Bad Boy Alphas

by Alexis Davie

  In a way, finding out about Mandy’s unfaithfulness had been a relief, a way out. He could walk away without any guilt or backlash from his father.

  And everyone else in the pack will get off my ass for a while about dating, Luke reasoned.

  If only Mandy would leave him alone, though that was proving harder than the realization that his girlfriend was a whore.

  “You have to forgive me!” Mandy insisted as Luke brushed past her. “It was only sex, Luke. And you know how horny I get!”

  Her voice had taken on a nasally whine, and he looked at her with disgust, knowing she was trying to use her sexuality to sway him back into her arms. She must really think he was stupid, and he rolled her eyes at her.

  Instead of backing off, Mandy threw herself on him again, rubbing her plump body against his as her tongue licked out toward his mouth. Once again, Luke threw her back, and Mandy landed on the cracked pavement with a thud.

  God, Amelia would never act like this, he thought. And she would never break my heart, either, I bet.

  “You’re pathetic,” he growled at Mandy. “Leave me the hell alone. I’ve moved on.”

  As soon as the words left his lips, he regretted them, a shiver of worry coursing through his body as Mandy’s blue eyes turned to ice.

  “What?” she gasped, leaping to her feet. “With who?”

  “Screw off, Mandy,” Luke muttered, disappearing into the night. He hoped she wouldn’t follow him, but the chances were slim. His ex was like a dog with a bone: when she set her mind to something, it was done, no matter how many toes she broke by treading on them along the way.

  All Luke knew was that he couldn’t go after Amelia—at least not now. If Mandy found out who she was, Amelia was as good as vulture feed.

  * * *

  Amelia hadn’t left the house for two days, grateful for the long weekend, which enabled her to hide out and lick her wounds. She had to pull herself together soon. She had no choice but to get back to reality tomorrow, to the reality where he had been screwed over by two men within the same weekend.

  He’s no different than Brad, she thought, furious. He was just playing with me to get what he wanted. “I never do things like this” my ass! It’s probably all he does, seducing sad, single women. No wonder there were no women in that joint. They were all avoiding Luke. And Sarah was standing guard because she’s seen him do that before!

  Amelia wanted to kick herself for being so foolish. So much humiliation and shame filled her as she paced around her apartment in the heart of Scarlet Oak. She wanted to scream or break something, but neither was in her disposition, as tempting as both options were. Even though she knew she was overreacting, the emotions she had felt toward Luke had been so raw—so real.

  I am swearing off all men from now on, she thought bitterly. I shall hereby be known as Amelia the Celibate.

  As if mocking her, there was a knock at the back door, and Amelia whirled around from her spot on the sofa to peer toward the glass sliders. Fire raced through her veins when she recognized the burly man on her back porch.

  You have got to be kidding me! she thought. How the hell did he know where to find me?

  Luke was staring directly at her, his gaze unwavering, and Amelia seriously considered turning back to the television she had been staring at unseeingly to ignore him. She loathed admitting she was secretly thrilled he had managed to track her down.

  Over the past forty-eight hours, she had considered going back to the Sunset Saloon and confronting him, or at least demanding some answers from Sarah.

  The more she thought about Luke’s bristly face rubbing against the nape of her neck, his fingers exploring her pulsating core, the worse her desire to see him escalated. She wanted to see him, touch him, taste him once more. Their union had been more than a one-night stand to her, and she could not believe that he had not felt the same about her.

  You are a glutton for punishment, she thought as she rose toward the door. Her mouth became a fine line before she slid the door open.

  “What are you—?”

  She did not have an opportunity to finish. Luke stepped inside, seizing her slender waist with his forearm to draw him into her. The move was so fluid, so sudden, that Amelia did not have time to collect herself before the kiss landed on her mouth.

  Oh, my God, she thought mournfully as all her self-respect drained out of her body. She returned his kiss eagerly, her tongue exploring his mouth almost wildly, as if she suspected it was going to be the last time she would ever see him.

