Alphas for the Holidays

by Mandy M. Roth

  With that awareness at the fringes of my mind, I quickly pulled away. Our eyes locked as I opened the box of condom, ripped one out of its wrapper and slipped it on. Serena seductively kept her legs spread wide, waiting for me in the midst of her abandon. Lowering on top of her, I held my torso up with one arm, slid the other under her hips, and in one firm movement, I sank my throbbing rock hardness into her.

  Serena’s white-knuckle grip over her mouth did not muffle the whimpers, hums or moans she made in response to each and every one of my thrusts. My heightened wolf shifter hearing picked up every sound, driving me closer. I lowered my head to her breasts, and clamped my lips around her nipple, sucking hard as I gave her a ride to remember. Soon, her legs started to shake, and her inner walls clench my shaft so tightly, I could come just from the sensation.

  I moved my hand down to her hips, tilting into a different angle that sent Serena over the edge and right to her climax. Her fingers dug into my back as she shook, and with the force of her channel fluttering and tightening around my shaft, I gave two or three or thirty more mindless strokes, before my vision blurred and I exploded so forcefully through my own release, I almost howled.

  Almost.

  “You’re addictive, woman,” I growled beside her ear as I lowered to her chest.

  “That was…amazing,” she whispered absently.

  Still connected and not quite ready to pull apart from her, I rolled us to one side so I could rest for a few minutes. She relaxed with her head on my shoulder, sucking in breaths of air to recover. After a few minutes, I decided not to tempt fate by sticking around.

  “I’d best let you get back to your room before anyone starts to wonder where we are,” I whispered.

  “Okay.”

  I pulled out and got out of bed, and she followed, quickly throwing on her clothes. “I’ll neaten up in here,” I told her.

  “Smart.” She headed for the door, and glanced over at me with a broad smile on her face as her hand gripped the doorknob. “Well, see you.”

  In three strides, I was at her side again. I couldn’t let her leave without a proper good night kiss on those sexy swollen lips.

  “Sleep well,” I said, tilting her head up.

  My thumb stroked her chin, and Serena wrapped her arms around my neck. Her breath caught when I pressed a brief kiss on her lips. If I kissed her for any more time, I was sure we’d end up right back in bed. Straightening up, I took a step back. She smiled, nodded, and I let her leave so I could get dressed and put the room back to its original condition.

  The sound of my brother’s wolfish whistle call from outside sent a chill of tension up my back. Something big was going on out there.

  Chapter 8

  Gunner

  Eleven-thirty p.m., December 21, Buffalo Springs, Texas

  “Did you hear something?” I asked Gage when I made it outside.

  He and Thorn were in the cluster of woods beside the car, in a spot that provided good cover and a natural vantage point to the main side road we had taken to get on the RV campgrounds.

  “No. No one’s coming. The kid has something to tell us, and he insists on just the two of us being present.”

  “What?” I turned to Thorn. “What’s up, kid. Make it quick. I need some shuteye.”

  Thorn crossed his arms and nodded over at us. “I know what you are. Both of you.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “You two are wolf shifters. You were turned.”

  What the hell? He knew? How on earth could he know something like this, when Gage and I had not even changed to wolf form since we met these people?

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied, taking a defensive step backward. Gage did the same. We were ready for anything, but Thorn was pretty damned relaxed, for a kid accusing two wolf shifters simultaneously.

  “Relax. I’m a wolf shifter too. Except I wasn’t turned. Actually, that’s why I wanted to pull you guys aside. We’ve got to talk.”

  Gage waved a nervous hand to stop Thorn from talking. “Back up a second to the part where you said you’re a wolf shifter but you weren’t turned. What’s that all about?”

  Thorn studied our paranoid faces for a while. “You don’t know anything about natural born shifters, do you? Do you at least know some other turned shifters like yourselves?”

  Gage rubbed his palm across his mouth and gave me a look. He nodded, signaling for me to take the lead.

