A True Alpha Christmas

 

A True Alpha Christmas

Copyright © 2014 by Alisa Woods

December 2014 Edition

All rights reserved.

Sworn Secrets Publishing

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author. For information visit:

Alisa Woods
 

Cover by
Steven Novak

A True Alpha Christmas
 - 
New Adult Paranormal Romance

STAND-ALONE NOVELLA - best enjoyed after reading the True Alpha Box Set (Vol 1-6)

Shifters live in the shadows of Seattle, just under the skin of the alpha male, dot-com entrepreneurs who are building a new Silicon Valley in the Emerald City. Mia is your everyday college girl, trying to earn her business degree—and a shifter who’s long hidden her identity from everyone, including her mother, who believes
shifter
is synonymous with
criminal.
Six months ago, sexy and powerful alpha-male Lucas rescued her in an alley and claimed her for his mate. Now Mia’s heart belongs to Lucas, and everyone in the world of shifters understands the magic of their mating has bonded them for life. But in the human world, there’s no wedding ring on her finger to show for it. With Christmas looming, Mia’s mother wants to finally meet Mia’s mysterious and high-powered live-in lover. With her human and shifter lives about to irrevocably collide, Mia fears there will be nothing but broken hearts in the end.

A True Alpha Christmas
 is 80 pages or 20,000 words. This novella can be read as a standalone, but
readers will enjoy it more if they read the 
True Alpha
 serial (Vol 1-6) first.  

Mia’s little black dress seemed to barely exist—the hem stopped mid-thigh, the silk was so light-weight it left absolutely nothing to the imagination, and the straps on her shoulders were invisible threads of satin. The heaviest parts of her outfit were the accessories—the dangling faux-diamond earrings, the miniscule black-satin purse, and the teetering six-inch heels. They added enough glamour for a red-carpet debut, but she still felt naked and overdressed all at the same time.

She wondered if it would feel any different with a wedding ring.

She shoved that thought aside—she could deal with that later, after the party. Mia stepped out of the elevator onto the 100
^th
floor of a downtown Seattle high-rise with her ex-roommate and current best-friend, Jupiter. While Jupiter fluffed her mass of wild red curls in the reflection of the polished steel door, Mia eyed the festively decorated glass-door entrance to the White Elephant, the trendy bar that SparkTech had chosen for their holiday party. She was mated to Lucas Sparks—hot tech entrepreneur and secret shifter—but as far as the outside world was concerned, Mia was just a lowly intern, working part-time during school. Normally, she spent her time in the office running analyses and reading reports, not rubbing elbows at an exclusive invite-only party for clients, current and future. Of course, everyone at SparkTech knew she and Lucas were mated for life, but tonight, she would be no more than arm candy for him.

If he even acknowledged they were together.

Her barely-there dress seemed like an increasingly bad idea. For the tenth time in the last half hour, she considered running home and changing. Or at least putting her trench coat back on.

“Are you sure this isn’t too much?” she asked her ex-roomie.

“Lucas is going to
love
that dress, trust me.” Jupiter scowled at Mia in the mirror of the door. It
was
a ridiculous question to ask, given that Jeeter was wearing a Marilyn-Monroe-worthy dress even more revealing than Mia’s silk number. Jupiter had picked them both out, of course. And she was right—Lucas certainly wouldn’t object. It just made her look like his hot date and not his…
wife.
She blushed for even thinking the word. When she was mated for life with an unbreakable magic bond, what did it matter if she had a ring on her finger?

“What if one of Lucas’s clients thinks it’s, you know, inappropriate?” Mia asked. “This is a business party after all.”

Jupiter threw up her hands and turned to Mia. “The invite said black-tie, which means women can wear anything as long as it’s amazing. And girl, you’re going to have
all
the shifters hot for you with that.”

Mia frowned. “There’s only one alpha for me.”

Jupiter smirked. “More for the rest of us.” She twirled in her Marilyn dress and peered through the glass doors, scouting for the gorgeous shifter men of SparkTech in between the pine boughs and twinkling lights. Jupiter wasn’t a shifter, but that didn’t slow her down in lusting after all of Mia’s unattached co-workers. And there certainly weren’t enough female shifters to go around, so male shifters definitely hooked up with female non-shifters. Some more often than others. Mia was a product of just such a union, although she had never met her deadbeat shifter dad. He just knocked up her mom and left.

Jupiter dug through her blue peacock-feather purse for lipstick. She never went anywhere without that thing, and it reminded Mia of all they had been through together—good shifters and bad, but most of all, Jeeter was still her friend, even after she discovered Mia’s secret identity. Mia’s own mother didn’t know her daughter was one of
those people
. Given that shifters were enforcers in the crack gangs in downtown Seattle, especially around the dump on Jackson street where her mom still lived, it wasn’t hard to understand the bias. For years, Mia had kept her secret locked tightly away. Truth was, even
she
had believed all shifters were vicious thugs—right up until she met Lucas.

But Mia still hadn’t found a way to tell her mother that shifters weren’t just criminals. They were high-powered tech entrepreneurs and college students and generally nice people. Including her mate who was also her… boyfriend? Live-in lover? Her mom had kept her mouth shut tight when Mia moved out of her dorm at the University of Washington and into Lucas’s glamorous downtown apartment… but Mia knew she didn’t approve. And now her mom insisted on meeting Lucas.
Tomorrow.
How would Mia even introduce the man who was her alpha?

Hey, Mom, guess what? This hot billionaire tech investor wanted me to move in because he claimed me with his bite during hot sex and now we’re mated, and by the way we’re both shifters?

That would not end well.

Mia took a breath for courage. First she had to survive SparkTech’s black-tie Christmas party.

Jupiter finished reapplying lipstick that was perfect to begin with. “Show time!” she said brightly, then hooked her arm around Mia’s and dragged her through the glass doors of the White Elephant. Just inside, a young man took their coats and tucked them away in a walk-in closet filled with furs and upscale men’s overcoats. Mia’s plain trench and Jupiter’s blue faux-fur looked like party crashers next to them.