To Catch an Alpha

Chapter 6- To Catch an Offer

"I will not do this, I refuse!" I yell at the Current and future Alpha standing before me as I sit in front of Dalton's desk. His private office is clean and neat with hardly a speck of dust anywhere. After I was announced as selected to battle for Alpha Kaiden, I ran out of the pack house. James didn't even try to stop me, I just ran and ran until Braxton caught me. He pulled me back to the house as I kicked and screamed like a four year old. "You will, Chase! I demand it!" Alpha Dalton screamed in my face with an edge of authority. He slammed his hands on the wooden desk so hard that it rattled the dark wood. Though his office was beautifully decorated with pictures and books and trinkets, I can't imagine this man owning anything beautiful.

"I'll leave. I'll join another pack," I say with determination as Braxton strides from in front of me to behind me so he can hold me down into the chair. His hands press firmly on my shoulders so that I can't move again. "If you do not do this, I will kill your family Chase Bailey. I will kill every last one of them and then make sure no pack takes you in. You have nothing." My heart shattered because I knew Dalton wasn't bluffing. He would see to it that my family was ripped apart in a literal sense. A threat from an Alpha was nothing to take lightly, I was already on thin ice for challenging him on his direct order. I swallowed hard and forced the words from my mouth. "What do I have to do?"

"You must become his mate," Braxton said as if it was obvious. I scoffed at him as squirmed in my seat to try and shake him off. "If he chooses you, then he will be forced to ally with our pack. Your mating will give this pack protection for years." Protection from what? Rogues aren't an issue... He wants to start a war. "Why a war? No pack has been a threat to us in decades!" I bite out in a harsh tone. I finally shake Braxton off of me and stand up, moving towards the door. The ceremony was still going on down stairs, wolves going wild because they aren't being forced into a mating.

Braxton let's out a low growl and shoves me back towards the desk. I growl in return, surprising myself that such a ferocious sound could come from my small body. "Our neighboring pack, The Sterling Pack, has been slowly encroaching upon our land and I want it back. But that's not all I want. I want all of their land. Combining the pack lands would expand our resources and numbers ten fold! We will be a super pack!" Dalton screamed like a madman, his dark, power hungry eyes staring into my own. He was crazy. Alpha Julius Sterling was a cruel pack leader who stopped at nothing until he got what he wanted. He was feared by many and loved by few, according to the stories.

"All I have to do is mate Alpha Kaiden, and you will leave me and my family alone?" I ask, keeping my hand out to keep Braxton away from me. My growl was a challenge and his wolf side did not like a challenge. "You have a month until departure to the Reynolds pack. Until then, you will study him. You will study his family, his likes and dislikes, his friends. I want you to know everything about this man. Then I want him to fall in love with you. If he doesn't fall for you, then I will take away everything you have ever loved. Got it?" I took a deep breath. If I didn't do what this man said, I could be signing my own family's death warrants. I nodded my head and sulked back into my chair.

"When does this 'studying' start?" I ask as I cross my hands over my chest in defeat. Dalton crossed back over to his chair, a sly smirk on my face that caused anger to boil under my skin. "Tomorrow. You will meet here at the pack house everyday for the course of the month. You will give up everything, school, family, friends." I gritted my teeth at his words. I would have to give up everything and mate a wolf that may not even choose me as a mate. No. He had to choose me as his mate, had to.

"Fine." I say and stand up to leave Dalton's office. "And one more thing," Alpha Dalton says quietly, the smirk never leaving his lips. "You will not tell anyone about this little talk, understood?" He says, the Alpha authority in his voice tells me that I won't be telling anyone even if I want to. I want to scream at him, to rip him apart and throw away the pieces. This blackmail was going to ruin my life whether or not I obeyed Alpha Dalton. Kaiden would have his way with every girl on the list before he made his choice. They all did and were allowed to 'stake their claim' so to speak. No wolf would ever mate me after being defiled. I would never have pups and never grow old with my mate. I walked out of the office, slammed the door and slid down the wall beside it, tears flooding my eyes.