Healing The Alpha Collection

by Jessica Ryan

  Even with the pact hanging over his head he would not have been able to hold himself back if he saw Leena. He had let her go once, but he could never do it again. The thought of fighting his friends and sacrificing his people just to hold on to his love caused his stomach to churn with revulsion, but he knew he wouldn't be able to help himself. His wolf still silently howled every night for his lost mate and Aster knew that when his arms were around her again he would never unwrap them.

  That was why he had to stay in his mansion; he had to be recused from making any decisions in relation to Leena. Hawk had to give her back on his own; it was the only way. Then he would let Aster know the deed was done. However, he hadn't appeared to Aster yet and now his town was under invasion. Something had to have gone wrong. Would Rowan know? He had also excused Rowan, knowing he wouldn't be able to give up his sister again, but maybe he had more self-control than Aster had given him credit for.

  Rowan, are you out there? he thought as the motorcycle continued to scream at the dull night air. This machine was well taken care of; he could at least give the gang that much credit. I should go to Rowan's house. Surely they haven't been able to catch Rowan.

  If there was one wolf in Bucklin who could stand toe to toe with Aster on the field of battle, it was Rowan. Rowan was just as big as Aster and just as strong. He had seen what Rowan could do in battle, and had seen the results of his rage even as recently as last week. When Rowan wanted you dead you died. There were no ifs, ands or buts about it.

  Rowan was probably holed up in his house right now, standing guard with a shotgun in one hand and a pistol in the other. Any sad sack of shit who got within thirty yards of his place was probably picking his guts up off the ground. He probably had other members of the Dawnguard with him too, standing watch from other vantage points in the neighborhood.

  Aster thought hard, trying to establish some kind of a mental link with Rowan. They had practically been brothers and they had always been able to feel the other, much like two mates. It wasn't as strong as a mate bond, but it was always there.

  Nothing, not even the faintest shimmer of emotion. It was hard to concentrate while trying to keep so much horsepower under control between his legs. Aster chalked it up to that and nothing else. Surely Rowan was okay.

  Rowan can't be killed, he thought, putting his friend on a pretty high pedestal. It was why Rowan was the sheriff of their little town and why Aster had always pegged him to be his successor should he ever fall. Crow was the only one who had ever had the raw ambition to take Aster's position and now he was tragically gone.

  There was another wolf that Aster thought could never be killed, one he held in an esteem so high that only Jesus could live up to it: Luke. And Aster had had to sit back powerless as Abaddon cut his throat and ripped his heart out of his chest, forever changing their lives.

  Aster could kill Abaddon, he knew he could. The demon was strong and powerful, giving him superhuman speed, strength and healing ability, but the demon also had to live by an ancient code. Aster hadn't spent the last ten years sitting on his ass, running the town and fucking whatever broad wanted a piece of him. No, he had been studying, learning. Once a year he took a trip to France, leaving the council in charge. Many thought it was because he had a girlfriend there, one that he wanted to keep secret. In reality he had been studying at the Order of Apollo's sanctuary, an ancient organization that hunted all things supernatural. Fortunately werewolves were their least concern and after some quick talking, and signing of pacts in blood, he was allowed access to their library and sages.

  The demon lived by a code that said it could not refuse certain challenges or it would be forced back into the underworld. One of those challenges was a duel of the flesh. The demon's mortal vessel would be forced to fight the challenger with no help from the demon or his hellfire. Essentially Aster could fight Abaddon on an even footing. Not many knew about this and it had taken the oldest sage to tell him about the challenge. The only problem was that the challenge could not be spoken and had to be written in the blood of the challenger at the time of the challenge. The demon was under no obligation to honor the challenge before it was fully written, meaning it could kill Aster the minute he started writing.

  The alpha's eyes grew wide as he pulled into Bucklin, noting that everyone's lights were out in town. It almost felt like a ghost town. The only thing that would set the scene any more perfectly would be a tumbleweed blowing across the street as Aster slowed the bike down.

