Charmed Wolf by Aimee Easterling (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

“Am I?” When her eyes reflected nothing but puzzlement, I elaborated, “Am I Alpha?”

“Of course you’re Alpha.” Willa reached out to grab my elbow, preparing to draw me away from the pack before she growled sense into me. But I shook her off while letting negation sway my head from side to side.

“It’s past time this pack started acting like a democracy,” I rebutted, voice loud enough for everyone to hear me. “We’ll vote, here and now, on our leader. I nominate Willa.”

“And I”—my father’s Beta stalked forward until we were toe to toe again—“nominate Tara.”

Rune, blast him, was chuckling behind me. Then the whole pack was laughing.

I swung around to face them. “What?”

Rather than answering, Rune waved his hand at my pack mates, my family. Every last one of them was shuffling quite clearly away from Willa so they could surround me. They were voting with their feet. They wanted me to remain leader.

And that final hole in my stomach filled up. Not with rubble, either. With sweetness, light, and love.

“Okay,” I told them. “I’ll be your Alpha, but things are going to change around here. You’ll call me Tara rather than using my title. There will be no Consort. No Heir. In fact, I don’t think I even want to have children.”

My teeth snapped together and I snuck a glance at Rune. Perhaps I shouldn’t have broached that particular topic so publicly....

“Your disinterest in babies,” Rune murmured, eyes smiling, “doesn’t come as a surprise to me. There are plenty of children to dote on in this pack.”

Speaking of which, I turned to face Caitlyn. “And you.”

The teenager swallowed, eyes wide. “Yes, Alpha. I mean Tara. Yes, Tara!”

Now I was the one fighting back a smile. Then I stopped fighting. Right. I was a different sort of Alpha now. I could smile if I darn well pleased.

“You’re moving in with your age mates, effective immediately.”

“But a Beta in training should be above and apart....”

My father’s words. Or, no, I had a feeling those had instead been the Guardian’s words.

The realization froze me for a split second, long enough for Caitlyn to draw an unintended conclusion. Her whole body stiffened then drooped as she fought against then accepted what she assumed was my decree. “Yes, Tara. I understand.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, you clearly don’t understand.”

Stepping forward, I enfolded Caitlyn in the hug I’d longed to give her for years now. “I want you to dream up silly pranks,” I murmured into her hair. “I want you to fall in love and out of love and maybe out of windows.”

Her body shook in my arms. A tremor of sadness or laughter. I couldn’t quite tell which.

So, just in case, I pushed her back until I could see her face and I elaborated. “What I’m saying,” I said, providing the direction I wished my father had given me as a teenager, “is that an Alpha in training needs to be part of her pack.”

Epilogue

Four months later....

There was glitter everywhere. Being massaged into hair using Natalie’s newly developed biodegradable sparkle gel. Exploding outside windows when heart-shaped confetti was tested one final time before the big ceremony. And—less intentionally—shining from every surface in my recreated breakfast nook.

Because even though we’d rebuilt using a different plan, we’d saved facets of our previous abode that we weren’t ready to part with. No more tower from which the Alpha glowered, above and apart from the pack. The mansion concept had also been thrown out the window since modern wolves preferred individual households. A communal dining hall, however, we’d unanimously voted to keep.

I hadn’t been here much, however. I’d been avoiding my own mistakes. Speaking of which....

“I hope Natalie’s glitter really is food safe.”

I turned to face Ash as he entered the breakfast nook, plate of pancakes balanced in one only slightly glittery hand. He walked more stiffly than he used to, still healing from being stabbed by his Alpha. But his gaze didn’t drop to the floor and he didn’t request permission before sliding into the chair opposite me.

“These are for you.” He pushed the plate across the table, the three-tiered confection so mouthwatering that it almost overcame my gut’s feeling of impending doom.

“Ash. We need to talk....”

“Tara.” His smile was sad but present. “Eat at least a few bites first. For old times’ sake.”

I forked up one mouthful dutifully...then lost myself in the flavor. Ash was right. I needed to consume these pancakes before we ruined them with tough conversation. No one else had ever been able to recreate a perfect Ash breakfast, and I had a feeling I might not be eating anything this tasty after today.

“I gave Butch the recipe,” Ash said when my eyes finally drifted back open. “His, I suspect, will be even better. Because the secret ingredient has always been love.”

And there it was. The truth the Guardian had slapped me with. Coming from Ash, the realization hurt even worse.

The one-sided crush hurt both of us, and I resolved to fix as much of that hurt as possible. “I’m sorry I was so blind to what was right in front of me.” I leaned forward, ignoring the way syrup joined glitter staining the front of my t-shirt. “But things don’t have to be weird between us. You’ll get over me and find someone else....”

Ash cut me off, the way he never would have before this summer. “You’re right. I’ll get over you. Faster since I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” I blinked. Trying to survive outside a pack was barely feasible for someone in the peak of health. Ash was still recovering from a serious injury, one I’d inflicted personally.

I could fix this though. I was Alpha. I had to fix it. “Okay, let me pull some strings. I’ll find you a pack....”

Ash shook his head. “Tara. My future is not your problem. And it’s already settled. I’ve signed on for a year as a Samhain Shifter. After that...well, I realized that my problem from the beginning was