Drake's POV
The chair flew across the room and smashed against the wall, breaking into pieces. I stood there breathing hard, my hands shaking with anger. Another useless meeting. Another hour of old guys telling me what I should do with my life.
"Alpha Drake!" Beta Harrison ran into my office, looking scared. "Is everything alright? We heard the crash."
I turned away from him, looking out the window at the pack grounds below. Wolves went about their daily business, all of them depending on me to make the right decisions. The weight of it felt like rocks on my shoulders.
"I'm fine," I lied. "Just frustrated."
Harrison picked up the broken chair pieces. "The meeting didn't go well?"
I almost laughed, but there was nothing funny about it. "They want to move up the wedding. Again."
"To when?"
"Three days from now." The words tasted bitter in my mouth. "Elder Morrison says the Crescent Moon Pack is getting anxious. They think I'm having second thoughts about marrying Lila."
"Are you?" Harrison asked quietly.
I spun around to face him. "Does it matter? An Alpha doesn't get to choose who he loves. He picks what's best for the pack."
That's what everyone kept telling me, anyway. What's best for the pack. What will make us stronger. What will build better alliances. Nobody ever asked what I wanted.
Harrison looked uncomfortable. "Lila Cross is beautiful and smart. Many Alphas would be proud to—"
"I know," I cut him off. "She's perfect on paper. Perfect bloodline, perfect schooling, perfect everything." I sat down heavily in my desk chair. "So why do I feel nothing when I look at her?"
The truth was, I felt nothing for any of the women they paraded in front of me. Beta daughters, Alpha daughters from other packs, even some powerful humans who wanted to join our world. They all looked at me the same way - like I was a prize to be won instead of a person.
"Maybe love will grow after marriage," Harrison proposed. "My parents didn't love each other at first, but—"
"Your parents weren't me," I snapped, then immediately felt bad. Harrison was just trying to help. "Sorry. I'm just tired of this whole thing."
I was tired of a lot of things. Tired of pack meetings where everyone agreed with everything I said, even when I was clearly wrong. Tired of women throwing themselves at me because I was the Alpha, not because they actually knew me. Tired of making choices that affected hundreds of lives when I couldn't even figure out my own.
"There's something else," Harrison said slowly. "The kitchen incident this morning."
I frowned. "What incident?"
"One of the omega girls spilled soup meant for your table. Head Cook Martha is making her serve dinner tonight as punishment."
"So?" I didn't understand why this mattered.
"It's just... the girl seemed really upset. Maya Stone. She's the quiet one who usually stays hidden in the back."
Maya Stone. I'd heard the name before but couldn't put a face with it. The kitchen had so many people, and I rarely paid attention to the omegas. They did their jobs and stayed out of my way.
"She'll survive," I said, turning back to my paperwork. "Omegas are tougher than they look."
But something nagged at me about it. Maybe it was because I understood what it felt like to have everyone watching you, waiting for you to mess up. Being the Alpha meant never being allowed to show weakness, never being allowed to fail.
A knock on the door interrupted my thinking. "Come in."
Marcus walked in, and I was glad to see my cousin. Unlike everyone else in the pack, Marcus never treated me like I was made of gold. He told me the truth, even when I didn't want to hear it.
"Heard you threw furniture again," he said, laughing.
"It was just a chair."
"Mom's antique chair that she gave you when you became Alpha?"
I winced. Aunt Sarah was going to kill me. "I'll buy her a new one."
Marcus sat down across from my desk. "Want to talk about what's really bothering you?"
That was Marcus - always cutting straight to the heart of things. It was why he made such a good Beta, and why I trusted him more than anyone else in the pack.
"The wedding," I admitted. "I don't love her, Marcus. I don't even like her very much."
"Have you tried getting to know her better?"
"We've had dinner five times. She talks about pack politics and her father's business deals. She never asks what I think about anything that isn't connected to being Alpha."
Marcus leaned forward. "Maybe she's nervous. This is a big deal for her too."
"Or maybe she just wants the title," I said sadly. "Luna Lila Cross has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
We sat in silence for a moment. Outside, I could hear the pack children playing, their laughing carrying through the window. Once upon a time, I'd played in those same fields with Marcus and the other pack kids. Back then, being Alpha seemed exciting and far away. Now it felt like a jail.
"There has to be more than this," I said quietly. "More than just duty and politics and arranged marriages."
"There is," Marcus said. "You just have to be brave enough to look for it."
Before I could ask what he meant, another knock stopped us. This time it was Elder Morrison, looking serious and official.
"Alpha Drake, we need to discuss the seating arrangements for the wedding feast," he said, not bothering to greet Marcus.
I sighed and stood up. "Of course we do."
As Morrison spread papers across my desk, I caught Marcus's eye. He gave me a look that said 'be patient, something's coming.' I hoped he was right, because I was running out of patience for all of this.
"The ceremony will begin at sunset," Morrison was saying. "Then the feast, then the mating ceremony—"
"What?" I interrupted. "Mating ceremony? Tonight?"
Morrison looked confused. "No, Alpha. In three days, at your wedding. As we talked."
But I wasn't listening anymore. Something was happening to me, something I'd never felt before. My heart was racing, and I could smell something amazing - like wildflowers and honey and something else I couldn't name.
The smell was getting stronger, coming from somewhere in the house.
And suddenly, I knew my life was about to change forever.