Alpha's Second Chance

by Jade Alters

  “Eve Johnson. Hello again,” Bull said.

  Eve’s heart rate shot up, but outwardly, she looked just as composed as ever. Bull would be able to hear her heart pounding too.

  “Bull Payne,” Eve said. She glanced up at him and then went back to her legal pad. Her writing never paused. “Looks like Denver County Jail fell down on its job.”

  “You don’t seem surprised to see me,” he drawled.

  “I’ve tried a lot of cases in a big city.” Eve gave a half shrug. “Not much surprises me now.”

  I fucking hated this, but again, I had to admit that Eve would have been an amazing soldier. She’d be an asset to any team.

  “You grew up in the shifter world,” Bull took a step closer to her. “You know better than to try to put me away.” He took another step closer. “I’m one of your own.”

  My knife was harder to grip as my claws threatened to bust out of my hand. I’d never had trouble controlling my bear -- until now.

  “I left that life behind,” Eve said.

  “Yet you smell like omega,” Bull said. He took one step closer. Now he was close enough to touch her. “You smell like you’re going to be mine.”

  A snarl rose my throat.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Eve said.

  Bull reached out and put his hand on her arm. He wasn’t big for a shifter, but he was stronger than Eve. “You most certainly will. I’ll show you what you’ve been missing while you’ve been playing human, while you’ve been trying to subvert your own kind,” he said. His wrapped his fingers around her wrist and squeezed.

  Eve didn’t make a sound, but I saw her press her lips together to keep from crying out.

  Instinct took over. Without a conscious decision, I dropped my gear. My bear came tearing out. I raced forward, and flew onto the porch. My bear rammed into Bull, knocking him away from Eve.

  Within seconds, menacing growls filled the air. Bull shifted into his bear form. Shifters burst from the woods. I didn’t look up to see if they were my team, or his.

  Eve was all that mattered to me.

  Eve

  Of course Owen had not stuck to the plan. I’d never expected him to. In fact, he lasted longer than I’d thought.

  I stood at the edge of the yard, clasping the M-16 to my chest. I hadn’t shifted, not for this. I’d ducked around the side of the cabin, and I’d been ready to shoot Bull or his shifters.

  Four of Owen’s team ripped out of the woods to meet Bull’s guards, each of them shifted into bears. Two of them, Brian and John, remained human, decked out in full Army gear.

  Owen’s team made quick work of the two guards, but they left Owen to deal with Bull alone.

  It must have been some kind of respect thing I’d never understand. I recalled snippets of rules like that from my childhood -- rules about how and when to interfere with a fight. Apparently stepping in at the wrong time was a grave insult in some clans.

  That was just more of the prehistoric crap I hadn’t been willing to deal with. If I ever saw our clan again, I’d get to see up close if Owen really had gotten them to modernize a little bit.

  Owen and Bull continued to grapple. Owen was a skilled fighter. The only problem was that Bull didn’t seem to feel any pain. Each time Owen bit him, or swiped him with his claws, Bull didn’t react.

  Each time I lifted the gun to aim at Bull, he and Owen traded spots. I was a good shot, but not that good.

  “Help him,” I shouted to one of his teammates.

  “We were ordered not to,” the other said, distress clear when his voice cracked.

  “Well I wasn’t.” Owen was winning, but there was no reason for him to end up half-dead because of some macho bullshit. “Here. Take this.” I shoved the gun at John. “If you won’t help, I will.”

  “Eve,” he pleaded. He pushed the gun back into my hands. “Please. If Bull gets the upper hand, we’ll step in. Owen wouldn’t want you to… ”

  “I do not give a shit what games he’s playing. I’m helping, whether any of you like it or not.”

  John couldn’t totally hide the miniscule flinch. He was a nice guy, and I’d feel bad except Owen clearly hadn’t minded sacrificing himself for this kill.

  It was profoundly stupid for Owen to order his team not to kill Bull. But on the other hand, I understood on a visceral level why Owen wanted to be the one to kill him. Because I wanted the same thing. I didn’t want to take that satisfaction from Owen, but I’d also like for Bull to die at my hand.

