The Alpha Chose My Sister, Then Begged For Me

I am the elder daughter of the Dawnlight pack Alpha. On the day I came of age, my father told my sister and me to choose our future mates from the two sons of the Brightvale pack Alpha. The older brother, Damian, was steady and self-possessed. The younger one, Kieran, counted for nothing in his own pack, and it showed in the sullen, beaten-down way he carried himself. In my last life I chose the younger brother without a moment of hesitation, because I wanted him to know what it felt like to be someone's favorite. But on the very day he became Alpha, he threw me out to the rogues. I was carrying his pup. They tortured me until I died. Right before the end, Kieran stood over me and looked down. "If it weren't for you, I'd have been with your sister Adeline a long time ago. You deserve this!" Only then did I learn that he had wanted my sister for years, and that he had never once meant for me to be the Luna of Brightvale. Then I opened my eyes again. Kieran and I had both come back to the day of the choosing. He knelt before my father, solemn as a vow. "Honored Alpha, the one I love has always been your younger daughter, Adeline. I want nothing to do with your elder daughter, Cassia." Every wolf from Brightvale watched me and enjoyed it. But I only smiled, faintly. Then I turned and chose the brother standing at Kieran's side. Damian. Kieran was still living inside the illusion of his last life, certain he had taken the Alpha title on his own strength. He had no idea that from the beginning to the end, only the mate I chose was ever fit to become Alpha. Chapter 1 When Kieran finished speaking, every wolf in the hall turned to look at me. Not one of them had expected him to ask for my sister. Three years ago, in a battle, I had saved his life, and then nursed him myself for three months. Everyone had simply assumed that this choosing was a formality. My father frowned and lowered his voice. "Cassia, what is going on between you two? Is the choosing something you can play games with?" I closed my hand into a fist. It was as though I could still feel the pain of being tormented by countless werewolves. The moment I realized I had come back, I swore I would never let Kieran touch my life again. What I had not expected was that he would be the one to switch first. I was about to speak when Kieran cut in ahead of me. "Cassia! I never once wanted to be your mate. Stop chasing me!" I saw the loathing in his eyes, and I understood at once. He had come back too. My father's face went dark. He slammed his hand on the table. "Enough! "Every wolf in both packs knows you came to Dawnlight over and over to see Cassia. "Now you stand here and say it is Adeline you love. What do you take my daughters for, a shelf you can pick from!" Gold flickered in my father's eyes. That was the sign that his anger was about to turn him. But Kieran did not back down. If anything, he grew more urgent, more determined to bare his heart. "Alpha! I respect you as an elder, but what I feel for Cassia is gratitude, nothing more. "I went to Dawnlight to see Adeline. Cassia misread what was between us on her own. "Adeline is an Alpha's daughter and she puts on no airs. She trains with the warriors. "Cassia does nothing but slack off, and the moment training starts she disappears! How could she ever compare to Adeline? "The only one I truly love, the only one I want as my mate, is Adeline. No matter who tries to stop me, no matter what it costs, I will be with her." Watching him say it made my stomach turn. In my last life, when he threw me out, he told me that all those visits had been a screen. He had let me believe he loved me, and then blamed me for believing it. At the choosing he had thought my father valued me more, and he had not dared say what he really wanted, so he took the easy path and took me. Only after he became Alpha of Brightvale did he find the nerve to say the truth out loud. But in the end, the one he loved most was himself. When Kieran was done, the fury on my father's face had doubled. "You are in no position to sit in judgment on my daughters!" His hand shifted into a wolf's claw, and he was a breath away from crushing Kieran's skull. But Adeline stood up and put herself in front of Kieran, her cheeks red. "Father, I want Kieran as my mate." Every wolf froze. Even I had not expected Adeline to accept him. My father's shock was written all over his face. "Adeline, this boy was tangled up with your sister, and now he stands here saying this to you. He is plainly a piece of filth! "Do