Bride of the Alpha

by Georgette St. Clair

  “I wanted to wear this one,” I said, struggling to sound respectful when what I really wanted to do was shift and throw down. That would, of course, get me killed, so I resisted.

  “You wanted to wear it? Since when the hell does it matter what you want?” He stalked over, and I backed up, until I was up against the wall and he was towering over me, his hot breath on my face.

  He grabbed the neckline of my dress in his fist. He thought he was holding on to my wedding dress, but what I was really wearing was a simple white sun dress, which was bunched between his fingers and ready to tear as he twisted his hand.

  “This dress isn’t sexy.” His lips wrinkled back in a snarl. “We want you to look sexy. This alliance is important to me, and he could still change his mind. You need to be showing off your goods, and by your goods I mean your tits. Where is the other dress? You’re going to change right now.”

  With him in the room? Hell with that.

  I grabbed at his hand, trying to pull it off me. He clenched tighter, and the fabric started to rip. There was murder in his eyes.

  “Let go of me!” I yelled, panic clutching at my throat. “I left the other dress back home. Get off me!”

  I put my hands on his chest and tried to push him away. He grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm painfully.

  “How dare you speak to me like this?” he roared. “You think that just because you’re joining the Timber Valley pack, you can act any way that you want? You’re in my pack and under my command until the minute you say I do.”

  “Let go!” I screamed. “You’ll break my wrist! Let go!”

  “I’ll break more than that!” he bellowed. “Forget it! This wedding’s off! No woman talks to me that way! I’m going to take you home and show you some good old fashioned discipline!” He got a gleam in his eye which terrified me. “In fact, maybe I’ll just claim you as my bride. Yes, I believe I will. I’ll give you a wedding night you’ll never forget, and once you can walk again, you’ll learn the meaning of respect.”

  He could do it, too. He had already claimed two brides. That was the privilege of the Alpha, if he so chose to exercise it. In the 21st century, most Alpha’s didn’t.

  He grabbed my arm, nearly wrenching it from its socket, and began dragging me towards the door.

  Chapter Three

  The door flew open again, and Maxwell stood there, towering so high his head scraped the top of the door frame. He stomped through, and slammed the door behind him.

  “What the hell are you doing with my bride?” he roared. His face rippled, and his eyes glowed with anger. Gray and white fur sprouted on the backs of his hands, and black claws shot out from his fingertips. His ears turned pointy.

  Kray let go of me immediately, and stumbled back. Maxwell’s fur and claws receded and he grabbed me, and slung a protective arm around me, as I blinked back tears. His arm was so strong, and it felt so good to lean into him, breathing in his cologne and animal musk. My knees were shaking, but I felt his strength pouring into me and I began to calm down.

  “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?” he demanded.

  “I’m fine.” I resisted the urge to rub my aching wrist, because I didn’t want to inspire him to get in a fight with Kray on the spot.

  My heart pounded in my chest. This was what Camille had been living with ever since Kray took over her pack? Why hadn’t she told me? Then again, what could I have done to help her? The Alpha made the rules.

  The council of Elders, the thirteen who oversaw matters which affected wolf shifters as a whole, would be very unlikely to help out in a case like this. What could Camille have told them? Her new pack Alpha was a mean asshole? They wouldn’t care. They mostly only intervened when there was a threat of exposure to humans, or some threat to all shifters. They didn’t interfere with pack business.

  “The wedding is off,” Kray growled. “I’m taking her with me.” He made a move as if to grab me away from Maxwell, and Maxwell let out a mighty growl of rage and went wolf.

  I staggered back as he shifted, splitting out of his shirt and jeans. His snout shot out, his ears went pointy, and white fur rippled like a field of grass in the wind. He’d been wearing a necklace in human form, a strip of leather with some tokens dangling from them, and that stayed on him, dangling down. The rest of his clothing lay in strips on the floor.

  Maxwell was a very fast shifter, turning in seconds, and he was, not surprisingly, one very huge wolf. Saliva dripped from his gleaming fangs, and his eyes glowed with rage.