  Amelia could feel the relief flooding Luke’s body as he fell into her, stepping them back into the apartment, and she reached up to stroke his hair.

  He’s a player, don’t get attached! a voice yelled at her, but Amelia didn’t care any more than she had in the back hallway at the Sunset Saloon. She didn’t care because she didn’t believe, not for a second, that that the man lavishing kisses along the lines of her clavicles as she fumbled to undo the sash of her robe didn’t want her as much as she wanted him.

  It was clear to her that Luke was thinking about no one else at that moment. The fire in their blood rose, and they seemed to become part of each other as they fell on the couch.

  Once Amelia had pushed off her robe, her nakedness exposed, Luke’s face fell upon the breasts he had so obviously wanted to sample during their first time. His mouth suctioned around the firm nipple, his cobalt eyes fixated on hers as his palms slid along the side of her frame, pausing to scoop her buttocks into his hands and pull her down until she was sitting at the edge of the couch.

  Amelia moaned softly, gently urging his rugged face against the skin of her belly. She brought her thighs up, spreading her lower lips for him to taste, and Luke leisurely made his way along the heated flesh toward her throbbing button, kneeling on the ground in front of her. Propping herself up, she watched him as his tongue jutted forward, a long lap covering her from stem to stern.

  She mewled with pleasure, her head falling back, her dark hair cascading along her shoulder blades. Luke’s face delved deeper inside her, his palms closing around her firm, small butt cheeks to encourage her upward.

  “Oh, yes,” Amelia moaned, her waist beginning to rock to the motion of his licks. “Don’t stop.”

  Luke mumbled something into her drenched middle, and while Amelia could not hear him, the vibrations were enough to send her over the edge. Her cries grew louder, her hips freezing in mid-thrust. His mouth latched onto her throbbing nub as Amelia trembled with her climax.

  Her thighs slowly began to unlock from around his ears, falling off his rippling back and onto the sofa while he raised his head, a glint in his sparkling irises.

  “I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you,” Luke told her. He pushed his pants off and slid up her body, deliciously crushing her between his massive torso and the suede couch. “I don’t know how I managed to stay away this long!”

  Amelia chewed on her lower lip, not wanting to ruin the moment of passion, but she could not stop the image of him kissing the woman from her mind.

  Who cares? This is only sex! she tried to tell herself, gasping as his unit fell into her, sliding up to fill her to the point of breathlessness.

  Luke felt exactly how she remembered, and Amelia knew she was powerless to fight whatever it was that had drawn her to him. Her eyes widened when she looked at him, mesmerized by whatever spell he had put upon her. Luke lowered his gaze to her face, and then he froze.

  Suddenly, he was pulling out of her, tossing her onto the floor as the sound of glass shattering filled Amelia’s ears.

  Stunned and confused, Amelia rolled onto her belly, her mouth falling open. A massive animal had burst its way inside her back door, jaws parted to release a feral growl that made Amelia’s skin crawl.

  Luke had leapt from the sofa, standing between her and the bear, but the animal’s eyes were locked on Amelia.

  “Mandy, get out of here,” Luke said in a low voice. “Go now before you make things wors
e for yourself.”

  The bear—Mandy—howled, the noise reverberating the apartment, and she fell forward, gnashing her teeth as she ambled toward them.

  Amelia scrambled backward, trying to get out of the beast’s path. Luke, however, did not move.

  “Luke, run!” she screamed, but as the words flew from her mouth, she watched his frame transform into another hulking bear.

  Oh…

  Luke roared furiously, using a giant paw to swat out at the intruder. She would not be stopped, though, pouncing forward to attack Amelia.

  She screamed, cowering in fear, her hands covering her face as she closed her eyes.

  They are real, she thought, terrified. The werebears exist. They are not an urban legend. And Luke is one of them.

  There was another guttural groan, and Amelia waited for the claw to her face. But it did not come. Instead, there were sounds of a scuffle, and she tentatively opened her eyes to watch in horrified fascination.

