"I may be your second chance, Wade, but I will not be your second choice."
Reeling from the death of his mate, Alpha Wade tried everything in his power to bring her back to life. So consumed with raising her from the dead, he almost missed his secon...
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"THE what?" I asked.
"The Forest of the Un," he had begun to say, but my glare sent him standing upright. He wiped his hands on the front of his pants and continued, "It's a haunted forest filled with creatures of the night."
"And why exactly do we want to enter it?" I questioned, standing on guard just in case something else decided to invade my personal space. "I vote we head back."
He sucked in a deep breath. "You can stay in the car if you'd like."
Wade continued to march forward in the forest. I stayed in place for a few moments before rolling my eyes and muttering, "Are you shitting me?"
"What?" He responded out of reflex before coming to his senses. "Oh shit. Sorry."
I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Add it to the list."
Shaking his head, Wade commented, "This list is getting quite long."
"Don't make me add that to the list as well," I smirked. "Don't think I'm above adding that, because—let's be clear— I'm not."
Taken by surprise, Wade looked at me and scoffed. "What did I do this time?"
Playfully glaring at him, I responded, "You complaining about the list."
"That does not qualify," he retorted, his mouth hanging open.
"Okay, Alpha," I taunted, my eyes widening. "What are the qualifications, then? Maybe we need to set up some criteria here."
"I agree," he shook his head. "As your Alpha, I think I should be the sole decider on whether or not we add anything to the list."
Blinking, unamused, I said, "We're definitely adding what you just said to the list."
"No." He crossed his arms over his chest while a warm, smug smirk washed over his lips. "Don't forget, I can give Alpha Orders."
Alpha Orders—in many packs—were not a thing to be taken lightly. An Alpha usually only resorted to Alpha Orders when their pack was being unruly or the Alpha him or herself was on a power trip.
It was easy to see Wade fall into the latter of the two.
Alpha Orders commanded any member of the pack lower in rank than the Alpha to heed the orders without an ounce of hesitation. While you might not want to do what you had been ordered, you were physically unable to do anything but enact the orders.
It was a control tactic, which was why the use of Alpha Orders had gone by the wayside in recent years. If a member of the pack did not want to listen to their Alpha, then there were other ways to remedy this point of contention before Alpha Orders were thrown into the mix.
I had never been under the influence of an Alpha's Order before. I had barely even seen Alpha Thames when he was in power, and I had met Wade only recently. I never had the opportunity to be under the spell of an Alpha.
