Page 28 of Alpha's Arranged Mate

"Come, Molly," the burly wolf beside her urged. "We shall live to fight another day."

Lottie gulped past the lump in her throat. She didn't like the sound of that, but it didn't seem to bother Braxton all that much as he gave Dash the nod to instruct his men.

Lottie watched as several of her pack, Ray included, stepped forward to apprehend the rebels.

Yet Braxton appeared to be more concerned with her as he turned her in his grip and placed his fingers beneath her chin. Urging her face up toward his, he asked, "You're sure you aren't hurt?"

Hearing the demon wolves being herded away, Lottie barely dared to respond. She feared what might happen if anyone noticed just how affectionate they were with each other, and suddenly remembering herself, she pulled herself from his arms.

"I'm fine," she said, perhaps a little harshly.

Feeling guilty, she looked at Braxton only to find him staring past her at his friends as they were marched back to the dungeons. There was hurt upon his face, but she was certain it wasn't down to her this time. Braxton was concerned about his pack. Whether he had ordered their incarceration or not, he still cared for them deeply, and it only made her admire him more.

Feeling a gut reaction to comfort him, Lottie stepped close to him once more and discreetly slipped her hand into his. Whispering, she said, "They will be okay. Dash will make sure of it."

"I know," Braxton responded, though it was clear he spoke through gritted teeth. He continued to stare after them as though he would have just as soon a followed as not.

"I will personally see to their care," Lottie assured him, even though she felt sick at the thought of caring for someone who had just been prepared to take her life. "They will be my pack soon, too."

She heard Braxton's sharp intake of breath and couldn't help but smile as he turned his gaze back down to hers. "After all this, you still wish to marry me?"

If she had been a cat shifter, Lottie might have purred. Pushing herself up onto her tiptoes, she whispered playfully in his ear, "If my alpha wills it."

Even as she said the words, her stomach twisted. Would Dash even allow her to marry him after what had just happened? Could the alliance possibly still stand when the demon wolf rebels had threatened the lives of innocent Silverdale children?

Lottie glanced across the square to where Melody was still comforting them. She had been joined by Billy, the ex-demon wolf whose own child had been brought into the pack after the final battle. And somehow, Lottie was almost certain that one way or another, the alliance would stand.

There were already so many ties binding the two packs together. How could it not?

At the clearing of Braxton's throat, Lottie looked back at him to see that he had fixed Dash in his gaze. "We should get this alliance cemented as soon as possible. My packmates might be over-aggressive at times, but they are right. They have waited long enough to be free."

Lottie's throat constricted. She wasn't at all sure how her cousin might react to such forwardness. She was only relieved when Dash leveled his gaze with Braxton's and gave a firm and decisive nod.

"Spoken like a true alpha," he said with a smirk, and a wave of relief washed over Lottie. The acceptance on the alpha's face was one thing, but Lottie couldn't help but notice the dark glares from some of the demon wolves as they witnessed their alpha standing so close by Lottie.

She desperately fought the urge to step away from him, not wishing to give them any more reason to deny the alliance.

Just hang on a few more days, she told herself. The finish line was within reach. They just had to make it there without the Silverdales sniffing deceit.

Chapter 13 - Braxton

The rebellion had been averted for now. Braxton, more than ever, needed the chance to calm down. Oddly, he felt the urge to go right back to the cell beneath the manor right beside his packmates. Times had been much simpler when he was down there with them. Now he felt like an outsider on all fronts, working with the Silverdales to ensure peace while also butting heads with his own pack.

Perhaps he ought to have been more like his father, but it was next to impossible. Just threatening his own packmates with allowing the witches to have their way with them had been painful enough for him.

But deep down he knew he had to do whatever it took to make peace and get those he could out of Silverdale, back home where they belonged. And so he returned to his new guest room within the manor—alone—to think.

He locked the door and paced up and down, still filled with fury at the fact Molly and Frank of all people had been the ones to betray him. He could have been like his father and killed them where they stood, but what would that accomplish, other than making him just as feared as his father had been? Though he had never really hoped to be alpha one day, he had always told himself that if it came into being, he would most definitely not be like his father. So how else was he supposed to rule, if his pack did not respect him enough to trust him with the fact that he was going to do what was best for them in the long run?

Frustration, anger and indecisiveness were a terrible mix, and he growled deep in his throat, storming up and down the room with the urge to tear into all of the furniture.

A transformation and a run through the woods was exactly what he needed, but no doubt those of his pack who were left might see it as him running away. There was no way he could allow them to think that now. Not after what had just happened. He could feel the very thin line he trod slowly disappearing beneath him, and he knew that everything hung on what he did now.

He was just beginning to wonder whether he ought to go back to Dash’s office and finish their earlier meeting when there was a knocking on the door.

For a second, his heart raced with the hope that it might be Lottie. The way she had run to him and thrown herself into his arms had been enough to light his soul aflame. Even now, when he was trying his hardest to concentrate on the needs of his pack, she slipped into his mind unbidden.

A part of him knew that it would be best if it was not her on the other side of the door, and yet he hoped.

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