The Alpha’s Chosen Outcast

20. TREY

I knew I shouldn’t have told Heather about the man the elders sent. She wasn’t home when we all got up for breakfast and she’d seemed strange last night before we went to bed.

Now Melissa tells me that Heather never showed up to shop with her, Sam, and Callie.

I have no idea where she is, and she’s not answering my calls or messages. She’s not answering for her parents or friends either. I can’t protect her if I can’t find her.

What the fuck am I supposed to do now? She doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into. She doesn’t know the power and determination of these elders. And now her recklessness can get her killed.

I sincerely hope that I’m wrong about that part. I know it’s what the elders want. I know they wanted her executed as soon as they found out she was in the city.

She disobeyed the rules of exile, and the punishment for that is death. Even as a wolf, she’s no match for an assassin.

That’s it! As a wolf . I can sense her. I may be able to find her the way I had before with her parents’ help. I didn’t bring the book we used. I try to recall how we did it.

I’m sure that I’ll figure something out once I sense her. I call Melissa and tell her and Raymond to meet me here at the cottage. One thing I know is we’ll all need to be in the same place for this.

Much to my chagrin, Callie, Sam, and Logan show up with Melissa and tell him that Raymond is coming up behind them. He stopped for lunch, obviously not realizing how serious this whole thing is now.

Heather’s friends, surprisingly, are the ones that seem to get it the most. Perhaps, as humans, they are naturally more suspicious.

Sam is checking her phone to see if the “find my friend” feature works. Callie is making tea. Logan is setting up his laptop at the dining room table. I’m not sure what he’s planning on doing, but it looks like they’re all mobilizing.

Melissa, on the other hand, seems frozen. Callie pulls out a chair and puts a teacup in front of her. Next, a small pot of something steaming and aromatic sits on the table.

They know her house, her life, and where everything is. They really are like her family. And I need to make sure that none of us lose her.

Logan types frantically on his keyboard and moves his finger on the trackpad, intensely studying his screen. Callie is pouring a cup of tea about a foot away from his machine.

“He’s protective of that thing.” She looks up at me. “Don’t let any food or liquids get near it.”

I nod at her, then sit down across from Logan. Callie puts a cup down in front of me and pours some tea. She doesn’t have anything else out to add to it, a tea purist. I like that.

The aroma hits me full-on, then. It’s chamomile and rose hips, healing and calming. But nothing can settle the fear in my stomach.

The warmth does help me think better, though. A moment later, Logan sits up straight and exclaims, “A-ha!” to no one in particular. He turns the screen around, and I see a large red dot pulsing on a map of the area.

“She’s in the woods, just a few miles north of town.”

He sounds sure and Melissa turns to him, putting her tea down.

“What do you think we should do?”

Logan looks at me. “You can sense her, right? You said you guys are mates. This shows us about a three-mile radius. You can narrow it down further if you change, though, can’t you? That’s how the whole wolf thing works, right?”

I’m a bit perturbed that he knows so much about the customs of mates. That doesn’t really matter now. He’s right. That map shows me the vicinity, and I can narrow it down with the sense of my mate once I change. What am I waiting for?

I get up and head for the door. Raymond stops me before I can open it.

“I’m coming with you.”

I stare him down. I’m his alpha now. If I tell him he can’t go, then he won’t have a choice but to stay behind.

Is that really what I want? I could use the extra support, and there aren’t any other wolves around that I know of. Melissa is still sitting at the table with her tea, watching us, frozen and distraught.

“You can come, but stay behind me,” I tell him in a low voice. “I won’t let anything get in the way of saving my fiancé. That includes you. I don’t want to risk you getting hurt.

I’m sure Heather went after him, thinking she could negotiate. There’s no negotiating with an assassin. He’ll either kill her or make her disappear unless I get to her first.”

“Can you make him back down as Alpha?”

That’s a good question. I’m not really sure, but I can’t tell him that.

“It’s possible. I’m newly made as Alpha, and he’s worked for the elders for decades. I know my father used him.”

Raymond scrunches up his face. “He did? For what?”

“Now’s not exactly the best time to have that conversation. Right now, we need to get to those woods.”

“You’re right. Let’s go.”

I open the door and we both change, leaving our clothes by the front door. I see Sam, Logan, and Callie rushing over. Sam picks up the clothes and they stare at us before they close the door.

They’ve probably never seen a wolf before. Changing in public is a pretty normal occurrence in this world, but maybe not in this town.

I feel Heather as we get closer to the woods. Running on all fours gets us there in no time. Raymond is keeping pace a few feet behind me.

He’s not supposed to surpass me while we’re running in wolf form since I’m Alpha. That’s the law, although I’m not sure how much those laws apply out here.

Once we charge into the woods, I know exactly where to go. I wouldn’t have known to go straight for the woods if it hadn’t been for Logan.

