This could not be happening. I paced the study trying to figure out what my next plan of action was.

I was angry, so angry I could rip the room apart. Piece by piece. If I had been on my own I would have wrecked the room and thrown an object through the glass to escape. But I couldn’t leave Amy. I had to put together an escape plan for both of us.

Thinking back I tried to remember everything I had read about Cold Richards. I needed to find a way to put him off marrying me. If he didn’t want to marry me then my mother and brothers were screwed.

There were footsteps before the door opened. A man stepped inside, he was older. Then I recognized him. My father.

“So it’s true,” he murmured, staring at me with like he couldn’t quite believe it.

I folded my arms and glared at him, refusing to say anything.

“You are beautiful Alexandria,” he whispered, moving closer.

The way he looked me wasn’t how a father looked at his daughter. It was creepy.

“Keep your distance, old man,” I warned him, backing away.

I wasn’t here some pretend family reunion. These people had forced my aunt to hide me.

He stopped.

“We thought you were dead,” he added with a hint of anger. His eyes gleamed.

“You guys are messed up. Who locks their long lost daughter up and keeps her prisoner?” I shook my head at him. “I was better off without you.”

None of this family reunion was playing out the way I had dreamed of as a little girl.

The lack of just basic human emotion from these people who shared my blood made me think of Maverick. In the short time we had known each other he had showed me what it really felt like to be loved. It also made me feel guilty for betraying him even if I felt I had no other choice. He was a good man. I would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to him because of me. This was my mess to clean up and somehow, even though I didn’t know how, I was going to try.

“We have a plan for you Alexandria,” he stated, his tone more business like.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Yeah, I heard.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not interested.”

He surprised me by laughing. “We do not need your consent,” he enlightened which made me grind my teeth.

I just wanted to lash out at him but he was far stronger than I was.

“You will do as you are told.”

Clearly, he didn’t know me.

“Why would I?” I scoffed. This guy was something else.

“We can make you do whatever we want Alexandria.”

I lifted my chin defiant. “Torture won’t work on me.”

He laughed. “We wouldn’t want to scar your pretty skin.” He walked closer but I refused to take a step back. I would not show him any weakness. “You are too valuable. There are other ways to make you compliant.”

Then I realized what he was talking about. Amy. They would use her to make sure I stayed compliant.

“So you’re a violent bully,” I spat back.

It made his smile widen. “I am the one who is building the strongest werewolves.”

“Why?”

“So we can rule over our entire species.”

“You are crazy,” I stated vehemently. I didn’t want any part of his crazy plan.

“I’m your father. Your creator.”

“Creator?”

He did not answer immediately, instead he smiled.

“You make me sick.” Who would do that? It was cruel and sick.

He continued to smile. “In time you will appreciate what we have been able to accomplish. You are one of the new generation of stronger Alphas. The ones who will rule over the weaker.”

“It’s not right.” I wasn’t even sure what implications that would have.

“What do you know about our kind? You’ve spent your whole life hiding out in some orphanage. You didn’t even know what you were up until recently.”

“I know what it feels like to find your mate. To be with the person you’re meant to.”

There was nothing weak about werewolves who found their mate and fell in love. It wasn’t about genetics, it wasn’t about power. It was just love. That feeling in the middle of your chest when that person was near. How they made you feel when they touched you? To me that was more powerful than anything I had ever experienced.

“Power isn’t everything.” I swallowed. For the first time in my life I had something to lose and it truly terrified me.

He shook his head. “You are a fool. Love, or whatever that is,” he motioned to my neck where Maverick had bitten me. “It makes you weak. The weak do not survive in our world. Only the strong do. You will learn this in time.”

He didn’t know what he was talking about. What I had discovered with Maverick had made me stronger. It had transformed my cynical heart, it had made me believe in the future I never believed for a moment I would ever have.

There was a place in the world for me. I wasn’t some nobody drifting from one place to another. I mattered. To him it wasn’t about power, it was about love.

“While you believe in the fairytale that when we are born we are destined to be with one person, the reality is our species is about dominance. The alpha rules the pack. It isn’t a democracy Alexandria. You will learn this.”

I stared at him resentfully, hating him with every fibre of my being.

“If you have this all so well thought out why do you need me?” I asked.

“You are special Alexandria. You are more powerful than most werewolves.”

I frowned. “Why me? Why not one of my brothers?”

“They are not like you.”

What did that mean?

“You were born from the genes of two Alphas. Your brothers were not.”

My frown deepened. I didn’t understand that.

“Your brothers are from my first union.”

My brothers were only my half brothers. They were not that much older than me which mean he left their mother for mine when they were young.

“What happened to your first wife?” I asked, needing as much information that may help me.

“It doesn’t matter. You have been found and we can now join two packs together with your union with Richards.”

“I don’t love him,” I said, knowing it wouldn’t matter to him but needing to voice it anyway.

“You don’t have to.” He gave a one armed shrug. “You are going to fulfill the role you were born for.”

It was so wrong that parents and the family that was supposed to love and care for me were more concerned about using me to gain more power. They were horrible people. I now truly appreciated what my aunt, Tristan’s mother, had tried to do to protect me.

Someone had cared and that one person had been enough to protect me up to this point.

Now it was time to protect myself.

“Richards is on his way. You’ll have to get ready to be presented to him.”

“Presented?” I echoed, not sure I was going to like it.

“You are going to get dressed more appropriately and do what we say or your friend will suffer the consequences.”

I wanted to lash out at him, no matter how much he loomed over me. But I didn’t. As much as I had disliked Amy before, and even though I wouldn’t have considered us friends, I would not endanger her life.

I didn’t believe for a second that anyone of my family members would feel the same. They seemed like the people who would step on others to get ahead.

My father surveyed me one last time with satisfaction before he left, closing the door behind him. He didn’t even lock it, because he knew I would not leave.

I felt trapped. With no plan.

This is who I was. Someone who did things without totally thinking them through.

And that had landed me in a precarious position I didn’t know how to get out of.

Amy. I didn’t know how to find her.

Then I had a thought. Amy? I asked through the mind link.

Alexandria! Amy replied. I could hear the relief in her voice.

Thank goodness. I could still communicate with her and that gave me a glimmer of hope.