Her Sweet Alpha

Chapter One

“Werewolves—can we peacefully coexist with them or are we foolishly burying our heads in the sand? They’re stronger, faster, and deadlier than we are. Yet the Werewolf Coalition would have us believe that we are in no danger from them.”

“Can you believe this shit?” Ned, one of their regulars asked, gesturing at the flat screen mounted on the wall behind the counter. “I never thought I’d see the day when people would question if a wild animal was dangerous.”

“Need to put down the whole lot of ‘em,” Bernie grumped. “Let one of ‘em try stepping foot in my yard. I’m shooting first and asking questions later. Nothing but animals. All this nonsense about living side by side with a bunch of savages….”

Halle Fielding wiped down the counter swiftly and then dried her hands. She refilled coffee cups and tuned out the diners and the television alike. The news had been filled with nothing but werewolf talk for the last six months ever since the werewolf population decided to make itself known to rest of the world. Any pertinent information had been shared within the initial two weeks. Since then, the news had been filled with mindless minutia and wild speculation as an obvious grab at ratings. Lately, the only purpose of the reports seemed to be to stir up fear in viewers rather than to inform.

It wasn’t that Halle wasn’t as afraid as everyone else. It was just that the likelihood of meeting a werewolf was exceedingly unlikely. Their small town at the base of a mountain range would be ideal for a werewolf, but there were no secrets in a small town. Most of the citizens had been around for generations. If there were a werewolf amongst them, they’d already know about it.

Angie, her co-worker, bumped her with an ample hip. “I heard that werewolves really appreciate a woman with a fuller figure,” she whispered as she lined up a row of empty and near-empty sugar jars on the counter. “I have a friend who hooked up with one. She said it was amazing.”

Halle nodded but didn’t comment. Angie was nice enough, but she tended to lie or exaggerate. She was also the worst sort of gossip. She’d twist facts if it made the story more entertaining for the listener.

“You should try it,” Angie continued, giving Halle’s curvaceous figure a thorough once-over. Angie was chubby as well, but as she was married with three kids, she liked to declare that she had earned the right to let herself go.

Generally, Halle ignored Angie’s taunts about her figure and chalked it up to pure jealousy. Though they might weigh the same, Halle’s extra pounds settled nicely around her breasts and hips. She wasn’t fashionably slim but she was happy with her figure. Sure, some guys looked right over her as if she didn’t exist, but others were unable to tear their eyes away. Angie used to be stick thin but after her second child she really began to pack on the pounds. Her once svelte figure was now round. Round cheeks, round tummy—she had the shape of an overgrown blueberry. Halle never looked down on Angie for her weight or even mentioned it, but the other woman didn’t return the courtesy. Now, apparently, Angie thought she was so desperate that she should be willing to date a homicidal werewolf.

Flicking a meaningful glance at the television screen, Halle shook her head. “No, thank you.”

Angie rolled her eyes. “You can’t believe that nonsense.”

“I don’t. But I still don’t doubt that they’re dangerous. Besides, I don’t want a guy who will dig up my flowers and shed fur all over my house.” Halle glanced around the morning crowd at Millie’s Diner to see if anyone needed more coffee. Seeing only full cups, she put the pot back on the burner. She was covering the counter and a few tables lining the window. Millie’s was the sole restaurant in town that served a true breakfast. The cute coffee shop across the street only had muffins and scones. Even so, there wasn’t a big crowd at Millie’s during the week. It was largely senior citizens meeting up to gossip. There would be a minor rush at lunch, mainly made up of people who worked in town. Her shift would end with the lunch hour.

“All I was suggesting was a fling. I didn’t say you should bring one of them into your house.”

That logic didn’t add up for Halle. If she was going to sleep with someone, she needed to be able to trust them. Hoping to put an end to this conversation, she said, “Doesn’t matter. Where would I find a werewolf anyway?”

“There’s this bar in—”

“Lillian called in sick,” Emmett, the owner of Millie’s Diner interrupted, coming to stand between the two of them. He’d named the diner after his late wife. “Which one of you lovely ladies is willing to pull a double?”

