Bad Boy Alphas

by Alexis Davie

  It was a terrible plan and she knew it, but with limited resources and convinced that her life was in danger, what else could she do? She had no job—all her money had been tied into Lennon’s—and she couldn’t risk him learning that she was about to leave.

  The few bucks Sophia had managed to put together, she had been forced to hide in the toes of her shoes, like a criminal or an orphan. It had only added to the humiliation she was suffering at Lennon’s hand.

  Slowly, Sophia lifted her eyes toward the clock on the wall, gritting her teeth. There was nothing left to do except lay low within the walls surrounding her.

  But as the minutes ticked by, she realized there was something else she could do; something that would ensure Lennon never bothered her again.

  She could kill him.

  * * *

  Henry could not focus on his work in the least, and as he sat at his desk in the almost abandoned police station, he cursed himself for ever allowing Sophia to have entered his mind. That woman had spent enough time in his thoughts as it was. She had broken his heart in high school and then hooked up with a blowhard almost as soon as they had broken up. She didn’t deserve one more minute of Henry’s attention.

  Yet as the day progressed, he could not stop the images of her fair skin and honey-blonde hair and solemn hazel eyes from popping up in his head.

  What has gotten into you today? Henry growled to himself. She’s as good as married to that smug suit from DC, and even if she wasn’t, you have no interest in her, or anyone else for that matter.

  The morning faded to afternoon, and he still couldn’t suppress the idea that Sophia was somehow calling out to him, as if she was trying to tell him something, and that was the reason he kept thinking about her.

  That’s stupid, he snarled, abruptly standing from his chair. It was obvious he was not going to get any work done, no matter how many hours he spent in the office, pretending to be productive. He shouldn’t have come in at all. The woman who had woken him up was an indication of the kind of day he was going to have. Next time he brought someone home, he needed to ensure that they went home before he fell asleep, no matter what.

  Henry left the precinct, nodding curtly to the desk officer before heading to his car in the lot.

  I’ll go home and shower before seeing what’s on the menu tonight, he thought to himself. Maybe I’ll go to Burly’s Tavern, or maybe I’ll head to Kingsland. I could use a night out of that shitty apartment.

  But as he turned onto Viscount Road and headed north back to his humble flat, a crackle came through the dispatch radio.

  “Any available units, please respond to the Childers Farm off the former 259. Reports of shots fired. I repeat, reports of shots fired!”

  Henry perked up slightly, his hand on the radio, but he hesitated before answering.

  This is Georgia, for Christ’s sake. Shots fired is probably a bunch of kids horsing around at the abandoned property.

  Still, Henry could not refuse a call. Sighing, he snatched the device into his hand.

  “Detective Sandz responding,” he grumbled, hitting the siren on his unmarked vehicle. It had been one of the perks of being promoted in the small-town force; he got to drive the company car at leisure. But he was apparently on the clock.

  The tires squealed as he pulled a fast U-turn and headed to the former route 259 toward the old Childers Farm. The land had been untouched for over six months, since Tommy Childer had passed away, and the bank had reclaimed his property when no one stepped forward to settle his affairs. Now some little shits were violating the old timer’s memory further by shooting or causing vandalism. He’d teach them a lesson or two.

  As Henry approached the farmhouse, however, he saw that there were two vehicles parked in front of the doorway, no delinquent teenagers in sight.

  The house was not what Henry had expected. It was freshly painted, and it appeared as if someone had moved in since he had last been down that road. He wondered when that had happened, but he had little time to contemplate such a trivial question after a loud voice met his ears.

  Henry jumped from the car. Even though no one else had responded to the dispatch call, he wasn’t fazed in the least. He was used to being alone. He actually preferred it that way.

  Cautiously, he approached the house, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. His animal instinct was going crazy, sensing some kind of threat or danger. His subconscious was trying to warn him about something, but he was far too distracted to heed what it was he was being told. His gun drawn, Henry ambled toward the house, his gum line aching.

