggro.”
They didn’t speak to him with the same obvious submission that Arbor males would to our Alpha, but I knew that if I dared to peek up, their necks would be bent. His claim was clear: I was the property of the Alpha, not to be touched by anyother male. I might have found comfort in that if I were here of my own volition.
Xander put a possessive hand on my shoulder, pushing me forward. I wanted to move, wanted to get away from the stink of males with their blood up, but my feet felt like they were made of lead. With that strong hand still on my shoulder, I forced my feet forward until I was standing on a porch not so dissimilar from the ones I was used to. Looking up through my lashes, I could see that there was at least one home on Ensign that wasn’t a dormitory, but a real house.
Inside, the Alpha’s residence was tidy but plain. The walls were unpainted stone, with no pictures or knick-knacks adorning them, no colorful blankets or pillows decorating the sparse furniture. Anyone at all could have lived here. Or no one.
