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

by Michele Bardsley

  She wanted to melt into him, let her head rest on his shoulder the way she once had to regroup, but she had to remember she hated his guts. Pushing him away, she struggled to get out of his steel embrace.

  “Let me up,” she ordered, her words tight.

  Finn let go while Cozy fought the impulse to burrow back against him and his psychedelic shirt and instead pushed away from him, wincing when the glass on the concrete scratched at her palms.

  “What are you doing here?” she croaked.

  “I forgot my house key in the kitchen after I got off my shift. I was on my way in to find it when I heard you screaming and smelled smoke. When I got to the rec room, all I saw was you by the patio door and a flaming arrow aimed at your head.”

  So, if not for him, she’d have taken a hit. He’d saved her. “Then thank you,” she responded stiffly before trying to rise, keeping her eyes averted.

  “Let me help you, Cozy,” Finn offered, extending his strong hand. “You’re hurt.”

  But then everyone rushed toward her at once. Calla hauled her upward, running her fingers over Cozy’s face as Winnie pulled her into a hug, squeezing her tight. “Oh, my God, Cozy! What happened?”

  She shook her head in wonder at Winnie as the seniors’ faces came into view behind her. “I don’t know. One minute we were rehearsing, the next the lights went out and someone was shooting flaming arrows at us—or me. I think they were meant for me, anyway.”

  Calla’s nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed in Finn’s direction. “Flaming arrows meant for you? Gee, how coincidental some poser Robin Hood shows up just a couple of days after Finn arrives. Ya think maybe one of your criminal BFFs had something to do with this? Maybe they were looking for you?” she asked, pushing her way through the crowd to poke Finn in the chest.

  But he stood strong, even with every accusatory pair of eyes in the vicinity fixed on him. “I had nothing to do with this, Calla. I give you my word.”

  Calla’s beautiful fair skin flushed. “Right, because that’s so golden? I swear to you, Finn Donovan, if not for Baba Yaga, I’d take you out to the woods behind our ranch and personally disembowel you!”

  Nash, another of Finn’s former friends, came up behind his wife and pulled her to his chest, shooting Finn a look of disgust. “Honey, leave this alone. We have our work cut out for us, cleaning up and assessing the damage. This isn’t the time.”

  Calla backed off, but still Finn stood tall, taking in every harsh word Calla spoke without moving a muscle, his gaze direct.

  As Nash pulled his wife away, she spat, “I’d better see you here tomorrow bright and early, helping the rest of us clean up!”

  Finn nodded his consent, his hard jaw set in a rigid line. “Forget tomorrow. I’ll start tonight.”

  But Calla shook her head, her dark hair falling around her face. “No! Tonight you get the hell out of my sight! I know this had to do with you and whatever you’re up to, and if I don’t get some time to cool down, I’ll kill you myself, Finn Donovan!” She brushed Nash off and stomped toward the gaping hole of the glass door they’d fallen through.

  The seniors gathered ‘round Cozy, their faces covered in soot and grime, pushing Finn out of the picture completely.

  Flora’s hair was singed on one side and her pretty blue sweater torn. “Thank the goddess you’re okay, Cozy! We tried like hell to get our magic to work, but my damn wand kept shootin’ blanks.”

  “It was by the daggone grace of the goddess we managed to find the damn door with all that smoke, cuz my damn magic sure couldn’t find it,” Clive commented, his thatch of silvery hair covered in a dull haze of ashes.

  Gus and Glenda-Jo nodded in sync. “Same here,” Gus muttered, his adorable Christmas suspenders scorched. “If that was meant for you, then I wanna know who the hell would try to hurt our girl.”

  She shook her head and frowned. “I don’t know, but I couldn’t get my magic to work right either. It kept fading in and out. I don’t know what this was about, but I plan to find out.”

  The guilt she felt for lying was assuaged only by the fact that Glenda-Jo was standing in front of her right now, looking her in the eye—alive. A little frayed around the edges, but alive.

  Yet, cold fear slithered up her spine. If she’d been the target, what was the reason behind it? It had to be connected to Finn and whatever unsavory deed he’d done to land him in prison.

