Chapter 1

Sheppard

“Alpha.” Holt had knocked on the door, but he hadn’t really waited for me to answer before bursting in. “There’s a man at the pack gates. He said you requested him?”

I groaned and slapped down the paperwork I was going through. There was a chunk of property that butted up to our lands, and the government had made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, but there were stipulations that I questioned.

“What man? What does that even mean, I requested him?”

I was only half paying attention. I had betas for several reasons, one of which was to take care of bullshit like this so I didn’t have to.

“Alpha,” Holt said with a new tone, an urgency that made me look up and pay him some mind. “The man is a polar bear shifter. Says you requested him on an app for mates. Something called Male-Order app? He’s come here all the way from Alaska.”

I screwed up my face but stood. I would have to take care of the situation whether I had betas or not. I stomped through the house and into the security room where all of the video surveillance feed was. The two betas in charge of said security stood when I entered, and I pushed past them to look at the screens lining the walls.

“This man?” I pointed to the monitor in the dead center. The pack gate monitor.

The male at the gates was shorter than me, by about five inches if I was judging the vision correctly. His bronze skin and blue eyes could make a weaker alpha forget his own name.

I wasn’t that weak alpha, for the record.

“Let him speak,” I commanded the security guard at the gate through a walkie-talkie.

One of my guards waved two fingers at the male. He smiled at him for some reason that gripped my chest. He reached the security booth, stepped inside, picked up the walkie, and spoke into it. “Hello?”

His voice washed over me, but I steeled myself against such things. Always had. I had no room in my life for romance or a mate.

Pack first. Pack always. Then self.

That was what my father had ingrained in me since birth, and I lived by the creed.

“This is Sheppard, alpha of this pack. State your purpose.” Okay, that sounded a little more Marines than alpha, but that was my job. I didn’t have time for this bullshit.

“I am Toklo. I have been messaging you on the app and you told me to come here at my earliest convenience.”

I scoffed as he put his phone up to the camera as though I could possibly see it.

“Alpha, is this an enemy? Someone trying to infiltrate our lands?” Holt said behind me. He always had been a bit skittish.

“No, he’s clearly just confused.” “Look, I don’t know…”

Just as I was about to tell this man to hit the hills running, my best friend and number one beta, Ren, arrived, his chest heaving like he’d run all the way from Canada to be here at this moment. “Alpha…Sheppard…”

“What?” I barked, needing to know what the holy hell was going on. “I did it. He’s here because of me.”

My bear wrangled inside me, not pleased about this male being here for Ren.

“Explain now before I start busting skulls.” Gods, it was one of those moments when I cringed, knowing I sounded exactly like my father.

“Alpha, I’ve been talking to the male on the app. Pretending to be you.” Gasps filled the office, but I said nothing. My anger wouldn't let me. “Sheppard, you need an omega to steady you, and you won’t look for one, and we don’t see you date…”

“So, you took it upon yourself to find me an omega on some app, and now this male is here expecting something?”

He nodded though, to his credit, his gaze stayed locked on the floor. “Yes, alpha. He is here to be your husband. Your omega. I…”

I whirled on the screen and forced myself not to take another look at the man before I did what I had to do.

I’d been betrayed by my best friend and set up in the worst way. Pain curled around my sternum like a venomous snake that had just stricken me right in the heart.

“Toklo, whoever you are. This is a mistake. Go home. Forget the app. And one more thing, don’t ever come back.”