by Jessic Ryan
“Travis, please,” she sobbed. “Remember me. Please remember who I am. I’m your alpha mate.”
She dropped to her knees and covered her face as the tears streamed down her face.
“I love you Travis,” she said. “I’m not afraid to admit it, I love you and I want to be with you. Please come back to me.”
She stayed on her knees, covering her face as the beast advanced on her. She expected the feeling of death to come at any moment, as she had with the gun before. For the second time that night she was spared as she felt powerful arms wrap around her and hold her tight.
“It’s okay baby girl,” Travis whispered in her ear. “I’m here for you.”
She opened her eyes to see a very bloody and naked Travis on his knees in front of her.
“You came back,” she said, fighting back tears.
“Of course I did,” he whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said, wrapping her arms around him.
Together they stayed locked in love’s embrace, trying to forget the horrific ordeal they had just endured or the trouble that was still on the horizon.
Chapter 10
Everybody stood in front of the old house, looking up at the asylum that had turned the night into one of madness.
Travis turned away from the horrid rat den, taking some clothes Paige had pulled out of her back seat for him. He had already forgotten this all began when she decided to go shopping for him earlier in the day.
As he dressed, Angie and Janie reentered the house with a freshly human-shifted Dario as an escort. They were trying to gather up what they could of their lives before leaving their hellish prison for good.
He took a deep breath as he watched Paige comforting her nieces. In that moment he realized he had made the right decision, his former pack home was just land, nothing more. His territory would be wherever he decided to lay his head.
It was still dark outside; in the morning, bulldozers would be there to destroy what was left of his home. He felt a pang of sadness at the thought, but it instantly melted away when he saw Paige smiling up at him.
“Hey you,” she said, walking over to him.
“Hey you back,” he said with a smile.
“You came through for us.”
“Of course I did. I wasn’t going to let my alpha mate die.”
“Victor got away,” she said, her face drooping. “He has the staff.”
“It’s ok,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “The vampire can have his oil, he can have his money and he can have his greed.”
“But your home,” she started to say.
Travis smiled and put one finger on her lips, silencing her. “The land is just that: land. It’s not what defines me or makes me who I am, not anymore.”
“But you’re an alpha without any territory,” she said, tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. “You’re still lost.”
He chuckled and used the pad of his thumb to wipe a tear away from her cheek. “I’m not lost. My heart has found a home.”
Paige burst into tears and buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
He looked up to see Dario and the girls exiting the home, Dario wearing a pair of sweats he must have found inside. The girls carried two suitcases each while Dario carried something else, gas cans. He shuffled the girls out of the house before walking back into the foyer and dumping the contents of the gas can, walking backwards as it left a trail of gas to the porch. He turned to Angie who handed him a lighter. The elder wolf stared at the flame in his hands for several minutes before throwing it onto the trail, allowing it to find its way into the house.
The flames started slowly as everyone stopped in front of Paige’s car and watched. Before long the house was a towering inferno, burning away before their eyes.
“Are the moon rocks inside?” Travis asked.
“Yes,” Dario responded weakly; he was still very hurt from the injuries the vampire had delivered to him. He continually clutched at his ribs as if they were broken.
“Then it’s over,” Travis said. “Nobody needs that kind of power, nobody.”
“What now?” Paige asked Angie, who was staring blankly at the flames.
The redhead pulled out a pair of keys and pointed to one of the beat up Cadillacs in the driveway. “I’m going home, back to Texas.”
“Are you sure?” Paige asked.
“As sure as I have been of anything in my life,” she said. Angie’s stone face began to falter as tears streamed down her face. “I’m so sorry you were involved in this Paige.”
Paige rushed forward to hug the crying woman. Travis watched as she comforted the mother, stroking her hair while whispering softly to her.
Finally Angie pulled away, a smile creeping across her lips. “I’ll never forget you.”
The little girls all cried too as they hugged and said their goodbyes.
Travis sat back against the hood of the car, smiling at Dario.
“What now, alpha?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Travis answered. “You’re a free wolf.”
“I do not understand,” Dario said, his head tilting.
“There is no pack, Dario. It’s over, we lost our land.”
“We can start somewhere else,” Dario protested.
“I don’t think so,” Travis said, putting one hand on the shorter wolf’s shoulder. “I don’t think I’m a pack wolf anymore.”
“You want to be alone?” he asked.
“No it’s not that, buddy,” Travis said, glancing over at Paige. “I’m a family wolf now.”
Dario smiled and reached out a hand to shake with Travis. “You would have made a great alpha.”
“I know,” Travis said smugly. “It’s just not in the cards.”
“Goodbye Travis,” Dario said, pulling the alpha in close for a hug.
“Goodbye Dario,” he responded, patting his friend on the back.
With those words Dario turned and began walking through the woods beside the burning house, returning to his home.
Travis took in a deep breath, knowing he would probably never see the elder wolf again. It was truly goodbye.
