Stealing the Alpha’s Heart

I woke up feeling dissatisfied, and it took me a couple of moments of listlessly rolling around in bed to figure out why. At first, I thought it was just that I was hungrier than usual, and then it was that my cycle was coming. But by the time I sat up I realized I was missing Theo’s scent first thing in the morning. He always woke up before me, leaving his scent thick in the air as I went about my morning business.

It was disconcerting, to say the least, leaving me rather cranky as I went about my own morning routine. Grumbling to myself, I had to pause in the middle of making him his usual cup of morning coffee.

Huh.

Maybe I was more cut out for the whole mating thing than I thought. I’d felt trapped by it at first. And then like it was something I had to come to terms with, to endure. But clearly something had changed, because it didn’t feel that way anymore.

Not that I knew what it felt like. Just that it was different. And maybe different wasn’t such a bad thing.

But what was a bad thing was just how much I missed him. I wasn’t used to having my heart tied to someone. I’d lived alone since I was nineteen and I loved my independence. Or at least I had. Now my house just felt kind of lonely. Empty.

Which was ridiculous because the only thing that was different was that I was down one sarcastic, dry, snarky, and occasionally-a-d**k man who also happened to be my brother’s best friend.

Oh well. I wasn’t going to get anywhere pouting about it, so I put his mug to the side and tried to focus on my morning routine. Since Sam was gone, I was going to have to risk doing the new hire’s orientations without his input, but I figured he could always come by the next day and do some magical sleuthing.

Maybe I would be lucky and all the extra work would keep me occupied long after closing hours. Lyssa was going off to visit Ashlee, the girl she helped rescue, as soon as her shift was over. Besides, I got the feeling that she had a lot of homework to do as well. As much as I supported her academic career, it sure was inconvenient sometimes.

Somehow I managed to make it out of the door without being in a completely sh!t mood and made my way to work. Being around new people made me incredibly apprehensive, the back of my mind always wondering if they were a witch sent to hurt me or the ones I loved, but I would have to tough it out if I wanted to run a successful business.

First thing first, however, was my meeting with the tech guys to unify the separate security systems of both halves of my shop. Both worked, but they went through different systems that were in the back—not exactly conducive to keeping an eye on things. So they were going to do their thing over the next day and a half so everything could be viewed properly from my office.

Normally, I would be nervous about a bunch of strange men in my space while my alpha and mate were out of town, but they were all either from our pack, or nearby packs. And sure, it wasn’t that long ago when we had been somewhat at each other’s throats, but the current surge of missing shifters had the entire city’s shifter population working more peaceably with each other.

Thankfully, my meeting with them went quickly and I was able to chat with Lyssa a bit, give her the tasks for the day, then get started on invoices before the new hires came in. I greeted them warmly and gave them a tour of the place sans the back, explaining that the space was currently occupied by tech. Besides, I figured if one of them was an evil witch, I wouldn’t want her to know the complete ins and outs of everything.

Once paperwork and explaining our online system was done, we’d already eaten through a good chunk of the four hours I’d originally told them to come in for. And then payroll took nearly another hour. Naturally, I bought them lunch on their very first day, and we all sat or stood around the checkout counter.

“I’m really relieved you have chairs,” one of them said. Oh goodness, I needed to check her paperwork. Was she… Stacy? Jessica? Ann? Stacy-Ann-Jessica? “The last store I worked at always insisted if you had time to lean, you had time to clean.”

“Oh, gross,” I said as I chewed my second panini with double meat and double cheese. Maybe I was just hungry or maybe I was stress-eating from the thought of going home to my empty house, with who knew how many malicious entities watching my place. Sure, I still had plenty of security always lingering in the peripherals, but security wasn’t Theo. “Don’t get me wrong—if you want to sit around all day, you won’t last long here—but I also don’t believe you need to be occupied every moment. It’s okay to sit and recoup for a bit, or to ring out a customer while being comfortable. I’ll never understand the weird obsession with making workers be as uncomfortable as possible.”

“I think it comes from people’s need to feel better than service workers, or something,” Lyssa said around her own mouthful of food. I couldn’t help but notice that she had a small bag of extra cookies beside her. If Ashlee wasn’t spoiled already, she would be eventually. But with everything the young girl had been through, she probably deserved as many cookies as she wanted.

“There’s this perception that minimum wage workers deserve abuse for having a ‘low’ job. People will say that they’re meant to be entry-level jobs, but that’s not what they were created for.”

“They’re not?” the other new hire asked. Goodness, I had picked them out with Lyssa. How come I suddenly forgot everything about them I’d ever heard?