  He could hear the voice of a man screaming in ire. “—run away from me? You belong to me! You can’t run away!”

  A crash and a stifled yelp of pain followed his words.

  “Please!” Henry almost froze in his tracks at the familiar voice pleading with the man. “Please!”

  He suddenly understood why his instinct had been trying to break through him: the second voice belonged to Sophia.

  Sophia is in that house!

  The car parked next to the Lexus was unmistakably his ex-girlfriend’s. Henry had seen it hundreds of times in town, usually while the arrogant ass she had chosen sat behind the wheel. What the hell was going on?

  Henry didn’t have time to question his own actions. His body transformed as fury settled into his bones. No matter what was happening, someone was threatening Sophia, causing her to scream in fear or pain. No amount of reason would’ve been able to stop Henry from shifting as he crashed through the door of the house, falling back onto his hind legs, prepared for battle.

  But when the man turned, his eyes wild, Henry was taken aback by what he saw.

  “Lennon?” he choked in disbelief. He half-shifted back into his human form, confusion rocking his body as he studied the situation. When his blazing green eyes fell on Sophia’s battered face, though, there was no more doubt: Lennon needed to be stopped at all costs.

  * * *

  Sophia gawked at the animal in her foyer, her mind unable to reconcile what was happening.

  It was not until the beast spoke that she understood who it was, but before she could react, she watched in horrified awe as the beast seemed to flutter between a human shape and that of a crazed bear, his features fading from one form to the other one right before her eyes.

  I’m hallucinating, Sophia thought, swallowing the fear in her soul as she squeezed her hazel eyes shut. He’s beaten me so badly this time that I’ve gone crazy!

  Lennon had broken into the farmhouse, catching Sophia by surprise while she dozed restlessly on the sofa. She never stood a chance to save herself against her ex-boyfriend’s brutal slaps. Sophia could not say how long she had been trapped in the house with her deranged ex, but there were several bullet holes in the wall where he had aimed at her head and purposely missed.

  And now, there was a bear in her house. A bear who looked and sounded like Henry.

  It is not Henry, she told herself. You were thinking about him before Lennon appeared. That is why you think it is him.

  As the creature roared and fell onto his front paws, though, a thousand unbidden thoughts flooded through Sophia, memories of strange moments she had experienced in high school with Henry. Perhaps she had always known he was one of them, and she just hadn’t accepted it.

  Lennon gasped, raising the gun to shoot out at the bear.

  “No!” Sophia cried, her hand reaching out to stop him. She didn’t need to; the bear had already descended on Lennon, swatting his hand and effortlessly sending the firearm flying out of his reach. Lennon yelped in terror and started to back away, but the beast had not finished with him.

  Sophia could see the fury growing in the sharp green eyes she had known so intimately in the past, and she turned her head as Henry gnashed his teeth, sinking them into Lennon’s arm. She began to shake her head, sobbing to herself as Lennon howled in pain.

  I can’t deal with any more violence! she thought mournfully, her heart pounding i
n her chest. I don’t want him to die! I don’t!

  Killing him would be too easy now, even though Sophia was not sure she could ever live with herself, knowing that, despite the horrors Lennon had inflicted upon her, she had not tried to stop it. He was the psychopath—not her.

  “No!” she begged. “No more, please!”

  As if she had frozen time, the air went still, and Sophia whipped her head around to look. Henry had paused, his disbelieving gaze fixated on her. She slowly shook her head, her own eyes locked on his.

  “No more,” she said again, her voice barely above a whisper.

  Mellifluously, the dark fur began to fade from Henry’s massive body, and he became the same man she had known almost her whole life.

  “What the hell?” Lennon screeched in terror, staring from Henry to Sophia and back to Henry again.

  He was going to kill him for me, Sophia realized. He still cares about me, or he would not have grown so enraged.

  Henry wrenched his eyes from hers, but not before she read the emotion inside them.

