Chapter 1

It had been three years since Alpha Tyson had taken over the West Coast pack. There were no words to explain the devastation the pack felt when Alpha Ryker renounced his position and left the pack. The majority of them did not feel the same way as those who challenged him. It didn’t matter anyway.

Tyson had declared Ryker a traitor to the pack for abandoning them. This meant if anyone ran into him in the Sanction, Tyson would be notified. It was Tyson’s way of outcasting Ryker and still being able to keep tabs on his whereabouts, dooming him to be a rogue unless he fled to another sanction.

Ruby Gardner had never met Ryker, but learning about him in the pack history class she had to take after she transferred to this pack made her decision more pleasing. Even though I didn’t have much of a choice on that, she thought to herself. Davis and Heather Gardner were the Alphas of the Red Cove Pack, which was the fourth largest in the sanction. Their contributing factor to the sanction, and pretty much the realm, was the fish that they caught from their waters. Ruby was their second born. Making Jeremy, Ruby’s brother, their heir to the pack. As much to Ruby’s dismay, this meant her She-Alpha personality would only clash with her brother instead of providing him an ally within the pack.

So, it was either fight Jeremy in a Position Challenge, or transfer to another pack.

Yeah, no thanks.

Ruby loved her brother too much to fight him. There was also a higher chance of her finding her mate if she transferred packs. With her being a She-Alpha, that meant she would most likely be mated to a high-ranking wolf. Since she was a female, it increased their chances of being able to use her mating to align their pack with another since the majority of the high-ranking wolves were male within the sanction.

Let’s not forget that Jeremy is as straight as an arrow. Though sometimes I wonder if he would bend a little if it meant more fun in the bedroom after seeing how he acts at parties…

It was Davis’ idea to send Ruby to the West Coast pack—a political and strategic move on his part. If Ruby would happen to be mated to someone in the higher hierarchy, that meant it could open a door for an alliance. With a large section of the sanction being portioned off for a Rogue Territory, it practically doubled the chances for a rogue attack.

If they would ever have the balls to attack the largest pack in the sanction. That was suicide.

It had been a year since Ruby transferred here. Not many of the wolves within have opened up to her. She was not sure why but hypothesized it was due to being the daughter of an Alpha. Not a lot of wolves wanted to cross an Alpha in their world. That could lead to an open civil war between the two packs. Who needs that kind of headache?

With her being twenty and her birthday approaching, her wolf was coming to the surface. Ruby could not wait for the day she would meet her wolf. Her brother came of age two years ago, and his wolf was magnificent. He was perfectly lean and somehow larger than their father’s. It was black with a dark gray undercoat and gray eyes. It was rare for the gray eyes, and it was said that if one child had a rare feature, siblings may have rare features as well. It helped that she had a tint of red within her eyes which she knew was rare in their human forms. That had to mean she would have a rare wolf… right? That thought only fueled her need to meet her wolf more.

Well that and meeting her mate.

Jeremy did not meet his mate within their pack. Davis encouraged Jeremy to travel to other packs to look for her until he took over the pack, but Jeremy declined. He wanted to continue his teachings to become Alpha of the pack, so when their father stepped down, he would be more than ready to take over.

Over the last few months, Ruby started to feel a pull toward Tyson. He was handsome with his chestnut brown hair, deep brown eyes, high cheekbones, full lips, and a muscular body. It also helped that his Alpha aura was constantly pulsing a confidence that she liked. She had a thing for men that had that confident swagger and the “I will get what I want” attitude. When she first met the Alpha, that was exactly what lured her eyes and thoughts to him. Especially when he gave her a dangerous once over that made her shiver. She could feel his gaze as he slowly scanned her body as if he was undressing her in his mind. Ruby couldn’t really blame him. With her reddish eyes, silver hair, and slim but curvy body, she knew she was attractive enough to catch attention from men. When Tyson licked his lips and gave her a wink before accepting her alliance to him and officially changed her pack bonds from Red Cove to West Coast, she damn near swooned. Then she shook the thought of provoking more looks like that from him out of her head.

