Brittany’s P. O. V

It pissed me off.

Everything about this place, from the too-impressive training grounds, to their flourishing greenhouse, right down to their fucking barns, was made elaborately and soundly. All their equipment was top of the line, and as Hailey showed me around, I saw their members working in the fields and training too efficiently to be amateurs.

‘Where the fuck did they get actual farmers and warriors?’

In this era, farming and combat weren’t things deemed as necessary as they once were. The days of territorial bickering and living off the land were behind us, yet here these people were, training like we were still at war with the Vampires and ploughing like there wasn’t a supermarket an hour away.

After unpacking my things in the shoebox of a room their bitch of an Alpha had put me in, I followed James’ scent to find him in the room opposite mine.

I walked in without bothering to knock and clicked the door shut behind me. He shot me an annoyed look, which I ignored as I stomped around his room.

They’d given him a better one.

‘What is it, Brittany?’ His tone reflected the look on his face.

‘Can you believe these people?! Sticking us in tiny rooms like we’re some stray wolves and not from one of the best packs in the country.’

He rolled his eyes, ‘Is that all? We don’t need to be griping about our rooms when we’ve got work to do.’

‘You don’t need to tell me that.’

Nobody – not him, not anyone – understood how important bringing this pack down was more than I did. They’d gone from twelve members to forty-seven despite the fact that, due to Werewolves’ tendency to form connections to their territory, many small packs remained in their number range for years. The amount they paid in dues had compounded on itself faster than any of my predictions had accounted for. They’d gained seventeen allies in their first month alone and had accepted three more requests before ours after the Mate Ball.

And all in the span of just under a year.

If left to their own devices, there was no doubt they’d grow to rival us in the not-too-distant future. I knew it, and dad did too. Initially, he had been passive about this pack. It was small fry to him, a dot on the map. But in the month before the Mate Ball, he’d finally seen the potential they held.

Potential that we needed to crush.

I remembered the day he’d called me to his office, and I’d arrived to see James there with him.

“Brittany, come in, have a seat.” He’d gestured to the chair next to James and I sat down.

“This Vengar Sanguine,” He flipped through the file I’d made on them that had since bulked up with more updates, “They’re on the fast track and we need to put on the breaks.”

My heart raced. Was this what I’d thought it was?

He put the file down and looked at the two of us, “I’ll be sending you both there to handle them. They’re new enough that the right amount of unbalance will make them disband entirely. I need you to be thorough and meticulous enough to do that.”

It was! He was finally trusting me with something big!

I did my best to keep the smile off my face, “Yes Alpha. We’ll pull out all the stops.”

My dad, the Alpha, was finally recognising my usefulness and I had every intention of living up to his expectations. So no one, absolutely no one, was going to get in the way of me completing my first assignment.

‘Where’s the wolvesbane and aconine you packed?’

‘They’re in the secret compartments of my bags. Hold on first, we need to be patient. We just got here, let’s take the time to study them and work on reducing trust and morale first. We can’t just jump into poisoning them immediately we arrive, it’ll be too suspicious.’

I couldn’t argue with his logic.

‘Fine.’ I told him on my way out, ‘Let’s take our time.’

And so we did.

For the following fortnight, I latched onto Tim. Since the Alpha was not only a woman, but also entirely absent, he was the person in the highest position who I could use his male urges to my advantage.

He was cute, tall with the body of someone that did physical labour and had a wolf he seemed in tune with. And to top it off, he had a mate that yapped so much about how great he was that it made me more inclined to find out for myself.

Particularly in bed.

“You’re so capable.” I said in a dreamy sigh once he’d approached me from helping some members with something on the field.

He gave me a crooked, bashful smile, “It’s nothing, I’m just doing my job.”

“You’re doing so much more than just your job,” I leaned in close on the tips of my toes, caressing his arm as I brushed my lips against his ear, barely trying to avoid being heard, “you might as well be the Alpha yourself.”

He froze, looking at me with wide eyes, “No, I could never…”

I cocked my head to the side, looking up at him through my lashes, “Why not? Since I got here, she’d been nowhere to be found and left you with everything. You’re already performing the role without the title, anyone can see that.”

