The Wilder Alpha

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, events, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

The Wilder Alpha copyright @ 2015 by Evelyn Glass. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Book 1 of the
Nameless Sentinels
trilogy

PROLOGUE

Jay took a deep breath as he stepped out of his trailer, glancing around the open lot that constituted his “yard.” It was little more than dirt, with a few stray blades of grass. A real yard, a real home, would be nice, one day. He rolled his eyes at the thought. The Sentinels weren’t allowed to live within the limits of Goldbridge. Some bullshit about how their place was at the edges, so they could better defend against feral packs. Even the rest of the Sentinels had glorified trailer parks where the metal cans they called
home
huddled together.

Unless he wanted to start all over in another town, his little fancy of a real yard, a real home, and a family weren’t going to happen. It was difficult enough to deal with his monthly affliction around wolves that despised him. He couldn’t imagine doing it in a human city.

His boots crunched over the dry dirt as he enjoyed the cool night. Stars splayed out above him, dimmed a little by the light pollution from the nearby town. A big, fat full moon hung heavy in the air. A tingle etched across his skin, the animals writhing just below his skin. He flexed his fingers, his nails a little sharper than they were last night.

The breeze shifted direction and, suddenly, he caught the whiff of something. It was musky and mossy with a hint of rock. Jay swallowed, knowing exactly what emitted the musk. He focused his nose and, in his head, the greenish-gold of the scent lit up behind his eyes.

His body tensed, ready to dash off in the direction of the scent. The alarm squawked at the opposite side of the town. Jay jerked his head toward the alarm, growls and snarls ballooned from the air in the direction. He caught the familiar scent of various Sentinels, already charging into the fray.

No one headed toward the scent, though. A sense of uncertainty bubbled in his stomach. What if he were wrong? The Sentinels – hell, the Goldbridge pack, even – would tear him apart if he didn’t show up to defend the town.

The scent called to him, stronger than the sirens to the east and stronger than the threat of disappointing the Sentinels. Jay followed his nose, knowing an ignored threat posed more danger than the obvious.

CHAPTER ONE

A thrill of success cascaded down Kristi’s back as the sirens screamed through the air. Usually, the alarms were an agitating reminder that suicidal dogs were fast approaching. Tonight, the Nameless Sentinels would be across town. While they fought against the Omegas – who were more than enough to keep the pathetic canines busy – her squad ransacked the town square.

Around her, the tinkling of broken glass was almost drowned out by the intruder alarms. She glanced upward, catching sight the fattened moon. The domesticated packs that saturated the town would be snug in their homes, ignoring the calls from the security systems that kept their businesses safe. While they fought the inner wolf gnawing at their bones, she and the others would swipe anything of value. Her pack noted, long ago, that little happened in Goldbridge around the full moons. Presumably, the fat dogs slumbered at home, restrained in basements and sheds, trying to forget their lupine nature. That made tonight – with its beautiful, fat moon – perfect.

Her subordinates ransacked the drug store and butcher, and swiped any and all silver. Every little bit would help, especially if the final skirmish was on the horizon, like Alpha Gavin hinted.

Kristi didn’t have time to dwell on the ultimate fight. Electricity darted across her mind a millisecond before the scent hit her. A foreign scent neared. An anticipated shiver curled down her spine. Her team didn’t need her superfluous supervising. She crept toward the new scent, stepping lightly and keeping to shadows, as it grew stronger.

Boots pounded, muffled and heavy, across the grass of the town square. Kristi hovered behind the trunk of a tree. The man slowed as he approached, his boots crunching over the broken glass of a street lamp. Electricity crackled through the air, muscles tensed. In the darkness, Kristi made out the insignia of the Nameless Sentinels on his jacket.

He turned a split-second before Kristi collided with him. He deflected her arm with a quick block, sending her elongated claws raking across his chest. He grunted and stumbled back. With space between them, they began to circle one another, fingers crooked and flexing.

***

Jay’s eyes took a moment to adjust and focus on the woman. She glared at him from under dark lashes, her raven hair a mass of tangles and braids. Her eyes glowed yellow in the night, brighter than any other werewolf’s he’d ever seen. Her lips twisted into a snarl, wrinkles climbing up her nose. He could almost see the lupine in her.

A shock wave wracked through Kristi’s body as the Sentinel eyed her. Her heart shuddered under a sudden influx of heat and adrenaline. He stood tall and lanky with a mess of short, light-colored hair. A number of scars pitted his face and, she imagined, the rest of his body. The scars weren’t surprising. Sentinels didn’t belong to packs; they ranked lower than Omegas. The scent of alcohol wafted from him, coupled with scents Kristi assigned to domesticity.

