Lost Alpha: Collection (bbw werewolf/shifter romance) (16 page)

“It’s nothing mom,” she said, trying to sound disinterested.

“It doesn’t sound like nothing!” she said, her voice rising. “He put his hands on you.”

“I know, but it was taken care of. He’s gone now mom.”

“Your brother told me some boy saved you. Travis was his name?”

“Yes mom, he’s a friend of mine.”

“Just a friend?”

“I think he’s becoming more than a friend,” she volunteered. It was good to hear her mom’s voice so the information was just spilling out. “I’m pretty attached to him.”

“Just be careful honey,” she said. “I don’t want you to get hurt again. Do you know this boy well?”

“Kind of,” she said. “He’s a pretty good guy, very protective. He cares about me a lot.”

“As long as he treats you right. That Randy was a fat asshole.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“It’s true! Watch out for yourself dear, take things slow.”

“I will mom.”

“I have to go,” Paige said, feeling a pang of sadness thinking about how far away her parents were. She hated the fact that they’d left her alone with Billy in the middle of nowhere.

“Ok dear,” her mom said. “Be careful. I mean it.”

“I will mom,” she said, hanging up the phone. She could feel a tear rolling down her cheek as she looked at her mom’s face disappearing from the screen. She swore she would never abandon her children like her parents had; she would always be there to support them, even if they were little wolves gnawing on the furniture.

She laughed at the thought of her children turning into teenage werewolves, the plot of Teenwolf playing through her head.

“Maybe they’ll be little basketball stars,” she said, laughing.

She jumped as a loud banging on the front door nearly rattled the entire trailer. Only one person knocked that forcefully: her missing boyfriend.

“Well hello sunshine,” she said, throwing the door open. She wasn’t prepared for what was waiting for her. Travis stood on the front porch wearing nothing but his underwear. Behind him Dario stood buck naked. Both men had stained blood around their mouths, like they had both feasted on a dead animal. “What in god’s name?”

Travis studied her face for a second, the hard lines of his jaw softening as he saw the shock and fear on her face. He turned back to Dario who was grinning like a fool. “That will be all for now Dario. Meet me back here at sundown.”

“Yes alpha,” Dario said. He turned to leave, quickly
shifting
into werewolf before taking off through the woods for his own house.

Paige knew she’d never get used to the sound of cracking bone as the wolves
shifted
, or the sight of a man becoming a wolf.

Travis walked in, smiling warmly at her now. He wrapped his arms around her, putting one hand on her face. “You look beautiful.”

He leaned in for a kiss, but she quickly slid under his arms and out of his grip. “Eww no. Ok you have to clean yourself up.”

“What is the matter?” Travis asked, his eyebrows rising in confusion. 

“You’re covered in blood!” she shouted. “I don’t want that when you kiss me.”

“I did not realize,” he said, wiping at the stains on his chin.

“Did you kill one of the Lockharts?” she asked, fear gathering in the pit of her stomach.

“The wererats?” Travis asked, walking down the hallway towards the bathroom. “No.”

“Oh thank god,” she muttered.

“This was from a deer I caught and killed,” he said proudly. “It was good to have some real food for once.”

The fear in her stomach was suddenly replaced with a queasy feeling. She was going to spend the rest of her life with a predator that liked to eat furry animals. At least he wasn’t getting stinking drunk every night though.

“So what are you going to do now?” she asked, following him into the bathroom.

“I do not know,” Travis said, looking at the ground. “We need to spy on these creatures and get as much information as we can. We don’t know how many of them there are or what kind of defense they have. Can they replicate the lunar form trick they pulled before?”

“There were enough of them to destroy your pack,” she said absent mindedly. The look on Travis’ face let her know she had said the wrong words. “I mean to say it appears that way.”

“It does,” he said, dropping to his knees in front of the tub and turning the water on scalding hot. He leaned over and began scrubbing at his face with his hands, trying to get the blood off.

“Let me,” she said, sitting on the edge of the tub and grabbing a wash cloth. Travis sat perfectly still, looking up at her as she began to wash away the blood.

