Chapter 1
POV: AVA
It happened again.
There I stood, in chaos. Flowers, clothes and chairs were thrown all over the room, while people panicked, screaming, shifting and trampling on one another.
I looked down at my husband, who had just been shot in the head. His cold, empty eyes, still staring at me. He’s now husband number 4, to have been shot in the head, ten seconds after saying ‘I do.’ I feel a little relieved. I didn’t want to marry this man anyway. I didn’t want to marry any of them. Just a bunch of unmated Alphas and Betas who were 15 years my elder and just wanted to breed with me.
I don’t even care that my family’s reputation is being tarnished. I told them and each husband that I didn’t want to be forced into a marriage. I wanted to find my true mate, but they refused to even give me a chance. I haven’t even gotten my wolf yet and here they are trying to marry me off to the highest bidder. I only need 3 weeks before my first shift, it would take the same amount of time to find another suitor and plan a wedding.
I turned around after hearing someone call my name. Only to meet eyes with a man in all black on the roof. I knew it was him, the shooter. What a cliche, wearing all black to commit a crime. We locked eyes for just a moment before he pointed at his chest and then up to the moon and disappeared. Why did he let me see him?
I ran over to the steps to the roof, hoping to catch him, but I was too late.
“Ava,” I heard a voice behind me chuckle. “Remind me never to marry you.”
I laughed, knowing the jokester is my lifelong best friend, Imani.
I leaned into her, whispering, “I saw him.”
“The shooter?” she asked with more intrigue then shock. “How are you not freaking out?”
“I know he is killing people but... I feel like he is only protecting me,” I explained. “When he looked at me, I felt... safe, like nobody could harm me while he was there.”
“But... why is he doing it?”
I shrugged my shoulders. We sat for a moment, each deep in thought, before I spoke up again, “Is it bad that I don’t have any sympathy for these men?”
“No, you tried to warn them. It’s not your fault these men think they’re all untouchable.”
“I just don’t understand why these men take their chances at death.”
“P*ssy runs the world and noble p*ssy is even better,” I rolled my eyes as she joked.
“I hope that my parents will give up on this whole thing.”
“I doubt that” Imani said, looking over my shoulders. “They were already talking to another Alpha, when I walked in here. Actually, here they come now. At least this one is fine.”
I turned around just as my parents and a god-like man approached me. He was gorgeous. Hewa huge, he had to be an Alpha.
“Honey, this is Alpha Reese,” my mother said with the biggest grin on her face. She was definitely satisfied with herself.
Alpha Reese reached for my hand, kissing my knuckles. “Pleasure to meet you, Ava. I wish it was under better circumstances.”
“Why are you here, Alpha Reese?” I asked, knowing exactly why he was here. “Are you about to be dead husband number 6?”
He shook his head with slight arrogance. “I will not be.”
I sighed with some relief, maybe I had read the whole situation wrong.
“We will be married,” he said with a small grin, placing his hand on my shoulder. “But this time, the least amount of people will know, and security will be a lot stronger, with my pack spearheading it.”
“So you have a death wish as well?”
“I have no such thing.”
“Well, you can’t be that smart if you think that this is going to work out the way that you are planning. Five great men have tried before you, and all five ended up with a bullet in their head before they could even kiss me.”
“You’ll find, I am not your average Alpha, my dear.”
“You are all the same to me when you’re dead.”
I got up and walked away, knowing him and my parents would follow me all the way home.
