Alpha’s Betrayal
Chapter 4

Remus Claw Mansion Woodward County, Oklahoma

Marnet hadn't been jerking my chain when he'd implied I was the last alpha to arrive. The Claw family home practically roiled with testosterone, and there were only five alphas inside. There were whatever guests might have attended, I supposed, but they didn't even register on my radar. The only thing worse than having to witness a Moonmate ceremony was having to do it in company like this.

All eyes followed me as I entered the mansion's sitting room, each and every one sensing my presence as keenly as I sensed theirs. Marnet had only arrived a few minutes before I did - my mother needed a few minutes to freshen up, and by freshen up, she actually meant she needed to lecture me, again, about what I could gain if I found a mate - but Marnet was now deep in conversation with Gith, alcohol already in their hands. The dark-skinned alpha barely blinked as Marnet droned on at him. Stoic silence was one of the Black Thorn pack alpha's strongest talents.

York barely gave me a look before he leaned back over the bar. Of course Marnet had an entire wet bar installed into his sitting room the moment he inherited the house. York seemed uninterested in us all, though, his shaggy brown hair hiding his pale face as he made small talk with the man tending the bar.

I weighed my desire for a whiskey on the rocks against the notion that I would inevitably be dragged into a conversation I had no interest in, with a wolf I had even less interest in. The liquor might do a little to settle my short temper, but was it really worth it? "Always knew you were a wallflower, deep down," Marnet said, ice clinking in his glass. "Can't even participate in peace talks, huh, Silverstreak?"

I didn't roll my eyes, but it was a near thing. Clearly, being left to observe the others and enjoy the quiet of my own thoughts was not going to happen, so I may as well dive in. A few moments later, I had my whiskey, and I turned to face the others as I rested against the bar top. "What's the deal this time, Marnet?" I replied, unbothered by his jab. It felt like there was a new alliance or peace proposal every damn year. They never lasted. Someone encroached on someone else's territory border. A favored pack member decided they'd rather be with the Silverstreak wolves instead of a member of the Black Thorn pack. A Red Paw wolf might take a Lupus Claw member as their mate without consulting either Seff Blazepaw or Marnet. And ancestors help them if one alpha was consulted but not the other.

None of them would admit to violence or bloodshed, but it happened. We all knew it happened. Casualties were rare, but they weren't completely unheard of. Werewolves weren't so common that a loss should be entirely disregarded.

"My beta's daughter will be joining Lupus Claw after tonight," York grunted, having joined Gith and Marnet. "Marnet will be sending two brats to Shadow Rock in exchange once they turn eighteen." My brows knit together. York sounded like he had a bit of a slur already. While I had no doubt that Marnet would provide alcohol strong enough for werewolves, it still required a man to drink a fair amount before it really started to affect him. I'd never known York to be a lightweight, either. After all, his pack ran and was largely supported by the income from Rock Distillery; the man was around alcohol (both for humans and that graded for shifters) constantly.

"Mhm," Gith weighed in. Always talkative, that one.

Marnet fixed his cold green eyes back on me, as he sized me up. "The only packs that haven't given some sort of token are Red Paw and Silverstreak." His gaze only flickered to Seff for a moment. I wasn't sure if he just thought he needed to intimidate me, or if he thought the black-haired alpha was a pushover. Both were a fool's thoughts.

"Maybe I don't see the need to send a token," I said, eyeing Marnet. "What sort of token was it you said Gith and Black Thorn pack were sending?" For more free novels, visit FindNovel.net

"Nothing," the oldest alpha grumbled, his silvering brows pushing together.

I hid my smirk as I sipped at my whiskey. "So, this is just between you and York then."

"No!" York blustered, pale cheeks already turning a bit ruddy. "No, Gith's gonna, aren't you, Gith?" He turned to face the almost-silent shifter. When Gith just blinked back at him mildly, he cussed under his breath and turned on Seff instead. "C'mon, Seff, don't be a f*****g p***y. I don't know what Remus thinks he's playing at. This pact is gonna last."