“Nah, it was made for a single, full-time worker to be able to have a home and provide for one spouse and two children while living comfortably.”

Stacy/Ann/Jessica let out a snort. “I worked two min wage jobs before here and I can hardly support myself.”

“Exactly! That’s why it’s all bupkis.” I had to admit, it was nice to see Lyssa so passionate about something. I’d been wealthy pretty my entire life, so I wasn’t aware of what it was like to struggle like she did, but I recognized that my position was mostly luck. It wasn’t like I’d strategized as a fetus on how to be born to loaded shifter parents. “Look, I’m a hard worker, but I don’t believe in senseless work. Everything should be productive, not just because.”

“Amen.”

It was nice to see all of us bonding, and I really hoped that one of them wasn’t secretly the enemy. I really didn’t need that stress on top of everything else. Not to mention how stressful the hiring and payroll process was.

But as much fun as lunch was, after we all went back to our tasks, the feeling in the shop began to change. It started with another niggling feeling at the back of my neck, making my hair stand on end. But as time passed, it shifted into a bad pit in my stomach.

Ugh.

I tried to shake it off, but the anxiety was biting. When invoices weren’t enough of a distraction, I pulled out my phone and quickly shot a text off to Theo, telling him that I missed him. Once more, I was tempted to call him, but unlike the previous time, my phone didn’t magically begin to ring.

“Are you alright, Miss Reese?”

I didn’t look up from the counter as Ricky did his daily afternoon walk-through. I was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to, being undercover and all, but I appreciated that he would stop in. It made the whole thing seem less strange and awkward.

“Yeah, just a little stressy.”

“Anything you want to talk about?”

“No, not particularly,” I said with a sigh. I couldn’t imagine spilling my guts to the guy who spent hour after hour watching over me. I felt like I would sound so incredibly spoiled. “Just thinkin’ about stuff.”

“Sounds heavy.”

“Oh, you know, getting that mental workout in,” I said with a wink.

“Well, don’t over-do it, ya know?”

“I’ll try not to.” I set my silent phone to the side and rubbed my eyes. “Hey, have you eaten? You want me to order you something?”

“You know you’re not supposed to do that. We’re trying to be incognito.”

“Right, because nothing is more incognito than the same group of ten male shifters hanging around a clothing boutique.”

“You…you may have a point there,” he laughed. “Well, if you want to send something from that deli you’re always going to, I won’t complain.”

“Sure, I’ll have it delivered to the man in glasses who always sits at the east table at the cafe across the street,” I shot back, giving him an angelic look that my brother always described as the total opposite.

“Oof, I suppose we should switch up our routine a little.”

“Just maybe.”

With a nod, he headed out, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Quickly, I grabbed my phone again and checked if I had any new notifications. Sure enough, Theo had messaged me back, apologizing for his delay and promising that he would be home tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow was better than later, I supposed. But I couldn’t lie that I was disappointed I would be going home to an empty house once again. And waking up that way, too. What a bummer.

Actually, it was more than a bummer. I felt my mood tanking, combining in a twisted slurry with the terrible feeling in my stomach. I tried to push it down, I did, and instead, focused on ordering every single guard their own loaded sub.

Sure, food couldn’t fix everything, but it did help me feel better to feed people, especially people I was inconveniencing. While it was true that I would feel much better if I wasn’t constantly being guarded, I understood that I needed them around. Even if I really, really hated it.

At least ordering took a good while, as did the hour wait for all of it to arrive. While I delivered Ricky’s out to his table, I told him to send the others in one by one, desperately trying to ignore the trepidation that felt like it was slowly coating the inside of me.

He said he would and I hurried back inside, eager to make sure the girls were alright. With so much anxiety flowing through me, fear easily found its way into my brain, biting and scratching in that desperate way it had.

Thankfully, nothing seemed amiss when I entered, Lyssa dutifully showing the girls how to properly do reshops. I heaved a sigh of relief, then busied myself with updating payroll on the new hires. Less than ten minutes later, another one of my guards came in, grinning broadly.

“Ricky mentioned you got us some subs?”

“My good man,” I cried in mock indignation. “These are not mere ‘subs!’ These are delicious grinders from a local delicatessen that has been a pillar of this community for generations!”

“Ah, forgive my blasphemy. Can I have this delectable, nay, rapturous gift from the heavens?”

“Why yes, you may,” I said, bowing dramatically. “Go, and enjoy this divine providence!”

I barely got the sub out of the bag when that feeling in my stomach shot up to my chest and I froze in place, the entire world rushing by my ears.

“Miss Reese, are you okay?”

