This Dark Wolf (Soul Bitten Shifter #1) - Everly Frost Page 0,11
all you want, but one of you has to have the strength to kill me. I won’t go down without taking you with me. I promise you that.”
The female alpha steps forward, her head held high, her straight, blond ponytail falling across her shoulder in a glossy line. “She’s got balls, I’ll give her that. But let’s be honest about why we’re voting to kill her.” She casts a cold gaze at the men. “If she knocked down three alphas-in-training, that makes her a threat.”
“She’s a freak.” Peter Nash spits, glaring at me. “I’ve known it from the moment I caught her scent when she was a baby. Now I’ve seen her wolf. I should have ended her years ago.”
The female alpha shrugs. “Freak. Threat. Whatever you want to call her, Peter. It doesn’t change the truth.” She considers me with a cold smile. “I also vote for death.”
One by one, the alphas speak up, their hard gazes passing across me with varying expressions of disgust, disinterest, and challenge as they announce my fate.
As they vote for me to die, my rage simmers hotter inside me. I’ve spent my whole life dreading this moment, wondering how many days I have left and how death might come to me. Now it’s here and my biggest regret is that my father gave up so much to keep me alive for the last twenty-three years.
I seek him across the distance. He remains at the edge of the clearing. Even though this is his home, he has no more power over this space than I do right now.
He lifts his chin and for a moment, I see again the alpha he must have been before Peter tore him apart. While I picture Peter as something of a bulldog, my father has always been pure wolf. He stands nearly a head taller than any other shifter. The clothing he’s wearing right now—flannel shirt and jeans—hides strength that he rarely reveals, certainly never to hurt me. I don’t know what my pack was like under his rule, but I like to think it was a damn sight happier than it is now.
He pauses at the edge of the forest, and I can sense the determination thrumming through him. If the alphas vote to kill me, my father is going to do something very stupid to try to save me.
I give him a small shake of my head, silently begging him not to act. It will only lead to his death along with mine.
Finally, Tristan is the only alpha who hasn’t voted.
I turn back to the group to find myself the center of Tristan’s attention, his disconcerting green eyes fixated on me.
He doesn’t seem in any hurry to make a decision, pacing toward me as I stand my ground. His beta—the shifter called Jace who brought Tristan his clothing—is a quiet shadow behind him. They both emanate power, Jace nearly as much as Tristan, which surprises me. Normally, alphas choose betas who are strong but could never challenge them or their chosen alpha-in-training.
Tristan stops so close to me that I struggle not to react to his presence. The power radiating from him is like a golden blaze in my vision. My wolf’s energy rattles inside me again, suddenly tugging outward, as if she’s going to force me into a full shift. She’s never acted without me before and it startles me enough that I lose my emotionless mask, struggling to maintain my indifference in the face of my death.
Tristan leans close, his breathing calm and even. “Stay still,” he orders me. “I need to know for sure…”
I frown, even more confused. Know what?
His lips part. He darts forward, his mouth nudging my neck, bristles like sandpaper making me gasp and shiver as he inhales deeply.
He freezes, every tense muscle in his chest and arms filling me with dread.
He slowly draws back from me so that I can see his face.
His pupils are dilated just like Cody’s.
I brace for Tristan’s violent reaction—a fist to my face, his claws and teeth sinking into me—but he remains where he is, a single pace away from me. Other than the brief brush of his lips on my neck, he doesn’t touch me.
He blinks—just once—and his eyes clear.
His gaze flicks beyond me. Surprisingly, to my father. It’s such a quick appraisal before he returns his attention to me that I’m sure I imagined it.
Tristan returns my cool gaze with a hooded expression, so closed off now that I can’t read his intentions.