Enslaved by the Alpha: Part One (Shifters of Nunavut Book 1) (2 page)

Astrid rubbed her eyes, blinked once, twice, and then screamed. As if materializing from the snow, a massive white wolf lunged for her, its jaws open wide. She had hardly processed what was happening when Noona barreled into the wolf’s side. The husky was only half the size of the white wolf, but she managed to knock it off its trajectory, if only for a moment.

In her brief respite, Astrid was able to take in the campsite around her, and it was something out of a nightmare. The men weren’t attacking the wolves, the wolves were attacking them, and it was a slaughter.

The snow was soaked with blood. She could make out at least two bodies, and watched in horror as Might-Be-Named-Freddy was wrestled to the ground by an even larger snow-white wolf. The wolf pressed a massive paw onto the man’s chest, and then proceeded to rip his arm off. The arm, and the gun that it had held, were flung carelessly aside. The man’s agonized scream was then silenced by a brutally efficient bite to the neck.

During her long days in the office, Astrid had occasionally imagined how she would react in a life or death situation. While procrastinating paperwork, she had extensively planned what she would do in the event that her plane was hijacked. She also knew what she’d do if, while she was pleading with the teller to waive a fee, the bank was held up by a band of robbers. In all of her scenarios, she would save the day, become a national hero, meet Anderson Cooper, and go on to write a bestselling memoir. In one scenario in particular, she’d never have any overdraft fees again for the rest of her life.

But as she stood in the middle of the carnage, watching as the men she’d hired were torn limb from limb by over a dozen bloodthirsty wolves the size of lions, she felt sublimely disillusioned. Every muscle in her body seemed to lock into place, even her breathing stopped. All of the sounds—the screaming, the snarling, and the gunfire—seemed to meld together into a single deafening reverberation.

The wolf that had tried to attack her regained its footing and prepared itself for another lunge. Astrid knew that this was the moment that she was supposed to come to her senses, shake off her fear, and act. In fact, as an animal, she only had two choices: fight or flight.

But apparently, she was as bad at being an animal as she was at being a hero, because she watched the wolf come at her again, and was still unable to react. The entire situation felt so surreal, as though it was happening to someone else and she was just watching, like a passive viewer on one of her sister’s documentaries.

Once again, Noona came to her rescue. This time, the husky grabbed the wolf by the tail, biting down hard enough to make the wolf yelp in pain. The wolf turned and snapped at Noona, who barely managed to evade the large predator. When biting failed, the wolf kicked its hind legs back, sending Noona sprawling backwards.

The sight finally tore Astrid from her stupor and she managed to regain control of her body. Even so, she still wasn’t sure what the hell to do with herself. Fighting against these beasts seemed entirely futile, but then again, so was running. She desperately looked around for something to use as a weapon. Might-Be-Named-Freddy’s gun lay on the ground by his severed arm, but her chances of reaching it before the wolf were slim to none.

Just as she thought that, the wolf sprung at her again. This time, Noona wouldn’t be able to stall it. So, Astrid did the only thing she could do. She spread her arms, looked the wolf dead in the eyes, and let out a loud roar.

Early in her career, before Ginnifer had become a freelancer, she had done half hour nature documentaries for television. One of her first documentaries was on the top ten defense mechanisms in animals. Astrid had only seen the episode once—begrudgingly—but she remembered that several of the animals, when threatened, were able to make themselves look bigger than they were. Some were even able to imitate the sounds of other, scarier animals. In lieu of weapons, that seemed her only choice.

The wolf’s jaws were open wide, displaying two rows of sharp, shiny white teeth. The teeth came at Astrid, aiming right for her throat. She stood her ground, not out of courage, but out of the knowledge that there was no escape.

Abruptly, the wolf skidded to a halt. Its alabaster body seemed to fade against the snowy terrain, leaving only its black gums and green eyes behind. Astrid stared into those brilliant eyes, fear, confusion, and the barest twinge of hope ricocheting through her mind.

