Page 7 of The Alpha's Forced Pregnant Mate

I nodded, feeling a bit calmer now that I knew that Hector wasn't upset with me. But I wasn't sure if running away was the best answer. The demons were getting stronger, and from what I understood, the only way to break a mate bond was death. I had no intention of dying, which meant…

"Wait," I jerked my head to Danny, and then back to Hector. “Alphas, excuse my bluntness, but you're not planning to kill him are you?"

Hector and Danny shared a look, and then Hector spoke up, "That was the first idea. But Faye isn't so sure that will work. The mate bond is magic, and killing him may not break it. We need to find out more about how it works because killing him might end up hurting you."

I put a hand on my forehead, feeling a little dizzy. "So if you can't kill him, then what?"

"You're going to have to be his mate," Hector said grimly. "If he dies, it could affect you. If he rejects the bond, it could affect you. We don't know how any of this works. And there's no guarantee that we'd find another way."

"So I'm stuck with him?" I asked, trying not to sound as disgusted by that thought as I felt.

Hector nodded slowly. "It's the only option we have at the moment. Unless you want me to get rid of him in a different way."

I thought about that for a moment. It would be so much easier if Julian just died and everything went back to normal. But then again, if something went wrong and our brand-new bond messed me up somehow, it would be a disaster. Fear rose in my throat at the idea. I didn't want to die, and I didn’t want to end up messed up in the head either.

Plus, there was the fact that Julian is both an Alpha and Danny's ex-best friend. Something told me that as much as Danny hated Julian, he'd still be torn up if one of us ended him.

No. No matter how much I hated this whole situation, I knew it wasn't going to get any better if Julian died.

I shook my head. "No. No death. At least not yet." I exhaled, blowing a stray strand of hair off my face. My heart rate was slowing as the gears in my head started to turn. "Okay. I won't fight the bond right now, but I'm also going to avoid Julian at all costs. I mean nothing will change, right? It's not like we've given each other the mating bite. If I have to spend the rest of my life staying out of his way, so be it. Anything is better than being his mate."

"And I'll try to see if I can find a way to get you out of the bond," Faye said, as quietly as she could while still being heard by our small grouping. "But don't breathe a word of that. I don't even know if it's possible, but the pack needs to keep believing in the power of the mate match ceremony. If they know there is a way to break the bond, a lot of that power will be lost."

"I understand." I gave Faye a quick nod of acknowledgment. She was putting herself on the line for me, and I knew it. "Thank you."

I could feel the crowd still staring at all of us, and I had to swallow my anxiety down. It was obvious that they were waiting for some kind of statement. The Silverfang demon hunter mated to the Reckless Stalker's evil Alpha. Someone had to say something to restore order, to make things make sense again.

Clearing my throat, I stepped forward, unsheathing one of my spelled knives and holding it up until it caught the light. "Attention, everyone!" I yelled over the din, and the pack fell silent. "Thank you for your concern, but I am fine. This spell doesn't change anything. I'm still one of the best hunters the Silverfang Creek pack has ever had, and that sure as hell isn't going to change!" There were some murmurs of agreement, so I pushed on. “Let it be known here and now, with the entire Silverfang Creek pack as witness, I will be Julian's mate in name only. I, Whitney Gray, refuse to let a villain like Julian Payne ever touch me. And if he tries, I'll kill him myself."

The crowd roared and applauded, but the Alphas all looked grim. I knew they weren't happy about it, but it was the only solution that would keep both me and Julian safe.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Hector said.

I let out a shaky breath, and looked up at my Alpha. “Yeah, so do I."

Chapter 4 - Julian

I had known fury many times in my life. When my parents abandoned me with Alpha Peter, the first time I had faced down a demon, when Danny turned his back on me, when I discovered how far Rick and Tanner had gone in poisoning Naomi, and a million other lesser times in between.

I was no stranger to fury, but seeing my mate raise her blade to the sunlight and declare that she would never accept me was a new sort of fury…and a betrayal so deep that Danny's betrayal paled in comparison.

How could she? How in the fuck could she!?

Two hours earlier, I had arrived in Silverfang Creek territory just as the mate match ceremony was getting started, and the scents of all the other wolves gathered together had helped me stay hidden. I'd taken wolf form and lain in the undergrowth, watching as the ceremony took place unbeknownst to the rest of the Silverfang Creek pack.

At first, it was amusing, but the amusement shifted to annoyance when I realized that Hector really didn’t know I was there. The Silverfang Creek pack was one of the biggest and most notorious, and Hector letting a random wolf from another pack hide so close was crazy to me. But when I spotted Naomi and Danny, and then saw the massive amount of wolves showing up at the ceremony, I understood. Even if he didn’t sense me, there was power in numbers. They didn’t have to fear for their safety like smaller packs…like my pack.

Seeing Danny and Naomi again was a punch in the gut. I looked Naomi over first, in no small part because I could barely stomach looking at my old friend-turned-enemy. I searched Naomi head to toe with my eyes, looking for any sign that she was still being affected by the wolfsbane poisoning. It was both a relief and an annoyance to see that she wasn’t carrying any outward indications of the poisoning. I hadn’t wanted to kill her, but knowing she recovered so completely was frustrating. I had lost everything, any chance for reconciliation with the Red Canines, and Naomi looked even brighter and healthier than before.

Meanwhile, me and my pack were living in rundown cabins in the woods, scrounging for every dollar and every ounce of respect we could get. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.

Then there was Danny. Seeing him hurt. I missed him, missed that brotherly bond we had shared, but seeing how obviously devoted and protective he still was of Naomi told me that I had made the right choice. He would never be pulled away from his mate, and now that connection was getting him invited to Silverfang Creek territory and a shiny new friendship with Hector.

I swallowed my jealousy down and focused on watching the ceremony.

The crowd parted for a small collection of wolves that had just arrived—two men and a woman being led by a second, taller woman with icy blond hair. I recognized her as the Silverfang's infamous demon hunter Whitney Gray, Naomi and Faye's friend, and a power in her own right. There was a spark of interest when I first laid eyes on her, but she was a Silverfang wolf through and through. So instead, I watched in silent appreciation as she moved across the field, her body lithe and muscular from years of training. The other female with her, Laura, was an attractive enough girl, but I didn't spend much time looking at her or the other two men in their little group.

I wasn't here to get distracted by a woman, though. No matter how much Whitney seemed to fascinate me. I was here to watch and to get information on what the alliance between the Red Canines and the Silverfangs meant, and to see if there was any way to use that connection to my advantage for the Reckless Stalkers. Danny sure as hell won't put Naomi in danger if he can help it, and if they refuse to get too involved in the demon fighting, then that's where my pack steps in.

---