Mated To The Wrong Alpha
Chapter 48

For a moment everything was eerily still and quiet. Then she became aware of her own laboured breathing and cautiously tried to move. Pain shot through her and she bit her l*p, holding back a whimper. Opening her eyes, she noted that at some point during the wild tumble down the ravine, she’d phased into her human form. Shifting her glance sideways, she saw Rose’s body lying a few feet away in a pool of b***d, her neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Bile rose in her throat and she shut her eyes, swallowing hard.

A sound overhead drew her attention. Standing at the top of the ravine was Marla back in human form.

Licking her lips, Ava managed to call out. “Marla, you have to get help. I… I think Rose might be dead and I’m pretty sure my leg is broken.”

“Aww, now isn’t that a shame.” Carefully, Marla picked her way down until she was beside Ava. Looking around, she dusted off a rock and sat down, cocking her head sideways and staring bemusedly at the woman before her. “You know Ava, I’ll never understand what Arthur sees in you.”

“What?” The woman’s words were so unexpected that Ava was sure she’d heard wrong.

Rose was probably dead, and Marla was just sitting there! “Marla, you’ve got to check on Rose. She might still be alive and if we can get help in time—”

“You’re so…so ordinary. Boring. Why he ever agreed to be mated to you is beyond me.”

Marla continued as if she hadn’t heard what Ava had said. “Oh well, you’ll be gone soon and then

I’ll get him back. He always comes back. Guilt can work wonders on a man with a conscience.”

Realizing that Marla wasn’t going to do anything to help Rose until she’d had her say, Ava tried to focus on the conversation. Even though she had a sinking feeling she knew exactly what Marla was talking about, she decided to ask. “Gone? What do you mean I’ll be gone? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh, I’m afraid you are. Rose and I had it all planned out. She lured you here and, as I said, we were going to drug you, tie you up, and sink your body to the bottom of the lake. Then we were going to convince Arthur that you’d run off with Seth. He’d be upset, but not overly surprised given your recent behaviour. Of course, I’d be there to comfort him.”

Marla sighed. “It was all going so well. Even the little glitches weren’t a problem. I managed to think of a reason for Arthur to be in town that first day you met Seth. Of course, in the end Arthur didn’t go, but he sent Rose instead and that was fine. She would have been able to be an ‘eye-witness’ when explaining your disappearance later on. And the fact that you were hiding the meeting by using that perfume I gave you would only have increased suspicion that you were guilty.” She glared down at Ava. “Yesterday should have been the icing on the cake. Arthur actually saw you with Seth. I know he heard the messages and I set the diary out for him to see. How did he end up b***d-bonding to you? What went wrong?”

Ava didn’t feel inclined to answer. Marla studied her for a moment shaking her head, then shifted a bit and poked Ava’s shoulder with the toe of her boot, pulling her coat down to reveal the mark Arthur had left. “I guess Rose was right. The b***d-bonding has put a kink in our plan. Eventually, Arthur’s going to sense something’s wrong—the oil spill will only keep his mind busy for so long—and when he realizes it, he’ll come looking for you.” Marla tapped her finger to her lips as she thought out loud. “The kidnapping and ransom story won’t work now, so the question is, what to do with you? I suppose I’ll have to arrange it so that it looks like you were killed. Ryne can be blamed again. He’s such a good scapegoat.”

“Ryne’s a scapegoat?”

“Of course, he is! He’s hot-headed, but I could never get him to do any real dirty work. He’s too full of annoying honour for that. I did manage to convince him to challenge Arthur for the position of Alpha, but he left the area after losing and only came back once that I know of.” She touched her face as if remembering the bruise Ryne had given her. “Luckily, I had a pair of his old boots and enough of his sweaty gym clothes at my apartment that I was able to convince people he was still around. I covered my own scent with perfume so no one ever knew I was there. Then I wore his boots and clothes, making it seem like he’d been present each time and ensuring he was the one that got blamed for everything that went wrong.”

That would explain the perfume and the other scent in the red car; it had been from Ryne’s clothes, Ava thought to herself. Still, she couldn’t figure out what Marla was going to gain from all of this. Stalling for time, in the vain hope that someone might come to the rescue, she decided to ask. “But why?”

“I need control of the pack.” Marla answered as she stood and walked over to look at Rose, then shrugged. “You’re right. She’s dead.”

For all that she’d known Rose was dead, having it proclaimed out loud caused tears to prick Ava’s eyes. She hadn’t known Rose well, and even though the girl had been working with Marla, the fact that she was dead saddened her.

