Bound to the Ruthless Alpha

Mia

Something was off. No, not just off but wrong.

I had left the pack house early this morning before every other person was up for my daily run, so I couldn't think of anything that may have caused the dull and quiet atmosphere.

The pack house was unusually quiet as I made my way through to the kitchen. Of course, there was a full house but everyone was acting so weird. What was wrong?

Was there a fight? Oh my gosh, if there was then I had missed out a great deal.

I couldn't think of anything that may have caused this reaction from the wolves but I better don't ask to avoid getting a sly remark this early in the morning. Whatever is responsible for their moodiness is their problem to solve not mine. I walked past Sophie, my biggest enemy in Gyde Pack and we couldn't help but glare and seethe at each other. It was a surprise that she didn't have a rude remark for me this morning over being wolfless which confirmed my suspicions that something was definitely wrong.

"Morning, Bels. What's up?"

My best friend was frying pancakes over the stove and I inhaled deeply, taking in the savouring aroma.

"I bet that's going to be yummy as always." I said as I slid over a chair at the counter.

Bella shot me a stare. "And who said this is for you?" She joked but I caught the strained tone she tried to cover up.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I stole one pancake she had fried. "The pack house is unusually quiet. Is everything alright?"

"Nope."

My eyes widened in alarm, and I gave her a questioning eyebrow.

"Alpha Edward is around and is having a meeting with your father over the pack alliance he has always been pressing for."

My mouth fell open for a minute then I closed it back and stole another pancake and began munching on it.

"And that's what got everyone so quiet and weird?" I asked with an eye roll. I get that Alpha Edward is the most ruthless Alpha in the region but that doesn't mean he should be feared like he's a god. I've never seen him before but one doesn't have to see Alpha Edward to learn of his brutality.

I stole one last pancake before sliding down from my seat.

"Y'all should have a nice day. But I'm not going to let the presence of one notorious werewolf ruin my plans for the day."

"Mia!" She called out in a harsh whisper.

I frowned as I faced her with a bored look.

"Your father is not having it nice today. He's tense, nervous and is almost freaking out and we all are. So please, keep it on the low side today."

Of course, being wolfless makes me disconnected from the Pack's link so I don't get to know when others are feeling down or when my annoying father is having a hard time with pack duties, blah, blah, blah...

"I. Don't. Care." I said and walked away then bumped into Lewis.

"Hey, Cupcake."

My second most favourite wolf in the pack beamed a smile at me before giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning, Pumpkin." I replied and grinned at him.

"Where are you off to?"

"Off to complete my mural."

"Errm... I don't think this is the best time to..."

I raised a hand up, cutting him from speaking further.

"The presence of a notorious Alpha won't stop me from going about my day." I said and walked away.

Back in my bedroom, I took a shower and dressed up before heading to the garage where I was painting my mural. The wall next to the garage was an unfinished landscape of a vast horizon with wolves howling towards the moon.

I set down the bag containing spray cans, brushes and some paints then set to work.

"I know being wolfless keeps you clueless of the feelings of others but I'm sure your lousy best friends have informed you of the guest we have. Nobody is having a nice day but here you are, painting like you don't care."

I set my back straight, then clenched and unclenched my fists at the words of Sophie. Can't she mind her business for a day?

"I'm in my safe corner where nobody disturbs me. I want you out of here." I said with my back to her.

"And what if I don't?"

"Then I'll make you."

She burst into laughter. "We both know you're incapable of that."

Sophie is always the first to get on my bad side everyday and I won't take it today. She knows I'm good at combats but at the slightest show of defeat, she shifts and that always gets me to back away.

"Oh please, you know what I'm capable of. You're the one who shifts because you're too weak to defeat me."

"Sophie!" Someone called out and we both turned to see Selma, her second in command bitch strolling towards us.

"I need your help to pick out what I would wear to the club later this evening. Don't waste your energy on this bitch." She said while eyeing me.

I rolled my eyes and went back to my painting, glad her bitchy friend will get her off my back.

My back sterned as I felt the presence of two powerful Alpha wolves. I could tell from the scent that one of them is my dad, but the second... That must be the Alpha Edward.

His aura was so strong and I quivered as they both drew closer to me.

"Mia, why are you here?"

I turned at the voice of my father and gave him a sweet smile which we both knew was fake. "Hey, dad."

A scowl was on his face and it was strong enough to get me fleeing from his presence. My attention shifted to the wolf beside him whose aura was too intimidating to ignore. My mouth fell agape as I took in the figure that now stood before me. Sure enough, his aura was so strong and he looked as powerful as I've heard, but what I never expected was for the ruthless demon to be handsomely breathtaking.