Seff exhaled slowly through his nose. "Unfortunately, in my past experience-"

"Past shmast!" York growled. To Seff's credit, the other alpha simply looked annoyed at the interruption, as if a drunkard's insults weren't worthy of his ire. "Don't be such a Switzerland, Seff, take a side."

"Sorry, I didn't realize we were still on the playground," Seff growled back, his upper lip finally curling. A scowl settled over his golden features; he looked like he'd had enough of York's pointless goading, and I couldn't blame him. "I have better things to do with my time than argue with a drunk fool. Drinking this whiskey, for instance. Greeting the other guests. Pondering the meaning of life. Taking a shit."

I snorted. This was why I liked Seff the best of the local alphas. He said the last sentence with such a straight face, I'd almost missed it.

"You little - you little fucker," York snarled. He slammed his tumbler down on the mahogany bar with such force I was surprised it didn't shatter on impact. Marnet must have sprung for thicker glass when he built his wet bar. Made sense, when most of your guests were werewolves. "You take that back... or I'll make you."

York took a defensive stance, and I figured we had about three seconds before he shifted when Marnet clapped a heavy hand over York's shoulder. "Now, now, York, none of that," he said, as if this were a little disagreement and not about to come to blows. He picked up York's glass with his other hand, miraculously refreshed by the silent bartender. "Today is a day for celebration and friendships, not fighting." Marnet handed the glass back to York.

The other alpha took the glass, eyeing Marnet for only a moment. He took a sip, and his hackles seemed to drop right before our eyes. "Guess so," he agreed, sounding a bit mulish. "Thanks, Marnet." "Besides, you never know," Marnet continued, clearly not knowing when a man should just stop. "Your mate might be right around the corner."

York snorted and tipped the glass to his l!ps. I frowned and watched him drink, unsure how I felt about the company I was currently keeping.

After exchanging a few pointless pleasantries with Seff, I stepped away from the others, retreating to the corner of the bar. As the bartender refilled my glass, I smiled to myself. It was almost impossible to get several alphas under one roof for more than a few hours without some sort of scuffle, so it was no surprise that several of them were already on edge. Perhaps York's confidence was more fragile than I thought.

The Silverstreak clan was already on the biggest territory in the southern United States, but I wasn't raised to be interested in accepting the status quo. The packs around me were frangible, and I wasn't a fool. Why wait for a packless alpha to swoop in and topple one of these men when I could simply do it myself? I had Bane and Tala here for a reason - and they weren't the only Silverstreak wolves in Oklahoma tonight. I had planted several of my other packmates to scout out the area. There was only one way to grow a pack. One of these boys had to go. If everything went according to plan tonight, I'd have a few hundred acres to add, and a handful of wolves to go along with it.

I lifted my glass, turning my head to thank the bartender when I caught sight of a new attendee out of the corner of my eye. Intrigued, I stepped away, pretending to be interested in the art hung on Marnet's sitting room wall. Given the man's formal wear - he looked like more of a penguin than Marnet or Gith, and both were sticklers for 'dressing up' when the occasion called for it - I suspected the man was a part of Marnet's household, but not a member of it.

A moment later, Marnet stormed over and the stranger paled, confirming my initial impression. Marnet looked furious. He made a sharp motion with one hand, and I followed the path to look back at the door the butler had come through. I hadn't noticed at first, but there was a she-wolf standing there. She was dressed as if she'd just wandered in here, her jet-black hair a bit tousled and... Was that a stick in her hair? I almost laughed, disguising the nose with a small cough before I could draw any attention to myself. The woman was of average height, and she was dressed like... Well. What the wolf dragged in wasn't very generous of me, but given the event of the evening, she was seriously underdressed. Marnet only had the one sister, as far as I was aware, and I was unfortunately all too familiar with Sophia. This one was definitely someone else, thank the ancestors.