Angie flashed Emmett the sweetest smile. No one who saw that innocent smile would know that she’d just been trying to convince Halle to have one-night-stand with a werewolf. “Sorry, I can’t. I have to be home with the kids. Emmett’s working late tonight.” Angie also just happened to be married to Emmett, Jr. She never pulled a double. Some of the other waitresses had kids and husbands as well, but they’d had to employ the services of a babysitter when they were called upon to work a double shift.

Halle was the low woman on the totem pole. She had no kids, no husband, and no man. Her evenings were free. They usually consisted of her eating dinner, watching some television while quilting, then doing a little light reading before turning in for bed. She occasionally got lonely, but for the most part, she was happy. Whenever she was really lonely, she thought about maybe getting a cat. Or a dog. Or a goldfish. Something that wasn’t too demanding.

She’d been down the relationship road. Right out of high school she’d been engaged and prepared to walk down the aisle. Only a week after she got engaged, she found her fiancé Lamar making out in his truck with another girl. They’d been dating off and on since the ninth grade so the betrayal hit hard. She’d dated a few men since then, but nothing since had been as serious. All her relationships seemed to die the same death. Either men left her for another woman or they left to find better jobs in a larger town. As much as she loved their small town, it had its drawbacks. There were few lucrative jobs and the single women outnumbered the men three to one. That gave a man plenty of choice and many of them didn’t see a need to limit themselves to just one woman. Even the unattractive, unemployed men in town had at least two girlfriends. So, her options had been to move or give up dating. Halle had chosen the latter.

Kissing her peaceful evening with a bowl of Caesar salad and mindless television goodbye, Halle said, “I’ll do it.” She could use the extra money for her wish fund. She didn’t have firm plans for the money, but it gave her a sense of security and made her feel like she had options.

***

A few counties over…

There were times when he truly wished that he wasn’t Alpha of the Stone Pack, Dade Stone reflected as he watched Mina saunter over to the booth he occupied with his friends at the back of Boyd’s Tavern. He could hope that she wasn’t searching for him, but her gaze zeroed in on him almost immediately. She moved forward with purpose, a determined spark in her big blue eyes. She looked out of place in her expensive designer clothing. The rest of the patrons wore t-shirts and jeans. Mina wore a real fur over a slinky pastel pink blouse and cream-colored trousers. The slender heel on her ankle boots was sexy, but not serviceable in these parts.

“Here comes trouble,” his best friend Travis mumbled, shoving a fry into his mouth.

“She’s not so bad,” Jack said. “She’s hot.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “There are other qualifications for a woman than a nice rack.”

“Says you,” Jack quipped. Jack and Travis were cousins. Their parents were twins that married twins, the result being cousins that resembled each other so closely that they could be siblings. They shared the same black hair and dark brown eyes. Each had a cleft in his chin. But though they were only a few months apart in age, mentally Travis was years ahead of Jack.

Mina leaned against their table, angling her hip to best show off her assets. She was curvy in all the right places. Her long, thick hair, dyed a vibrant red this month, curled over her slender shoulders and caressed the cleavage exposed by the deep V of her blouse. “Hi, Travis, Jack…Dade.”

“Hi, Mina.” Jack practically drooled, his eyes glued to Mina’s boobs.

Travis and Dade nodded politely.

“Dade, I was wondering if I might have a word with you…alone.”

Dade ground his teeth together. He knew exactly what Mina wanted and he had no desire to hear it. “We’re eating, Mina.” He indicated their plates piled high with burgers and fries.

“It’ll only take a minute. I promise.” She placed her hands together and lifted them to lush lips painted a glossy pink that matched her perfect nails. “Please?”