  "What's happened to my town?" he wondered aloud.

  The people were there, he could feel and smell his people, but they were hiding in their homes like small, scared animals. They were wolves, not rodents, and they should be able to stand up and fight the threat like the savage beasts they were.

  Aster put his head down as he stopped at a stop light, realizing that he was partly responsible for the situation his people were in. He hadn't stood up like a leader should have and fought ten years ago and he damn sure hadn't fostered the environment a bunch of wolves should live in. He had completely eliminated the wolf from their lives; he had banished the old ways and turned them into domesticated house dogs more than anything else. It was no wonder the only ones who observed the old ways, the Oakdale pack, were now standing strong with Satan's Angels to take his people out.

  As the light turned green he pulled the bike forward, laughing at himself for even observing the traffic laws in such a bleak and desolate environment. Lawlessness had taken over his town and here he was still following the rules. That was Aster's biggest problem: he followed the law instead of becoming the law. The alpha was king of his domain; he didn’t operate in a set framework, he led with the fiery passion that burned inside. Aster had failed.

  The fact that his pursuers hadn't caught up to him and nobody else had made a move to stop him began to unsettle Aster. He knew they were out there, probably watching him right now, but no one stepped forward to challenge him.

  "I'm walking into a trap," he whispered to himself, not even audible over the roar of the motorcycle.

  * * *

  Aster's eyes narrowed as he watched the trout swim downstream. Every muscle in his body tensed as he prepared to spring into action. He was the hunter, the fish were the hunted and this was the end of their lives. He could almost taste their raw flesh as he licked his lips and watched. This felt right. He was a wolf and he was going to eat like a wolf.

  Water splashed him in the face, ruining his concentration and nearly causing him to slip off the rock he had perched on into the water. He looked up and growled as the giant bear pulled the trout off his massive claws and devoured it in two bites. Beorn had known Aster wanted the next shot, but the greedy bear had lost his patience.

  Laughter from the shore forced him to turn and look. Rowan, Thorn and Leena were all lounging on the beach, watching their two friends attempt to hunt.

  "You almost had it, buddy!" Rowan called.

  "Don't get wet, babe!" Leena called. "I don't want to have to clean sand out of your fur again!"

  Aster gave Beorn one last look before darting across the rock and onto the sandy beach, shifting as his feet hit solid ground. Quickly he moved to slide on a pair of shorts he had brought, covering himself completely.

  "You're so modest," Thorn said, looking him up and down. The young wolf, and heir apparent to his pack, had no problem lounging completely naked in full view of everyone. Aster turned to look at Beorn, who had arrived on shore and shifted as well. The hulking young adult he transformed into also had little to no shame.

  However, Luke had raised his kids to be a little more human than wolf. If he knew they were eating raw fish while shifted he would have a cow. They were humans who happened to turn into wolves, he always said, not wolves. Abigail, Rowan and Leena's mother, always told the kids that she cooked them a delicious dinner every night so they had no need to run through the forest like a bunch of heathens.

 
"I think Dad could smell the fish on my breath," Rowan said, trying to hide his laughter. "He gave me a look and I immediately retreated to my room. I know what he was thinking."

  "So what?" Leena declared. "We're wolves. Shouldn't we be able to hunt and eat when we feel like it?"

  "We're humans who can turn into wolves," Aster corrected. "At least that's what he says."

  "Why can't we be wolves who turn into humans?" Thorn asked.

  Everyone was pondering the kind of deep thinking an eighteen-year-old could have when Beorn spoke up and drew everyone's attention.

  "Why do we have to be that?" he asked. "Why can't we be human and animal? Two sides of the same coin."

  "Mind blown," Leena said, making an exploding motion around her head with her hands. "Like, completely."

  Beorn ignored the ribbing and continued his thought. "We're all like this for a reason. It's not like a movie where we were bit by some animal and now we can transform, right?"