She shoved all the strange sensations aside, burying them under her bristling growl. Her teeth grew and sharpened while her muscles tensed and constricted around her bones. She prepared herself to transform, even halfway, to face this dog.

Familiar howls warbled through the air. Kristi’s head snapped up, the hair along the back of her neck rising. Short, brief messages flashed through her head. The Omegas were forced to retreat due to copious injuries. The squad had to pull back with whatever loot they managed to nick.

With her attention diverted, Jay attacked. Whatever the other feral werewolves were howling, there was no point to listening in. Other Sentinels could take care of them. Catching this feral meant they could milk her for information, for weaknesses, and directions to the encampment. He lunged forward, a growl erupting from his throat.

Kristi’s instincts jolted through her legs and she skittered backward as the Sentinel landed in a hunch. She laced her hands together, bringing the clasped fists down on the back of his head. He grunted and lurched under the impact, but didn’t fall. He glared up at her with his threatening pale eyes.

From the Main Street shops, her team scattered. Her second-in-command of the squadron barked out orders. A few were heading toward her location.

Before Kristi could determine her next move, the Sentinel charged again. She met him in a head-on collision. Both grappled and snarled, their feet grinding against the ground. Something inside Kristi’s head keened in delight as his shifting muscles pressed against her. She shook it off as a confused revelation of the fight. Pain sliced over her cheek, the taste of blood dribbled against her lip. A sudden wave of adrenaline pressed through her and she grasped her opponent by his jacket. She slammed him to the pavement beneath their feet.

Jay’s head cracked against the asphalt. Pain splintered across his skull as his ears caught the sound of a various footfalls. He groaned and whimpered, rolling over to his side. His body curled in on itself just as the she-wolf jumped on him. She pummeled him with a couple well-placed punches. The pain in his head exploded tenfold. Darkness edged his vision as his thoughts became muddy and cloudy.

Just before darkness consumed Jay, he wondered if the feral wolves would leave him as a blood-soaked stain on the street.

CHAPTER TWO

Jay’s eyes fluttered open, a pain rising with the consciousness. He groaned and pushed himself up from the dirt floor. The world wobbled around him as inklings of memory flitted into his head: Goldbridge, feral sirens, two teams of infiltrators, yellow eyes and plump lips.

The last thought brought a jolt through his body. Those delicious lips were attached to a snarl, which was attached to a feral she-wolf who had knocked him out. He shook the thought away and focused on the room. Circular orbs hung from the ceiling, bathing the room in light. He winced, the brightness making circles dance along his vision. They weren’t normal lights. No, they were probably a product of alchemy, which made touching them an ill-thought action.

“You’re awake.”

Jay started, his gaze swung away from the lights, toward the far side of the room. She stood there, lounging lazily against the wall with her arms crossed – the she-wolf he had faced off against. In the light and not filled with wolfish power, her yellow eyes took on a more amber hue. They contrasted against her tawny skin and, again, Jay felt his eyes pull toward her lips. The snarl was gone.

In the light, the Sentinel didn’t look much other than a rogue. A lone wolf with scars spattered over his arms and face. His coat had been left behind, as a message to the rest of his dogs, and his boots confiscated. One Sentinel had killed himself by eating screws that kept the soles of his shoes on. Kristi doubted anyone in Goldbridge would care for his safe return, but they’d worry about any secrets he may let loose. Without adrenaline or the wolf running through his veins, his eyes faded to a hazel-grey. His shaggy hair stuck up from his head at wild angles, dark brown at the tips and lightening to fawn brown near his scalp.

A hot tingle licked down Kristi’s spine. She tried to ignore it, but the pleasurable prickles continued to her arms to her fingers. The urge to brush his hair out of his eyes nipped at her fingers. She stifled a growl and continued to ignore the improper thoughts. She was excited and still hopped up on adrenaline. Nothing else. At least, that’s what she told herself.

After a quiet beat of survey, the Sentinel grunted, “What do you want?”

“Information,” Kristi replied as she pushed off from the wall.

Jay staggered to his feet. He didn’t need her looming over him. He wasn’t submissive and she was going to acknowledge that. The muscles along his shoulders tightened as he clenched his fists. He had nothing with Goldbridge, but he had his honor. “I won’t give you jackshit.”

Kristi’s expression hardened, her brows furrowing. She took a step forward, stomping her boot into the dirt. Her fingers curled, her muscles tensed, and her nose wrinkled with a snarl. A growl curled from her throat. “You’ll give me what I fucking want.”

“Posture all you want,” snapped Jay, prepared for a sudden lunge. “You don’t intimidate me.”

