Pregnant Alpha Mate (Silver Valley Arranged Mates #3)

Chapter 1 - Shane

As I turn off the main road from Silver Valley onto the country lane, I slam my foot down on the gas, pressing the pedal to the floor.

The tires squeal against the asphalt, and it just makes me long for more speed.

When I reach the turn-off for the dirt track, I barely slow down, and my little hunk of junk teeters wildly on two wheels before finally finding the road again.

Don’t fall apart on me now, you piece of shit. I can’t take any more bad news.

Even though my car is shuddering and shaking like it might literally fall to pieces, I don’t slow down. The dirt road dips and twists, and the vibrations run up my arms and into my shoulders as I struggle to keep her steady.

I have to get to the manor.

The thought drifts through the fog in my mind, the only point of clarity within me. I’ve spent so many days wrung out by worry and helplessness that I’ve gotten pretty good at shielding my pain, but now it’s all threatening to come out at once.

Liza, gone. I can’t believe this. I won’t accept this!

A wave of grief and loss floods through me, so powerful that my vision wavers and I have to grip the steering wheel. The sickness stalking the pack has slowly gotten stronger and faster, but this morning was the moment it reached into my chest and almost tore out my heart.

Liza was known as our Den Mother. No one knew how old she was, and she refused to tell. My mother told me once that Liza had been old even when she was a child.

She took care of me, after… everything. She took care of us all.

When the pack began to fall ill, Liza was the first person to step up as a caretaker. For almost a year now, she had tirelessly run our infirmary, seeing us through the worsening days and keeping our hope alive as we watched the other packs recover while we didn’t.

A week ago, she fell ill, and even though I knew what had to happen, I managed to lie to myself every single day. When she finally slipped away in my arms this morning, the shock was so extreme that I lost control of myself for a few minutes.

Everyone was crying and screaming… It’s not like I was the only one losing it. Liza was bulletproof. She’d survived everything the pack ever had to face. I wasn’t alone in grief and shock.

Before I even really knew what happened, I was in my car, speeding towards the manor. I’ve had to watch the other packs recover while mine slowly dwindles, and now I know I can’t wait one second more.

If Liza can die, anyone can die. How long until they are all gone?

The thought horrifies me. The pack are my family, every single one of them. I’ve tried to be patient, I’ve gone through all the stupid rituals that didn’t work, but now something has to be done.

Liza’s final moments replay through my head again, and I blink hard, trying to think of something, anything else. I can feel her in my arms, her thin, frail body weighing almost nothing as she takes her final breath.

“Shane… love. The answer is love.”

The whisper was so soft, I barely heard it. I’ll remember her last words forever, but I can’t help but think she wasted them.

We know that already, after seeing what happened with the other packs.

Who exactly am I supposed to love, though?

The car shoots over a small rise, becoming airborne for a second, then crashing back down with a horrible clunk that makes every bolt and nut squeal. I wince and grip the steering wheel, focusing a bit more on my driving as I come through the trees onto the gravel drive in front of the manor.

The place still looks foreboding, but no longer grotesque. Since the success of the previous rituals, the vibe at the old house has changed, even if it hasn’t fully lifted.

I suppose my bride will make the transformation complete.

Part of me shrinks away from those words. I know what will eventually happen, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I never really thought about having a mate, even though I knew I’d have to someday—and I sure as fuck never considered a human or a witch for my partner.

I set my teeth together in determination as I pull the car up to such a sudden stop, gravel sprays around it, pinging off the sides.

Rhys is going to kill me. He just fixed the fucking thing again.

I get out of the car and look up at the high windows.

The manor is completely dark, which unsettles me a bit.

Far beyond it, the sun has just sunk under the horizon, leaving the sky a violent shade of orange.

Even though the place has no electricity, I expected to see the soft glow of candles or torches.

Unless everyone is dead.

Cold fingers of fear tickle across my guts, and I hurry inside. Now that I’m here, I’m not even sure what I want to do. I was in such a panic to get away from the infirmary and find a solution, I didn’t think through what I’d actually do when I got here.

Talk to the council. If they’re still alive.

Even though the council hasn’t gotten better like the rest of Silver Valley and Diamond Springs packs, they have been stable. I’ve got no reason to think something has happened to them—except for the fully dark windows.

When I slip through the front door, it gives an impressively spooky creak as I push it back and close it behind me. There’s a flicker of light in the hall to the left, so I know there has to be a meeting going on.

That’s where they all are. That’s why there are no lights.

I pace down the hallway, ready to bust in on the meeting and shake everyone down, but I stop dead when I hear the voices echoing through the stone hall.

“Please, just wait. We can’t rush this.”

Sadie?

“I understand,” Rafe replies. “But I don’t think we have a choice.”

“It would be far worse to act before we really know,” Trina says. “It will only mean more death, more loss.”

“Look at me,” Darla hisses, her voice harsh as she tries to speak through her ruined throat. “Does it look like I have time to wait? Do any of us?”

“I understand,” Sadie says. “But we have to do the ritual again. We can’t do anything until we confirm.”

“And then you’ll go?” Neville asks. “You’ll bring her back here if the ritual names her again?”

Her?

My heart pounds so hard, my head spins, and I have to lean on the wall. I wonder briefly how long it’s been since I ate or slept, but dismiss the thought immediately.

There are more important things than eating or sleeping!

