Bound to the Alpha: Part Two by Viola Rivard Read Free Book Online Page A

wolves.”
    “How did your parents meet?”
    Grace and Jewel always spoke openly about their pasts, so Sarah didn’t feel that the question was too forward. She knew that Grace and her small family had been with Cain’s pack for several years, though none of them shared any relation to Cain’s family unit.
    Sitting back on the bank, Grace affected a comfortable position, which Sarah was coming to recognize as a storytelling stance. She mimicked the pose, eager to take a break from the chore.
    “My former pack was situated around a large human territory. It was a very rural area, mostly farmlands, and the growers and ranchers relied on my pack to protect their lands.”
    Sarah asked, “Like a treaty?”
    Grace gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. “Nothing formal, more like a mutual understanding,” she explained. “When my grandfather died, my father took the position of leadership. In return for the continued protection of the farmlands, the humans provided him with a mate, the young daughter of a poor farmer.”
    “That’s…”
    “Terrible, I know,” Grace said, her eyes downcast. “Such things are common, though, and much preferable to the alternative.” Her gaze flicking back up, she elaborated, “I am sure you have heard stories where you come from, about kidnappings and rapes. While I would like to say humans are wrong for fearing our kind, not all wolves live as we do. Many of them are slaves to their instincts.”
    It was an unexpected turn in the conversation, and Sarah couldn’t help but pose the question, “What about Caim’s mother?”
    She was referring to Dawn, whose name she’d occasionally heard mentioned, though no one had ever spoken about her at length. Whenever the subject of her came up it was quickly changed, and Sarah got the impression that she hadn’t been well-liked.
    “Dawn wasn’t bartered to the pack.” Grace paused long enough for Sarah to think she wasn’t going to continue, but then said, “From what I recall, she had been married to a boy for a few months and wasn’t happy, so she ran away. Hale found her in the woods and brought her back to the pack.”
    “And she and Cain…”
    Grace smiled, giving her a knowing look. “Cain allowed her to stay, under the condition that she become his mate, but they never cared for one another. She regretted her decision, missed the comforts of her human life and missed her husband, but by then Caim was already on the way.”
    It was strange to think that there had been a woman who couldn’t fall madly in love with Cain. Sarah had only known him for a few weeks, and the prospect of leaving him was so daunting that she’d had to completely put it out of her mind.
    Unable to resist one final question, Sarah asked, “How did she…”
    “She passed shortly after Snow was born.”
    Sarah blinked rapidly, her mouth going dry. “Cain said that Snow wasn’t his daughter.”
    Grace gave her an apologetic look. “It’s really not my place to talk about it.” She took in Sarah’s crestfallen expression and frowned. Inclining her head, she said in a low voice, “Snow is not Cain’s daughter. She is Hale’s.”

Chapter 10
    I t was noontime when Cain finally returned to his den the next day. He had spent the night, like every night, circling the wide-ranging borders of his mountain territory. From time to time, he caught the scents of other creatures: bears, cats, and even wolves, but as Hale had reported, they were all just passing through on their way westward.
    As he entered the den, Hale slunk past him, leaving to take up his post as the afternoon watch. Alder had been dispatched to the lowlands to gather more information. Once he returned, Cain would take his words into consideration when deciding how to proceed with the movement of his pack.
    He would also have to take Sarah home.
    It had been over two weeks since the onset of the mating thrall and her scent had yet to change. It was largely a relief to Cain, as he was