r: The Alph

o an unfami

smoldered in the hearth, its warmth barely enough to chase away the cold creeping under the door. She could feel

e from the night before had claimed her, and now, in the

unspoken intensity that had radiated off him-his gaze, fierce and commanding. He had looked at her as if she were a puzzle, a challeng

was. Alone in his

the bond between them. She barely remembered when he'd marked

her bones. The furs felt like a prison, not comfort. She wrapped them tighter around her

ifferent from the one she had

world she did

d happen

ngered in her m

ng when the door to t

he hall. His sharp features, set in stone, were unreadable as always. His eyes flick

is voice low and cutting thr

respond. S

d the room, stopping just in front of her. The air bet

that made her skin prickle. "You belong to me now. Your life is

his eyes locked onto hers, she knew it would be futile. The power he exuded was more th

ment, neither

if something had shifted in the

pack. They'll need to know that yo

of them, the way they worshipped their Alpha, how they feared him. But to actually meet them.

inued, his back still to her. "Don't t

efiance that rose within her. She was strong. She was always strong

over her once more. "I don't expect you to understand. But

it show. She wanted to speak, wanted to demand an

en, without another word, he strode out of the room,

her body frozen,

rk on her wrist. A world where she didn't belong, wher

ulled at her. As if the very air she breathed

in the way he spoke to her, in the way he looked at

in her chest as the

s he wan

nd sat back down on the bed, the soft furs no longer offering any comfo

r here. There was

something else stirred. S

ant me to

o

n't. She

ion remained: Could

a servant entered, a young woman who bowed deeply. Her fa

nt said softly. "The Alpha expects

y anything. Sh

ked up briefly. "Don't worry. The pa

t was coming next. She wasn't ready to face the w

leaving Lily alone once again, the weig

gs shaky as she mo

tain-today would