  But she’d think about it later because it was too much to wrap her head around now. They had a center to clean up. She didn’t have time to dwell.

  Cozy shook off her fear, taking Jorge from Joellen and holding him close, so grateful he was all right. “Okay, so where do we start? Maybe we try our wands again and see if they’ll work now? I don’t think Baba could fault us for using our magic for something like this.”

  Magic for any kind of personal gain was strictly forbidden in their world, but a disaster the magnitude of the center, a place where the seniors spent at least five days a week—not to mention with a holiday event planned for tomorrow—certainly called for some wand intervention.

  Winnie shook her raven head with a vehement side to side. “Oh no. You’re coming back to my house with me. You need to rest, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

  “But Finn’s there—”

  Winnie’s classically beautiful face changed on a dime, going from sympathetic to hard. “Forget Finn. I’ll lock him up in that pink-and-purple ruffled prison so he can’t bother you, but no way am I letting you go home alone if you were supposed to be the target. Your parents are gone until the day after Christmas, visiting your sister, right?”

  Her parents hadn’t wanted to leave her, but her sister Cleo couldn’t get vacation time from her job in Colorado and Cozy had already agreed to the recital by the time her sister realized she wouldn’t be able to make it home to Paris.

  So Cozy had insisted they spend the holiday with her, promising to spend it with Winnie and Ben and leave New Year’s Eve free for her mom and dad.

  Cozy nodded, still hugging Jorge close. She could use a hug from her dad right about now. “They’re with Cleo in Colorado. It’s her first Christmas away from home. I couldn’t let her be alone.”

  “Exactly. Until we know what’s going on, you stay close—no discussion. Besides, who better than a super-duper powerful witch like me to protect you? No one, that’s who. Now let’s go get your things and we’ll get you cleaned up and settled. Lola will be thrilled Auntie Cozy’s coming to play. And of course, Icabod will be beyond himself to have another familiar to chat with. He and Twyla-Faye had a falling out of sorts.”

  Jorge grunted and replied with his usual dry enthusiasm. “Yay. Two of my favorite things. Children with sweaty paws and a creepy Cabbage Patch doll with a prior decapitation under his belt and a broken spirit. Color me excited.”

  Winnie’s familiar, Icabod, was her childhood doll, and Twyla-Faye was Calla’s iguana, once abandoned by a former witch and left to fend for herself at the center before it was remodeled. Calla had adopted her when she took over the renovations.

  Jorge claimed to despise both familiars, but Cozy knew better. He might grumble, but sometimes it was good to have someone else to talk shop with about their feisty witches.

  Winnie tweaked Jorge’s ear with a mischievous grin. “Aw, c’mon, Jorge. I sewed Ic’s head back on a long time ago. It’s been forever since he was creepy. Plus, he’s a great conversationalist,” she teased.

  As Winnie took Cozy’s hand and led her away, she caught a glimpse of the arrow that had almost hit her just inside the broken glass door and shuddered.

  If not for Finn…

  If not for Finn, you’d be dead.

  Chapter Six

  SITTING ON THE edge of the bed at Winnie and Ben’s, freshly showered, sipping the special brew of tea her friend had whipped up to calm her and help her sleep, with Jorge on a pillow behind her, she smiled gratefully.

  “What is this?” she asked, licking her lips.


  Winnie tucked her bathrobe around her slender middle and grinned. “Good, right? It’s a secret recipe.”

  “Well, tell me the secret. This could come in handy. Do you know how many sleepless nights I’ve had since…”

  Shit. She didn’t want to start harping on the breakup thing again.

  “I think I do,” Winnie said, patting her hand. “But it’s a very powerful potion and I only use it for occasions such as one of my friends almost getting herself killed. It’s meant to calm all your fears and give you a dreamless, restful night. I just want you to have a good night’s rest. I want the shadows under your eyes to go away. I want you to not just pretend to be happy, but really be happy.”

