The Alpha's Forced Alliance

Finding your partner in bed with another woman is bad, but watching him surrender completely to her wild beast is a nightmare.

I clutched the warm takeaway bags tight against my stomach as I pushed through the front entrance of Daniel's apartment building. The government exemption forms were folded carefully inside my jacket pocket, waiting for his signature. Midnight was coming fast. In less than three hours, I would turn twenty one, and if these forms were not uploaded to the online registry before then, the government would force me into a trial marriage with a werewolf stranger.

I rode the elevator up to the fourth floor, taking a deep breath to steady my nerves. We had spent three years together. Tonight was the night we were supposed to claim our freedom.

I walked down the quiet hallway toward Apartment 4B. I pulled my keys out, but I froze before putting key to lock. The heavy wooden door was already resting slightly open.

"Daniel?" I called out, using my foot to nudge the door inward. "I brought dinner early!"

Silence greeted me, followed by a thick scent in the air. It smelled like deep pine and intense heat. Then I heard a heavy groan coming from the bedroom down the hall, followed by the loud rhythm of creaking bed springs.

My heart hammered against my chest. I set the food bags on the small entrance table and walked quietly toward the open bedroom door.

I stood in the doorway, and my breath hitched completely.

Daniel was flat on his back on our bed. Straddling his waist was a woman with bronze skin and wild silver hair, her sharp nails digging deep into his shoulders as her hips moved against him in a fast, relentless rhythm. It was Natasha, the aggressive she wolf assigned to him by the government system last week.

She was completely bare, riding him with intense power. Daniel had his eyes squeezed shut, his mouth open as he let out low, helpless groans of pure pleasure. He was completely trapped in her heat.

"God, Natasha, please," Daniel gasped out, his hands holding onto her hips as he pulled her down closer to thrust up into her.

Natasha let out a sharp, throaty laugh. She bent down, biting into the side of his neck while keeping her hips moving against his without stopping.

I stood there, feeling like someone had kicked me right in the throat. "Daniel?" I managed to choke out.

Natasha turned her head first. Her glowing yellow eyes locked right onto mine. She did not stop moving on top of him. Instead, she smirked at me, letting out a loud, heavy moan as she drove her hips down harder against his body.

"Well, look who decided to join us," Natasha said, her voice heavy with satisfaction.

Daniel opened his eyes, and the color drained out of his face instantly. He tried to push her off him, but Natasha pinned his wrists to the mattress with one hand, laughing at his feeble strength.

"Elizabeth!" Daniel yelled, his voice shaking. "Wait! Do not look at this!"

"What are you doing?" I shouted, my voice breaking in the room. "What is this, Daniel?"

"It is not what it looks like, I swear!" Daniel panicked, finally shoving Natasha off to the side. She laughed and rolled onto the pillows, making no effort to cover herself. Daniel scrambled off the bed, grabbing a pair of pants off the floor and pulling them on frantically. "She came over without calling! Her wolf scent... it was too strong, Elizabeth! I could not control my mind!"

"You could not control your mind?" I screamed, taking a step backward as he tried to approach me. "We were supposed to sign our exemption papers tonight! You promised me!"

"I know, I know!" Daniel begged, holding his hands out toward me. His chest was marked with red scratches and her heavy scent. "I made a mistake! It was just human weakness! Her pheromones messed up my head! I do not love her, Elizabeth! I love you!"

"You love me?" I shouted, laughing bitterly as tears burned down my face. "You let her into our bed! You let her touch you like that!"

"Listen to yourself, little girl," Natasha chimed in from the bed, sitting up and resting her head on her hand. "He is a real man, and a soft human girl like you can never satisfy what a man really needs during a wolf heat. Look at him. He enjoyed every single second of it."

"Shut up, Natasha!" Daniel snapped at her, turning his frantic eyes back to me. "Elizabeth, please listen to me! She trapped me! It was purely physical! It meant nothing to me!"

