But this woman…she called to him on a deep, primal level. Maybe she could ease some of the tension coiled deep inside his gut, just for a little while.
A man walked by and said something to her and she laughed, and he felt a rumble of anger deep inside. He kept his emotions wrapped up tight, not allowing his rage to hurt his two packmates, but he couldn’t stop the claws from curving out of his fingers. Who the hell was that guy, and what was so damn funny? Miles wanted to be the one who made her laugh.
The man cast a startled glance in Miles’s direction; without meaning to, Miles had let some of his anger leak out, directed right at him. The man tucked his head down fearfully and hurried off.
“Why her?” Anders asked.
Miles felt a flare of unexpected rage, and Anders let out a yelp of pain in response. “What do you mean, why her?” Without meaning to, he half growled and half said it. “Are you insulting her?”
Anders took a step back, eyes widening, looking startled. Miles was known to be a gruff, irritable jerk, but he didn’t take it out on those who were closest to him.
“Peace,” Anders said, holding up his hands and bowing his head in submission. “There were a dozen women on the bus, and I was just curious how you’d decided on that one. I’m not insulting her; you have great taste. She’s hot. Great body. Nice face. I mean, not that I’m interested in her. She’s not my type. Even though she’s gorgeous. Okay, should I just go tear my own throat out now and save you the trouble?”
Miles snorted. “Please do, but dig yourself a grave first. I’m going to be a little busy charming the panties off my new Mrs. Right…Now.”
Baldwin shook his head in mild disapproval. Anders barked out a laugh. “Now there’s the Miles I know and cower before. The hopeless romantic.”
“That’s me.”
“Well, before you go make her day, we’ve got an issue with one of the Stoney Creek bears who’s starting to clear part of the Bronwyn Beavers’ property like they own it,” Anders said. He held his radio out to Miles. “The head beav wants to talk to you.” He stifled a snicker as he said that.
Normally Miles would have laughed at Anders’ juvenile humor, but right now he felt a flash of anger and frustration. The female was calling to him sharply, waking his wolf and making it pace and howl. Unfortunately, she’d have to wait. The Bronwyn Beavers were under his pack’s protection, and they paid for it with dam-building and tree-clearing services. Pack business came first, always.
With a regretful glance in her direction, he took the radio from Anders.
Chapter Four
The new arrivals had been told to report to the meeting hall to find out where they’d be staying and what jobs were available. They were in no rush, though. They were gathered in little groups, chattering excitedly, taking in their new surroundings.
“It is so gorgeous here,” Dakota said to a coyote shifter named Naomi, inhaling deeply. “Get a whiff of that fresh air. And those mountains. It’s so flat where I’m from!”
Naomi and Dakota had been seat-mates for the last three days on the shuttle bus. Dakota had lucked out; Naomi was funny and goofy and cheerful, and she’d insisted on sharing all the snacks she’d brought with her.
“I thought your branch of the Montenegro pack was from the Sky Lakes region in Oregon,” Naomi said, looking puzzled. “Aren’t there tons of mountains there?”
Dakota tried to hide a grimace of dismay. She couldn’t slip up like that.
Tina had briefed her on the Montenegro Pack. Jamie Roberts, the girl she was pretending to be, came from the Oregon branch of the pack, known as the North Montenegro pack. They’d broken off from the Nevada pack over some dumb dispute twenty years earlier. And they lived right near a mountain range.
“Uh…yes, but the mountains here are much taller,” she muttered. “We’ve got, uh…very short mountains where I’m from. More like hills.”
“You know what I like about this area?” asked Macy, a lean, scrappy-looking fox shifter. She’d been sitting behind Dakota and Naomi on the bus.
“No cops?” Dakota suggested. Macy scowled at her, but it was true. Every time they’d been at a rest stop and seen a cop, she’d quickly headed back to the bus.
“The scenery,” Macy said, glancing over at several male wolf shifters who were standing in the middle of the town square. She winked at Dakota and Naomi. “See you later. Hello, boys.” She sauntered over to the wolves.
