True Alpha

by Ranae Rose

  “We think so,” Mandy said, smiling even as her cheeks heated at the sight of him standing in the doorway, the dark trail of his chest hair leading to his groin, which was barely covered by the well-worn cotton towel. Mandy fought a smile as her worry continued to dwindle; it would certainly be a change of pace to see Jack actually trying to be modest. “Clarissa says it was probably just a Braxton Hicks Contraction, and those are normal.”

  “Think of it as her body getting ready for the real thing,” Clarissa said as Jack strode across the room, his towel flapping perilously close to the muscular curve of one butt cheek.

  “You sure you’re all right?” He sank down onto the bed and pressed a hand to Mandy’s cheek, sweeping a stray lock of blond hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

  “Yeah, but Jack… You’re losing your towel.” He’d let go of it, and it had pooled around his hips, exposing his backside.

  “Like you’ve got any right to talk after the way you walked outside today,” he teased.

  “I was just about to suggest that Mandy take a warm bath to relax,” Clarissa said. “I can help her if you want to get dressed, Jack.”

  “All right.” He rose, barely whipping the towel in front of himself in time to avoid being completely exposed. As he stood and strode toward the pile of clothing he’d left on the floor, he flashed Mandy a teasing smile.

  Mandy exited the room with Clarissa, leaving Jack to privately drop his towel and put his clothes back on. “Thanks again for the help,” she said as they made their way to the bathroom.

  “It’s no problem,” Clarissa said, starting the water. “Actually, it’s nice – I love midwifery, and I was afraid that when I came to Tennessee, I’d have to stop practicing. I didn’t know if I’d be able to find another midwife who’d want me as an apprentice, and I definitely didn’t expect Jack to have a pregnant mate.”

  “Could you practice on your own if you wanted? You seem to know your stuff.”

  Clarissa looked apprehensive. “I don’t know. It’s not like there are any sort of legal certifications you have to obtain like in the human world, but it’s pretty much an unspoken rule that you don’t practice on your own without the blessing of the midwife you apprenticed under, and I had to break off my apprenticeship early.”

  “Oh. Still, I’m awfully glad to have you around.” If only she could say the same about the rest of her new packmates. While she was happy for Jack’s sake, it all still seemed a little overwhelming and Daniel and Violet had been less than pleasant. Of course, Violet hadn’t known at the time that Jack was mated, but seeing her try to flirt with Jack had still gotten Mandy’s hackles up – she just couldn’t help it. As she dipped a toe into the water, testing its temperature, she decided that the next day would be a fresh start. Their first run together as a pack would either be just what they all needed, or a disaster.

  Chapter 3

  Mandy awoke to a cheerful popping noise and the scent of frying bacon. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw that she was alone in bed, though a quick sniff could have told her that; though Jack’s alluring scent lingered on the rumpled bedsheets and his abandoned pillow, it would’ve been much stronger if he’d been beside her. Even while in her human form, she had a more acute sense of smell than the average person.

  She also had a hint of her lupine night vision, which allowed her to look around the bedroom despite the fact that it was lit only by the thin crack of light at the bottom of the door. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but Jack had, and judging by the sounds and smells drifting from beyond the bedroom door, he was making breakfast.

  “Mornin’,” Jack called over his shoulder when she shuffled slowly out into the cabin’s main room.

  “G’morning,” she mumbled, crossing the kitchen area and laying her cheek against his back. He was perfectly warm, and bare from the waist up, wearing only a pair of jeans as he flipped eggs and bacon on an electric griddle.

  “Hungry?” he asked, his voice rumbling inside his chest, causing faint vibrations to reach her cheek.

  Her stomach answered for her, growling lowly. “Yeah, guess so.” Inside her belly, the baby gave an energetic kick that landed just beside her navel.

  “Was it my imagination,” Jack asked as he turned over a row of bacon strips, “or did our baby just kick my ass?”

  Mandy giggled despite her grogginess. The curve of her belly was pressing against his rear end. “You shouldn’t talk like that, Jack; the baby can hear you.”

