Amelia

They came without warning. As I glanced out the window, lightning streaked across the dark, furious sky revealing half a dozen silhouettes just a few feet from the window. Before the sky darkened again, they were in the hut.

My father grabbed me and hurled me toward them like a bowling ball before shifting into his wolf form and breaking through the back door. Two bodies went down under me. Shock turned to immobilizing fear.

Something pulled me back up. “Hold her.”

Those were the only two words spoken, but the sound of his voice caught my attention.

Confused, I snapped my head around, but he was already a wolf. Melting into the darkness, he was just a blur as he went after my father.

They dragged me outside. Rain pelted the ground, and I slipped on the mud. It wasn’t a move to escape, but I was punished for it. Claws pushed me to my back and raked down my shoulder before resting against my neck.

I stared into the dark eyes of the wolf and understood that this was the end. Fear melted away into nothingness. These weren’t allies. There was nothing to fear.

They were the enemy, and maybe now, it would finally be over.

The blow never came. I was pulled back to my feet as the other shifters started to turn. Two wolves tumbled back into the clearing. The large bloody gray wolf was my father. The slightly smaller black wolf was a stranger but packing an immense amount of power.

For the first time in a long time, the wolf inside me stirred with interest. Hesitantly, she rose inside me.

Gritting my teeth, I shoved her back down. Now was not the time to let her take over.

A ring formed around my father and his opponent. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that these would be the last few moments I saw my father alive.

He was a skilled fighter. Strength and intelligence were both on his side, not to mention a ruthless nature. It was how he’d survived for so long.

The black wolf was an alpha. He had the kind of natural power my father had killed again and again trying to obtain.

The black wolf also had rage on his side.

The fight was over in less than ten minutes. A victorious roar rose above the thunder from my captors as my father fell dead to the ground.

Thunder boomed as the storm blew even closer. The alpha shifted and dragged my father’s corpse in front of me. I immediately averted my eyes, not to avoid looking at my father, but to avoid looking at the alpha.

“I am Lucien West, alpha of the Black Diamond Wolves. Confirm that the dead wolf is Gary Holt.”

I didn’t raise my head. “It is.”

There wasn’t a single note of sadness in my voice. I didn’t expect there to be. There was no joy either. Or relief. I hadn’t felt those emotions in years, and my father’s death was only a small victory.

It wouldn’t erase the years of torture I had endured.

Or the memories of what I’d done.

“You’re not his mate.”

It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t answer it. That only seemed to infuriate him more. “Who are you?”

“Amelia. I am…I was his daughter.”

He grunted. “How old are you?”

“Twenty.”

“The only wolves I see at this camp are mine. Who else is here?”

I kept my gaze to the ground. My clothes clung to my skin and water dripped from my hair.

There was a chill in the forest, and I shivered.

“There’s a small wooden container buried behind the hut. Fifteen feet back. Between the two small poles sticking up from the ground, you’ll find a trap door hidden under some forest debris. There are three female juveniles inside.”

The man holding me jerked, and I forced down a hiss of pain. “Find them,” Lucien roared.

“Now.”

His wrath focused on me. “Anyone else?”

“No.”

“Look at me,” he snarled. “Your father has kidnapped and murdered countless wolves. Did you help him?”

It took some effort, and I had to fight my wolf every second, but I lifted my gaze to his.

Lightning streaked the sky again, and he took one step back in surprise. Inside me, my wolf howled in joy as something seemed to snap in place.

Fuck. Me.

Warmth rushed over my skin, and my thoughts emptied of everything but him.

Well over six feet tall, he towered over me, Dark hair tousled along his shoulders and intense dark eyes stared at me in shock. I’d never given much thought to heroes. As a child, I’d daydream that someone would come save me, but I quickly learned that daydreams and false hopes were just different forms of torture. A way of breaking your own heart.

But here he was. My hero, and according to my wolf, my mate.

The long-dead feelings of hope resurrected, and I actually smiled.

Smiled.

“Shit,” the man holding me growled. Belatedly, I realized that all the wolves had felt their alpha’s mating bond.

They were stepping back in horror.

“Answer the question,” Lucien demanded hoarsely.

Reality slammed back in place. Inside me, my wolf wailed. She was innocent. Always had been. I gave everything to protect her. For the first time in years, tears pricked my eyes.

Furiously, I hoped the rain would hide them, just as I tried to hide the way my heart shattered.

“Yes,” I answered honestly. “I’ve killed.”

The guard behind me shoved me to my knees, but I didn’t look away. I needed to see his eyes.

Needed to know if there would be forgiveness.

There was only disgust.

“I would rather kill my wolf than accept this mating bond,” he hissed angrily.

“You will get nothing from me except the promise that if those children are dead, you will join them. Tonight. I, Lucien West, alpha of the Black Diamond Wolves, reject you.”

Three years later

Amelia

It was the third time in an hour that Paul’s hands accidentally brushed across my ass.

There was no point in glaring at him or pushing his hand away. He’d just give me a sleazy grin and mouth sorry. It was just a show for the customers, or at least those customers who didn’t know who I was. When we were alone, he didn’t even bother with the fake apology.

He didn’t have to apologize to me. I didn’t deserve it.

So I ignored him as I pulled the wine out of the cooler beneath the bar and smiled at the customer in front of me. “Our chicken caprese sliders would go great with this wine,” I said as I pulled the cork. After pouring his glass, I nudge the menu in front of him.

“Caprese, huh,” he grunted as he eyed me, the gleam of his wolf front and center.

I didn’t need my own wolf to tell me that he was more powerful than me. Everyone was more powerful than me, but he wouldn’t touch me. This wasn’t his territory, and he had no idea who I was.

