Alphas Unwrapped: 21 New Steamy Paranormal Tales of Shifters, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Witches, Angels, Demons, Fey, and More

by Michele Bardsley

  He said, So, Joy’s grief got to her and though she was supposed to meet up with Jacob, she’s going to drink herself into oblivion.

  That’s it. Jacob is probably waiting for her right now at the White Flame club.

  Same place we’re headed. Or maybe not, given the current situation. Though Drake would never blame Verena for staying home with her friend.

  The real problem was that Drake knew how Joy was feeling. He’d lost his son to the vampire alter serum when his boy had only been thirteen. It was always a terrible thing to lose a child, but truly despicable to a failed alter transformation.

  Drake’s head bobbed a couple of times. All right. Let me think. Joy was already dressed up, which meant she’d intended on going out tonight. She’s planned on it.

  He turned to head back to the walk leading to the front of the house.

  Drake, what are you going to say to her?

  Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. He’d been where Joy was right now. He knew this kind of pain.

  He called out to her. “Joy?”

  The alter witch sat slumped in the swing. She held the vodka bottle planted on her thigh. “I thought you left?” She looked past Drake. “Verena, what’s going on?”

  “We’re worried about you,” Verena said.

  When Drake stood in front of Joy, he spoke in a stern voice. “On your feet soldier, and don’t give me any shit. I know you’re ex-military. Get up. Now.”

  Joy narrowed her eyes. “Not gonna happen.”

  When she remained sitting, he moved in swiftly, grabbed the bottle and threw it against the brick pavers. The sound of shattering glass split the air.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Joy scrambled to her feet, though she lurched in the process. She’d already had a few.

  He caught her arm until she gained her balance. “You’re coming with us and like the worthy woman Verena told me you are, you’re going to keep your date with Jacob.”

  “You can’t make me do this.”

  “I think I can.”

  He leaned close and whispered, “You’ve known Verena a long time. Do you actually think she’ll have one minute of fun tonight, knowing you’re home, drinking yourself into a stupor? And what about Jacob? Do you have any idea how much courage it takes for a man to even ask a woman out? If you’re a no-show, well, that’s just not right.”

  When he drew back, Joy’s lips were parted and her dark eyes wide. She stared at him for a long minute.

  He let her mull over what he’d said.

  He watched the wheels spin as Joy searched his eyes, a frown between her brows deepening as the seconds passed.

  She groaned and started wagging her head. “I can be so stupid.” She put a hand on her face. “I’ve only been thinking about myself. You were right to say something and I apologize Drake.” She glanced at Verena. “I’m sorry. I let my situation get to me. I’ll head over to the White Flame now.”

  He admired her spirit. Joy had every right to fall apart on Christmas Eve. “Why don’t you grab your coat? I can fly both you and Verena to the club, if you want. You game?”

  “Really?” She seemed surprised. “You sure you want to do that?” She offered a crooked smile. “I mean, I am a witch and I could kill you with a touch of my fingers.”

  He shrugged. “Once we’re airborne, I doubt you’d risk the fall.”

  She laughed. “Thanks. I won’t be long.”

  As Joy disappeared inside the house, Verena moved close, her eyes wide. “What did you whisper to her?” she asked in a hushed voice.

  “Only that I thought she needed to keep her commitments.”

  Verena gave her head a shake. “I don’t think that was all you said.”

  Drake turned toward her. “Does it matter? Like you, I don’t want Joy to stay here in this condition. Given the bottle and from what you said, I thought it possible she might decide she had reason enough to hurt herself.”

  “I felt it, too.”

  “And now, she’s going to a party.”

  Of course, he would be less than human to pretend he wasn’t disappointed. He mentally turned off the lights on the tree and poured the champagne down the drain. He repressed a sigh.

  Ah, the plans he’d made.

  He turned to watch the front door, waiting.

  “Drake?”

  “Hmmm?” He felt Verena’s hand on his arm and he pivoted toward her, wondering what she wanted.

  The next moment, she slung her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his.