  “Sorry.” He slipped a sunny side up egg onto a plate. “Speaking of the baby, how are you feeling this morning?”

  “Fine,” she answered truthfully, “other than being bone dead tired.”

  “I can bring you breakfast in bed if you want.”

  She smiled against his shoulder blade. “Ha. I don’t think so – I’m participating in the run, Jack.” The night before, he’d suggested that she stay at the cabin and rest while he led the pack run. She’d outright refused to miss something so important over what had turned out to be a harmless symptom of a normal pregnancy.

  “You sure?”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “She should be fine, Jack, as long as she doesn’t push herself too hard.”

  Mandy jumped, whirling to face the living area, where Clarissa had poked her head up over the back edge of the couch. “Clarissa, I forgot that you spent the night.” Mandy had made her a bed of quilts and a spare pillow on the couch when she’d insisted on staying overnight at the cabin just in case Mandy needed her again. “I think this pregnancy is affecting my memory.”

  “Well, it’s pretty early to be thinking clearly,” Clarissa said with a grin, looking way too cheery for someone who’d just woken up on an old couch in a strange place before daybreak. Her dark hair was mussed and her clothes were wrinkled, but she still looked like the poster child for an early birds’ club. As she stood, stretched and walked into the kitchen, she didn’t stumble or even yawn. “Mmm, bacon. I didn’t know you’d be preparing a breakfast buffet for everyone this morning, Jack.”

  “Not much of a choice,” he said. “There’s nothin’ to eat in that cabin the others spent the night in, and I can’t have ‘em passing out from hunger halfway through the run – we’ve got a pretty good chunk of territory to cover.” He shot Mandy a sidelong glance, as if he expected this reminder to deter her.

  She smiled sweetly back at him, as if she didn’t know exactly what he was thinking. “I’m looking forward to the exercise.” It probably wasn’t a very convincing statement, seeing as how she was standing there in her pajamas, fighting a yawn as her hair hung around her face like a blond lion’s mane, but no way was she staying behind.

  “Here.” Jack slid two ready-made plates of bacon and eggs to the edge of the counter. “You two should have some before Daniel and Noah get here – they eat like wild hogs.”

  In the interest of not looking like a slob or an invalid when everyone else arrived, Mandy decided to change out of her pajamas and into regular clothing before eating. “Would you like a fresh set of clothes, Clarissa?”

  “No thanks,” Clarissa said as she pulled out a chair at the small table. “I’ll be shifting soon anyway.”

  The others arrived with the first rays of dawn, just as Mandy finished her breakfast.

  “I’ll get that,” Clarissa said, whisking Mandy’s empty plate away and depositing it on the counter along with her own before Mandy could say a word.

  “Thanks.” Mandy rose from her seat at the table and tried to convince herself that the butterflies in her stomach were really just the baby kicking – or maybe doing somersaults. This morning was important to Jack and to the pack as a whole. With any luck, it wouldn’t be half as awkward as the day before had been.

  “Mornin’,” Noah called out as he, Daniel, April and Violet filed in through the front door.

  “Mornin’,” Jack called back, still busy frying up a mountain of food at the griddle.

  “Want me to take over?” Mandy offere
d. “You need to eat something before your cousins devour it all.”

  “If you’re feeling up to it.” He removed a fried-to-perfection egg from the griddle.

  “I assure you, I’m perfectly capable of handling the strenuous task of frying eggs and bacon.”

  “All right, then.” He piled a plate high with food – he often ate like a wolf, even when in his human form – and pressed the spatula into her hand. “Try not to let the baby kick the griddle off the counter – those are the last of the eggs.”

  The bacon sizzled, the eggs turned opaque and time passed way too quickly. Before Mandy knew it, she’d cooked everything. Turning her back on the counter, she surveyed the pack – the Half Moon Pack, her pack, even if it didn’t feel like it yet. They were scattered around the cabin’s main room, gathered around the table and crammed onto the couch. Renting a cabin at a discount Jack’s boss had given him would be all right for a little while, but where would they all stay permanently?

  Jack rose, having devoured his sizeable breakfast in record time. “Everyone ready?”