  "Maybe one of our ancestors was bitten by a wolf or bear," Aster said.

  "I don't think that's it," Beorn said. "We were born this way, with the ability to blur the lines between man and animal. I feel like our lives should blur that line too. I know you've all felt the animal inside wanting to get out, wanting to have its way with your life. It can't be good to keep it cooped up all the time. What happens when you lock a dog in the house all day? It gets angry and tears up the furniture."

  "Are you saying my wolf is going to tear up the furniture inside of me?" Leena asked before bursting into laughter.

  "Just forget it," Beorn said, skipping a rock across the river. "Just forget I said anything."

  Aster looked at the bear for a bit before turning to look at his friends. Rowan had no problem embracing the beast inside of himself—he was one of the more in tune teenagers Aster had ever met—but Leena was all about being a teenage girl. He glanced over at Thorn, who made brief eye contact before looking away. The young alpha understood the same thing Aster did: Beorn was right.

  "Well, look who it is!" Rowan yelled. Everyone turned and looked up at the tall, gangly teenager with long blonde hair who was sidling up to them with his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the ground.

  "How goes it, Hawk?" Leena asked.

  "It's okay," Hawk said, nearly whispering. He was a man of few words.

  "You sure?" Thorn asked.

  "Just problems at home," Hawk said. "You guys want to go on a trip or something?"

  "What kind of trip?" Rowan asked.

  "I don't know, just a trip. Let's get out of town for a few days. Go explore the surrounding area. We just graduated high school. We should be seeing the world."

  "Nah," Rowan said. "I've got to help my dad with some things."

  "I just think it'd be a good idea," Hawk said, staring off into the distance.

  Aster studied their newest friend for a bit. He was an odd, enigmatic kid, but he always seemed to know what was going on in town. The kid had his beak-like nose in everyone's business. There was something different about him today. Something was definitely bothering him.

  "You know I'm your friend," Aster said to Hawk, putting a hand on his shoulder.

  Hawk looked surprised and confused as he glanced at all of them before briefly making eye contact with Aster. "I know."

  "You can tell me anything," Aster said.

  "It's just family problems," Hawk said. "No big deal."

  Chapter 5

  Aster considered driving to Rowan's house immediately, but something pulled him to another neighborhood. He knew he would find his safety at Rowan's—they couldn't capture his strong friend—but he had to check on Hawk one more time.

  You knew, he thought as he pulled onto the street where his fellow alpha resided with his pack. You knew the entire time.

  That day on the beach came flooding back. Hawk had always been reluctant to discuss his family life; all they knew was that his father had left at a young age. Aster slammed his hand down on the seat as he stood up from the motorcycle. If only Hawk had opened up that day, if only he hadn't just tried to get them to run away from their problems, they could have been prepared.

  Satan's Angels came two days after Hawk's conversation and afterwards his mother mysteriously disappeared. Hawk never spoke of her again, but Aster knew the truth: his father was one of them.

  Like a blind man seeing for the first time, so much was becoming apparent to Aster, so much he hadn't seen for all these years.

  How could I be so stupid? It was all right in front of my face, everything.

  Aster didn't know how he would react when he saw Hawk. Would he put his hands around the skinnier, weaker alpha's neck and squeeze the life out of him? Or would he forgive him and ask for help? Both options were dancing through his head, teasing him to go either way. It was obvious Hawk was guilty and had carried that guilt with him for so long.

  The idea of a new pack that watched the town and knew all seemed like a good idea. He had the Dawnguard to provide security after the merging of the packs, but there was an opening for a fifth pack after that. Hawk had been the one to suggest it to Aster and he had presented it to the other three alphas, who had all voted unanimously. The Dawnguard provided the muscle while the Skyvale pack provided the eyes. It was a nice arrangement, even if it had been born out of guilt and betrayal.

  Was it really betrayal? Aster stared at the motorcycle as he repeated the question. Yes, it was. It was betrayal by silence. Hawk was going to pay when Aster had the chance to make him. They'd been friends for a long time, but Hawk had kept so much from Aster that he was just now figuring out on his own.

