I can feel Leslie's heated stare as I blink at Merikh trying to keep my fear at bay. With his lighthearted teasing I had almost forgotten who I mated myself too but I see his true nature in his eyes now. The feral Alpha of Death who commands respect wherever he goes. I understand his reaction to me looking at Grady. I am his Luna, as he keeps saying. Looking at another man longingly is a slap to his face.

"I understand Alpha," I bow my head to him, trying to figure out how to do this Luna thing. "Alpha Merikh," a man says, stepping up and whispering in his ear. He is slightly shorter than Merikh and his red hair highlights his pale face and little freckles. He looks much friendlier than his alpha.

"Colette, excuse me for just a moment," Merikh whispers in a low voice, stepping a few feet away from me to have a heated conversation with the redhead.

It takes Leslie a whole two seconds before she swoops in for another verbal assault.

"I can't believe you would be such a backstabbing cunt," she hisses, while offering smiles to those who pass and offering congratulations to me.

"I did nothing wrong." I insist, finding a little inner strength when I catch Merikh looking in my direction with curiosity in my eyes.

"If I had known he wasn't an ugly disfigured alpha, I would never have slept around so much." She mutters to herself with an irritated groan. I furrow my brows, trying to process everything she is saying.

"I thought you said you were only sleeping with Grady?" I ask, my voice breaking at the mention of his name. Leslie rolls her eyes and scoffs.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is, you stole what was mine the second you found out he was attractive."

"He chose me," I tell her, shocked. Her head falls back as she laughs loudly, her sardonic tune echoing back at us.

"No one would willingly choose you. Are you that idiotic? You are a weak, simpering sorry excuse for a werewolf. You have only successfully shifted like what? Twice in three years?" She crosses her arms over her chest waiting for an answer and embarrassment stains my face.

Leslie is right. Merikh wouldn't have accepted me if he knew my wolf hardly ever comes forward when beckoned. But then again I tried to tell him, so did Alpha Bentley, but he insisted he wanted

me.

"Why would you even want him now?" I ask "You are pregnant with Grady's pup. Is he not good enough now?"

"Of course he isn't." She scoffs, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "I never wanted Grady. I just knew you wanted him, so I figured why not fuck him? It was enough knowing I was destroying your precious little heart. But now you think you can choose someone more powerful? This is about you, Colette, always needing a reminder of where you belong. In the dirt, at my feet," she growls out as she lunges at me.

Her hand tangles in my hair as I gasp and clutch her wrist, trying to keep her from tossing me around. She grunts in pain, her body going slack and her eyes growing wide as I look up to see Merikh with his hand squeezing her throat.

"Release my Luna. Now." He whispers menacingly.

from her and moving behind me. The red-headed lycan sidles up behind her as he lifts his

squatting beside her, murder in his

feel Merikh's heat, his hand

looking around for someone to save her but the hall has emptied, everyone rushing to the

down my spine. "I was patient. I afforded you more slanderous words than you deserved because of the

with her," Leslie stutters, her eyes filling with fear as she looks up at me. "Tell them Cole...I call her names all the time.

it will be like living with him. He seems so gentle one moment and volatile the

with her?" I ask him, and

do with her? She has offended you too many times and in doing so, she has insulted me personally and our pack. Where we are from, that is punishable by

face as I swallow the dryness. Death? He wants to kill her? Leslie sobs, her hands reaching out for my ankles, her nails embedding into my skin. "No," I squeak. My mind swirls, the only thought saving the unborn pup of my best friend that is growing inside Leslie's womb. I shake my head, pleading, and he seems to frown.

father of the unborn child?" He asks Leslie, his foot pushing her hands away from me. "Grady..."

I feel my world spin and a hand wraps around me, steadying me at my lower back. Merikh holds me close

of here and keep her and Grady away

to silence as Merikh spins me to face him. He searches my face with a look

This will be

bond gives me a month," I whisper to his chest, my eyes

now, Colette, and my rules are very different, yet set in stone.

mine and it feels like the air is

jelly. Merikh's fingers tickle the line of my jaw and little

murmurs. "Now, let us

fill and I sit next to Merikh, unmoving, as he looks uncomfortable every time someone asks him to dance with me. After what feels

and party to your heart's content." Everyone cheers as my

the word, but the meaning is there

and steals a chaste kiss from my lips. My first kiss. My eyes nearly pop from my face in shock and he looks satisfied. "Come on Alpha Merikh!" The redhead from earlier hollers, "You can do better than that!" Merikh scowls at his friend

his eyes scanning me before he cups my cheek and, ever so

tongue traces over my lips before closing and coming back more forcefully. I hear nothing as I get lost in the kiss, my body responding in ways it only ever has for Grady, and

his arm, cheering like a wild man. I look for his eyes to find me again, trying

the while his eyes stay trained on me. My mouth goes dry when he undoes the top button, and I clench my fingers into a fist. I'm his mate now and along with that title come...certain expectations. The kind I have never experienced before. I glance away, my cheeks burning with embarrassment

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