Alpha Deception

atching in the icy air. Before her, a crowd had gathered like wolves drawn to blood. Warriors lined the edges,

mo

ad was bowed, dark hair matted with sweat and frost. Mia tried to rush forw

lease, she didn't do anyt

ved from granite, cold and unreadable. The wolf in him didn't flinch, didn't blink. But Mia saw

ty," Jon declared. "And tre

rse. "You know I wou

ow many more lies have you told? How many patterns

ce breaking on the name. "You know s

king with cold, face wet with tears, clutching her f

us at his side. She didn't speak, but the tilt of

d quietly. "The s

forward. She was just a child, but rage

he ice. The breath left her lungs in a sharp gasp. She crawled

last time. Her ey

the bla

ceremony. No

brutal flash

raw. But no one moved to shield her eyes. N

steamed on

bastard. A liar's

n summoned her again. Not

en born," Cara whispered.

stood defiant despite t

t my daught

ke that he

No name.

d behind her, and the last w

were merciless. A wall of d

ached. Her lips split open from the wind. The snow reached h

when her l

like a shroud. Her fingers

rkness pulled her unde

wo

were haunted things, filled with ghosts and storms. At her side was a man silent,

crouched b

ould be

d. "I... I

s your

" she rasped.

the man. He said n

he scooped Mia

'm not as cruel

er her skin. She lived past the Green Borderlands, in a

loyal, quiet, and

n not with warmth

oken to. You train. You wo

no

Jessie t

on into a goblet without being seen. How to speak various languages a

ons of Jessie, he was to train her li

ia. Bringing her food when Jessie forgot. Showing her

something li

ver forgot

ld steel of exile. The moment her father didn't c

ars became stories etched into her

g

a blade grows into its hilt,

didn't speak of Snow Pack. She didn't speak of Alpha Jon or Lira or the trial that stole a mother from h

n, she could disarm Denis with a wooden blade. By sixteen, she knew how

ust survive, but to infilt

said one night, voice low by

dn't f

" she whispered. "I want to b

ed at her,

be

orders but the noise faded at the edge of the cliffs where three children used to escape. They weren't sup

hidden beneath her tattered cloak. Jayson stood behind her, silent a

fall one day," Ja

d, not looking back.

e her, leaving a respectful space between them. Kira

would always come and watch her and smile at her but will disappear once s

n and Kira. He wasn't widely known in

ia like moss to stone. Something about her made him stay. Maybe it was the way she never cried when

't see a girl.

" Kira had asked once, swinging

y call me weak because I was adopted. Because

as a criticism, but a quiet observation

eyes narrow. "You

have to fight to pr

ing strange when she looked at him. A f

at, always too fast, too clever, too determined. She disguised her pain with sa

for his brooding silence and Mia for her reckless anger. But when Mia came back bloodied from

Jayson had told Kira once, watchin

ted, "but sometimes war

to ask for help. She didn't know how to let herself be vul

d them. That m

, their wor

her presence intensified. She had always been beautiful in a wild, untamed way, but n

ed, too. He

dances, each move studied, each strike a message. She moved like wind; he moved like water

night, wiping sweat from her

a towel. "You me

an being

comrade, but as something else. Something deep

"Storms don't

ll change

ay things like that. He rarely said anything at all.

ning grounds because Mia and Denis had molded her a

way back from personal t

s her brow, but her stance held firm. The

pped, "don't try gra

ter, bruised, and eager to put her in her place. She'd humiliat

at, wiping blood from his mouth. "

Funny. You say that wh

er, but slower. He was breathing hea

ne of us?" he barked. "You're n

n the ground," Mi

d sloppy

bow into his spine. He hit the dirt with a ch

ees barked, stepping in. "This i

ly down the side of her cheek. The others began to

when she

e boy muttered under his breath. "You s

fr

struck l

a Tr

her eyes at the retreating b

stop walking. "If you don

nd biting at her skin. For a moment, she forgot

had no m

only for males of str

wisted deep

ld. Cold. A

uried under frost and disci