  I’d like to know I kept any other omega from the fate he had planned for me.

  “Shit,” I said as two more of Bull’s shifters burst from the woods, both in human form.

  Our intel had been faulty. He had two additional shifters with him, and one held what looked like a sniper rifle. Bull’s shifter aimed the rifle at Owen and pulled the trigger.

  I screamed as Owen hit the ground. Ice spread through my veins. Every part of me went numb, but I held tight to the gun. I got the scope to my eye, and I pulled the trigger. I hit one of Bull’s guys, but not the other. The remaining one dropped to his belly, aiming the rifle at Owen’s teammates too, pulling the trigger three more times. I couldn’t tell if they were hit.

  John stayed with me, and Brian went after Bull’s shifter.

  John got his arm around me. “You aren’t going over there. That wasn’t a bullet.”

  Like hell I wasn’t. I tried to shake him off. “What was it?” I asked.

  John didn’t answer. He held tight to my upper arm. “Stay here. I’ll go get him.”

  I let my muscles go lax. Then I waited until he loosened his grip.

  As we stared at Owen lying on the ground, he transformed back into human. He’d be much easier to kill as a human. “Fuck,” John said.

  I bolted.

  “Eve!” he shouted after me.

  I got to Owen before John could snag me again. I dropped next to Owen. As I tried to think through our options, he woke up. “Eve. Go.” Still lying on the ground, he shoved at my legs.

  I shook his shoulders. “Owen. Stop it! Where are you hit?”

  “It was another dart. But it wasn’t a tranq. It made me shift back to human. Makes us easier targets.”

  He rolled to his side. He grabbed my hand. “Come on. I’m getting you back in the cabin. Stay low.”

  Near us, Brian appeared, his gun pointed toward the woods. “I’ve got you covered, Alpha.”

  We made it back inside. Once we were in, Brian and John stood outside on either side of the cabin. There was no word from their other teammates. “Stay away from the windows,” Owen barked.

  “What now?” I asked.

  Owen pulled on a pair of pants. “They can force a turn. They’ve weaponized it. Medics carry small doses, but this is the first time I’ve seen it used in a fight. It’s smart.” He kicked the door. “Dammit.”

  “Do we have any?” I asked Owen.

  “Brian should. He’s the medic on our team.”

  “We need to get it from him. We might need it.”

  “Good idea.” Owen used his comm to tell Brian to come to the door. Once Brian was there, he told him to hand over the shot and Owen tucked it into his jeans. “Never thought I’d have to fight with a needle.” He ran his hand down my arm. “We have to get you out of here.”

  I didn’t bother protesting. We both knew I wasn’t leaving. “Escaping is not good enough. We have to get rid of Bull,” I said. “I’ll shift. We’ll let him shoot me with the meds. I’ll pretend to be passed out, and then you can move in.”

  “Eve, I am not risking you like that.” Owen’s eyes were hard. “If they hit you with a dart, you’ll be stuck as a human for who knows how long. I can’t shift. I’m still trying, and I fucking can’t. I don’t know how long it’s going to be before it wears off.”

  “Owen. I love you. I respect you. But we are out of options. I’m going to shift, and I’m going after Bull. If he hits me with the dart, then use this against him.” I
patted his pocket where the needle was hidden. I handed him my gun. “It’s full of ammo.”

  “Eve.” He closed his eyes. “Please be careful.” He gave me a hard kiss on the mouth. “I’m not going to radio my team in case Bull’s hacked us.”

  Owen’s face was blank as I ditched my clothes and shifted into my bear form. He held the door open for me. I squeezed through and stepped onto the porch. I felt Owen’s hand rake through my fur.

  I leaped off the porch. My bear let out a crashing roar. No shifters were visible except Bull, who stood at the edge of the woods, in human form.

  “Eve. There’s no need to fret,” Bull said. “You’ll see we’ve already won.” He lifted his hand. From the corner of my eye, I spotted the same shifter with the rifle.

  I barrelled directly toward Bull. Soon enough, I felt a sting in my shoulder. They’d hit me. I kept going, only stumbling as my four legs turned to two. I hit the ground with my face.

