Page 15 of The Alpha's Chosen Outcast

“So that’s what you do. Go back after the wedding and fade into the background. If no one notices you, I won’t kill you, and I won’t send anyone after you.”

I see her relax a bit, and I can tell that the tension in the room is calmer. Violet, ever the fixer, thinks she can repair this too. She immediately falls into hostess mode.

“How about some tea?”

Heather’s eyes go wide again.

“Vi, I know you mean well, but I think Heather here was hoping to be left alone after all this. I’m sure she wants some time to process everything.”

Heather stands up and pulls a phone out of her pocket.

“I have to call Jessie and let her know that the initial meeting went okay.”

“So you’re not telling her about the part where my brother almost killed you?” Violet asks hopefully.

“No, I was planning to leave that out.”

Violet laughs a bit, but Heather hangs her head. She is definitely itching for us to leave, and I’m pretty adamant about getting out of here, too.

This whole thing is severely fucked up. Heather should be dead right now. Simply leaving her alive is dangerous for us.

We head out, and I lock the door behind us. Marly had given us keys so that Violet could come and go as she wanted. They had agreed not to take any more clients while Heather was designing this dress. Marly doesn’t know the real reason why, though, of course. She’s human.

In the city, wolves are much more “out” than in other places, but we still keep things under wraps as the law dictates. I remember when Heather was exiled.

She was barely out of high school and working for a local paper. She didn’t agree with the laws that had been established regarding keeping our rituals secret.

A few people believe that opening up all of our secrets will show people that we’re not to be feared. And then otherswantus to be feared.

They’re the Alphas, and their influence wins out. I’m still on the fence, but I think the punishment of exile is harsh, especially for someone as young as Heather was when she broke the law.

It was her first offense, too. She wrote an article about the coming-of-age ceremony she’d experienced when she turned eighteen. She thought it was beautiful and that other people should know about it. Granted, she’s not wrong.

The women do this whole thing where they’re reborn in the water. There are flowers and gowns and all kinds of pretty things.

The male version differs greatly, but she didn’t discuss that. She only wrote about her own specific experience, and she didn’t name anyone. People knew who she was, though. They knew who her friends were and who her parents were.

The Alphas of six nearby packs came together to talk about her punishment. They decided that she should be exiled. It was how they’d written the law, but a few of them didn’t agree. In the end, after days of deliberation, the punishment was meted out.

She was supposed to leave in a shunning ceremony and inform her Alpha where she was going. Part of the punishment was the looming threat that the Alpha could find her at any time and kill her if they chose. She didn’t do that, though. And likely driven by fear over the public shaming, she ran.

The morning of her ceremony, Heather was reported missing by her parents. They said that they went to say their goodbyes and she wasn’t in her room.

They questioned all of her friends, her boss, everyone she knew back then. No one had seen her. She’d just disappeared, seemingly into thin air.

The Cauleys’ missing persons case stayed open after that. They didn’t have any other choice but to keep searching or give up. I know they’ll never giving up, but I still can’t tell them I’ve found her. She has to stay missing.

The consequences for everyone will be detrimental if she’s discovered.

Right now, people are guessing something is going on with my father, but they don’t know that it’s serious and they look to me as his heir apparent. They will let me move into the Alpha role seamlessly when he’s gone, because he already approved it. But if they knew that I let an exile live?

If it gets out, people will question every decision I make going forward. They’ll question every decision my father has already made.

Fuck the wedding coming up—we’ll be spending all of our time and money on protection. Right now, we can still quietly seek out any detractors—find any enemies and strategically eliminate them.

If people start to question our authority, those eliminations will have to be much quicker and more violent. The humans will notice. They’ll see us as some kind of thugs. A violent gang.

We’ve worked hard to be seen as “normal people.” Sure, we know that’s not who we are, but if we’re perceived that way, we can go about our business without interference from human laws.

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