Alpha: A Rough Shifter Romance

by Sara Fields

  Quietly, I clipped through the fence, taking my time and making sure that I hid in a nearby ditch every time another guard came to walk the perimeter. This particular spot wasn’t very visible, and it made cutting through the metal much easier because of it. I cut a door into the fence and peeled it open when the inside was unguarded, and then I squeezed myself past it. Quickly, I replaced the fence, ensuring that it appeared as though it had never been tampered with in the first place.

  I meant to use it to escape from when I’d finished gathering the scientific intel I’d come for. I would slip in and out undetected, blending in with the rest of the humans that worked here until I found exactly what I wanted.

  For the moment, this back section of the compound was abandoned, and I walked hurriedly to one of the windows in the back. I found it unlocked and pushed it open, climbing inside as silently as I could. I’d chosen this entryway specifically because it led into a storage room that was hardly used according to the camera footage I’d fast forwarded through last night. Quickly, I made my way to the front and pressed my ear to the door. I heard nothing and prepared myself to move on.

  I slipped into the hallway unnoticed. Another guard walked by me and didn’t say a word, but the walkie-talkie on his waist blurted out something about an incoming delivery. Nikita and her team would be on the back of that truck. I’d beaten them inside. I grinned, my face safely hidden behind the mask I was wearing and made my way through the building. With the uniform, I fit right into the guards patrolling the hallways and none of them gave me a second look. I was just a part of the scenery to those who worked here.

  I passed by a number of men and women in suits, official-looking individuals who didn’t care who I was or what I was doing. No one asked me for identification or what my job was because my disguise was the perfect ruse. I walked the halls and made my way down several stairwells until I came to the floor that the labs I’d observed were on. I wasn’t stopped, not even once.

  Here, men and women wore lab coats instead of suits. Some of them were even dressed in heavy personal protective equipment that reminded me of the biohazard suits I’d seen in the movies. It was around lunchtime and as I peered through the glass walls of the laboratories, I found that most of them were abandoned. I made my way inside and started to look through whatever I could find. There were lab notebooks on the counters and computers open and logged in along the back of each lab bay. I opened the nearest notebook I could find and flipped through, finding evidence of different compound structures and experiments in an effort to identify what made the betas go infertile. In another, I found differing information looking into what made the betas live for so long and what component of their biological system made them essentially immortal.

  The scientists had gotten far in their research. I scanned through their data, looking at all the different sequencing they performed, along with spectrometry analysis of the protein structure and overexpression experiments they had performed. They had several ongoing aging experiments with mice where they’d extended their lifespan to almost double.

  I took as many pictures as I could with the burner phone at my disposal. I lifted a USB drive off one of the nearby desks and copied all the data I could find off of the lab’s internal servers. I stored a number of different samples in a thick packing container and poured some liquid nitrogen within it, ensuring that what I took wouldn’t break down until I could put it in its proper storage conditions at the right temperatures they needed to be kept.

  I’d be able to take this information and approach any pharmaceutical company with it. I’d be able to sell the information for the pack’s gain and ensure we had plenty for the pack to live off of for the rest of our lives. We’d have enough funds to disappear out of the country and find somewhere safe to live. I’d be able to secure enough to ensure that the Department of Paranormal Activity never bothered my pack again.

  When I was finished, I stood up and wandered down toward the end of the lab, and then I noticed a massive steel door that wasn’t supposed to be there. It hadn’t been on any of the blueprints that I’d studied. I scanned my keycard in front of it and it beeped once and then twice before it blinked green. The door slid open and I strode inside. What the heck was this?

  I knew today was the weekend and nearly every lab I’d ever encountered had people working inside it no matter the time of day or week, but not this one. Nobody was inside. It was also extraordinarily clean in that every surface was organized and wiped down. All the bottles were labeled and dated. There was a single lab notebook on the bench, and I picked it up.

  I opened it and started to read.

  It belonged to a Dr. Richard Stevenson. He wasn’t working on the immortality project, or the infertility one. He was working on something else entirely.

  My mouth went dry.

  He had been working on a genetic splicing project. He’d been taking the DNA from female beta embryos and combining it with human male genomes. This science wasn’t for the good of mankind. This felt sinister.

  The goal of his study was to create an entire race of wolf shifter super soldiers that the government would own, right down to the identifier written into their DNA. I licked my lips and took several pictures of the notebook, horrified at what I found. He’d created a number of fertilized embryos and incubated them to a point where they were living and breathing. He’d also taken several human males and treated them with a number of genetic modifiers that induced a partial wolf shift. His notes indicated that the changes were exceedingly painful for his specimens.

  It was all strangely clinical. He never referred to the humans as anything other than his specimens. I lifted my head, hid the phone inside my uniform, and stared at a second doorway, wondering if that’s where he kept the men and women he was testing on. There was a single computer and when I tapped the keyboard to turn it on, I found that it was locked. I turned away and approached the other door apprehensively when someone behind me cleared their throat.