  Kray shifted too, into a big, sturdy wolf with thick gray and white fur. It took him several seconds longer than Maxwell, and Maxwell was significantly bigger than him.

  I stumbled back away from them as they crouched there, snarling at each other. Then, abruptly, Kray shifted back to human form, which signaled his surrender. It wasn’t quite as submissive as rolling onto back and baring his belly, but it was a clear admission of defeat.

  I was startled and relieved. This was the mighty Kray Renker? When he was up against a real Alpha, he didn’t seem so tough after all.

  Maxwell shifted back, hands balled into fists, his jaw set with anger.

  Kray held up his hands placatingly. “This should be a day of celebration,” he said. “There’s no reason to fight here.”

  “You attempted to put your hands on the woman I will be marrying. That’s a reason to fight,” Maxwell’s voice was a rough, angry growl.

  “She has disrespected me, and I can’t tolerate that,” Kray said. “I need to take her back to my family compound and teach her a lesson. An Alpha can’t tolerate disrespect; you know that.”

  I shrank away from him, heart hammering on my rib cage. This was bad. If Maxwell let him take me, I was as good as dead, especially when he found out who I really was.

  “Her behavior is now my concern, not yours. Are you attempting to renege on your deal with me?” Maxwell demanded. “Because that is the equivalent of declaring war on my pack. Is that what you wish to do?”

  Kray swallowed hard, and then cleared his throat. I tried not to look at how incredibly well hung Maxwell was, but it was really hard not to look.

  Ouch. Hurt me so good, I thought. Then I immediately chided myself. This was really not the time or the occasion to go all pervy!

  “I can provide you with another bride, equally attractive and much more agreeable,” Kray protested. “You want a bride that is submissive and will obey you, and show you the respect you’re due. That isn’t her. My apologies for bringing the wrong woman. I had no idea she was capable of the kind of behavior she’s displaying today.”

  “Don’t tell me what I want in a bride,” Maxwell snapped. “You promised me this one. I want this one.”

  Oh, goody, now I was the juicy bone that the two wolves were fighting over.

  Still, he had saved me, and I was grateful for that.

  Kray stood there, furious, not wanting to back down but not wanting to challenge Maxwell either.

  “Your pack and my pack can meet on the field of battle,” Maxwell said, smiling a very nasty smile. “Or you and I can meet wolf to wolf. Shall we notify the Council of Elders?”

  Maxwell was basically threatening to issue a formal Death Challenge. Winner would have the right to take over the other’s pack and lands. Somehow, I didn’t think Kray would take him up on that – and I was right.

  “Fine. If you want her, take her. My family and I will be leaving at once; we will not be attending the wedding. As soon as the nuptials are complete, you will notify me. Then our packs are officially allied, and you will not be returning her to me. I don’t take used goods,” Kray sneered at me, and turned and left the cabin, still buck naked.

  “Are you all right?” Maxwell asked me, scowling after him.

  “I’m fine,” I assured Maxwell. “Thank you for rescuing me.”

  He stuck his hand out, as I concentrated very hard on looking him in the eye and not noticing anything else.

  “I’m Maxwell Battle,”
he said. “We haven’t yet been formally introduced.”

  “I’m Camille,” I muttered, unable to meet his gaze. All of a sudden I felt badly about lying to him.

  He was still the jerk who had pretty much bought Camille without regard for her wishes, and he had just been fighting for me as if I were livestock, but he’d also just stood up for me against a very scary Alpha, and I was having a hard time hating his guts as much as I should.

  Also I was afraid that I’d somehow complicated things with him. I hadn’t really given much thought to how my deception would affect Maxwell’s pack. Would the alliance be off? Probably. Would I somehow cause the packs to go to war with each other?

  Hopefully the Renker family realize that it wasn’t Maxwell’s fault, and only be mad at me.

  “So, uh, are you going to change into a tux?” I asked him.

  He threw back his head and laughed, a warm, rich sound.

  “You apparently don’t know that much about Timber Valley traditions,” he said. “We do things a little differently around here. I was wondering why you were wearing a wedding dress. It’s not really suited for the day’s activities.”