Dakota looked around for some clue as to where they were supposed to go, and her gaze lit on half a dozen picnic tables that had been set up outside the Granite Flats meeting house. There was a big sign that read “New Arrivals”. A tall, muscular, stern-looking woman stood next to the sign, with a scowl on her face.
“Shall we?”
They walked over to the picnic tables, where shifters of different species were handing out cups of coffee to the newcomers. The women from the bus were wandering towards the tables now, chattering excitedly with each other.
A female bear shifter stood by the tables with her hands on her hips, surveying the crowd with a scowl. She was tall and stocky and had shiny brown hair scraped back into a ponytail.
“Listen up!” she yelled at the crowd.
Naomi raised a hand timidly. “Are you in charge here?” she asked. “I have some questions. I was wondering—”
“No questions,” the woman snapped at her. “My name is Anthea. I am a member of Clan Stoney Creek. Everyone in the western half of the territory ultimately answers to the Fenris Pack. The eastern territory is a bunch of wild and woolly assholes who can’t play nice with others, so if that’s your thing, head on over there, but get ready for them to chew you up and spit you out.”
She pointed to where the town square ended. There was a dirt road that led off to the east, hemmed in by trees. “You go past that maple tree over there, you’re in the east, which is Creel’s territory. You don’t want to be in Creel’s territory.”
Naomi flashed Dakota an alarmed look. Dakota whispered, “Well, this is a new frontier. But look, we’re in the safe side of the territory.”
Anthea continued at full volume. “There are representatives from all the packs, prides and clans waiting inside the meeting house. Go talk to them in the next hour or two, and find one that will take you. You don’t want to leave the downtown area until you’ve been accepted into a pack, pride or clan.”
“Why not?” Naomi piped up.
Anthea scowled at her. “I said no questions.”
“She makes me nervous,” Naomi whispered to Dakota. “I talk a lot when I get nervous. Do you talk a lot when you get nervous? You don’t seem to. But I do. I think that—”
Anthea was glaring at them, and Dakota clapped her hand over Naomi’s mouth. Naomi continued mumbling something behind Dakota’s hand, but at least it was muffled.
Anthea bellowed, “Here’s what you need to know to survive in this territory! Everyone up here pulls their own weight. You don’t work, you don’t eat. If you’re the type to start something, you’d better be able to finish it. And that’s about it.”
She swept the crowd with a final scowl as the women started filing into the meeting house.
A tall, skinny male wolf shifter with a prominent Adam’s apple sauntered up and looked over the crowd. His gaze settled on Dakota. “Hey, baby,” he said to her, with a wink and a leer. “I like ’em well-padded.” That earned him a look of disgust not just from Dakota, but from every female shifter within earshot. He didn’t seem to notice. “Looking for a place to call home? I’m Mickey, the Alpha of the Charlesville Pack. Once you go Charlesville, you’ll never go back.” Dakota could practically feel his gaze as it roved over her, like grubby paws stroking her flesh. He glanced at Naomi. “And you can bring your friend too. I got a king-sized bed.”
Dakota and Naomi exchanged glances of dismay. “He did not even,” Naomi said.
Dakota shuddered. “He did so too, and it was horrible.”
Mickey snorted. “Your lo
ss, babe. Too bad – I never bagged a coyote before. Or a coyote and a wolf at the same time.” He looked them over again, and Dakota took a step back. “Why you gotta be so stuck up— Ouch!”
He flinched, even though there was no obvious cause for his exclamation of pain, and glanced across the market square at a group of male wolf shifters. One of them, a tall, broad-shouldered guy who was very handsome indeed, looked at Mickey with a glower of pure hatred. Dakota could feel a crackling in the air around Mickey; the tall guy must be an Alpha Prime, and Mickey must have somehow gotten on his bad side. That was a damn powerful Alpha, if he could project his emotions that far and target them that narrowly.
The Alpha turned away, his attention focused on the walkie-talkie he had pressed to his ear.