Did it work?

No. The white wolf wasn’t staring at Astrid, it was staring past her. Which meant that there was something behind her that was even more of a threat. Astrid took a step back and then to the side, careful not to expose her back to either threat. She prayed that she would see Gerald behind her, brandishing a shotgun. But the wind and sounds of gunshots had died down, blanketing the tundra in a deep, ominous silence.

The snow was stained crimson and burgundy. Extremities and innards lay strewn about in a manner so macabre that once again, Astrid was struck by the surrealism of the night. This wasn’t an attack. This was…a slaughter.

Just beyond the bloodbath, the wolves had gathered in a triangular formation. She gasped in a breath as she saw their leader—a creature so formidable, so horrifying, and so magnificent that he couldn’t be anything but their alpha.

He was twice the size of the next largest wolf. He held his head high, displaying a lush mane of ebony hair. The long, silken locks spilled down his neck, gradually shortening into the dark, sleek pelt that covered his muscular torso and powerful limbs. With the distance between them, she couldn’t make out the color of his eyes, but she didn’t need to. Those frigid blue eyes, eyes that had only been on camera for eight seconds, had haunted her for nearly a year.

Erik.

Astrid was dully aware of Noona coming to her side as Erik approached. His mane whipped and flared around his face, tossed by an icy wind. As he neared her, the alpha shifted, a nightmare morphing into a dream.

A shift was a thing of seamless beauty. Teeth shrank and flattened, muscles and bones snapped and popped as they realigned, and fur retracted into human flesh. The most skilled of shifters could make it look effortless, often changing forms midstride. Erik made it look like an art. Even as his mane drew up onto the top of his head and the sharp features of his striking face began to take shape, he was already regarding Astrid with a slight cock of his head and the barest quirk of a smile.

Noona intercepted him, growling and with teeth bared. Erik crouched low on the ground, so that his face was level with the husky’s. The alpha had just completed the shift, however it looked as though his teeth were still caught in limbo between man and wolf. Astrid had seen many werewolves in Ginnifer’s documentary, but never had she seen one with such large and prominent canines.

“Please don’t hurt her.” Astrid hardly recognized her own voice. It was soft, weak, and barely audible even to her own ears, but just the fact that she had managed to speak helped her to regain some of her footing in reality.

Not seeming to hear her, the alpha continued to gaze into Noona’s eyes. His face had become perfectly blank, yet somehow infinitely more threatening. The husky stopped growling and took a step back.

Astrid’s heart leapt into her throat as Erik reached out a hand with sharp, claw-like nails. He patted the top of Noona’s head. In a deep, accented voice, he said, “Good girl. Brave, but not stupid.” He nodded at the dog. “Now leave.”

To Astrid’s surprise, Noona shook her head and let out a small whimper. She retreated farther back to stand at Astrid’s side.

The alpha stood, and Astrid became aware of just how large he was. And also how naked. Just as she was taking in the sculpted muscles of his chest, one of the other wolves came up to hand him a black pelt. With quick efficiency, he tossed it over one shoulder and tied it at his hip.

Astrid braced herself for the confrontation to come. She tried to think of what she would say to this creature, but had no idea where she stood. Bargaining was likely off the table, and though she was ashamed to admit it, she didn’t care enough about the men to express genuine anger or indignation over their deaths. All she could do now was try to survive.

So what did that leave? Begging for her life?

Her sister, proud, beautiful, and arrogant Ginnifer would have been above such a thing. Astrid, however, was not.

She was fully prepared to fall to her knees and cry, when Erik walked right past her, not sparing her so much as a glance. Her eyes followed him to her tent, where the wolf she’d squared off with just moments ago was dragging out the supply bag. Erik gave the wolf a curt nod, and then carefully hooked one claw into the zipper loop and pulled, putting the bag’s contents on display.