  Luke had cornered the bear in the kitchen, his form barreling down on her as he ripped into her skin with his strong jaws. Mandy squealed in protest, trying to wrestle herself free, but the fight was futile; Luke was much too strong and determined to let her go.

  “Stop! Stop!” a woman’s voice screamed from somewhere within the beast, and Amelia raised her head, stunned as the animal melted into the girl she had seen kissing Luke at the Sunset Saloon.

  What the hell is going on? she wanted to scream, but she held back, her eyes glued to the two figures.

  “Are you done?” Luke snarled, his own human form reclaimed. He did not back away from the girl.

  “I’m done!” she mewled, touching her arm where Luke had bitten her. She glared hatefully at him, her eyes falling frostily on Amelia. “She has a hot body; I’ll give you that,” she spat. “But she ain’t one of us, Luke.”

  Luke turned to Amelia, his frame still obstructing Mandy from moving. “Do you have a video security system in here?”

  Amelia blinked at the absurdity of the question, but she was suddenly filled with terror when she understood why he was asking.

  “I—I will delete everything!” she gasped, her eyes wide. “I swear, you don’t have to worry about—”

  “If you come around me or Amelia ever again,” Luke rasped at the girl, cutting Amelia off in mid-sentence, “I will tell everyone you exposed yourself to a civilian unprovoked. She has the video to prove it, and I will make a copy and send it to everyone we know.”

  The intruder’s face turned ashen. “You wouldn’t!”

  “Mandy, you slept with half of Scarlet Oak, you have terrorized Amelia, and you are stalking me,” Luke said coldly. “Do you know how lucky you are that I am giving you a choice at all? I should have you exiled and out of my face permanently.”

  Mandy gaped at him, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “But Luke!” she cried. “I love—”

  “Spare me,” he snapped. “Get out of here, Mandy. If I see you within fifty feet of Amelia again, you’re done in Scarlet Oak. Am I clear? Do not test me. I’ve had it with your bullshit!”

  Mandy’s lower lip quivered slightly, and for a strange moment, Amelia almost felt sorry for her. The girl fled the apartment, glass crunching beneath her feet as she vanished down the stairwell and out of sight.

  Luke turned to Amelia, his blue eyes filled with concern.

  “Are you okay?” he asked gruffly, staring at her trembling form. He stepped toward her, but Amelia could read the doubt in his eyes as he kept his distance. She nodded, brushing her hair out of her face.

  “Thanks to you,” she replied. “I—I thought she was going to kill me.”

  Shame colored Luke’s cheeks, and he hung his head.

  “She’s jealous and petty,” he explained. “I know you saw her kiss me the other night, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I stayed away because I was worried she was trying to find out who you are. I didn’t want to be apart from you.”

  “It’s okay,” Amelia told him, hurrying toward him. “I could tell from the first minute we met that… that we’re connected.”

  Luke’s eyes brightened, and he extended his arms as Amelia fell into him, pressing her cheek against his chest.

  “You aren’t scared of me?” he asked softly, and she chuckled.

  “Everyone knows you exist,” she replied. “I mean, I’m surprised that the legends are true, but not shocked. I would have to have been living under a rock not to know about the bears.”

  Luke chuckled and tightened his embrace around her waist. “I suppose that’s true,” he murmured.

  Amelia pulled back and stared at him, concern written on her face.

  “What if the other bears find out about us,” she asked worriedly. “Am I in danger?”

  Luke laughed and tenderly kissed her forehead.

  “We live among you,” he reminded her. “Our fear is that we will be captured and studied or killed. You have nothing to fear from us… unless you make us mad, of course.”

  Amelia exhaled shakily and grinned.

  “Well,” she said after a moment of silence. “I guess I will just have to ensure I never do that.”

  “I have a feeling you never could.”

  Their eyes met, and Amelia reached her lips up to taste his, the remnants of her orgasm still on his mouth.

