Chapter 6: The Mate Bond Awakens

The rest of the shifters sat down in their seats, and I noticed that most of them were males. There were female alphas too, of course, but not many who were both entitled and among the twenty strongest shifters in the city that made up the Alpha Council.

With a quick look across the table, I started calculating my chances of staying alive. Some of the alphas were already glaring at me, and I knew they would not care what was said today. In their minds, I deserved to die for my crimes. Others hid their feelings better, and I could not clearly understand what they were thinking.

There were different ages, races, and faces sitting in front of me, and I had never imagined seeing this much power gathered in one place. It felt overwhelming, even for a shifter who stood outside the normal dominance system.

“We’re still waiting for the Blackthorn Pack,” said a tall blonde woman sitting on the left side of the council table. She did not look much older than me, but she was clearly powerful enough to sit among the strongest alphas. “There was a problem at the eastern border that Alpha Ryker wanted to handle himself, but he’ll be here soon.”

She looked pleased with herself, like she wanted everyone to know she had special information, but my mind was stuck on hearing that pack name.

Blackthorn.

As in... Blackthorn Technologies?

I did not know much about the company itself, but the name Ryker Blackthorn sounded familiar. It explained why that guard had been carrying expensive protected technology in his hand.

I had been brought to the city where the genius inventor of weapons lived.

Kael straightened beside me and nodded toward the woman.

“Thank you, Alpha Serena. While we wait for the Blackthorn Pack, we can begin with the basics.”

His hold on me loosened and moved me forward so I stood in front of him.

“This is Aria Vale, age eighteen, without a pack since she was young. Her mother was murdered by shifters, and she ran away afterward without realizing she was breaking the law. There has not been any official testing of her designation yet, but she shows signs of being a strong omega, able to resist direct commands from dominant alphas.”

Forcing myself not to move nervously, I stared over the long table toward the closed doors that represented freedom.

While I imagined never standing in front of people like this again, the council chamber doors suddenly slammed open.

Power reached us before the person did, crashing into the room as strongly as the doors themselves.

Silence immediately filled the room as a male shifter walked inside, and because I had already been staring at the doors, I was the first one to meet his dark eyes.

There was absolutely no doubt who he was.

Alpha Ryker.

Holy shit.

He was a massive shifter, standing at least six and a half feet tall, wearing a gray suit with a white shirt underneath, unbuttoned at the collar without a tie.

I came from the poorer side of life, but even I could tell his suit, stretched over his broad shoulders and muscular arms, had been custom-made and probably cost as much as I earned in a whole year.

As he walked forward, looking like a wave of destruction dressed in expensive clothes, I looked at every part of him like he was a work of art I wanted to own.

Only I definitely could never afford him.

I could not immediately tell Ryker’s exact ethnicity, but he looked similar to a Hawaiian man who flirted with me during a shift at O’Malley’s bar last year.

His brown skin was flawless, and his strong jaw had a light beard shadow, like his hair started growing back the moment he finished shaving.

He wore an impatient expression while running his hand through his deep black hair, cut short on the sides and longer and wavy on top.

I could tell he had tried using products to keep the curls under control, but rough hands had already pulled a few strands loose.

As he walked through the room, I stayed trapped in his dark stare where his pupils and irises almost blended together.

Sweet baby shifter gods.

Ryker Blackthorn was the most powerful and frightening alpha I had ever seen in my entire life, and considering I was standing in a room full of Shadow Crest’s strongest shifters, that meant a lot.

As he moved toward the last empty seat, a rich smell of coffee mixed with chocolate reached me.

A strong and perfect scent.

NO!

Without meaning to, I breathed in deeply, and my wolf suddenly reacted while my whole world seemed to stop.

Ryker Blackthorn was my...

scent-match.

What the hell?

On my first day in a shifter city, a goddess-blessed true mate had walked into my life.

Ryker suddenly stopped moving, his nostrils flaring as his energy pushed more than half the shifters in the room down against the table, with many of them barely avoiding smashing their heads against the wood.

He released dominance without even trying, and even I felt the pressure against my wolf.

The whole time, he never looked away from me.

Not even once.

His stare became harder and seemed to push deeper into my soul.

A soul that was screaming for him.

The urge to run suddenly hit me, and I stepped backward.

Then another step.

Until my back hit the wall.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Kael turning toward me, but I could not look away from Ryker long enough to see him clearly.

The dark and dangerously attractive alpha, the one my wolf kept screaming mate at, held me frozen under his predator-like stare.

I felt Kael reaching for me before I saw it happen, but he never got the chance.

Ryker jumped across the table and crashed into the other alpha, sending him flying.

And when his deep rumble filled the room, complete chaos exploded everywhere.