Having that bearing shaved off precious minutes in the race to reach her. The fact that I can feel her is a good sign. She’s definitely alive. But I sense her fear. The smell is strong. Sharp and acrid.

We’re almost to her when I hear her scream. I know it’s her. Raymond knows, too. He’s almost nose to nose beside me, and I won’t stop him.

We look at each other and I sense he understands what to do. He will protect Heather as I go after the assassin. I can’t imagine he doesn’t see us coming, though. It could be an ambush, but I don’t care. Heather is all that matters.

We reach a clearing, and I see them. Heather is tied to a tree with a thick rope. My heart drops to my stomach when I see that the assassin has a knife to her throat. He definitely heard us coming, but he’s focused on me as we slow down and stop.

“Come any closer, and I’ll slice her throat before you can rip out mine. You might beat me, but you’ll lose her.”

Heather whimpers, “Trey, you should go. They don’t want you. They only want to get rid of me. You can lead our pack and find someone else. Our pack is what matters.”

“Listen to your mate, Alpha.” The assassin practically hisses. His voice is slippery and somehow still authoritative.

I growl at him, and he pushes the knife against Heather’s fragile skin, causing a small trickle of blood to trail down her throat.

“I’m not playing games!” He braces his feet on the ground, and his breathing quickens.

I inch closer, noticing that Raymond is gone. He understood me even though we never spoke. I only have to hold out for a few more minutes. I let out a low growl but I maintain some distance.

“You know what has to happen here, Alpha. Either I kill her, or she disappears. You can’t keep her. You don’t get to skirt the rules like that.”

I see Raymond behind them then, approaching the clearing from the other side. The assassin hasn’t noticed yet, still fixated on me. In his wolf form, Raymond jumps out and pounces on the assassin.

Heather screams. “Father!”

Raymond and the assassin tussle on the ground, claws slashing and a blade flashing until Raymond howls.

“No! Father!”

The assassin has planted his knife in Raymond’s shoulder. Judging by the handle, it looks to be silver. Fuck. I’m not wasting any time here. We need to get him medical help right away, or he’s going to fall into the effects of silver poisoning.

When I realize that he’s not changing back, it’s obvious that the knife had to have been silver. Nothing else would stop the change.

I turn to the assassin, now without his silver knife clutched in his hand. I don’t see any other weapons on him. We circle each other, him still as a human, and I can hear Raymond whimpering behind me. Heather is sobbing, still bound to the tree, pleading with her father to hold on for her.

This fucker isn’t leaving this clearing alive. I can’t allow that now.

“I may not be able to beat you, but I don’t have to,” he says. “All I have to do is get past you once and go for her throat. Then I’ll have fulfilled my duty, and the elders will make sure I’m safe from you. As I said, you can’t stop this.”

He changes then, and I realize he knows he won’t win this fight fairly. However, if he can get to Heather and complete his mission, he’s counting on me being incapacitated by grief. Grief won’t incapacitate me—yet. It will fuel me.

I realize after he takes his wolf form that he’s not part of our pack. I don’t feel him like I do with everyone else from our pack.

I know I’m new to the role, but that’s part of the mantle of power that came to me directly after my father’s death. I feel it now. He’s a lone wolf. He doesn’t have a pack.

This discovery means I can kill him without consequence. He’s still circling me in his wolf form, acting like he’s going to make a move any second, and then he does. I move too. Faster. Fast enough to reach him before he can touch Heather.

We grapple for a moment, him trying desperately to gain control. He’s no match for me, though. I am younger. I have superior strength. And nothing will stop me from saving my mate. I get him to the ground and lean in close before I end this.

“Your death will be the message the elders need to take me seriously. My mate is off-limits. Too bad you won’t be around to tell anyone else.”

I lunge for the assassin and get his throat in one swift clamp of my jaw.

It isn’t long before we all know he will never hurt anyone in this clearing tonight—or ever again.

The pool of blood spreading underneath him solidifies the fact. It’s over. We’ve won, and now Heather and I can get married without threats looming around every corner.

If she’ll still have me after all this, that is.

“Trey, get me off this fucking tree!”

I go around the tree and use my teeth to cut the ropes. She shakes free of them and goes straight to Raymond. The silver knife is still in his shoulder, and he’s whimpering.

We need to get him medical care immediately, but we’re in some tiny Midwest town in the middle of nowhere.

Do they even have a hospital here? I can’t let her lose her father when she got him back barely a moment ago.

I have to change to talk to Heather.

“Trey, we have to get the silver out of him. I don’t know what to do. There aren’t any wolf healers in this area. We can’t get him on a plane.”

“No, he definitely can’t fly like this.” I think about it for a minute. “Let’s get him back to your mother. She might know what to do. Wasn’t she a nurse before she retired?”

