Claiming the She Wolf by Louisa Bacio

our ability to adapt to the environment as it changes. You’re right, we are no longer in the Dark Ages with poisoning from moldy bread as an excuse when someone loses control, but coexisting in an age of technology, and it behooves us to understand it, lest we be destroyed in our ignorance. The other packs have already evolved and blended into society. Your way is antique, and it will bring us down. Draw attention. They found out once before, and they will again. Our best defense will be to know how to be like them and blend.” Complete bullshit. He only wanted to get away, find some place far enough away to start life over, outside the crazy Alpha’s reach. What Magnum didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
    “We are not like them, and we never will be, though you are closer than other members of the pack, with the human taint in your blood. I may live by the old ways, but what I say is law and you will abide by the rules as long as you are a member of my pack—even if you are a half-blood.” The last bit he said with a sneer on his face. The only way to not be a member of Magnum’s pack was if he killed you. The disgust, Xander had grown accustomed to. A look all too common coming from the Alpha who constantly reminded him because of his human mix, he lived only because his Alpha willed it. The Alpha saw his hybridism as a bigger crime than revealing his true nature to the outside world.
    “It’s why I came to you, instead of enlisting first.” He’d learned one thing—if a wolf appealed to Magnum’s vanity, it more often than not, got him what he wanted. Stroke his ego, grovel, feed him whatever bullshit he wanted to hear. Appease him and Xio would be safe until he could send for her. Submission and flattery always got a wolf further than trying to reason with the crazy Alpha.
    “You’ll do this regardless of what I say?”
    “I will.”
    “Then it is better you remain a member of my pack, where you are under my authority. Understand if you slip up, I will still be your Alpha and charged with administering justice, up to, and including execution—and your sister’s punishment as well.” Yeah, like he’d ever find them. He licked his lips and smiled, cluing Xan into what his sister’s punishment might be. He balled his hands at his sides, fighting the urge to strangle his Alpha. He didn’t have the skill or strength to beat him yet.
    “Leave Xio out of this.”
    “She’s your blood; she’s already part of it. If you mess up, she’ll pay, too, and I’m keeping her as insurance.”
    Not for long. “If I slip up, I’ll welcome your punishment with open arms. But if anyone goes near my sister, so much as looks at her cross-eyed, I will kill them.”
    “If you slip up, my Enforcer will be the least of your worries. I’ll come for you myself. And then your sister will pay for your crimes. You better make sure this is what you want.” He grinned, fangs glistening in the dim light, promising dismemberment more than any words he could utter. “Half-breed, don’t make me regret letting you or your twin live instead of ripping your throats out when you came out of the womb.”
     
    Xan jumped up from the bed and began to pace. He’d kept his promise to his Alpha. He’d not shifted under duress, yet his promise had cost him a piece of his soul, his ability to change when he desired. Ten years had passed, and his inner Wolf had become crazy, rattling the bars of its fleshy cage, demanding freedom. But try as hard as he like, he couldn’t bring the white alpine forward.
    Now, when he wanted to, he couldn’t so much as sprout a whisker on his chin. He needed the healing the shift would bring. Something told him he could find restoration in the Black Hills, and if he had to go through Magnum to get it, so be it.
    Xan ripped the blankets and pillows off the bed and threw them on the floor. He circled before sinking to the carpet and curling into a ball.
    Tomorrow would be a better day.
    Tomorrow he’d go