THE OUTCAST’S ALPHA MATE: LOVE AND REDEMPTION

It was that time of the year again. The time of the year Marian hated the most – Christmas.

Away from her pack for almost a year after her self-imposed exile, she had returned to fulfill her duties as the only surviving child and sibling of her late mother and brother.

Goddess, how I hate this place, she mused as she strode toward the pack hall, her hips swaying as she walked purposefully in her gold dress and strappy gold heels. All five foot eleven inches of her, as a light breeze pulled on her waist-length dark brown hair and silk gown.

Marian had the lean, athletic build of a warrior she-wolf, and she moved with long, determined strides, her green eyes fixed on her destination, her back straight and head upright.

“Why do I have to come back here? These damned people, this damned place! It’s exactly the same,” Marian huffed, speaking to her wolf, Dinka, in their mind space, the psychic link all shifters shared with their wolves.

“You know why,” Dinka replied steadily as she watched the other wolves around, sniffing at some and keeping her distance from others.

“Yeah,” Marian replied lazily. She sniffed the air, and her wolf, Dinka, purred.

Dinka had missed the pack life. Marian had not. “Let’s go to him!” Dinka urged in the mind space.

“Sure, D. Let’s find him,” Marian replied as she arrived at the hall where the pack’s Christmas Eve ceremony was in full swing.

This was a party held every year to usher the pack into Christmas Day; fondly referred to as the mistletoe drop party by young wolves.

Christmas had always been a main celebration in her pack. The date coincided with ancient rituals and was used to bring families together. This had not changed after the war four years ago – the war in which she had lost her mother and younger brother.

The war in which she and her father, the erstwhile Alpha, had lost and were taken prisoner by the victor of the bloody battle – Dax Garrant, the current pack Alpha and a man Marian had called uncle for most of her life, right up to that deadly fight.

The pack compound was a sight to behold.

Marian entered the hall and strolled around the grandly decorated room. Lights were everywhere, wonderful decorations adorned the ceiling and the walls, and there was more than enough food and drink going around.

Is that her?

Yeah!

Wow!

Don’t look…

She seems…different…

Shh!

The words flitted through the air in the hall, and Marian knew they were talking or gossiping about her. She raised her chin as she searched for her target.

She knew what they were buzzing about.

Eldest child of the former, deposed Alpha, she had been rejected by the current Alpha’s adopted son and chosen heir, in full view of the whole pack, at the New Year Moon party held at the beginning of the year, barely eleven months ago.

The event was still fresh in her mind. She could still hear the words now.

“I, Dorien Aldon, reject you, Marian Storm, as my mate!”

With that declaration from him, her heart had felt like it was going to explode as their mate bond shattered. A bond they had formed four years earlier, when they had marked each other, but had kept hidden until they were both ready to share their decision to be chosen mates.

The pain had been excruciating for her, entangled as she was in her love for him, and she had fled from the same pack hall she just entered.

She straightened her shoulders at the thought, pushing the memory back where it belonged – down and out of her mind.

She had left the pack compound that same day and would have stayed away permanently, if not for the memorial service she needed to attend for her mother and brother.

A service that would hold in four days, on the anniversary of the battle’s end.

But today was special too. Usually dressed in dark combat wear, today, she was in a different suit, a unique armor. She was dressed brightly. In a dress her father, the deposed Alpha, had prepared for her.

A dress that was both alluring and an official statement. A proclamation that she would not be cowed.

She glanced around the full hall, ignoring all others as she searched for her father.

He must be here, she mused. He never misses this.

Her father, held captive by the current Alpha, was not kept in the dungeons or in a cage. He roamed free, but was always guarded. Never left alone. Constantly watched by both open and hidden eyes. Free, but never allowed outside the pack’s borders.

Marian waded deeper into the room. Some wolves nodded to her, others gawked and whispered, and still others looked away, pretending not to have noticed her.

Some had been allies of her father’s during the war; others had been on Dax’s side.

After the battle, some had been part of the group who had abused her, used her as a punching bag during training, or treated her lower than a slave – when her father was not near – or had been part of the group who looked away when she was being mistreated.

But Marian did not care for any of them.

It did not matter now. Not anymore. She had freed herself of this place and these people in ways they would never understand.

She was not their prisoner anymore, not in her heart or in her mind. She was only back for one reason, and once her duty was fulfilled, she would leave.

In four days, it would all be over.

“Where is he…?” Marian said irritably to Dinka as she glanced around.

There were too many scents in the room and something was also interfering with her sense of smell.

“It’s almost time; they must have started releasing the gas,” Dinka said in a low growl.

“Yeah, it should be time soon,” Marian confirmed. “I can’t wait to get out of here,” she continued, complaining to her wolf.

“Use the link,” Dinka urged.

Marian did not respond.

Her green eyes narrowed as she spun around. She did not want to be here, and she was not wanted here, most especially by Alpha Dax.

They shared a deep hatred that could never be mended. Not only had he, with his own hands, killed her family, he had taken the only family she had left, away from her.

And kept him at his side like a prize on permanent display.

She hated him, and Dax could not care less about her.