“What the fuck?” he whispers.
“You!” Alder bellows pointing at Richard. “You told me the bitch was dead. I knew your brother was too much of a pussy to do the job right, but you know better. I just lost my pack because you were to weak to win. I wish Marcus had the balls to end your life when he had the chance.”
Wow. That’s a fucked up thing to say to your child. Then, Alder turns around, shifts, and lunges for me. I’m so surprised that I don’t even have time to react before another wolf slams into him from the side, pinning him to the ground. The other wolf grabs Alder’s neck in his teeth and snaps it. He walks away and stands next to me, nuzzling up to me. I stroke his fur and breath it in because I know this wolf is my third mate. He shifts back and I realize I’m hugging Richard.
“What the fuck?” Ryan yells. “Seriously, you’re Jade’s third mate?”
“Yea,” he says. “When I touched her a few days ago, I knew who she was and I panicked. I spent the rest of the day figuring out who she was and realized she was mated to the both of you. I did some more digging and learned about the Alpha Queen, but I was still unsure about what to do. I planned to ignore the mating call until my dad said what he said to me. Then he tried to attack you, and I just reacted on instinct.”
“Are you willing to admit defeat and turn this pack over to us?” Marcus demands.
“Yes,” Richard says. “The pack is yours.”
Marcus turns to his sister and kneels before her. “My alpha, I fought for you and succeeded. It is now your right and privilege to run both packs.”
Carrie’s face is as surprised as mine.”I’m not Alpha, Mark. Mom is right here.”
Amelia grabs her hand. “I decided that in the last months of my illness, I’ll stay in Cooper’s Rock. Now that you’ve found your mate, and I’ve seen that he’s truly your perfect balance, my time is over. Unlike Alder, I know when my time is ending and I have no problem handing everything over to you. You’re more than capable.”
Carrie is crying at this point and hugs Amelia. “Thank you, momma.”
Suddenly, more familiar faces enter the circle. It’s the rest of my parents. Mámá runs walks forward, putting her arm around Amelia.
“I agree with Amelia, now that you’ve met your mate, mi hija , I really think you’ve come into your own and are ready to take the reins in Cooper’s Rock. You’ve shown great leadership and courage while being here, and now that you have your mates to protect you, I trust you’ll be fine,” she tells me. Then, she doesn’t something I don’t expect...she kneels in front of me. When she kneels, everyone else around her knees.
“I cede my throne to my one true heir, Jade. Long may she reign,” she says softly.
“All hail Queen Jade!” Ry yells loudly.
“ALL HAIL QUEEN JADE,” the crowd shouts.
This is the moment I want to remember forever. This moment where I met my mates and everything seems perfect, but again, I can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right.
Epilogue
Jade’s Diary
I look back and think about the last time I was happy with all my mates. It was the day Marcus won the alpha challenge for his sister, and Richard killed his father. Things were looking up that day. The only thing looking up these days is the tiny life growing inside my womb.
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Six months later…
Even though I’m past my first trimester, the morning sickness has just started winding down. Thank god because the pregnancy has been worrisome with the levels of stress I’ve been dealing with lately. Richard isn’t fitting into our pack or our family very well, and I’m at my wit’s end. On top of all that, pack members have gone missing, including the pack healer’s husband.
Mark and Ry fit into Cooper’s Rock seamlessly, and it’s been a struggle for Richard since he arrived. It definitely doesn’t help that nobody likes him. Honestly, I still don’t think he’s gotten over the fact that the baby isn’t his. Richard and I didn’t mate until a few weeks after the alpha challenge, so there’s no way the baby is his. Ry and Mark don’t care, so I don’t see why he does. He’s also been uncomfortable since we had to all mate together in order to solidify the bond. Richard pretty much just stayed long enough to bite me and then left me to snuggle between Ry and Mark.
On the flip side, Ry and Mark have no problem sharing me whatsoever. It’s getting to a point where I have to make time to spend with Richard because it’s not natural like with the other two. Tonight, though, Mark and Ry are leading the rest of the pack in a run and I’ve decided to spend the night with Richard since I can’t shift while pregnant.
I put on some cute maternity lingerie and walk across the hallway to Richard’s room. I knock and don’t hear an answer. It’s weird because I know he’s in there so I walk inside. I look around for Richard, calling his name until a hand comes around my mouth. I try to scream but my screams are muffled. I try to fight, but everything goes black.
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I wake up with my hand tied together in the back of a truck. Richard is driving and he looks manic.
“I finally have you all to myself, mate,” he says. “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. I’m tired of pretending that stupid pack of yours is my home. You’re all weak. All packs ruled by women are weak, my father was right.”