I couldn’t answer. It was like my body was locked in shock and horror. Except nothing was happening for it to react that way.

Until it did, of course.

A moment later, the doors opened and three bodies rushed in. I finally jerked, the spell over me breaking just in time for me to recognize one of the women in the ambush.

It was the witch.

Not just any with. The witch. The one that had attacked me, nearly killed me. Her face was burned into me the same way my parents were, except filled with fear and vileness instead of love.

“Attack!” I managed to scream out, dropping the sub.

It seemed like several dozen things happened at once. The three witches raised their hands and I could feel their energy crackle through the room. Lyssa let out a snarl and grabbed both of the human new hires by the neck, shoving them into my office and locking the door. I could hear them shout questions in confusion, but they barely registered as I was already shifting.

My body lurched forward, fur exploding out along my skin as my limbs elongated, snaps and pops sounding throughout my store. In the very back of my mind, I was aware that the shop I’d just had renovated was about to be destroyed again, but it registered as pretty unimportant compared to my instincts that I needed to tear apart my enemies.

These were the people who’d been hunting shifters. Who had hurt Lyssa and wanted to hurt her again. And that thought filled me with a fire so potent, I was surprised that I didn’t combust right then and there.

With one push of my hind legs, I closed the distance between me and the witch who’d caused Theo to have to mate me, teeth wide open for her throat. My inner wolf was nearly mad with thoughts of revenge, of protecting everyone who was close to me, but before I could close that final foot, a strange, frigid force slammed into me, knocking me back into the counter.

Well, there went that.

I let the energy roll me, not fighting it but moving with it so I could land on my feet. In my peripheral vision, I could see that the guard and Lyssa had both shifted, with each of them dealing with their own witch.

It was an even three-on-three with two humans locked in my office, but that was the thing with witches; it was never even. Their skills were varied and their spells often packed nasty punches. Punches like intestines filling with lava, or sudden blindness, or even losing the connection to an inner wolf entirely, like what had happened to Lyssa for years.

But I couldn’t be afraid of that. I refused to. I may not have been the largest or strongest wolf in our pack, but I would defend my fellow pack members with my life.

Claws skittering across the floor, I finally managed to slow down enough to bound forward. The witch was already facing me, no doubt bracing herself for a frontal attack. At least that was one good thing about fighting witches: they chronically underestimated us shifters as dumb brutes.

But I could work with that.

I rushed her in a straight line, snarling the whole while, but at the last second, I dove to the side, sliding over the linoleum floor and jumping onto my closest clothes rack. It wasn’t a move an actual wolf could pull off, but hey, I was so much more than that.

Twisting in the air, I barreled into her side. Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting it, but also clearly, she knew her way around a battle, because she brought her free hand to my side, blasting me with a jet of fire.

Sh!t!

It burned, as fire was wont to do, and a pained yip shot out of my mouth. But it was muffled by her other arm being lodged in my mouth, my teeth baring down into the limb. Her b***d welled up in my mouth, sending me into a frenzy that didn’t care that she was shoving a fireball into my pelt. That was what accelerated healing was for, right?

“Come on, princess,” the witch snarled with a surprising amount of tenacity, considering that I was trying to consume her main casting hand. “We both know your savior isn’t here to help you.”

Oh, so they had noticed that, had they? So we were right that they were continuing to surveille us. That was good to know.

“There’s only three of you here. You know that’s no match for us,” the witch snarled again before the fire stopped coming from her hand. But I didn’t have more than a beat of relief before it felt like two giant hands gripped me and ripped me away from her.

I was thrown through the air with a force that was entirely unnatural. I slammed into more of my shelving, but unfortunately, it was the glass set I liked to display jewelry on. I felt it shatter all around me as I flopped to the ground, my inner wolf momentarily cowed.

“So why don’t you give up quietly?”

The pain was too much. I knew that I needed a moment, so I let my wolf form slowly slide away to leave me as a human. Battered. Bruised. But not with an hole incinerated into my side.

“While it’s true you’ve got the numbers right now,” I g*****d, looking past her to see that Lyssa had been herded into a corner and the male witch was in a deadlock with the guard. “That’s not gonna last long.”

“Wha-”

She didn’t even get the word out before two of the front windows shattered, the rest of the guards, including Ricky erupting in. I would recognize his russet-toned wolf everywhere, the black streak down his back a dead giveaway.

Clearl,y subtlety was out the window. There were two humans in the office who were witnessing everything and who knew how many people on the street. The council was going to be furious. But hopefully, killing three shifter hunters would sate their anger.