  Taking a deep breath, Aster began to stomp up the sidewalk to Hawk's two-story home. He stopped halfway and looked up at the windows. The enigmatic watcher was always looking out his window, always aware when he had a visitor. There was no way he hadn't heard the motorcycle's roar, so without a doubt he knew Aster was there.

  No eyes peered back at Aster from the upstairs windows, no blinds parted and no lights were on.

  Is he even here? Aster wondered. If Hawk was present, he would be watching.

  Several rings of the doorbell produced no results. Aster took to pounding on the front door, trying to get some response, but he still received nothing.

  "If you don't answer this door then I'm kicking it down, Hawk!" Aster bellowed. There was still no response. Aster knew the others in Hawk's neighborhood were watching, because he could feel their eyes boring into his back.

  "I hope you all get a good look at my bare ass," he muttered as he lifted his powerful leg and slammed the bottom of his foot into the door.

  Most normal men could kick a front door open; it happened all the time during burglaries in big cities. Generally it just damaged the door slightly and broke the frame. Aster produced so much force with his kick that the door flew off the hinges and skidded across the entry room of Hawk's home. Everything Aster did was brutal, but effective. He had only found one situation where his strength and power had failed him, and that happened to be the situation that was coming back to bite him right now.

  "Hawk?" he asked, stepping into the entryway. "Where are you, watcher?"

  There was one light on, in the dining room just off the entryway. Aster cautiously stalked into the dining room, waiting for something to pop out at him from under a table or inside a cabinet. No such moment came; instead, he just found the half-eaten remains of dinner. There were two plates at the table, one for Hawk and one for an unknown person. Aster glanced around the room, looking for some sign of forced entry, but he found nothing.

  He wandered through the other dining room door into the kitchen. The back door was nearly ripped off its hinges and there were boot marks all over the white tile on the kitchen floor. Satan's Angels had come for Hawk and had left with him too.

  Aster glanced out the back door, dancing around the broken glass with his bare feet. Th
ere were motorcycle tracks out back and Hawk's gate was lying on the ground. The scumbags had come through the alley in the back and entered through the back door.

  "So they came after one alpha," Aster said. "That means they probably came for Rowan, too. Fuck."

  Aster began to rush out the door before he stopped, noticing his reflection in the front hall mirror. He was completely naked, his massive manhood hanging between his legs. It wasn't very becoming of the warrior badass who was fighting to save his town to wander around with his private areas flapping around in the wind. At the same time, nothing that Hawk owned would fit the alpha.

  "Guess I'm going commando the rest of the night," he muttered. It would making shifting a lot easier, and he was much more deadly in his massive wolf form than he was as a human. Taking a brief moment, Aster put his hands on his hips and stared at himself in the mirror. He was everything an alpha should be. There wasn't an ounce of fat on his body and his muscles looked like they wanted to rip through his skin at any moment.

  He'd spent some time on the Internet reading about how humans had to lift weights and work out to maintain any semblance of a respectable physique. In the days before the modern era, they didn't have to do that. Hunting for food, working in the fields and building their homes by hand had done plenty to make the human body strong and fit, but as they tended more towards desk jobs and television they lost the hardness of their ancestors and became soft.

  It was hard for a wolf to get fat; it was just simply the biology of their bodies. But there were plenty who didn't display the muscle and thickness that Aster was proudly showing to the world. Just like the humans, they'd moved into a sedentary lifestyle and were now paying the consequences. Now they had no guts, no glory and no way to fight back against the threat that was bearing down on them.

  Aster stared at himself in the mirror, feeling like the last real wolf left in Bucklin. There were so few strong wolves in the world. Who would protect the town if he died? None of these scared puppies hiding out in their homes, glancing out the windows at the scary naked alpha on a motorcycle who had just rolled into their lives and broken down their own alpha's front door while bellowing his name.