“Well,” Sadie answers. “I’ll certainly—”

“Oh, stop!” Darla tries to snap. “We need to do this! I’m sick of hearing your excuses. We have to act now.”

“If we’re wrong, then we’ll destroy her,” Trina begs. “I can’t take away her autonomy. I know exactly how that feels.”

“And you?” Neville asks, his voice hushed. “Are you destroyed?”

“Yes,” Trina whispers. “And I was remade.”

“Well, then,” Neville replies, as if that settles everything. I can imagine the intense look he’s giving her. So far, every argument Trina and Sadie have tried to give to the council has fallen flat.

They’re talking about my bride as if they know who she is.

Briefly, I think back to the times I performed the ritual with Sadie. Only once did the drop of blood settle on a location, and it was very weak. We repeated it multiple times, and it never happened again.

Sadie said it was a mistake. That we had to keep trying.

Voices are rising at the end of the hall again, and I’m about to stride in there and add my voice to the clamor when Trina shouts over everyone.

“Hyacinth is innocent!” she yells. “She knows nothing of our ways, or this town. I was close to the mystery, and so was Sadie. Hyacinth is just a random woman; she didn’t even grow up around here. How can she possibly be related to Lynette?”

“That’s not my fucking problem!” Darla thunders back, her voice cracking. “The ritual chose her. We are dying. Something has to be done, don’t you see that?”

“It was one extremely weak hit,” Sadie says softly, as if she’s trying to calm the room. “A false positive. We have to try again.”

“We have to tell Shane,” Neville says. “He deserves a say in this.”

“No,” Sadie replies. “There’s no point in telling him until we’re sure. I wouldn’t want him acting out of emotion and fucking up the whole thing. We’re so close now.”

I lean against the wall, almost trembling hard enough to collapse.

They’re talking about my future, the possible recovery of my pack—and they don’t think I need to hear this?

“You know how I feel,” Darla says, her voice turning desperate.

“But it has worked. Every time, and this is exactly how it happened with both of you. We need to act now—don’t you realize our matriarch died this morning?

She was effectively immortal, and if the curse can take her, it can take anyone. ”

“I appreciate how far you’ve come, Darla,” Sadie replies. “But performing the ceremony with the wrong woman would only make things much worse.”

“Sadie,” Neville says, pleading with her. “You also know my feelings on this. I hate to push, you know that. But it is a fact that both of you were brought in unwilling, and now you’ve finally found your strength and power. Why couldn’t it be the same for your friend?”

“Like I said, she can’t possibly have a blood connection,” Trina answers. “And she really is completely innocent of our ways. There isn’t a hint of magic in her.”

“We thought the same thing about you,” Neville replies.

“I know,” Trina sighs.

“How about we get Shane in tomorrow?” Sadie says. “And try the ritual again?”

“You’ve tried it dozens of times,” Darla growls. “And it only worked that once. I say go and get that woman, right now, and do the binding ritual. At the rate the sickness is spreading, all of us will be dead in a week. What’s worth more—her comfort, or our lives?”

“You may have come far, Darla,” Sadie says in a hard tone. “But not far enough. You really don’t think Hyacinth has any rights, do you?”

An uncomfortable silence falls, quickly replaced by a rising rumble of voices as everyone launches into the argument at once. I take long, slow steps backwards, touching the wall lightly to keep my balance.

Hyacinth… who is that?

It takes me a few moments, but I finally place her. I haven’t spent any length of time with her, only been briefly introduced when we were out as a group. Even though I’m wracking my brain, I can’t remember exactly what she looks like.

She’s human, so I probably didn’t pay much attention.

The others are still arguing as I slip down the hallway, and I’m not really sure of what I’m doing until I’m outside in the fresh air, standing beside my car.

The smart thing to do is to go back in there and do the ritual again. Then we might have confirmation.

I look back at the door, but I know I’m not going back in there. The council is right that we’ve performed the ritual over and over, and absolutely nothing has happened except for that one time the drop of blood marked a place on the map.

Sadie said it was weird for it to move so slowly, and she didn’t trust the final mark. Did she know, then, that it was Hyacinth?

The idea stills my heart in my chest, because if she knew at that moment and didn’t tell me, then maybe Liza didn’t have to die.

Furiously, I push the thought away.

If I continue to think like that, I’ll truly go mad.

Then an even worse idea pops up, and it makes my chest ache as if my heart is twisting into knots.

Did Rhys and Owen know, too? Surely their wives would have told them. Is everyone keeping me in the dark here?

Through the cold shock and lingering fear, a blinding hot rage begins to burn. It fills my chest, running through my veins like molten steel, strengthening me and leaving only one course of action in my mind.

This little baker may be the solution to all our problems. She’s the only solution we have.

Without thinking, I turn and jump in my car, slamming the door behind me. I rip out of the driveway, spraying gravel again as my car does an admirable job of tackling the dirt lane.

I’m going to get her. I’ll figure out what to do after that.

Even though my head is reeling and my emotions are still high, I feel a lot better than I did when I came here. I have some purpose now, even if it isn’t the solution.

It’s a first step. Hyacinth might not be the right woman, but the only way to find out is to make contact with her.

As my foot slams down hard on the pedal, I convince myself that’s the only reason I’m going to the bakery—to talk to her, and maybe get a feel for if she could be the right one.

But deep down, something dark is rising in me, and I know that I’m desperate enough to do whatever it takes to save my pack.