Before Mickey could say anything else, a pretty blonde wolf shifter who’d been on the bus with them elbowed through the crowd. Her name was Destiny, she apparently painted on her jeans every morning, and she’d spent the whole trip putting on makeup and complaining loudly about how hard the bus seat was and how bad the bus smelled.
Destiny bumped Naomi hard, and hot coffee splattered on both of them. “Bitch! Watch where you’re going!” she shrieked. “You ruined my shirt!”
Fur rippled over her face, and her fangs descended. Naomi flinched. A coyote shifter was no match for a wolf.
“You’re going to pay for that. A hundred dollars. Give me the money right now,” she snarled.
“A hundred dollars? Well, I don’t… I mean…” Naomi began desperately fumbling through her purse. “I didn’t mean to bump into you. I’m really sorry. Are you sure that shirt cost a hundred dollars? It’s just that I didn’t really bring a lot of money with me…” She kept babbling as she dug for her wallet.
Dakota glanced over at Anthea, who was sitting on one of the picnic tables now, reading a magazine. She looked up and shrugged. “What? She’s not a member of a pack,” she said, and went back to reading her magazine.
That meant, of course, that there was nobody to protect Naomi from bullies and bitches. This woman was both, rolled into one.
Dakota stepped in front of Naomi. “You’re not registered either,” she said. “You’ve got nobody to protect you. From me. And you were the one who bumped into Naomi, so she’s not paying for your five-dollar bargain-bin shirt. You’ve got two choices. You can walk away now, or I can hand you your face.”
Destiny glared at Dakota, but before she could say anything, Mickey sidled up to her. “Hey, babe, wanna play hide the salami with an Alpha?”
“Did I hear you say Alpha?” Destiny cooed, stroking his arm. “That’s the magic word.”
She flashed a look of triumph at Dakota and Naomi. “Sorry, skanks, he’s all mine,” she sneered, and strolled off with him.
“I have never seen two people who deserve each other more,” Dakota observed drily.
Anthea the bear shifter looked up and snort-laughed. “Hope you weren’t coming up here looking for some suave, sophisticated dude to sweep you off your paws.”
“Come on, let’s drink some coffee and then go register,” Dakota said to Naomi before she could start babbling again.
“Thank you for sticking up for me,” Naomi said gratefully as they stirred milk and sugar into their coffee and strolled off. “I don’t know if I made a mistake coming here. It’s just that there really isn’t anything for me back home, all the male shifters in our pack are taken, and nobody there likes me because I’m too tall and I talk all the time, I’ve got fifteen brothers and sisters and my parents are pretty much trying to push us out of the house as soon as they can – did I already tell you that?”
“Several times. Today. And yesterday. And the day before. Drink your coffee,” Dakota said. “You’re not too tall, and you talk just the right amount.”
After they were done with their coffee, Dakota went into the Early Bird Café to use the restroom, and Naomi went to the general store to buy some toiletries. When Dakota went to look for Naomi, she saw her standing on the front steps of the general store, talking to a few other women from the bus.
They all turned to stare at Dakota, then quickly looked away. A twinge of alarm lifted the hairs on the back of her neck.
Naomi walked over to her slowly, with an odd look on her face. “So…did you go in and register yet?” she asked Dakota. Her voice sounded strained.
“No, I thought I’d walk around downtown a little more, see the sights.” She peered at Naomi.
“Well, enjoy it while you can, I guess,” Naomi said to Dakota. “You’re so brave. I had no idea.”
That was weird. When Dakota had showed her shifter ID card to the shuttle bus driver in Los Angeles, he’d looked at her with concern and said the same thing. The whole drive up here, he’d been extra solicitous of her. He’d insisted on buying her lunch – and he definitely hadn’t been hitting on her.
She’d thought the bus driver was calling her brave because she looked like a pampered city shifter and she was heading into rough, barely developed territory. Her nails were manicured a glossy pink, and she’d worn low-heeled pumps – a dumb mistake, now that she thought about it.
But why was Naomi calling her brave? She wasn’t a country girl either. She’d come from a small shifter city.
“Well, I guess I should go now. It’s been nice knowing you,” Naomi said, with that concerned look still on her face.
