Her Alpha Mismatch

by Emilia Hartley

  Outside, Regina was nowhere to be found. The patio was empty and the sand beyond it was just as empty. He didn’t see her until he stepped down into the sand. The wind tugged at her silk dress and played in her hair. She looked like a siren, waiting to lure men to their deaths. As he approached, and she looked over her shoulder at him, he knew she could do it.

  Regina could lure him to his death with just one glance from those pale, piercing eyes. No matter what he told himself, that he wasn’t interested in falling in love again, his beast had other ideas. It pulled him toward her until there was barely an inch of space between them. The bear wanted to pull the vixen into their arms. If they held her, she’d never sprout wings and fly away.

  “You didn’t have to come tonight,” she said.

  Her words pushed him back, emboldened his human mind. The bear fought against it with everything it had. It was a creature obsessed. “I figured I couldn’t turn down a free meal from the woman who broke my windows.”

  Regina laughed, the sound bursting from her as if she hadn’t expected it. She reached to push back her thick hair, as the wind pulled it in front of her face, and looked up at him. “I would have paid good money to have watched that.”

  “You and everyone else in that room, most likely.” He paused, shifting from foot to foot, then asked the question he’d been fighting against. “Do you think Monica is happy? Like, truly happy? I worry that it’s a façade. That she’s putting on a brave face for everyone to see.”

  Regina’s lips twisted to the side. They were a dark, raspberry color that made his mouth water. “I think maybe you’re just disappointed that she found happiness somewhere other than in your pack.”

  She’d hit the nail on the head so quickly, without remorse. He could do nothing more than try to hide his discomfort in front of her. He would rather silence her with his mouth on hers than listen to the truth she spilled.

  Regina shrugged and turned back toward the ocean. “Don’t be so selfish. Some of us don’t even get the chance to have something like that. Let her be happy.”

  “All shifters have a fated mate.” At the sound of his words, her lips curled into a frown.

  “That doesn’t have anything to do with happiness. Fate plucks a dick out of the air and hands it to you, no matter what is on the other end. That doesn’t exactly sound like happily ever after to me.”

  The short time he’d had with his mate had been wonderful. They’d never fought, the house had been bright and full of warmth. He’d been so head over heels in love for the time they’d had. Even Lia and Monica were brimming with joy over their fated mates. The men were equally besotted.

  Oscar shook his head. She had it wrong, but he wasn’t about to dig into problems that weren’t his own. Maybe, someday, she would work it out and find herself a mate. He wanted that for her. He wanted to see her smile and see her body relaxed with pleasure.

  His throat tightened once he realized each of those visions included himself. He wanted to make her smile. He wanted to make her reach the peak of pleasure and watch her body melt on top of his afterward. The imagery was so startling and alarming that his breath left him.

  “Are you alright, big guy?” Regina’s voice softened. It only made the problem worse.

  The bear wanted to hear that voice speak to them like that every morning. He craved it, wanted to feed from it as if it could sustain him. Oscar had to shake his head to straighten himself.

  “Yeah, fine. I’m fine,” he barked, too loud.

  Regina’s brows shot upward, and she took a step back. He was about to tell her to stop when he realized it wasn’t his place. He shouldn’t want her so near. It was for the best that they put some distance between one another.

  He needed help—Regina’s help.

  As much as he hated to admit it. He was a burly bear, surly to his core and far too intimidating for a small creature, like the wild fox shifter he hoped to help. He’d had success with larger shifters. The big cats and wolves were large enough, dominant enough, that when he approached them they didn’t cower and piss themselves.

  Anything smaller than that, and his presence had an adverse effect. It was proof that he could protect those that were his, but until they were under that protection they rightfully feared him. It made approaching any wild shifter smaller than a coyote difficult. The wild fox shifter upstate was going to react much the same.