not do something stupid. Do not let a few pretty words fool you. He is not worth you." Adeline pulled my father aside and said something to him under her breath. His eyes moved to Kieran, hesitant. "Is that true?" Adeline nodded. "I believe him." They kept their voices low, but I read her lips. She had told him that Kieran would become the Alpha of Brightvale. My chest went cold. How could she know that? Had she come back too? My father shut his eyes for a moment, then looked at me, resigned. "Let it go, Cassia. Kieran and your sister want each other. Give them your blessing and stop making a scene." Adeline raised an eyebrow at me. "Cassia, feelings can't be forced. Kieran has no one but me in his heart. Nothing you do will change that." They all seemed to have decided that it was Kieran or nothing for me. I smiled a little. "I never said I was choosing Kieran." Chapter 2 Adeline pursed her lips. "Cassia, you don't have to do this. Nobody's going to laugh at you." Contempt flashed through Kieran's eyes. "Don't worry, Cassia. For your sister's sake, if no one ever takes you, we'll still take you in." My father's frown pulled tighter. They all thought I was talking out of temper, scraping together whatever dignity I had left. But from the moment Adeline said yes, I knew that even if I had wanted Kieran, I could never have taken him. My mother was the mate the Moon Goddess chose for my father. She pulled at him in a way he could not resist, and he hated that the choice had been made for him, so he came to dislike her for it. My mother was a proud wolf. She could not bring herself to bow and please anyone, so she kept everything shut inside. She died not long after I was born. Adeline was born to my father's second mate. That one he had courted himself, and the two of them were happy. From the day Adeline was born, he was hard on her. He hired six tutors and demanded that she excel at everything, and even when she was injured or sick, her daily training was never shortened. With me it was different. He always said I had lost my mother when I was too young. He could not bear to see me suffer even a little, so he forbade me to learn anything. All I had to do was be happy. Everyone said he spoiled me and treated Adeline too harshly. But only I knew the truth. He was raising me to be useless so that the heir he had chosen would look brilliant beside me. So whatever Adeline truly wanted, he would never give to me. I let my eyes drift over the faces in the hall, and stopped on Kieran's brother. "Damian, will you be my mate?" Before he could answer, Adeline burst out laughing. "Damian is one of the heirs to the Brightvale pack. You can't do a single thing. What makes you think he'd take you as his mate?" Kieran sneered along with her, "Don't humiliate yourself. My brother doesn't collect garbage." Whatever my faults, it was not for Kieran, an outsider, to list them. My father spoke up quickly to stop it. "Adeline, don't talk about your sister that way. "Kieran, do not think that being about to become my daughter's mate gives you the run of my hall." The words were a warning, but the look he gave Adeline was pure tenderness. By the time he turned back to me, his face was calm again. "Your sister's words are harsh, but they are also true. Don't push for something that..." But before he could finish, a voice cut him off. "I will." Damian, who had kept his head down and said nothing all this time, finally spoke. "I will take Cassia as my mate." The whole hall went still. Every wolf knew I was lazy and useless, without a single survival skill, and they all thought I would only drag Damian down. Even his own father, the Alpha of Brightvale, forgot we were standing right there and rushed to talk him out of it. "Damian, look at her clearly. That woman has nothing but a pretty face. How can you choose her? "You should take someone like Adeline as your mate." But Damian was perfectly calm. "I want only Cassia." "They both want it, so we elders should not stand in their way!" While the Alpha of Brightvale had not yet refused outright, my father hurried to seal it. Damian was the one he had wanted all along, and since Adeline did not want him, handing him to me was better than letting an outsider have him. The Alpha of Brightvale flushed red, but he knew this was not the moment for a fight. He had no choice but to swallow it and agree. Both mating ceremonies were set for the middle of the following month. My father took Adeline and me back to our pack. On the way out, Adeline slammed her shoulder into mine. "You think mating