Free My Alphas: The Complete Series by Emily Cantore

by the Turo pack. He’d had this throat slashed open and his blood had soaked into the ground. Although it had taken time from the hunt, Edon instructed two werewolves to carry the body back to Hinton. They had an arrangement with Sheriff Harmony if they found any dead bodies in their territory they would return them to a specified location. Although Edon considered Sheriff Harmony an honorable man and understood the heartache of a missing person was sometimes greater than the knowledge they were dead, he was starting to think all he was doing was proving werewolves killed humans. When push came to shove, Harmony would have to obey his masters.
    So game number one was dead bodies dumped on their territory. This was one of the most puzzling actions - humans were notoriously indiscriminate when it came to dealing with werewolves. The Turo pack were putting their own heads on the chopping block.
    Game number two was Werewolf Safe World advocating culling the Arctos pack and using the dead bodies as reason.
    And now game number three was starving them out somehow? Perhaps humans with guns were killing the boars and deer, driving them away from their territory?
    Edon leapt over a fallen tree, his paws thudding to the ground on the other side and considered how well the conversation would go telling Rey they needed to obtain human money to buy human food so they wouldn’t starve. It would be a disaster.
    I will hunt, Rey would say and once he failed to find food he would blame Utson and Turo and start open warfare with one or both.
    Everyone would be dead within the month Edon concluded.
    Edon let his thoughts move back to Cass and the problem she presented. He was sure Rey would come around soon to the idea of letting her choose between them. He was becoming increasingly certain she would choose him over Rey.
    Whether Rey would leave without a fight was another matter.
    And no matter if he left voluntarily or they fought and Rey died, it still meant the Arctos pack was weaker and then Utson or Turo would attack.
    Utson in particular were notorious for waiting until an Alpha was challenged before sweeping in. Their Alpha, Huri, was shrewd but in recent years seemed content to hold their territory rather than expand it. The Turo pack under their Alpha Navcer seemed bent on Arctos destruction and Edon knew Navcer’s son Carcer was far more vicious than his father and things would get much worse once he assumed control.
    Edon knew as lone Alpha he could take on and prevail against Utson or Turo. But one after the other? It was doubtful.
    He dismissed these thoughts and leapt over some tree roots crossing his path, speeding up. They were almost back at the den and the early morning sun was rising, promising a beautifully warm day. He wanted to spend time with Cass and not just so she would choose him over Rey. Since he’d first caught her scent he’d felt a deep relaxation come through him, like a piece long missing had been replaced. No matter what happened and no matter how severe the problems Cass caused by appearing in their territory he felt a rightness about it.
    For too long they had ignored taking a human mate but like all buried problems it eventually came to the surface.
    Edon passed the scouts and shifted at the door to the den, eager to get inside. He slipped through the narrow corridor, feeling his happiness increase with every step he took toward his future mate.
    Entering the main cavern, Edon came to a sudden stop. Rey was waiting, in human form, Cass’ scent radiating off him.
    “I have mated with the human. She is mine. You will take five females and leave. Or you will die.”
    Edon breathed in, the scent of Cass’ sex stabbing into his mind like a knife. All around the pack were watching, aware this was no ordinary confrontation between their Alphas. Since the human had arrived, they had been waiting for this moment.
    “I am not leaving. I challenge you for Alpha.”
    Edon spoke through gritted teeth and then