  “You’re not supposed to be here. Your badge doesn’t grant you access to this facility because it’s outside of your jurisdiction, so that tells me that you’re not a guard. The information contained in this lab is highly confidential and unfortunately for you, that means that you just signed your very own death warrant,” a male voice said.

  I stilled.

  Fuck.

  “Dr. Stevenson,” I whispered, realizing it could be no one else.

  “In the flesh,” he answered.

  I turned around to face him.

  He was an older man, potentially in his late fifties. His hair was mottled with white and gray, mixing with his natural dark chestnut color. His eyes were hard and unforgiving as he held up what appeared to be a small remote in his hand.

  I reached for the gun at my waist and he shook his head as he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Security is already on their way and not the type of security you’re masquerading as. You see, you’ve stumbled on a secret study funded by the Department of Defense. It doesn’t matter what you hear and see now though, because by the end of the day, you’re going to be either in prison or, better yet, dead,” he warned.

  “You’re not going to get away with this,” I muttered.

  He simply laughed. He chuckled at first, before it turned into a sinister bellow of laughter. I gritted my teeth and glared at him, and he laughed once more.

  “You don’t know the kind of people you’re messing with, woman,” he finally responded after he was able to get his amusement under control.

  In less than a minute, a security team burst through the door, only all of them were carrying assault rifles, unlike the guards I’d been impersonating. All of them were rough and gritty and in that moment, I sincerely began to fear for my life. I’d gotten into something that I wasn’t supposed to and now I was going to pay the price for it.

  As Dr. Stevenson’s men surrounded me, they roughly pulled my hands behind my back a
nd strapped me in heavy handcuffs that I knew I’d be unable to break out of. Something hit me really hard in back of the head and my vision grew hazy.

  I knew no more after that.

  Chapter Eight

  Kiba

  Capturing the delivery truck had been like taking candy from a baby. The hardest part had been getting the truck to stop, but all we had needed to do was push a fallen tree into the road, thereby making the path unpassable. There had only been the driver and a single guard, which left them incredibly unprepared for me and the combined strength of my pack. We’d taken the two men captive and tied them up to a tree after divesting them of all their clothes, leaving them completely naked. A few betas stayed behind to guard them.

  Nikita had dressed the part of the driver while her brother Flint took the position of guard. Her team climbed into the back of the big rig while she and Flint took the head of the truck, readying themselves to drive and begin the most important part of their mission. I closed the back of the storage container behind them, whispering words of encouragement to the rest of the team hidden inside. Then we moved the log and cleared the road, allowing them to travel through the forest unhindered.

  We followed about half a mile behind, under the cover of the brush at the side of the road. There had been no security patrolling the woods. It was all eerily quiet, and I got the feeling that things were going far too easily.

  They’d gotten the truck into the black site compound almost effortlessly. The security guard at the gate had only checked Nikita’s ID with hardly even a cursory glance. I watched the gate open and then close behind them, locking them inside as they pulled away to the receiving area where they’d use the truck as their own personal Trojan horse. We waited behind in case we were needed. We’d only head in if we were given the signal. If Nikita called for me, the rest of us would answer and create so much organized chaos that we’d break the betas out just like we’d done in the previous location. They were going to get out no matter what happened. I didn’t care if the whole thing went quietly or not. I was going to free them, once and for all.

  In the meantime, I found myself thinking of my mate, of the way her beautiful body molded to my own and of the soft whines that escaped her lips as I touched her and showed her that she would forever be mine in more ways than one. I could feel her heart beating, the tension of her nerves while she waited for me to return, and I smiled knowing what was to come after this was all over.

  Out of habit, I sniffed the air and I could feel that she was close... much closer than she should be if she were actually where I’d told her to be right now. There was no way that she was back at base camp. She must have ignored my instructions and come here on her own.

  Naughty girl. She was going to get spanked for that. Just thinking about her naked form over my knees made me hard and I found myself looking forward to putting her there and reddening her gorgeously bared backside. I couldn’t wait to make her spread her thighs after I punished her, knowing that I’d find her soaking wet for me. After that, I’d make her beg for the privilege to come for me, over and over until there were tears running down her pretty cheeks.

  Ever since I had found her and shown her that her place was naked by my side, our connection had only grown stronger. Our destinies were tied together as one and the magic of the earth was only serving to bring us even closer. Through that link, I could feel her worry, her joy, her pleasure, whatever she was feeling at any particular moment. I knew when she was missing home and her former life, and I did everything I could to ensure that I distracted her from those feelings whenever that happened.

  Right now, though, there was a sliver of curiosity radiating from her. I wondered if she’d found something interesting, but then it suddenly changed to something far more sinister that made me stiffen immediately. I knew that something wasn’t right.

  I could feel her fear. It wasn’t the type of fear that made her wet either. It was the kind of fear of being really, truly hurt. As the seconds passed, it transformed into the sort of terror that only the possibility of certain death could bring. She was in real danger and that was becoming clearer by the second. Her terror escalated and then it just vanished altogether, leaving me bereft and alone.

