Free Fated To The Alpha: A Paranormal Shifter Romance by Simply Shifters, Jasmine White

have at least considered asking how I felt about it, instead of just telling me to ‘learn to accept it!’  All you have cared about is having your daughter married to the alpha, so that you can have your precious legacy on the alpha line!  I’m not going to be your fucking bargaining chip!”
     
    “Don’t you dare talk to me that way—”
     
    “I’ll talk to you however I damn well please for once in my life!  I am my own she-wolf, and this is my decision to make!  It is my goddamn life, not yours!  Or Leon’s!”
     
    Dad spent a long while silently regarding me.  He huffed and puffed quietly through his nose, while I waited, wondering what he was going to do.
     
    He backhanded me hard across the face.  I dropped to the ground, holding my bloody lip, staring up at my angry dad.  “I have tried to teach you respect and obedience,” he fumed.  “I’ve obviously failed.  Now you’re going to go back to the house, and you’re going to wait for me, while I decide what to do with you.”
     
    Then he actually turned his back on me.
     
    Wow.  He really did not get it.
     
    I sprang to my feet and ripped my clothes off, and I rushed toward the woods, changing to four legs in mid-stride.  I heard my dad shouting, “Dammit, Evelyn, come back here!” before he started to chase after me. 
     
    I didn’t slow down for a second, regardless of what form of tree or rock or foliage sprang up in front of me.  I ran like a beast possessed, dashing and weaving through the forest, hell bent on reaching my destination.
     
    I wasn’t sure how closely Dad was following behind, or if he even was anymore.  I no longer cared.  All I could think about was Jeremy.  I could only imagine the chaos about to unfold where he was… and if Leon or someone else in my pack got to him before I did…
     
    It was too much to imagine.  I had to get to him first.
     
    I didn’t exactly know the way to the Morgandorf village, but my pack had left a scent trail as conspicuous as a neon sign.  All I had to do was follow them… knowing they would already be there when I arrived, and praying Jeremy wasn’t one of the first ones they found.
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
      I could hear and smell the carnage long before I saw it.
     
    Several minutes before reaching my destination, I heard the howl of a Morgandorf wolf sounding an alarm to his or her pack.  I didn’t think I could have possibly run faster than I already was, but once I heard that howl, that was precisely what I started doing.  I emerged from the forest into what had to be the Morgandorf village to find a hideous scene of chaos and bloodshed before me.  Dozens of wolves I knew from my own pack were viciously biting and clawing at dozens of wolves I did not recognize, with fur and blood flying everywhere. 
     
    I raised my head and sniffed at the air, trying to locate Jeremy’s scent, but with so many wolves running, charging, and jumping about, it was like trying to find Waldo.  So I went running towards the fray, hoping I might find him somewhere in there.
     
    I quickly realized my mistake when a random Morgandorf wolf came charging at me, seeing me as just another attacking Caldour.  I tried jumping away, trying to avoid a confrontation, but my attacker would have none of that.  He continued rushing at me, spittle flying from his bared fangs and his eyes burning with crimson rage.
     
    Unable to escape, I reared back on my hind legs to meet his charge.  I tried to be as non-aggressive as I could, trying to only push his attacks away by swatting his claws aside and nudging him back with my head, while ducking away when he tried to bite me.  Apparently, he was too caught up in the bloodlust to understand that I meant him no harm.  I started to realize I was not going to get away from him without fighting back.
     
    I figured that out a few seconds too late to stop him from finally getting a good bite of me.  I yowled with the sharp pain as his teeth