  She’d be up half the night anyway with Finn was just down the hall. No special brew could help the nervous tension, keeping her muscles tightly strung and her heart on edge.

  “Happiness can’t elude me forever. I won’t let it,” she said cheerfully, even if both she and Winnie knew it was all crap at the moment.

  “Has he told you what he was in magic-abuse jail for?”

  “Nope, and I haven’t asked.”

  “But you’ve wanted to.”

  Cozy sighed and bit the inside of her cheek. “I hate it, but I have. It kept me up all last night.”

  “I’ve been so busy hating him, and hating Baba for allowing the council to send him here, I never even asked.”

  “I don’t know this Finn, he’s…” How could she explain the man Finn turned out to be was so unlike the man she’d fallen in love with?

  Winnie’s glance was far away. “He’s not the man I knew, that’s for sure. All this time, and none of it makes any sense. You’ve known him almost all your life, haven’t you?”

  She brushed a wet strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “He was a grade ahead of me in high school, but we knew of each other. I left for college and so did he. Then I went to teach in Memphis and he was off in El Paso somewhere before he came back here to take over the farm when his parents passed away. We saw each other again for the first time in the grocery store after I took the teaching position here in town, and it was…”

  Lust at first sight that had turned into love. When he’d recognized her after a stretch of thirteen years or so since they’d seen each other in school, she’d been flattered. He’d asked her out that day in the cereal aisle right by the Sugar Pops, and that had turned into a year-and-a-half-long romance, culminating in his proposal.

  “Love.” Winnie finished Cozy’s sentence. “It was evident in the way you two looked at each other. I didn’t know you for the entire courtship, but I sure remember how he watched you. Everywhere you went, his eyes would always follow. That’s why I don’t get what happened. For instance, the farm—it was trashed. Did you know what was happening out there?”

  Cozy swallowed. “I knew he was struggling here and there, but that day when we went to look for him… It wasn’t like that, Winnie. It was as if overnight, the farm had been hit by a shitstorm.”

  She’d never forget seeing the farm the day Finn had disappeared—the condition led them all to believe there’d been criminal mischief involved. Until he’d been sighted in Galveston by Freemont Gable.

  Winnie squeezed her hand. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. You need to rest.”

  She took another sip of the amazing tea, her eyes grainy. “I could have gone home, Winnie. I don’t want to be any trouble. And Jorge snores. He’ll wake little Ben and Lola.”

  “My children sleep like they’re comatose. In fact, little Ben has just started sleeping through the night. Which is utter bliss. Don’t worry about anyone but you, honey. Let me baby you for a little while. Besides, not a chance in seven hells I’m letting you out of my sight until we figure this out. The gang’s all coming tomorrow night after the recital for coffee and pie, and we’re going to put our head’s together and figure this out.”

  Her friend lifted her feet and tucked them under the warm blue-and-yellow comforter as though Cozy were a child, and she let her, her adrenaline finally easing its clutches and allowing her limbs to relax.

  Winnie slid along the edge of the bed until she was looking Cozy in the eye. “You still love him, don’t you, honey?”

  Her tone didn’t suggest accusation; she was just stating a fact.

  A tear slipped from her eye. “I hate myself for it.”

  “Don’t, Cozy. I mostly get it. No judgment from the woman who, until she found one Mr. Benjamin Yagamowitz, had her fair share of crappy-men notches on her belt.”

  A heavy weight tugged at her, kept pulling her off to a pillowy-soft darkness she fought. “He saved me tonight.”

  Winnie nodded, her blue eyes sparkling with sympathy. “He did. It was pretty heroic for those of us on the outside looking in.”

  “I said thank you.”

  “Manners are important, sweetie.”

  “I don’t want to love him.” She wanted to forget she’d ever met him. Forget every memory she ever shared with him. Just forget.

  “But you do,” Winnie whispered softly, tucking the warm comforter under her friend’s chin.

  “I do,” she murmured as she drifted off to sleep.

  I do.

  * * *

  Finn sat on the farthest side of the rooftop, cupping another disposable phone to his ear. When the other end picked up, he exploded. “What the hell is going on, Pembroke?”