The witch in front of me cursed and her attention turned from me to face the new threats. While I was human, I decided to take advantage of having opposable thumbs. Crawling towards where I’d left my phone, I rooted around for it in the debris until I found it. Thankfully, while the screen was cracked, it wasn’t shattered beyond use.

“Get back!”

A call from one of the witches drew my eyes to them, and I saw that they were standing together, a force field around them. One of the guards was unconscious at their feet, but Lyssa and the rest were circling them.

I wanted to join them. No, I needed to fight tooth and nail for my pack. But I had to do something else first.

Hitting the button to return call the last person I spoke to, I dialed up Theo. Heart thundering, I prayed that he would answer. I generally avoided answering machines, but getting one now would be just about the worst.

Thankfully, he answered on the second ring, voice laced with concern. “Emma, what’s wrong? I can feel you panicking through our bond!”

“Witches are attacking the shop! And two of my human employees are here!”

“They what? And who is there!?”

“Three witches and two humans! Come home, we need you now!”

“We’re on our way! Whatever you do, don’t let those humans leave until one of our witches get there. We’ll need to wipe their minds.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t!”

With that completed, I hung up and let my wolf take over again. She was refreshed from her short rest. Not 100% of course, but there was no hole burned into her side. Yet another benefit of being a shifter.

I let out a howl and raced forward again at full speed. I hit the force field around the witches at full strength, muzzle first, my teeth tearing at it. And I got most of my muzzle in before a hail of icy spears came shooting out. I dodged them, but it forced me back with the rest of my pack, who were also snarling. Daring the witches to play as big a game as they talked.

“You’ve got the luck of a cat,” the witch that had first attacked me snarled, b***d still dripping from her arm. I could still taste it on my tongue, acrid and just wrong. But I wanted more of it. I wanted it to spill across the floor until I could coat my entire pelt in it. So I could show every one of my enemies what happened when they dared to try to hurt those I loved. “But you can’t live every moment of your life protected.”

I let out a sharp bark, and even if she couldn’t hear the form of telepathy that shifters had in their animal forms, I could tell that she understood me plenty.

I have a pack. Of course I can.

“We need to retreat before more of these fleabags come in,” the male hissed, his face and leg bleeding where the guard had gotten a few good bites in.

“This is more than we prepared for, Ellan.”

The woman stared me down, her witch eyes glowing slightly. Our gazes locked, and I got the sense that I was officially meeting my mortal enemy. Well, that was fine. If she wanted to be my nemesis, I would show her just how sharp my teeth were. No matter what kind of shield they had.

“Fine. We’ll leave for now. But this isn’t over, mutt. This will never end.”

With one last glare, their forcefield filled with smoke, obscuring them from our vision. I lunged forward again, my teeth making it through their barrier but little else. I fought, I fought as hard as I could, me and my inner wolf pushing so hard that our muscles were straining. But I was determined. The specters that haunted my pack needed to go.

But just when I could feel my body begin to give out, the shield vanished entirely. I skidded through the smoke, prepared for an attack. But there wasn’t one. In fact, there wasn’t anything at all. The circle the three had crowded themselves into was empty, leaving only the vague taste of smoke in the air.

They vanished? I knew witches were powerful. but I didn’t know they could do that!

“Hello?! What’s going on out there!? Are we being mugged?”

Stacy/Ann/Jessica’s voice drifted to my wolf ears and I realized that I had to act very quickly. There would be no respite from the furor of battle; I was going to have to hop into damage control right away.

Shifting back into my human form, I staggered for a moment. Flickering back and forth between my two selves so rapidly was plenty demanding on my body, but with my sudden healing on top of it, I was especially drained. But I only gave myself a moment’s rest before rushing to my office door.

“It’s okay, it was just, uh…gang activity!”

“Gang activity? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, they ran off once they got our cashbox!”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. But at least everyone is okay?”

“Yeah, everyone’s okay.”

“Well…could you let us out then?”

Right. I supposed that was a natural thing to ask. Alright then, I needed to stall. Because I definitely didn’t need them coming out right away.

“Uh, hold on. They’ve knocked some stuff in front of the door. Let me and Lyssa clear it out.” Quickly, I grabbed the remnants of the counter and shoved it in front of the door. I’d never been so grateful that the entrance to my office swung outward into the main shop instead of inward.

“Please do! I really gotta pee!”

That wasn’t the first I’ve heard of such an adrenaline response, but jeez, it sure was some inconvenient timing.

“Uhhhh, use the monstera pot in the corner?”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope, very much not. But I’m gonna call the police now, then Lyssa and I are gonna get you out.”

“Right. Well, hurry, please. I really don’t want to have to pee in your houseplants on my first day at a new job.”