Pain jabbed into his back as the she-wolf slammed him back against the wall, her hand clutching at his throat. Jay gasped, his eyes widening as a momentary lack of air burned at his lungs. Her claws dug into the side of his neck and pain flickered at his nerves.

The women back in Goldbridge were far more docile, not that they had anything to do with him. Jay forced a swallow down his throat. Staring down at the she-wolf, he realized how much shorter than him she was. If she weren’t a hair’s breadth from strangling him, he might have entertained the pleasurable throb in his groin. He restrained the urge to retaliate. Members of her pack had to be near, although her musk overwhelmed his sense of smell.

Kristi clung to her rage. She flexed her free hand, her claws prominent and shiny under the alchemical light. Her voice lowered as she rasped, “I could slice you from nose to navel, you little whelp.”

“Whelp?” Jay let out a derisive snort. Shock had numbed the delicate warmth inside of him, but it did nothing to the sudden agitation. His synapses snapped with bruised ego and nasty indignation. His eyes focused on the she-wolf’s bewildered expression. “You’re not much older than a pup, sweetheart.”

Instantaneous rage exploded in Kristi’s head, hot and coarse. Her knuckles slammed into his jaw. The Sentinel stumbled to the side from the impact. A human jaw would explode into dust under such force.

Jay rubbed his bruising cheek, though it did nothing for his further damaged ego. Rage flickered through him and, before he knew it, he was on the feral she-wolf. His claws extended and canines becoming larger, sharper, in his maw.

Together, they both thumped to the ground. A flurry of claws and a cacophony of snarls lit through the tiny room’s air as the two struggled. Kristi kicked and bit, heaving all her weight behind her hits. It was all Jay could do to block her swift blows and attempt to return fire.

Kristi managed to scrabble atop him, pinning him to the ground. She huffed, suddenly warm and prickly. At the back of her thoughts, something pleasant crooned about the sensation of their fumbling fight. His firm body pressed against her and his struggling display to dominate her had her wondering just how far such an interaction could have gone. She shook the thoughts from her head, but not before she noticed something.

“Huh,” she grunted, rocking her hips. His erection pressed against her, needing her attention. Excited tingles laced from her core. Again, she ignored the sensations. “I must not be that much of a pup.”

Her movements atop Jay brought a shudder through his body. His face prickled with the heat of a searing flush. He couldn’t hide his excitement, though. Jay’s hands balled into fists and shifted against her hold. A vague part of him didn’t want to break free from her. Hot sensations he never felt before raked over his every nerve. Jay swallowed, his gaze never drawing away from her face, “It’s been awhile.”

“I’m sure,” Kristi snorted as she climbed off him.

The tension in the room 1iccupped. As Kristi stared down at the Sentinel, he leered right back. Confusion puckered his brow, wondering if the sudden heat in the room was his imagination.

With a little distance between them, Kristi mulled over the sudden chaos in her mind. It felt as if her blood turned to lava around this wolf. Her whole body tingled and sang, especially where his hands had touched her or where she had touched him. She couldn’t concentrate. Her thoughts were a mess of hormones and hungry heat lapped at her whole body. “I’ll be back.” She paced to the entryway, a veritable boulder. She paused for a breath as the guards on the other end received her demand to be let out. With hesitation, she glanced back at the Sentinel. He hadn’t moved. He still stared at her and, briefly, she wondered if he knew. It didn’t matter. “Don’t try to contact the Sentinels. It won’t work.”

Jay didn’t reply. He glared at the she-wolf as she ducked into the corridor. Outside, two behemoths of werewolves stood, armed with silver and perpetual snarls on their maws. The two glared at him, suspicious of his scent all over the she-wolf. Neither pursued retribution. They simply slid the boulder back in place.

A few seconds later, the alchemical fires flickered out. No doubt, a rune just outside his room controlled when light flooded his little cell. Also, without a doubt, the feral savages would disorient his sense of time with light tricks.

Jay sighed and closed his eyes. His head lowered to the dirt beneath him as pain throbbed around his body. Something else pulsated, too. A gentle whiff of the she-wolf’s scent – something akin to sandalwood and sun-baked rock – tickled at his nose. Her image, especially those iridescent eyes, danced through his head. Instant electricity pounded through his body, concentrating on his groin, his chest, his head. Pressure and heat weighed down on him and his throat ached as if he were breathless.

He opened his eyes, greeted only with darkness. Jay couldn’t shake the feeling that the she-wolf had immense meaning. What to, he didn’t have the slightest clue. Swallowing, he decided the best course of action was sleep. Sleep meant repair and rejuvenation. Closing his eyes, he attempted to sweep all thought of her – he didn’t even know her name, for Fenrir’s sakes! – from his mind.