“Where are we going?” I ask. Normally, I’d have more balls but I’m afraid to lose my baby and I now realize I was stupid to put my trust in Richard. I thought he could change, that he would be more like Harry, but I was wrong and now it may cost my life and the life of my baby.
“To our new pack, where I’m alpha. The alpha challenge has been taken care of already and you’ll raise that bastard child of yours and be at my mercy. As long as I have you alive, your weak ass other mates won’t attack me,” he boasts. “They won’t risk your safety.”
His words piss me off and my anger gets the better of me. “You’re the weak one you piece of sh --” I begin to say before I feel a huge slap across my face. Holy shit! That burns.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch. I will beat you into submission if I have to,” he snarls. I decide to remain quiet for the rest of the car ride. If not for myself, then for my child. We pull up to an area known as Greenbriar, and I realize Richard must’ve killed their alphas to gain the pack. He parks the car, comes around, and drags me before the pack.
I look up trying to look as regal as possible and scan the crowd. I see some faces as the ones that have disappeared from the pack, including the pack healer’s mate and newborn baby. I make eye contact with him and he shakes his head with pleading eyes. Richard must have blackmailed him into coming here. I’m almost sure of it. I scan the rest of the crowd, and in the back I see a familiar face that gives me relief.
It’s James. He winks at me and places his fingers over his lips, telling me to be quiet. That one wink gave me the resolve I needed. No matter how long it takes...I WILL get my child out of here and send her to Ry and Mark. I send up a final prayer to the Moon Goddess before beginning my new life. I may be beaten down, and I may be broken, but I won’t always be. I am Jade...and I am Alpha Queen.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Make sure to purchase the NEXT book in the series... Keep the Wolves at Bay on Amazon! Available NOW!
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading my Alpha Queen short Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, and I hope you enjoyed it. Once I wrote Keep the Wolves at Bay, I really thought Jade’s story should be highlighted. As I continued, I wanted to add more to KTWAB. So for those who have read the story, read it again because I added a lot more to the plot, and for those who have yet to read it, you’re in for a treat. I’m working on the second book, as well. It’ll be an MC series loosely based on my real life.
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Sneak Peek: Alpha Queen #2 - Bear Down on Me
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Chapter 1
Samantha’s Diary
I cannot wait to get out of Alaska. I have absolutely no freedom here, and I want to be like typical eighteen-year old who goes off to college. Unfortunately, most girls my age aren’t meant to lead their respective race of shifters. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t the future Alpha Queen, and I know my mother wishes I wasn’t.
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Today is the first day of the rest of my life, and I’m nervous as hell but excited. I’m finally leaving Alaska and attending Harrington College in California a.k.a ShifterU. It’s the only university for shifters and difficult to get accepted, but I got accepted. I’ve pretty much spent all summer arguing with Janet about it because she wants me to go to community college in Alaska, and there’s not a chance in hell that’ll happen.
I’m in my room packing when I hear a gentle knock on the door. It’s Dad. I know he’s come to talk to me since Janet and I got into last night about ShifterU again. He’s always been the mediator between the two of us.
“Hey, baby girl,” he says gently. “We need to talk.”
He walks in the room, grabs the chair by the desk, turns it around, and sits. For about twenty seconds, he just stares at me. He’s always had this uncanny ability to read people. I think he’s connected to the Moon Goddess and just doesn’t tell anyone. His lineage is full of healers and seers, and bear shifters are all about making sure the blood stays ‘pure’ in the royal family. It’s those type of ideals that make me want to attend ShifterU so badly. My mother and her parents have this elitist attitude that pisses me off sometimes, and it’s crazy to me. Dad comes from one of the most prestigious shifter bloodlines in history and he’s not stuck up like them.
“Say goodbye to your mother before we leave,” he breathes out. I just stare at him and I’m speechless. Why would I apologize to her? The argument last night was her fault, and we both know it.
“I know how you feel bébé ,” he says. Dad is French Canadian, and occasionally switches to French...especially when he’s upset. “I know you feel like she’s just trying to keep you under her thumb. In a way, you’re right, but she does love you in her own way.”
She loves me in her own way. That just sounds like another excuse he’s making for her. It’s alright. I’ve gotten way past the point of needing a mother’s love, and after eighteen years, I don’t think it’s coming anytime soon. She’s not a bad mom, it’s just that she’s so wrapped up in her job as Alpha Queen that she forgot she had children. My brothers and I spent most of our time with dad, and the four of us are really close, and I know my mother feel like an outsider looking in. I sigh and take a deep breath. I may as well say goodbye since I’m leaving regardless of what she says...she can’t ruin my mood today.
