To Steal the Alpha's Throne

1. In Dreams

| This is BOOK TWO of "The Alpha's Heart" series. If you have not read BOOK ONE, "To Rule the Alpha's Heart," it is available for free on my Wattpad profile. |

CONTENT WARNING: This book contains mature themes, including strong language, violence, violence against women, and strong sexual content that some readers might find upsetting. Discretion is advised. 

CALLA

Sometimes, at night, Calla saw him.

Deep within the folds of dreams, her mind conjured memories of Einarr. On the best nights, she could feel him again. Reach out and touch his familiar warm skin and dark braid. Relish in the sensation of his mouth ravenously claiming her neck and lips. Feel the hard planes of his body nestled against her again, almost as if she'd never left.

Other nights, Calla only saw the briefest of glimpses. The outline of his wolf as he scoured the Nortend forests for some unknown treasure. Small visions of snowflakes melting against his tan back. The echo of his rumbling voice as he spoke undistinguishable words to another. Calla knew that the Moon Goddess sent these particular dreams– small blessings that allowed her to be near Einarr again, even from another continent.

For these reasons, she longed for the night and cried when cruel sunlight ripped her away from Einarr again. Every morning for two moon cycles, a fresh wave of pain raked its claws across her soul, and the absence of her mate nearly crippled her.

"How is she this morning?" Cyril's familiar voice sounded from behind her, accompanied by the soft thump of his footsteps against the clifftop.

Calla frowned but did not tear her gaze from the sprawling ocean below. She spent most days on the cliffs of Eatrela with Lucia and Iva, watching the seemingly endless horizon for any sign of Nortend longships– friend or foe.

Although Calla knew that Cyril spoke to Arkan, who'd become her unwavering shadow in the past two months, she answered the translator before the shifter had a chance. "She can speak for herself," she bit back, resting her elbows on her knees.

She still hadn't fully forgiven Cyril for the role he played in convincing Einarr to send her back to Berlyne. Her anger only grew when he ignored her claim that she'd seen a vision of Rangvald attacking her homeland. At the time, Cyril believed that she would say anything to return to Nortend and Einarr, even conjure up a vision about the Alpha King.

In fact, no one seemed to believe that Calla had truly seen a vision of King Rangvald's invasion. Not her parents or Bronson, the man she'd once been betrothed to, heeded her warning, since her mother had not seen a glimpse of an attack. Not even Lucia and Iva supported Calla's claim. So, she took it upon herself to keep watch over the horizon.

Cyril sighed. "Have you eaten this morning, Calla?"

"I'm not hungry," she murmured, quietly admiring a pod of dolphins that surfaced offshore.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Iva turn around and shake her head, answering Cyril's question. No, Calla hadn't eaten that morning. Truthfully, she lacked an appetite most days, but, in recent weeks, she struggled to keep even the smallest morsels in her stomach. Her body protested Einarr's absence.

"You must eat," Cyril insisted, stepping closer to Calla's perch on the cliff's edge. For the first time since the blonde man arrived, Calla glanced in his direction. Concern etched across his features. "Should I go fetch your mother?"

"You may try," she answered, cool. "But even my mother cannot force breakfast to stay in my stomach."

In truth, seeing her mother and father again was one of the only blessings of her return to Eatrela. They'd been shocked to see her again– even more so when they realized a Nortend shifter accompanied her. Although the humans in Berlyne still watched Arkan with a healthy dose of wariness, they'd come to accept his quiet presence in their little coastal city. Still, Calla knew that they would never truly trust Arkan, just as they would never fully understand Calla's longing to return to Nortend and her former captor.