Chapter One
The final straw came when Hunter punched Seth across the dinner table. One moment they’d been sitting there laughing, the next he’d seen red, anger flooding him, and then Seth’s face was snapping away from his fist. He vaulted across the table, landing on top of Seth, and his hands were around his cousin’s neck.
Angus, Seth’s father and their alpha, grabbed hold of him, dragging him outside and throwing him to the ground. Hunter got his hands under him, fisting the damp earth beneath his fingers. The cool breeze brought him back to his senses and he glanced up, past a furious Angus, to see Seth by the door, one hand rubbing idly at his jaw.
“Sorry, Seth.”
“That’s okay. No harm done, except to my pride.”
“If he’d hit you a few inches higher, or snapped your neck, you’d be singing a different tune,” Angus said, glancing over his shoulder at Seth before turning back to Hunter. “You can’t keep on like this. Sooner or later, you’ll lose control and-”
He didn’t need to finish that sentence. More than anyone, Hunter knew what happened when he lost control like that. It couldn’t happen again.
“I know, Angus. I’m trying, really.”
“He is, Dad. We’ve been training every day, doing practice fights, exercising, patrolling.” They’d been doing everything they could think of to wear him out physically but it wasn’t enough.
“It isn’t working,” Angus pointed out with a glance at Seth’s jaw. “We need to try something different.”
Hunter got to his feet, brushing the dirt off his clothes.
“Different how?”
“You need a mate.”
He took a step back, shaking his head. “No, no, if there’s one thing I don’t need…”
“You’re old enough. I’ve spoken to Sybil about it and we’ve both agreed. At the next Choosing, you’ll take a mate.”
“That’s only a month away. I’m not even twenty yet and nowhere near ready to be tied down.”
A mate was the last thing on his mind. He had enough trouble keeping himself in check. A mate would be just another burden.
“It’s not a matter for debate, Hunter. You will choose a mate.”
Angus wasn’t usually one to draw lines, not like this, anyway.
“And if I don’t?”
Angus met his eyes, his gaze steely. “You’ll be exiled.”
Well, damn.
A month of trying to bargain with Angus only seemed to have hardened the alpha’s resolve, and they traveled to the Gathering with the whole pack aware Hunter was choosing a mate.
Hunter and Seth rode motorcycles, acting as vanguard for their pack’s small convoy. He could see the looks Seth aimed his way now and then. His cousin was worried, afraid Hunter would choose exile over mating. Hunter worried about the same thing. Angus and his pack were the only family he’d ever known. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them, not yet. But a mate? Heck if he was prepared for that eventuality. He had to think of some way around it.
The chain bit into Cade’s ankle and, not for the first time, he wished it wasn’t so tight. If it was looser, he could risk shifting. He would have loved to see the look on Baelon’s face when he opened the door to find two yellow eyes and some very sharp teeth bared in his direction. But it wasn’t to be.
Cade was almost used to the perpetual darkness. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been locked in there, but it couldn’t have been more than a few days since his last escape attempt had earned him another ‘time-out’ as Baelon liked to call it. Like Cade was a wayward child and not a fully grown omega with a will of his own. It was his strong will that Baelon seemed to take most exception to. That, and Cade’s frequent use of the word no in its many variations. ‘Hell, no’ was fast becoming his favorite. He’d tried ‘fuck, no’ once, for a bit of variety, and Baelon had backhanded him so hard his teeth had rattled. Who knew the alpha’s pet peeve after disobedience was cussing?
Footsteps came his way and Cade stood, feeling his way along the wall with his hands, the chain dragging along the ground as he moved. The door swung open, light streaming in, and he shaded his eyes with his arm, making out Baelon’s silhouette in the doorway.
“One last chance,” the alpha thundered, “because I’m a generous man. Stand by my side as my mate and everything else, all your transgressions, will be forgiven.”
Cade slowly lowered his arms, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Baelon, easily twice his age, and a foot taller, stood unmoving by the door, his arms crossed, daring Cade to refuse.
Cade managed not to smile, knowing that it just incensed Baelon more. “Hell, no. You’ll never be my alpha.”
Baelon dropped his arms to his side and Cade shuffled backward as the alpha clenched his hands into fists. Was Baelon about to show him the error of his ways again? Because Cade was getting a little tired of being thrown around like a rag doll.
The alpha laughed, a sound that set Cade’s teeth on edge. “You’ll regret rejecting me, little omega. I’m going to throw you to the wolves.”
Baelon turned and left, the door shutting, plunging the room into darkness again. Cade’s stomach twisted at Baelon’s words though they didn’t make any sense. He was already among the wolves so what could Baelon mean? The only thing that seemed certain, was that he was about to move from frying pan to fire, and he did not like the heat.
Despite Baelon’s threat, nothing happened. They seemed to decide it was less work to leave him where he was and throw him some food scraps now and then. When he could, he listened at the door, trying to glean some useful information on what they planned to do with him. Something was coming, that he was sure of. People were excited, talking loudly, running through corridors, banging shut doors. There was a lot of movement, like maybe they were getting ready to go someplace. Would they take him with them? Maybe if they did, there’d be another chance for him to escape, properly this time, free from the chain that kept slowing him down.
After a few days of this activity, they brought him to see Baelon. The alpha’s four mates were sitting around him, one rubbing his feet, one his shoulders, another holding his hand possessively while the fourth rubbed her pregnant belly. If looks could kill, he’d be dead four times over. If there was one thing none of those girls wanted, it was an omega taking their place at Baelon’s side.
Baelon ignored him at first, eating food the third mate fed him. Then his eyes were on Cade again.
“Tomorrow, we go south, to the Gathering. I’m going to find someone to pay a pretty penny for you. You could have chosen this, you know.” He gestured around him to his four mates while Cade tried hard not to gag. “A life by my side, carrying my pups; a life of luxury. Now you’ll just be a toy for some bored wolf to rut into the ground.”
Cade tried not to react to Baelon’s words. Since when did shifters buy and sell mates? Had the wolves really fallen that far?
“You’ve cost me a lot, you see. My time and patience, my pride. Not to mention the cost of feeding and clothing you.”
Cade glanced down at himself. He was wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing when Baelon’s people had captured him as he ran across their border. And they were much looser on him now than they had been then.
“But I can’t let you go,” Baelon added, “without giving you something to remember me by.”
At a signal from Baelon, two wolves stepped forward and grabbed Cade’s arms, holding him still. He looked around, frantic, not knowing what was happening until he saw a wolf over by the fire, kneeling with something in his hand.
“No, Baelon, please. You don’t have to do that. Please.”
The alpha just smirked at him, enjoying his panic and fear. His pregnant mate laughed as the wolves holding Cade forced him to his knees.