This was the power of an alpha.Inme. I was not male.
This was an alpha’s power. I grabbed for it.
“Daughter.”The voice was sterner. “Reject it.”
I shook my head. Who was that? “Dad?” I turned. Seeing nothing. Ignoring the pack that knelt at the feet of their alpha. “Daddy?”
“Reject it, daughter. Fight it.”
A woman’s voice. Not my father’s. My mother’s.
“Mom?”
“It’s not for you, Rowen. This power is not yours, fight it.”
I pushed with all my might.Getout!
Drained, I blacked out.
When I came to, I was on the grass, my pack still around me, still kneeling. Some were more prone than others. A few were on their feet, hatred in their eyes, but immobile.
“Well done, Daughter.”
Goddess no, not again. I braced myself for more pain. It didn’t come. Instead, I felt softness brush my cheek, like new grass on a spring morning. Strength filled my body, as strong as the Heartwood. Coolness washed over me, like morning mist.
The magic of the Hollow filled and soothed me like a lover’s caress. No longer a thud in my chest alongside my heartbeat. Now itwasmy heartbeat.
I opened my eyes expecting to see my mother, and instead met the gaze of my mate. Wolfe smiled, and I returned it.
“Thank you for choosing me,” he said simply.
He said it as if I had made a conscious choice to be his mate. But the Goddess chose the alpha’s mate. The power of the Hollowtitteredwithin me. I almost lost my balance.
“Wolfe?”
He reached for me, and I went, falling into his arms, taking comfort in his strong embrace, letting him hold me.
“What happened?”
“You had a fight on your hands,”he told me. “You won.”
“Who was I fighting?”I asked cautiously.
“Me? Your father? Your legacy?”He sighed. “The power of an alpha was in you, and it just felt…wrong.”
I looked up at him, and he shook his head.
“I don’t know, my love. I only know you chose me.” He kissed me softly. “Later,” he spoke out loud, but quietly, intimately.
I nodded and then looked around at my pack. Six werestanding, the rest were still on their knees, or curled into a ball and asleep, but all those on the ground looked peaceful.
“What’s wrong with them?” I asked, looking at the ones that stood.
“They reject me as their alpha,” Wolfe told me. “Six here, three with Diesel, and four with Killian. Thirteen.”
“Enemies,” I whispered, looking into the faces of the six pack members who I would have said were loyal and true. “What do you want to?—”
They fell as one, and I knew they were dead.
