Chapter 0002

“Come on,” I say, pulling Victor away to a dark corner alcove. “Let’s dance.”

Inside, I stand close to Victor and begin to sway my hips to the music that the DJ just stared playing. I looking up into Victor’s face, breathing him in, relishing his smell, like winter air and pine.

Starting to feel the music, I shake my head so that my hair cascades across my bare shoulders, but Victor takes my chin in his palm and makes me look up at him. “What’s your name,” he asks.

“Evelyn Walsh,” I smile and then turn, pressing my back to his body, letting him feel me. Victor breathes out, a sharp breath, and then I feel him start to move with me. He runs a hand down my side, the other wrapping around my stomach, pressing me closer.

As we dance, I feel that new thing rising within me, the wolf that’s never before had a reason to raise its head. But now I feel it racing, a wild thing finally freed. I laugh and reach my arms up, wrapping them around Victor’s neck.

Victor turns my face and claims my mouth, as I wanted him to, unable to resist. He kisses me hard, his breath coming heavy against my lips. “Fuck,” he says, breaking away. “I can’t do this.”

“No, it’s okay,” I say, closing the distance between us. “I want this. It can just be one night.”

“One night,” he growls, clenching his teeth as I run my hand down his stomach, lower, as I saw my sister do earlier tonight. He grabs me by that hand and gives me a warning look as I smirk, knowing I’ve won.

“Let’s go,” he says, tugging me towards the entrance, “and be discreet.”

Victor takes me back to his room, checking around every corner to make sure we aren’t be seen. As soon as the door shuts, he is on me, running his hands across my body, down my back, grabbing my ass.

I give into the impulses that claim my mind, telling me to get closer, to touch more. I hastily pull my dress up over my head, tossing it to the ground and stepping forward.

But Victor steps back, away from me, and for a moment I hesitate. Then I see his eyes, hungry, devouring me as I stand before him naked except, again, for my thong and high heels. “God, Evelyn,” he says, his voice a low growl.

“Evie,” I whisper, a little breathless. “Call me Evie.”

Then, there’s no stopping us. We come together, Victor lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around him, kissing him, running my hands through his hair. He carries me over to the floor-to-ceiling window and presses me against it – I gasp as the cold glass touches my skin.

I slip down against the window until I’m lower and I can Victor against me, his hard cock pulsing. I pull his shirt over his head. “How do you like it?”

“Um,” I say, biting my lip, suddenly shy. “I don’t…I don’t know.”

“Then I’ll show you,” he says, lowering me to the floor. I run my hands down his rippling abs and then slide his shorts off his body.

“Fine,” I say taking in the sight of his full, magnificent body – his dick hard and thick. I can feel myself growing slick, ready.

Victor turns me around, pressing himself hard against my ass. Then he puts a hand between my shoulder blades and presses gently. “Hands against the window,” he says. I comply.

Victor slides my panties off and moves his foot between my heels, tapping against the inside of my shoes to demand, wordlessly, that I spread my legs. I do. I feel him slowly run his hand up the inside of my thigh, higher, higher, until –

I inhale sharply, feeling him slowly trail a finger across my wetness, toying with me. I moan as he adds another finger, slipping inside me, and then dipping lower to touch me at my crest.

I moan louder now, my knees going weak. Victor pulls his hand away. “More,” I moan, and the next thing I feel is something harder, thicker, pushing against my sex.

“Fuck, Evie,” he says, pressing into me, “fuck it, I can’t wait.” Suddenly, he’s inside of me, sheathed to the hilt, and I press my hands against the glass, crying out as I feel every inch of him inside of me. Victor moves, hard, fast, holding my hips against him. I can feel him lean over me, his stomach touching my back, as he fucks me from behind.

Suddenly, he pulls away from me, and turns me around, picking me up again and carrying me to the bed.

“Please,” gasp as he puts me down on top of the clean, soft sheets. “Please,” I beg, pressing my mouth against him, climbing on top, needing more.

Victor holds me by the back of the neck, biting my shoulder as he reaches down and grabs his cock, and then, gloriously, he’s inside me again.

I sit up and arch my back, writhing my hips against him. I look down into Victor’s eyes, my mouth open in awe. I never knew it could feel this good.

I press my hands against his chest and close my eyes, moving my hips faster, faster, until – I hear Victor curse beneath me and open my eyes to see him gasp, and then clench his teeth as he comes. The sight of him – so powerful, so strong – sends me over the edge and I yell out, seeing stars and falling forward on top of his chest where I lay, panting and smiling.

