My unexpected Alpha [EDITING]

Prologue

Roger Blake didn't look at the man sitting at his kitchen table. His eyes were trained out the window, locked on the forest that surrounded his home, the forest where his children had played when they were pups, the forest where he'd lost his mate to hunters more than a decade ago. The kids were grown up now, his son had a mate of his own and lived with her in a small home not too far away, and his daughter would be back from her stay with their allies in the catskills in just a few days, but while she'd stay  with him in her old room in the beginning, he knew she wouldn't for long. 

"Rog," He'd known this day would come, they'd made a deal twenty years ago two weeks from now, but even so he wasn't prepared for it. Turning to face the man that was his friend, his alpha, the giver of one of the most precious gifts in his life, Roger sighed and braced his hands against the counter behind him. 

"She's going to hate us both." He stated, knowing it was true, but also knowing that his Nora was gentle at heart, she wouldn't be able to stay mad for long. She'd hate them for the betrayal she'd perceive it to be, resent them both for the lies they'd told her her entire life, but she'd forgive them. That was who Nora was, who she'd always been, which only made everything so much worse. 

"I know, but she'll come to terms with it. You've raised a strong woman, Roger." He knew that, had always known that his daughter would grow up to become a stronger woman, a stronger person than anyone else in the pack. But he worried about her. She spent so much of her time taking care of everyone else, but when it came to her own well-being she'd work herself down to the bone without a second thought. 

"Is it necessary to tell her? The original threat is no longer an issue." He pointed out, but he knew he was only grasping at straws. 

"She needs to know everything, Rog. That threat may have been neutralized, but you know what's going on, and we had an agreement. I know she's your daughter, Roger, by blood or not, but I'd like to get to know her now as a father should know his child." Nodding, he turned back around to look at the window and took a deep breath. 

"Fine, but I should be the one to tell her. She deserves to hear it from me." There were no objections from his friend, the other man knowing exactly how painful this would be for all parties involved, including the two of them. 

"We should talk about the hunter situation." Clive's voice was quiet, sympathetic, knowing exactly how painful the subject of hunters would be to Roger. His mate had been butchered by hunters when the kids were still small, Nora having witnessed the whole thing. She'd been a baby, only four years old, out taking a walk with her mama when they'd been ambushed by the hateful humans who made a sport out of hunting his kind. Natalie had spent the last moments of her life protecting her baby, just long enough for help to arrive, but by then it had been too late for Rog's mate. 

"So it's true, they're back." 

"It's true." Clive said, and Roger gritted his teeth as his wolf howled in pain of the remembered loss of his other half. 

"I've called in reinforcements. Brock Royce and his lieutenants should be arriving within the next few days." Nodding, Roger grit his teeth and willed the pain away before he once again turned to face his oldest friend. 

"Let's just hope this time around we're better prepared than we were last time. These bastards don't care about anything but getting their hunting trophy." His wolf snarled, and the man was perfectly aware the wolves aggression was seeping into his voice. 

"They're not getting any of us, Roger. Not this time." He wanted to believe that, wanted to believe that this time things would end differently, but he had to see it to believe it. He didn't have a mate to lose any longer, but he had two children he loved more than life, if anything happened to either one of them, he knew he'd give into his second nature and surrender to the animal within. If that happened, his alpha, his pack, would have no other choice but to put him down - put him out of his misery. Rogue shifters were too dangerous to let live, they had no allegiace to anyone, killed for the share pleasure of it, and it was a packs responsibility to end one if one of their own turned into a rogue. He only prayed that this time, the God's would have mercy on him and spare his children, and if someone had to fall prey to the hunters it would be him.