The Alpha Rite

Chapter Three

We rested in the tall grass, concealed by the brush. We concealed our picnic in the woods, just outside the boundary of our home. It was secluded, just as I had arranged it to be.

"Do you love him?" Zenor asked, his hands full of lamb. We had been settled for less than an hour, and he had already started prying into my business.

"Eleazar?" There could be no one else. My parents had made sure of it. He nodded, still chewing his dinner. He forced himself to remain civil, and mannerly in my presence, even wiping his hands after devouring half of the food I brought. "It's a strategic match," I said, popping a grape into my mouth after the words left my lips. If I could say anything about my betrothal to Eleazar, it was that.

"Is that what you want then?" he asked, staring at me as the sun set behind our distant town. "To be political strategy your whole life?"

I shrugged. "There's no other choice." Options were a luxury, one that the rest of the pack could enjoy. Not me.

My companion frowned, showing the soft lines embedded in his skin. He was unhappy often; it was apparent. "There's always a choice, Ryn." That was easy for him to say, Mr. Ride Into Town Without a Backstory. He had appeared one day, claiming asylum from Ivar, and my father granted it. But that was all we knew about him.

I scoffed. "So, I should break off the engagement and run off in search of what exactly? Romance?"

Zenor took a swig of wine from the bottle I brought to share. Although I had barely touched it, the action was plenty offensive. "Romance could be fun."

I shook off the idea. "Not with my mother's wrath licking at my heels. I wouldn't even make it to the edge of town before she hunted me down and dragged me down the aisle herself." She was determined to marry me off as if it was her sole duty in life. And if it wasn't such an imposition, I wouldn't have grown to resent her so much.

He laughed. "So you fear your mother, then?"

"I'm not scared of anyone."

"Really?" he asked, moving over the quilt beneath us, inching closer to me. "Not anyone?"

"Or anything," I claimed. He continued toward me, a look of intrigue on his face. I was supposed to stop him, that much was clear, but if Eleazar was allowed to break a promise, so was I.

Zenor pressed his lips onto mine, filling the dread in my stomach with sparks of excitement, of mystery. Oh, how fascinating his touch was when it traveled up my leg, daring me to pull him in for more.

He smelled like freshly cut grass, and the tang of sweat, both things I marveled at when his arm wrapped around my waist, deepening the kiss. I should have stopped him, but I didn't, for the sake of my sanity alone.

***

I hurried out of the house, with Zenor hot on my heels as we raced through the yard, and to our favorite spot on the grounds. A clearing, less than a mile from town, allotted us the privacy we craved.

Most days, he beat me, but not this time. I had left my underskirt draped over the reading chair in my room, convinced that it was causing an insurmountable drag. I was fast once, somehow I knew that, but I couldn't remember when I had run last, before Zenor.

The wind whipped through my hair, and twigs snapped around my ankles, marring them. Zenor was gaining on me, shifting, only a little, to gain an edge. His claws sliced through the air, and when he turned, smiling wildly, his canines greeted me.

He was laughing, and by the time we arrived at our destination, so was I.

"You were close that time," he said, his wolf disappearing as he sauntered over.

"I let you win."

He rolled his amber eyes. "If you say so."

"I do," I said, out of breath, for more than one reason. He cornered me against a tree, one of the ancient ones that had been growing long before we were unleashed on the Earth.

Wasting no time, Zenor placed kisses down my neck, taunting me with a mark I couldn't erase. My nails dug into his back, threatening marks of my making. "You know," he said, "I could end your betrothal to Eleazar right here, right now. Who would marry you off while you're claimed by another?"

I laughed bitterly. "My parents, after they've ripped your head clean off your shoulders." The image haunted me some nights, but not enough to stop me from meeting with him time and time again.

"They'd have to catch me first," he quipped, distracted by my vulnerable skin.

"Maybe I'd help them."

"That'd be criminal," he said before dropping to his knees and lifting my skirt. A sly grin took over his face when he realized the...liberties I took when dressing myself. "I think you forgot something important this morning."

My mouth twitched. "Whatever do you mean?"

Zenor chuckled, ignoring his accusation in favor of sinking between my legs and siphoning out the first of many moans that evening. His tongue explored my wetness, caressing it, eating it as if I had been starving him for days, not the few brief hours it had been. We had been insatiable, but unable to finish what we started. With my birthday so close, his proximity to me was more devastating than ever.

Still. I stared at the sky, my thighs quivering around his head as I twisted my grip on his dark mane. Before I could get ahold of myself, words tumbled out. "Promise me you'll come to the party tomorrow?"

"Ryn," he said, his mouth parting from my lower lips, only to deny me the accompaniment of the person I desired the most. "I'm not invited."

"You are now," I said, damning myself in the process and meeting his glowing eyes. The sun would disappear soon, marking another day I had spent without satisfaction."It's a masked ball," I continued. "They won't know who you are if you come in through the back."

"Ryn."

"I insist."

He stared at me, frozen in time, before standing to steal another forbidden kiss with my arousal still on his lips. "I'll be there," he said, finally. "You have my word."