“I wonder if most of my pack was killed by the vampire,” he said. “That would make more sense than rats.”

“I have an idea,” Paige said.

“What is that?” he asked.

“My niece is friends with one of the rats little girls right?’ she asked. “Why don’t I take her over there and scout the place out?”

“No,” he said defiantly, standing up and stepping away from her. “I will not allow you to put yourself into danger like that.”

“It might be the only way,” she said, standing up putting her hand on the side of his wet face. “I have as much invested in this pack now as you do. Let me help.”

“I could never live with myself if they harmed you,” he said, turning his back to her. “I cannot allow this.”

“Fine,” she said, letting go of him. “You do what you need to do then. I’m going to go shopping some new clothes for you today.”

“Do not spend too much of your money,” he said, raising one eyebrow in her direction. “I do not intend to wear clothes when we return to Bowshot.”

“That will be up on the table for discussion,” she said. Paige knew it’d be impossible to concentrate on everyday tasks with Travis’ massive manhood swinging between his legs all day on top of his exposed, rippling muscles. Clothes weren’t just to protect you from the elements; they were there to protect Paige from her own libido. She felt the soreness in her loins, her body crying for a reprieve as she thought about jumping Travis’ bones every day.

“I expect there will be a lot to discuss when we return to Bowshot,” Travis said, his face darkening. “If we ever make it back to Bowshot.”

“We will,” she said. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Chapter 4

Travis watched Paige’s car roll backwards out of the makeshift driveway in front of her house, feeling a little pull of sadness on his heart. He hadn’t expected to become this attached to the human so quickly, but here he was already missing her and hoping she’d return safely to him soon.

I have a good thing going,
he thought.
She’s more than willing to be my alpha mate and she’s going to do a damn fine job of it.

Jacob had told him horror stories about human females almost being forced to join some packs. In the case of nomadic or city wolves they usually didn’t give women a chance, they just took them and forced them to live in the pack, often being shared amongst pack members. The thought of sharing Paige with any male made his blood boil. At this point he couldn’t picture bedding another female either; he had the strongest chance to produce powerful alpha children with her and nobody else.

It was the perfect day to lie in the sun and sleep the day away, but Paige had warned him not to sleep outside in human or wolf form in case somebody wandered up. Instead Travis opened every window in her bedroom allowing the sun to bathe Paige’s bed. Without another thought he quickly transformed into wolf form and hopped onto her bed. The mattress springs creaked and groaned under the weight of seven hundred pounds of wolf, but they held as he lowered himself into a comfortable position.

He felt like he was sitting on a dais above other wolves, surveying his kingdom. Instead all he could survey was dirty clothes and old furniture. Hopefully Paige would be more willing to live her life free of the shackles of clothing when they returned to Bowshot.

He had many plans for his return to Bowshot. He considered having the cabins torn down and erecting one large building for all the wolves to live together in. Jacob had taught him how other packs lived. Some tried to retain their humanity, like the Bowshot pack, living a half wolf and half human existence. Others went completely wolf and lived in caves hardly shifting out of wolf form. Travis thought the latter sounded more appealing, but he had always gravitated towards his wolf more than his human side. It was incredibly painful to pose as simple redneck Travis Bowshot over the last few days. Luckily Paige had managed to snag him a few more novelty t-shirts from the store, but he dirtied them up so quickly shifting into wolf form. He’d even forgotten to take one off the other day and had shredded it. She was going to spend her hard earned money on clothes for him; he had to be careful.

Still, there would be no use for these clothes when he formed the new pack. Dario was a lone wolf, spending a lot of time in his wolf form. He knew the elder wolf would support him in his vision for the new pack. He wasn’t quite ready to live in a cave all day, but his new pack would embrace their wolf more than the previous pack had.

Travis believed if his pack was closer to their inner wolf then they would be harder to defeat and more fierce in battle. If any more vampires or a rival pack got ideas they’d make them think twice before sending them on their way, if they chose to let them live.

