Thrown to the Wolves (Black River Pack Book 3) Read Free Page B

wasn’t really my father. Not anymore.
     
    ****
     
    “Get in the goddamn car!” my father roared.
    It had only been hours since my mom had left, and he’d just dragged me from my room, down the stairs, and out the door without saying a word. The rage in his eyes as he looked at me let me know he was angry enough to beat me if I disobeyed, but I couldn’t go along with what he had planned for me—even if I didn’t know exactly what that was.
    Struggling against him, I tried my best to get away. “No!” I cried out as I jerked my wrist out of his grasp and turned to run.
    He jumped after me and took me to the ground. “Eighteen years I’ve housed you, fed you, and put up with your lazy ass,” he rumbled. “Now, you have a chance to pay me back for everything I’ve done for you. So you will get your ass in my car and do exactly what I tell you. Because if you don’t, I’ll beat you until you’re willing to say yes anyway. And then, when I get home, I’ll make your mom pay for your insubordination.”
    If his words hadn’t scared me, the evil promise in his eyes certainly would have. I didn’t have much energy left because I’d barely eaten in days. And as the scent of his rage hit my nostrils, I felt more defeated than I ever had in my short life. I didn’t see any way out of this mess other than to go along with what he was telling me to do. So with my head dropped low, I stared at the ground as I slowly moved towards the car and climbed in.
    After an hour into the drive, the silence started to get to me. He’d barely glanced my way the whole time, and I could practically taste the tension in the air. Not knowing where we were going or what was going to happen to me was driving me crazy. Thirty minutes later, I couldn’t take it anymore.
    “Where are we going?”
    Although I was careful to speak in a soft tone and a manner that shouldn’t have implied any disrespect, his head whipped to the side so he could level me with a glare. Then he narrowed his eyes, and a mocking smirk tilted his lips before answered.
    “To your new mate.”
    “Mate?” I repeated, stunned by his reply.
    “Yes,” he snapped. “One you’re damn lucky is willing to take you since you’re bear and not wolf.”
    “Who?” I asked, barely able to form words since my mind was reeling at the news that he expected me to accept a stranger as my mate.
    “The alpha of the Lyall pack.”
    Not a stranger, then, but I wished he were. I’d always tried to avoid the fierce wolf, who ruled his pack with an iron fist, when he’d visited because the way he looked at me worried me. There had been a burning lust in his eyes from the first time we’d met. Even though I was only fifteen back then, I’d known he wanted me. The frank carnality in his gaze had been unmistakable, and it’d freaked me the hell out. The fascination he held for me wasn’t mutual, and I’d spent three years hoping I would find my mate so he wouldn’t try to come for me.
    I’d heard the rumors about his brutality and knew he was even worse than the man who’d raised me. Wyatt Lyall had lived too long without a mate, and it had made him almost feral. His actions were more wolf than man, and he had no empathy for others. If you crossed him, you did so knowing that your punishment would be vicious. His pack took what they wanted, when they wanted, and from whomever they wanted. They were feared by most, and I never understood why my father was willing to work with them except for the fact that they paid well. He liked to live large and had never figured out a way to do it honestly.
    “I won’t take him as my mate,” I whispered softly—but not quietly enough to hide my resistance from my father.
    “You will,” he insisted. “Of that I have no doubt because the Lyall alpha won’t accept any other possibility.”
    “You’ll really let him force me into a mating I don’t want?” I asked disbelievingly. Even though he’d been horrible to me throughout