Female Alpha with Her Commoner Mate

Victoria Eleanor Hawthorne had spent nearly her entire life proving that blood had no right to decide a person's future

She was born an Alpha.

It wasn't a title or a position, but something that had been embedded in her body since birth. The Hawthornes called it a gift. The pack elders called it a responsibility.

Her mother had reminded her countless times that very few women in their bloodline had ever been born with Alpha traits as strong as hers.

Victoria called it a reason to leave.

At twenty-five, she lived in a small apartment in Westbridge, wore a corporate ID card around her neck, spent eight hours a day staring at spreadsheets, and received a paycheck at the end of every month like millions of other humans in the city.

No pack meetings. No territorial disputes. No Alphas from other families approaching her with polite smiles and hidden intentions. No one hearing the name Hawthorne and immediately calculating what position she ought to occupy five or ten years from now.

Just an office.

Victoria loved the office.

At least, she did until she met Adrian Thomas Hayes.

“If you're done with last week's data, send it to me before lunch.”

Victoria looked up from her monitor.

Adrian stood beside her desk with a mug in one hand and the other tucked into his trouser pocket. His tie was already slightly loose even though it wasn't ten yet. His dark brown hair looked as though he'd run a hand through it several times that morning, probably the result of the three consecutive meetings he'd been complaining about to anyone willing to listen.

Victoria returned her attention to the screen.

“I sent it twenty minutes ago.”

Adrian paused. “To me?”

“If I'd sent it to building security, I imagine you'd have a hard time finding it.”

Someone at the next desk audibly suppressed a laugh.

Adrian stared at Victoria for several seconds before releasing the long-suffering sigh of a man beginning to question the company's decision to put him in charge of a new employee.

“Victoria.”

“Adrian.”

“I'm just making sure.”

“And I'm making sure you know I've already sent it.”

Adrian closed his eyes for a moment. Victoria almost smiled.

Almost.

It had been three weeks since she joined the company, which meant Adrian had also spent three weeks taking his role as her senior far more seriously than Victoria thought necessary. He reminded her about meetings, checked her work, introduced her to people he considered important, and occasionally explained things she already understood simply because she was still considered a junior.

Annoying.

But not malicious.

Victoria knew the difference.

“Fine,” Adrian said at last. “I'll check it this afternoon.”

“Go ahead.”

Adrian had barely turned away when his phone vibrated. He pulled it from his pocket, read something on the screen, then muttered a curse.

“What?”

“Meeting got moved.”

“That's worth swearing over?”

“They moved it to lunchtime.”

Victoria regarded him for a moment. “That is worth swearing over.”

Adrian laughed softly. “Finally, something we agree on.”

He walked away before Victoria could answer.

The rest of the day unfolded exactly like the days before it. Phones rang. The printer malfunctioned again. One of the managers changed his instructions when the work was nearly finished. Someone brought doughnuts into the pantry and left the empty box behind instead of throwing it away.

So human.

So ordinary.

Victoria loved every bit of it for exactly that reason.

She had almost succeeded in building a life that had nothing to do with being a Hawthorne.

By evening, most of the lights on their floor had been switched off. A light rain streaked the tall windows, blurring the glow of Westbridge beyond the glass. Victoria was still sitting at her computer when she noticed the faint headache beginning behind her temples.

She reached for the bag beside her chair.

Empty.

Victoria stopped typing.

Her suppressant.

She had forgotten to bring her evening dose.

It wasn't a problem, she told herself. She had been taking the medication for years. Missing one dose wasn't going to turn her into a wild animal in the middle of the office.

At worst, her senses would become a little sharper.

And sure enough, within minutes, the hum of the air-conditioning grew louder. She could hear the rain tapping against the windows. The elevator doors opening at the far end of the corridor sounded perfectly clear despite the distance.

Victoria clicked her tongue and began packing up.

Tomorrow, she'd keep an emergency dose in her desk drawer.

“Still here?”

Victoria turned.

Adrian emerged from the pantry carrying two paper cups of coffee.

“Do you live at the office?” Victoria asked.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“I've worked here for three weeks. You've been here for four years. That makes your situation considerably worse.”

Adrian gave a quiet laugh.

Then he walked toward her.

One step.

Then another.

Victoria's entire body froze.

Not because of a sound.

Not because of something she saw.

Because of a scent.

Coffee. Rain. Adrian's usual soap. The faint trace of paper and fabric that had absorbed the office air throughout the day.

And beneath all of it was something Victoria had never smelled before.

Warm.

Deep.

Familiar despite being completely unknown.

Victoria stopped breathing.

Adrian continued toward her, oblivious.

His heartbeat was suddenly so clear she could count every pulse. One, two, three. Her body reacted before her mind could understand what was happening. Her hearing sharpened. The muscles across her shoulders tightened. Something that had remained silent inside her for years awakened with such force that her fingertips trembled.

No.

Victoria took a small step back.

Adrian stopped.

“Victoria?”

She stared at him.

Adrian Thomas Hayes.

Twenty-nine years old. Her senior at work. Drank too much coffee. Skipped lunch whenever his workload piled up. Had a habit of tapping his index finger against his desk whenever he read a report that annoyed him.

Human.

Completely human.

There was no werewolf scent on him. No trace of a pack. No Alpha blood, no Beta blood, nothing Victoria had spent her life recognizing instinctively.

Just an ordinary human.

Her instincts didn't care.

A single word rose inside her with such certainty that it almost sounded spoken.

Mate.

Victoria held her breath.

Adrian frowned. “Are you okay?”

No.

Impossible.

Of everyone in Westbridge. Of every werewolf she had ever met. Of every man her family had introduced as someone “suitable.”

Her body had chosen Adrian Hayes.

The human she'd mocked that very morning for not reading his email.

Victoria grabbed her bag so quickly that her chair scraped backward.

“I'm going home.”

Adrian looked even more confused. “Now?”

“Yes.”

“You said you still had—”

“Tomorrow.”

Victoria walked past him without looking back.

She made it to the elevator before her hands began to tremble visibly.

The doors opened.

Victoria stepped inside and pressed the button for the ground floor several times, as if doing so would make the doors close faster.

Before the gap disappeared, she could still see Adrian standing among the rows of empty desks, holding two cups of coffee.

He didn't look special.

He wasn't dangerous.

He wasn't powerful.

There wasn't a single reason for him to belong to the world Victoria had left behind.

The elevator doors closed.

Victoria leaned against the metal wall and shut her eyes.

For twenty-five years, she had rejected anyone who tried to decide her life for her.

Her family.

The pack.

Tradition.

Her own blood.

And now, after she'd finally managed to leave it all behind, her body had chosen one thing without asking permission.

Adrian Thomas Hayes.

Victoria slowly opened her eyes.

“No.”

The elevator continued its descent.

“I don't want this one.”