  “Get up!” he snarled at Lennon, snatching a set of handcuffs from his waistband. “You’re under arrest for attempted murder.”

  “You!” Lennon spat. “I will have your badge, and then I’ll have you locked up like the animal you are! You can’t arrest—”

  An elbow flew up, knocking Lennon in the jaw, and Henry leaned over to handcuff the man to the railing of the stove.

  I owe Henry my life, Sophia thought, staring at him, her head swirling with dizziness. She wondered how she could ever thank him for what he had done.

  * * *

  Henry had barely straightened himself when Sophia threw herself into his arms, sobbing.

  “How are you here?” she managed to gasp. “I was just thinking about you!”

  He glanced down at her, his expression wrought with ire as he examined the bruises on her face. He looked back at the unconscious figure on the floor, and his breathing grew short and raspy. He wanted to kill him.

  Before he could express his rage aloud, Sophia grabbed his head and forced his lips to hers.

  Henry was surprised by the impulsiveness and the urgency in the action, but his arms fell around her back without hesitation, drawing her close, as if to protect and dissolve her inside his wide, muscular frame. Sophia pressed her body to his, her full breasts to his chest, the heat of her crotch against his thigh.

  One of his hands made its way to the curve of her buttocks, the fingers of his other twining through her silken but disheveled tresses. Sophia’s nails raked against his spine as she threw her head back, urging him to taste the lines of her throat.

  A spark of hotness jolted through Henry’s body, his member growing tighter against the seam of his pants, his lips suctioning the tender skin of Sophia’s neck. To his shock, she suddenly reached around, ripping her shirt from her chest, exposing her bare breasts beneath. Henry paused to stare at her as buttons flew around the kitchen.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” he murmured, his gaze firmly on her already erect nipples.

  “I have never been more sure of anything,” Sophia gasped, yanking his head down to her chest and sliding her ass onto the counter to wrap her long legs around his waist.

  Henry dove in to taste the sweet ridges of her areola, his tongue tickling the dark skin as Sophia sighed with happiness.

  “How could I have ever let you go?” she moaned, falling back while Henry continued his journey down her luscious flesh. He teased every inch of skin he could touch, his fingertips tracing the lines of her breasts as they swelled in her heat. His head slipped past her hips toward her gently bucking thighs as she spread herself wide, her feet curled against the rim of the counter as Henry tore away her panties with his teeth. Sophia almost spasmed, as if her clit was sensitive to the touch.

  The gesture only made Henry more eager, and he started to suckle on her pink bud, adding his teeth and tongue and nose to the mix.

  “Oh, oh!” Sophia cried, her head hitting the cupboard with a thud as he licked at her opening. He felt the rush of her pleasure against his tongue and smiled, Sophia’s thighs clenching over his ears. “Take me,” she begged. “Please.”

  Henry rose his head and stared at her.

  “You never have to beg me for anything,” he murmured gruffly, rising to his full, lumbering height, belt unbuckled as his pants fell to his ankles.

  Pushing herself up, Sophia encircled her arms around his neck, once again wrapping her legs around his hips. Her pelvis fell forward, meeting the tip of his pulsating shaft as their lips met again.

  “You saved me,” she muttered, thrusting her waist forward.

  Henry’s unit jumped to attention, and he effortlessly slid inside her. Her grip tightened, and Sophia moaned as his thrusts filled her hard and slowly.

  “I had forgotten how big you are,” she whispered, her tongue jutting out to meet his. “I should have never let you go.”

  The words sent off a spark in Henry, and his gentle rocking grew more intense, his sack spanking the most sensitive spot on her body. She grunted at the new force, but she did not fight it, grinding her hips against him as she arched to meet him. Fingers closing in on one another, they fell into a guttural rut of sweat and slickness.

  Sophia squealed lightly, her body quivering, and Henry could see she was about to climax again. She spilled over his penetrating member, her orgasm almost endless.

