The Alpha’s Chosen Outcast

12. TREY

Chapter 12

TREY

This whole thing seems pointless with every new prospect I find. Heather needs to marry, fine, I can accept that. But I can’t let her marry someone who is cruel, or older than my own father, or who won’t give her any freedom.

I know I felt that bond snap into place when we met. I know that’s what spurred us on the last time we were together.

But I’m not an Alpha, and I can’t marry her. Father seems to be growing weaker every day, and that means it may not be long before I’m Alpha myself. I still can’t take that risk.

She doesn’t have time—a few weeks at best, not even a month. My role as her mate could be to protect her still, to be her friend, her person.

I’m not exactly sure what that means in the long run. Right now, it means that I need to make sure she stays alive.

I can’t explore what the mating bond means if she’s dead, which brings us back to these men—the Alpha suitors she’ll have to choose from. Each of them appears worse than the last. She’s running out of time, though.

As I go through the files, the wolf inside me becomes increasingly enraged at the thought of one of these men even getting to touch my mate.

I want it to be me, and there’s a part of me that has hoped my father would go to his final rest sooner rather than later so that there wouldn’t be a question about which Alpha should marry Heather.

But she doesn’t have that kind of time, and I can’t gamble her life on that possibility. As much as my wolf is pounding in my mind not to let this happen, I have to ignore that impulse.

I need her to survive. I need her to be here. I can’t leave my pack. And I can’t lose her either.

I see one of my friends from a Midwest pack has logged on to our Alpha Circles Discord. We use private channels to talk there and build business relationships.

I’ve been vetting Alphas under the guise of possible new trade deals. As an executive at my father’s company, that’s part of my job. It should pose no real suspicion for ulterior motives.

I want to grease the wheels, so to speak, and maybe talk Heather up as one of my friends before I bring up the idea of them marrying her.

I checked my Discord messages and saw that my friend in the Midwest pack is getting back to me about some questions I asked. I want to know more about his Alpha and how he behaves with his pack.

The message is disappointing. My friend says that his Alpha is incredibly strict about the old laws.

I know that this loophole we’re trying for is part of those ancient laws, but if this guy is strict about it in the first place, he wouldn’t want to work with me after I didn’t report an exile in my territory the moment she arrived. He’d just as soon kill her himself, let alone marry her.

Another potential suitor who isn’t going to work. Not to mention another Alpha I can’t do business with either.

Someone who isn’t willing to bend now and then isn’t someone who can work with business owners in this city. I send the file to Heather, along with screenshots of the conversation with my friend.

I advise her here and there when I send her files, but I feel it’s essential to show her all the prospects and information. As much as I hope she won’t pick this guy and think she probably won’t, it still has to be her choice in the end.

This is her life, and she needs to be comfortable with this decision. There aren’t many allowances for divorce in wolf culture.

Part of me still wishes I could control this situation more. I wish I could hate her enough to want to carry out her proper sentence. Instead, I can’t stop thinking about my dick in her mouth and the way she swallowed down everything I gave her as she sucked.

I can’t stop thinking about how wet she was for me, the way she tasted on my fingers, and all the ways I had to stop myself from letting it go further.

I’m shaken by these thoughts again as my claws dig into my palms. Another byproduct of thinking about Heather and what we did last time we met is that my wolf parts begin to manifest.

This tends to be awkward when I’m out at the bar with the guys or bored in a meeting with the executives.

The people around me know I’m a wolf, and most of the businesses and other people I interact with are wolves. The humans know about us but it’s another thing to see it happen in front of you.

I can’t give my pack any reason to think I’m not in complete control of my wolf form. Now that we’ve “come out of the woods,” people in this city know a little more about who our family is and the power we have.

Violet is part of that. I know that Alphas are a traditionally male role and female Alphas only ascend through marriage. However, when I take over this pack, she will have a powerful role as well.

Violet is a good strategist and she’s an important part of our public relations team. People know her. Maybe she should have a bigger role in this whole plan, too.

She’s been spending more time at the shop with Heather lately. I know that most of it is due to Heather fitting the dress properly and that they’re getting close to finishing it.

But part of that time is also Violet and Heather becoming friends. It’s obvious because of the way Violet talks about her. They’re definitely close.

I’m glad for that. I know that Heather left friends behind when she came back here. I know she’s cut off from her parents and desperately wants to see them again.

So Violet being her friend is a good filler for that void. At least, I hope it is.

I think it’s still time to let my sister in on the real situation going on with our father. I ask her to meet me in the archives. We won’t be bothered by prying ears there.

“Why did you ask me here to talk with all the creepy old books around us?”

Violet does not pull any punches. She gets right to the point, and she doesn’t care what people think about it. I’ve always loved this about her.

“I need to tell you the truth about Father.”

“What do you mean?” Her eyebrows furrow. “What have you lied about?”

“He’s a lot sicker than I’ve let on. In fact, I don’t think he’s going to be able to walk you down the aisle at your wedding.”

“Not like he’s been there for any other big events, but this is certainly a new excuse.”

“Violet!”

“What? You were the one at every competition I did, every school play, my high school graduation, my college graduation, and when I first met Brody, you were the one I wanted to talk to most about him. Not Father.”