Confused, but not wanting to miss the opportunity, Astrid said, “They’re for you and your pack. Almost everything in that tent is. We… I brought it as a peace offering.”

Continuing to ignore her, the alpha crouched down and examined the bag’s contents. He kept his back to her, which Astrid found to be strange. In the documentary, Ginnifer had mentioned that wolves—even an alpha—never exposed his back to a threat.

He doesn’t see you as a threat
, she realized.
He doesn’t see you as anything
.

Unconsciously, her hands tightened into fists.

She heard the rustle of plastic as Erik picked up a Hershey’s bar. Astrid tilted her head to see that the wolf had opened the candy bag. She remembered her own surprise when Ginnifer had described the first time she’d made contact with the Siluit pack. Rather than bringing things that these isolated humanoids may actually need—clothing, weapons, and medicine just for a start—Ginnifer had presented them with gifts of soda, coffee, and candies. Her sister had explained that the wolves made their own clothes and their bodies were their most efficient weapons. To offer them human garb and guns would be a great insult.

“And the medicine?” Astrid had asked. “Don’t tell me they never get sick.”

Ginnifer had frowned at that. “Their immune systems are much better than ours, but they aren’t entirely impervious to illness.”

“Then why would they rather have coffee and candy?”

“Among the northern wolves, sickness is viewed as a sign of weakness. If you can’t fight off a cold or infection on your own, then you’re a detriment to the pack and deserve to die.”

Brutal
.

“Americans,” Erik scoffed, bringing Astrid back to the present. She noticed that he had opened the Hershey’s bar and taken a bite. “Over two hundred years and you still haven’t figured out how to make chocolate.”

It took Astrid a moment to realize that he was addressing her, and by the time she did, he had already stood and turned to face her. She squared her shoulders, doing her best to make herself look tall.

Still holding the candy bar, Erik waved his hand at the bag. “What is it you want for this?”

She blinked at him. “W-what?”

Erik took another bite of the candy bar. “You called it an offering. In my experience, humans do not offer anything without expecting something in return.”

“And wolves do?” There was a note of challenge in her voice, and it scared her. But before she could backpedal, Erik replied.

“Some do,” he said, in a way that made it clear that he was not among them.

“It’s not much of a peace offering when you already killed my people.”

His eyes flicked over to the carnage behind her, as though noticing it for the first time. “Hm.”

She waited for him to say more, but instead, he just took another bite of the candy bar.

“That’s all you have to say? You killed them all.”

He gave her a pointed look, a look that spoke in volumes.
Not
all
of them
.

Astrid shivered.

“Their deaths are irrelevant,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Now tell me, what is it you’ve come here for? Claws? Fangs? A pelt? One of our pups? What exactly is it your people think these cheap chocolates are worth to us?”

His face was still blank, yet it had once again taken on a frightening quality. The enormity of her situation suddenly bore down on Astrid and it became hard to breathe. Tears burned in her eyes.

“All I wanted was your help…” She could hear the raw vulnerability in her voice and it made her feel even more pathetic. The tears came then, both from the horrors she’d witnessed and from her shame. “The Siluit pack, they took my sister. I needed your help to get her back.”

The alpha sounded angry now. “And you thought that this would be enough for me to invade an enemy territory?”

Astrid swiped at her eyes. “There’s more in there. Coffee, soda, sewing kits, and some tools I thought you may find useful…”

When her vision cleared, Erik was standing directly in front of her. She hadn’t heard him move and stumbled backwards in an effort to get away from him. He caught her, his rough hand holding her by the chin. Beside her, Noona let out a soft growl. The alpha growled back, and Noona’s sound turned into a whimper.

Erik tilted her head up, forcing Astrid to meet his gaze. As he did so, she noticed that her head only came up to the middle of his chest. For a brief second, she was struck by just how big he was. Despite her curvaceous figure, she felt as though she were in the grasp of a giant.