Page 27 of The Alpha's Forced Bride

Dad’s eyes bulged. “What did you just call my daughter?” His eyes flickered to me, then back to Harvey. “You better let her go.”

“She’s mine now.”

As Harvey’s emotions went out of control, the demon took advantage of his vulnerability and struck. He was fighting two very different types of battles: protecting me from perceived danger and fighting against his inner demon.

I raised my hands once again. “Dad, please. Don't agitate him. Everything's fine. We just have to—”

Another growl cut me off. My father was already bowed over and breaking out of his clothes to become a wolf. The others did the same, although they took more care with their clothes and set them aside. I wondered what would happen next and how Harvey was going to handle this. For a second, he seemed to stand there as though he were stumped. I didn't like watching him. I didn't like not knowing what his face looked like. I couldn't tell what the others were going to do either. Fight or die. Shoot, I had to do something. I had to jump in front of Harvey and stop my pack members from completely ruining everything we had been working to achieve.

I couldn’t let a week’s worth of work go down the drain that fast. Yet I continued to stand quietly and stare at the four regular wolves from my pack slowly advancing. The other onlookers weren't particularly bothered, either, and that was frightening to see. It was like my family had walked right into a trap, and I was the bait. That meant I was the one who had made this whole mess so much worse than it was in the beginning.

Harvey turned to me, his eyes already completely black like glossy marbles getting ready to roll off of a desk. The smirk he wore was not his. A terrible and ancient amusement seemed to glow from him. He tapped the side of his nose twice, winked, and then turned back to my shifted father and his team. Within just a few seconds, Harvey had shifted into his wolf form: a dirty blonde wolf that smelled of bergamot. The snarl he released produced enough drool to puddle under his chin on the ground. Everything felt surreal. It was still morning, yet the brisk air made it feel like the sun would never come back from behind the clouds. My chest felt empty, and my legs were stuck to the ground. I couldn't move.

I felt like I was back in the frigid waters of that pond, waiting for my skin to fall off from being scrubbed so hard. I even hugged myself for a second trying to understand what was going on. I searched the pack members’ faces to find Nora—someone reasonable, someone loving, caring, and knowledgeable. But she wasn't around. I didn't think Clancy or Kirk were going to listen to me, either. Neither of them seemed to be the logical type, and their eyes had turned black, too. Everyone's eyes were black, and there wasn't a regular wolf in sight within the entire Grimpaw pack. There wasn't going to be anyone who would stop this fight from happening.

I had to do something.

Dad charged. That was unusual for him. Typically, he was the calculated type who would form a team, sneak into a place, and rescue whoever needed to be saved. He normally would have done that for me, but instead, he faced the alpha head-on. When Harvey lunged, terror gripped me. I clutched my chest and screamed for them to stop. No one heard me over the sound of sickening growls and thuds. Punches from paws that landed on heads or backs. Hard bone going brittle under the weight of various wolves. It was a smeared mess for a second of limbs and fur, glowing eyes, and sharpened teeth. Drool spattered the ground along with stripes of bright blood. Nausea swirled in my gut as I watched the scene unfold, biting into my thumbnail as I tried to think—tried to breathe through the freezing chill of fear.

Dad tackled Harvey to the ground and managed to pin my new mate underneath him. Harvey looked frenzied. His eyes rolled around, and his teeth gnashed. Blood seemed to pour from his gums like he was salivating it instead of drool. I saw that he actually had a cut in his gums from being bitten in the jaw. Dad snapped and snarled relentlessly. He tried to get Harvey to submit, but he refused. The other wolves were also locked in a heated battle, tossing each other around, snatching each other's necks, and butting each other aside. Members of the Grimpaw pack stepped out of the way whenever a wolf launched in their direction. Then, when the wolf returned to the fight, they closed the circle, ensuring that the match didn't leave the center of the village.

Something inside of me shifted. I ran forward and snarled; the sound that came out of my human mouth was so much more beastly than I had intended. I noticed my dad's ears perk up, though he didn't take his eyes off Harvey. The two were head-to-head, growling, snapping, and circling each other. One would advance, only to fake out on the attack, and the other did the same. I tried to find an opening, and when I saw one, I attempted to push myself between them. Dad snapped at me and bit my hand. Blood poured from the wound and dripped to the ground, turning Harvey into an even more crazed monster.

I yelled at him; I yelled at both of them. I couldn't remember what I said. Everything became a haze as I tried to intervene. The more they fought, the more the others moved aside, and eventually, Dad bit down so hard on Harvey’s back that Harvey squealed. The sound seemed to break off into three different directions and echo all around us. It was like the demon itself had been wounded. Harvey weaved away, darting for the woods to retreat.

