A Female Alpha’s Revenge

Chapter 1

Adelaide’s POV

The council hall of the Bloodmoon Pack hummed with cedar and damp.

I shrugged off my sweat-drenched silver fox cloak, my fingers absently tracing the Moon Goddess pendant at my throat.

The bronze throne beside me yawned empty—Alpha Ulrik’s seat.

Boots echoed on stone steps before the door burst open, snowmelt and pine scent flooding in.

I knocked over the mead jug, rising to greet him, amber liquid pooling over the sheepskin map.

“You’re finally back,” I managed, my voice catching.

A year ago, we’d pledged ourselves as mates before the pack. Then the Lycan King summoned him north.

He never even marked me.

Now, as I looked at him, my mind was a tangled web.

My wolf let out a faint, rebellious snarl, catching a tangle of scents on Ulrik’s trail that made its hackles rise.

Now Ulrik stood armored and alive, his jaw set in that familiar stubborn line.

the Lycan King’s declared Velda will join the Bloodmoon Pack. I’ll

wolf snarled low in my ribs, scenting the musk of another female

Velda was a warrior through and through.

soon as I finished speaking, Ulrik’s cedar scent, laced with his Alpha aura, swept

of his sword scabbard scraping water-soaked stone and scraping up dark red

mate,” his voice carried a sharp edge of anger. “She’ll be my second

fist. The moonstone pendant clattered toward a rain

shattered gem beneath my heel. The rain pounding outside the Packhouse suddenly roared in my ears.

he roared, slit pupils

my damp collar. “Look at your neck.

sheathed the blade with a metallic sigh. “Velda and I fought side by side in the north. I admired her. I used my campaign merits to petition the Lycan King for her place here. As

at my flushed face reflected in the blade, memories

hauling basalt in the heat—Ulrik’s messengers always claimed

in the battle reports were never

her? What about the promises you made before you left for the northern tribes?

Ulrik’s expression turned awkward.

“Let’s just forget those words. When we pledged to be mates, I hadn’t

watched him, noting the tenderness in his eyes whenever

to me. “She’s unlike any

but I pushed through the lump in

elder Alpha and Luna—they

the Lycan King’s decree. My father, as former Alpha,

agreed?