ZAND

Damn it.

I had only two goals for tonight: build an alliance with Shadow Oak and stay far away from King Orion. I spent years planning this. Years keeping myself in check. Yet in under thirty seconds, I touched King Orion's omega and challenged a Shadow Oak Alpha to a fight to the death.

She was breathtaking.

Her thick black hair sat neatly on top of her head, matching the soft shimmer of her plain dress. She wore no jewelry except for a pair of long gold hoops. Her slender neck was completely bare, and everything inside me wanted to mark it right there for everyone to see.

She was mine.

But damn it, somehow, she also belonged to him.

The doors to the room burst open, and Orion walked in with his alphas. One of them pulled Amia away. My inner wolf roared at the sight of another man touching her, and I hated how fast my blood boiled.

Orion stopped right in front of me. He glared down at me. It took every drop of willpower I didn't know I had left not to tear his eyes out just for looking at her.

"What is the meaning of this, Zand?" he asked.

I had spoken to the King only twice before. The first time was two years ago when I took control of Frostbite Ridge, and the second time was yesterday. Outside of those two meetings, I went out of my way to make sure our paths never crossed.

Now, my anger and disgust began to spill out.

Rex cleared his throat.

"He touched Omega Amia. I am sure it was just a mistake," the alpha said slowly, watching me closely.

He was clearly torn. He had good reason to like me since I helped save his own omega from her past alpha, but I had just touched another man's omega and even kissed her, though Rex was smart enough not to mention that part out loud.

The King's blue eyes turned bright yellow as his wolf pushed to the front. A heavy wave of raw power hit the room like thunder. Several wolves stumbled back and dropped to their knees.

"Why shouldn't I kill you right now?" he growled.

I thought about it for a quick second.

Then I slowly dropped to my knees before him and looked down.

If I bared my neck, I would be dead.

But I would kill him before I ever apologized for touching what belonged to me.

This was my first real chance to test the King. How would he handle a submissive wolf kneeling in silence? And what would happen if I had to fight and kill him right here in front of everyone?

Rex suddenly frowned and held up his hand.

"Your Majesty? Alpha Valor is telling me that Amia wants to speak with you in private about this. She says it is all a misunderstanding."

Orion narrowed his eyes at me.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I will let the lady speak for herself," I said, keeping my head bowed.

I could beat Rex in a fight, but I did not want to.

First, he did not deserve it. He was only trying to protect the omega.

Second, while I was a High Alpha, Rex served under Valor. I preferred to let people think Valor was stronger than me. Valor would feed Rex energy during a fight, and if I cut Rex down, people would talk. I would be revealing how strong I really was before I was ready.

The Royal Guard moved in and stood close around me as Orion and Rex walked out.

I frowned.

Why did Orion have to leave the room at all? He should be able to talk to anyone in his pack through his mind. Why did Amia have to send a message through someone else to reach him?

A moment later, Rex came back into the room. He bowed his head to show respect.

"Alpha Zander, I apologize for stepping in earlier. Omega Amia explained everything, and I hope you will accept my apology."

Everyone in the room was watching us.

I almost let out a breath of relief.

Rex was being smart by keeping quiet about the strange bond between me and the King's omega. It was a dangerous situation.

"I accept your apology, and I take back the challenge," I said.

I held out my hand, and he shook it. I was glad to see no anger in his eyes. Starting a fight with an alpha from the exact pack I needed as an ally was a terrible move.

"King Orion wants to see you," Rex said softly.

The guards stepped up beside me, escorting me toward the door.

The crowd parted to give us room, their eyes fixed on me with open curiosity.

Before the heavy doors shut behind me, I heard Rex telling everyone to go back to drinking, dancing, and celebrating.

I stepped into the side room and took a deep breath.

Orion and I were completely alone.

Damn it.

This was the one place I did not want to be. I did not need the King watching me this closely.

"Alpha Zander," Orion said in a strict, formal voice.

His power pushed into the room and wrapped around me. The sudden coldness of it almost stole my breath, but I did not resist it.

I acted like his subject.

I acted like I was beneath him.

"Your Majesty," I answered, keeping my voice tight. "Call me Zand."

His lip curled with disgust.

"Zand," he repeated. "You were nobody when you asked for permission to take over Frostbite Ridge. I gave it to you without checking your background because Frostbite Ridge could not be left without a leader, especially while Shadow Oak was in such a bad spot. Now that Shadow Oak has their omega back, I can finally focus on you and Frostbite Ridge."

I was not surprised that taking over my pack had been easy back then.

Frostbite Ridge was an empty, barren land, and the few wolves living there simply wanted to be left alone.

That suited my plans perfectly.

"I challenged High Alpha Malik fairly, and I won," I said carefully. "And I am stronger than Alpha Eldric. I did not ask to take over the whole pack, but I will not leave those wolves to suffer either. I clean up my own messes."

Orion raised an eyebrow at that last line but brushed it aside with a wave of his hand.

"Eldric is old. I am surprised his heart is still beating."

He would not last much longer anyway.

Eldric's body was failing him, and the only reason he had not walked off into the woods to die was because he hoped I would bring an omega home from this trip.

The wolves of Frostbite Ridge had lived without an omega for too long, and they were losing their minds.

My only other choice was to buy an omega from a black-market auction, and there was no way in hell I would ever do that.

"He is very sick, Sire."