A brutal wolf is supposed to be ugly with horns, but this wolf standing before me knocked out air from my lungs, and worse of all he was staring at me like... like... I don't know what those looks from him mean but it's too much to stand, so I looked away.

Mia

Something kept telling me to move. No, not telling, but screaming at me to not only move but run. Unfortunately, I couldn't. It was as though I was paralyzed at the spot where I stood as Vincent and Edward closed in on me.

Edward was dressed in all black but his green eyes and blonde hair was the highlight of his appearance. His hair looked soft and it shone brightly. I wondered if it was as soft as it looked. Those eyes were alluring too and had powers to hold anyone captive like it was doing to me now. There was no trace of a smile on his face but there wasn't a scowl either. His face was hard which showed his personality but it didn't make him less attractive.

Sure enough, my father was giving me murderous glares but Edward's look was cautious, in awe, like he was seeing a wonderful piece of art.

Oh yeah, my piece of art. I knocked off the part of me that thought he was staring at me like I was one sexy hottie as I realized his gaze kept flickering from me to my mural.

"Mia." Vincent said with a cold tone. "You're in our way."

Oh crap! I moved out and cleared my tools that were scattered all over before carrying away the mini ladder to make way for them to get to the garage.

"That's one beautiful piece."

My insides warmed up as he spoke. His voice was like music and a crazy part of me wanted that music in my ears all the time. I shook my head to clear out the thoughts before focusing on him again.

"Thank you." I said with a nervous smile.

He stared at me for a while making me more nervous as I shifted from one foot to another while I stole glances at him, wondering when the staring match would end.

"Come on." Vincent said, pulling Edward from whatever trance he had fallen into. Obviously, dad wasn't pleased that his guest was ogling me but that wasn't my fault.

Vincent and Edward made their way past me and I caught a whiff of his scent. I resisted the urge to inhale it for fear that he would hear me.

Moving back some of my stuff from where I had stashed them, I continued my painting as Edward and Vincent disappeared together into the garage. My body still hasn't gotten over the intense moment, neither has my wolf so the best distraction to pull back my focus was by jumping right back into work.

My eyes flickered to the garage when what seemed like ten minutes had passed and no car had driven out.

From Vincent's mood, I could tell he didn't get the alliance he had wanted which means it's going to be a bad day today in the pack and worse for me. As the Alpha's daughter, one may assume I'm privileged but the reverse is the case. I get bullied by pack members and my father acts like he doesn't know about that. Instead, he agrees with my bullies because to him, I'm useless as a latent wolf.

The air changed with the scent of their wolves again. I whipped my head around to see Vincent with a smile and Edward with a curious look on his face. I lowered my gaze as I descended from the ladder knowing this was going to be about me.

"Mia, dear..." Vincent began and I frowned at the endearment. The smile was still spread out on his face and I knew something was wrong.

"Edward here finds you attractive and would love to know you better." He finished, leaving me stunned.

"I don't understand."

"What's there not to understand when a man sees something he likes?" Vincent continued with that smile I've never seen him wear before.

Something wasn't right. Vincent would never be smiling this way because some wolf told him they found his daughter attractive and for a powerful Alpha like Vincent, he would be dishing out reasons why they shouldn't even look at me twice. The number one reason would be that I'm a latent wolf.

"I want you, Mia." Edward said, and I stared at him with mouth agape. I would be lying if I said those words didn't get to me. My body suddenly went hot. This has to be the weather.

"What am I not being told?"

It's easy to get swooned by the words he said but I held back myself. Not until I figure this out. Besides, Edward isn't an angel. He's the Alpha that's rumoured to be a ruthless devil so getting swooned should be out of my head.

"Okay, let's cut the crap and set this straight." I swallowed as my father took a step forward towards me. He kept walking till he stood before me.

"Edward finds you attractive and when he was about to drive away, he asked questions about you then confessed what he was feeling. When a man like Edward wants something, he gets it and you know that's the same for me." The smile he was wearing earlier had turned to a smirk and I knew I wouldn't like what was coming next.

"He wanted you so I had to strike a deal with him." His voice fell to a whisper as he closed the space between us. "An alliance with Edward and now you're all his. You will go with him back to Phoenix Pack. We even signed a deal over it to avoid complications in the future."

I blinked as I stared at the wolf who was supposed to be my protector as my father. Impossible!

"So... So... What am I? His mate?" I stuttered, still trying to find my voice.

