Bound by Fate (Moon Bound Series Book 1) by Mandy Lou Dowson Page B
Authors: Mandy Lou Dowson
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Alpha.” It was done. She was to be mated in two days. She wanted to die. She could feel her eyes well up as she backed out of his presence and willed the tears not to fall. Don’t you dare, Beth, she warned herself. Werewolves may cry, but not half as often as me!
“ A moment, Beth,” he called as she reached the threshold, and she paused. “It may interest you to know that we’ve already had an interested party for quite some years.” He waited for her reaction. She offered him a blank face, and he smiled. “He was not from this pack. We have been offered the chance to end the blood-feud between ourselves and our neighbors,” he informed her, a sadness playing in his eyes. “The cost of which… is you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Me?” she asked, flabbergasted. How could the price of peace be her? Who would want her so badly? And then she remembered the look on the strange wolf’s face as he said he didn’t know she was here. Could someone from the Tall Grass pack know of her? She knew that not many purebred females had been born in the last twenty years or so, and that each one was a prize in her own right. Someone from the Tall Grass pack was hoping to breed more females from her. That was it. It had to be. There was no other reason.
“ Yes, Little Wolf. Another annual messenger from the Tall Grass pack arrived last morning, with an offer of peace, for the price of the purebred female’s mating rites.” He frowned. Something about the whole thing bothered him, and she needed to know what.
“ Forgive me, my Alpha, but surely you can’t offer me to the Tall Grass pack after all the blood shed that has come before?” Her knees were shaking. How could she influence his decision on this?
“ I see a great opportunity to create a sense of peace and brotherhood between the wolves,” he replied carefully, examining her reactions. “But, I find I must be candid with you. I also see a chance for the Tall Grass pack to take advantage and bear many purebred females upon you, thereby cementing their own pack while weakening ours.”
She must tread carefully here. He was her Alpha and whatever decision he made, would be his and his alone. But the right words, said with the right inflection, may yet help her cause. “I see. You have a difficult decision to reach, Alpha. Of course,” she continued in a whisper. “I would much prefer to stay here, with the Loam Floor pack, and bolster our own ranks. But if you feel the benefits outweigh the risks, then I must do as you command.”
“It is as you say,” he replied, obviously done speaking, he turned away and faced the fire, deep in his own thoughts.
Beth let herself out and scurried home, ignoring the pack members who had gathered and had yet to disperse. If ever there was a time she needed the solitude of her creek it was now. And consequences be damned, she would have the isolation she craved.
She needed out of these ‘best’ clothes and into her jogging pants and tee-shirt. Then she needed to distract the Guardian that had been placed on Beth duty since Gareth had been relieved. He was a burly, middle-aged, fully grown werewolf who was almost always in wolf-form, ready and able to take her down in an instant. He was going to be a hard tail to shake. But once she got rid of him she was home-free. Nobody could track her. Well, nobody until recently, at least.
It was still early morning; lunch was a few hours away, at least. She had time to visit her creek for a while before she’d be looked for. Not paying attention to any of her surroundings, she barreled into a rock hard body and finished in a heap on the ground, barely feeling the sudden impact. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she gasped, raising her head to apologize again, and meeting the dark glare of the one person she hadn’t noticed during her procession to the Alpha’s house.
“ A moment, Beth,” he called as she reached the threshold, and she paused. “It may interest you to know that we’ve already had an interested party for quite some years.” He waited for her reaction. She offered him a blank face, and he smiled. “He was not from this pack. We have been offered the chance to end the blood-feud between ourselves and our neighbors,” he informed her, a sadness playing in his eyes. “The cost of which… is you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Me?” she asked, flabbergasted. How could the price of peace be her? Who would want her so badly? And then she remembered the look on the strange wolf’s face as he said he didn’t know she was here. Could someone from the Tall Grass pack know of her? She knew that not many purebred females had been born in the last twenty years or so, and that each one was a prize in her own right. Someone from the Tall Grass pack was hoping to breed more females from her. That was it. It had to be. There was no other reason.
“ Yes, Little Wolf. Another annual messenger from the Tall Grass pack arrived last morning, with an offer of peace, for the price of the purebred female’s mating rites.” He frowned. Something about the whole thing bothered him, and she needed to know what.
“ Forgive me, my Alpha, but surely you can’t offer me to the Tall Grass pack after all the blood shed that has come before?” Her knees were shaking. How could she influence his decision on this?
“ I see a great opportunity to create a sense of peace and brotherhood between the wolves,” he replied carefully, examining her reactions. “But, I find I must be candid with you. I also see a chance for the Tall Grass pack to take advantage and bear many purebred females upon you, thereby cementing their own pack while weakening ours.”
She must tread carefully here. He was her Alpha and whatever decision he made, would be his and his alone. But the right words, said with the right inflection, may yet help her cause. “I see. You have a difficult decision to reach, Alpha. Of course,” she continued in a whisper. “I would much prefer to stay here, with the Loam Floor pack, and bolster our own ranks. But if you feel the benefits outweigh the risks, then I must do as you command.”
“It is as you say,” he replied, obviously done speaking, he turned away and faced the fire, deep in his own thoughts.
Beth let herself out and scurried home, ignoring the pack members who had gathered and had yet to disperse. If ever there was a time she needed the solitude of her creek it was now. And consequences be damned, she would have the isolation she craved.
She needed out of these ‘best’ clothes and into her jogging pants and tee-shirt. Then she needed to distract the Guardian that had been placed on Beth duty since Gareth had been relieved. He was a burly, middle-aged, fully grown werewolf who was almost always in wolf-form, ready and able to take her down in an instant. He was going to be a hard tail to shake. But once she got rid of him she was home-free. Nobody could track her. Well, nobody until recently, at least.
It was still early morning; lunch was a few hours away, at least. She had time to visit her creek for a while before she’d be looked for. Not paying attention to any of her surroundings, she barreled into a rock hard body and finished in a heap on the ground, barely feeling the sudden impact. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she gasped, raising her head to apologize again, and meeting the dark glare of the one person she hadn’t noticed during her procession to the Alpha’s house.
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