  Nods and words of assent came from all around the room. Mandy strode to Jack’s side and touched his arm, running her fingertips down a line of corded muscle and grasping his hand. Together, they walked out the cabin door, and the rest followed.

  The morning was breath-takingly gorgeous, just like every morning on the mountain. Fog swirled over the ground and around the tree trunks, cool and misty. It kissed Mandy’s skin and sent a shimmer of energy through her entire body, making her feel suddenly, perfectly alive. In the distance, the mountains rolled, shrouded in fog that looked like smoke, the peaks and caps that rose above it set on fire by the rising sun.

  “It’s beautiful.” Clarissa’s awed voice drifted from behind.

  “I should warn ya’ll,” Jack said. “After this run, you’re never gonna want to go back to Alaska.”

  A bark of laughter sounded – Noah’s. “Done. I’ll take this over the tundra any day.”

  Various murmurs of appreciation were expressed, but Daniel’s voice rose above them all. “We’re here to stay.” He sounded like he meant it – hopefully that was a sign of his devotion to the pack, not a continuing desire to dominate it. Mandy shoved the thought from her mind. Jack was the alpha, and that wasn’t going to change. And the rest of the pack wasn’t going to leave – not this time.

  “Let’s go.” In less than the blink of an eye, Mandy was standing beside a huge, dark wolf and a discarded pair of jeans.

  She transformed too. She’d purposely worn loose clothing that wouldn’t burst or tear when she changed shape and had forgone underwear – her cotton skirt and top slid from her body and to the ground, where her paws rested. It felt unbelievably good to stand on four legs, free to explore the new day in the most beautiful place on Earth. She nudged Jack’s furry cheek affectionately with her nose and wagged her tail. They took off at a loping run, and for the first time, their pack followed them.

  The forest was a vast expanse of fall hues – gold, red and flame-orange – dotted with the last green traces of summer. It couldn’t have been more beautiful, and as they ran, the leaves and branches blurred past in a whirl of autumnal colors, like a kaleidoscope. Running at Jack’s side made her heart feel lighter, and it was a relief to be in her lupine form; four legs carried the weight of her pregnancy better than two, and she felt blissfully light as she leapt, sailing over a fallen tree. Six and a half months pregnant or not, she felt almost spry.

  The Half Moon Pack’s territory was expansive – at one time, long ago, it had been divided between four different packs. Generations later, the other three were nothing more than stories, the record of their existence passed down from shifter to shifter over the years. Less than a year ago, the pack had been at its lowest point, with Jack as its only member. By becoming his mate, Mandy had doubled the pack’s numbers. Shortly thereafter she’d become pregnant; the baby she carried was the brightest spark of hope the Half Moon Pack had seen in a long time. And now…

  As pine needles crunched underfoot, releasing a pleasant perfume, Mandy glanced over her shoulder, and though she knew the others were there, it was still a surprise to see them. Noah and April ran behind them, in the beta position, and Daniel and Clarissa followed closely after, accompanied by Violet. Had that been decided the day before – had Jack appointed Noah his new beta? Or had it been that way before they’d left, and they’d simply resumed their old roles? It was easy to remember the deep purple bruise Jack had worn the day before, though it had healed the night before, his injury repaired within moments by moonlight.

  As they progressed, Jack turned several times to give Mandy questioning glances. Each time, she met his eyes for a moment before looking resolutely ahead. They weren’t rushing, and she was fine. If they’d been in their human forms, she would’ve teased Jack, telling him that she was pregnant, not crippled. But then, if she’d been in her human form, the long run skirting the edges of the pack’s territory would’ve been too much for her. In this body, though, she was made for the terrain, the simple freedom of surveying what belonged to the Half Moon wolves.

  When they finally stopped, she was tired, but knew she wasn’t alone in that fact. They’d gone for miles, weaving between tree trunks as they navigated the dense forest, and the exercise had left her more than ready to rest for a while. Jack had brought them to a place he and Mandy liked, but hadn’t visited for weeks. It was a large, flat rock that jutted out from the edge of the forest, hanging over the edge of a cliff that ended in a thickly-wooded valley between two mountains. During the daytime, the rock absorbed the heat of the sun and was comfortable, almost therapeutic, to lie on. Today, they’d been beaten by another woodland creature.

