Page 1 of Claiming Her Alpha

Chapter One

Kendra was panting, heart racing as she looked down on Mike. It was only now that he was no longer fighting that she could see clearly again. With wide puppy eyes he looked up at her, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

“Fuck… I didn’t know you hated me that much.”

Kendra shot to her feet and stepped back, shocked at what she’d done.

“I know I told you not to go easy on me, but damn woman!”

“Sorry.”

Mike was one of the pack’s warriors and her best friend. Every Sunday they’d meet so he could train her in close combat. He stood up, wiping the blood from his face and studied her with a stern look. “What’s wrong?”

She simply shrugged her shoulders and turned to grab her water bottle.

“You always talk to me.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong. I just feel off.”

“More like aggressive and full of rage.” He leaned against a tree next to her and softened his face. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

“I know and if I figure out what’s bugging me, I’ll do that.”

With a chuckle he picked up his own drink. “Probably just your time of the month. C’mon, let’s get back home before the festivities start without us.”

“You’re just afraid that I’ll beat you up again.”

“That would definitely be hard to explain. Though I can always say I had to let you do it because you’re the alpha’s daughter.”

He started jogging at a speed slow enough for her to follow, but still something she had to work to keep up with. They’d grown up together and been best friends for as long as they could remember. He understood her and supported the way she was. Unlike others, she didn’t enjoy the natural role she had within the pack. As a woman, she was there to rule the household and raise a family while the men provided and protected the pack. Isis—their moon goddess—only blessed the men with wolves, so it was hard to escape the stereotypes. Women with wolves were incredibly rare.

When she’d opened up to Mike about her dislike for the pack’s structures, he’d offered to train her. It was their dirty little secret, one that brought her much joy and something to look forward to every week. Even Mike’s mate, Lina, didn’t know exactly what they were doing. Most thought they were simply out for a run.

Her father didn’t mind because other than that, she was the picture-perfect daughter. Here and there she went out on longer hikes with Mike to get away from her duties and Lina welcomed that they did. She wasn’t an outdoor kind of person, so she was ecstatic that Kendra went on those kinds of adventures with him. She and Lina got along well, neither of them jealous of the other.

“Will you be going with your father to meet Alpha Finlay in two weeks?”

“Yes, but I have a feeling it’s gonna be more of a mate hunt than a meet and greet.”

“You don’t seem happy about that.”

“More annoyed, I guess.”

He slowed down as they neared the village. “But you might meet your soulmate.”

“That I want. He’s just pressuring me to find an alpha–at the very least a beta. It takes the fun out of it.”

All werewolves were blessed with a mate, the one true love of their lives. It was simply part of Isis’s magic. Each soul that she sent into the world was split in two and placed into two separate beings. When those two pieces met after coming of age, they loved one another almost instantly. It was a beautiful connection that they shared for a lifetime.

“What if he turns out to be nothing to Father’s liking?”

“You’ll love him. That’s all that counts.”

“I hope so…”

They walked past the tree line and onto the clearing that hosted their village. Her pack wasn’t large, but they owned a lot of land that made it easy for them to hide from the human world.

“I’m excited to meet your mate, no matter who he might be.”