Alpha Mated Box Set (Alpha Billionaire Werewolf Shifter Romance)

by Mac Flynn

  David raised the vial and squished around the contents. "What is it?"

  "Holy water mixed with some purple dye so you can see where you're tossing it," Ficus explained. "Phantoms hate the stuff more than the light. Just toss some of that stuff onto him and it'll soil his 'suit.'"

  I arched an eyebrow. "His clothes?"

  Ficus smiled and shook his head. "Not that kind of suit. Phantoms take over a body that resembles there's and tries to revive their soul in that body by sucking the life out of somebody else."

  I whipped my head to David. "So somebody's actually stuck in that body with the phantom?"

  David pursed his lips and pocketed the vial. "So it seems."

  Ficus nodded at the pocket that held the vial. "Sprinkle enough of that at him and he should scram. Not enough and-well, you've got yourself a mad phantom."

  "What can a mad phantom do?" I asked him.

  Ficus chuckled. "Plenty, but you don't want to find out."

  "We'll be careful," David promised.

  6

  Ficus led us to the entrance and opened the door. "If I know anything about you, David, then I'll bet your up to your eyeballs in trouble already, and no amount of my advice will get you out of it."

  David smiled. "Not quite that-" A phone rang. It was mine.

  I pulled it from my purse and looked at the number. My eyes flickered up to David. "It's Ruth." I answered the ring. "Hey, Ruth."

  "Hello, Miss Combes." I frowned. The voice wasn't Ruth's. "This is Doug."

  My pulse quickened. "Where's Ruth?"

  He chuckled. "Ruth is just fine, at least for now."

  I narrowed my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "You might wish to ask your werewolf companion what that means, but I didn't call you to discuss him. Or rather, I called to discuss both of you. I'd like to invite you to my house for supper this evening."

  My grasp on the phone tightened. "What's going on? Where's Ruth?"

  Doug sighed. "I would dearly love to talk to you longer, Miss Combes, but I have a supper to prepare. If you and your werewolf friend would be so kind as to call at 311 Fairfax Drive at seven, I would be most obliged. And Ruth would be very glad to see you."

  My eyes widened. "Where is she? What have you done with her?"

  He chuckled. "Nothing, but if you don't come I may be forced to do something else. We'll see you at seven. Goodbye." Click.

  I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the ground. Mad thoughts of danger and Ruth swirled in my head.

  David grasped my shoulders and caught my gaze. "What is it? What's happened?"

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and fought back tears. "He's got her. I don't know how, but he's got her at his house and he wants us to come, too. Tonight, at seven."

  The doctor clucked his tongue and shook his head. "Sounds like a trap if I ever saw one. What's the address?"

  "311 Fairfax Drive," I replied. David and Ficus glanced at each other. I frowned. "What is it?"

  David pursed his lips. "We might need you to come along with us, Doc."

  Ficus gave a nod. "Let me get my stuff and I'll go with you now." He turned away and disappeared into the depths of the house.

  I glared at David. "What's with you two? What's wrong with that address?"

  David sighed and turned to me. "Do you remember how Blake told us his island was a focal point for the strange?"

  I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

  He folded his arms. "The house that stands at the address you gave isn't much better than Blake's island, but for ghosts. In fact, it might be the worst place for us to go if we're going to confront this phantom. Spirits have the upper hand in the halls of Fairfax House."

  "How?" I asked him.

  He leaned against the door frame and shrugged. "I'm not quite sure about the mechanics. You should ask the doc about that." He glanced over his shoulder and in the direction where the doc had disappeared. "Where is that old man, anyway?"

  "Don't call me old, and I'm right here," Ficus replied as he hurried from a hall on the left. He had a carpet bag in one hand and a black overcoat in exchange for his white one. Atop his head was a barbershop hat. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

  I glanced from one man to the other. "Could somebody please explain to me the dangers so I can know how much to panic?"

  David pushed the doctor out of the house and guided us down the path to the limo. "How about we discuss this somewhere more comfortable?"