  “You’d better start talking, kid,” I said. “Tell us everything you know and everything you think you know about who or what my brother and I are. Start from the top.”

  Thorn grinned. I was not laughing. “I don’t know how you can expect me to be forthcoming if you can’t even admit what you are to me.”

  “You’ve got two minutes before we decide whether you’re a threat or a friendly. And wipe that goofy smile off your face. There’s nothing funny about what you have to say to us right now. Go. Talk.”

  “All right,” he finally said. “I’ll tell you everything. The long and short of it is that I’m a natural born wolf shifter. My pack lives in Red Ridge, Arizona, or Shifter Canyon, for those who are like us.”

  Gage’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t speak.

  “I’m going to assume you don’t know anything about what you are, or about my kind, so don’t be mad if I tell you things you already know. There are shifters of all species. Wolves, bears, panthers, dragons, you name it. Some are born this way, like my entire wolf pack. Others are turned, like you were. I’ve met a few turned shifters, which is how I know that you are too. There’s nothing that you did or didn’t do to make me figure it out, either. I just know. My dad and my uncle say it’s a natural instinct with born shifters, but it takes a while for turned shifters like you to tap into that part of your animal side.”

  He smiled again as though he had remembered a joke and couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

  “What the hell do you find so funny, boy?” Gage barked.

  “Nothing, really. It’s just cool to be able to teach you alphas a few things. You don’t know you’re both alphas either, I’m sure. Okay before I get to that, I’ll tell you that every turned shifter has pretty much the same story about how they were turned. You were either shot, beat up, were in a serious vehicle collision or fire, or some life-threatening accident. Before you gave up the ghost, a woman named Theriona came to you. She’s a witch by the way. Immortal too. The prettiest, sexiest little woman you ever saw. That’s the lore, anyway. So, she came to your side and asked you if you wanted to live. Of course you said yes. Who would ever say no? Did the two of you say no?”

  Hell no we didn’t.

  “Keep talking, kid,” I ordered him.

  My inner wolf was ready to pounce, or to bolt. Everything he had shared so far about how humans were turned to shifters lined up perfectly with the near-death experience Gage and I had. Our mishap just happened to be inadvertently walking onto the grounds of at an outdoor gun range during a private meeting. It was late at night and we were in a town we had never visited. Purely an accidental double shooting.

  “Anyway, she told you she would save you, kissed you, and left. Shortly after that, all your wounds healed. Except there was a mark that stayed behind on your body. It’s the scar from your worst injury of whatever it was that caused you to be knocking on death’s door. Soon after your miraculous recovery, you find out the hard way that you don’t only have a scar, but you’re a whole different person. You’re not just a plain old human anymore. You have an animal fighting to burst out of your chest. That animal is you as well. Eventually, you realize you’re a shifter, and you probably see yourselves as monsters hiding among regular people. Freaks. Abominations. But you’re not. You’re like us. Born shifters have been around for generations. There’s a rumor that we all descended from shifters who were turned by Theriona hundreds of years ago. My dad says that’s a myth. We mostly keep our distance from the rest of the world, but
there are some, like my father, who don’t fully isolate themselves from humans. We don’t tell people what we are, though. Anyway, what else do you want to know before I tell you the part that’s going to affect me really soon?”

  “What is it, Thorn? We don’t have all night.”

  “Well, you know that I’m seventeen, but…well, tomorrow’s my birthday. I’ll be eighteen…and we’re under an almost full moon.”

  Gage grunted. “Happy birthday, kid, but we don’t see how that’s relevant to anything you’ve been talking about.”

  Thorn moved his weight from one foot to the other. He hesitated. “Born shifters take on their shifter form for the first time at age eighteen. Under a full moon. And we can’t control the shift back to our human form until the full moon passes.”

  My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. “Come again?”