“What now?” Paige asked, walking over and putting her arm around him.
“I guess we get these girls back to their father,” he said. “Then I want to go to Bowshot.”
Her face contorted into one of fear and sadness. “You don’t have the staff. Won’t you be killed?”
“I didn’t have the staff the day after either and I was able to stick around,” he said. “I just have to get something.”
“What are we going to tell Billy?” she asked, looking down at the two traumatized girls.
“I guess we tell him the truth,” he said.
“We can’t!” she protested. “He will lose his mind.”
“We won’t tell daddy,” Lyric said, stepping forward.
“Daddy doesn’t need to know,” Lily agreed.
“Girls I can’t,” Paige started to say.
“Please Aunt Paige,” Lily said, holding up a hand. “Daddy has been through enough.”
“You’re very mature little girls,” Travis said. He was shocked at how well they were handling this.
“We’ve been through a lot,” Lily said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “Daddy doesn’t take care of us, we take care of him.”
Forced to grow up too fast, he thought. The sad reality of today’s world.
Travis looked up at the moon, realizing he was growing up too fast as well. He wasn’t ready to lose his pack or start a new one; he was still a beta trying to be a wolf when this happened. Now he was an alpha with no pack, ready to raise a family. Life had taken a funny turn, but he didn’t mind at all, that was all part of the adventure.
Chapter 11
Paige grabbed Travis and began to kiss him furiously as he opened the passenger door.
“Please come back to me,” she begged. “Don’t die out there.”
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br /> “I’ll be fine,” he promised, returning her warm kisses. She loved the way his lips felt on hers, the warmth, the wetness, the pressure: it was all too perfect. He gave her one last smile before climbing out of the car and disappearing into the woods. There was a gravel path that led into Bowshot, but he had insisted she not drive any further.
She said a small prayer, hoping he would exit the woods again. It had been the hardest night of her life, one that she would never forget, but it was also the night she realized how much she loved her alpha.
“What a night,” she muttered, leaning her head back.
“Are you ok Aunt Paige?” Lyric asked from the backseat.
Billy had asked her to bring the girls back to her house; he still wasn’t home from Lawton. She definitely needed the time to make sure they weren’t going to have nightmares or suffer from any post-traumatic stress.
“I’m just tired baby,” she said, smiling at her nieces.
They both smiled back, a renewed strength appearing on their faces. She realized these little girls were stronger than she gave them credit for. Billy wasn’t a bad man, but he let his past demons get the best of him. Unfortunately her nieces had paid the price having to take care of their dad at night when he got too drunk to function. She’d never realized it was that bad until the girls had told her on the drive over.
“Is Travis a monster?” Lily asked.
“No honey,” she said.
“But he turned into one,” Lyric said.
“He’s a werewolf,” Paige said, turning back to the girls. She knew there was no use telling lies, she had to be honest. “He was born different than us; he can turn into a wolf at will.”
“That wasn’t a wolf,” Lily said.
“The full moon changes them into that for some reason,” Paige said. “It’s not like scientists have studied them or anything. Eating that moon rock changed him into that.”
“They said they burned all the rocks,” Lily said.
“That’s right honey,” she said. “They’re all gone.”
“Will he hurt us?” Lyric asked, her eyes growing wide.
“No honey he love me,” she said, smiling when she said the words. “He’s a good man.”
They sat in silence for nearly an hour. Lyric was the first one to yawn and then slump over, only held up by her seatbelt. Lily tried to fight it, but eventually her head grew heavy and she slumped over on top of her sister-out cold.
Paige began to yawn too. This day and night had been a horrible ordeal, one that she hoped to never repeat. She loved Travis, more than she thought she could when he first opened his mouth. In less than a week their connection had grown stronger than most people’s do in a lifetime.
As her eyes began to droop and sleep began to overtake her exhausted body a figure appeared in the woods. At first he was a blur, walking through the fog, but eventually he came into focus. It was Travis, holding a large duffel bag on one shoulder. He didn’t appear to be any worse for wear as he opened the passenger door and sat down beside her.
“Were you attacked?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “The spirits did not bother me. I think I have to try and do something to the land before they will attack, they are there to defend the land from whoever doesn’t hold the staff.”
“What’s in the bag?” Paige asked.
Travis smiled and unzipped the bag. Paige nearly fainted at the sight before her, there had to be over a hundred thousand dollars in the bag.
“Where did you get that?” she asked, breathless.
“This is Jacob’s private store,” he said. “He’s been stockpiling it for years, it belongs to the pack.”
“How much money is it?” she asked.
“Three hundred and seventy two thousand according to his last log,” he said.
“What are you going to do with it?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a new start for us, one that we both deserve.”
“I hear that,” she said, smiling. “Maybe we should move away.”
Travis looked a bit concerned, “What about your brother and nieces?”