with Damian makes you something? You'll never match me, not in this whole life!" I was not angry. I smiled instead. The harder she pushed, the more it showed she was rattled. In my last life she had chosen Damian too, and Damian had refused her flat. Even when his father forced him to take her, he left for the battlefield on the day of the ceremony. The sad part was that he would die out there, sold out by one of his own men. She thought I would end up exactly where she had. Damian falls, Brightvale calls me cursed, I get shipped back to Dawnlight and spend my life with my head down. What she did not know was that I had come back too, and I was not going to let Damian die. Chapter 3 The day of the mating ceremony came quickly. Adeline walked up to the altar in a white gown with a sweet smile on her face. Becoming mate to the future Alpha was only part of the reason for her sweet smile. What thrilled her even more was the thought of watching me hear, in front of everyone, that Damian had left for the battlefield. By then, she was sure, my face would be even more panicked and helpless than hers had been in the last life. But she waited and waited, and the ceremony hour was almost gone, and neither Damian nor I had appeared. "Adeline, let's go ahead with ours. Taking you as my mate is the biggest dream I have. "Your sister and my brother were probably just being stubborn. Neither of them really wanted this, and they're certainly not coming today. Let's forget about them," Kieran said. Adeline shook her head, then turned to my father with her most wounded expression. "Father, this is the most important day of my life. I don't want my sister to miss it. Send someone to bring her back before the ceremony ends, please?" She only relaxed when he nodded. After all, she had a very big gift ready for me. Elsewhere. I had already sent word to Damian, asking him to meet me at the border between our two packs. He came exactly as I had asked. But before we could say a word to each other, one of his men came running. "Damian, it's bad. The Shadowmoor pack found out our mating ceremony was today, and they hit us while the guard was thin!" Damian looked ashamed. "I'm sorry, Cassia. If you called me here because you no longer want to be my mate, I won't stand in your way. "I have to go fight for my pack now." He turned to leave that instant. I grabbed him and leaned close to his ear. "Someone made a deal with Shadowmoor a long time ago. Today they came for your life. "Be careful. I'll be waiting for you to come back and mate with me." Damian, whose face never showed anything, went blank for a heartbeat, and then it burned scarlet. "I, I understand. I'll come back quickly!" I watched him go. Then the Dawnlight wolves found me. "Lady Cassia, today is Adeline's great day, and the Alpha requires your attendance." The one in front kept the courtesies, but he stood like a wolf ready to grab me. Fine. I would go and see what else she had prepared. By the time I reached the altar the ceremony was nearly over. The mood in the hall was thin. Most of the male wolves of Brightvale were missing. So they had gotten word of the Shadowmoor attack too. Adeline's eyes lit up when she saw me, and a second later she arranged her face into righteous outrage. She dropped to her knees in front of my father and the Alpha of Brightvale. "Father, it has gone too far. I can't cover for my sister any longer! "Shadowmoor attacked today and slipped past our patrols without a problem, and it is all because my sister made a deal with them!" Both Alphas went dark in the face at once. "Is that true? Why would Cassia do such a thing?" Adeline set her teeth. "Of course it's true. She did all of it because she's jealous of me. She's in love with my mate!" Kieran helped her up and spoke coldly, "None of this is your fault. She is the one who should be kneeling." He had plainly decided to back every word she said. The wolves around me turned furious eyes on me. But I stayed calm. "What proof do you have that I did it?" Adeline stared at me as if she could not believe her ears. "Cassia, are you really going to argue your way out of this? "Yesterday someone saw you meeting with a Shadowmoor wolf with their own eyes, and they recorded it. Stop arguing, will you? "Admit it now, and I'll speak for you." So that was why she had needed me at the ceremony. Pinning a deal with Shadowmoor on me would not only keep me out of Brightvale, it would get me driven out of Dawnlight. Two birds with one stone. A fine plan. But I was not afraid. I said it plainly, "But yesterday