  Interesting. What kind of activities could he be talking about? I wasn’t sure I liked the amused smirk on his face.

  He grabbed me by the hand and led me out to the truck. He was still stark naked, but shifters are used to that. One of the men standing there raised an eyebrow, and reached into the bed of truck. He pulled out a pair of pants and handed them to Maxwell, who stepped into them and zipped them up. Shifters always carry spare clothing with them.

  Now he was just standing there barechested, with that leather strip of a necklace and the jeans. His abs looked as if they’d been carved with a chisel. Looking at him sent ripples of heat through my body.

  “Sounded like things got a little loud in there,” the man said. He was a dead ringer for Maxwell, but looked maybe a few years younger.

  “He left with his tail between his legs,” Maxwell shrugged. I could see a truck driving very quickly off into the distance, followed by several cars; it looked as if Kray and family was leaving the property.

  I imagined he’d brought his younger brother Kimball, who was always by his side and who also had a terrible reputation, and various cousins and uncles. Now that Kray was an Alpha, they all had started throwing their weight around, bullying other shifters and picking fights, from what I’d heard. Kray’s cousin Roberta, for instance, had a shoplifting habit, but whenever a storeowner caught her, she’d call them a liar and threaten that Kray would issue a death challenge to them and they’d back down.

  The men looked me over curiously. “She’s not going to be able to run too fast in that getup,” one of them observed.

  Run? Why would I need to run on my wedding day? I suddenly felt very out of place in my illusory gown and veil. I thought this was a perfect wedding day outfit. Should I have had the shaman conjure up jeans and a tank top?

  “She’ll change later,” Maxwell said. “There’s been a change of plan. I’m taking her to the parson to be married right now, and then we’ll come over to the reception hall in a couple of hours. Don’t worry, we’ll be at the feast, and we’ll still do the Running and Claiming this afternoon.”

  Running and Claiming?

  I knew that every pack had their own unique wedding traditions, especially for their Alphas. I hadn’t bothered to study up on Timber Valley, because I refused to acknowledge this as a real wedding day. Maybe I should have done a little more research.

  I barely had time to wonder what I’d gotten myself into, when all the other wolves threw back their heads and howled their approval.

  “He can’t wait to get her back to the bridal chamber!” one of them bayed.

  “Maybe she’ll outrun him. I’ll claim her any day of the week, if he can’t catch her!” another one howled.

  “Watch it,” Maxwell growled at him. “And don’t worry, I will catch her and I will be Claiming her.”

  The shifters kept whooping and hollering their approval. I blushed furiously as he held the passenger door open for me and helped me into the truck.

  We pulled away, and he stuck his arm out the window and waved at his relatives, who were still baying happily. “Don’t mind my brothers and cousins,” he said. “An Alpha wedding is a big deal around here.”

  “What’s Running and Claiming?” I demanded.

  “Oh, you’ll find out soon enough.” He flashed me a taunting grin.

  No, I wouldn’t. I’d be calling for a ride soon enough, I thought, feeling oddly disappointed. Whatever Claiming was, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t mind having Maxwell do it to me.

  “So what are we doing now?” I asked, as we headed down the road in his truck.

  “Well, normally, we’d go introduce you to everybody, then we’d have the ceremony in front of everybody, and then we’d commence with the next part of the marriage ritual. “

  Which involves what, for heaven’s sake? I wanted to scream.

  “Given how your uncle acted this morning, I’ve decided on a change of plan. We’re going to get married right away. That way your uncle won’t get the chance to change his mind,” Maxwell said, pulling up in front of a log cabin style building . A white gravel path led to the front door, and there were pretty flower beds lining the pathway.

  Yeah, yeah, wouldn’t want the business deal to go south, I thought, as he rushed me inside.

  “Aren’t there a bunch of people waiting for us?” I protested.

  “Yep. I’m the Alpha, it’s my wedding. What I say, goes.”

