188

Book:Fated to the Alpha Published:2024-6-3

I was about to leave when someone stepped out of the booth in front of ours and bumped directly into me.
“Oh, sorry,” I blurt before they turn around and glare at me. Oh, for the love of God, not this bitch. It is Miss Taylor.
“You should be,” she snaps.
“You stepped in front of me, and I still apologized out of courtesy, you rude bitch.”
Dad laughs behind me and Angie snorts.
“How dare you speak to me like that? You have no right-” She thinks she’s going on a rant, but I’m not going to put up with it, this bitch will learn her place.
“I have every right to speak to you however I choose as your Luna. However, it must truly suck knowing I am the only person stopping you from being banished from this pack, and you should do well to remember that. My kindness will only stretch so far, Madeline. I suggest you learn your place,” I scold her like she’s a naughty pup.
My mother smiles over at me while a silly grin plays on Angie’s face, and even Jasmine presses her lips together, trying not to laugh. Madeline, however, glances around the packed Café, my eyes following to find everyone staring in our direction, the room falling so quiet you can hear a pin drop.
Madeline’s face reddens, and she drops her gaze. “If you will excuse me,” Madeline whispers, and I step aside for her as she races to the bathroom behind me.
“Well, you told her,” Kora chuckles.
“I am just sick of being walked all over,” I admit.
“See you out there, girls,” my mother says, sending me a wink, and we leave.
By the time we get to the river, it is a little after 3 PM, and the temperature is still blistering hot. My parents meet us all out there. I make sure to tell Ezra we had a change of plans when I change into my swim clothes, but he declines the offer to come with us and says he is going to meet with some of his warriors, which is fine by me.
It is good seeing mom and dad getting along, and they genuinely seem to be working things out, though it is a bit sickening watching them give each other love eyes and kiss every few seconds.
“Gosh, I hope I have a body like that when I am your mother’s age.” Angie wolf whistles, checking my mom out. I shake my head at her, mom is fit, which is expected considering all she does is train and teach.
“Ah, this has been so nice, and it has been good to get away from all the men,” Jasmine agrees, with a little stretch.
“Yeah, I hate having five brothers. It would have been good to have a sister,” Angie agrees.
“Hey, what do I look like, a potato?” Dad calls out, eavesdropping.
“You don’t count, you’re like one of the girls, now,” Jasmine taunts, making my mother laugh at his offense before she comes running toward us.
“Cannonball!” My mom screams, running off the bank and jumping right between the three of us, splashing us all with water before swimming off as we all try to swim after her and dunk her. My father is standing beneath a tree and watches as we all wrestle in the water, getting our asses handed to us by my mother. She didn’t care that I was her kid, she won’t let me win. She is too competitive for that.
As the day slowly comes to an end, we all pack up and climb out of the water and move toward our towels when Mateo’s voice buzzes through the link.
“Jackson’s men just stepped over the border, north side.”
We all freeze, looking at each other.
“Where are you?” Ezra asks.
“On my way over, where is Kat?” Mateo replies.
“I know about them. I am on my way. Kat, get home now and lock the place down!” Ezra links me.
“With mom and dad, heading home,” I mindlink back as mom grabs my arm, jerking me towards the treeline.
“Get her and the girls to the pack house,” dad orders, shifting before he heads to the border, which isn’t far from here.
Jasmine and Angie grab their towels before chasing after us, and we head back toward the pack house. My mother is on high alert.
The last thing we want to hear is screamed through the link. “Rogues!” Just as we hear vicious growls and snarls in the distance.
My mother glances behind us before letting my arm go.
“Run!” She screams at us, shifting into her wolf as growls get closer.
We all take off running, dropping everything, and racing toward the pack house. Kora shifts, and so do Jasmine and Angie, as we run home. We hear snarls and the beat of paws on the loose dirt running toward us through the forest, making us pick up our pace.
We break through the tree line only to spot a line of wolves and two men stepping out of the area closest to the pack house. Kora skids along the grass to a stop, only just managing to duck out of the way as a dirty, brown-colored wolf jumps on us. Angie attacks a gray wolf, shoving me out of the way as it too attacks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the two men, one tall and lanky with brown hair and sharp features, the other bulky but shorter with a shaved head, waiting at the sides like spectators while we are attacked relentlessly by rogues coming from every direction.
“Ezra!” I yell through the link.
The rogues have us outnumbered, but Kora isn’t about to give up so easily. They dart in at us, one at a time, as if trying to prove a point. Kora dodges one and another breaks the circle and joins in the attack and tackles us to the ground.
Kora turns her neck and bites down into the brown wolf’s neck and shakes her head back and forth viciously before getting her hind legs beneath its soft belly and kicking up, tossing it to the side.
The wolf staggers to its feet, blood drips from its throat, and the area beneath its stomach has a steady flow of blood pouring out. Kora got him good.
Razor-sharp teeth sink into our back leg, ignoring the pain, Kora spins and bites the wolf’s tail hard enough to cause the fragile bone inside to break. Another pair of teeth sink into our side, thrashing back and forth, trying to rip us apart.
Kora whimpers at the assault. She glances around the battlefield, trying to run to a space where she can gather her wits, but the two wolves refuse to give us a second of rest. Kora can’t keep them off of us as they work in tandem with each other.