It would be best if I did not try to seduce the Alpha on the first day… maybe later though.

The next day, when she walked past his office, he called her inside. Tyson had her close the door, and they got to know each other a little more. He asked her about her pack, her schooling, and even about her ambitions in life. It was different to see an Alpha trying to get to know his pack members on a personal level. Her father was known for it, but not many others. It also threw her off since it seemed like his ambition could get him killed.

You know… since he challenged the Big Bad Wolf even when he knew he had little chance of winning. Like come on! Why would he get that nickname if he was easy to beat?

After that day, he flirted with her any chance he got. Tyson would purposely talk to her with his face so close to hers in front of other she-wolves, smack her ass from time to time, and would send some dirty talk her way through mind link. It made Ruby a little bit of an outcast among the she-wolves. No matter what pack someone was in, if the Alpha was single, she-wolves would do anything to be their Chosen Mate. One thing that Ruby hated about her gender:

We may be wolves, but bitches will be catty over a man.

The only she-wolf that did not care what others thought if she hung out with Ruby was her friend Mackenzie. If Ruby would have to guess, Mack would end up with an Alpha from her attitude alone. She constantly wore cut off shorts, a tank top or a shirt with the sleeves cut off, flat tennis shoes, dark eye liner and lipstick, and a resting bitch face. Her black, wavy hair hung by her shoulders and her crystal blue eyes were nearly chilly from her stares when she was annoyed. West Coast pack did not like having she-wolves inside of the top hierarchy, so Mack was stuck in limbo with her wolf being dominant enough to be placed there but not allowed to be along with Ruby. Even without Ruby having her wolf yet, she felt Mack’s pain.

Even though Tyson laid his flirtation on thick, Mack did her best to tell Ruby that he was not worth it. Tyson apparently used his Alpha status to sleep around within the pack and even with human women in the town nearby. It was not as if Ruby did not believe her friend. She knew Mack would never lie to her, especially about the males within the pack. They both had a scale that they rated the males with and shared the men’s scores with one another during their girl’s nights out. No matter how hard Ruby tried, she found herself staring at him as he trained or made excuses to talk to him.

Like now, as she sat on the beach just outside of the pack house and watched some of the males training by none other than Tyson.

“You are just gluttonous for punishment, aren’t you Rube?” Mack called out as she stepped onto the deck and walked down the stairs to where Ruby sat.

“SHHHH! Don’t call attention to me!” Ruby whispered in a harsh tone at her friend.

Mack rolled her eyes, “they are so into their workout that they aren’t even noticing you in that skimpy ass bikini.” She scanned Ruby again. “Actually, that is a pathetic excuse for a bikini. I am guessing there wasn’t one that was just pasties for your nipples and cooch?”

Mack glared at Mack and tried not to growl. “Why are you hating on me? This was the only bikini I could find that was the red I liked.”

“Oh yeah, let’s find a skimpy blood red bikini to appease the Alpha! ‘Cause that doesn’t scream desperate at all,” Mack said as she plopped down onto the sand.

Ruby wanted to disagree, she really did. However, even she knew that this was sinking to a desperate level to catch Tyson’s attention. The only excuse Ruby had in her arsenal was she had a strong feeling that Tyson was her mate. It only made sense! The only guy she had any feeling of attraction towards was the Alpha while her wolf slowly grew to the surface as her birthday approached. Ruby was not stupid. This was how their species worked.

However, if my birthday comes and I am not mated to Tyson, I am putting in my transfer to another pack immediately. I am not going to stay here and be humiliated after being wrong about this.

“I guess we will know tomorrow if I am right or wrong about chasing after him.”