It was with these thoughts that Travis drifted off to sleep, not wanting to be tired when night fell. Tonight they would do something, he was determined to make the wererats pay and get his staff back.

His dreams did not allow him restful sleep. In them he was no bigger than a common gray wolf, being chased by a pack of lunar-shifted wererats. Each of them was about six foot tall walking on hind legs with long human like arms that ended in claws. Their worm-like tails drug on the ground behind them as they pursued the wolf. Finally they caught up to him, each driving long incisors into his flesh. He gnashed and fought, trying to stop them from tearing him to pieces, but it was futile. In the end they stood over him laughing.

As he took his last breaths he noticed they were back at Bowshot, the vampire stood in the shadows, his face obscured by darkness. He was dressed impeccably in an Armani suit and he held rolled up construction plans in one hand. All around Travis bulldozers moved in to begin tearing down his pack’s cabins, preparing the land for whatever oil rig the vampire planned to erect.

Travis’ eyes popped open, revealing the real world to him again. He was in a sleep-drunk haze staring at the silvery moonlight shining through the window and into the bedroom. It took him a minute to realize there was a loud knocking at the front door.

He dropped off the bed, shifting quickly back into human form. He stretched out, trying to get used to the confines of his human body again. He found the jeans he had been wearing on the floor and slipped them on, walking to the front door.

“Hold your damn horses!” he yelled. “I’m coming.”

He opened the door to find Dario standing on the front porch, a panicked look in his eyes.

“What is it?” he demanded from his subordinate.

“They have her!” Dario said.

“Who has her?” he asked.

“The Lockharts,” Dario said, out of breath and excited. “They have Paige.”

Travis’ eyes grew wide and he nearly broke the door in two slamming his fist into it. They would pay now.

Chapter 5

Paige was speeding down Highway 7 on her way home, the backseat filled with bags of clothes for Travis. She knew the alpha wolf always wanted to remain naked, but she would have to put her foot down on this. The pack would have to remain a bit more civilized than he wanted them to. She hoped maybe they could build a nice big house in Bowshot, one that she could raise a family in. Hopefully she could get DIRECTV or something in Bowshot and DSL internet. She knew it was too far out for cable.

As she looked out at the pretty fall leaves falling to the ground she wondered what Travis was up to today.

Probably sleeping the day away,
she thought.
I’m going to have to get used to his schedule. Damn nocturnal animals.

But, why should she get used to him? She was the one with the pussy, the one with all the power. Why couldn’t he get used to her schedule? Travis thought he had the power in the relationship, but she knew who wore the pants; literally and figuratively because the werewolf hated pants.

As she drove she got into the music on the radio, dancing in her seat as it blared away. Just as the song reached her favorite part her phone began to ring. She looked down to see Billy’s ugly mug staring back at her.

“God dammit,” she muttered. “Is he going to yell at me again? Hello?”

“Paige, where are you?” Billy demanded on the other end.

“I’m driving home from Lawton,” she said. “Why?”

“I’m in Lawton,” he said. “I had to run out to pick up some items for the store. The girls are over at the Lockharts house after school, but I don’t want them staying the night. I won’t be home tonight; can you pick them up and bring them back to your place?”

Paige froze, her hands beginning to shake as she held the phone up to her ear. Her nieces played with the Lockharts all the time, but now that she knew what they were she was scared to death.

“Paige?” he asked. “Did I lose you? God damn cell phone. Paige!”

“I’m here,” she said. “Sorry Billy. I will go get the girls, don’t worry.”

“Good deal,” he said. “Don’t let them stay up all night watching TV and eating junk food. I know how you like to have your little slumber parties when they’re over.”

“We’ll be fine, Billy,” she said. “Can I go get them now?”

“I don’t see why not,” he said. “I’ve gotta go.”

Paige hung up the phone, staring at the road in front of her. She gripped the steering wheel hard and gave the gas pedal hell; she wasn’t going to let her nieces spend another minute with those monsters. What if the vampire was in the house? What if the Lockharts shifted and attacked her nieces?