My Alpha Forced Me to Serve His Chosen Mate

I was assigned to take the laundry baskets to the wash-house near the eastern tree line. It was a punishing task in the dead of winter, but I preferred it. It got me out of the pack house. It got me away from the heavy, suffocating scent of dark cedar that clung to the walls.

The air outside was biting cold. I set the heavy wicker basket down in the snow to catch my breath. My chest ached with a dull, hollow throb. My wolf was sleeping again, buried so deep under the Wolfbane Fade that I sometimes forgot how to feel her at all.

"Ellie?"

I froze. I knew that voice.

I turned slowly. Standing just a few feet past the territorial border markers was a man. He was tall, his shoulders broad under a thick leather jacket. He carried the confident, grounded stance of a trained warrior. But when he reached into his pocket and held up a small, frayed square of cardboard, I saw the scrawny, starving teenager I used to know.

It was a matchbook from the diner.

"Jamie," I breathed.

I crossed the invisible border line and threw my arms around him. He hugged me back tight, lifting me off my feet for a second. He smelled like pine needles, open roads, and clean air. It was a good scent. A free scent.

"Look at you," I said, stepping back and wiping a stray tear from my cheek. "You're huge. You're a real warrior."

Jamie smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. His gaze swept over my face, taking in my hollow cheeks and the dark circles under my eyes. He looked down at my thin, frayed coat.

"Ellie, you're freezing," he said, his voice thick with worry. He stepped closer, taking a deep breath. His brow furrowed deeply. "And your scent... it's so faint. It's almost gone. What's wrong with you? Are you sick?"

I quickly took a step back, pressing my fingers to my wrist. "I'm just tired, Jamie. Pack life is busy. That's all."

"You're lying," he said bluntly. He never had any of the polite filters pack wolves used. "I've been scouted by three different packs on the East Coast. I came to see you first before I signed with anyone. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Are they treating you right here?"

"I'm fine," I lied. "I'm so proud of you, Jamie. You're going to be a great warrior."

He opened his mouth to argue, but the words never came out.

The air in the clearing simply vanished.

A crushing, terrifying weight slammed into my chest. The temperature seemed to drop twenty degrees in a single second. Jamie gasped, his hands flying to his throat. His knees buckled instantly, hitting the frozen earth with a hard thud. He couldn't even stand. The Alpha aura was so dense it felt like a physical hand pressing us into the dirt.

I knew that heavy, dark scent. It wasn't just cedar and rain anymore. It was sour with pure, unadulterated rage.

He had known exactly where I was. The mind-link. The one he never used to speak to me, but refused to sever. He had been tracking me.

A massive, pitch-black wolf exploded from the tree line.

Winston.

He was enormous, easily two meters at the shoulder, his fur bristling like dark needles. His golden eyes were glowing with a violent, murderous light. He didn't growl. He didn't issue a warning. He just attacked.

He slammed into Jamie like a freight train. The sound of Jamie's body hitting the trunk of a pine tree made me scream. Jamie tried to shift, trying to call on his own wolf to defend himself, but Winston's aura was too suffocating.

Winston's jaws snapped, tearing into Jamie's shoulder. Blood sprayed bright red across the white snow.

"Stop!" I screamed, running forward. "Winston, stop! Please!"

He didn't hear me. He was completely lost to the wolf. He pinned Jamie to the ground, his massive paws crushing the younger boy's chest. Winston's jaws opened wide, aiming straight for Jamie's jugular. He was going to kill him. He was going to rip his throat out right in front of me.

"Alpha!"

Silas burst through the trees, breathing hard. He didn't hesitate. He threw his own body weight forward, shouting through the pack mind-link. "He's submitting! Alpha, look at him! The rogue is submitting!"

Winston froze. His massive teeth were a fraction of an inch from Jamie's bleeding neck. Jamie was completely still, his hands open, his neck bared in total surrender.

A low, rumbling growl shook the ground beneath my feet. Winston's chest heaved. Then came the sickening crack of breaking bone as he forced the shift.

He stood up. He was completely naked, his broad chest heaving, his mouth and hands smeared with Jamie's blood. He didn't look at Silas. He didn't look at the boy bleeding in the snow.

His golden eyes locked onto mine.

He didn't say a single word. He closed the distance between us in three long strides and grabbed my upper arm. His fingers dug into my flesh like iron clamps.

"You're hurting me," I gasped, stumbling as he yanked me forward.

He ignored me. He dragged me through the snow, past the wash-house, and straight toward the pack house. I had to run to keep up with his long, furious strides. The few pack members we passed in the halls plastered themselves against the walls, lowering their eyes, terrified of the blood on their Alpha's skin and the lethal tension rolling off him.

He dragged me all the way to the servants' wing. He shoved me into my room—the warm room right above the boiler. I hit the floor hard, scraping my palms against the wood.

Before I could even turn around, the heavy door slammed shut.

The deadbolt clicked into place.

I scrambled to my feet and hit the wood with my fists. "Winston! Let me out! He's just a boy! We fed him at the diner! Winston!"

There was no answer.

Then, I heard Silas's voice in the hallway outside. He sounded breathless, cautious. "Alpha... what did the rogue do to warrant that kind of force?"

The silence that followed was suffocating. It was heavy, violent, and completely unhinged. Even through the thick oak door, Winston's unspoken fury made the hair on my arms stand up. He couldn't answer Silas. He couldn't say the truth—that he had nearly killed a boy just for touching me.

Silas cleared his throat, his voice dropping an octave. "I'll have him escorted off the territory immediately. He won't come back."

Heavy footsteps walked away.

I slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor. I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs. I was shaking violently. The room was warm, but I felt like I was freezing to death from the inside out.

Deep in my chest, a tiny spark flickered. My wolf stirred. She was so weak now, just a fragile, dying ember in the dark. The terror and the overwhelming scent of Winston's bloodlust had drained whatever strength she had left.

*Winston,* she whispered in the dark of my mind.

It was just his name. Over and over. A desperate, pathetic plea to a mate who had locked us in a cage.

*Winston.*

I closed my eyes and pressed my hands over my ears, but I couldn't block her out. I sat there on the floor, listening to my wolf call for the man who was killing us, her voice growing fainter and fainter with every passing second.