  He froze for about a half second, not understanding why she was kissing him. But the reason really didn’t matter and he quickly got with the program. He wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss. Oh, God, she parted her lips for him.

  He drove his tongue inside and couldn’t repress the moan that followed. He sensed her strange shifter-wolf energy, something he’d felt before. He’d only kissed her a couple of times, but an electric current seemed to emanate from her, deepening his lust for the woman.

  She drew back and slid her hands down his coat, gripping his lapels. “That was the kindest thing I’ve seen in a long time.”

  He frowned. “I didn’t do it for this.” His gaze fell to her lips.

  “I know you didn’t. That’s why I agreed to go out with you. You’re a good man.”

  When he heard the door open, he released Verena. Joy was bundled up in a coat and a scarf. The night was cold in December, even in the Phoenix area. Of course Verena, being a wolf, ran hot during the winter months. Her dress didn’t even have sleeves.

  He opened his right arm for her. When he held her tight against his side, he offered his left to Joy. He’d taken Verena on one trip over Five Bridges, and she’d loved seeing their small province from the air. He didn’t know about Joy. “You ever flown before?”

  “Nope. But I’ve always wanted to.”

  He nodded in approval. “Glad you decided to come.”

  She met his gaze. “I am, too. Thank you, Drake. You made a big difference tonight, and I’m grateful.”

  With both women fixed to his sides, and his sheer vampire strength holding each easily, he lifted into the air.

  Joy’s home sat on the eastern edge of Elegance Territory, not far from Tribunal HQ. The White Flame club was only a few blocks past the tall, stone Trib building.

  He watched for other flyers, but the air was fairly empty. Before he’d flown even half a minute, he was already descending toward the large club with dozens of cars in the parking lot.

  The marquis was a sophisticated black and silver with a flickering white flame at the right end that towered twenty feet into the sky. The club was known for its inclusiveness since all five alter species were welcome.

  He’d been here before, but not with Verena. He kept his hand at her waist as they moved into the foyer. Red and green decorations, as well as a ton of small white mini-lights, let everyone know it was Christmas Eve. The place was crowded, the music loud and the energy high. A number of couples were already dancing.

  Once Joy checked her coat, Drake led both women to a booth he’d reserved. He knew the managers well, Brenda and Tami, who had been nudging him to ask Verena out for months. They’d even promised to create a new drink in her honor that they planned on calling the White Flame.

  With the women settled into the maroon leather booth, he headed to the bar to find out if the witches had concocted the rum-based beverage. But the bar was stacked three deep so it would take some time to get their drinks.

  He repressed a sigh. Even the club seemed designed to keep him away from Verena.

  Given the rocky start to the date, he felt like a man dodging minefields.

  ~ ~ ~

  Verena shifted in the booth so that she could watch Drake. Her wolf gaze became fixed to his broad shoulders and the way he carried himself with such confidence. He wore a black cashmere turtleneck and a black suit that fit him extremely well, as in tailored. He looked gorgeous and very much at home as he
greeted several other border patrol officers.

  They all sought him out, some clapping him on the back, others shaking his hand. He was that kind of man and made connections like nothing she’d ever seen before.

  “Damn, Verena, you’ve got to keep this one. I think he might have just saved my life tonight. I was pretty low.”

  Verena reverted her attention to Joy. “I’m just glad you’re here. But what did Drake say to you?”

  Joy huffed a heavy sigh. “Not much. Mostly, he reminded me that I was being a selfish bitch.”

  “Tell me he did not say that to you.”

  Joy laughed. “Of course not. But he shook me out of my pity-party and I needed that. I was headed down a dark path.”

  Verena once more craned her neck to look at Drake. He was near the far end of the bar now where Tami and Brenda had just started serving a white drink out of a large punchbowl. “Ooooh, I hope it has rum in it.”

  “What?”

  “The drinks the witches are serving tonight. Drake said they’re calling it White Flame. Rum is my thing.”

  “Sounds fantastic.” Joy clucked her tongue. “I have to say that man of yours is freaking handsome.”