  Ficus glared at him. "If you wish, but stop shoving me about! I'm not a chew toy!"

  David grinned at him. "I might reconsider that if you don't hurry." We reached the limo and Puer opened the door for us. "To Fairfax House, my good man, and don't spare the horses."

  Puer's face paled and he slammed the door shut before we could get inside. "Fairfax House, sir?"

  David frowned at his servant. "You heard me, Puer, and we're in a hurry."

  Puer cleared his throat. "Pardon my boldness, sir, but isn't that a house of ill-repute?"

  "And deadly spirits, one of which we have to exorcise, but first we need to drive there," David persisted.

  Puer stretched to his full height and held his chin high. "Then I would like to request that I accompany you on this adventure."

  David arched an eyebrow. "You won't be of much use in there, Puer. You're better off as our getaway driver."

  Puer nodded at me. "If you'll pardon me again, sir, but Miss Combes won't be of much use in such a place, either."

  I crossed my arms and glared at him. "I'm not being left behind."

  Puer bowed his head. "Nor am I, Miss Combes."

  David set his hand on Puer's shoulder and looked into the middle-aged man's eyes. "I need you, Puer. Nobody else would be foolish enough to drive a werewolf around town."

  "And I need you, sir. No one else can sign my paycheck," Puer quipped.

  David smiled and patted Puer on the shoulder. "All right, you win, but don't say I didn't warn you."

  Puer bowed his head and opened the door. "I will be careful not to, sir."

  We slipped into the rear seat of the limo and the car pulled away from the house. I turned to my mate and arched an eyebrow. "How far away is this house?"

  He shrugged. "I'd say about an hour's drive."

  I glanced at my watch. "Wouldn't that get us at the place two hours before time?"

  He smiled. "Yes, but I'm sure our 'host' won't mind us arriving early, particularly since it might take us some time to find our rooms."

  "So can you tell me about this mysterious house of ill-repute?" I asked him.

  David glanced at the doctor. "We're comfortable, Doc, so you can tell Dakota about the house. You know more about it than me."

  Ficus set his bag between his legs and sank into his cushioned seat. "Not much to tell, really. The hauntings started after the original owner's wife, a mentally unstable creature, burned half the house down. Both of them died in the fire. The place was rebuilt, but the ghosts were fixed to the land." He waved his hand. "Then there comes a string of murders, suicides, unexplained disappearances, and strange odors of decay."

  I cringed. "Sounds wonderful. So what does this Doug-Phantom have in store for us?"

  The doctor shrugged. "The phantom probably wishes to do away with us in the bowels of the house."

  David draped his arm across my shoulders and smiled at us. "Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

  I plucked his hand off my shoulder and tossed it back at him. "Loads. So how do we survive this fun house?"

  David nodded at the bag between the doctor's feet. "That is our trump card."

  Ficus wagged his finger at David. "Don't go relying too much on my tricks. I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker. You'll have to rely on some of your own strengths to get us out of any physical situations."

  I waved my finger between them. "So how long have you guys known each other, anyway?"

  Ficus leaned back and pursed his lips. "Sometimes I think it's too long."

&nbs
p; David chuckled. "Only a few years. The good doctor assisted me in some trouble a while back."

  Ficus scoffed. "'Assisted' isn't the word I'd use. I found you half-transformed in a filthy alley with a half dozen police cars on your tail." He wagged his finger again. "You were just fortunate I had my bag with me that night, or I would have abandoned you to your folly."

  "It was an honest mistake," David insisted.

  "An honest mistake you had a lion's claw halfway through your arm?" Ficus retorted.

  David held up his hands and smiled. "All right, Doc, you win. I was a foolish young werewolf out for a meal at the local zoo and should've known better than to tangle with a whole pride of lions."

  Ficus pursed his lips. "We're all rather unfortunate it was your arm that was hurt and not your tongue."

  David shrugged. "Sometimes the cat gets it, Doc, and sometimes it doesn't."

  I rolled my eyes. "Kids, could we stay on the topic of our deaths and not past attempts at suicide?"