“Uh…sure. You too,” Dakota said, bewildered.
What the hell had just happened? “Nice knowing you?” Did coyotes and wolves not hang out with each other up here? Somehow she doubted that was the problem.
Naomi walked off quickly, carrying her suitcase, and climbed up the steps that led to the general store.
Dakota tried not to feel hurt, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d thought that she and Naomi had really bonded, and she’d imagined they’d be friends in this strange new land. Now it was clear that Naomi couldn’t get away from her fast enough. Was it something Dakota had said?
The other women glanced at her furtively, eyes widening, and murmured to each other. Some of them looked right at her and shook their heads sorrowfully. One of them, a wolf shifter named Louise, gave her a tentative thumbs up, then looked away quickly. She looked as if she were going to cry.
They were a few hundred feet away, but Dakota could pick up a little of what they were muttering.
“Poor girl,” one of them murmured.
“It’s just a damn shame, is what it is,” Macy said loudly, and one of the other women shushed her.
What the hell? Did they think she had a terminal disease or something? Come to think of it, several of the women on the bus had offered to share their food with Dakota. Why had everyone on that bus trip insisted on feeding her like it was her last meal? And why was everyone suddenly acting like she had the bubonic plague?
She was sincerely tempted to call Tina up at home, just to hear a friendly voice, but she resisted. She’d come up here to learn how to make her own way, right? She’d…she’d try harder. She would figure out what she’d done to make these people not like her and fix it somehow.
Thoroughly unsettled, she stood there and looked around the market square, trying to decide what to do next.
Chapter Five
She wandered off, distracted, and despite Anthea’s advice, she left the town square and headed towards a park that had been cleared out nearby.
As she walked, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she felt a tingling on her skin. An Alpha Prime was nearby, and he was projecting his feelings big-time; she could sense strength and self-confidence and dominance.
She looked around and quickly identified the source. It radiated from the handsome Alpha she’d seen talking on the two-way radio earlier – the one who’d fried the Charlesville Alpha with his anger-energy. He strolled over to her with a grin curling his mouth and stopped, blocking her path.
She tipped her head up to look at him. He towered over her, easily six foot five. Broad shoulders,
skin browned by the sun with a hint of sunburn on his cheekbones, and sensual lips that had been designed for kissing. His eyes were the amber color of whiskey. He wore faded jeans, lace-up brown work books, and a white T-shirt that was molded to the curves of his biceps.
As she met his gaze, a bolt of heat zapped through her – and faint warning bells sounded. He moved with the same arrogance and easy confidence as her ex-fiancé Roy. She hadn’t just fled three thousand miles across the country to make the same mistake twice.
“What are you drinking? Bar just opened,” he said, inclining his head at a building with a big sign in front of it that proclaimed it to be the Watering Hole.
So smugly confident. So sure that the chubby girl would just fall on her back because he was handsome and she should be grateful. She was pretty sure that he was the region’s Alpha Prime; she felt waves of arousal and a hint of dominance flowing from him, so thick she could practically see it rippling in the air. And he was choosing to broadcast his emotions, to ensure that she felt them. Letting her know what he was.
She glanced at her watch, then looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, you want to go to a bar at eleven a.m.?” she said.
He flashed her a winning smile. “Hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere.” Then he inclined his head at the bar. “So what’s your pleasure?”
She restrained herself from spluttering, “Are you kidding me?” and settled for, “I’ll have an ice-cold glass of don’t bother, I’m not interested. No, make that a double.” And she stalked off with her head held high.
It was harder than it should have been to walk away from him. She felt a deep yearning tugging at her, urging her to go back. To talk to him. Flirt with him. Rub up against him… She ignored it and concentrated on marching away from him as fast as she could.
* * * * *
Okay, this town was officially weirding her out. When she went into the Grubstake, everybody stared at her wide-eyed like she had horns and a tail. They seemed almost afraid of her when they served her a burger and fries. She ordered a regular burger but they triple-sized it and added a mountain of fries.
Shiftily Ever After: A BBW Paranormal Romance (Alpha Prime) Page 3