Dade slid out of his side of the booth, figuring it would be quicker to listen to her appeal than have to continue to ignore her pleas. She could be awfully stubborn. They’d known each other since they were children, but they had never been friends. Her family had once been members of their pack but had moved away to join a more affluent pack on the west coast shortly before Mina graduated from high school. Her parents were both attorneys. Rumor was that they had started their own firm in California and that Mina had become a model for men’s magazines. Dade highly doubted the latter. Not that Mina wasn’t pretty enough. She was. But until nine months ago when some idiot teens had filmed themselves on their cells and uploaded to the internet, werewolves had been keeping a low profile. As in, letting people believe they were mythical beings. Any werewolf foolish enough to purposefully call attention to themselves faced punishment. Punishments could be as minor as a verbal reprimand or as severe as a shunning or death. Those teens and their families had been shunned. There was no going back to their old life of secrecy, but that didn’t mean any of the packs wanted the potential troublemakers as members.

Mina had returned alone last year, fancier and snootier than ever. She’d asked to rejoin their pack and he’d seen no reason to deny her. She was a single, attractive female and the unmated males in their pack would have given him hell if he’d turned her away.

Dade followed her wiggly walk as she strolled through the hallway that led to the restrooms and the rear exit. She pushed opened the double doors causing the smell of trash from the bins to waft over him. The second he stepped into the dim alley, she shoved him against the brick wall and plastered her mouth to his. Growling, he grasped her wrists and held her away from him. “Mina, what the fuck!”

Rather than being discouraged by his rejection, she swayed toward him, her hips grinding against his. “Dade, I’d like to offer myself up for consideration as your mate.”

“No.”

“No?” Her brows rose and she smirked at him. “I think you’re interested.” She rubbed up and down against his cock. “At least part of you is.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not hard.”

“Then what is all that?”

“Oh, that is my dick you’re grinding, but it’s soft.” If her family had ever deigned to participate in any of the community runs, she would know what he looked like naked. Not that ogling was encouraged, but there were some things you just couldn’t help notice. “I’d pull it out to prove it to you, but that’d just be fucking inappropriate. Now, why don’t you stop and tell me what the fuck this is all about? You’ve never been interested in me.”

She shook her head, her long hair flying about to hit him in the face. “You’re wrong. Look, Dade, I’m aware that you’re almost thirty and you haven’t found your mate. Big guy like you, I know you’re not going to want to go without sex. I’m offering to be your mate. I think we would be good together. I’ve always wondered—” She ended on a yelp of pain as his hands tightened on her wrists and he flung her away from him.

He hated liars and he couldn’t stand being lied to. It was a fucking waste of his time. Mina had no desire for him. What she wanted was to be the mate of an Alpha. If she’d wanted him, he would be able to smell her desire. Instead, what he smelled was the sharp stench of nervous sweat. “Cut the bullshit, Mina. I know exactly what you’re up to.”

“Okay, Dade, you want it straight? Here goes. You’re almost thirty. We both know what that means. If you don’t claim a mate before thirty, you’re essentially neutered unless you find your true mate. I’m willing to be your mate. Think of the beautiful pups we’d make together. We could fuck every night—”

His cheeks turned ruddy with a combination of anger and embarrassment. No one spoke so openly of what happened to males upon their thirtieth birthday. It was true that in a matter of weeks he would be about as virile as a eunuch. Over the last year he had already noticed a lag in his libido. That would explain part of the reason he felt no compulsion to accept Mina’s offer. It’d been months since he’d been laid. The last time had been while on vacation. The she-wolf hadn’t been subtle about wanting him. He’d obliged more out of boredom than actual desire. Though he’d been able to perform, his orgasm had been hard fought and decidedly weak. It’d hardly been worth the bother to take off his pants. Prior to this year, he’d have said he had an insatiable appetite for sex.

The other reason that he wasn’t even tempted to accept Mina’s offer was that he didn’t like her. She was nice to look at, but she was a shallow, selfish, manipulative liar. The very sound of her voice made him irritable. As a teen, she’d turned his head and he’d panted after her just like every other horny male werewolf in their territory. She’d cured him of that for good by agreeing to go on a date with him. That date had never happened. He hadn’t been able to pass Mina’s predate interrogation. He’d wanted to take her to a movie and then maybe grab some ice cream. She’d quickly disabused him of that notion. His plans were far too pedestrian. She’d wanted him to pick her up in a limo and take her to a fancy restaurant that required reservations. When he’d refused, she’d called him uncouth and cancelled their date. He’d never asked her out again.