  I can’t hold out anymore, Henry thought, closing his eyes as the tension built in his abdomen and rushed out through his member.

  Their juices combined, they stared at one another, their expressions a combination of melting desire and awe. Sophia looked away first, her face flushing crimson, as if she had suddenly come back to reality. Henry was close to follow.

  “That was impulsive,” she mumbled, and Henry felt his heart stop.

  “You regret it already?” he asked, trying to keep the anger from his voice, though the hurt was clear. He withdrew from her and hurried to pull up his pants. Only then did he remember that Lennon was still crumpled on the floor.

  If I had remembered, I would have let my knee crack his skull a few more times for good measure, he thought, a familiar sense of rage rising inside him.

  “The only regret I have is ever letting you go all those years ago,” Sophia told him, and Henry whirled to stare at her, his pulse racing at the words. It felt like he had waited seven years to hear her say precisely that, but nothing had ever prepared him for the rush of feelings in his heart.

  “I never let you go,” he confessed, and pain seemed to light her eyes.

  Outside, Henry heard a car door slam, and he worriedly looked at her.

  “Are you going to tell them about me?” he asked gruffly, and fire replaced the anguish in Sophia’s eyes.

  “I am going to tell them that you saved my life,” she replied evenly, hurrying to dress before the patrol officers entered the scene. “That is all they need to know.”

  “Detective Sandz?” a woman yelled outside, most likely having heard him answering the call from dispatch. “Are you hurt?”

  “No,” Henry replied loudly, eyeing Sophia as she pulled herself together. “All clear. The subject has been restrained.”

  Two uniformed officers entered the kitchen, their expressions growing shocked at the scene.

  “What the hell happened in here?” one of them asked while the woman rushed to Sophia, tending to her injuries.

  “Did the subject hurt you, ma’am?”

  “He did,” Sophia answered. “But the detective managed to subdue him before anyone got shot.”

  “Who is this guy?” the male officer asked. “Do you know him?”

  Henry looked away, not wanting to hear the words. That’s her boyfriend. The one she left me for. The suit.

  “He’s my ex-boyfriend,” she replied, and Henry felt a jolt of pleasure, even though he knew he should not be feeling elated at a time like this—not after what the bastard had done to
her. “I… recently left him because he’s abusive, but he found me somehow.”

  Consternation filled Henry as he turned to look at Sophia. How long had that been going on? Why hadn’t she told him? There were so many things he wanted to know, but he held himself back from asking her anything. Answering those questions would not change what had happened.

  As if Sophia sensed everything coursing through his mind, she offered something else.

  “He’s a CIA agent,” she continued. “Reporting him would have done nothing but cause trouble for anyone else involved.”

  “That’s not true, ma’am—” the female officer started to say, but Henry cut her off.

  “He won’t touch you ever again,” Henry stated, and Sophia caught his gaze. Relief and comfort seemed to rest on her beautiful features as she nodded her head.

  “I know,” she exhaled. “I have you.”

  Henry’s face flushed hotly as he thought about how vividly Sophia had seemed to be calling to him that day, how hard it had been to get her out of his mind.

  It was as if this was pre-written, he thought. It was our destiny to be together again.

  “Yes,” Henry conceded, also nodding his head. “You do have me. You always have, and you always will.”

  * * *

  THE END

  10

  Alpha

  The sound emanating from both animals was primitive and disturbing, the bears locked in a grapple, their eyes glittering with ferocity. The black beast was winning the battle, his opponent knocked onto the pristine wood floors, furiously struggling to push back with brown arms and massive paws.

  Around them, six men hooted, waving fistfuls of bills as they bellowed, hoping their cries would encourage their bear to win.

  “Come on, Darius! Get up!”

  “Keep him down, Lyle! Hold fast to him!”

  “Move, you sack of shit!”

  The din was becoming almost unbearable, and Blaze shook his head, rolling his grey eyes as he stood up from his place. He’d had enough.