  “Jesus, Finn, thank fuck you’re all right!”

  “Who in the hell was that tonight?”

  Pembroke grunted. “I don’t know, buddy. I just know he was dead before we got to question him. Which also means, they’re out there somewhere, too. They took his ass out so he wouldn’t talk, I guess.”

  “Who’s they? Who the hell’s in charge of this damn thing, Pembroke? Swear to Christ, when I find out who the fuck it is, I’ll kill him myself,” he ground out.

  “Well, that was the whole point of you going in deep like you did. But I hate to tell you, I have more shitty news.”

  Finn’s radar went on high alert, a chill slithering along his spine. “Like?”

  “Like you were the hit on The List, pal.”

  Fuck. “Cover blown, huh?”

  “Sky high. They know you’re a warlock.”

  He made a face. “I’m a low-level warlock with minimal skills.”

  “That’s not why you were on The List. It’s because you know everything they’ve been up to since you left Paris.”

  “I can’t believe I did four months for those monkeys only to never find out a damn thing in that hellhole prison. It’s why I took the hit to begin with, not just to keep my cover.”

  Pembroke blew a breath into the phone. “Believe me, if we could figure it out, we’d blow this fucker wide open, but that organization’s tighter than a damn drum.”

  Finn scraped his hand through his hair. “So tonight was for me? Damn shittiest hit I’ve ever seen. It was just luck I was there at all.” So damn lucky, it made his chest ache.

  Pembroke snorted. “Some rich, puffed-up amateur trying to make a buck was what that crapfest was.”

  “Don’t these assholes check any of their information before they start taking potshots? There were so many damned arrows zooming around it was like a flock of flaming birds flying south for the winter.”

  “You know they don’t give a shit who takes the shot, as long as it’s done. There’s always gonna be some asshole yahoo who thinks he can score some major cash by playing at sniper.”

  “What the hell were those things dipped in? They melted the walls. Not a one of the seniors could use their wands.”

  “Magic—black magic, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve got someone analyzing them now,” Pembroke said.

  “How the hell did they find out about me?”

  “I’d like to know that, too. We nearly shit when we saw you pop up on The List, Donovan. But from the way it went down, it damn well looked like she was the target, didn’t it?”

 
His jaw tightened as he looked out over the clear sky, the stars fighting each other for a spot in the velvety night. “It did.”

  “Look, just lay low until I find something else out. I got more intel comin’ my way tomorrow. Watch your ass until then, buddy, would ya? We got eyes on you, but the herd’s thin right now because this List shit’s busted wide open. It’s like everyone on the damn thing suddenly decided to become moving targets. We’re spread pretty far out.”

  “The holidays—the powerful people want to go see their families. It’s to be expected.” Like him. He’d like to see them without that look of utter disgust on their faces.

  “Okay, I gotta blow. I hear there’s some big ice storm coming on top of everything else. So stay safe, my friend. I’ll be in touch as soon as I have more. And merry Christmas.”

  “You, too, Pembroke.” Finn clicked the phone off and looked out over Paris, the town ablaze with Christmas, and his chest tightened again.

  He was tired. Fed up. As done as the turkey Ridge and Bernie would surely share for Christmas dinner. He wanted out.

  Rather than rip the sim card from the phone and worry about ditching it, Finn snapped his fingers in disgust and made it disappear. Brushing off his hands, he didn’t take any more time to admire the night sky.

  Pembroke had mentioned an ice storm, even though it was at least fifty degrees tonight. But that was Texas for you. The weather could change on a dime, which would just make everything else going on that much harder.

  He had to think—fast. Rising, he made his way across the roof and shoved his leg into the window of his frilly bedroom, climbing back inside—

  Pausing when a shadow caught his radar, off to the left by the bed.

  “Who’s Pembroke?” Cozy asked, her voice floating and oddly vague.

  Her eyes glittered in the dark of the room, her soft hair fell around her shoulders and down her back in waves, the silky bathrobe she wore partially open, exposing the luscious swell of her creamy breast.