“I’m not mating you, Mina.”

“Why not? I’d be excellent arm candy for an Alpha. I have money and you have power. Together we’d be an unstoppable pair.”

He shook his head. “I don’t need your money, Mina.” His family had money. They just didn’t flaunt it the way Mina did. His parents had always taught him that they were fortunate to be so blessed, but that money wasn’t important. It could make life easier and could buy possessions, but it couldn’t bring true joy.

She grabbed his hands and clamped them onto her breasts. “Then what about this? I know you feel it.”

Dade yanked his hands away as if he’d been burned. He loved tits, but he wasn’t going to let her take advantage of his weakness. He’d be damned if he’d spend the rest of his life with a mate that merely tolerated his touch just because she let him grab her boobs. He hadn’t missed the look of distaste she’d given his clothing when he’d stood from the booth.

Dade’s brutal sense of honesty extended to himself. Though some women found him attractive, he was big and intimidating. Werewolf males tended to be large, but Alphas grew even more so. He was a construction worker. He lived in jeans and he drove a truck. He swore too much and he was happy with nothing fancier than a variety of meat and potatoes for dinner. To Mina, he had to appear even more uncouth than he’d been as a teen. He was so not her type. “You’ve had your minute, Mina.” He left her there in the alley without another word. He wasn’t worried about her safety. She could fend for herself.

He dropped back into his seat across from Travis. “Where’s Jack?” He picked up his burger and bit into it.

“Saw something he liked at the bar.”

Dade glanced over to see Jack chatting to a tiny brunette at the bar. Most likely human, Dade surmised. Jack loved humans. The tavern had been crawling with the werewolf-curious lately after someone had leaked that it was one of the local hangouts. Boyd had had to run off a few reporters for attempting to interview patrons and making a nuisance of themselves. Not everyone craved their fifteen minutes of fame.

Dade steered clear of human females. The wolf was too strong in him. He could never hide what he was. His canines were too sharp. Though some wolves had light brown eyes or blue or green eyes with a touch of gold or yellow in centers, his irises were an eerie yellow. When he was angry, he growled and sprouted hair. And his extraordinary size scared people. And in bed…. He doubted a human could satisfy him. Werewolves had strong appetites and they liked their sex rough with lots of biting and scratching. In that aspect, he was no different from the rest of his brethren.

“What did Mina want?”

Stuffing fries in his mouth, he grunted. “She wanted me to mate her.”

Travis’s guffaw practically had food flying out of his mouth. “Really? What the fuck?”

“That was my thought.”

“No offense, but I’d never have seen you as her type. She’s always dating suits.”

“None taken. She’s after power. Not many single Alphas around.”

“Do you think that’s why she moved back here?”

He shrugged. Now that he thought about it, she’d been flitting around him a lot lately. Had she been trying to snag his attention and he just hadn’t noticed? It was entirely possible. He tended to ignore her because the only other option was to grind his teeth until his incisors lost their sharp points.

“I take it you told her no?” At his nod, Travis continued. “You know she’s not going to give up, right? She can be tenacious.”

Having a beautiful woman chasing him around trying to get him into bed would sound like a fantasy if it were any other woman. “She’s wasting her time.” His thirtieth birthday was in three months. He wasn’t sure if he even got morning wood anymore. Hell, he hadn’t jacked off in almost two weeks. The only thing that would save him now was meeting his true mate. He was staring a lifetime of celibacy right in the face and he couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d known this was coming. He was waiting for the right woman. He wanted what his parents and his brother had—a union with his soulmate. If he couldn’t have that, then he’d rather be alone.

“I know that and you know that,” Travis said, “but she doesn’t. She’s going to be a real pain in the ass until your birthday.”