I spent the whole day at the Brightvale camp, watching my future mate Damian drill his warriors. The warriors all saw me. Surely they haven't all gone to the front?" Several warriors in the hall seemed to remember something, but Kieran cut them off. "I was at the camp yesterday too, and I didn't see Cassia. Did any of you?" His eyes went hard on them. The feet that had started to step forward pulled back, and they answered as one, "We did not see Cassia." Kieran's voice was ice. "The facts are clear enough. By pack law, anyone who conspires with an enemy is banished for life." He put an arm around Adeline's waist. "But for Adeline's sake, if you repent sincerely, there is still room for mercy." I looked over everyone there, and then at Kieran. "You lie better every time you open your mouths. I can't out-talk you, but I won't confess to something I didn't do. "I'll wait for Damian. He can prove I'm telling the truth." I turned to my father. "Father, surely you don't believe your daughter would betray the pack, do you?" His face was ashen. Before he could speak, a warrior burst in from outside, covered in blood. "Alpha, it's bad! Damian has fallen! Shadowmoor has broken through!" Chapter 4 One sentence froze every wolf in the hall. I dug my nails into my palm to keep my head clear. How could this happen? I had warned Damian. With his experience and his skill, turning a losing fight was not hard for him. No. I had to believe in him. He was the strongest warrior there was. Nothing would happen to him. Adeline and Kieran had gone pale as well. In the last life Damian had died too, but he had held the pack with his final breath. Now the pack itself was about to be lost, and what good would the Alpha title do Kieran then? The Alpha of Brightvale turned a sharp look on his younger son. "Kieran! I have to lead the warriors out to meet them. "You are the only son I have left. I want you to take the Alpha position now, become the new Alpha of Brightvale, and protect it. Can you do that?" Kieran answered at once, "I can!" Our kind has a tradition. A wolf who fails to wake his wolf at the age of maturity will always wake it on the night of his mating, at the hour when the moon is brightest. It is a blessing from the Moon Goddess. Kieran and Adeline had both been waiting for that night. He believed that if he could just hold out until midnight, his wolf would come. Then even if his father could not hold the line, he could beat Shadowmoor himself. But the hours crept past, and when the moonlight reached its fullest, nothing in either of them had changed. The confidence drained out of their faces and left only panic behind. The wolves below began to murmur. "This hasn't happened in over a hundred years. Even the weakest wolf wakes an ordinary wolf and gets black eyes. What is wrong with those two?" "Could it be that the Moon Goddess doesn't accept Kieran as Alpha?" ... Kieran ground his teeth and gave an order to the warrior he trusted most. "Bring the Council of Elders! If they speak for me, I can take the Alpha seat first, wolf or no wolf." The warrior had barely answered when a deep voice rolled across the hall. "No need. All ten Elders of the Council are already here." Delight spread over Kieran's face. The Council had never attended anyone's mating ceremony, and here were all ten of them at once. Surely this meant the Council valued him! He bowed respectfully. "I ask the Elders to preside over my ceremony. "My father and my brother are both outstanding warriors. My wolf is only waking a little late. In time I will be no worse than they are! "And I am the only Alpha blood left. There is no one else who can be the new Alpha." The Elder who had spoken kept his face calm. "Every decision of the Council rests with the Grand Elder. After the last Grand Elder died of illness, the seat stood empty. "Only last week did the Moon Goddess send down her word and choose the new Grand Elder. "If the new Grand Elder approves your succession, we will of course preside." Kieran could not contain himself. He asked at once, "Then who is the Grand Elder?" His eager eyes swept across every face in the hall, desperate for this mysterious Grand Elder to speak on his behalf. But my own gaze had gone to the back of the crowd. At the very rear, one of Damian's men made the sign of a prayer at me. That was the signal Damian and I had agreed on. He was telling me he was safe. Quietly, I let out my breath. The next second, under the eyes of the entire Council, I stepped slowly forward. "Kieran, I do not approve your succession as the new Alpha."