Taming the Alpha (6 page)

Grant slammed his hand against the steering wheel as he watched Talia walk inside her house. If that call had been work related he’d have blown it off. But this was pack business. Serious, serious business.

A nest of vampires had settled in the area a few months ago and at first things had been okay. Vamps and werewolves didn’t mix as a rule but Grant didn’t have a problem with the other kind as long as they respected his boundaries and understood who ran this region.

Unfortunately there had been a string of unusual deaths lately.
Human deaths.
Thanks to a few detective friends he had in the local police department, so far they’d been able to keep the details of the murders out of the media. But if more bodies completely drained of blood started showing up, people would start to ask questions. Keeping a low profile was what had kept all supernatural beings fairly safe the last few centuries. If these vampires moved into town and started causing waves, it would threaten the safety and anonymity of his entire pack.

Right now Max and a few other of his pack had captured a vampire they’d caught in the act of attacking a human at one of his clubs. This bastard was going to pay for his crimes one way or another. And he was going to tell Grant everything about the coven that had settled down here.

By the end of the week, Grant planned to make sure these murderous monsters were gone for good. Whether as ash or of their own accord, he didn’t care either way.

Most of his pack lived on a stretch of beach along Gulf Shores in a condominium complex he owned. Almost everyone had a private condo unless they shared with their mate or family. He owned the two-story house next to it. Both places were a little farther down the west end of the beach from the main strip of condos and hotels, giving them privacy.

And right now they had a vampire locked down in his kitchen. Grant just hoped there hadn’t been too much of a struggle subduing the guy. Sure, once they killed him he’d turn to ash but if he’d bled a lot, there would still be the clean up factor.

As he headed down Gulf Shores Parkway, a strange tingling started in the back of his neck. It raced up his spine until the air around him practically crackled with electricity and untamed energy.

Slowly, he pressed on the brake. Since it was so late there wasn’t anyone else on the road and he had a feeling he knew what was coming. The moment he slowed, a loud thud landed on the roof of his truck then a clawed hand tore through it.
Vampire.

Dodging out of the way, Grant avoided the vicious swipe. He yanked the wheel to the right and veered toward the side of the road. The truck almost tipped over at the sudden jerk but the vampire trying to claw its way through the roof held on tight.

Another hand punctured through the roof with a sickening punch as metal creaked and ripped open. Grant slammed on the brakes completely and threw the vehicle into park.

Using all his strength, Grant lunged up and through the roof. He wasn’t going to waste time needlessly making holes when he could rip the damn thing all the way off. As he broke through into the night air, metal shards cut into him but he barely felt it. A moment later he found himself staring at a fairly young vampire.

The other man’s scent was a dead giveaway. The ancient ones had a distinctive old-world smell that he couldn’t exactly define. He just knew it when he smelled it. And this blond-haired undead, who’d likely been turned when he was twenty-five give or take a few years in human terms, was probably still close to that age. The fact that this moron had blatantly attacked him instead of using any sort of stealth also gave away his youth and inexperience. Whoever he was, he had a shitty master.

Not wanting to waste time, Grant used the speed his alpha genes had given him and lunged at the young vampire, knocking him off the top of the truck onto the grassy incline below. He landed on his feet and Grant was milliseconds behind him. Without pause, he grasped hard around the vamp’s neck and dug his fingers in hard enough to break through the skin.

The other man’s eyes widened at the show of strength. Grant was restraining himself from twisting this guy’s head off and no doubt, the vamp knew it. “Who the fuck are you?” Grant asked as he squeezed even harder.

The vamp’s blue eyes bulged out and he tried to claw at Grant’s hands but it was no use. He was helpless and had to know it. “If I loosen my hold, you’re going to answer me.”

The vampire nodded, but as he did, he flicked a glance past Grant’s shoulders. And that’s when he felt another presence. A stronger one. Not much older than this vamp, but this had been a trap, albeit a shitty one. And Grant wanted to curse himself for falling into it.

Grant squeezed his hand together in a fist and using all his supernatural strength, snapped the head off the vampire. But he didn’t have time to savor the kill. If it had been an ancient vamp, he’d have never been able to do this. As he sliced through the tendons and muscle and lopped his head off, he ducked and swiveled around. Kicking out in self-defense, he slammed his foot into the sternum of the other would-be attacker.

As the second vampire with darker blond hair went flying back, he threw something at Grant. Something shiny glinted in the bright moonlight as it sailed toward him. He tried to duck out of the way but it sliced through his shirt and skin, biting into his shoulder with deadly intent.

Immediately a burning sensation spread down his arm and it started to turn numb.
Pure silver.
He growled low in his throat, pissed off at the injury. This was a flesh wound and wouldn’t kill him but it still hurt like a bitch. Pain erupted in his veins, as if someone had poured scorching acid on an open wound.

Biting back the pain, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. While the vampire recovered from the kick, Grant hit speed dial three and let the phone fall to the dirt. Max would answer and hear the commotion. From there he’d be able to figure out how to find Grant. They all had tracking devices in their phones in case of emergencies. He didn’t scent any other attackers nearby but just in case, he wanted to call in backup.

Right now, Grant wasn’t interested in talking. It was time for his beast to take over. He’d be faster in wolf form and the flesh wound he had would heal that much quicker.

He let out a howl that tore through the night air as he underwent the change from man to animal. Fur quickly replaced skin as his bones and ligaments broke and realigned into his wolf form. His shredded clothes and shoes silently fell to the soft earth.

The grass beneath his paws was cool but he barely noticed it. Was barely aware of anything as the desire to kill took over.
No one
ambushed him and no one dared to encroach on his territory without paying the price.