  Shifting the focus to Drake caused a whole horde of butterflies to attack Verena’s stomach. “Yes, he is.” He wore his wavy light brown hair flowing away from his face and almost to his shoulders. His eyes were an unusual hazel color, almost green, but not quite. His nose was straight, his jawline firm and he had a way of looking at each person as though they were the most important in the room.

  “And those shoulders.”

  Verena sighed. Drake was heavily muscled like all border patrol vampires. He’d kissed her twice before and held her close enough that she’d had an opportunity to smooth her hands the full distance across his shoulders. She’d imagined the same experience only without a shirt to get in the way.

  Those closest to the bar started passing drinks to him and Tami called out a loud, ‘Merry Christmas, Drake’.

  “And to you.”

  Joy sat up a little. “Wait a minute. There have to be thirty people at the bar. How did he get our drinks so fast?”

  Verena grinned because both Tami and Brenda were staring at Drake as he walked away. They were whispering to each other as well. “I think the managers like him.”

  Joy shook her head slowly, back and forth. “Like I said, you gotta keep this guy.”

  “I guess I do.” Her words came out hushed. Should she keep him? She wanted to. But his pursuit over the past year had made her nervous and jittery. She hadn’t intended on dating ever again, not with the way her husband had died.

  Five Bridges was full of so much suffering, the opposite of what her life had been before the alter. She also thought it a supreme joke that of all the five species, she’d become a wolf. She was about as far from wolfness as any human could be. Her acquired alter nature disgusted her. And pack life generally pissed her off because everything was about dominance, submission and a pecking order that sucked.

  But more than any man she’d ever known, her good, kind, intellectual husband, Aaron, had so not deserved what had happened to him in Savage Territory.

  When they’d arrived in Five Bridges, they’d been taken directly to Savage, the portion of the province allocated to the wolves. She hadn’t known what to expect, but the vicious environment was against everything she believed in.

  She did value the nature of loyalty in the shifter community. But in the case of her husband and herself, the pack they’d been required to join was full of corruption and cruelty. Everything in her pack had been about where you sat at meals, the quality of housing you were given and the deference you had to pay to those above you in rank. She’d loathed the experience.

  But it had gotten much worse when a powerful wolf by the name of Mellet decided he wanted her for his mate. He’d pursued her relentlessly and battered her physically weaker husband. The alpha should have stepped in, but he’d enjoyed watching the brutal fistfights that had always ended with Aaron’s broken bones.

  In the end, a resulting dominance battle took place in one of the infamous sand pits. It should never have been allowed because her husband had been several rungs lower in the pack and outside the acceptable range for a pit battle.

  Aaron had died that night and Verena had made her escape from Savage intending never to go back.

  When Drake arrived at the table, he set the drinks down and slid into the booth next to Verena.

  Joy stared down at the creamy, white drink. “This looks so good. And it smells fantastic.”

  Verena lifted the fluted tumbler to her lips and emitted a long wolfish growl. She took a sip and cooed some more. “This is fantastic and it has a nice kick, but not too much.”

  Drake looked amused as he swigged his Scotch neat.

  Joy choked a little on her next sip. “Well, would you look at that. Wowza.”

  “What?” When Verena met Joy’s gaze she saw that her roommate was staring at someone across the room.

  Following her line of sight, Verena recognized Officer Jacob Wright of the Elegance Border Patrol, Joy’s date. The tall warlock with black wavy hair, lifted his hand to Joy and crossed the room in her direction. He wore a suit as well. It was strange to see the men out of their usual uniforms.

  “Oh, my,” Joy murmured.

  As Jacob drew near, Verena shifted in her seat to better greet him, which caused her leg to connect with Drake’s thigh. Drake glanced at her and settled his hand on her knee. She didn’t even hint he should take it away.

  Jacob said hello to Joy first, then Verena.

  Joy introduced Drake to Jacob. “Of course I know Officer Drake. We’ve spoken a few times on the com. Nice to meet you.” Those province officers who spurned the cartels’ favor, knew each other well and worked together as much as they could. Word traveled fast about who could be trusted.