“Can’t blame you there.”

I did indeed hurry off, but not to free my employee as she asked. Instead, I piled a few more things in front of the door. Yeah…I was a bad boss. But I was doing it out of the goodness of my heart, or something like that.

“Damage report,” I said, striding towards Ricky, my fury at the situation the only things fueling me. I felt like someone had scraped out my insides, leaving me an exhausted mess.

“We’ve lost one of our men.”

I swallowed down the gasp that wanted to fight its way out of my throat. “Who died?”

His grim expression made my heart drop even further. “He’s not dead. He’s taken.”

Oh no, they did not. When I made the promise to myself that we weren’t going to lose another pack member, I meant it.

“You have to go after him!”

But the security didn’t go after them. Instead, Ricky just looked at me with a truly worn expression. “Ma’am, if we leave you now, they’ll just use the opportunity to round back and attack while you’re isolated. Both you and Miss Lyssa are amazing fighters, but you’re exhausted. And two weary shifters against three expert witches are not great odds.”

He was right. He was right, and I knew it, but I also hated it. My brain scrambled for some other option where we didn’t just abandon our fellow packmate to whatever it was the kidnappers were doing with our kind.

“Then send half of you! No wolf left behind!”

“There’s no trail, Miss Reese,” Ricky reminded me. God, I wanted to be so angry at him, but I could tell that he hated what he was saying as much as I hated hearing it. “Even if we did send out half of our number, they would need to stick together for safety. So, without some sort of trail to follow, the best they can do is run around and hope to stumble on three injured witches.”

D*mmit.

D*mmit.

It wasn’t fair. Any of it. My teeth again ached with the urge to rip that vile witch’s throat out, and I couldn’t help but be a little irritated at myself for letting her slip away again.

Still, the look of fear on her face when she and her friends had been forced to retreat into their little bubble was quite satisfying. I hoped to see it again when I got my proper vengeance.

“I got in touch with one of the Alma’s witches,” another guard said, jogging up with his phone pressed to his chest like someone was still on the line. There were four deep grooves along his cheek and left shoulder that I guessed were from the ice spikes, but they were already sluggishly closing up. “Our Alma says she will also come with to make sure everyone’s alright.”

Ricky nodded, and I couldn’t help the nerves that bubbled up in my gut.

“Are we sure they’re trustworthy? The witches, that is?” I asked, chewing on my l!p as I did. I liked to think that I wasn’t prejudiced as a person, but with all the witches attacking us lately, it was hard not to feel apprehensive around them.

“If the Alma uses them as contacts, I would say they are.”

“Right, okay. That makes sense.”

But even if it did make a fair bit of sense, I was still nervous as we waited for the magical users to arrive, Savannah and her guard right behind them. I pointed to where the human employees were still trapped and the witch moved the barriers aside with a wave of her hand before entering. As for our Alma, she went around to each person, making sure we were alright.

“I can feel your energy waning,” she murmured as she finished up with me. I only had a few scratches so my examination was fairly short. Switching between forms multiple times could do that, but I was gonna pay for it with a very sore day when I woke up again.

“Yeah, that’s a good word for it.”

“Here, drink this. It’ll help you have a full night’s rest and ease the whiplash tomorrow.” She handed me a little vial of bluish liquid from her belt and I drank it down. I expected something vile and noxious, but mostly it tasted a bit like…really flowery and herbal Gatorade.

“That’s not bad,” I said, handing her back the empty vial.

Her face lit up in a way that always reminded me I needed to hang out with Savvy more. Ever since I’d stopped staying at her house, I’d gone to one dinner with her. She had to be lonely, and that just wasn’t right considering how much she did for us.

“You think so? It’s a new recipe!”

“Yeah, it kinda reminds me of a sports drink, but healthier and with less sugar.”

“Ah! That’s amazing, thank you. There’s some chamomile and dandelion in there for sweetness and the sleeping, but a bunch of other stuff I wasn’t sure on.”

“You did great.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder, and goodness, one would have thought I’d handed her a Nobel peace prize with how she beamed at me. “Lyssa will love it, too, I’m sure.”

“Well, that’s good, because she needs it.” With a determined nod, Savvy went over to the shifter in question, leaving me to sit there a moment and decompress.

In fact, I was still decompressing when the witch exited the office and my two human employees marched out after her, staring straight forward as they exited as if nothing was amiss.

“They’ll remember a gas leak and you sending them home safely,” the older woman said before bowing to Savvy and heading out. Well, at least that was taken care of.

Now I just had to wait for Theo to arrive. And really, it couldn’t be fast enough.