  I never passed out completely. When I pushed myself onto my back, Bull was leaning over me.

  I bared my teeth, fully aware it didn’t have the same effect when I was human.

  A bullet whizzed by. It struck Bull in the shoulder. He fell backward and hit the ground, but it didn’t slow him for long.

  “Stay down!” Owen shouted at me.

  Bull got to his knees. Blood rushed down his arm, but a slow grin stretched across his face. “Eve. We’ll be together soon,” he said. Then he shifted into his bear.

  Owen ran straight at him, firing his gun, but Bull didn’t stop. He had to be jacked up on a massive amount of drugs. In human form, even armed, Owen was no match for a five-hundred pound bear who wasn’t feeling pain.

  And neither was I. I had no weapons with me, but I got up and trudged toward them. We couldn’t stop until Bull was dead.

  Bull roared in Owen’s face before swiping his claws across his chest. Owen toppled backward, and I lurched forward, trying to grab him. We fell together.

  I got my hand in his back pocket and grabbed the shot he’d stashed there. With me in the way, Bull didn’t attack Owen, but as soon as I moved away, Bull was so busy trying to rip Owen’s head off that he didn’t notice me get close to his ribs. I raised my arm and rammed the needle full of medicine into his skin.

  Within seconds, Bull was back to human. Blood rushed from his mouth, but he kept grinning at me. “Eve,” he said.

  I jumped on him, pinning his shoulders down with my hands. Owen crawled forward. He sank his knife into Bull’s neck, right over his throat.

  Then Owen passed out.

  Bull was dead.

  I should be thrilled, except I wasn’t, because Owen was lying on the ground covered in blood. I ran my hand over his forehead. There was so much blood that I couldn't tell where he was injured.

  “Hey Owen, Bull’s dead. You killed him,” I said, scared to touch him in any of the places where Bull had mauled him.

  I hoped he could hear me. One of his soldiers dropped a thick blanket over my shoulders, and another blanket over Owen. I looked up to see that it was John. “Thanks,” I mumbled. The night air would be chilly soon.

  Owen didn’t move.

  “Eve, you know Brian is a medic,” John said. “He can help if it’s okay with you. He can give Owen something for the pain, and we can get him inside.” They waited, obviously anxious to save their Alpha, but unwilling to go against my wishes.

  They were already deferring to me as if I were his mate. Had he said something to them? Or was this just based on their observations of what they thought he’d want?

  “Yes.” I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders. “Please. Do whatever you can to help him.”

  In a flurry of motion, three of Owen’s teammates knelt beside him. I crawled back and sat on the ground, still wearing the blanket. My clothes were somewhere close by, but I didn’t care.

  If Owen could survive this, then we were free. The chaos was over. Without their master, Bull’s followers would scatter. The ones we could find would be arrested, and charged. Others would escape, but none had his ability to pull the strings of a massive criminal organization. They’d only been able to obey his orders.

  I could go back home. To Denver. I absolutely would not be taking the job in Chicago. It was a no-brainer at this point. I wouldn’t leave Owen, and I wouldn’t ask him to give up his entire life to live in a place he’d loathe.

  If they truly needed me in Chicago, I could fly out for a few weeks and then work on the research from Colorado. It had taken me thirty years to accept having Owen in my life. I wasn’t going to screw that up now because of a job.

  I only hoped I’d get the chance to tell him that.

  Owen

  With great effort, I forced my eyes to open. I was lying on the ground, in human form, with my teammates bent over me. They were all talking, to each other and to me, but I couldn’t make out the words. I felt the prick of a needle in my arm several times, the scrape of scissors, the rattle of packages being opened.

  Eve. Where was Eve? I tried to roll to my side, but I couldn’t make any part of my body cooperate. One of my teammates pushed me back down. I couldn’t focus well enough to see who it was. “Alpha, don’t move,” he said.

  “Eve,” I said. I wanted to shout, but my voice was a hoarse whisper. “Where?”

