Alpha Betrayed: A Dark Shifter Romance

FORD

Juliet's eyes narrow as she digests this latest bit of shit news. "How do you know?"

"I stopped by Natalie's office. I wanted to talk to her about the culture here, to see if she really believed all the shifters sang kumbaya around the campfire together every night, or if she was bullshitting us the entire way here." Juliet grunts softly. "I'd like to know that, too. My roommates said the wolves have been dicks and the big cats not much better."

"I've already met several of those dicks," I agree. "And at least in Lupine, the dicks seem to outnumber the non-dicks at least three to one. I'm playing my cards close to my chest for now, so the dicks will trust me, but sooner or later I'll have to choose the right side." I sigh. "And I don't see that being pretty." "Then don't," she says.

I blink. "Don't what?"

"Don't choose sides. Or, better yet, choose their side. Make them think you're one of them, infiltrate the leadership, and destroy them from the inside." She shrugs. "Or at least hold out on betraying them until we're in and don't have as much to lose. It'll be much harder for them to get rid of us once we're students for real than to sabotage us during the trials."

F**k. Why hadn't I thought of that?"

"This is why I'm going to be a military school major," she says, answering my unspoken question. "And you're going to write poetry. You're a surprisingly earnest person, Ford. But I guess that makes sense. When you've spent your whole life at the top of the food chain, you don't have to be sneaky or duplicitous to survive. You just take what you want and crush the competition with brute force."

"I would have thought of it," I say, pretty sure I'm telling the truth. "It just took me a little longer to get there. You're smarter than me, Juliet. I know that and I'm okay with it." She starts to speak but I cut her off, "I would make a joke about how I'm prettier and more charming, so it all evens out, but if we're going to pretend to be enemies, we need to make this quick. No one should see us talking out in the open."

She nods. "Okay. Spill it."

"I went to talk to Natalie, but she was on the phone with the doctor when I got there. So, I stood outside her door, eavesdropping, thinking I might get more truth out of her if she didn't know I was listening. Apparently, the medical department has decided against removing your implant before the trails."

"Why?" Juliet asks. "That pretty much guarantees I won't make it through. Without the ability to shift, I'm not much better than a human. I can take more damage, but that's about it."

"That's what Natalie said. But from what I could tell, the doctor said his department's hands were tied and the order came from the top."

The look in Juliet's eyes grow murderous. "My mother."

"We can't know that for sure, but she is the president. Can't get much higher than that, I wouldn't think."

"I'm going to destroy her," Juliet says. "I'm going to get into this school, even if it kills me, and I'm going to take what's hers, the same way I'll take what's Hammer's. They think they're sorry I was born now, but they have no idea."

I want to tell her that her parents aren't sorry she was born, but considering everything she's been through, all I can say with any confidence is, "Well, I'm not sorry you were born. And I'm not going to let you head into the trials with your hands tied behind your back. We'll take care of this, but we have to do it soon. Before Natalie tells you that the surgery is off. If she does, we won't have plausible deniability."

"Plausible deniability for what?" she asks, proving she isn't always the first one to the plotting and scheming finish line, after all.

"For an accident," I say. "An accident that will prove I'm a piece of shit wolf who hates Variants and take care of your implant, all in one fell swoop."

Juliet pales, but only a second passes before she asks, "When?"

"Tonight. The wolves are going on a secret run in the woods after lights out. Find a good excuse to be out there, too, and I'll take care of the rest. Just be sure to avoid talking to Natalie until then."

She exhales, turning to go before spinning back to face me. "Should we head there now maybe? Scout things out and pick a place? Otherwise, how will you find me? If the wind is still blowing as hard as it is now, all you'll be able to smell is sea breeze until you're right on top of me."

"I'll find you. It won't be a problem."

She arches a challenging brow. "Now isn't the time to get cocky. Not with half the school against us."Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

"I'll know where you are, Jules. I'm not worried about it." I step closer, brushing her hair from her forehead only for the wind to blow it right back into her face again.

She shoves it roughly behind her ear. "I'm not a fan of romance at the best of times, Ford. And in case you haven't realized it, these aren't the best of times."

"I don't know," I say, very aware of the fact that she doesn't move away as I lean my head closer to hers. "I've had worse ones. And I think the fact that I can track you down without even trying is pretty romantic. I didn't have to look around after I left Natalie's. I knew exactly where you were. I could just...feel it."

Her lips part and her already pale face goes nearly white. "Don't start with that kind of shit."

"What kind of shit?" I challenge, playing dumb because I want her to say it, the suspicion that's been flitting through my head all morning, since she ran from the safe house, and it felt like a piece of me had gone missing.

"I don't believe in fated mates," she says. "Dad had half a dozen of them, remember? Plus his bonus family in the Parallel. 'Fate' kept changing its mind whenever it was convenient for him."

"Hammer's a liar. That doesn't mean the thing he lied about isn't possible. I've met people in fated mate relationships. They seemed pretty real to me. And pretty damned happy."

Her jaw clenches. "Seriously, stop it. I have enough on my plate without this. And I have no idea where you are at any given time. I didn't know it was you walking up behind me on the lawn until I turned around and saw your stupid face."

"Ouch." I wince, pretending to be hurt by that last part to cover the very real hurt her words send flashing through my chest. She's telling the truth. I can tell. She truly doesn't feel the same connection I feel. "No need to insult my face. I can't help what it looks like, you know. Genetics and all."

Her shoulders relax a little with the joke. "Whatever. You know I don't think your face is stupid. Your face is fine."

"Fine..." I press a hand to my chest. "Be still my heart. Your compliments are too much, Jules. You're going to have to dial that back if you want people to believe we're enemies."