  “Won’t they think it’s kind of weird? I mean, I don’t want to be rude…” The thought of actually going through with this fake wedding suddenly filled me with panic. It would really have helped f Maxwell hadn’t been turned out to be Mr. Sex on Four Legs, and also if he hadn’t just saved my butt from a psycho.

  “I’m a maverick. I do things my own way. They’ll just think I was overwhelmed with passion and wanted to rush the ceremony.” Again, he flashed me a wicked grin.

  The pastor’s secretary looked puzzled as Max ushered me into the office. She stared at my dress as if I were a space alien, then looked questioningly at Max.

  Great. I most definitely should have had the charm conjure up a pair of jeans and a t shirt instead of a fancy wedding dress.

  “I’d like the pastor to perform the ceremony now,” Max said.

  “Now?” she echoed.

  “Right now,” he said firmly. “Right here.”

  She got up and left the room, clearly bewildered. “You’re going to get married barefoot and shirtless?” I asked.

  “Why, you don’t think it’s a good look for me?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

  I sighed. “It’s not a terrible look,” I conceded. Understatement of the century.

  The pastor, an older shifter with thick silver hair parted on the side, came rushing through the door into the office a minute later, adjusting his tie. “Maxwell! You don’t want to go to the reception hall first?” he asked, confusion wrinkling his face.

  “We want to get married right now, Reverand,” Maxwell said firmly.

  The pastor forced a smile. “Of course. Young love. Well, let’s get you hitched, then, shall we?”

  The wedding ceremony itself was pretty anti-climactic. It literally lasted about two minutes.

  The pastor went through what sounded like a typical Alpha ceremony to me – I’d been to a couple of Alpha weddings at home. Respect the Alpha’s authority, love and support your mate, never publicly challenge your mate because it undermines his authority, put the pack first at all times, honor, cherish, and so on. The Alpha had to promise he would love, honor, cherish, protect, never let anyone disrespect his bride, and so on, and so forth.

  I was barely listening, mechanically uttering my “I do’s” at the right moment.

  I was in a daze. Nothing was going how I’d planned it today.

  “I now pronounce you Alpha and Bride
,” the pastor said, jerking me out of my reverie.

  Maxwell reached down, swept the illusory veil off my face, placed his hand behind my head, and kissed me passionately.

  At the touch of his lips on mine, I felt a bolt of desire shoot straight down my body, ending up in the cleft between my legs. My panties were instantly soaked. His lips were soft, but his grip was firm and strong. He placed one hand on my chin, cupping it, and I felt my lips part for him. His tongue probed my mouth and he tasted like maple syrup pancakes and passion. Our mouths melted together, and I stifled a low moan.

  His tongue swirled around mine, deeper, leading my tongue in an intimate dance.

  Then I realized we were making out in front of a pastor, and I pulled away from him in shock. As I did, my body cried out in protest. More. I wanted more.

  “Um, we’re in a house of God, making out in front of a man of God. Lightning might strike us or something,” I said.

  “It’s okay, honey,” he smirked. “We’re married.”

  Yes, we were.

  I was actually starting to panic now. How could I possibly have thought that this would be no big deal?

  It’s worth it, I told myself firmly, especially after I saw what Camille had been living with over the last year .

  “So, uh, we should go to the reception now?” I said weakly, feeling a little faint.

  Maxwell flashed me a grin that was filled with pure mischief. “Absolutely not, darling. We’re going straight to the bridal chamber.”

  *

  Tell him! Do it now, I urged myself.

  Unfortunately, I’d been struck dumb when I walked through the door of the bridal chamber and saw what was waiting for me there.

  We were in a big stone lodge on a hill overlooking the vast spread of the Timber Valley property, and the bridal chamber would have been big enough to stage an orgy, with room to spare.

  Apparently the kinky reputation of the Timber Valley pack was well deserved. The bed was massive, and there were leather straps attached to all four posts, with cuffs dangling from the ends. There was a table next to the bed which was literally filled with sex toys. Vibrators. Feathers. Butt plugs. Nipple clamps. Floggers. Paddles. Riding crops. Ben wa balls. Bottles of flavored lubricant. Jars of flavored body butter. Implements I didn’t recognize.