  So, he waited outside the library, feeling like a creep. The small lot was shaded by trees that would turn red and orange in the fall when the rest of the world stayed green and hot. He couldn’t tell which car hers was when he parked, so he stayed in his own car and waited for her to appear.

  The library closed, someone coming to lock the doors and march to their car. It was the last car in the lot and the person striding toward him certainly wasn’t Regina. His grip on the steering wheel tightened. He should have called Nessa and gotten Regina’s number. That would have been the smart thing to do.

  Instead, he was loitering in an empty lot, watching the last person drive away. Regina could have had the day off and he wouldn’t have known because he knew so little about her. Oscar wasn’t the kind of man to ask others about themselves. He gave them what they needed to stand on their own two feet and then pulled back.

  A knock on the window made him jump. When he looked up, Regina was laughing at his startled reaction. “You look so pathetic!” she shouted through the glass.

  Instead of rolling the window down, he pushed open the door and stepped out. He didn’t want to admit that he wanted to be close to her again, but the bear was greedy for her attention. It growled happily, scenting the air around her.

  “I was on my way home when I saw you parked here. What are you doing sitting in your car?”

  “Where’s your car? You can’t live in Monterey; this is Caz’s territory. No one screws with Caz anymore.”

  Regina shook her head. “You don’t respond to a question with another question. That’s not how this works.”

  He watched her move to lean against his car, folding her arms over her chest. She looked tasty, wearing berry shades of pink from a dark blackberry to a bright raspberry on her lips again. If he licked her, would she be sweet and tart, too?

  “I parked a few streets up because the lot was full when I arrived. It doesn’t take much with a lot this small.”

  Her words pulled him from the wild fantasy playing behind his eyes. When his vision focused, he saw her looking at him warily.

  “Do you want me to walk you to your car? A woman like yourself can never be too safe in a world like this.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? Do you think I’m unable to protect myself?”

  He floundered. Each time he spoke, Regina poked holes in his words. Everything he thought he knew, she smashed. It was intriguing and infuriating all at once. He thought he knew how the world worked, thought she would be grateful for the company, but apparently, he was wrong. He took her admonishment and filed it away to remember later.

  “My apologies. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “Like, if I’m about to fall, by all means try to catch me. Just don’t act like I’m frail and hold me to keep me from falling all the time. Do you get what I’m saying?”

  He didn’t. Everyone needed protection. He protected those around him, even if they weren’t his Pack. It was what made him an Alpha. Regina was a gorgeous woman, a target for those who might want to hurt women. He would trust no one around her.

  “Earth to Oscar,” she said before snapping her fingers. “I’m a shifter not a porcelain doll. No matter what my skin-tone says.”

  He found himself smiling. “You would make a lovely porcelain doll.”

  She growled with frustration, threw her hands in the air, and spun on her heel. She was ten feet away before he realized he’d screwed up. Oscar always considered himself a smart man. He was usually twenty steps ahead of his competition, always planning ahead. Yet, put him in front of Regina and he was reduced
to a bumbling fool in a matter of moments.

  He jogged to catch up to her. She only spared him a glance, one brow raised.

  “Did you treat Monica like she couldn’t handle herself, too?”

  Her words were a slap in the face. In moments, he realized what he’d done. Fool that he was, he’d ignored her words even when she’d spelled it out for him. He’d trusted Monica because she looked like the kind of girl who would fight back. On the other hand, Regina wore flirty dresses that exposed supple limbs. He’d taken her at face value and forgotten that Monica was no stronger than Regina.

  “I was an ass.”

  “I’m proud of you for admitting it. Most Alphas I know would have tried to change the subject rather than confess their faults.”

  “That’s also part of why I’m here. I came to ask a favor of you. I’d do it myself, but I fear I’m not quite right for the situation.”

  “Go on,” she prompted.

  After a few blocks, he noticed she wasn’t heading up the hill where parking was free. Rather, Regina was leading him toward the nearby pier. He let her continue to lead the way, knowing he should have redirected her. This wasn’t a date. He wasn’t looking for that.

