Free Rise of the Female Alpha by Jasmine White Page B

warriors and hunters of the Blackstone pack had sworn their oath to obey her as the new alpha. She promised them that she’d be be fair in respecting the positions in the pack that they’d earned under Kane’s leadership, but she also took the opportunity to warn them that some things were going to change when it came to how the females of the pack were treated. From now on, all wolves would be given equal opportunity to hunt and fight, even if that meant they displaced one of the current males who held those positions.
    “And besides,” she said with a grin. “If any of you are ousted by a female, then you probably didn’t deserve to be here in the first place you lazy sons of bitches.”
    This got the intended laugh out of them that she’d hoped for, and she felt considerably more at ease with her position once she saw them teasing each other as to which of them would have to take up cooking or sewing.
    “Now, on to the threat of the Silverlake raid. Kane wanted to ignore the warnings, but I guarantee you that we’ll be facing an attack within the next day or two. They plan to come in at night and slaughter us while we sleep, and I won’t let that happen, am I understood?”
    The men growled their agreement. A good fight against a common enemy would be exactly the thing to unite her pack, even if it was the only good thing to come out of this war between the Blackstones and the Silverlakes.
    “Sienna,” said a female voice from outside the ranks of her battle council. “I’m sorry to intrude, but there’s a stranger in the middle of our camp. He claims he’s here to speak to the new alpha.”
    “ Thank you Pelmay. Take me to him immediately.” She rose and paused before leaving her warriors. “When I return, I want a comprehensive defense plan ready to go.”
    The men grunted and started discussing their strategy amongst themselves. Sienna strode away from them and followed Pelmay down the short path that would lead them back to the village.
    “I’m glad you’re the new alpha,” said Pelmay in a shy voice. “I… I wanted to apologize for all those mean things I said when we were growing up together. Please don’t think I’m trying to curry favor, it’s just—”
    “ It’s okay, Pelmay. I understand how things were.” She squeezed the girl’s arm and smiled at her. “The important thing now is that we work towards a new future for our pack. A future where we females don’t have to live under the thumb of arrogant males like Kane.”
    Pelmay nodded and seemed genuinely relieved that Sienna wasn’t going to use her new power to get back at her for all the years of harassment she’d had to endure. What Pelmay couldn’t have known is how Arric had changed Sienna’s viewpoint on things, and that only a few short weeks ago, Sienna might have let Pelmay and all the others die at the hands of the Silverlake wolves.
    “Sienna!” said Arric when he saw her enter the village center. “I’m glad to see you alive. I heard about the challenge and I ran straight here.”
    One of the teenaged males glared at Arric and stood with clenched fists. “Why are we letting him in here?” he asked. “We should kill him and be done with it.”
    “No,” commanded Sienna. “Arric is here to help us, isn’t he?”
    She turned towards the man who’d helped her become the first female alpha in her pack, and was happy to see him nod his quiet assent.
    “Walk with me,” she said to him.
    “ I knew you’d survive the challenge,” he said when they were finally alone. He brushed a strand of hair off her face and cupped her cheek. “I’m so sorry to have kept my true intentions from you, but after our chance encounter when you were caught in that vampire trap, I sensed that you had the potential to become the new pack master. You just needed to believe in yourself.”
    Answers would come soon enough, but in this moment she slipped silently into his arms and let him hold her tight. Now that she was