Shadowed Instincts Read Free Page A

overwhelming fear and anxiety that was at war with the uncontrollable
anger building inside of me. It had to end.”
    “But-”
    “Elaine,” Darren interrupted. Elaine looked at him. They had
some kind of silent conversation before she turned back to Melanie.
    “Okay. It’s over. I’ll let it go.”
    “Do you have any questions for me, Melanie?” Darren asked
quietly.
    “Yes, actually.” After a brief pause to collect her
thoughts, Melanie continued, “Yesterday, when I got mad and tried to leave, you
told me to sit down. I felt like I lost all control of my body. You said sit
and I had to sit. Can you explain that to me, please?”
    “It’s because I’m the alpha. I can infuse power into my
commands and no cynanthrope in my pack can deny me. I can control them physically
as well as mentally, making them forget things that have happened should the
need arise.”
    “But I’m not in your pack!”
    “You’re my daughter, my blood,” he said with a serious
expression. “Believe me when I tell you, Melanie, you are most definitely in my
pack.”
    “This is insane. I can’t believe…There is no way you can
control me by…”
    Melanie’s words trailed off as a pressure built in her chest
and she lost the power to speak. She patted her chest and grabbed her throat,
but no words could escape her mouth. After a few seconds, she felt the pressure
ease and gasped.
    “What the hell was that?” she asked incredulously.
    “I am your alpha. I commanded you to stop speaking and you
had to obey.”
    “But you didn’t say anything!”
    “I don’t have to say the command out loud. I can send it
mentally…if I’m within close proximity.”
    “This is crap! So what, now I have to do whatever you say or
think? All the time?”
    “Melanie, I only did that to show you that I could. I don’t
indiscriminately use my power over my pack. I only use it when it’s necessary,
which isn’t often.”
    “Well, it still sucks,” she responded with her eyes downcast.
    “We are animals, Melanie, with animal instincts. Yours are
just barely starting to surface and you physically attacked a girl for saying
something that you didn’t like. Can you imagine, for just a moment, an entire
community of people with that kind of anger and lack of control ingrained in
them? Imagine what it would be like if there were no one to help control them.”
    “Chaos,” she whispered. Her eyes widened a bit with
understanding.
    “Exactly. I only invoke the power when it is necessary. I
don’t make a habit of interfering in personal squabbles, but if it gets out of
hand, I take control.”
    “Okay. I get it,” she said grudgingly. “Just don’t use it on
me anymore, okay?”
    “I won’t. Unless I have to.”
    Melanie decided that was the best she was going to get. She
glanced over at her mom and narrowed her eyes. Elaine was staring at Darren. There
was a happy glow on her face that Melanie had never seen there before. A glow
that she had seen when she looked in the mirror after time spent with
Jeremy. Especially after he told her he loved her.
    “Mom?”
    Elaine’s eyes jerked to Melanie and her face flushed. “Yes?”
she answered with a squeak in her voice.
    “Are you guys getting back together now?”
    “Melanie, I don’t…I mean…”
    “Yes,” Darren interjected. “We are.”
    Elaine’s face got even redder as she glanced down at her
barely touched breakfast. She looked embarrassed, but Melanie saw her lips lift
with a small smile. Melanie started to smile too, but was hit with a horrible
thought.
    “But you’re the alpha.”
    “Yes.”
    “That means you have to live with the pack in Kentucky.”
    “Yes.”
    “So, you’re going to have a long distance relationship?
Travelling back and forth between here and there?”
    “No.”
    “What do you mean, no?”
    “I mean,” he said as he stared deep into her eyes, “that you
and your mother will be moving home with me.”

Chapter 4
    Melanie slammed her bedroom