  Then again, neither was she if he remembered her words from the night before. She’d made it clear that she didn’t think she would ever find love. His bear still growled at the thought of that, but Oscar let it go. He was in no position to love anyone, having already lost a mate.

  When he looked to the woman leading him, he realized her eyes were too wide. She scanned the world around them as if in search of something. Oscar wanted to ask what, his bear rising and pressing for control when it scented Regina’s fear. It was slight, a sour tang in the air around them. He wasn’t her Alpha, though, and Regina had already argued that she could take care of herself.

  Oscar struggled against his beast, pushing it back. Whatever it was, it wasn’t their concerned. While neither were wholly convinced, Oscar took the reins of the conversation.

  “There’s rumors of a wild shifter between San Francisco and my own territory. I want to bring them into the Pack, but I’m afraid I’ll need help from someone who understands the shifter a bit better.”

  The sun beat down on them while the wind off the ocean washed over their skin. He could see that the sun was already turning her skin a shade of pink. Any longer and she might burn. He glanced around before pulling her beneath a nearby awning. Once they were tucked into the light shade, he didn’t let go of her hand. It was too soft, like velvet against his rough palms.

  She was so light, so pale and clean compared to his dark past. He knew her milky skin wouldn’t wash away his sins, but he wanted to try drowning himself in her anyway. The urge came on strong, but he blew it out with a breath and tried to relax.

  Regina pulled her hand out of his grasp, and he felt at a loss.

  “Okay, so this wild shifter is a smaller beast? Like what?”

  “Another fox shifter, apparently.”

  Regina looked stunned. Her eyes were so wide, he could see the whites all the way around. Her lips parted, but anything she might have said was lost on the ocean wind. Suddenly, she reached out. She gripped his shoulder, as if she might fall over. Oscar reached for her, scared.

  “What’s wrong?” His heart thumped in his throat. He pulled her into his body, using his strength to keep her standing.

  Her body pressed against his was alluring. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss away whatever it was that suddenly bothered her. Most of all, he hated himself for doing this to her.

  Her fingers curled in his shirt. She stared at his tattoos, eyes distant. When they rolled up to meet his, his stomach flipped. He tightened his grip on her, instinctively.

  “Oh, uh. As cozy as this is…” Regina recovered and pushed against him, trying to put space between them. “I need to go.”

  She was running away. His bear roared to grab her and pull her back into the shade. He let her go. She stumbled away, clearly still shaken by his news. She gave neither explanation nor answer to his question. All Oscar had was his own set of questions and a burning hunger for a woman he barely knew.

  ***

  More fox shifters.

  Not only had Oscar mentioned one living north of Santa Cruz, she’d scented another on the air in town. At first, she’d thought she was only smelling an actual animal. Then, as she walked closer to the pier, she realized the scent was following her.

  She could barely believe it. It had been a long time since Regina ran into other fox shifters, and she couldn’t quite say she missed them. While her mother was more of a liberal free-spirited kind of woman, her father had been traditional like the other families in the suburb she grew up in.

  Fox shifter customs kept them apart from other shifters. Their families were more insular than Nessa’s cat shifter family. They lived simple, suburban lifestyles that kept them almost completely anonymous. The fact that Oscar had found a stray fox shifter was…inconceivable. That there was another in town, was worrisome.

  Worse yet, if the fox shifter was an unmated male, he could propose marriage. She didn’t want to be bonded to a stranger. The thought of it terrified her. The life it promised was empty and dull, the kind that would slowly chip away at her soul. She knew she should have run away at the first mention of a fellow fox shifter.

  Regina chewed the tips of her nails as she drove home, rolling the news around her mind to try to find the right angle. It could have been any number of things, from a trap to a tragedy. She couldn’t decide if someone would be brave enough to lure Oscar Torres into a trap. She knew too little about the San Francisco Alpha to even make an assumption.

