1
NESS
My Alpha had to remind me that I was nothing more than a dog, lowest of the low in his pack. He towered over me. His lips seemed to be drawn in a permanent disgusted scowl—at least they were whenever I was around.
I couldn’t help what I was. If anything, I blamed the witch who breezed through town, staying just long enough to drop a prophecy bomb, a couple of years before I entered this world. It was as if her words had brought me into being.
Not that anyone had known it at the time. When I turned thirteen, and it came time for my first shift, I’d thought that I would change into a wolf, like my father. But fate had a different plan for me. I’d shifted into a black hound, instead. After that, the burden of a dangerous prophecy got pushed onto my shoulders. I had thirteen years of blissful ignorance, which didn’t seem like enough in hindsight.
Especially when Alvin, my Alpha, had me sharing every little detail about my personal life with him. I had no privacy, no sense of personal space. Today, Alvin was pissed because I’d forgotten to give him my work schedule for the week.
To prove his power over me, we’d been standing in complete silence in his dining room for the past twenty minutes. I couldn’t lift my gaze. I couldn’t speak up. All I could do was stand here and wait for him to dismiss me while the minutes ticked past.
Nervous apprehension slithered up my spine. I reached into my pocket and pressed the button on the side of my phone to peek at the time. My shift at Bad Moon Café had started ten minutes ago.
I stifled my groan.
“What’s the problem, Vanessa?” Alvin asked.
In the doorway, his son chuckled. Harvey leaned against the doorjamb with his arms and ankles crossed. The sly smile on his face told me he was enjoying this punishment like the weirdo that he was. Of course, Harvey had to inherit all his father’s perverse pleasures.
The pack hadn’t always been like this. The pack I knew as a child had been a warm family. Alvin had invited my parents over for Thanksgiving the year that we couldn’t afford a meal of our own. He’d welcomed us and any others who needed the help.
His paranoia had gotten the best of him since my thirteenth birthday. I wish I could say that I didn’t blame him, but I’d been dealing with the short end of this prophecy for a while now, and all of my empathy had gone out the window.
Alvin gripped my jaw and forced me to look at him. The power of his gaze kept me from looking him in the eye. I had to settle my sights on the weird mole near his nose. Why the mole and not his nose? I wasn’t sure.
“I asked you,” Alvin growled, “what’s the problem?”
I sucked my teeth to keep my treacherous tongue busy, but it didn’t work for long. “That mole on your cheek might be a problem if you don’t get it checked. Do you ever wear sunscreen? Or do you think your farmer’s tan is sexy?”
Wasn’t that the title of an old country song? Alvin didn’t give me time to remember. He delivered a slap across my cheek that made the room spin. My head snapped to the side. After several heartbeats, the pictures on the wall stopped moving.
I slowly inhaled, using the moment to shove my rage back down.
The prophecy said that the Barghest, the black dog that brings ill omens and storms, would be the Alpha’s undoing. I couldn’t help but wonder if all prophecies were self-fulfilling, and that witch foresaw Alvin’s steady decline into cruelty. I wished she hadn’t tampered with fate. I wished she’d never step foot in this city.
What kind of witch visited Syracuse, of all places? This part of New York didn’t have a whole lot to boast. Syracuse was technically part of the rust belt. That was what made it such a great place for supernaturals, though. We took over the parts of the city that had once belonged to big manufacturers and reshaped it into our own neighborhood.
I guess that’s what drew the witch in, but I still wished she’d gone anywhere else but here. Maybe then, my life would be different. I wouldn’t have to give my Alpha my schedule and warn him about any activities a week ahead of time. Though I was twenty-two now, I still felt like a child.
Alvin studied me long and hard. His upper lip curled, but not before I saw his breath shudder out of him.
“Don’t forget this again,” Alvin said, waving my work schedule in front of my face.
Biting my tongue, I nodded. Alvin gestured for me to leave before turning and exiting through the far door. I spun on my heel, eager to escape.
Harvey still blocked the nearby exit, though. He grinned down at me. Before I could backpedal, he reached out. My flinch filled me with shame as Harvey laughed. He tucked a black curl behind my ear.
“You’re a stupid mutt, Ness Blackmaw,” he said, softly. “You’ll learn to heel at some point.”
My stomach churned. I clenched my teeth as I felt them begin to elongate. The hound in me thrashed to break free. She would rip Harvey a new asshole just for touching me. She wanted Harvey’s blood more than anything. The Alpha’s son crossed every boundary I’d ever set and laughed while doing so.
“I’m late for work,” I muttered.
Proud of himself, Harvey straightened his spine and lifted his chin as a grin spread over his lips. “Oh, I know. If I keep you here long enough, you won’t have to worry about that. You’ll lose your stupid job slinging coffee. Then I’ll whisper in my father’s ear that you’re planning something devious. He’ll keep you here twenty-four seven. I’ll be able to use you as my footstool once we break you.”
My teeth shoved against one another, trying to shift even though I kept my jaw clenched.