The Hidden Alpha's Innocent Contract Mate

a P

me, but it couldn't block out my sist

e Glover is a good man! You'll marry

wandering hands, and the way he liked reminding wolfless girls exactly how powerless they were. Erin knew it. My mother knew it. They didn't care. All they cared about was the fat check Frankie

own, controlling the bank accounts, the house, the arguments, even the silences. He worked double shift

did not get many choices. No wolf. No rank. No bi

through my thin trench coat, and a gust of wind drov

I scanned the empty Chicago street, slick and black under the f

Its engine was running, and the small, illuminated Uber sign on

think. I

g open the rear passenger door and throwing myself inside. The do

Under it was another scent, darker and wilder, the kind my wolfed classmates used to whisper about in school hal

hand on the back of the driver's seat. "Please,

ver did

y lungs freeze. For a second, I felt like a mouse caught in the gaze of a hawk. Not a wolf. Something worse. Something pat

ceful fingers, moved to the gearshift. The car slid away

ic thump-thump of the windshield wipers. I clutched my wet coat, my knuckles

find at any discount store, but it did nothing to soften the severe lines of his face. He looked...dangerous. Maybe a Rogue, I thought, one of those Packless wolves who drifted t

ith trembling fingers. A text from Erin. It was

g forward to our wedding night.

the raindrops on my cheeks. There was nowhere to go. Erin and my mother would drag me back, for

a red light. The sudden la

d. It was deep, a low baritone that s

other, Leo, was trapped under Erin's thumb. My bank account held less than three hundred dollars from my

s tr

ou to do things you would never dream of. It

with his in t

ds tumbled out of my mout

ngers tightened on the steering wheel. The silence stre

s a month. If you need a legal wife for... for whatever reason. Pack paperwork.

on on me now. The predatory stillness was back, magnified. It was like the air had been suc

inct I did have, weak and human as it

dn't b

g myself to meet his stare. This was my only shot. I had t

ng lips. A strange, unreadable expression flickered in their depths. The corner of his

ou're asking?" he asked, his

eady. "But whatever the price is, it's better

humor. It was dark, unsettling, and echoed in the small

ht turn

that threw me back against the seat. A small scream escaped my

rving precision, weaving throug

ommanded, his voice flat

mind struggling to catch up. Was he serious? He was

igging through the contents until my fingers closed around the hard plastic of my

ched the blurry lights of Chicago fly by, a knot of terror and exhilarating

ing me. In the dim light, I saw a dark glint in his

l like for girls who had wolves. A pull. A warning. A hand closing around fate

if I was about to marry a stranger, I nee

on the road. "Da

d, too old-money, too dangerous for a man in a discount

voice barely there

w," he

od wen

ide I had never ordered. Not from a marriage proposal I had t

d the wheel, taking us deeper into downtow

s voice a low challenge