“Alpha Ari works very hard for us.” He barely sounded like he believed his own words.

“What good is an Alpha that isn’t present to lead?” I retorted, then sighed and gave him a shrug, “But what do I know, I’m just a visitor.”

After that, he was quiet. With the seed planted, I left him to do whatever it was that he did and returned to my room.

‘Where are you?’ I was walking to the main house.

‘In the kitchen.’ He told me.

My brow furrowed, ‘What are you doing there?’

‘If you must know,’ He began in a tone that made me wish he wasn’t an acting Gamma, ‘I’ve been showing an interest in how their food is cooked.’

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I frowned, his reason dawning on me. Showing up consistently in the kitchen meant that he had access to their food and enough leeway to poison it without his presence being too suspicious.

Why hadn’t I thought of that?

‘When are you gonna do it?’

‘Tonight.’

We couldn’t put too high of a dose, so they wouldn’t immediately suspect poisoning, but I so wanted to do a number on them, ‘Do you have access to the Alpha’s food?’

‘Yes. She has her food sent to her office but still eats the same thing as everyone else. They don’t take particular care to isolate her food before sending it off.’

‘That makes it so much easier. Put a tiny amount in the general food, just enough that everyone gets a stomach ache, then more in hers and other random plates of food except the Beta’s.’

‘Won’t that mean it’ll affect us too?’

I rolled my eyes, rummaging around my bag, ‘Well, duh. But we need to show the same symptoms so that they don’t suspect us of anything. The general stomach aches should get better by tomorrow morning.’

He was all the way in the kitchen and yet I could practically feel him silently judging me. It didn’t matter, I could take a little stomach ache if it meant getting the job done.

‘So, while I’m doing all this, what’ll you be doing?’

I picked the empty vial, with trace droplets still clinging to the insides, ‘I spent the last two weeks singing their Beta’s praises and telling everyone how he should be in charge. Now, I’m gonna give him some backbone.’

I pocketed the vial and made my way to Tim’s room, knocking on the door.

He opened it, his hair damp and a towel hanging around his neck, “Hey Brittany, what’s up?”

My eyes ran down his bare chest, following the water droplets trailing paths between the crevices in his abs. I brought my gaze back to his, looking curiously at me, “Can I come in?”

“Sure, I guess.” He said, walking to his table and leaving the door open for me to enter.

I looked around to make sure no one was there to see me as I slipped in.

His room was massive, bigger than mine back home. A closet lined the wall opposite the bed, with space for more clothes than I was sure he even had. The table he sat at was across the room from the door and offered a view of the back side of the house.

“What brings you here?” He asked,

“Nothing in particular.” I said in a small voice, “I just seem to like being around you.”

“Thanks. You make good company too.” He reached for his shirt, about to put it on.

I crossed the room and placed a hand on his arm before he could raise the shirt over his head, “I really like being around you.”

He looked up at me but made no moves to recoil or push me away, so I tested the waters some more. Gently, I pushed his arms so they were in his lap and sat on the table.

“Hailey is so lucky. What I wouldn’t give to have a mate like you.” I ran a hand down his bicep.

His brows drew together, “But I thought you already have one.”

I shook my head, “He wasn’t my fated mate. He used his power as the Beta to force my mate to reject me so he could be with me himself, since I’m the Alpha’s sister. Now, all he does is use me to perform his duties, so I know a thing or two about doing unrecognised work.”

I sniffled and squeezed his hand, “I guess I kept talking about you being the real Alpha because I want you to do what I’ve been too scared to.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you.” He was solemn, looking at me like I was some poor wounded animal.

Good.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and took a shaky breath, “What’s done is done. It’s just… I haven’t felt this way about anyone since then.”

At that, he blinked at me, searching for words, so I pulled away, “I’m so sorry. You’ve got Hailey and you two are so happy together.” I let my gaze fall to the ground, “I wish I could trade places with her.”