"And when he dies, you will need to find another alpha to replace him. Maybe even two, if you can keep them under control. You seem like a strong wolf, and Frostbite Ridge has always needed more than two alphas to function. Malik was too weak to hold more than one."

That was because Malik was weak and ruled his pack through fear alone.

"I have thought about that," I replied.

I had thought about it, and I had already decided against it.

"And what about this road you want Shadow Oak to let you build? Where does it actually lead?"

I had to be careful with what I said next.

I could not let Orion realize how much progress I had already made with my plans, but lying directly to him was dangerous too.

"I have plans to rebuild and improve the pack's economy," I said. "The road will bring in the money we desperately need if we are going to repair the damage Alpha Malik caused."

He let out a low grunt.

"A businessman. You are a strange wolf, Zand. I know you came here looking for an omega. How lucky for you that you happened to bond with one and that she turns out to be my omega."

I decided to take a huge risk.

Amia was a danger to everything I was building, and I could not afford to make another mistake.

I looked Orion straight in the eye, refusing to look away even as his wolf shone through his glowing eyes.

I had already used my own power to conceal the mating bond so he could not sense it.

Now I had to find out if my cover would hold.

"Bonded? Is that what she told you?" I asked with a faint scoff. "That sounds like the wild imagination of an omega bored with her life, or maybe the romantic fantasies of a woman who just watched her friend find her mate."

I held his gaze without flinching.

"She is no mate of mine."

ZAND

Six months.

That was all the time the King had handed me before he planned to come back and take my life.

It was surprisingly generous of him to give me six months to fix Frostbite Ridge before executing me for putting my hands on his omega.

By now, most of the wolves had gone to bed. After everything that had taken place, the guests found the music and liquor uninteresting and had retreated to their rooms for the night.

Whispers had rippled through the halls when I came back into the building.

Why six months?

Why had he spared my life tonight?

It was not as if he lacked another alpha to step in and govern Frostbite Ridge.

It came down to plain curiosity.

I was on King Orion's radar now.

He wanted to figure me out before he got rid of me, and satisfying that curiosity mattered more to him in the moment than Amia's safety.

I had lied to him because I could not bring her to Frostbite Ridge.

I needed a functional omega, not someone tied to me by blood and fate.

I had lied because I still could not process that my omega belonged to him, and I had lied because I knew I would never truly trust where her heart lay.

But I could not just walk away from this.

One of King Orion's high-ranking alphas would certainly be standing guard outside her door, but that was not going to stop me from seeing her tonight.

I was already marked for death, all because of fate.

Years of patient work would be completely wasted unless I found a way to move faster-to take his life before he took mine.

That, however, was a problem for tomorrow.

Tonight, Amia was mine.

Going to her was a terrible choice, but tonight was already made of bad decisions.

She had almost ruined everything I worked for.

In fact, she still might, so there was no reason I should not take what I wanted tonight.

I needed to be with her while I still had the chance, because it might be my only one.

Fate had a cruel sense of humor, matching me with a woman who had been sleeping with the man I hated above all others.

Tonight, I was going to get my revenge.

My room sat on the third floor.

I had already checked the layout to locate King Orion's suite, and I was reasonably sure the room right next to his belonged to Amia.

If it did not, I was about to walk in on one of his violent alphas.

Stepping through the glass door onto my balcony, I felt the cool night air and looked along the facade of the building, counting the ledges.

I would have to scale across seven different balconies without waking anyone inside, then climb higher.

It was manageable.

I took off my jacket and pulled on a pair of soft sweatpants.

They would make shifting easier if someone spotted me, though I had spent years learning how to move through the dark unseen.

Excitement surged through my veins, making my blood run hot.

I smiled to myself.

It had been a long time since I went on a real hunt.

Though this was hardly a true hunt, since I knew exactly where she was trapped and had nowhere to run.

I stepped back onto the balcony edge and checked the courtyard below.

No one was walking around outside, which made sense.

Very few shifters wanted to unleash their wolves while the King was present.

Light spilled out from a few rooms on my floor, but the level below was mostly dark.

Those rooms belonged to betas, making them my best path across.

I swung over my railing and dropped silently onto the metal structure below, balancing without a wobble.

I held my breath and waited.

The window curtain inside was open, but nothing moved inside the room.

Keeping low, I slipped toward the next ledge.

I grabbed the cold metal, swung around the partition, and pulled myself up.

Someone moved in the room beside me, but the floor underneath remained quiet.

When I made my next jump, I grabbed the bottom of the railing above and pulled my legs tight against my body to keep from swinging.

Holding my core tight, I kept my legs tucked as I pulled myself across the face of the building.

I was nearly past the ledge when the balcony door slid open.

I froze completely, hanging in the shadows.

"It is so hot out here," a woman said, her voice slow and thick.

"Maybe you are wearing too many clothes," a man muttered from inside the room.

Only the woman had walked out.

"Get back inside. Lock the door. Take your clothes off."

"Why?" she asked, her voice growing fainter as she moved back into the room.

"If the door stays open, the whole floor will hear how loud you make me."

They were occupied, which meant I had a window.

My next jump was not going to be completely silent.

I let go of the frame, twisted mid-air, hit the lower ledge, and pushed off immediately.

The moment my fingers caught the metal bar of the balcony next to the couple, I pulled myself up and cleared the edge, landing on the flat surface.

"Did you hear that?" the woman asked, pausing.

"Do you think somebody is watching us?"

"I will make you scream loud enough that it won't matter," the man said.

They were definitely not paying attention to me.