  They still didn’t answer me. I got one arm up and grabbed my teammate around the neck. He swatted my hand away and pressed my arm back down. “Sorry Alpha. But you have to be still while they do these stitches.”

  I didn’t fucking care about that. Had something happened to Eve? Was she hurt?

  Eve!

  I got my head turned to the side. Even that took effort. My heart clenched in relief. Eve was about twenty feet away, bent over Bull’s bloody body.

  I watched as she lifted a knife over her head and drove it into his chest. He was dead, I remembered that much. I’d gotten him down on the ground when Eve had joined me. She’d helped pin him to the ground, and I’d ripped out his throat.

  I’d listened as Bull’s heart had slowed, then stopped. Why was she stabbing him? If he could recover from what I’d done to him, we had a bigger problem on our hands.

  “Eve.” My voice was sluggish, but this time it actually made noise.

  Her head whipped toward me. “Owen!” She left the knife in Bull’s chest and ran toward me. John moved over to make room for her as she dropped to her knees beside me. “You’re awake.”

  “Bull’s dead?” I said, gasping the words. Everything hurt. Now that I knew Eve was safe, the adrenaline faded, and I felt every gash.

  “Yes. He’s dead. You killed him.” She put her hand on my head. “But I had to make sure.”

  I understood that. The knife in the heart had been for her own peace of mind. Her own closure.

  I knew then, I wasn’t letting her go. If she wanted to take the job in Chicago, I’d go with her. I’d hate the city, but I’d be with Eve. I could find a place to shift every now and then, and I’d make it work.

  As I made the decision, my bear hummed as though he’d been fed salmon and steak at once. He liked clear decisions. The bear didn’t care about nuance, or what I might sacrifice. He wanted me with my mate, and that was final.

  Leaving my MASK team would feel like tearing myself in half, but for my mate, I’d do it gladly. I could always visit them.

  Could I live a human’s life? It was likely another shifter unit would want me to work for them, probably doing undercover work in the city. Military shifters were rare enough that the units were always eager for more -- as long as I was active for duty, I’d have a job. Undercover work wasn’t my favorite, but I would try. Maybe it wouldn't be forever. Eve could boost her career, then we could come back to Denver.

  Letting her go alone was not an option. My bear would never watch her walk away again without urging me to do all I could to make sure we were together.

  Eve had given me a second chance with her. She’d had to give up her life on
ce before. This time, I could man up and be the one to make a change.

  Eve

  “Is he going to make it?” I asked John as quietly as I could. After I’d spoken to Owen, I’d tried to get out of the soldiers’ way while they were treating Owen’s wounds, but Owen had grabbed my hand. He didn’t want me to go.

  “He should be fine. He’ll feel a lot better by morning,” John said. “He’ll be back on active duty in a week.”

  I sagged. My head dropped forward, and I covered my face with my hand. I didn’t have the energy to cry.

  Owen would live.

  After treating his wounds, Owen’s soldiers carried him inside. They all survived the attack, thank God. They all stayed overnight, surrounding the cabin, still watching.

  I stayed with Owen for the first few hours, afraid to leave him. But as the hours wore on, his breathing remained steady, so I snuck away to shower and eat. While I was in the kitchen, I peeked outside to see one of the MASK soldiers standing on the porch, scanning the yard, protecting us.

  These were Owen’s teammates, as close to him as family. I didn’t want to hinder their bond in any way. I stepped outside. I recognized John, and I wanted to let him know how much I appreciated him, and the rest of the team. “Thank you,” I said. “For everything. I know you and Owen are close, so even though I’m here, please feel free to use the shower, bathroom, kitchen. Whatever you need.”

  “We’re fine out here.” He smiled. “We’re glad to see the Alpha happy.”

  I didn’t want to know if he knew about my history with Owen. I figured a fresh start was best. “Can I at least bring you some food?”

  John nodded. “We’ll never turn down food.”

  In the kitchen, I made piles of sausage, eggs and bacon for the team. The team inhaled the meal, and by the time I was done cleaning up, I heard water running. I rushed into the bathroom to find Owen in the shower. “Hey! Should you be up?”