  Jack trotted forward, approaching the long blacksnake that was stretched across the center of the rock, sunning itself. Venomless and less aggressive than some other types, it would most likely prove harmless. While standing a few feet away, Jack barked at it and snapped his teeth with mock-aggressiveness.

  The snake lifted its head to peer at Jack as if indignant over being disturbed, stuck out its tongue and then began to move, slithering toward the edge of the rock like a long, slender ebony ribbon. When the narrow tip of its tail disappeared into the underbrush, Jack claimed the place where it had been resting.

  Mandy stretched out beside him, letting her tongue hang out over her fangs as she breathed in fresh mountain air. The sun had risen while they’d run, and most of the fog had disappeared. It was going to be a clear, beautiful day. She rested her head against Jack’s shoulder and let the rock warm her side as the others settled down around them. The seven wolves – seven, it still seemed like such a huge number – took up nearly all of the room on the rock. If the pack got any bigger, the members would have to take turns sunning on its surface. The idea caused an unexpected twinge of happiness inside Mandy’s heart. A few months ago – heck, just a couple days ago – she never would have imagined this.

  In their warm little corner of the mountain, time seemed to stand still. The sun continued to rise though, climbing higher in the sky and disproving that notion. The pack rested for nearly an hour before Jack rose, stretching.

  Mandy mimicked him, hopping up onto all four paws, her belly a familiar weight as she supported herself on sun-warmed limbs.

  The others got up too; Daniel and Noah who were mottled shades of dark brown, black and white like Jack, midnight-black Clarissa and sleek, chocolate-brown April and Violet, who were closest in color to Mandy, whose coat was a slightly-lighter cocoa shade. Despite their similarities, they each varied at least slightly in appearance – even April was noticeably smaller than Violet, who otherwise could’ve been her twin.

  Still, they all looked like they belonged together. Maybe it was because they were all so beautiful; even as a shape-shifter, Mandy hadn’t gotten completely used to the striking beauty of wolves yet. Or maybe it was something more subtle, like the pervading sense of togetherness and loyalty Mandy could
feel beginning to slip over the group like a blanket. Whatever it was, getting along with the others wasn’t just about Jack’s happiness anymore.

  Jack had chosen their resting place well; the rest of the trip around the edge of their territory would take about as long as the first part of their journey, following a path that somewhat resembled a large circle. With her fur and paws still warmed by the sun, Mandy felt refreshed as they took off again. Beneath her ribs, the baby gave a kick, as if happy to be moving. And no wonder; the loping gait the pack maintained probably felt a lot like the rocking motions of a cradle to the baby.

  About a mile from the rock, Jack stopped unexpectedly, his shoulders tensing beneath his thick fur as he halted, scenting the air and pressing his nose to the ground. Mandy hadn’t expected to stop until they reached a nearby stream. The fur on the back of her neck rose as she watched Jack breathe with concern, inhaling clues – of what? – as he let his nose hover a scant inch from the earth. Standing next to him, she lowered her muzzle and breathed.

  The scent was the last thing she’d expected. She exhaled slowly, cleansing her lungs of the smell and holding her breath for a moment before breathing again. It was the same – notes of something completely out of place mixed with the earthy odor of soil, ferns and decaying leaves. Jack lifted his head and met her eyes, looking as concerned as a wolf could. With his fur still bristling, be began to pace the area, his nose to the ground. The others came forward and lowered their muzzles where he originally had, breathing carefully.

  Mandy followed Jack, her mind whirling with questions as they discovered a scent-trail and began to follow it. All seven wolves moved in a thoughtful procession, their senses sharpened as they shuffled along, careful not to risk losing the trail. When it ended, Mandy’s nose was practically submerged in water.

  The scent disappeared at the edge of the narrow, rushing stream, its distinct smell blending with the wet, earthy odor of the muddy bank. Jack lifted his head and leapt over the stream in a single bound, his paws sinking into the mud on the other side and leaving large prints behind.