The Alpha’s Fated Choice (Alpha's Fated Encounter Trilogy #1)

In response, he gives me a huge, wolfy grin, his tongue lolling out.

My own wolf sits up inside my mind, curious, maybe even slightly elated for some reason. It wants to sniff this creature and roll around with him. I have never felt any desire from my wolf to be playful before.

I don’t know what to do next. I have a feeling that if I try to leave, this wolf won’t let me. He settles his head on my lap, and without thinking, I start to stroke his neck. When I realize what I’m doing, I quickly remove my hand. He lets out a sound of protest.

I immediately put my hand back. Pissing him off isn’t the goal here.

He rubs against me in a comforting manner, which stuns me. The one time I went on a pack run as an orphan child, I saw this behavior among members of the same family. It’s a way of conveying affection and love.

When he does it again, the action overwhelms me with emotion. Even back then, I knew nobody would ever do this to me. To have a strange wolf show me affection in the way only loved ones do has me confounded. “You can’t do that. I’m not your family.”

But he doesn’t stop. This is one wolf’s acceptance of another, and the gesture makes tears fall from my eyes.

I rub them away fiercely and say, “I never used to cry. These days, it seems like I’m always crying. I hate this.”

The wolf pushes my hands away from my face and licks my cheeks.

“I guess you’re not going to shift back to human form, are you?” I sniff, running my hands through his fur. “That’s probably for the best. I imagine you’d have to kill me if you were to show me who you are.”

I don’t know what the shifter’s motivation is, but I’m finding it hard to be concerned. I’m too tired. Both my heart and head are heavy, and I just want to curl up against someone and go to sleep—and not wake up again.

The wolf lets out a small whine, and I realize I was speaking out loud.

I look at him. “Is it that bad not to want to wake up? It’s not like I’m wanted in this town. Nobody really wants me around. I’m so tired of fighting against myself all the time, telling myself I don’t care.”

I know I sound melodramatic. He probably thinks so, too. He’s a stranger to me, and perhaps it’s because he’s in his animal form that it is easy for me to talk like this. It’s as if a dam has broken inside me. I can’t stop myself.

“I don’t like Oakrest,” I confess. “I just want to go away somewhere. Everybody seems to have someone in their life but me.”

I rub my hands over his fur where the tears are dropping. “It’s not fair. It’s not as if I like being alone. It’s not my fault I can’t shift. If my wolf weren’t latent, I would be accepted in this pack. Nobody understands. Especially not that stupid, pompous Alex.”

My hands grip a fistful of the black wolf’s fur. He stiffens, and I immediately let go. “Sorry.”

For a moment, I think he looks amused, but I could be wrong.

“I wish Alex had never come here.”

I press my face against the wolf’s fur, feeling a little delirious now. “He doesn’t like the fact that I don’t care about him rejecting me. I’ve been rejected my whole life. Do you think his rejection would matter to me? My whole life I’ve been told I’m worthless, that I’m not worthy of being loved. Am I expected to believe that my fated mate should think otherwise?”

A dark chuckle escapes me. “It’s fine. Once I get away from this town, I will never see Alex again. Drew told me that if I put distance between us, the fated mate bond will weaken. I hope it does. Alex can keep his arrogance and his pity to himself. I don’t need anyone’s pity, especially not his.”

The wolf rumbles in what I want to believe is agreement.

“Just because he’s good-looking doesn’t mean he has a good personality,” I add, annoyed. “He has the personality of a rock.”

The wolf sits up and puts his paw on my face.

“I’m not lying,” I say fiercely.

I’m pretty sure the wolf just rolled his eyes at me, but then again, my head is spinning right now. I’m talking to an enemy shifter who is treating me like a fangless, clawless kitten.

I run my fingers through the wolf’s fur one last time. “I have to keep moving. If the pack security finds out I’ve left, they may come after me. And they’re faster than I am, so I need to get a head start.”

I try to get to my feet, but the shifter doesn’t let me budge. He gives me a quizzical look as if asking me where I’m going.

“I’m not staying in this town. Noah just arrived. You don’t know him, but he made my life a living hell when I was in the orphanage. I can’t be around him. He’s the Alpha’s son. If I thought Freddy was a monster, Noah is ten times worse. He has always hated me. I’m not going to stay here and let him torture me.”

My hands are trembling. “Even I know when to accept defeat. I want to go to some human city and hide there. I have some cash—”