Page 5 of Wolf's Reckoning
Some succumbed to the need. Some did not.
I did not. I had never been with a partner when the heat struck. I was no blushing virgin, but any coupling I had been part of had been when I knew my heat was nowhere near.
In addition to enduring the heat, the Goddess also blessed us with the blood of the moon. Like human women, we bled monthly.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it. Goddess Luna made it so that only a male shifter could be alpha. I snorted in contempt. Even the humans allowed their women to rule. Tolead.
Not shifters. Alphas were male andonlymale.
I closed my eyes against the injustice of our Goddess. The druid had laughed at my observations when I was younger and told me that, because females could not only endure these trials but alsoovercomethem, that meant female shifters were the stronger of the race.
It had sounded good for about five minutes and had appeased my ire. Until I learned of a female in our pack who had gone into heat, alone in the forest, and a hunting pack of males had come across her. She was unmated. Unbound to any male. Her heat was on her, and the males were drunk on her scent. I’d been too young to understand it then, but I remember my mother leaving the hall with the wives of my father’s betas.
When I was older and knew more about our heat and the need to mate, I realized my mother had gone to check on the female and ensure that, while it was unconventional for a female to take multiple partners during her heat, it had been consensual.
While Luna may have cursed us with this dependency on males, it was still a choice on who we chose to take into our bodies.
We were shifters. Our wolves shaped our personalities, defined who we were, governed our nature, and that nature demanded webreed. Survival of the fittest ruled everything. The harsh reality was that, for any species to thrive, there needed to be a species to fight for.
But no matter what, no still meant no.
We could shift our forms from human to wolves, but that did not mean we were animals.
There wasalwaysa choice.
I sniffed. Well. Unless you were a true mate. Only alphas were blessed with atrue destinedmate. The rest of us picked wisely, but it was said that Luna herself chose the mate of an alpha. A bond so strong neither shifter could resist it. One female meant for one male only. To support. Toserve.
I thanked the stars that I would never have to endurethatbond. To be tied to a male like that? With no say in who I would spend my life with? Nope. No thank you.
My father already had gray in his hair when he met my mother, his mate. He’d spent years as alpha of Blueridge Hollow before our Goddess sent my mother his way, years without her and such a short time with her. It was another sign from the Goddess that a pack was blessed. Not only was there an alpha, but there was also an alpha’s mate. What more could you want?
A male heir with the alpha gene.
Instead, my father got a daughter.
On the plus side, I had the freedom to fall in love and pick my own husband. I allowed myself the fantasy for a few seconds until reality reared its head.
In truth, I had no freedom to choose. I was as stuck as the true mate. I was an alpha’s daughter, and daughters of leaders did not get to choose their partner based on something so weak aslove.
They chose duty. Pack honor.Loyalty. I snorted with contempt. I would like to think that my father would listen tomychoice, but ultimately, he would decide my husbandbased on what was best for the pack. On who would serve the pack the best. On whatstrangerto our ways could be molded the easiest by the druid and tolerated easiest by me.
How many like me resented every single bit of the duty we shouldered for the good of the pack? Or was I, as the druid liked to mutter, too strong-willed?
My father was an excellent alpha. Strong. Fierce. Wise. He had taught me everything I knew about pack politics and how to be a good leader. But what neither of us could change was the fact that I was his only child…and packs did not follow a sole female leader. It wasn’t our way. Males led in a shifter society because it was the design of the Goddess that an alphashouldlead every pack.
It was more apparent day by day that my father would be too weak to defend this pack. The sooner I had a husband, a male who would take my father’s place, the sooner I would be able to give them my guidance on how to lead this pack.
I knew time was running out.
A knock sounded on my door. Sharp. Deliberate.
I didn’t answer. I already knew who it was and what they would want to talk about.
The druid was as obsessed with marrying me off as was my father. Probably more so. I didn’t need to answer the door. I didn’t need to have the conversation. I already knew what they’d say. What they always said.
“You’re the alpha’s daughter. You have a duty.” Or their other favorite. “Your marriage could secure Blueridge Hollow’s future.” Then they’d talk about strengthening packlands. Alliances. Ensuring bloodlines were preserved.
The druid would try to be subtle. They’d word it in sucha way that made you think it was a choice. But I knew better.
