Free The Alpha’s Fated Mate by C.J. Colton Page A

for him. I gave a small nod. “It will either be Maria or Rose.” I didn’t like what I would have to do but I’d do it. It was my responsibility as an alpha and our pack was my first priority.
    “They’re good choices,” Soren said from his seat by the window.
    “They will make good mates,” Grey agreed. Even though he spoke softly his gravelly voice still grated over the room like rocks sliding across glass. His rough voice, courtesy of his fight with a rogue wolf years ago, belied the gentleness that flickered in his blue eyes.
    “When will it happen?” Brevyn asked.
    “The new moon. I’ll claim the one I choose at the new moon.” Restless, I pushed off my seat and walked over to the big bay windows. The woods stretched out dark and free behind the house and I had to fight the urge to shift, to let my wolf out and escape from our grim reality.
    “That’s in three days,” Ryland said. “We’ll have a party the night after tomorrow.”
    My mouth twisted in a grim smile. “A premature celebration?”
    “I hear the humans have a tradition of getting the groom drunk before their wedding. Consider this your bachelor party.”
    I gave a mirthless laugh. The restlessness was too much. I pushed open the window and pulled off my clothing. The shift was fast and the flare of pain brief as my bones popped and readjusted themselves and my powerful body grew sleek beneath my blond pelt. I landed on all fours as my senses, already sharp, became even more crisp, every touch, smell, sound and sight amplified.
    I sent a look to the other alphas over my shoulder before leaping through the window and dashing towards the woods. The scent of the night was crisp and clean in the air as the wind ruffled through my fur and the forest floor crunched beneath my feet.
    This was freedom and three days would come all too fast.

 
    Chapter One
     
     
    Seth
     
    “Hey, look who just got here,” Gabby, my best friend and waddling pregnant she-wolf, whispered loudly as she elbowed me in the ribs and gestured not so subtly to the door.
    I handed her her White Russian minus the vodka and Kahlúa and pulled my shot of tequila towards me. Due to our metabolisms it took a lot to get drunk but I was steadily getting there and the arrival of my unrequited love wasn’t going to delay what I believed was necessary.
    I’d been in love with Wyatt ever since the pack merger. Tall and powerful, every inch of the eldest alpha radiated dominance and lethal authority. Not only dangerous and deadly, the alpha was a walking wet dream from the tips of his thick, short blond hair to the heels of his size fourteen feet. The guy wasn’t just big there either. No, his six-foot-four frame had to be comprised of slabs of muscles stacked upon slabs of muscles that drove me crazy and had me panting as though I hadn’t gotten the memo that I was no longer in my shifted form.
    It wasn’t just the body that I wanted to climb and the black, sinful eyes I wanted to lock onto as I came beneath him, there was something about him that called to me. He made my wolf want to rub against him and offer comfort, and lend my human ear to the problems I sometimes glimpsed flickering across his impassive, sharp boned face. There was more to Wyatt than the tough, dominating alpha he presented with that unbendable will, and I wanted to get to know him. But I’d been given two years worth of chances and I’d never taken them up, and now he was to bond tomorrow night.
    The excuse I’d made, that he’d never be interested in an omega, much less a male like me, didn’t seem all that important now and my regrets were staggering as I stole a glance at him. He was surrounded by a group of she-wolves all too eager to find out if he’d picked one of them. No one was going to find out until the full moon tomorrow night though. That’d also be when my last bit of hope died.
    I’d spend the night wallowing in self-loathing and a broken heart then I’d do my best to push it