Marked Twice by the Alpha King novel Chapter 129

AVON POV

Soph. B’yanked me through the troid, her smile plastered on like cheap makeup. We pothed past the

ring of ancient stones loomed against the moonlit sky.

VIP only past this point, she muttered, her voice suddenly cold and unfamiliar

The sit reeked of burning berba, making my head hury. At the center of the stone circle, a freakishly blue fire crackled, throwing weird shadows actasi of Shadow Creek’s elite. Every eye locked unto us like we were fresh meat,

“Say hello to our pack’s inner circle,” Sophin said, dropping my sins like it burned her. “They’ve been dying to meet mir… special guest.”

She stepped back, creating a gap between us that felt miles wide. The transturme

in her hit

mcker punch.

“Got Future–wife stuff to handle,” she said, eyes suddenly empty. Have fun.

Before I could spit out a response, she’d spin awry, golden hair catching blue firelight as she vanished into the crowd, leaving me stranded in shark–infested

waters.

What the actual fuck? My got clenched as I realized the Sophia who’d fought beside me in that cellar had completely ghosted nit. This stranger had just thrown me to the wolves.

I straightened up, scanning for a friendly face and coming up empty. Just as I weighed making a run for it, a tall woman broke from the pack and strutted

over.

She moved like she owned the place–shoulders thrown back, hips swinging way too much. Her outfit belonged in a nightclub, not a sacred ceremony, with a neckline that plunged to her navel. Her ice–blue Hayes eyes locked onto me like I had a target painted on my forehead.

A Hayes family crest dangled from her neck, practically screaming “inner circle. Vanessa Hayes–Jackson’s cousin and Shadow Creek’s queen bitch.

“Well, damn,” she smirked, deliberately shoulder–checking me as she circled. “We bet un whether you’d show your face. Thanks for costing me twenty bucks.

She flicked my warrior emblem with a blood–red nail. This little badge is garbage now. Just Eke your standing in this pack.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, ignoring the heat crawling up my neck. “Still a Shadow Creek warrior, no matter what crap you talk about my father.”

Vanessa cackled, the sound like nails on a chalkboard. A warrior? Give me a break. A warrior without a pack is like a declawed kitten–pathetic and completely useless.”

Snickers rippled through the crowd that was gathering like vultures. My face burned, but I planted my feet wider, chin up–exactly how Dad taught me. Never let these assholes see you sweat, kiddo.

The circle tightened around us. I frantically searched for Sarah but spotted her trapped in conversation across the grounds, completely clueless to the ambush happening

People I’d known forever–wolves I’d trained with, fought with, shared beers with–now stared at me like I was something gross stuck to their shoe. Not one stepped up.

The crowd split apart as a silver–haired woman approached, spine straight as a sword despite her age. Eleanor Hayes, Shadow Creek’s oldest elder and Jackson’s grandmother–the pack’s scariest bitch after the Alpha

She stood before the blue flames, the light carving deep shadows into her face. “Hivers girl. You’ve got some nerve.”

Her staff hit the ground with a crack that jolted through my bones.

“Know how many warriors died because of your father’s betrayal? Her voice carried across the suddenly dead–silent crowd, “What makes you think you s stand on sacred ground during our celebration?”

1/3

Chapter

bky lather In thedrent. The truth.

Eleanor’s mouth impeline shed vasted something retten.. “Layaink What a world on ‘x Haltor.

turned to address the citncl. 21ork in hers wenler dumped by fate, deughter of a haltar, thrown way by her out

Her words cut deeper than the knew. 1 Hruggled in keep my poker face as another figure folded her–Richard Hayes, Lickson’s dad, in a seit 19 wealth and power.

“I once thought a Rivers Hayes union might benefit ont park,” he announced, looking at me like I was sometiding stuck to his thor. “Dodged this bullet, didn’t wel

He moved closet, voice dropping low. An adopted nobody. You never got what bloodlines mean, did you? few can you rock?”

stand here without crawling under

The mark under my scarf pulsed warm, a painful tembider I didn’t belong here anyinute. In this place I once called stranger. Weird how this pack used to be my whole world, but nine my heart pulled toward Blackwood Manor.

p your execution plans?”

1 looked Eleanor dead in the eye. “My father is innocent. The Alpha King knows it–why else stop your

Richard’s face twisted with disgust. “Nobody believes a unitor’s kid.”

I suddenly felt like a complete

I squared my shoulders. “I’m a Shadow Creek warrior. Nothing changes that. And whoever framed my father might be standing right here with us.

My words hit home. Vanessa’s face contorted with rage, veins popping in her forehead. “You question Jackson? You mention that mark he wasted on you? That ship has fucking sailed!”