Saving My Alpha (The Perfect Designation Trilogy #3)

Prologue

“Iplayed your game, Dylan. I want what I’m owed.” Ebony Blackfell sat behind a desk that wasn’t hers. “Hand it over.”

“My game? I’m pretty sure you were all too happy to join in. I mean, look at this!” Dylan gestured to the room. “You’re here. You made him yours. That’s what you wanted. That’s what you came to me for.”

She snorted. “You needed me. That little blunder at the school put all eyes on you. You needed a scapegoat. You needed someone to play a bigger villain.” Ebony tossed her black hair over her shoulder. “I was amazing at that, by the way. I should have been an actress.”

“Overplayed, more like it.” I grumbled under my breath.

Dylan hit me in the chest, and I coughed.

We were here to get what he wanted. I knew that.

He told me to keep my mouth shut and play nice.

Ebony Blackfell had an ego that one could argue was worse than Dylan’s.

Except that she had the level and the family to back it up. One thing we were sorely lacking.

Over the past few years, I’d watch my best friend descend further and further into madness side of things.

Originally, it really was only his odd obsession with Colton.

It never made sense to me until Dylan explained why my little brother mattered so much.

He explained that three generations ago, their family got their hands on a way to produce an Omega.

They were waiting for someone like my mom, a level ten, to join the pack.

They convinced her to do IVF. Really, it was convincing my dad. Apparently, all it took to convince him was that he wouldn’t be financially responsible for whatever spawned from this experiment. Nine months later and Colton was born.

His designation results coming back as a Beta-1 disappointed everyone.

He was a failure of the highest degree. The experiment used the entirety of what they had.

There were no do overs and it should have been the end.

However, despite my informing Dylan of Colton’s actions and their lack of connection to being an Omega, Dylan remained unconvinced.

He became more and more desperate when he realized he would not father a leadership Alpha.

Between his fated mate and five different Omegas, Dylan had nine kids, not a single one a leadership Alpha.

There was even a time he wouldn’t speak to me after Veronica found out ours was a level-8 Beta.

Even though my family didn’t give me the chance to find my fated mate.

They chose my mate for me before I finished middle school.

When Dylan found out that Colton was really an Omega, I saw him snap.

I watched the descent turn into a free fall.

I watched him take more risks against the Council, against the neutral zones, against other packs.

I watched him lose his mind in his pursuit of my half-brother. The only one who could be his savior.

Except that he could be like every other Omega out there.

He could be the same as all five of the Omegas that Dylan inevitably killed.

Normally, I didn’t oppose him openly, but I voiced my concerns that Colton would be just like everyone else.

It was the first time Dylan had ever attacked me, intending to kill me.

That’s when I knew my best friend was truly gone.

Now, an unhinged, desperate Alpha remained, seeking to control his own demise.

To somehow change the outcome to the Genesis line would no longer be Alpha.

I brought it up to Dad, and it had been a while since he berated me that much.

Especially as an adult. It boiled down to the fact that I was Beta.

I was the Beta to my Alpha. It was a position I swore to uphold.

The level of crazy that my Alpha exhibited didn’t matter.

Whether or not Dylan continued as Alpha, our line would be Red Forest pack Betas.

So, here I was, standing next to my unbalanced Alpha as he traded money and poison for information to get ahold of my half-brother. Going so far as to not only believe someone from the panther pack the first time, but to come back to her for a second time.

“Ebony, my patience is thin. I’ve had to wait for what feels like an eternity. I helped you get everything you wanted. Your house, your mate, your witch, your family, and even the fucking Alford’s are heeling.” Dylan’s voice continued to rise. “Give me the locator!”

“It fell off while they were flying.”

I stepped out of the way as Dylan shifted. He attacked Ebony from across the desk. There was a roar, and the door slammed open. That was exactly the reason I stepped away. While Ebony had one of the Alford dragons on a leash, it didn’t mean he was any less powerful.

Colton really chose a hell of a mate. It took twice the dosage that normal shifters would take to bring him to heel.

It was a concoction that Dylan had been working on with Colton in mind, to get him to heel and give himself over willingly.