“Yes! Okay, what about that?”

She points at the body. This man wanted Heather to disappear. Now, I must make him disappear. I search the overgrown woods.

“Does this area get a lot of traffic?”

“You mean, like people? No, we don’t have any homeless people or anything in this town either. You’re thinking about leaving him here?”

“I’m thinking that the elders made this mess, and they should have to clean it up.”

She nods and puts her father’s other arm around her shoulder, and together, we help him to the street.

“I ran out here. Did you bring your car?”

“No. I didn’t even bring clothes. Neither did your father.”

He’s on two legs now, walking upright but still a wolf. I’m sure he can’t change back now, either. I don’t think an Uber would pick up an injured wolf.

Even after all the changes in this world, the idea of a wolf getting into an Uber seems completely ridiculous.

“I’ll call Logan,” Heather says. “He has an SUV.”

“Okay, that’ll work. He helped us find you, by the way.”

I can see her fighting not to roll her eyes when she hears this. “Of course he did.”

She calls Logan, and I pace around, still naked. I don’t have my phone with me. I’m amazed that she does, and then I notice that the phone she’s using isn’t hers. I think she actually took the assassin’s phone.

She ends the call, and I come back over. She’s straining, holding up her father, who seems to be getting worse by the second.

“Let me help you.”

“Trey, no. I don’t want Logan to know about the body. Take care of it and maybe—take his clothes.” She looks me up and down.

The next couple of hours are a blur. We get back to Heather’s place, and everyone is still there.

Melissa patches up Raymond and she’s able to get the silver out before it spreads, with the help of Sam, who turns out to be an adept assistant.

Meanwhile, I call the elders, and they seem surprised to find me angry instead of spiraling into grief over the loss of my mate.

I order them to clean up their mess and warn them that consequences are coming when I get home. For once, they actually sound afraid. They never expected this outcome, and now they’re probably reeling.

The next day, we’re back to wedding planning. Raymond is weak but regaining strength by the minute. It looks like Heather and her parents want to put all of this behind us. Heather attributes their willingness to do so to me.

After seeing me go to battle for her, I’ve earned their respect and trust. We set the date for this weekend, then plan on going straight back to the city.

Sam and Callie spring into action, getting the tiny backyard behind Heather’s cottage ready for a small wedding.

Logan helps me with his own connections to get our marriage license pushed through in time. For that and for his part in saving Heather’s life, I make him my best man. I’m sure my friends back home will understand.

The night before the wedding, Raymond and I go to the local bed and breakfast so that Heather and I can spend the traditional night apart.

I lay there in bed, thinking that the next time I see her, Raymond will be walking her down the aisle. I stare at the ceiling and smile. My mate. My wife. I can’t wait.

When the time finally arrives, I see her, and she’s more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

She’s added some of her signature embroidery to her mother’s dress and a bit of colorful lace she must have found at the thrift store. It’s perfect. She’s perfect.

The town’s officiant is a justice of the peace who has agreed to be here on short notice—of course, my handsome monetary incentive motivated him as well.

When he says, “You may now kiss your bride,” I feel it again. That feeling like something inside me is snapping into place—like gears lining up in my mind.

After I kiss Heather, I look into her eyes and see that she feels the same. Our connection as Alphas is official. The elders can’t do anything to stop this now.

That night, we participate in an age-old wedding tradition that’s become common knowledge to the public.

We’re happy to let Callie, Logan, and Sam see it, too. We change inside the house, and the Cauleys introduce us as “Mr. and Mrs. Hanover,” and we come out as wolves.

They all clap and cheer. In response, we lift our noses and howl at the moon, our cries mixing with their cheers in a celebratory call to nature, our joined families, and our pack, even though they’re back in the city.

Violet calls us on video chat to congratulate us and makes us promise to throw a huge party with the pack and all the pomp and circumstance when she gets home.

We agree, of course. I’ll do anything to keep my mate happy. She is mine, and I am hers. From this day forward, for all of our days. Forever.

THE END

If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Fated Alpha Protector

Get Fated Alpha Protector Now

I have been at the bottom of the pack my entire life. When I received my wolf, I met my fated mate and protector.

My packmates, who already hate me, attack my unrecognized wolf. In desperation, I run and cross to enemy territory. Where I find myself being saved and protected by Theo the Nightwalker Alpha.

He shifts to human form.

And the mouthwatering vision of his naked body leaves me stunned. This hunger running through my veins dominates my every desire. I shouldn't have been surprised when I found out he was my fated mate.

Now I find myself torn by the lies I told to receive refuge in his pack. My heart stops when my former Alpha threatens war if I’m not returned.

I won't allow this to endanger my mate and his pack... Our pack. Knowing our bond transcends all boundaries. I’m ready to fight to the death for our fated love.

Get Fated Alpha Protector Now