Page 5 of The Alpha’s Heir

“He’s licking his wounds now.” Mom choked a bit on those last words. I glanced over my shoulder. Her eyes were red-rimmed, as if she’d been crying all night.

You did this. My wolf growled at me.

I hurried to reel in my line. “Mom, no. Don’t be sad. It’ll be okay.”

“I can’t help it.” She sniffled. “This isn’t the future I wanted for you.”

“It’s not like I’m dying.” I set down my pole and wrapped my arms around her. Despite how short she was, I could still feel her power. Mom was strong for a human. Even stronger as a witch. But it made my wolf whine to hear her break down this way.

“The humans are worse than you think.” Her voice took on a frantic edge. “I don’t want you going there. If I’d have known…”

“You’d have what?” I teased. “Not had kids?”

“Don’t play about that. You and your sisters are the best things I’ve ever created,” she said. “I would’ve moved us further away from the purist city if I thought you’d ever have to go there.”

“Maybe it’s fate.” I shrugged.

“A chosen mate isn’t fate. Don’t you remember anything about our pack’s history? Your uncle died because of a situation like this. What if your fated mate shows up one day?” Mom begged me with her eyes to listen.

Gods, how I wanted that to be true.

Not that I’d ever admit it out loud, but I loved my romance stories. My guilty pleasure was imagining the life I’d probably never have, complete with the passionate meet-cute and ending in the white picket fence with my Happily-Ever-After.

But this was the real world.

As an alpha wolf, things weren’t ever going to be that simple for me anyway.

“This isn’t the same,” I told her. “And it’s not like Trish’s story. We always knew Jaxon was the one for her. Alec and I probably won’t be so lucky.”

I hated breaking her heart like this, but it was best she finally admitted the truth. Sigma wolves like Alec rarely mated, and alpha females like me weren’t the easiest to pair off. We were already nearing our mid-twenties. If fate was sending us mates, it would’ve happened by now.

My only true loves would forever remain in their books.

“You’ll never know that if you throw away your own happiness for this crazy woman!” Mom stomped her foot, refusing to see reason.

I always smiled when she got this way. The last few years and menopause had been a roller-coaster for her. But she’d come out of it like I hoped to one day, with more fire in her blood and passion in her eyes—not afraid to say what she wanted.

“I can’t risk anything happening to you all,” I said. “This is my destiny.”

Mom sniffled again. “Where did I go wrong? Why are my daughters all so self-sacrificing?”

I laughed as I hugged her tighter, trying to keep things light for both our sakes.

The crunch of leaves underfoot drew my attention.

Unlike Mom, Trish could sneak up on me, but she made herself known so as not to startle us. I let Mom go just as Trish and Jaxon walked up to the creek.

“We’re leaving,” Trish said.

“So soon?” Mom cried.

Trish smiled sadly, hating to hear Mom so miserable too. “This is my fault, but I’m going to try and find a way to fix it. Alpha Uki and Calla have the temple of witches in Amarok Territory. They might have older records on how to deal with a situation like this, but we have to go deal with the archives team in person.”

“It’ll be too late,” I told her. “Morrigan wants to make the marriage happen now.”

“We’ll be fast.” Trish pulled me close. Her voice was in my head, using our familial link now that her pack link had been broken since she’d mated an Alpha from another territory. “Stall as long as you can. I won’t stop until I find a way to fix this.”

I held her close a moment longer, breathing in my sister’s scent. “None of this is your fault. That warlock would’ve completed the ritual had you not killed him, and who knows how many more witches would’ve died in his quest.”