Chapter 2

Ronan

The pack house is mostly empty when I barge inside naked. The few Omegas that are wandering around scamper away. My anger is radiating off me in waves, and I don’t know how to stop it. How dare that worthless she-wolf try to deny me anything? She should be happy that I even bother to acknowledge the bond between us.

Still, I can’t deny the electricity that surged between us when we touched. The smell of her fear mixed with her arousal is burned into my senses, and I don’t think I will ever be able to rid myself of it. Even now, my wolf, Thorne, is begging me to find her and claim her as my mate, but this is one time I will not be giving in to his wants or needs.

“Alpha Ronan,” Elder Samson calls for me.

I grumble under my breath before turning to greet him. “Why are you still awake?”

He ignores my ire and looks me up and down. “We may be werewolves, but that doesn’t mean we should not be civilized. Please try to conduct yourself in a manner that would be befitting of the Blackthorn Pack.”

My teeth grind together painfully. “I was not aware that returning from a run would be controversial.”

“I am talking about your mate.”

My back stiffens, and I look over the decrepit man standing before me. Elder Samson had once been a formidable fighter, but an injury placed him on the Elder Council. That was many years ago, and now he is old and in everyone’s business all of the time.

“I am afraid I don’t know what you are talking about.”

He scoffs, and spit flies out of his wrinkled lips onto my chest. “I have been watching you since you were a child. Did you think just because you are the Alpha, I have stopped?”

I wipe off my chest and growl in his direction. “Are you saying that you have me followed?”

“That is far from your problem. Your mate is the problem.”

I suck in a sharp breath. “I am still not sure what you are talking about.”

“That girl is not fit to be Luna.”

“Is that for you to decide?”

He knocks his cane on the ground and leans closer to me. “The council would never allow it. She is a disgrace.”

Throne is growling in my mind. He has already decided that Charlotte and her wolf are perfect for us, and whether I agree with him or not, his emotions are clouding my own.

“She is the daughter of a Delta. It isn’t as if she is an Omega.”

In true Ashley fashion, she isn’t willing to give up without a fight. She storms after me, cussing my name until she slams the bathroom door shut behind her. “Who is she?”

I pin her against the wall, and her arousal permeates the air around me. “You are fucking pathetic.”

“No,” she stomps her foot. “You do this every time you find a new plaything, and within a month, you are crawling back to me. It’s fine, but I think this time I deserve to know her name.”

I drop my hands from her shoulders and step back. “Go home, Ashley.”

She bats her eyelashes, blinking back the tears forming in the corners. “Fine, but I might not be waiting for you the next time you try to slide into my bedsheets.”

“Go home,” I growl again.

She spins on her heels, picking up her clothes from the corner of my bedroom. “I hope she is worth it, because I have it on good authority that I am the top choice for Luna with the Elder Council. It would be terribly embarrassing for you if I turned down the offer.”

My fists ball up at my sides, and I roar in frustration. “Get out of my fucking room.”

I punch the wall of the bathroom, and Ashley finally takes the hint. She rushes from my room, not bothering to get dressed again. It isn’t like it matters; everyone has seen her leave my room before. But for the first time, I am a little ashamed of that fact.