“God,” I say, after a few minutes have passed. “If I knew it felt like that…I’d have been doing this a long time ago.”

Victor cups my ass and laughs softly. “Well get ready,” he says. “You’re about to do it again.”

I smile and kiss him. “Yes, Alpha. Whatever pleases you.”

In the morning, I wake tangled in the sheets. I blink the sleep away and sit up, looking around. “Victor?”

There’s no answer. I move to get out of the bed and hear the crumple of a paper. Turning over, I pick it up.

STAY HERE, EVELYN.

I’LL STRAIGHTEN THIS OUT.

DON’T LEAVE THE ROOM.

My stomach drops and, on instinct, I reach for my phone before realizing – duh, of course – it’s not there. Frantically, I grab the remote and turn on the TV to the local news. Has there been some kind of disaster?

Then I drop the remote, horrified, suddenly, to be confronted with pictures myself – my face ­– splashed across the screen.

“These photos were taken just last night,” says the journalist voiceover, “of soon-to-be Alpha Victor Kensington cavorting with an unknown floozie. Citizens are outraged, as this goes directly against Kensington’s well-known stance on family values.”

I gasp as more pictures scroll across the screen. Pictures of me, pictures of me and Victor, pictures of me and Victor dancing in what I thought was our secret alcove – walking down the hall…disappearing into this room.

And – oh my God – pictures of us in this room, taken from outside the window – oh my god the window –

My hands pressed up against the glass, with Victor behind me –

I throw the remote across the room and pull the blankets over my head, sick at what I’ve seen. The fucking paparazzi – I should have known. Of course, I’ve never had a reason to even think about them before –my father has kept me safe at home, no one cares about what I do.

The sound changes on tv and I peek out from beneath my blanket. There’s a podium set up on a stage now with reporters gathered before it. A blue box at the top of the screen reads “LIVE.” As I watch, a figure walks onto stage – a too familiar figure: green-eyed, well-muscled, a gaze that could stop a freight train. Victor.

I cover my mouth with my hand and lean forward, rapt.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the press,” he starts, flashing everyone his trademark smile. “Thank you for attending this early-morning press conference which I have called to stave off the rumors.”

Lightbulbs start to flash in the crowd. “As I know many of you are aware,” he begins to smirk, “some rather…racy photographs were released last night, without my permission.

“I want to begin by putting to rest the rumors that this was an illicit affair. As your future Alpha leader, I take my actions very seriously. While I wished to keep our new relationship personal for awhile, the press has forced my hand.” He glares at them.

“The woman in the photos is not just a one-night-stand, but instead my new girlfriend – Alpha-born Evelyn Walsh, daughter of John Walsh, our nation’s Director of the Interior.”

The reporters go mad, shouting out questions. Victor begins to respond, but suddenly a snarl rips out from the back of the room.

The primary television camera pivots and turns its own attention to the wolf at the back of the hall, standing with his feet apart, his teeth bared, ready to kill. A shriek claws its way from my throat. Joyce.

“Bullshit,” he growls, his chest heaving, his claws beginning to emerge from his fingertips. “Evelyn Walsh is my WIFE!” Joyce charges into the crowd, heading straight for Victor. The reporters scream and scatter and then – the feed cuts out to commercial.

I pant and stare at the screen, unbelieving. I wanted revenge, yes, but this has spun out of control.

Everything fell apart after that. I can’t say I regret ruining Joyce’s life, but Victor’s…I never meant for that to happen. His reputation was ruined after the press discovered that he lied at a live press conference and slept with another Alpha’s wife.

Joyce sued me for infidelity and had me marked as rogue. I was expelled from the pack.

After two months of scraping by on my own, I got an even bigger surprise in the form of a positive pregnancy test taken in the bathroom of a gas station.

That’s where the world turned for me. I decided my child wasn’t going to suffer for my mistakes. I applied to a smaller, more progressive pack and enrolled in graduate school. It wasn’t easy at the start, trying to raise twin boys and study on the side, but I was determined.

Six years later, I see the events of that night as a blessing. I am now a counselor who helps people every day make their relationships stronger. And best of all, I have Ian and Alvin – my twin boys, my stars, my lights in the darkness.

Little did I know, my past was just about to return and put it all in jeopardy.