  “Tomorrow night, I’m going to take on my wolf form for the first time, and I’ll stay that way for anywhere from a couple of hours to a few days. I have no way of predicting how long. Scientifically speaking, it would be ideal if the change only lasts as long as the true meaning of the term ‘full moon’, which is really less than a minute. That’s not quite the case for us, though. I won’t be dangerous or anything. I’ll just have to keep away from the cabin so the others don’t find out.”

  “Born shifters turn under a full moon?” Gage repeated in a question. “What are you, like a werewolf or something?”

  Thorn shook his head and lighted nervously. “No, nothing like a werewolf. They’re a different species altogether.”

  “There’s no such thing,” Gage said.

  Thorn just stared at him for a few moments. “There are. And vampires too. Pretty much every folk tale you’ve ever read or heard about is real…except for yeti and zombies. And the Loch Ness monster. That’s fiction. But getting back to the point, I’m telling you all this because I’ll have to hide out in the woods for a while, but I’m not leaving the group. So if things settle down with this emergency…I’m just asking you not to leave me out there when you notice I’m gone.”

  I nodded, but the truth was, I had no words. This kid just schooled us. Gage and I had been turned a few years ago, but we had not yet met anyone like us. We knew precious little about what we were, other than what Theriona had told us that night we were accidentally shot. I shook my head, physically trying to drown out the memory. Now was not the time for flashbacks.

  Clearing my throat, I brought myself back to the teenage wolf issue in front of us. “We won’t leave you stranded, kid. Gage and I will cover for you while you’re wolfing out. Let’s talk some more tomorrow. I need to get some sleep.” I turned to head back inside, but stopped. “Thanks for trusting us with…everything,” I muttered.

  All I needed now was a stiff drink.

  Chapter 9

  Serena

  Nine-Thirty p.m., December 22, Buffalo Springs, Texas.

  If it weren’t for the radio broadcasting pretty horrific news since we woke up this morning, today would have felt like a calm summer day at the cottage. I had woken up with a smile on my face and a spring in my step, glad to have broken one cardinal rule to never sleep with a guy on a first date. The thing was, it wasn’t a first date. It wasn’t a date at all. I could easily describe what happened as a ‘sex by proximity’ event, a fling in passing. If I were being honest with myself, I would admit that it was far from just a casual thing. The hot-blooded lust connection we had last night was not some fling.

  Gunner and I didn’t have a private moment all day. He spent most of his time outside with his brother and Thorn. They chopped logs for firewood, checked the SUV’s engine, and kept their eyes on the road. No one came. Inside, Finn and Lauretta mostly slept in, and once the babies were up, they ate and relaxed with Dawn and me in the living room. Dawn had prepared breakfast. Finn took over for lunch, and I had just finished washing dishes after dinner. Finn and Lauretta retreated into their room to put the babies down for the night. A few minutes after they returned to the living room, an emergency broadcast came over the radio.

  “We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you breaking news. As of four p.m. Eastern Time today, officials from the Federal Aviation Administration command center in Herndon, Virginia, have lifted all flight restrictions for commercial and private aircraft across the United States. Several parts of the country continue to have states of emergency in effect after the Federal Emergency Management Agency activated a national response to the widespread disruption, looting by roving bands of armed men, and other cases of lawlessness. The National Guard has also mobilized troops to respond to the crisis and engage in peacekeeping in areas of urgent need. The FAA continues to work with international aviation bodies to determine the cause of the celestial event, informally dubbed on social media as ‘Santa’s Solar Storm’. National telecommunications providers are also working to restore internet and phone services across the country. Authorities are urging the public to remain indoors and tune into local news programming for further information in your area. We now return to your normally scheduled programming.”

  Lauretta and Finn were overjoyed. Dawn had a mildly annoyed expression on her face.

  “Santa’s Solar Storm? Really?” She asked, shaking her head. “They couldn’t come up with anything else? I know it’s the holidays, but hell, someone needed to get some intellectual heads together.”

