“I’m sorry, Demi, go live in trees and tents and be alpha of the wild savages? No thank you.” He chuckled.
I frowned. “Have you ever even been to their land? Did Astra seem like a wildsavageto you?”
He quieted. “Well, she didn’t seemnormal, and no I’ve obviously never been to the traitors land whocursed my entire family.”
Shit, I’d forgotten about that. I winced.
“Well, maybe they’ve changed. Maybe they don’t curse anymore…” I offered, knowing I was fighting a losing battle. It was totally horrible that a Paladin witch wolf, or whatever, had cursed his line and he’d had to live with the consequences.
Sawyer threaded his fingers through mine. “My darling, if you want to be an alpha, then you can leadhereby my side. You say the word and you can be however involved in leadership as you want. You want to be on my war team? Granted. You want to start making the budget for next year? Done. But I need youhere.With me. With your parents. Sage.Ourpeople.”
He was right. This was a stupid weird midnight intrusion. What was I going to do, run off into the woods and leave my fiancé, my parents, my best friend? No way.
Arrow was trippin’ if he thought that, and why come in the middle of the night with a knife on his belt after he admitted to being sent by the vampires? Maybe he was dangerous to me…
But even though I wanted to think he might be an enemy and put his plight out of my mind, I knew that couldn’t be true. No… he would never hurt me. He’d gotten in my apartment where I slept with round-the-clock security. If he wanted to kill me, he would have.
“How did he get in here?” Sawyer went to the front door and pulled it open.
Our eyes fell to Walsh, passed out on the floor with some type of tranquilizer dart in his neck. Red and black feathers protruded from the end of the dart. It looked homemade.
“Savages,” Sawyer growled.
I ignored the insult. I knew he was just pissed Arrow got one up on his friend. We pulled the dart from his neck and then dragged Walsh into the living room, heaving him up onto the couch. Then Sawyer called in a replacement guard and we went back to bed.
What a night. Not how I wanted to tell Sawyer my deep dark secret. Not on the day after he proposed to me! We both lay there for an hour staring at the ceiling wide awake, that unsaid elephant hanging in the room.
I was a Paladin alpha.
Fuck.
* * *
The next few days,Sawyer and I tried to pretend Arrow never showed up and that I hadn’t dropped the alpha bomb on him. Instead we planned for our very public, very giant, engagement party. Wolves were invited from around the entire city. My parents were guests of honor, which was going to be awkward as fuck. The last time my mom and dad had to see Curt Hudson was after he banished them. Sawyer wanted everyone who attended to know that they were forgiven, and the guest of honor position did that politically… I guess. I was still learning to be a political sleuth. It didn’t suit me, but I knew it was my future.
“It has to be classy but sexy. Think of yourself like the first lady,” Sage said as we roamed the mall looking for an engagement dress for myself for tonight. Yes, I was waiting until the last minute. Walsh and Eugene trailed behind us at a ten-foot pace because Sage was off duty and on bestie detail.
“I will not! Gross,” I told her. “I’m the future alpha’s wife. Nobig deal.” I gulped.
She laughed and laughed some more until I elbowed her in the ribs.
As we stepped into another dress shop, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I suddenly had the strangest feeling I was being watched.
Glancing over my shoulder, I looked at Walsh and Eugene, and scanned the area around them. Nothing out of the ordinary. Hmm.
“I’m thinking black. It’s classic,” I told Sage.
She shrugged. “It’s also boring. What about deep blue? Oh, or red!” She ran to a floor-length red gown with see-through side panels and stroked her fingers over the fabric.
I shook my head. “Red says I’m a siren who has entrapped your future alpha and I intend to be a conniving bitch through his entire reign.”
Sage’s eyes bugged out. “Wow, tell me how you really feel.”
I grinned and stepped over to trail my fingers across a pale blue number. It was a muted color, but something about it reminded me of Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe; it was a classic color. I pulled it out and inspected the design. The upper bodice was a tight corset style, only belling out into a flare at the knees like a mermaid. From the knees down were tiny sewn in crystals.
“Oh, Dem, it’s gorgeous.” Sage ran her finger over the small satin bow under the bust.
I grinned. “I love it.” Pulling the tag out, I glanced at the price and my eyes fell out of my head.