I hated this. I hated that I felt so split. My dad was trying to save me, but I was trying to tell him that I wasn't in danger. I stared at the four wolves with anger and betrayal, feeling like I was being judged. I set my arms to my side, feeling my warm blood leaking out of the wounds in my hand. They would heal in a few minutes, but it wasn't the wound itself that was really hurting me. It was the person who had bitten me.

“I can't believe you would do this,” I yelled at him. But I was yelling at myself, too. I was yelling at everything and everyone. “Why don't you just go back to the fucking ranch, and I’ll deal with you later!”

Dad looked hurt. I saw it in his eyes. But he took a step back, bowed his head, and then turned away with the others. As the four of them ran off, the members of the Grimpaw pack parted their circle and allowed them passage. Once they were out of sight, I turned to the woods where Harvey had disappeared and began to search for signs of blood on the ground to locate my ceremonial mate. I must have chased after him for several minutes on that frigid winter morning. Twigs and branches were bent and snapped in all directions.

Damn it. I couldn't find him. Occasionally, I would catch the scent of bergamot and the metallic coppery smell of blood on the breeze, but he was hard to pinpoint—almost invisible to me. But not for very long. I heard a strange crackling, a horrible sound that made my skin crawl. It was something that I couldn't exactly identify, and then that strange splitting vocalization that was almost like a chorus of voices rising and falling in a cathartic wave. That sound made me think of arching cathedrals void of people and faith. It was like a song bouncing off broken windows, a haunting tune that caught my attention as much as it made me want to turn tail.

I came upon a small clearing where the smell of bergamot was stronger. I found the person I had mated with, although I didn't recognize him in this form. His long, scraggly legs with gigantic sharp claws and muddy fur made my skin feel like ice. My heart stuttered in my chest. As I stepped forward, the sound thundered in my ears and took over. The way he stood was almost like a jackal, but so much bigger and oozing black liquid from his long snout. Dark blood—black blood—dripped from his nose, coating the fur on his chest and trickling down to his paws, where his claws dug into the soft earth. A shadowy aura surrounded him, making his black eyes look completely void.

I realized then that he had been shifting all this time into something new and terrible—a demonic wolf with pointed ears and large black eyes that were round and lifeless. As he turned to face me, I realized his jaws were parting and that he was stepping toward me. My feet were stuck to the ground, and there was nothing I could do because I couldn't move.

I had to face him, no matter the consequences.

Chapter 13 - Harvey

The scent of azaleas soaked in sweet water met my nostrils. I was standing tall, towering above everything, practically reaching the tops of the trees with the pointed end of my snout. I couldn't control the fact that my demon wolf took over when my wounds were too much to handle in my regular wolf form. This was just my cross to bear.

Kiara’s voice rang through my mind. Dad!

That had been her father. That was her pack. They came to take her away from me. My one chance to explain my situation had devolved so fast because of my actions. I was too preoccupied with the fact that my mate was in danger and that the woman I had vowed to protect was going to be taken from me. Unfortunately, being in this form meant that the demon ate more of my soul. I could feel him cackling inside, enjoying the fact that I was becoming brittle from the inside out. Even as my demonic wolf form healed and grew stronger, my soul felt like it was splitting like the outer shell of a fragile egg. Lightning cracks spread all through me. I knew I would wake up later with a dreadful headache from doing this.

But I had no choice.

My vision clouded with blotches of red. That was how everything looked in this form. It was like I was wearing tinted glasses, a filter of scarlet invading my eyes and making the world feel like it was closing in on me. Even as my vision felt strange, the rest of me could understand the world in ways that my original wolf could not. I sensed the very nature of the forest. I could feel the animals all around me. All the possible paths were laid out in my mind without me having to turn my head. Vision be damned, my body understood the proximity of the person that I had vowed to be with. Her scent filled my nostrils and made me realize that she was grounding me just by being there.

No, I thought. She can't see me like this.

I turned away and ran to the beach, searching for a cave, searching for something to hide me. I would have thrown myself headfirst into the ocean if I hadn't already tried that before—this demon couldn’t be drowned. No matter what, it was always there, lurking, waiting, and laughing. This wolf form gave me power that was addictive and frightening at the same time. I could win so many battles just by being in this form—this strange, lanky, long-legged mangy-dog creature.

As much as I didn't want to run away from her, and as much as I didn't want to hide from the truth, the reality was that my ugliness would drive her off. I knew I had to face it. I was acting like a coward. The demon laughed even louder at my realization. It could hear all of my thoughts and I could feel its judgment through each completed thought cycle. Every time I came to a new conclusion, it poked at it a little bit, pulling it apart and showing me how fragile I truly was deep down.

You'll never win this battle, it said in the back of my mind. I will always be here. I will always dangle what you want in front of your eyes. Until you give in to me, you will never get anything you desire.

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