  David leaned against my side and smiled. "You're in better hands than you know, my dear mate. Nothing will happen to you so long as we're around."

  Those were famous last words that karma would later prove wrong.

  7

  The car ride led us across the Cam River and past the eastern portions of the city. We traveled into the wilderness of the bay road that wound its way through thick forests of old-growth trees. Weed-choked driveways on either side of us were shadowed by the heavy canopy of those trees and wound their way to rusted wrought-iron gates. Stately mansions overgrown with ivy and brush leaned out of the brush, silent sentinels to the glories of old families long past their prime.

  I leaned forward and glanced out the window. "Cheery places."

  "And our destination is the most cheerful," David spoke up.

  Puer turned us onto one of those driveways. The way was little more than a wide path of weeds and dirt. The property was too overgrown to see the house from the road. Brush and tree branches scraped the side of the car. Their long, sharp dead fingers scratched at the windows, and the shadows behind their thick boughs beckoned to us. It was still afternoon, but in this dark forest night was forever.

  David flinched. "There goes the paint job."

  Ficus picked up his bag and set it in his lap. His lips were pursed as he stared out the window. "You won't have to worry about the car if we don't succeed."

  David smiled. "Comforting, Doc. Very comforting."

  He shrugged. "Just stating the plain facts. We're up against a phantom that's tasted human soul and it's not about to let us leave without a bite."

  David grinned and his sharp teeth glistened in the dim overhead light. "That's okay. I have a bit of a bite myself."

  The winding driveway took us to a pair of tall iron gates. On either side of rose a stone wall ten feet tall. Puer parked the car and shut off the engine. He opened the door and we stepped out.

  Beyond the gates stood Fairfax House. The structure was made in the style of a large country manor. Its lofty three floors bowed under a full attic, and the exterior was a mix of wood and rounded stones. Tall, narrow windows glared down at us, and many were covered by the tattered remains of curtains. A wide gravel walk led from the gates to the inset front doors. The large wooden entrances were like a gaping mouth ready to swallow fiend and foe alike.

  All the windows were dark, or so I thought. Ficus pointed at one in the west wing of the third floor. "There!"

  David and I followed his finger. A flickering light shimmered through the thin glass. Then it disappeared.

  David turned to we three with a smile. "It seems our arrival didn't go unnoticed."

  Puer bowed his head. "I'm sorry, sir, but I didn't feel comfortable shutting the headlights off."

  David raised his hand and shook his head. "It's all right, Puer, we understand. To be honest, I'd be grateful for a whole forest of torches."

  Ficus dropped his carpet bag onto the ground and opened the awning mouth. He rummaged for a second before he pulled out two large flashlights. "What about the electrical kind?"

  David smiled and took one of them. "Even better."

  Ficus handed each of us a flashlight. I leaned forward to catch sight of what other surprises he held in that bag, but there was only darkness. He shut the bag and picked it up.

  "Shall I lead the way, sir?" Puer offered.

  David clicked on his flashlight and shook his head. "No. Dakota and I were especially invited, so we should lead." He turned to me and offered me his arm. "Shall we?"

  I pursed my lips, but accepted his arm. "I hope you have a plan other than knocking on the door."

  He chuckled. "No, but I'll think of something."

  David turned away and shone it over the gates. I started back when a groan came from the ancient hinges, and the gates slowly swung inward to allow us passage.

  "Looks like the spook doesn't mind an early visit," Ficus spoke up.

  "And we shouldn't disappoint it," David added.

  David led our little group up the gravel path and to the doors. Those ancient portals, too, opened of their own accord and revealed the hidden world beyond the crumbling walls. The entrance hall was a burial shroud of furniture covered in white sheets. The wooden floors were encased in a thick layer of dirt and dried leaves hardened by years of neglect. We stepped inside and found ourselves in the shadow of a mighty chandelier.

  "Roomy," I spoke up. I winced when my voice echoed through the many halls of the manor.

  David smiled. "It seems we didn't give our host time to clean up before our coming."