With a snarl, he lunged at the vampire. As he flew through the air, his jaw opened and he prepared to tear the vamp’s head off. When his teeth closed around the vampire’s neck, coppery bitterness filled his mouth.

At the same time, a sharp pain filled his belly as he felt something pierce him. Letting go, he watched as the vampire’s limp body crumpled to the dirt, separate from its head. He stumbled back and tried to gain his footing but couldn’t stay on all fours.

Sluggishness started to roll over him, threading through his veins until he could barely keep his eyes open. Before he could see how bad the damage was or what the hell had sliced into him, blackness engulfed him.

Chapter Five

Talia slammed her car door with more force than necessary. Two days. Two. Damn. Days. And she hadn’t heard a peep from Grant. She didn’t care how busy the man was, she was done playing second—or twentieth—fiddle in his life. Lord, she had to keep
some
pride. She’d worked a double shift yesterday and hadn’t heard a word from him. He hadn’t even come into the bar. Neither had Max for that matter, which was pretty weird. One of the bouncers had been on temporary management duty.

Then Grant hadn’t shown up or called her today, either. No one was so busy they couldn’t pick up a phone and call. Or hell, text. Even if it was pretty impersonal it would be preferable to nothing.

It had probably been a stupid idea but on the way home from work she’d called a guy who’d given her his phone number when she’d been out with Sarah. And he wanted to take her out tonight. Working as a bartender she got a lot of numbers and usually trashed them all but when she’d found this one crumpled at the bottom of her purse, she’d taken it as a sign.

It was time to get on with her life and stop pretending Grant was ever going to give her what she wanted. He wasn’t a bad guy, far from it in fact, but she couldn’t be with someone who couldn’t emotionally commit. Hot sex would only get them so far and she didn’t want to waste her time anymore. Even if she did love him.

The moment she thought the words, something in her heart twisted painfully. She hadn’t wanted to admit it to even herself, but it was true. Grant was so incredibly loyal to all his workers to an extent she’d never before seen in a boss. And he was so giving and attentive to her in bed. But she couldn’t live with coming in last every time. It chipped away at her heart too much and eventually she’d resent him. At least she was clear headed enough that she realized that.

After showering and cleaning the bar smell off her, she started getting ready for her date. Her heart might not be in it but she forced herself to put on some makeup and find something decent to wear. She had to take this step or she’d keep falling back into Grant’s arms anytime he called. Well, if he called.

* * * * *

Grant tried calling Talia again but it went straight to voicemail. Again. It had rung the first few times he’d called but now it didn’t even do that. If he had to guess, she’d turned her phone off because she was avoiding him. Not that he blamed her.

To her, he’d fallen off the face of the earth with no explanation. Well, no explanation he could give her over the phone. Not without freaking her out or sounding crazy. There wasn’t a subtle or sane way to tell her he’d been stabbed with a silver knife that had also been tipped with liquid silver and that it had gotten into his veins and nearly killed him.

If he hadn’t been so strong, he would have died. Luckily he’d been able to push the remnants of silver out of his system. He was still weak after almost two days of being unconscious, but at least he was on his own two feet again. He’d had to stay in animal form to heal and now that he could form coherent sentences, all he wanted to do was see and talk to Talia.

The pack might have some vampire issues to deal with but it was time to come clean to her. And he had to do it in person. If he could explain to her why he was so busy most of the time and bring her into pack life, things like communication wouldn’t be a problem. He wouldn’t have to worry about lying to her about where he was going or what he was doing anymore. He could ask her to move in with him and not worry about her seeing humans turn to furry creatures at all hours of the day around his place. Of course, that was assuming she could handle the truth of what he had to tell her.

With at least one missing rogue vampire still on the loose, he couldn’t sleep without knowing Talia was okay anyway. After killing the two vamps the other night, Max had found him and brought Grant back home. Instead of Grant interrogating the vamp they had already subdued, Max had done the honors. With Grant unconscious, he hadn’t had any say in the matter.

Max had managed to find out that a group of young, inexperienced and hedonistic vamps thought they could make Gulf Shores their home. They were a small coven and if Grant had to guess, they’d banded together because no self-respecting vampires would take them in. They were a disgrace to their own kind. Completely draining humans was pointless and a sign of uncontrollable bloodlust.

From what the vamp they’d captured had admitted—if they could even believe him—they still had to hunt down one more vamp. Grant’s pack had killed three more the same night he’d killed the two, and right now most of his pack warriors were out patrolling everywhere so it wouldn’t be long until the rogue was found and killed. Unless he’d already left town. If he was half-smart, he’d be long gone by now.

While Grant wanted to be out there hunting and fighting he’d decided to delegate the job to his pack instead. Seeing Talia was more important at the moment.

Even though he knew she’d be pissed to see him if her non-answering was any indicator, he borrowed Max’s truck and headed for her place anyway. She lived closer to downtown and closer to Crescent Moon Bar than he did but it wasn’t too far away.

Ten minutes later he parked by the curb in front of her house with a sinking sensation. Telling her the truth about himself was going to be hard and now he had no doubt she was ignoring him considering her car was there. It was only ten so he doubted she was asleep yet, even if she had worked all day.

He got out of his truck and headed toward her front door. After knocking once, he frowned then inhaled deeply. Her subtle essence twined around him but she wasn’t at home. Using his extrasensory hearing, he paused and listened by the door but didn’t hear the beat of her heart. Or any signs of life inside.

She’d probably gone out with friends. Common sense told him to leave and come back in the morning to see her, but he couldn’t wait that long. Especially if she’d gone on a date. That thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he shoved it aside. After being unconscious for two days, the moment he’d woken up he’d tried to call her. He wasn’t going to leave and come back.