  Abruptly, Luke scooped her up into his arms, and she squealed in delight, laughing as he carried her toward the bedroom.

  “Now,” he whispered, laying her down on the bed, “where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?”

  * * *

  THE END

  4

  Saving Him

  “I can’t believe you’re actually doing this, Em!” Kylie sobbed as Emma jammed the last tote into the back of her second-hand hatchback and struggled to close the trunk. “I feel like we just got out of the system last week, and suddenly you’re a college grad and leaving me behind!”

  Emma grunted, using her hip to close the door with as much force as possible before turning to her best friend.

  She and Kylie had been raised together in foster care, on and off for almost ten years. If Emma considered anyone family, it was the semi-neurotic brunette, who stared at her with panicked green eyes. She was wringing her hands as if the world was crashing down around her feet.

  Emma smiled and embraced her affectionately.

  “Kylie, you knew this day was coming for two months,” she reminded her best friend. “It’s too good an opportunity to pass up.”

  Kylie glanced at her friend with tear-filled eyes, and Emma stifled a sigh. She had also known that Kylie would not simply allow her to leave without a dramatic soliloquy and a year’s worth of guilt. She had mentally prepared for it—kind of.

  “But why does it have to be so far away?” Kylie moaned. “Why can’t you see about getting a placement here in Atlanta? There are a dozen hospitals or doctors’ offices that would take you in a heartbeat!”

  Emma stepped back and smoothed out Kylie’s dark hair, sweetly touching her cheek.

  “Scarlet Oak is only six hours away by car,” she reminded her long-time friend. “You can come and visit me anytime! Once I get the groove of my schedule, I will come back here, too. I promise.”

  She hoped that her words would be able to placate Kylie, but her best friend looked unconvinced, her lids dropping.

  “You can be a nurse anywhere,” she said, but Emma could tell she was already losing steam of her argument. It was the same one she had used at least a hundred times since Emma had told her about the job offer in Scarlet Oak. “I still don’t understand why you chose something so far away. With your grades, you could work at the top hospitals in Atlanta! I bet the pay would even be better!”

  Emma lowered her blue eyes, biting on her lower lip to keep from responding. There was a very good reason for her to have broadened her search away from the city in which she had been tossed from foster family to foster family: she needed a change.


  There was a longing inside her that had been there for as long as she could remember. When she was a child, she had dismissed it as loneliness or yearning for approval, but as the years passed and the emptiness grew inside her, Emma began to realize that it was something more than that.

  “You’re going to be too busy for me,” Kylie groaned as Emma walked toward the driver’s side of her car. “You say you won’t, but suddenly you’ll be unavailable to answer calls and you’ll get new friends and you’ll end up replacing me!”

  Emma let out a small laugh. Kylie had more than enough personalities to be a hundred friends to her. With Kylie, Emma never needed to look elsewhere for entertainment.

  “Kylie,” she said, “I won’t have time for a social life. My schedule is going be grueling for the first year. My life will be work and sleep.”

  “See?” Kylie screeched. “You’re already telling me that you’re going to blow me off!”

  Emma grunted and pulled her into another hug. “Kylie, you are my sister,” she assured the brunette. “I will never blow you off. I really have to go now, but I’ll call you from the road, okay?”

  Worry clouded Kylie’s face as they parted.

  “Be careful driving,” she instructed, her brows knitting. “I heard they’re calling for a rainstorm tonight.”

  “Well, if you let me leave now, I will be in Scarlet Oak well before nightfall.” Reluctantly, Kylie stepped back from the car and let Emma strap herself into the driver’s seat.

  “I love you, Em,” Kylie told her miserably.

  “I love you, too,” Emma assured her, offering her a warm smile as she put the key in the ignition. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do when I’m not here to get you out of trouble.”

  Kylie’s eyes widened, and a strange glimmer flashed over her eyes. “You too, Em. I have a weird feeling about this.”