  That left her with one possibility.

  There was a fox shifter suffering on their own. At least, that was what she wanted to believe. It wasn’t a trap for Oscar or a possible husband waiting to capture her. Her thumbnail was bitten to the quick, making her swear under her breath as the skin throbbed. She really didn’t want to take time off from work, not before Lia had the baby, but if her guess was right, then she needed to be there. It was her duty to help the fox shifter.

  Going alongside Oscar seemed strange, as if it were the beginning to a joke that she would have laughed at nervously. Except, it wasn’t a joke. It was her life. She was half tempted to drive out on her own, but she didn’t have half the information Oscar had.

  Letting the pain from her thumb center her, she parked in her narrow driveway and dug out her phone. She stared at the screen, number dialed. Hesitation gripped her. A wave of indecision hit, and she moved to put the phone away, but the pain throbbing in her thumb kept her on track.

  As much as she wanted to roll over and let Oscar handle the situation, she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t afford to sleep on her responsibilities, helping out one of her own among them. Just because it seemed difficult or uncomfortable, didn’t mean she should turn and run away.

  The fox was a creature of survival. It was small and dexterous. It was clever and quick. Her instincts told her to leave this be and to hide until it rolled over. She clenched the phone and decided that her beast would help her survive whatever trouble this expedition led her into. It was only a day trip, she figured.

  How bad could it go?

  It would hit two birds with one stone. If she went with Oscar, perhaps the fox that had followed her through town earlier would assume they were close and leave her alone. She didn’t want anything to do with Oscar, but if the fox shifter was stalking her, then she could use the Alpha bear to frighten him away.

  It was a shoddy plan, but one she was willing to try. Her stomach rolled, worry that she was falling for Nessa’s trap setting in. Nessa would never set a trap for her. Sure, Nessa liked to make sure every match she made was perfect, but she wouldn’t do so far as to make a trap. It was ridiculous. Regina was overthinking things.

  She deleted Monica’s number and punched in Oscar’s. It rang in her ear as she fiddled with the too large set
of keys and key chains hanging from the ignition.

  Chapter Four

  Oscar had been pleasantly surprised to hear Regina’s voice on the phone, his stomach tightening as he listened to her explain herself. She rushed through the words, as if she might stop if she didn’t get them out in one breath. He smiled at the phone and wondered where she was. He tried to imagine her face and the effort it took to speak.

  When, finally, she agreed to go with him, he was relieved. And, also a touch excited. He told himself it was because she made good company. It was because they were on their way to help a fellow shifter.

  He was sad when she hung up, already missing her voice in his ear. Rubbing his face, he turned toward a picture frame on the table beside him. A dark-skinned face looked back at him, smiling bright as something happening beyond the frame. It’d been his favorite candid shot, catching the light that she radiated. He missed her, but the sting of it wasn’t so sharp anymore.

  Her face was a reminder, though. In the morning, he would pick Regina up, take her to the wild shifter, and that would be that. He would not let his beast cry for her. He wouldn’t give in to his body’s urges. She deserved better than a broken man who’d already failed his mate.

  He set his mate’s photo down and let his head fall back.

  “Are you going to need help tomorrow?” Jorge asked. The man let his big body fall into the chair opposite Oscar. They both hear the screech of the chair legs against the floor as his force shoved it back.

  “I’ve already arranged for help.”

  Jorge made a confused noise that could have been construed as a question. Some of Oscar’s shifters weren’t the brightest. More often than not, Oscar felt separated from his Pack. It wasn’t just the rumors he’d shrouded himself with. There was a chasm between his mind and theirs. They seemed content with simple lives, living as blue collar workers or suburban house wives. He didn’t understand them.

  Oscar craved thoughtful conversation. He wanted to hear the way someone built an argument, the building blocks they used to define their way of viewing the world. The best he got from his closest friends were grunts made to sound like questions.