Shifter politics aside, he was a customer, and I was his bartender.

“This used to be a simple cheeseburger joint.”

“Yup. That was also when we just served beer.” I tapped one manicured red nail against the wine glass. “But here you are, enjoying our expanded menu. Our new cook can do some amazing things with chicken.” Although he was also a complete and utter asshole. “If you’re worried that the meal is a little too fancy, we can always add a basket of our amazingly greasy fries.”

Snorting, he nodded. “Alright. Sounds good, sweetheart. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. What’s your name?”

“Amelia.” I moved to the computer to ring in his order. “I’ve been here for three years.”

“Three years, huh? I guess it’s been a while since I’ve swung back by here. You one of Lucien’s?”

My hand slipped, and I hit the wrong key. Cursing under my breath, I fixed it and took a deep breath. “I sure am.”

Lucien West. Owner of The Fanged Smiles bar. Alpha of the Black Diamond Valley wolf shifters.

Alpha of me.

Most wolves were loyal to their alphas. Submissive. Protective. Proud. Black Diamond was no different. They acted like Lucien was a god. The males wanted to be his right-hand man.

The females wanted to fuck him.

Scratch that. If rumors were to be believed, most of the females had fucked him. They wanted to mate with him.

Too freaking bad for them. Lucien West already had a mate. Me. Much to both of our dismays.

“Hard to believe he’d hide a pretty little thing like you in this little corner of his world,” the customer continued. “I don’t smell a wolf on you.”

It was all I could do to not roll my eyes. He was just another idiot who thought a female was only good for taking cock. “I like my little corner of the world,” I lied and shifted to avoid Paul’s wandering hands.

Truth be told, the bar wasn’t so bad. It sure beat the hell I’d been living with most of my life. Problem was that the bar had been run by a decent man. When Parker Hewitt was manager, he’d done the least decent thing a male wolf could do around a girl like me.

He’d kept his hands off me and made sure everyone else had done the same.

Unfortunately, Parker was dead. Two weeks now. I hadn’t even had time to mourn him properly. I was too busy fighting off Paul and the other assholes in the restaurant.

Instead of letting me go, Paul moved with me toward the beer taps and snaked a hand around my waist to pull me up against him.

“She’s Gary Holt’s daughter,” Paul said.

Cold slithered through me at the sound of my father’s name. The customer’s eyes widened, and he leaned forward, fascinated. “Is she now?”

Ah, even three years later, my father still held onto his reputation as the monster of Shadowed Moon Mountains.

I am never going to live out his blood legacy.

Amelia

Kidnapping and murdering his way through his own pack. Failure after failure. Until he took three children.

And kidnapped the wrong female.

Everyone still hated him. Everyone still hated me.

Of course, most knew why he hadn’t killed me. I was his mate. The wolf his wolf had chosen to be faithful and loyal to.

Bullshit, if you ask me. Lucien let me live because he liked having me as a prisoner.

He’d set me up here. At the time, it had been a dirty hole in the wall where even shit-faced drunks didn’t sit down without sliming sanitizer all over their hands.

The night Lucien had all but thrown me into the bar, Parker met him out front. He was an old and grizzled man even then.

Lucien said a few words to Parker and walked away without a second glance back. I figured he was giving me to Parker. Like, literally. Instead, Parker set me up in the small apartment above the bar and left me alone.

After about six months of not knowing what the hell I was supposed to do, I figured I’d focus on the bar. A year later, I’d really turned the place around.

It became a hub for shifters passing through, whether they were Black Diamond wolves or not. We even started getting some of our own as regulars, although most came to enjoy the good food and harass me.

“I’d heard that Lucien let her live. You working off your father’s crimes, little girl?”

My wolf threatened to surface, but I shoved her down. When he reached for me, I snagged the knife next to him and embedded it into the wood, right next to his pinky finger.

With a gasp, he jerked his hand back. “First of all,” I said calmly. “I’m no little girl. If that’s your fantasy, you let me know, and I’ll show you just how much of my father I have in me. Secondly, there is nothing that would make me spread my legs for you. Do you understand?”

“Amelia,” Paul growled and pulled me away. “Is that any way to treat the customers?”

His hand curved over my hip, and I turned and slammed the palm of his hand against his nose.

Blood spurted out, and his growl turned feral. When he turned to me, his eyes glowed gold.

“On your knees,” he howled. “Now.”

I couldn’t control her anymore. I’d gone too far, and now my wolf, always prickling just below my skin, rushed forward. Her fear overwhelmed me, and I hit my knees and exposed my neck.

Luckily, I didn’t let her out. I never let her out. She was just as trapped as I was.

“Bitch. Beg for my mercy.”

I tried to will the wolf away, to ignore her submissive behavior, but tears pricked my eyes.

“Forgive me. Please,” I whimpered.

He was my superior when it counted the most, and like everyone else, he could order my wolf. When she was this close, there was nothing that I could do to stop it.

Gary had broken her to the point that she couldn’t stand up to anyone, and I was at her mercy.

The front door opened, and Paul looked up. I couldn’t see over the counter, but I knew exactly who had walked in.

Not because Paul and the customer both bowed their heads in reverence. Not because I recognized his scent or the sound of his voice.

But because of the way my wolf shivered inside of me, keened with want and desire. It was all I could do to keep myself from launching over the counter and wrapping my body around him.

Can’t stand a man’s touch but his, and the man hated me with every bone in his body.

Really, my life was the stuff of dreams.

Sitting at the bar, Lucien plucked the knife out of the wood and rubbed his finger over the gash. “Hello, Amelia. I see you’ve settled right in.”