Now, we were using it on one of the most powerful dragons, to surprising success.

That mixed with the magic her little white mage friend was using. The Alfords never stood a chance. Neither did Colton, for that matter. Not against determined and deranged shifters.

The whole mall was a setup. The poison coming from our pack.

If the idiots took two seconds to even look, they would have realized that Dylan’s paws were all over it.

The Dark Night pack didn’t have the money to buy over the entire Council.

No shade to them, but Ebony was the only thing holding that pack together. Goddess help them.

I winced as the dragon easily tossed Dylan at the wall, his back slamming into it and making a wolf-sized hole.

“Don’t you dare try to hurt him! Get out!”

Inhaling, I tried not to laugh. A slip of the tongue.

I wondered if, when they had sex, he called out my half-brother’s name when he came.

It must grind Ebony’s gears that even with everything she was doing, he still cared about Colton more.

The situation would have been endearing without the interference of these two Alphas.

“Mar, my mate, it’s alright. Things got a little heated. He didn’t give me a chance to continue.” She petted the Alford dragon like a dog. “Why don’t you head out and start dinner?”

He glared at Dylan before kissing her on the head and leaving the room.

Dylan shifted, and I dipped into my bag, throwing him one of the three pants I had brought for the occasion.

I didn’t give him the one shirt yet because I didn’t think he was done.

However, it wasn’t a pretty sight for anyone for him to be shirtless nowadays.

Ebony even curled her lip before looking away.

“If you would let me finish, you would know my brothers are more resourceful that you think.”

“They better be because if you lost him, I will make sure the sweet mate out there kills you.”

She rolled her eyes. “While they could tag the dragon, they didn’t think she would dip in the water on the way. The ocean took the tracker off, but they took down as much info on the dragon.”

“So?”

Ebony sighed and rubbed her forehead. “You really are an idiot.”

I growled. “You would not be sitting where you are now, Blackfell, without our help. I suggest you can the attitude. It’s only going to mean we stay here longer, trying to pull the info out of you.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Rich coming from the brother of the one your Alpha is trying to rape, have kids with, and then murder so no one else can have him.”

My lips pursed into a thin line. She wasn’t wrong. I might not have been taking an active role in Colton’s capture, but I wasn’t stopping it. With Heather gone, I felt a weird sense of emptiness settle into me.

After Heather mated into her new pack in Idaho, there was nothing keeping Mom here.

Mom moved back to the main Fisher compound within a week of her departure.

Dad sure as hell wasn’t keeping her here.

The two hated each other. The only thing they could agree on was that they needed Heather to mated, me to be Beta, and Colton gone.

After that, there was nothing left. So, Mom left and Dad stayed here because this was his home pack.

He was the previous Beta, like his father before him.

“Ebony.” Dylan snapped his fingers a few times. “Back to the issue at hand. The dragon…is…?”

“…is one of the Alford clan. Mated to Peter Alford, the youngest. She is in so much debt that I don’t think you even have enough money to bail her out.

She got four different mafia or mob bosses after her.

Eighteen credit cards maxed and collections chasing her down.

If he wanted the most red-flag person to hitch a ride with, he found them. ”

Dylan remained unimpressed. “Ebony, do you have their location or not?”

She opened a drawer in her desk and slammed the paper down on the desk. “I do, but you need to cough up what you owe me.”

I looked at Dylan, and eventually, he nodded. Stepping up, I pulled out a smaller bag from my messaged bag. Inside was a huge wad of cash, some vials, and pouches of powder. Her lips curled back, showing her teeth.

“This is half.”

“And you didn’t give me what I wanted. You gave me some bullshit roundabout answer.”

Ebony’s hand crinkled the side of the page she set down.

“You wanted to stay out of this. The Council wasn’t going to let your shit slide anymore after the University wanted justice.

You needed me. I didn’t have to do shit!

You wanted Colton alone! You wanted him to feel like he had nothing and no one.

I did that for you! You don’t get to shortchange me after all I’ve done! ”

“You got your dragon…”

She slammed her fist into the table. “I didn’t! I got someone who fights me constantly! He still searches for Colton, and you told me he would be mine!”

“He is yours!”