Chosen by the Alpha by Mina Carter

Chapter One
     
    No matter what happened, there was always one thing Isla could rely on: the sheer arrogance of male wolves. That, and their overriding assumption all females found them irresistible and were desperate to get them in the sack. Mostly she was desperate to get them in the sack, if only to stop their whining, but she didn't think a sack six feet under was precisely what they meant.
    "Liam." She managed a sigh instead of a growl at the young, eager wolf in front of her. This was so what she didn't need, not with the arrival of a delegation from a rival city imminent. "The answer is no. It was no yesterday and it'll be no tomorrow as well."
    The young male didn't give any indication he heard her. One shoulder leant against the wall, his posture was all about the hip lead and pelvic tilt, thumbs looped into his belt so his fingers framed his genital region suggestively. Classic position for the horny male wolf.
    She doubted he even knew he was doing it. Just as she doubted he realized that if she gave a good yank on the brocade drapes he leant against, he'd end up in an undignified heap on the floor. Not exactly what a young wolf out to impress wanted, now was it?
    The urge to yank the drape grew, but she shouldn't. She really shouldn't. While Liam Allan was young, he was also the son of a pack alpha and likely to succeed his father. And in the convoluted world of wolf politics, she couldn't afford to make an enemy of him this early in his life.
    Lust burned brightly in his eyes as his gaze swept her figure. Ugh, she needed to take a bath, a week long one. While she never pegged Liam as a creep, having someone she'd seen in diapers look at her that way was...wrong. Just wrong.
    "Way I see it, you need a man. Female wolves always do. They're too highly strung without regular sex. And I've been watching you...you don't have a man. Haven't for years." He smiled, seeming smug with his misogynistic reasoning. "You need me, baby. Just admit it and we'll all be happier."
    Isla didn't know what to say. Of all the high-handed, insulting, male chauvinistic, fucking bullshit.
    "And that is total bollocks. A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. A woman wanting a man, however, is a totally different matter."
    For a moment, Isla thought her mouth had operated without the intervention of her brain. That it had also changed her voice from feminine and sharp to a cultured male drawl as well was interesting. A frown creasing her brow, she turned and what she'd been about to say dried up right there in her throat.
    A male wolf stood behind her. Although stood was subjective. Somehow he managed to make standing look like an indolent slouch. Tall and broad shouldered, he was dark haired and dark eyed. No ring of amber showed around his irises, but power wreathed him like a cape, an aura of charisma her inner wolf immediately sat up and took notice of.
    “And who the fuck are you?” Liam, eager to react to any perceived encroachment on his “territory,” shoved to his feet and started forward. A growl rumbled from the back of his throat, and the threat hung in the air. The guy in front of her straightened and his expression hardened, taking him from laid back to very dangerous-looking within a heartbeat.
    Shit shit shit . This was going to be a fucking bloodbath.
    “Hang on, youngster.” Isla’s voice cracked like a whip in the sudden silence of the corridor. Not the voice of a woman trying to convince a persistent guy to get lost, but the voice of the Captain of the City Guard. One who expected to be obeyed. Without hesitation.
    “Huh...he—” Liam’s confusion was palpable and he tried to push past her. Moon save her from idiot men and their territorial urges.
    There was no arguing with the hand she shot out and slapped onto the center of his chest. Her fingertips sprouted vicious looking talons. Ones she wasn’t above using if the guy in front of them was who she suspected.
    “Stow it, Liam,” she hissed, and