Her lips twitch. "Yeah, I'll work on that. And you work on not looking at me like you want to lick me like a lollipop. My roommate wasn't buying that we're 'just friends' for a hot second."

"Popsicle," I say, bending my lips to hover over hers. "You're definitely more of a popsicle than a lollipop. Ice cold, but easy to melt with a little heat."

She sighs, but her head tips back, offering me her mouth. "I hate you so much."

"I hate you, too," I say, and then I kiss her, and it's fireworks and home fires burning all over again.

As her arms go around my neck and her breasts press against my chest, I realize I would happily give up several years of my life to keep her here, tight against me, with her tongue sweeping against mine. Then she makes one of those sexy little hungry sounds in the back of her throat and it's all I can do not to take her right here on the grass.

I want her so badly, my c**k is practically ripping a hole through the front of my jeans.

"Let's go to the woods, find a place to be alone," I murmur against her lips as the kiss grows hotter, deeper. "I need you, Jules. I need you so f*****g much."

"I want you, too," she says, rubbing against my erection while the smell of her salty heat rises all around us, making my head spin. "But we have to stay focused on the reason we're here."

"We're here to start a new life," I say, gripping her a*s and pulling her even closer to where I ache. "And pleasure should be part of that. Haven't we both had enough pain?" I trail kisses down her neck, dragging my teeth over her skin as I go. "I just want to make you feel good, baby. I swear. Right now, that's the only thing on my agenda."

"I...can't," she says, but I feel her resolve weakening as the fire between us burns hotter.

"You can," I tease, nipping her ear as I cup her breast through her sweater and drag my thumb over her tight nipple. "I believe in you, Juliet Zion. You can do anything you set your mind to. And I promise, I won't take it too seriously. It can just be a little casual f*****g between friends."

I'm lying, of course. Nothing about the way I feel about Juliet is casual, but right now I'm willing to say whatever it takes to get her to let down her guard. As the only party with fated mate feelings, I'm the only one who would be hurt. And at this point, I'm pretty sure this woman is going to shatter my heart into pieces before she's finished, anyway.

Might as well enjoy the ride before she strikes the final blow.

"I can't." She pulls back far enough to meet my gaze and presses a hand to my chest. "I've never. I..." She bites her bottom lip, seeming to steel herself before she adds in a firmer voice, "I'm guessing it would be pretty hard to keep my first time casual." My next breath catches in my chest and every last bit of blood in my body rushes to my c**k. The primal need to be her first, her only, is so strong, so heady that for a second, I think I might actually pass out.

Then she widens her eyes and hisses, "Don't. Don't go getting all weird and Alpha about this."

"I wasn't," I lie again.

If I'm not careful this could become a habit.

"Yes, you are," she says. "But if we have s*x, that's all it will be. S*x. Not your magical fated c**k claiming my p***y in sweet lovemaking for all time or any of that bullshit, okay?" She swallows and pushes on my chest, stepping fully out of my arms. "And we should definitely wait until after the trials. I need to stay focused on getting stronger and, once my implant is gone, learning to shift."

"So, you're saying my c**k will distract you?"

"Maybe," she says, the confession enough to make hope rush through me. It isn't much, but it's more than she was willing to admit an hour ago.

"Don't you think you'll be more distracted by wanting what you've told yourself you can't have?" I ask, fighting the urge to drag her close again. I have to let her come to me. With Juliet, the more you reach for her, the faster she flits away. "Could be head-clearing to go ahead and come on my c**k and have the anticipation out of the way."

"Or, your dick becomes my new toy, and I can't stop playing with it long enough to take care of business," she says. "And if I die because I was distracted by your horniness, you'll feel bad."

The words are cold water tossed in my face. "You're not going to die."

"People have died before," she says. "That night I was searching the dark web for dirt on Lost Moon, I saw posts from parents who'd lost their kids during the trials and wanted help getting the school shut down. The administration does their best to keep that kind of stuff quiet, but it happens."

"It's not going to happen to you," I promise. "I won't let it." And then because jokes are one of the only ways she'll let me in I add, "And it's our horniness. Not just mine. Throw me a bone, woman, and admit the l**t is mutual, okay?"

Her lips hook up on one side. "Fine. Consider the bone thrown. I want to do bad things to you, too, but I want to do them after we're in. If we don't get in, taking Hammer down is going to be a hell of a lot harder. And I'd like to avoid doing things the hard way for once, if possible."

I nod. "Agreed." I take another step back and lift my hands in surrender. "No more funny stuff until we're officially students."

She glances down at my still furiously swollen c**k with a mixture of amusement and appreciation that does nothing to make this easier. "You might want to take care of that and rinse off before you rejoin polite company."

"Same to you," I say. "You smell like you're desperate for d**k. No offense. Just honest concern from a friend and future f**k buddy."

To my relief, she laughs. "Fair. I'll sneak up to the dorm showers while everyone's at lunch." She eases back a step, adding in a flirty voice, "And take care of myself before I rinse off."

I curse beneath my breath, "Don't tell me you're going to think of me while you do it, or I might not be able to go jump in the ocean, as planned."

She smiles, a wicked grin that proves this woman will be the death of me. "Okay, I won't tell you, then. See you behind the museum later."

Then she turns and walks away, her a*s swaying in her jeans making my mouth go dry. I'm about to warn her to be careful, but I don't want to remind her of all the reasons to be afraid or to ruin her fun in the shower. I want her to have that fun, that release, and I want her to think of me every second her fingers are between her pretty legs.

She might not feel the deep connection that I feel, but she wants me. I mean to encourage that every chance I get. I haven't given up on us going home as a team, as husband and wife, united in our vision for Zion. And if winning her over with s****l attraction is the only way to get there...

Well, it's a hard job, but someone has to do it.