“Don’t worry, dad. I’ll go to her office and say goodbye, if only for a chance to see her face when the boys break the news to her,” I say.
He looks at me with disappointment in his eyes
“What?” I say.
“Your mother is having a hard time as it is with you going away, and that’s part of the reason why the boys haven’t told her yet. Your arguments have been so bad, the boys are afraid to approach her, Sammy Bear,” he says quietly.
I instantly feel like shit. He’s right. Normally, I would back down when my mother makes her little sly comments but going to this school is important to me. She thinks I’m just being frivolous, and I’m not taking my responsibility as the future Alpha Queen seriously. That’s the farthest from the truth. I’m going to school to study genetics, and Harrington College has the best genetic programs for studying shifter genetics. What nobody outside this family realizes is that the bear shifter population has been declining steadily over the years. Many believed, when my mother became pregnant with shifter triplets, that it was a sign of our race’s fertility but it was really the downfall of our shifter race.
Once my brothers and I were born, the bear shifter population has been declining because we have a negative birth rate and with older bear shifter dying out, we aren’t able to replenish our community. Furthermore, since my parents conceived, bear shifter have only been able to mate and have cubs with humans. Now we have bear shifters that can only shift their claws or they’re weak full shifters.
I’m going to school so I can learn how to save our race, but my mother thinks I’m going just to get away from her. I’m not going to lie, that is a benefit of going to ShifterU, but that’s not my main reason for going. My dad and my brothers understand my reasoning, and it hurts a little that my mother thinks so little of me. It’s whatever now. I’m still going to ShifterU and I’m tired of constantly trying to prove to her that I’m serious about being the next Alpha Queen. Let me just go to her office now so I can say goodbye and head to the airport.
I leave my room and head for mom’s office. Honestly, I hate going to mom’s office because it lacks warmth. When I walk into the office, I’m catching the tail end of the conversation.
“ -- so we’re going to Harrington with Sam. As our future Alpha Queen, she needs protection and that’s what we’ve been training for,” says one of the boys. Their backs are turned to me so I can’t see which one’s talking. I guess I haven’t totally missed the drama, but then mother turns to me and pints.
“This is all your fault, Samantha,” she screams. “They’re leaving because of you. You and your selfish dreams. It’s always about you isn’t it?”
“You’re kidding me, right?” I scoff.
“Sammy bear --” my dad says.
“Don’t cover for her, Chad,” she yells. “You know she hates me, and she probably convinced my sons to leave with her just to spite me.”
“Woooowwww,” I say and I turn around and leave.
I don’t even know where I’m walking, but I can hear two sets of footsteps behind me and I know it’s the guys. My guys. My brothers. We shared a womb, and there’s nothing that we wouldn’t do for one another. Chris and Mike have had my back every time we come to blows with mom, and I’m more than grateful for it. Chris grabs my shoulder, turns me around, and hugs me. It’s just what I needed a big ole’ bear shifter hug. As soon as he hugs me, I break down.
“I don’t understand how she could think so badly of me? I haven’t done anything to make her suspect that. I’ve never been in trouble, I’ve always done what she asked, and the one time I fight for what I really want...I’m being selfish and she’s the victim. What the fuck?” I sob.
“We know, Sammy Bear,” Chris whispers. He’s the one who comforts me the most. He may not outright oppose her, but he has my back when it really counts.
“What the fuck is her problem?” snarls Mike. “Why does she always have to think shit is about her?”
He’s much more outspoken about the way she treats me than Chris, and I’ve always been a huge reason why their relationship is strained. She blames me for it, but she doesn’t realize that her actions dictate how he feels about her...not mine. If I’m honest, I rarely ever stick up for myself. Fighting to go to this college was the only time I’ve really fought with her for something I’ve wanted.
“Chill Mike,” Chris says. “She’s just upset.”
“That doesn’t mean she has to be cruel to Sam, Chris,” Mike yells.
“He’s right,” says a voice from behind. We turn around and see mother standing in the doorway. “I lashed out at you and I’m sorry. You know I’m not good with change, and all my children are leaving today when I only expected one to be leaving. Your father already ripped me a new one, Mike, so you can spare m
e the lecture.”
Mike nods, satisfied that dad put her in her place. He rarely ever does so she must realize that she really crossed a line. Honestly, I’m immune to it now. What they don’t know is that she’s actually says worse to me when they aren’t around, but I don’t want to make her look worse in their eyes.
“I’m sorry for blaming you, Samantha, and I’m sorry boys for not taking the news in the best way. I hope you all have a safe journey,” she says.
She looks at us all for a minute, turns around, and leaves the room. No hug, no goodbye...nothing. I told you, mom of the year.
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Alpha Queen Series Book 1) Page 7