"It meant everything to me, Daniel!" I yelled, my chest burning with pure pain. "You threw away our whole future for a few minutes of pleasure with a wolf!"

"We can still fix this!" Daniel pleaded, taking another step closer to me. "Give me the papers! I will sign them right now! We can upload them before midnight!"

"Get away from me!" I screamed.

I reached down to my finger, ripped off the silver promise ring he had given me two years ago, and threw it with all my strength right at his chest. The metal struck him hard and dropped onto the floor, rolling away under the bed.

"Elizabeth, no!" Daniel cried out as I turned on my heel and ran.

"Elizabeth, stop!" he shouted, his bare feet slapping against the floor as he chased me down the hallway.

I reached the front door, slammed it shut right in his face, and locked it from the outside with my key. I heard him beating his fists against the heavy wood, calling my name over and over again.

I ran down the stairs, ignoring the elevator completely. Tears filled my eyes, making everything a blur. I pushed through the heavy lobby doors and burst out into the dark night.

The sky had completely broken open. A freezing downpour slammed down on the city streets. Lightning flashed across the dark clouds, followed by a loud clap of thunder that shook the ground under my shoes.

I did not care about getting wet. I ran straight to my car, yanked the door open, and threw myself inside. I slammed the door shut, locking it instantly.

The rain pounded against the roof like a hundred hammers. I collapsed over the steering wheel, letting out a loud sob that tore through my chest. Three years of my life had vanished in a few minutes. All his promises were complete lies. He had traded me away the moment another woman offered him her body.

"Why?" I shouted into the empty car, hitting my palms against the steering wheel. "How could you do this to me?"

I looked at the dashboard clock. It read eleven forty five PM.

Fifteen minutes until my twenty first birthday.

Without those signed exemption forms, I had no legal defense left. The government pairing system would claim me the second the clock hit midnight. I was completely trapped.

I turned the key in the ignition, and the engine roared to life. I shifted the car into drive and slammed my foot down on the gas pedal. The tires screeched against the wet street as I sped away from Daniel's building.

The windshield wipers worked back and forth, but they could barely keep up with the heavy rain. The city streetlights stretched out into long yellow blurs. I drove fast, turning down random streets without knowing where I was going. I just wanted to get far away from that apartment.

My hands were shaking violently on the wheel. Every time I blinked, I saw Natasha on top of him. I heard her mocking laughter. He had let her mark him. He had chosen her over our freedom.

Suddenly, a sharp, loud siren burst through the car speakers.

It was an electronic emergency tone that cut straight through the dark, making me gasp in surprise.

I hit the brakes hard, and the car skidded slightly on the slick road before straightening out.

The main dashboard screen flickered violently. The navigation map vanished, replaced by a dark red background. Large letters began to flash across the display.

System notice. System notice.

"No, no, no," I whispered, my voice trembling as I stared at the screen.

A cold, synthetic female voice read the text aloud through the speakers, drowning out the sound of the rain outside.

Attention Citizen Elizabeth Vance. Your twenty first birthday registration period has officially started. No signed exemption forms were uploaded to the state database.

"Please, no!" I sobbed, slapping the screen with my wet hand, trying to make it stop. "Turn off!"

The system did not stop. The red light on the dashboard flashed faster.

Exemption status denied. Automatic pairing protocol initiated. Pursuant to federal law, you have been assigned a mandatory trial marriage partner.

I held my breath, my chest so tight I felt like I was suffocating inside the small car.

The screen flashed one last time, locking all the car controls as a single name appeared across the display in bold letters.

Partner Name: James Cole.

Status: Alpha Prime. CEO of Apex Enterprises.

Reporting Location: Cole Manor, Sector One.

Mandatory Arrival Time: Eight o'clock AM.

I stared at the screen in pure terror. James Cole. Everyone in the city knew that name. He was a cold, ruthless man who ruled the business world and the wolf packs with zero mercy.

The red light cast a terrifying glow over my face inside the car, and I knew my nightmare was just beginning.