  Ficus dropped his bag on the ground and knelt in front of it to rummage in its dark depths. "But you two and your yapping are giving it plenty of opportunity to greet us."

  David swept his hands towards the grand staircase that curled around the rear wall of the hall. "After you, my good doctor."

  Ficus pulled out a two-foot long stick with short branches on either side and a few green leaves stuck at the end of those branches. "I will if you'd give me a moment to find it," he replied as he stood.

  David arched an eyebrow. "You saw the light. We should go there."

  Ficus raised the stick above his head and turned in a circle. "Don't believe anything you see in here. Use your nose instead, and tell me where you smell the worst stench in this place."

  David lifted his nose and took a couple of whiffs. He frowned. "It's coming from the second floor near-" Ficus jerked to a stop with the stick pointed at the right-hand wing of the house.

  "-near the back of the house and at the end of the hall," Ficus finished for him.

  David chuckled. "Perhaps you should be the one to lead."

  Ficus picked up his bag in one hand and clutched the stick in another. "Perhaps I should. Now all of you play follow-the-leader, and stay close."

  Ficus led us up the curved stairs. David and I walked side-by-side, and Puer brought up the rear.

  I glanced at my mate and jerked my head towards Ficus's back. "What kind of a quack is this guy?" I whispered.

  "The best at what he does," David assured me.

  Ficus glanced over his shoulder and nodded. "You're darn right. Not every doctor can heal the physical and spiritual."

  I arched an eyebrow. "How do you deal with the spiritual?"

  He rattled his carpet bag. "With this, and this." He tapped his temple with the end of his stick.

  I frowned and squinted my eyes at the stick. "I think your leaves are dying." The greenery hung limp from the branches.

  Ficus held the stick in front of him and nodded. "They should. This is a branch of hawthorn. The leaves go limp in the direction of supernatural beings, and they wither when drawn close enough to them."

  "Do you have anything that can help us exorcise this phantom, Doc?" David spoke up.

  Ficus snorted. "If I didn't I would have received my price for the holy water and sent you on your way. As it is, I have a little experiment I'd like to try on your phantom friend."
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br />   "Care to clue us in?" David persisted.

  Ficus shook his head. "Not here. The walls have ears."

  We reached the landing to the second floor. A long hall stretched to the left and right. The far ends were encased in shadows so deep our flashlights couldn't penetrate the darkness. Doors stood on either side of the hall. The soiled wallpaper was covered in cobweb-draped portraits.

  I glared at a particularly menacing portrait of a man in gentleman's attire from two centuries before. "They have eyes, too."

  Ficus paused and frowned at a portrait of a woman close to his right. She wore a prim and proper frown of her own on her face. That was probably because of the tight, high-collar that adorned her thin, seated form. "I wouldn't be surprised at anything."

  David wrapped one arm around my shoulders and moved us past Ficus and down the hall some ten feet. "Be firm, my brave companions. We have only a short hallway, a simple battle, and a damsel rescued before we leave. This should all be done in five minutes."

  That's when the floor beneath me gave way.

  8

  The boards beneath my feet cracked and yawned, sucking me down into darkness. David's arm couldn't cling to me as hard as gravity forced me down. I let out my best terrified scream as I fell through the floor. The next one didn't break my fall, but a sharp, bony object covered in cloth finished my fun with gravity.

  A dust cloud fell over me and forced air from my lungs. I choked on the ancient dirt and waved my hand in front of me to clear my vision. A loud crash and crunch beside me started me backwards into more dust. A shadowy figure emerged from the cloud and loomed over me.

  "Are you okay?" David asked me.

  I grasped my chest over my heart and glared at my mate who stood over me. "Did you really have to follow me down here that way?"

  He knelt beside me and helped me sit up. "I thought if it was good enough for you it would be good enough for me."

  "It needs some work," I quipped. I glanced around us. "Where are we, anyway?"

  David mimicked my action and frowned. He swept his light over the area. I glimpsed stone walls and chink mud between them. "It looks like the basement."