  “They’re hiding something,” I muttered.

  “What do you mean?”

  “They lifted the flight restrictions, but they did not explain the cause.”

  “Maybe there hasn’t been an official statement from the Department of Transportation, NASA, or the Defense Department,” Dawn suggested.

  I pressed my lips together. I’d get to the bottom of it eventually, but for now, I wasn’t the least bit convinced that they were still investigating. The people in power were sure to know more. Governments would never lift flight restrictions if they weren’t absolutely sure.

  Gage and Gunner came in through the front door. “Did you hear the news?” Gunner asked.

  “We did,” Finn answered for all of us. “We’re good to go now, right? They lifted the flight ban, so if we head out now, we can make it to Dallas tonight, and the five of you can probably catch flights to by tomorrow morning. The airport is the best place for you folks to be. What do you think?”

  “I’m not so sure. It’s dark out. Who knows what the roads are like right now. Let’s tune into the local news for the next few hours, and if things improve, we’ll pack up and head out first thing in the morning. Sounds fair?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Great.”

  “Is Thorn coming in for dinner?” Lauretta asked. “I haven’t seen him for a few hours.”

  “He’s busy gathering more firewood,” Gage said quickly. “He’ll be in later on, but I can take a plate out to him. I’ll make sure he keeps his strength up.”

  Lauretta got to her feet and started toward the kitchen. “Will you? God knows his parents are probably worried sick about him.”

  “Definitely,” Gunner said with a nod. “We’ll be checking the roads for a while. He’ll probably keep us company. Anyhow, I’ll let Thorn know what we—”

  He stopped speaking mid-sentence and stood stock still. He and Gage tilted their heads almost indiscernibly toward the front door at the same time.

  “Everyone get down. Now!” Gunner ordered, saying it through clenched teeth as though he didn’t want the sound to carry.

  The twins charged toward the door. If they had been planning to close it, they were too late. Gage had made it close to the door, and took a step back, stumbling at the sight of a Remington shotgun aimed at his face.

  A middle-aged man with a scrubby beard stepped into view, followed by three other men with rifles. They were all armed to the teeth, with gun belts at their waist as though they had just stepped out of a Wild West movie.

  “Well, look what we have here,” the lead man
said, looking around the room. “How’s everyone doing this evening?” He didn’t wait for anyone to respond. “I just want to let you know that if you cooperate, no one’s gonna get hurt. All we want is wallets, jewelry and any valuables you have.”

  Shit. So these were the roving bands of armed thugs they were talking about.

  Gunner raised his hands to show he wasn’t armed and stepped closer to Gage. “We don’t want any trouble, gentlemen.”

  The man stared at Gunner, checking him out from head to toe. “Try not to be a hero tonight, cowboy.”

  “I won’t let you harm these people.”

  “Just shut the fuck up and stand real still. Every one of you. Hands on your head, now!”

  The older man should not have said that, because everything went to hell and moved lightning-fast before the word now fully came out of his mouth.

  A snarl escaped from Gunner’s mouth, and at the same time, he lunged forward, shoving the man’s rifle skyward. Gage launched at the other three men still standing close to the front door. One of the guns went off, then another, and another. Finn, Dawn, Lauretta and I crouched down to the floor, taking cover from the bullets. I must have hit my shoulder on the end table on the way down. A sharp pain gripped me on the spot.

  Out of nowhere, a giant gray timber wolf with bright blue eyes leaped through the front door. It landed directly on top of the three men Gage was fighting off. A year or so ago, I would have been scared out of my mind and scampering to get the hell away. Tonight, knowing what I did, I just tucked my head down, waiting as the wolf clawed at the three men. It pounced on the lead man and swatted it massive paws across the man’s face. The leader was out cold in no time.

  “Jesus Christ, what the hell?” Finn shouted after the wolf ran off. He got to his feet and ran over to Lauretta, pulling her close. “Are you all right?”