If you've been pining for me the way I was for you, then-"
"It's fine. I came up with the perfect cover. My pack thinks Harper is my mate. She got a fake mark and everything-"
"What?" I jerked back like he'd struck me and he frowned as I glared at him with unconcealed outrage on my face. "So you're just pretending that some other, lesser bitch is your mate? How the fuck did you convince them that she's your equal? Harper? Are you fucking kidding me?"
"She's my Beta anyway. It's not that hard to believe," he snapped and I snarled at him.
"She's fucking nothing, and you know it. She can't come close to what you feel between us and I don't believe for one fucking second that you can fake it like she does."
"You don't know shit about my pack. They believe what I tell them to because I'm their damn Alpha. If that's not how your pack see you then maybe you should consider whether or not you just let me dominate you for sex. Maybe you submitted because you know your place is beneath me anyway, love."
I punched him so hard that he staggered back a step and his perfect nose most definitely broke, but I forced myself not to advance on him even though my body ached with the desire to rip him apart for what he'd just said.
"Fuck you, Ethan Shadowbrook. If you seriously believe that you can disrespect me like that and get away with it then you've got another thing coming. I am not and never will be inferior to you in any way. I'm a fucking Alpha unlike anyone you’ve ever known. And you'll live to regret crossing me like this."
I shifted before he could reply and leapt back out from beneath the waterfall, howling to the moon and seeking out my pack. My mate could go take a running jump off the nearest cliff for all I cared. He was an itch the bond between us had forced me to scratch but that was all he'd ever be. And one day he was going to live to regret the fact that he'd made that choice.
I’d be long gone, living my best life outside of this hell while he pined away in here and I forgot he even existed.
I howled long and low, seeking out my pack and leaving that motherfucker behind as I tried to forget about him, but the burning rage inside of me felt like magma ripping through my veins. It needed an outlet. It needed something to satisfy it.
I snarled as I raced along the riverbank and dove into the trees of a pine forest, listening to the howls of my pack as I charged towards them, aching for the feeling of them all around me.
I was so angry that I didn’t even realise that I wasn’t hearing the entire pack until I burst out into a clearing and was greeted by ten Wolves instead of a hundred.
Sonny barked with excitement and leapt at me, his russet brown Wolf form the biggest of the bunch. The others all rushed me too, nuzzling and licking, wagging their tails so hard that I caught one to the eye and winced a little.
I shifted back into Fae form and laughed as they surged closer, licking me and getting slobber all over me until I batted them off and they shifted back into their Fae forms.
“Shit, we missed you, Alpha,” Sonny gasped as he wrapped me in his arms and hugged me tight, his dick slapping against my thigh as we just ignored the whole no clothes issue.
“I’ve cried myself to sleep every night since you left,” Esme sobbed as she joined our hug from behind and her huge tits pressed to my back.
“I missed you guys too,” I laughed. “But let’s put some space between us while we’re nude, yeah?”
They reluctantly backed up and I found myself looking around at ten sets of puppy dog eyes on the faces of a bunch of full grown hardened criminals with their junk out. It felt just like home.
“Anyone wanna tell me where everyone else is?” I asked, looking around at the trees as they all started whimpering.
Esme shot a worried look at Sonny then dropped down to her knees in a submissive position.
“You tell her while I go down on her to take the sting out of it, Beta,” she breathed, moving forward and kissing my inner thigh before starting to work her way north,