She was dressed like an average wolf in an average pack, but that was the only average thing about her. Her dark hair framed her delicate face, highlighting how pale her skin was. Her eyes were the purest silver I had ever seen. If a man could sing down the moon and distill it into a color, it would be the same shade as this woman's gaze. I could get lost in those eyes.

I lifted my chin, slightly intrigued. Was this woman looking for a mate, or something to keep her occupied for the night? Because if it were the latter...

Marnet whirled around, waving the butler off with his free hand. The muscle on the side of his jaw throbbed as he stormed back across the room; my gaze fell back to where the woman stood, watching as two men grabbed either arm to escort her rather forcefully away. I raised my eyebrows. Interesting.

Perhaps she hadn't been a guest at all - it wouldn't be the first time a lone wolf crashed a Moonmate ceremony in hopes of finding a mate and joining a pack. She didn't smell mated, and she looked perfectly reasonable. She didn't have the stench of cortisol either - even just a few weeks as a lone wolf was so stressful, other shifters could pick them out from the stench alone. It made me wonder why she wasn't participating in the festivities... and Marnet's reaction towards her. Oh, yes, that was terribly interesting. Maybe she's trying to catch Marnet's eye tonight? I tried to hide my amusement at the idea. Why anyone would want to attract him, I hadn't the faintest idea. Well, there's no accounting for taste.

Sensing potential gossip, I wondered if I could find my mother before the festivities really began. Idle hearsay didn't interest me, but if it was something Marnet was upset about... Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see Seff. He inclined his head to one side. "Bad time?" He glanced over my shoulder for whatever might have been distracting me.

I shook my head. "Not at all. What's on your mind, Seff?" I asked, mirroring his look. We'd exchanged a brief greeting when I first arrived, but nothing else.

Seff hummed, lifting one shoulder. "The company around here isn't...ideal," he replied, and I had to bite back a small smirk. I knew Marnet didn't have a lot of fans among the local alphas, but it was gratifying to hear one admit it. Especially since Seff was a wolf I'd known for quite some time. "I thought we could catch up. There's a balcony." He paused, nodding to a large, full-wall window a few lengths away. I hadn't been paying attention, but now that Seff mentioned it, I noticed that there were handles, indicating that these 'windows' were actually doors.

"That sounds like a fine idea," I decided. Marnet in a sour mood might be even worse company than York when he was cruising steadily from 'mildly buzzed' to 'drunk.'

We lapsed into silence as we walked, Seff pausing to close the door behind us. I leaned against the stone railing, taking a moment to admire the architecture of the balcony before I realized there was something going on below us.

Curious, I leaned over the rail. One person was being escorted across the house grounds towards the stables by two others. I'd never understood why Marnet or his father tried to keep horses. They could be pretty, sure, and women certainly liked them, but they were still prey animals at the end of the day. They also weren't damn fools; a horse knew a predator when it saw one, and a werewolf was most certainly a predator.

I'd never met a horse I liked, and I suspected the horses felt the same way. A mutual dislike was fine by me.

The sound of a sharp gasp nearby ripped me from my equine musings. The third person was a woman? I tipped my head slightly, trying to be discreet as I sniffed the air. To my surprise, I recognized the scent. It was the silver-eyed she-wolf that had been standing in the doorframe just a few minutes prior. Whatever had gone on between her, the butler, and Marnet, the Lupus Claw alpha hadn't been pleased. But they'd gone the stable?

Seff cleared his throat and I turned, taking a sip from my whiskey to disguise my interest in whatever was going on in the yard. "So. It's been a while."

Did the black-haired man really drag me out here for small talk? I had assumed he had wanted to discuss something of consequence with me. Sure, I appreciated the fresh air, and I was quite curious about what was going on below, but Seff couldn't have known that. Some of the hair on the back of my neck began to bristle as my wolf stirred, and I had to fight back the urge to growl at the man for wasting my time. "How are you?" Seff asked, and I couldn't avoid an answer.