  Verena watched Drake hold out his hand and grasp Jacob’s in a tough grip. “You’re a good man, Wright.”

  Jacob nodded several times in a row. Releasing Drake’s hand, he said, “And I liked how you confronted Donaldson over that asshole, Mellet, a few months back. Kept meaning to say something to you. That wolf is a real sonofabitch. None of us could believe Donaldson let him go.”

  “I’m not a fan of Donaldson’s.”

  Understatement.

  Donaldson did as he was told by the cartels and so long as Mellet brought innocent human teens to work the various sex clubs, the cartels would back him.

  Verena picked up her White Flame and worked at keeping her hands from shaking.

  Few names filled her with as much rage as Mellet’s. He’d caused her some of the most intense grief of her life. She took a few slow, deep breaths. She could feel her nostrils elongating because of her anger. Mellet always brought out her wolf, ready to do battle.

  Tonight wasn’t about him, however. She was on her first date with Drake and Joy had pulled herself together enough to keep her promise to Jacob.

  The warlock glanced over his shoulder at the couples moving to a slow song, then turned back to Joy. “Care to dance?”

  Verena wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anyone shoot out of a booth so fast. “Love to,” Joy responded.

  When the couple got into a groove, Drake turned back to her. “How’s your drink?”

  “Perfect.”

  He smiled and squeezed her knee.

  She held his gaze for a long moment. “I can’t thank you enough for getting Joy to come here. How did you know what to say to her?”

  He shook his head, then gripped his lips together. “Because I’ve been there.”

  Verena went very still, almost as still as vampires could go. There were a few topics Drake had refused to discuss with her and one of them was his son. But she sensed he might be willing now. “What happened?”

  He looked away from her and sipped his whisky. Setting the tumbler down, he launched in. “I never told you how my boy died. But I want you to
know, especially after what you shared about Joy’s sons.

  “Johnny and I had been to an Italian restaurant for pizza, a terrific place. I knew the owner and everything.

  “We’d just received our drinks. Johnny had a soda and I had one of these.” He rocked his tumbler and swallowed hard. “I’d taken one sip of my scotch and knew it was off. The waitress was busy and because the owner was nearby, I decided to tell him right away. I hadn’t gotten halfway across the floor, when I felt the first tremor. I’m sure you remember the horror of that moment.”

  The alter serum was like a fire that burned the instant it hit the bloodstream. “Oh, God, I do.”

  He nodded and she watched him swallow hard. She could feel his pain as though it beat along the airwaves.

  “What happened to him, Drake?”

  “At the same time that I felt the first tremor, I heard him call to me. He said, ‘Dad,’ but like he was asking a question.

  “By the time I got back to our table, he was sliding down in his seat, his face beat red. He couldn’t breathe. I’d heard how sometimes the alter transformation could create a deadly allergic reaction. That’s what happened. One minute we were joking and ready to enjoy a pizza together and the next minute, he was gone. I held him in my arms as he thrashed, unable to breath. He was dead within three minutes.”

  “Drake, I had no idea.”

  “I wanted you to know. I spoke pretty strongly to Joy, but I guess in a way I felt I had a right to, since I knew exactly where she was at. It’s not a good place. It’s dark and cold, lonely as hell.” He leaned forward slightly. “You know what’s funny?”

  “What?” She didn’t know how she’d gotten the word out and she didn’t apologize for the tears in her eyes.

  He didn’t seem to mind. “Several times since living in Five Bridges, I’ve felt the way Joy did tonight. And every time, except once, it was about Johnny.”

  “What was the other time?”

  “When I yelled at Donaldson and called him a fucking tool. I’d just arrested Mellet for transporting a couple of drugged out teenage girls into Five Bridges. I had him dead to rights. And Donaldson let him go. I swear I almost killed him. If Connor hadn’t been there, I would have.” Connor was a fellow Crescent Officer, or was at the time. Now he served on the Tribunal force.