Alphy's Challenge

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2014
Tigertalez

 
ISBN: 978-1-77233-088-5

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor:
Karyn
White

ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of
this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written
permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

I have so many to thank for their help and support, but I want to
dedicate this book to
C.L
.
Scholey
.
Connie, you have given me the most support. Your advice and encouragement
inspired me to push forward and you were there through every challenge.

ALPHY’S
CHALLENGE

Kaska
Pack, 1

Tigertalez

Copyright © 2014

Chapter One

Gale Brooks screamed as her brother, Paul
Brooks, stumbled and fell, sliding across the forest floor. His lips were
swollen, and she could see a dark red trickle of blood seeping from the corner
of his mouth. His left eye was swelling shut, and she could see by some of his
faulty movements that his depth perception was off kilter as he struggled to
watch for the next blow the ruthless goons tormented him with. His arms and
wrists were swelling and bruising from trying to block the many hits and kicks
his foes instigated. Gale could clearly see by how he couldn’t put pressure on
them that they caused him great pain. Afraid his arms or wrists were broken,
Gale sobbed out another scream.
“Stop!”

But her cries were ignored as the taunts and
name-calling surrounded them.

The lead enforcer’s hands tightened painfully
around her arms. “Fag!” he growled over her shoulder.

“Queer!” another one sneered.

“
Poofing
fairy!”
the third one spat. The others laughed at the sound of the insult.

Another heavy kick slammed into Paul’s
stomach. “
Oof
.”

His grunts were feeding the violent frenzy
from the surrounding bigots, and Gale could see his breath was labored as he
wheezed out a wet cough. She didn’t know how much more he could take. She and
her younger brother, Paul, were fully human, from their mother’s first
marriage. They couldn’t survive as many injuries as shifters could. They were
far weaker than the shifters who were attacking him. In the back of her mind,
Gale hoped her brother could just black out like all those people did in the
movies. He was injured enough. He was obviously in enough pain.
Why doesn’t his brain just allow him to
escape the pain?

Gale futilely struggled to pull herself away
from the enforcer who held her. She wanted to run to her brother and throw
herself over him to shield him. She felt like she was suffocating from her
intense sobs, which would have dropped her to her knees if she wasn’t being
held up. She also fought her desire to vomit every time she heard the hollow
thuds to his chests and the cracks from what sounded like breaking bones.

Earlier this morning, their family had been
called in to the alpha of their herd. The alpha had somehow found out Paul was
gay and had ordered his parents to send him away. In the shifter world, to
disobey your alpha was a severe and punishable offense. Gale didn’t expect him
to refuse the alpha. She knew their stepfather Tom had the rest of the family
to think about, and had to do what was best for them. Tom had asked the alpha
for the rest of the day to make some preparations, to which the alpha had
agreed,
clearly quite pleased with thinking he won.

Even though the thought of sending her
brother away had made her sick, Gale had known Paul loved the family as much as
she did and didn’t want to cause them any trouble. As soon as they had shut the
door to their home, however, Tom had ordered everyone to start packing, but
quietly, while he made some phone calls.

Their vehicle had been in a garage that was
connected to the house. They had been able to easily pack the van without being
noticed, so long as they were quiet. Tom had had several calls to make, so Paul
had done the heavy lifting. She knew Paul didn’t mind really. He wasn’t a
twink
or slim even. He was athletic and tall even though he
was now sixteen, and he had told her how much he liked providing for and
protecting the family. He wanted to be just like Tom.

Some of Paul’s stuff had been put in his
sister’s car. They had figured it would save room in the van and look like he
was being sent packing. Gale still lived at home while she attended a local
college, but she also had a job and had bought her own beat-up rust bucket.

They had been doing great with all the prep
until they were ready to leave. Her car had been stuffed to the brim, as well
as the family’s van. When everyone had been ready to go a mere two and a half
hours after the alpha gave his order, she and Paul had headed out to the car.
That was when they had noticed the three enforcers for the herd. Paul had
ordered for her to run back inside before they snatched him up and dragged him
into the forest across the street.

They were shifters, so their strength was
stronger than normal human’s. They’d had no problems running while carrying him
as he tried to fight them off. Instead of running for safety, Gale had screamed
and run after them. They hadn’t stopped until they got far enough into the
woods so any cries for help wouldn’t be heard.

Now more hollow thuds could be heard as they
kicked at his stomach and back. Paul’s grunts of pain continued. How much
longer of this could he take? A shot rang out, causing her ears to ring loudly.
Gale was stunned by it for a moment. One of the enforcers was on the ground not
too far from Paul, holding his leg where a bloom of red was growing. Her
hearing slowly started to come back to the sounds of yelling, and shouting.

The bruising vise-grip around her upper arms
vanished, allowing her to drop to the ground. Gale didn’t pay any attention to
what was being shouted around her. She frantically and clumsily crawled over to
her brother. She could see he couldn’t move. Gale’s dirt and pine needle
covered hands shook as she held them over her brother, uncertain where she
could touch him without further hurting him.

Another shot rang out, ringing her ears some
more. She looked around and saw the two enforcers run over to grab their
bleeding friend, and take off into the forest.

Gale looked back down into the pain-filled
bloody and swollen face of her brother. She watched as Paul’s body started to weaken
and relax. Tom’s horrified and definitely concerned face appeared over them,
holding her father’s shotgun. “Paul, stay with me, kiddo. I’ve got
ya
!” Gale could visibly see relief flood Paul as he
finished slipping into darkness.

When she followed Tom as he had carried her
brother’s bloody unrecognizable form out of the forest, she had to stop by a
tree and empty her stomach first.
  

Now Gale was focusing on the dirty rear
bumper of her parents’ van in front of her, futilely fighting hard not to cry while
anxiously steering her car through the city streets to the hospital. The
steering wheel, slicked with the sweat from her palms and tears that she had
already wiped away, slipped in her clenched hands. Hooking her fingers around
the middle of the wheel, she righted the steering then wiped her hands over her
black Levi’s.

Gale’s heart felt like it was in her throat,
and all she wanted to do was wail with grief at the injustice of it all.
Those bastards!
she
thought. She had never felt this kind of fear before, the kind where you fear
for your life and the lives of those around you.

Gale turned on her blinker, and turned,
following her parents into the parking lot of the local hospital. They pulled
through the emergency room entrance while Gale continued around to the visitors
parking. Pulling into a spot, she surprised herself with actually parking
between the little white lines. As soon as she stopped, she turned off the
engine and tried to take a deep breath, only it came out as a sob when she
exhaled.

She jumped when there was a tapping on her
window. Wiping her tears away and trying to sniff through her clogged nose, she
looked to see who it was. Her mother was there, looking as distressed as Gale felt.
Right, family first,
freak later.
She nodded to her mom and grabbed her purse, keys, and
cell, and opened the door. Her mother was working on getting one of the twins
out of the car. They were two two-year-olds. They were more than a handful at
the best of times, and positively beastly at the worst, but she loved them as
much as she did Paul.

Her mother had her youngest brother, Danny,
out, so Gale reached in for her sister, Abby. They closed up and locked both
the car and the van, then rushed inside.