He chucked, "who gets a latent wolf as a Luna? Come off your high horse Mia. You're now his mistress." He said with a sneer and stepped back. "Over to you, Edward." He called out to the Alpha I was once admiring. How wrong I was to admire the devil because he appeared in the form of an angel. I forgot how brutal he was because of his stupid, crazy, motherfucking looks!

He walked slowly to me with the look of caution still on his face. "Hey."

I was beginning to pant hard, anger getting the better part of me. "If you think you can have me out of my pack then you're wrong!" I yelled out and charged at him.

Mia

An ant charging at an elephant is what you may call my attack on him. He stood still, unfazed as I kept hitting him which made it all worse. I could feel pairs of eyes watching us from behind. Of course, the pack members had to sense something was happening and come watch my crazy outburst and soon to be departure because I don't see myself getting away with this.

"That's enough." Edward said in that calm husky voice that sent tingles all over my body as he gripped both of my hands with one of his.

I fell against his chest and his scent filled my nostrils.

"She had to try to attack an Alpha when she knew she had no strength and she's latent?" Sophie's voice came from behind but I blocked it out of my mind. Others were speaking also, but it didn't matter to me. What mattered most was the domineering Alpha before me.

"You're not getting away with me." I said with what you could call a threatening gaze and a scowl.

"What makes you think so? Your dad said we signed a contract for this. Maybe you may want to see it if you don't believe us." He spoke in a soothing manner, getting me more angry.

"I don't care about any stupid contract that was signed in my absence. I'm not going anywhere!" I yelled out to his face then faced Vincent as I gave him my best 'you betrayed me' look.

"You don't have a choice, Mia. We both get what we want, sorry you had to be a pawn on our chess board."

"And we are tired of having a latent wolf in our pack that's as good as useless." Sophie sang behind me and I stiffened. The look in Edward's eyes wasn't a pleasant one either. I could swear something like anger flashed in his eyes but it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Everyone began mocking me, teasing and laughing. I stood in front of them all as they all scorned me. Bella and Lewis were the only ones that distanced themselves from others as they stared at me with pity.

The anger I felt slowly disappeared and all that was left for me to bear was shame. Twenty one years of my life in Gyde pack and this is what I get as a sendoff. The resistance I had earlier put up melted and all I wanted right now was to leave this pack. I don't mind if I'm going to be the mistress to the devil himself to get away from this pack of hell and torture.

Yes, I'm still sad to leave but if this is my fate, then there's not much I can do to get away from it.

"Enough!" Edward shouted in a loud voice and everywhere suddenly became silent. I shivered from both the unexpected shout and the authority he wielded. No one dared make a sound as they watched him. Even my father was already getting agitated.

"No one would insult my mate and the future Luna of Phoenix pack!" He said with an air of authority and everyone gasped, myself included. "At dusk, a mating ceremony will be held here before we leave for Phoenix. Any ill report I get towards my mate won't be tolerated." Fury burned in his eyes as he spoke and some pack members cowered away. I raised my head up high and plastered a smirk on my face.

Better to enjoy all of this now because I don't know what's ahead of me or what will become of me after tonight.

***

Preparations for the mating ceremony were in full swing. Pack members from all over the pack flocked around the pack house after they got the news of my mating ceremony with Edward.

"This is weird." I shut the window where I was watching the arrival of guests and laid on the bed bedside Bella.

"Maybe you should focus on the good that's going to come out of this instead of the negative." Lewis chirped in, earning him a glare from me.

"What good comes out of getting mated to the devil?"

"He's not the devil!" Bella said in an exhausted tone for like the twentieth time.

"Arrgh... whatever. But I hope my life will be better over there."

"We hope so too." They said in unison.

I moved closer to Bella and hugged her. "I'm going to miss you, dear."

"What about me?" Lewis jumped on the bed and covered us both with his large arms causing us both to giggle.

"I will too, but just a tiny bit."

"Ouch!" He sat up, placing his hands on his chest. "That hurts, Mia."

Bella smacked him on his head and I laughed out loud. I stared at them both as they began to bicker. They would never change. "Promise me you both will come visit me in Phoenix."

"Of course we will." Bella said and gave me one final hug.

A knock on the door separated us. "Your dress is here, Mia. You need to start getting ready." A maid called from behind the door.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. It was already six pm. I had to spend the mornings and afternoons with my best friends. I haven't seen Edward since I first saw him but terror rushed through me at the prospect of not just seeing him again but getting mated to him.

A prophet didn't have to tell me that this was a turning point in my life. If I had known this was how today was going to turn out, I would have kept on running to anywhere, far away from here during my morning run.