Marla continued on in a conversational tone, as if she were discussing nothing more important than the weather. “It’s a shame in a way that she’s dead. Rose was actually quite clever, but no one paid much attention to her or ever suspected her of anything. You know the eagerly awaited environmental report? I gave it to her and she altered the version that Arthur saw, making it seem almost worthless while the original went to Northern Oil. They paid us a tidy sum for that. And your gushing diary entries about Seth? Rose wrote those, too. She did a good job copying your penmanship, don’t you think? And some of the cheques she’s forged… Well, let’s just say that if anyone ever does an in-depth audit of the local bank, it won’t be pretty.” Shaking her head, Marla turned away from Rose’s broken body. “It’s too bad that she’s gone though. I had a few more jobs for her before I severed our relationship thought it does save me getting rid of her later on. Ryne can be blamed for her death, too.”

Ava tried to move into a more comfortable position, but nothing alleviated the pain. Her broken leg throbbed and the various abrasions covering her body stung. Trying to keep Marla talking so the woman held off killing her, Ava brought up more questions. “Why do you need control of the pack? If you want to be an Alpha female, why not go with Ryne and start over?”

Marla laughed sarcastically. “Are you serious? As if I’d ever go off and live like a pauper while Ryne tried to establish a pack somewhere. Being Alpha female is only a means to an end. I want money and this pack is loaded. Northern Oil is offering a fortune for the land, but most of the pack is too stupid to take it. Only Rose, myself and a few of the others see things clearly. If we sell out to Northern Oil, we’ll be rich.”

“But you said this was your home and you couldn’t leave it.”

“I lied. Being a wolf isn’t that great. Rose hated being the Omega of the pack and wanted out of that stupid hierarchy system. And me, I could happily live as a rich human for the rest of my life, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

“But how?”

“Don’t you worry your little head, Ava. I’ve been planning this for ages. First I got rid of

Zack by cutting the brake line—”

“So that’s why you pretended to be ‘Marlene’ and hung out with Marty!”

“Oh, what a clever girl you are.” Marla mocked. “You’re right. Marty showed me enough about how an engine works that I can hotwire it or sabotage it. Once Zack was dead, I figured Ryne would be the logical replacement since he was older. When it looked undecided, I gave matters a little push. I thought Ryne would win a challenge, so I told him that Arthur had sabotaged Zack’s brakes. Being the impulsive, hot-headed type that he is, Ryne issued the challenge before he had time to think things through. Unfortunately, he lost and it set my plans back. I’d been working on Ryne for weeks before then, convincing him that selling out was the right choice, and now I had to start all over again.”

So that’s why everyone thought Ryne was behaving differently before the challenge, Ava realized.

Marla stared disinterestedly at the various rocks and trees that decorated the ravine, her l*p curling slightly as if she found her surroundings somewhat distasteful. She gave a quiet snort, before continuing. “With Ryne gone, I went to work on Arthur, trying to convince him to sell out. I poisoned the water, set traps, had the electricity turned off, called the fire inspectors. Even that picture was part of the plan.” “The picture?”

“Remember how worried Arthur was? How he thought someone might notice that the wolf in the picture isn’t a real wolf? If someone comes to check it out, the pack could be discovered. I might even hire a few actors to do that, now that I think about it. People poking around town, looking for wolves is a guaranteed way to spook our Alpha. You see, Arthur cares too much about his pack and that’s his weakness. If I can convince him it isn’t safe here, he’ll agree to sell out and move elsewhere. Once the cash is in his hands, I can electronically siphon it from his account into my own Swiss one.” Marla stopped and looked down at Ava, scowling. “Everything was going great until you showed up.”

“Marla, if it’s money you want, I can talk to Arthur. I’m sure he’d give you some.”

“Some!” Marla scoffed. “I don’t want some. I want it all.” She checked her watch. “Well, as much as I’ve enjoyed this scintillating conversation, I’d better go get Ryne’s clothes on again. If I’m going to kill you, I want his scent all over you.” Winking, she kicked Ava’s broken leg. “Don’t go anywhere while I’m gone.”

Ava tasted b***d in her mouth from where her teeth were biting into her l*p. She wouldn’t cry out and give Marla the satisfaction of knowing how much that had hurt, even though her body was screaming with pain. Closing her eyes, she listened to the sound of retreating footsteps until they could be heard no more.

Finally, she could let her aching body relax. Unclenching her hands and her jaw, she took stock of her situation. She was alone at the bottom of a ravine, with a broken leg, a money-hungry she-wolf coming back to kill her at any moment, and a dead body for company. Blinking, she reached up a shaky hand to brush a lone snowflake from her face. Yes, she was alone, and no one knew where she was.