“True, but you know he was doing important work.”

“He was securing more power. Which was only important to him. I don’t give two fucks if we lose everything and end up poor.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I really don’t, Trey. I have skills that I’ve proven on my own before I came to work for Hanover Inc. You have skills, too. We could get by, even if we have to move somewhere else.”

“I guess you might be right there.”

She crosses her arms and parks one of those bratty pouts on her face. “It’s settled then.”

“What’s settled?”

“You’ll walk me down the aisle. We’ll make some excuse about why Father can’t be there and I don’t think anyone will notice anyway.”

“That’s probably true.”

She lets her arms fall to her side, and I see that look on her face. The look that says she’s about to use this information as leverage.

“I want a favor in return.”

“Of course you do.” That look never lies.

“I want to tell Brody.”

“We’ve been over this. You can’t tell him, it’s too big a risk.”

“I can keep him calm, Trey. I can make sure he doesn’t tell anyone about what’s going on. He could be of use with Heather’s Alpha issue too. His brother is the Alpha for his old pack, after all.”

“He is?”

“I can’t believe you didn’t know that. I’ve definitely talked about it.”

“You talk about a lot of things, Vi.”

“Okay, well, his brother is a few years older than you, and he’s the Alpha in his pack. Brody and I had to go ask his formal permission to marry and everything.”

“You did?”

“Oh my god, do you ever listen?”

“Yes,” I say with a sharp edge.

“Anyway, he lives over near Albany. It’s about three hours from the city.”

“Not being in the city is fine as long as she stays alive.”

“I can ask Brody to talk to him.”

“Fine, you can tell Brody. But make sure he understands the utter importance of maintaining secrecy in this matter.”

She beams at me. “I will, I promise.”

“I mean it. This is Heather’s life on the line, you get that, don’t you?”

Violet looks at me and smiles with that patronizing face she makes when she’s trying to placate me. I cross my arms and meet her with my own look, one she’s seen many times while we were growing up.

“She told me you felt the mating bond.”

“Fuck.” My knees almost buckle, and my arms fall limp to my sides.

“That makes her part of my pack, my family, exile or not. I’m not going to let anything happen to her, and I’ll make sure Brody won’t either. I have just as much prerogative to protect her now.”

I honestly didn’t think she’d take it this way. There’s more to this, though. We may have decided that I will walk her down the aisle. In the meantime, people will have questions, and I want Violet to know that I intend for her to be part of my leadership team.

I gather myself, straighten my spine, and take a deep breath.

“Okay.” I nod at her. “We can do this. I need your help with this transition. I want people to see that both of the Hanover siblings are in charge. If Father’s gone, I’m the CEO. I want you to be Chairperson of the Board, Head of the PR Department, and Head of the HR Department.”

She opens and closes her mouth but doesn’t say anything. I smile at rendering her speechless, a feat not often accomplished, especially not by me.

“Trey, I don’t know what to say. That’s a seriously generous offer. But I’m not sure that the rest of the board members are going to accept that change happening in one fell swoop.”

“I’ve already been laying the groundwork. I need you, Vi. I need my sister when I do this.”

She closes the space between us in seconds and takes me into an embrace.

“Thank you.” I hear her voice shaking, and I know I’ll see tears when she pulls away from me. “You’re the only person who’s ever seen me as a real adult, as someone with the potential to be a professional.”

“You are a professional. And you’ve proven that time and again.”

She lets go of me and wipes away the tears from her cheeks.

“We have to save Heather. If you’re going to be Alpha and you’re her mate, I don’t understand why you can’t marry her yourself.”

“What makes you think I want to get married at all?”

She tilts her head at me. “In general? Nothing. But specifically to Heather? You’re doing all of this work, frantically trying to find her a husband who will let her stay close to the city, making sure she survives. It’s completely out of character for you.”

She has me by the balls, alright. “Fine, you got me. Now, what do we do about it?”

We’re back to the beginning, hoping for some option to make itself clear so that we can get Violet down the aisle and make sure we can keep Heather in some way.

I do wish it were me marrying her, but if I do that before I have my full Alpha status and power, I’ll be killed right along with her.

“I’m glad that all the secrets are out in the open,” Violet says. “I knew something was up with you and Father, but I didn’t see what it was, or maybe I didn’t want to see it.”

“I didn’t want to ruin your wedding, but now it looks like we don’t have a choice. I don’t think he’s going to make it until then. I’m sorry.”

“I want to see him.”

“Let me talk to him first, tell him that you know everything. Otherwise, the shock could have detrimental effects.”

“I can understand that.”

“In the meantime, I think you have a fitting to get to, don’t you?”

“You’re coming with me?”

“Sure, why not? Let’s bring Heather some lunch and see how this mystery dress is coming along. I feel like I’m part of the whole thing now after all the back and forth I helped you out with.”

“You want to see her, Trey. Don’t deny it.”

“I’m not. I want to see her.”

“Because she’s your maaaate?” She teases in a sing-song voice.

“Grow up, Violet.”

“Make me.” She sticks her tongue out and heads for the front door.

I roll my eyes, check my pockets for my phone and wallet, and follow her out.

It’s time to face reality.