  The moment my connection with her was severed, I knew something was very, very wrong. I had to get to her. Now.

  “The omega is in danger. I must find her right away,” I bellowed to my pack, using the silent connection between us all. “You know what to do if Nikita needs you. I will return as soon as I can.”

  The rest of my pack bowed their heads, knowing how incredibly important Dawn was to all of us. Without her, our kind would be in danger of extinction. Without her, there would be no children and there would be no us. I had to find her, and I had to do so right away.

  I was going to do whatever it took to rescue her from whatever mess she’d gotten herself into.

  When she was safe in my arms again, she was going to answer for her disobedience, and it was going to leave her very sore and very sorry by the time I finished wringing one painful climax after another from that beautiful little body. She would be pleading for mercy by the time I was done with her, but I wasn’t going to stop until I decided that she’d had enough. She was going to learn that when it ended would never be up to her.

  There would be time for that later.

  I tore off into the woods, trying to use the connection between us to find her. It felt like it had gone black and the more I probed for it, the more I feared she might already be dead. I could smell that she was close, but I couldn’t pinpoint her location, at least not from that alone. She wasn’t back at base camp; she was here at the compound somewhere, and I was going to find her even if it killed me. I would do whatever it took to rescue my mate.

  I stopped, lifted my snout into the breeze and took a long moment to inhale, searching for her. On the gentle breeze, I could smell her, and it gave me a direction to begin my search. I breathed a soft sigh of relief at that first clue. I had caught her sweet enticing scent and now I could follow it. It was faint, but it was there, and it was going to lead me straight to her.

  Quickly, I circled around the compound in the dimming light of day, using the shadows to hide my massive wolf form. I followed her scent along the perimeter of the black site, eventually finding evidence of her presence by a dilapidated corner of the fence, where there was a single strand of her hair caught in the welded connections of the metal. She’d been here. That was clear as day. There was no evidence of anyone else there either. She’d snuck inside all on her own.

  I made a decision then.

  When I finally got my hands on her, I was going to punish that delightful little bottom of hers with my cock too after I finished thoroughly reddening it with my palm.

  I nudged the fence with my snout, taking note of the fresh cuts in the wires that indicated that she’d clipped her way through. I growled softly and followed her scent, careful to crouch close to the ground and hide whenever anyone drew near. I made sure to avoid the cameras watching the area surrounding the building. There was a single guard walking the perimeter of the fence, who proved fairly simple to avoid. He walked quite slowly and didn’t pay much attention to anything inside the compound. Surprisingly, he was more concerned with tapping something on his cell phone rather than looking around him. Apparently, things never got very exciting out here in the woods, or at least they didn’t on his watch. They were going to today though. I was going to make sure of it because my mate was in danger.

  Where the hell had she gone?

  When the guard had passed, I followed Dawn’s scent to a window that was slightly ajar. She’d gone inside all alone without the protection of the pack or anyone else. I peeked inside, seeing a storage room with several boxes stacked on top of a bunch of shelving units. It didn’t seem to be occupied at all, nor did it seem to be particularly well used due to the thick layers of dust on the shelves. I was just about to nudge the window back open and climb inside
myself, when the sound of a door opening around the corner drew my attention. I stilled and my ears perked up, hearing the quiet crackle of leaves breaking under footfalls. I turned away from the window and pressed my paws back down into the earth, stalking along the wall of the building until I could peek around to see what was happening just around the corner.

  A group of men had exited through a door and were climbing into a large black SUV. They were wearing heavy combat gear, much thicker and higher tech than any of the guards that I’d seen walking the perimeter of the compound so far. None of them said a word and then another man walked up behind them, only he had a small, feminine form slung over his shoulder. I swallowed a growl when I saw her. It was my Dawn. I’d know that beautiful little body anywhere, even if she was all dressed up in the same garb that the security detail that worked here typically wore.

  How the hell had she gotten one of their uniforms?

  She wasn’t moving. Her limbs were lax and when I sniffed the air, I could smell the copper scent of blood wafting toward me. Her blood.

  Fucking bastards. I was going to tear apart whoever had hurt her.

  I studied her more closely, noticing that her hair was matted at the back of her scalp. They’d hit her in the head, knocking her out from behind.

  I growled, the sound low and ominous. The man carrying my mate looked in my direction and narrowed his eyes. There was recognition there. He knew what I was. There was a yellow flash in his gaze, and I paused.

  I’d seen that before, only stronger and in the eyes of my betas. These weren’t members of my pack though. These weren’t my wolf shifters. These men were something else entirely.

  The man rolled his upper lip, snarling at me, challenging me. There was no way I was going to back down now, not when he had my mate. I growled louder and he didn’t flinch as he should have. I was the alpha and that brought with it a certain power. If I was ever displeased or had to subdue a member of my pack, my growl would be more than enough to pin them to the ground. They’d be unable to fight back against the power of the natural order until I released them from it.