“Brittany, I’m sorry, but I-”

I shook my head, letting more tears fall, “No, I know. I’m so sorry for this, please forget I said anything. It’s stupid- I’m stupid-”

“Don’t say that about yourself.” He said sharply, grabbing my hands, “We all can’t help who we connect with, it doesn’t make you stupid.”

His eyes searched my face intently.

What was it about pretty girls crying that made men so fucking dumb?

“You’re just saying that.”

He shook his head vehemently, “I’m not.” Then he perked up, “Wait here, I want to show you something.”

He got up to go to the bathroom. Once he was out of sight, I raced to his closet doors and shoved the empty vial in the back, where he hopefully wouldn’t find it for the next few days. I was sitting back on his table by the time he returned with a piece of wood in his hands.

He presented it to me and I took it in my hands in a small gasp. It was a small figurine of myself, looking over my shoulder. It didn’t quite look like me and some of the details were a little off, but it was impressive nonetheless.

“I made this for you.” He said sheepishly.

I took it in my hands, “It’s beautiful…” I smiled up at him, “Thank you so much. I can’t believe someone would do something like this for me.”

“You’re worth it.” He said softly.

I’d initially intended to sleep with him and hide the vial while he had a meltdown in the bathroom afterwards, as they all did. Since I’d already accomplished what I came for, so there was really no need for me to stick around much longer.

But that didn’t stop me from wanting to have him anyway, if for no reason other than to satisfy my curiosity.

I leaned in slowly, and he did the same. When we were millimetres away, I waited, wanting him to seal the deal himself.

Instead, he pulled back and walked away, his back to me, “I’m sorry, Brittany, I just can’t. Please understand…”

I blinked.

Was he rejecting me?

All you needed to get a man to cheat was an emotional connection or common interest, a stroked ego, and to be better looking than his girl. Sometimes, I didn’t even need all of that, just an expressed interest in him and he was mine. But this time, I had everything.

“I didn’t want to tell you…” I kept my simmering rage out of my voice, “But Hailey doesn’t really love you. She always complains about you when nobody’s around to listen. I guess she thinks it won’t matter to me since I’m not a member, but I think you deserve better.”

He turned back to me and I smirked inwardly.

“I guess that’s just something we’ll have to work on together. But I still can’t do this.”

My expression froze. I was worried that if I said anything, I’d rage at him and ruin everything, so I simply nodded and shuffled out of his room. I remained silent the rest of the way to my room and took care not to slam the door behind me.

Then I kicked my trash can.

‘What the fuck was that?!’ I roared in my head at Tina.

She didn’t answer.

‘Who the fuck does he think he is? How can he reject me for that airhead? She’s not even pretty enough for him to be turning me down! And what sort of fucking response was that?! I just told you that your mate is bitching behind your back and you decide to ‘work on it together’? Where are your fucking balls?! I am the sister of an Alpha from a powerful pack! Does he not know what I can do to him for this?!’

She didn’t say a word as I shredded up several sheets of paper, unable to scream or rant out loud because I didn’t want to be heard by these degenerate nobodies. Their Alpha was a bitch that didn’t even have enough manners to greet us, and their Beta was a spineless half-wit.

Before I knew it, it was time for dinner and I was forced to clean my room and compose myself to join everyone. When I got there, James gave me a curious look, but I ignored him, consoling myself with the knowledge of our plan and what was going to happen to Tim. I tried not to stare as he ate like a happy fool, seated next to his useless mate.

I decided to leave before the effects hit me. So, half an hour into eating with half of my food already gone, I excused myself, holding my stomach on my way out. When I left the dining room, I’d been faking a small ache, but upon reaching my hallway, I was increasingly queasy. My head was swimming and my vision began to blur.

‘Just how much… did you put in the food?’ I slurred at James.

I was met with silence.

Fumbling with the handle, I opened my room door to see someone sitting on my bed.

“Who… are you?” My tongue felt like it didn’t fit in my mouth.

She smiled at me with everything but kindness, “Hello Brittany.”

I knew that voice. The bitch Alpha had finally shown herself. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew something had gone so, so wrong.

“What…” I started to ask, when the floor suddenly careened towards me.

Then everything was black.