“With that much money we can take them with us,” she said. “Sell the store, get Billy away from all the pain he’s been living.”
“Where would we go?” Travis asked.
“How about somewhere more accepting of wolves?” she asked. “Somewhere with a large community, not bound by a pack.”
Travis laughed, she knew it hurt him to lose his chance at being alpha of a dominant pack, but now he was forming a new pack with her- a family pack.
“I hear they have a pretty large community for all were-creatures in Florida,” he said, eyeing her out of the corner of his eye.
“Florida?” she said, the thoughts turning over in her head.
“I know you want to leave this place,” he said. “I do too now that I’ve lost my home. Let’s make a new home, a home where you already know someone.”
Paige smiled before diving forward, planting a warm, wet kiss on Travis’ waiting lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said in between frantic smooches. “My alpha mate.”
LOST ALPHA EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT
Chapter 1
Paige hugged close to Travis, unsure about this new place they were in. It had been described to her as a “shifter club” but she couldn’t tell the difference between this and any other club she had ever been to.
Everyone looks so normal, she thought.
Since she had moved to Florida she had only met a few werewolves, but she could tell what they were the moment she laid eyes on them. They were all bigger than normal men, but it was the eyes that set them apart the most. Each one of them had odd-colored eyes that looked almost feral. Travis had the same look about him, but she was used to it by now. It was that feral look that turned her on most of the time.
When he looked at her with that hungry, wild look she knew she was about to get the pounding of her life. She loved it; no man had ever been able to give it to her like her werewolf could. Sometimes she was afraid they would wake up Billy and the girls with their powerful lovemaking. Luckily, Billy and the girls had moved out earlier this week. Billy had finally found work in Florida after kicking his alcoholism.
It’s been a wild few months, she thought, walking by two women who purred at her. Are they some sort of were-cat?
They had a nice house down here in Florida, right on the beach. At night Travis would shift and run up and down the beach, letting the wind sweep through his thick, silver hair. Sometimes she would try to run with him, but more often than not he made her eat dust. When he was shifted he was wild and free.
She knew she could never tame the wolf that lived inside him, but that was okay. Travis had become more and more human since they moved, eliminating all the eccentricities that he’d had when they first met. He no longer ate raw meat or pissed on her things to mark his territory. He was attentive to her needs, making sure she was happy and comfortable at all times. Maybe he was feeling paternal, finally wanting to raise a family with her. Soon they would start trying for real, once they were integrated into the shifter society in South Beach.
Paige had discussed it with Travis and he had agreed—it wouldn’t be good to bring new wolves into a world where they weren’t welcome. South Beach had a big shifter community, but Travis hadn’t become a member of it, until tonight.
Last week while he was running he was approached by three wolves. They shifted in front of him and politely requested he do the same. Paige wasn’t present for it, but the way Travis told it they were all very polite. They complimented his alpha coat and his overall size. They weren’t as big as Travis, but he could tell they were all powerful.
They’d explained the shifter club to him and invited him to come down with his mate. They wanted him to meet some of the others and find out if he was worthy of inclusion in the community.
Now here they were, trying to push their way to the ba
ck room amongst a sea of shifters.
It wasn’t just Paige who was unfamiliar with shifter life. Travis had spent most of his life in one pack learning from one alpha: Jacob. If Jacob didn’t teach him about something then he didn’t know about it, and that was a disadvantage in this situation.
What was the protocol when meeting shifters from another pack? How were they supposed to act? What were they supposed to do? Travis had no clue either.
Finally they reached the back wall of the club, which was a large chain link fence. The club had obviously been a warehouse at one time, adding to the overall huge atmosphere. All around them shifters danced with the music as bright red lights pumped through the club.
“What’s with all the red?” she asked Travis.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “It’s kind of soothing.”
“It is?” she asked, twisting her face into confusion. Red usually excited humans and got their blood boiling. Obviously it did the opposite for shifters.
There was a large gate in front of them, guarded by two bald men in black suits. Paige shrank behind Travis, because both men intimidated the ever-loving shit out of her. There was no friendliness in their eyes, only hate as they surveyed the crowd. They looked more like two hungry animals looking for their next meal than attentive security guards.
“Travis Bowshot?” one of them asked.
“Actually it’s Travis Strong now,” Travis answered, meeting both men’s gaze. The nostrils of the one on the left flared, saying plainly that he didn’t like someone making eye contact with him.
“The head alpha will see you now,” the one on the right said, swinging the heavy chain link gate open. “Watch your step.”
Together they stepped down into a loading dock type area. It was open to the outside world, except for a canvas roof that covered the top and another chain link fence on each side that prevented entry by anyone off the street. A mixture of red and blue lights shone down on an interesting scene in the middle of the dock. There were at least a dozen people situated around a large oak table. At the head of the table was a large chair, almost like a throne, that housed a bored-looking male wolf—at least that’s what Paige assumed he was.