Page 11 of Claimed

Wyatt ridiculed me, schooled me that the measure of a man was about so much more than who he chose to fuck. He rolled his eyes at the notion of a woman being anything other than a broodmare who cooks and cleans. Then he educated me, saying that being an alpha’s daughter meant I was currency, not about to sit on a shelf until someone wanted to mate me for life. And I didn’t know how a person could be considered currency at the time, but I’ve certainly found out the meaning since then.

Wyatt feels that an alpha has the ability to mount anything and everything in sight, so why wouldn’t he take what was owed to him by his pack? It was ridiculous to think otherwise.

Father was only able to bear two children, Wyatt with his mom who died, then came me after Wyatt’s mother died, so that didn’t fit with the notion of mating for life.

Father taught Wyatt to take his due and because of what he’d been through with females, which was a long and sordid tale that changed almost every time I heard it recounted, Father’s opinion was that alphas should always take their due. Money. Power. Fealty. Women.

We move past a pretty home with a wide yard and I see a side patio where six people sit around a fire bowl grilling meat,waving at us, smiling. An older man is tying up his boat at a dock in front of another house two doors over. He gives us a thumbs up and calls out, “Congrats, Grey! Welcome to the pack, little lady!”

Next door to that there are three teenaged boys on bicycles in a driveway. They’re gesturing and elbowing one another, and I catch enough of their words to know they’re talking lewdly about the fact thatGreyis about togo and mate a she-shifter.

Greyson picks up his pace with an even more determined expression on his face.

My nerves are fried; I’m on sensory overload.

A half a dozen or so homes past the teenagers, we turn right to go down another street lined with even more pretty buildings. This village has so many houses, but they’re not on top of one another like our village, where you can hear and smell absolutely everything and everyone around you.

Wyatt said this pack is at least five times the size of ours. Then again, more than half of our members have either run away or died in the past few years and our numbers are dwindling because of the lack of live births.

“We’re here,” Greyson breathes, and his eyes hit mine just briefly. They’re still like liquid silver.

His chest has been rising and falling the entire walk, not like he’s out of breath, more like he’s determined, gearing up to fight or something.

My heart skips a beat as my eyes cut away to take in the sight before me. A house.Hishouse. In a minute, we’ll be alone together on the other side of the pretty bottle-green carved wooden door in front of us.

Wyatt initially wanted me to get into this village and scope it out for him, get them to take me in and give him the layout, where each of the extra-alpha ones live, but it felt too risky to simply show up and just pretend I was lost. He didn’t like that I defied that order at all and instructed Jimmy to lay a beating on me for it.

But it didn’t make sense to do that. Not that much of what Wyatt wants us to do does. They’d ask questions. I’m not a liar; don’t think I’d get away with trying to deceive anyone.

I fibbed when I told Jimmy that the last time one of them was in the diner, his nose twitched around me. I told him I thought it was one of the extra-alpha ones and that I was concerned he could scent me past my masking agent. I said I thought I should keep my distance.

Jimmy bought the excuse, didn’t beat me, but he told me if Wyatt asks, to say that he did. Jimmy also told me if I defied another order he’d have no choice but to dole out Wyatt’s punishment. Jimmy also made me give over whatever money I had that day as payment for him defying Wyatt. And I know the money was for Jimmy, that Wyatt wouldn’t have seen it. I said nothing and forked it over. Jimmy told me to hang tight and wait for more instructions, but to keep poisoning them, particularly their alphas.

Under Wyatt’s dictatorship, most of the rest of his men, particularly his inner circle, men under forty… they’re like jackals. Survival of the fittest. Most everyone who is left will do whatever it takes to stay off Wyatt’s radar, but things are such that everyone is always a little hungry and therefore doing desperate or even underhanded things.

Though I’ve defied Wyatt on a few things during this whole mess, like lying about my tip amounts so he can’t take them all, Ihave had no choice but to do most of his bidding. Several alphas and other shifters came into the diner throughout my short time there and the only time I did any poisoning was when Jimmy was present, at the counter by the dessert case, his scent masked, knowing he scented the alphas who walked in.

I’ve been straddling a line between not wanting to do harm and desperately wanting to help my pack. If I followed Wyatt’s orders and he was able to do what he wants and take over, he says he’d bring our pack over and we’d be living in the land of milk and honey. If we got a fresh start, we’d have a chance at more than the bleak existence we’ve had. The close proximity to the bustling town could give us access to new opportunities to survive. But I’m sure it would only happen if we got Wyatt out of the way before he ran things into the ground here, too.

The best chance we have is to find a way to usurp Wyatt and turn things around. That’s where Malachi comes in.

If I’m allowed to pair up with him, he could get closer to Wyatt. We’ve had some exchanges that let me know Mal is more than open to becoming the pack’s alpha. He’d love to challenge Wyatt, but he needs to get stronger for that to happen successfully.

We tested that herb out before I got here on a few of the stronger betas in our pack, including Malachi, and they all got ill and couldn’t shift, couldn’t fight very well when Wyatt took pleasure in laying beatings on them. Wyatt refused to risk it by trying the herb himself, so we didn’t know how it would work on an alpha.

Three times in the diner, I’ve slipped that herb mixture in local shifters’ desserts. The pie has been a good decoy because the herb is sweet, too. And the dessert case is by the cash register so not served by the kitchen. Waitresses slice, dress with toppings, and serve it and I’ve put the herb mixture on top before I dress the pie with the whipped cream and a cherry.

I don’t know if it affects alphas the way it affected betas in our pack, but luckily before I gave Jimmy back the rest of the herb, I put some aside, disguised the scent in my suitcase under the lining. I figured if Mal gets into Wyatt’s inner circle and gets to shift more, gets stronger, I could serve it to Wyatt ahead of a battle.

Wyatt saw me taking extra care with nursing Mal back to health after Wyatt beat him, so dangled Mal like a carrot for me, assuming I was crushing on him. He told me maybe he’d pair us up when I got back. If I succeed with my mission.

I’ve failed epically and I’d expect to be viewed as an enemy to this pack. But instead of hurting me, instead of making an example of me in the public square like Wyatt would’ve done, this alpha has taken me home, saying he’ll make me his. He’s carried me. Not dragged me by my hair. He gave me his shirt, so I was shielded from the cold in that cell.

I’ll have to do whatever he demands, obviously, and hope I won’t be murdered afterwards. It has occurred to me that maybe he thinks I’m just a dumb woman who will get on all fours for him hoping he genuinely wants me as a mate when really, he’s just going to have his way without a fight and then plans to throw me back in that cell and torture me into telling him what he wants to know. But that doesn’t compute because of everything I’ve seen since he walked me out of that cell and faced-off with the other alphas.

They didn’t act like angry apes. They acted like friends. I even addressed them all directly, having the nerve to ask what I smelled like to them. Nobody reprimanded me for it.

My mind is all over the place because I’m so thrown off.

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