Page 10 of Ruthless Alpha
For a few moments, I didn’t know what to do with myself. The argument had been intense, but there was no broken glass to sweep up, no shelves or tables to set back in order. The room looked as if nothing had happened at all, as if Xander had simply finished his breakfast and wandered off to training with a smile. That might have been exactly what happened if only I hadn’t said anything about the witch. Stupid, it was so stupid. I should have known he was part of the Alliance; I should have remembered that Ensign was a witch-loving island. I should have known, and I should have kept my mouth shut.
I gathered up the few dishes with trembling hands, still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Without anything being broken, without the sharp sting of a palm against my cheek, how did I know it was over? The air was still crackling with leftover tension, and I kept expecting to hear the door burst open, to feel a hand on the back of my neck, but it never came.
It was only the repetitive motion of scrubbing the dishes that soothed me, and by the time I finished, every pot and every dish was cleaner than when I took them out of the cupboard. Themorning had been so quiet, then. So peaceful. For a moment, it had even seemed like Xander cared about me, like a life with him might not be as awful as I’d feared.
Maybe it was for the best that I’d spoken up. When he was kind, it was far too easy to forget that he’d bought me like property, that he was no better than any of the humans who had attended Axton’s auctions, no better than my uncle, who had seen me as an asset rather than a person.
If he was no better than any of them, then he could be placated the same way. My uncle wasn’t a complicated man. A clean house and a good dinner could make him forget all the reasons he’d been screaming at us over breakfast. Xander’s kitchen might not be full of baking supplies, but he had enough in his pantry for some sugar cookies. If I was proud of anything, it was the power my sugar cookies had to bring even the most ornery male back under control.
There was another option, of course. One that wasn’t food or housekeeping or speaking sweetly and softly. That wasn’t an option I was ready to think about, no matter how effective it might be, no matter how much the thought of it made me throb between my thighs; despite what he’d said the previous evening, I’d noticed the way he looked at me. And what would he buy me for if he didn’t want that?
I pushed the thought away. For now, I could make do with the skills I had. A thoughtfully packed lunch and a little package of sugar cookies would seem like an apology without my having to give one. I would bring it to him in the training building. I would look demure, pliant, and sorry. I would manage him the same way I’d been managing my uncle for the last ten years.
Perhaps it was all an illusion, but I felt my composure return as I set out my ingredients and my utensils. It would allbe fine, I told myself as I poured flour and sugar into the mixing bowl. I was in control. I knew how to survive.
Chapter 5 - Xander
I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I shouldn’t have yelled at her. I shouldn’t have expected a young girl from Arbor to understand or accept that she’d been fed ignorant bullshit about witches from birth. It shouldn’t have bothered me the way it did, and yet I hadn’t been able to keep my emotions in check.
For all the time I spent around my own Pack, none of them were my friends. They couldn’t be if I wanted to keep my status and my life. I hadn’t had siblings or a particularly close relationship with my parents when they were alive. It simply wasn’t how we operated on Ensign. It was only when Caleb Thorne came to Ensign for his Heir’s Tour and decided that we were going to be friends—and that I was going to be friends with hisotherfriends, whether I liked it or not—that I even realized there had been a void inside me. In my darker moments, I wondered if I would have ended up like any other Ensign Alpha—caring for nothing but power—if I’d never met them. I might be the eldest among them, but it was their influence that shaped me, not the other way around. Seeing how they ran their islands put my own into stark perspective, and they’d inspired me to make changes to Ensign life, even if I could only risk small ones without having half the island challenge me for my position.
My friends were more important to me than they could ever know, and I would defend them until my dying breath. The same went for their mates. Alyssa and Julia had both been through too much for me to sit back and hear anyone—even a girl who didn’t know what she was talking about—call them unnatural. If Rosie was going to stay here, she was going to have to learn that witches were people just the same as her. No matter what apparent insanity she inspired in me, I wouldn’t make my home a place where my friends felt unwelcome.
I would talk to Rosie properly when I returned that evening. I’d pick her up some more appropriate clothes and sit her down andgentlyexplainthat she’d been fed a bunch of lies. I’d tell her it wasn’t her fault, that she didn’t know better, and that I was sorry for blowing up at her. In the meantime, I had some steam to let off; the Ensign males were in for a world of hurt.
Usually, I had to contend with at least a little anxiety ahead of every day’s training: the Ensign Alpha only remained in his position for as long as he was the strongest male in the Pack. The moment I slipped, the moment I lost a fight, I would be facing the threat of deposition. If I were any other Alpha, I might look forward to it: Sam would no doubt live out the rest of his days on Telaxis in comfort, with the eternal respect of his Pack. For me, deposition meant death, and any morning might be my last. Any slip would cost me my rank and my life.
There was no room for anxiety that morning; my blood was hot with frustration, my muscles coiled and ready for action. The door of the training center clattered open as I entered, and every eye in the place was on me. I was late—not that anyone was going to point that out—and the First Division had been warming up with weights and cardio.
“Drop it. Come in,” I barked, and they scrambled to put down bars, dumbbells, and jump-ropes, rushing to gather around the boxing ring that dominated the space. At least, most of them did. Two hung back, putting their equipment away with unhurried ease. I should have expected this from them, but I thought my foul mood would be clear enough to put their egos on ice for at least one morning.
Tanner and Chance were in their mid-twenties, which meant they were old enough to have developed an ego and young enough to be stupid about it. Both were strong, good fighterswho were always willing to test out new developments and work with the weapon developers, but over the last few months, they seemed to love nothing more than testing their boundaries. Tanner might even be angling for a challenge, but I knew I could put him down if I needed to.
“That means you as well,” I snapped at the pair of them, but Chance only grinned as the pair sauntered over.
“What are you in such a mood for, Alpha?” he asked, like we were buddies meeting for brunch. Before I could snarl another order at him, Tanner decided to contribute to the conversation.
“I saw that girl you brought home from Telaxis,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “With tits like that, Iknowshe’s not a bad fuck.”
The air went out of the room as every other male tensed. Comments like that about another shifter’s female didn’t fly unless you wanted to fight, and I was going to give Tanner exactly what he’d asked for.
“Sounds like someone’s volunteering to go first.”
The color drained from his face, belying the casual shrug with which he responded.
“Bring it,” he said, as if he didn’t know exactly what was in store for him. I might keep my temper on a short leash most of the time, but I’d let it loose on enough occasions that every male on the island knew what to expect: training was going to be bloody, and whoever went first would probably end up in the med building for the rest of the day. Even Tanner wasn’t cocky enough to think he’d escape that fate.
“We’ll be doing one-on-ones today,” I announced as Tanner stepped into the ring. “Since Tanner’s feeling brave thismorning, he’ll go first, then Chase, then we’ll see who’s feeling brave.”
I turned to Tanner, who was rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck, trying not to look like he was about to piss himself.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Always am,” replied Tanner.
The moment the words left his mouth, I was on him, his cheekbone crunching beneath my knuckles before he knew what was coming. I didn’t stop there, landing a quick jab to his stomach as his hands sprang up to his face. He doubled over, winded, and I took a few seconds to ask the surrounding fighters,
“What was Tanner’s first mistake?”