Mack chuckled and shook her head as she leaned back on her elbows to angle her neck to the sun. Ruby was amazed by how Mack could tan with her hair being black. Within her pack, anyone with black hair had fair skin and just burned. With Mackenzie? The exact opposite. She was the most gorgeously tanned she-wolf with black hair that Ruby had ever seen. There were even a few she-wolves with black hair in the West Coast that could tan like Mack could. However, none of them were golden like Mack. It helped that Mack seemed to know how to choose clothes with the right color scheme to only accentuate her looks.

Me? I just tend to wear red. Why? I like how it brings out the red in my eyes.

“So what is your plan for your birthday?” Mack asked.

Ruby knew this question was coming. Mack wanted to take Ruby down into town and celebrate her birthday by club hopping along the beach. Even though that sounded like a blast, she made a promise to her family that she could not bear to break.

“I’m going back home to celebrate it. I promised my family before I transferred here.”

Mack looked over at Ruby, “I understand, but that sounds lame as hell.”

Ruby smiled, “I apologize that I did not grow up directly on the coast and partied throughout my teens.”

“Ugh, not at all what I meant. I am sure it’ll be kind of fun. Just not the fun I would want for a birthday.”

Tyson looked over at Ruby as he finished a set of push-ups. He winked at her, and her heart fluttered. Ruby slowly allowed her eyes to travel his body from top to bottom and back up. When their eyes met again, she gave him a wink back. Tyson gave her a sly smile and began to bark orders at the group to move on to another exercise.

Ruby looked over at Mack as Mack rolled her eyes. It was clear she caught the small flirting session between her and Tyson.

“Maybe we can go out the night I come back to celebrate it together,” Ruby offered.

Mack’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, “YES! I am so down for that. We haven’t been out in so long that I am having withdrawals. And here I thought I would have to beg.”

“Like you would beg.”

“For a night out to dance and hopefully find someone to relieve the other activity I am feeling withdrawal from, I just might.”

“I’d love to call you a nympho, but I know that you have some standards… or… do you?” Ruby joked.

Mack flicked her wrist and made sand fly up onto Ruby’s stomach.

“Awe come on! Now I am gonna need to go into the water!” Ruby yelped as she jumped to her feet.

“Well that is the reason you have a bathing suit on.”

Ruby glared at her friend. She did not like the water. When she was young, she nearly drowned after she decided to try to show her brother’s friends that she could do anything that they could. There was a cliff over the cove that people would jump off of into the small body of water beneath it. They were all making the jump and even throwing some twists and flips into it. Well, when they dared Ruby to do it, she did not hesitate. Everything went fine… until a piece of seaweed caught on her ankle. Jeremy was still on the cliff when she jumped. Ruby struggled under the water to pull the seaweed off her ankle, causing her to panic and breathe out the air within her lungs. Her throat felt like it was on fire and as if a boulder sat on her chest. Just as blackness began to claim her, she felt her brother’s hands wrap around her ankle and then tug her to the surface.

She hadn’t been in water that was above her ankle since.

Mack knew the story. Ruby had to tell her when Mack kept trying to get her to go for a swim soon after they started hanging out. When Mack realized why Ruby was glaring down at her, she immediately frowned.

“I am so sorry, Rube. I forgot.”

Ruby wanted to remain angry, but she knew Mackenzie meant it. Mack was almost as much of an outcast in the pack as she was. It was more due to her attitude toward other she-wolves. Mack did not get along with other females outside of Ruby.

“Well, I think I got enough sun for today. Besides, I need to pack. I leave in the morning.”

Mack slowly got herself to her feet. “Need help?” she offered.

Ruby thought about it for a second. Mack could help me find a decent outfit. Who knows, maybe my mate is in my old pack, and this attraction to Tyson is just my tendency to like bad boys.

“Yeah, you’re better at clothes than I am.”

As they walked up the stairs to the deck, Tyson mindlinked her.

And here I thought I could get you wet.

Ruby glanced over at him, maybe if your delivery wasn’t so stiff, I would be wet already.

Ruby heard a rumble come through over the mindlink. Clearly her words affected him.

Maybe I shouldn’t be tempting the Alpha until I know for sure that he is my mate…