My Female Alpha

FORTY FOUR

lenora

The forest bathes in the inky, brisk twilight. Insects fill the air with their chattery drolls and only the stars and slice of moon overhead give us light. Though the air has a bitter cold edge to it, I find a strange peace walking in my nude human form here. I have no idea where we are going or what I will have to do to set my mate free and kill this woman beside me, but nature will always calm me.

Once we're far out of earshot, Arabella turns to face me. "I thought you'd have figured it out by now," she tells me.

"Enlighten me," I say.

"We were commissioned to get rid of all Alphas. His name is Jacob. He's got money to burn and he doesn't want any competition from pack wolves when he takes over."

"Take over?" I ask. "I'm sorry, are you saying there's one man in charge of all this?"

"Yes. He's not doing the dirty work himself, of course. If we don't get things done the way he wants, he won't give us money or food. The wolves are starved enough and overworked as is."

"Why are you doing this, Ara? Why are you helping this man?" I demand. "You left me because you wanted to be free. This sounds like prison."

She grits her teeth and looks away. "He's going to win. I have to be on the winning side. You understand that."

"Do I? And you don't know that he's going to win. You couldn't take my pack down and there are more packs farther north who are even stronger than us. To think you could dismember every pack in America is senseless. It's impossible."

"Is it?" Ara snaps. "We've already done a lot of damage."

"Damage, yes. You haven't won anything, though. You murdered the leaders of pack wolves and they're only getting angrier. The packs want justice. New Alphas have emerged in the packs where you murdered the old ones and they are not going to just forget about this."

"That's not my problem. Jacob can deal with that. Once he takes over, everyone will submit to him."

Lifting my chin, I growl, "I won't. I can't believe you will. I don't even recognize you."

She suddenly grabs my face and pulls me close to her. Her eyes bounce between mine. "I had to choose a side, Lenora. Don't you understand?" She looks down at my lips. "Fuck, your stubbornness has always been so hot to me."

"Don't," I warn.

"Don't what?" She gives me a challenging look. "You're still at my mercy, Len. I could have our little pet killed with a flick of the wrist."

My mouth twitches with refrain.

"I can't fix this shit hole of a disaster tonight," she says, "but you can at least make me feel better."

"Sex won't make you feel better."

"Oh, yes it will. It always does."

The thought of having sex with this bitch makes my throat flood with bile. I have to avoid this.

"We need to rest," I say, turning away.

She grabs my arm and jerks me back to her. I sigh harshly.

"We can rest after I'm done with you," she growls. "I don't understand why you're so resistant still. You were begging to fuck me just the other day."

"I would have done anything to protect Emery. Even if that means fucking the most repulsive wolf I know."

She barks out a harsh laugh but I hear the pain of my insult beneath the facade. "Do you remember our sex? It was explosive. So dominating and consuming." Groaning, Ara grabs her breasts and squeezes them. "I'll never get enough of you."

"You should be over me," I say. "Emery is my mate. I have no interest in you anymore."

"Lie to me all you want, Lenny. I know you remember our sex. I know you want it," Ara tells me. She bites her lip and traces a finger down my arm.

I don't want it. I want to get the fuck away from her, but I'm still powerless from her hold on Emery. Ara is persistent. She won't let this go until she gets what she wants from me.

After all, this is what she's wanted all along. Me.

I don't know what I ever thought was attractive about her. She's been a deceitful liar from the moment I found her—a dying bird wrapped in pretty feathers and broken wings.

As Arabella leans in and kisses me, I keep myself from shoving her away. She grabs the back of my head and deepens the kiss. A cold, slimy feeling pours into my mouth. Her tongue lashes at my lips, demanding entry. I slowly part my teeth for her and it takes everything in me not to gag. She tastes like rotten fruit. I want to spit her out but she's all over me and in me. Her tongue rubs against mine while her hands move up and down my body.

When she pulls away, she gives me a wicked smirk. "You're the only woman I truly have ever loved to please. Must be that Alpha energy."

"Must be," I rumble annoyedly.

"What?" she asks, touching my jaw with her finger. "Am I going to have to beg? You already know you have no choice. At least let yourself enjoy this." She arches a brow. "I won't tell our pet if you don't."

"Do what you want," I tell her, "but you can't make me feel anything. There's only one woman I will ever enjoy fucking, and it's not you."

She reels back a bit at the daggers in my voice. Then she laughs. "This is absurd. How can you let yourself be so consumed with your little mate? Huh? Don't you want a choice in who you fuck? Who you love?"

"We all have a choice. I choose my mate. I'll choose her every time because she's perfect for me. She's everything I want and I don't need anything more than her."

"And how do you feel now that she's had a taste of me? Knowing a little part of her will always crave me? Does that make you angry?"

My face grows excessively warm. I hate thinking of Emery with Ara. It wounds me every time I consider it. The only thing that keeps me from killing Ara right now is knowing that Emery would have never chosen her if given a choice. Emery will always choose me.

"You forced feelings onto her," I say. "She loves me. That's the difference. I might have made her do a lot of things, but I never forced her to feel any kind of way. She begged me to mark her."

"Maybe I should just mark you then," Ara snaps.

The marking would disappear from Emery if she did so. A wolf can't have more than one mate.

While I would be more than happy for the marking to disappear from Emery, that means she has no connection to Emery anymore.

Arabella could kill her without feeling bad. I can't let that happen.

"You know what that will do," I remind her. "And anyway, I'll never mark you. You'll never get what you want from me, Arabella. Why don't you just let this go? Stop trying to destroy my life. It's only hurting you in the process."

She glares at me. "I don't agree. Since I've started destroying your life, I've had incredible sex with your mate. Our mate. That's one thing I've never done before."

I shake my head and throw my hands up. "What do you want? What do you want from me, Arabella?"

Looking me over, she grabs my face again and kisses me. She pulls back. "You might not ever give me your heart, but you can't stop me from taking your body."