Lone Wolf (The Wulf Pack Book 1)

Willow’s stomach twisted as she stood before the large wooden door.

She dreaded entering, to be in a room, alone, with the Alpha.

Fang had came to get her from her room after dinner. Telling her that his brother wanted to meet with her. She was not surprised that he called her for a meeting, she was new to the pack after all.

Even though Fang had tried to tell her nothing would happen, this was the Alpha, he could do anything. She knew nothing of him, she had not even seen him since she first arrived. Her fear of repeating her past in this new pack, was eating away at her. She wanted to run, burrow herself in the comfort of her bed and pretend she hadn’t been told to come to his office.

Fang had lead her to the door, gripped the old, warn, ring hanging for the head of a wolf. He used the knocked to make three rasps before giving her a smile and left her there, standing alone in front of the door.

“Enter,” the deep voice demanded through the door, she shook as everything seemed to rattle at the force he used.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to reach out and grip the old handle, using her thumb, she pushed down and pushed the door open.

She was greeted by the scent of books, old books that lined walls of the office. To her, the office looked like a library, the books seeming to call to her as she stepped into the room.

“Have a seat,” The Alpha directed, drawing her attention to his bulky figure, standing behind his desk. She was distracted for a moment by the resemblance he held with his brother, though he seemed slimmer and his face a bit longer, he looked so much like Rage.

She gulped as she took the seat her indicated to on the other side of the desk. The worn leather bringing a smile to her face, though the alpha before her intimidated her, his office held a welcoming feel that seemed to put her at ease.

Hunter watched her as she eyed the desk, happy that her eyes were off of him. She was a cute little thing, but something told him that his brother would be back for her. It was strange for him to have sent her here, and from what Fury had told him, he was going to kill the alpha of the pack she came from.

Not that he cared about the alpha, he knew his brother, he may not like him, but he trusted his judgement when it came to who he killed and why. He had never taken a liking to anyone before, he had always took them back, whipping out the alpha and whoever else needed to be killed, and then left them there. The woman in front of him was an anomaly that he wanted to crack.

Willow’s eyes were stuck on the ragged edge of the desk, the marks had been cleaned, but the splits were clearly from a clawed hand gripping it.

“I would like to give you a rundown of a few rules before I ask you some questions,” His husky voice pulled her attention once more. When her eyes met his icy gold ones, she glanced away. There was something about the look there, the cold, emotionless look that sent a chill down her spine and caused her to not want to look him in the eyes.

“You are not to enter the forest without someone with you, preferably one of my brothers or a warrior. You are not to leave the main pack area without an escort, you may go into town as often as you like but not alone. And under no circumstances are you to leave the pack land,”

Willow nodded, everything seemed reasonable, she didn’t want to wonder around alone anyways.

“We are having some problems with Turned, they have not been kind to those they come across and are not scared to enter our territory,”

Willow’s eyes widdened at his confession. She had not expected an explanation or reasoning behind his orders.

“Now,” he leaned back in his seat, sharp eyes trained on the shy girl before him, “I would like you to tell me about how you stumbled upon my brother,”

She bit her lower lip as she thought over what to say. Wondering if she should tell him everything or just how Rage had saved her.

After thinking for a bit, she decided where to start and Hunter listened intently and quietly as she explained the loss of her mother at the hands of a Turned and how the Alpha had been forced to take her in at the young age of eight. She told him about her life in the pack, forced to serve the alpha and be a play toy his son. He watched her eyes shine with unshed tears as she told him of the years of abuse that she endured under the Alpha’s sons hands, how she was beat, tortured and often locked up.

What Hunter found most interesting was though she seemed submissive to the pack, she was still defiant, having made a secret life for herself within the human town. This spoke of her courage and strength. He admired that, she had been through a lot and still made her own life.

when she spoke of her encounters with Rage before he took her from her pack, a small smile made its way on her lips. She was not only grateful, she was more then that, she would have given anything to pay Rage back for the freedom he had granted her.

By the end of her tale, Hunter had figured out why his brother had taken her away and sought justice for the little she-wolf. Though he suspected there were feelings involved on both their parts, he agreed with his brother’s actions, he deserved much better then she had gone through and from just what he was told that alpha deserved a slow death. He hoped that’s what his Rage gave him.

“How old are you, Willow?” he asked when she finished her retelling and fell silent.

“Nineteen,” he nodded slowly, rustling around some papers on his desk. He jotted down some notes on a legal pad before his attention returned to her.

“Were you branded?” he expected her to be, all wolves over eighteen were branded with the mark of their pack, but something told him that she wasn’t.

“Branded?” she asked in a small voice, confused at what he meant by his questing? Did he mean as a slave? as a mate? like cattle?

“Were you given the mark of your pack?” Hunter frowned as he rephrased the question, did she not know what branding was?

“No,” she lowered her eyes to her lap, feeling shame at the lack of being marked by her pack, something told her that it was important and her being left out hurt, “I bare no mark’s or brands of any pack,”

“Well,” Hunter started, pausing to clear his throat as he looked upon the innocent female before him, “I would like you to take the mark of this pack. I will grant you the rest of the week to get settled and then once you take the mark, I would like you to be introduced to the pack,” his words seemed kind, but his voice spoke of finality.

“The brand with mark you as part of this pack, for life, it will bind you as my responsibility and your actions will reflect onto me as well as the whole of the pack. You will abide by ALL the Wolf Laws as well as the laws of the pack, if you would like you can be given books on both to familiarize yourself with the laws,”

“Yes, that would be appreciated,” she said with a soft smile, her brown doe eyes shinning with happiness.

Hunter stood abruptly, making Willow jump slightly in shock. He ignored her reaction as he strolled over to one of the bookshelves next to the door. He pulled two large hardbound books, from the shelf, before turning and moving closer to her.

Willow tried to stop herself from shaking as moved closer, his large figure intimidating as he towered over her. Her hands shook slightly as she took the books that where held out to her, both as heavy as they looked.

When Hunter rounded the desk once more he sat and laced his fingers together.

“You will have a choice on how to take the mark. You can have it tattooed onto you or it can be branded onto you, in the old way. It is your choice,” After a nod from Willow and a few moments of silence, “That is all, you may leave,”

At his dismissal, Willow jumped from her seat and nearly ran for the door, glad to be out of the office and away from the cold and intimidating alpha. She quickly made it back up the stairs and into her room, clutching the books tightly to her chest.