"I'm doing fine," I said, trying to settle my wolf back down. It wasn't Seff's fault that something more interesting was going on nearby. But seriously, hadn't he heard it too? Wasn't he curious?

When I wasn't any more forthcoming than that, Seff sighed and provided another question. "And your mother? How's she?"

My frustration eased slightly. I had known Seff since we were pups; he had known Fiona back in her glory days, before my father... Before my father had died. "Fiona is fine. Finding some poor wolf to harass about her dress just now, I'm sure. She has to keep up on the latest trends. You know how it is."

That got a smile out of Seff. I paused for a moment, feeling the pressure to continue this awkward, stilted conversation. "And how are you?"

"Doing well, thank you," he said. There was the hint of a smile on his l!ps, and nothing more.

"And the Red Paw pack?"

His hazel eyes brightened by a degree, the sleepy wolf locked away inside waking with interest. "Red Paw is doing well," he hummed, unable to hide the hint of pride warming his voice. "Several of the younger members have reached the age of majority over the past few years. Quick learners. Taking on a lot of responsibility." He nodded to himself as he spoke, clearly replaying something in his mind. Whatever the memory was, it pleased him, and a small smile lifted the corner of his lips. Even his brown cheeks looked a little warmer as he reflected on his pack. "Yeah. Red Paw is doing real well these days."

I paused, briefly thinking on my own pack, on the younger members. I wonder how they'd stand up against Red Paw's newest members. I got caught in thought and let the silence stretch on too long. Seff's expression morphed into something that resembled actual concern. "Are you sure you're okay, Remus? I know we haven't seen much of each other over the past few years, but that doesn't change anything between us. You know that, right?"

I paused, my eyes flickering back to his face. Here I was, trying to rush through this conversation so I could snoop on Marnet's guests, and Seff was making an earnest attempt to catch up with me. As much as you give your mother a hard time for her incessant gossiping, Remus, you aren't behaving any differently right now.

I straightened my shoulders, trying to rein my attention back in and offer it in full to Seff. We had been friends in childhood and in high school, too; my summer camping trips with my packmates always took us to Arkansas. Spending time with my old man and camping in the woods with Seff and his father had always been something I'd looked forward to when I was young.

For better or worse, adulthood was different; I had Silverstreak Motors to look after, and Seff had Red Rock Logistics over in central Arkansas under his care. If nothing else, the distance became challenging when we had actual work to fill our days, much less an entire pack of werewolves counting on us.

My face fell a little. "I told you, I'm doing fine." What I meant to be a reassurance came out much sharper, even to my ears.

Seff's expression shifted by a few degrees; even if he didn't move, I could feel a chasm start to open up between us. "Okay, Remus. Well, no worries. I just wanted to check in, you know? There aren't a lot of wolves I'd go chase the moon with. You remember that one time we accidentally caught Jyllian Smythe skinny dipping? I thought..." He trailed off, shaking his head. For a moment, he stared into his tumbler, then gave me one last look, his mouth slanted to the side. "Well, don't worry about it. I'll leave you to it."

I opened my mouth, struggling for something to say, but Seff slid by me. He clapped a hand over my shoulder before reaching for the door and letting himself back into Marnet's sitting room. I remained on the balcony, staring at the door for a moment. Aggravation warred with guilt as I watched Seff meander over to York, attempting to engage the other alpha as they got their glasses refilled.

What the hell was I supposed to say, anyways? We weren't teenagers anymore. I was a busy man. Was I supposed to apologize for the fact that we had grown apart? It wasn't just me. Besides, so much time had passed.

The guilt continued to chew at me, and I reached into my pocket, fiddling with the phone there. I had half a mind to text Tala and ask her to pass the word to spare Seff-

Something glinted in the distance and I turned, staring back across the yard. To my surprise, it was Marnet who was storming out from his party and towards to the stable now. Was he going to meet the mystery woman for a little liaison of his own, then, or did the man have something more devious up his sleeve?

Interesting.

I would definitely need to keep an eye on the both of them.