Furbitten Falls Alpha's: A Wolf Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle

by Preston Walker

  It happened a long time ago, and Dad told me about it when he thought I would be old enough to understand. The Ewen pack were cursed to only pick up the scent of their fated mates. They were who we were destined to be with and the only people we could produce offspring with. I could look for an entire lifetime and never manage to track them down, and I’d been looking, believe me.

  While my brothers had been a lot luckier. Both of them were settling down and starting families while I was a cat-owning bachelor more content to stay in, painting and drinking wine on a Friday night, than going out and trying to score a date, or get laid. I guess I wasn’t really helping my chances by being so insular. But I liked what I liked.

  If it was going to happen for me, it probably would have happened already. That’s what I told myself anyhow. I had Fishstick, I had my career, I was going to be fine. And I got to be a cool uncle to Emery, Emmett and Easton, and to Chasen and Tate’s kid when he came along.I could teach them how to paint or something.

  I stepped back and examined my work, the colors of a distorted sunset (I guess, if you wanted to call it something) spread across it in paint splatters and seemingly random streaks. Splashes of neon with darker shading around them and highlights here and there peppered the canvas too. I took another step back and breathed the whole thing in. I could practically see the music on the canvas. I pulled out my phone and took a photo, the mid-morning sun pouring in from the window the perfect lighting to make it look really great, the slight shadow of Fishstick just creeping in at the corner. I took the canvas from the easel and moved it to the floor so that Fishstick could walk over it whenever he was ready. I didn’t want to pressure him. I knew he was only a cat, but it was more fun to think that he had an artistic process too.

  I’d expected him to jump down and start wandering across it straight away, but something at the window had caught his attention. He was staring down at something happening on the street outside.

  I heard a crash and someone shouting and hurried over to the window to get a better look. Fishstick continued staring and, instinctively, my hand started to massage the back of his head. He purred, the vibrations buzzing up through my fingers and calming my soul. I had Fishstick. I didn’t need anybody else.

  Rumbling away in the street below was a moving truck, the back door wide open, the sounds of several voices overlapping drifting up into the air and to my ears. Someone was moving in. And whoever it was had a hell of a lot of stuff.

  “Looks like we’ve got a new neighbor, Fishstick,” I said. “Finally found someone to take Tally’s old place next door.”

  Tally had moved in with her husband a few months ago and her place had remained empty ever since. I’d started to wonder if they would ever find someone to live there. I wondered who it could be.

  “I hope they’re quiet, Fishstick,” I said, stopping stroking his head and moving to leave the studio to get some food. “I’ve gotten too used to that apartment being empty, I think.”

  I started to wonder who it might be, whether or not I would have a chance to get to know them like I had gotten to know Tally over the years. Or maybe it would be a guy, I hadn’t really caught sight of them from all the way up here, but that would be nice, someone nice to look at maybe. That would certainly make a nice change.

  2

  Niko

  My head bumped against the window as the moving truck trundled out of Howling Hills. I watched it vanish from the wing mirror, the boutique stores, the cool coffee shops, the little life I’d built for myself all gone with a rev of this dirty old engine. I tried to think of the positives, the fresh start, the independence, but all I could think of was missing my friends, not being close to them, and not being close to my brother Nyle either.

  That sucked the most. But I knew I couldn’t afford to keep living out there. Sure it was gorgeous and I loved it and I’d sell my right kidney to be able to live somewhere with such prestige but I couldn’t afford to buy a property there.

  There was an opportunity in Furbitten Falls and, after a lot of discussion with Nyle, I put in an offer on a gorgeous loft apartment and got to moving. Furbitten Falls was cheaper and only a short drive away from Club Rumblefish, where I worked as a deejay, so it was actually pretty perfect. I just hated moving. It was so much effort. If Nyle hadn’t offered to help I don’t know what I would have done.

  “It’s going to be good, you know,” Nyle said from the driver’s seat. I jumped a little, taking my head off the window and turning to him, trying to remove my grumpy little pout from my face. He was doing me a huge favour, I wanted him to know I was grateful.

  He wore his trademark aviator sunglasses and flat cap, not seeming to be aware that driving a moving van wasn’t cool no matter what you wore. “It’s a really great apartment, and the location is prime,” he said.

  “I know, Nyle,” I replied. “I’m excited, really I am, it’s just…”

  He sighed. “I know it’s hard leaving everything behind, Niko,” he said. “But I’m not even a thirty minute drive away, and you’ll see me four nights a week at Rumblefish.”

  “I know, I know.” I took a deep breath, trying to steady the nerves that had gathered in my chest. It was the furthest I’d been away from Nyle for my whole life. It was stupid, and I knew that, but I was going to miss him. “This is the worst bit though, the bit in-between. Until I actually get there, I’m fucking homeless.”

  He laughed. “You’re far from homeless!”

  We pulled up outside the apartment block, an old looking red brick building that stuck out among the newer looking builds in the area. It was tall, stretching up so high it scratched the clouds, scraped at the blue of the sky. It wouldn’t take much for me to get used to living here. It was cute. Once I got my stuff in and the hell of moving was over, it would no doubt be even cuter.

  A couple of Nyle’s friends had come along to help unload the stuff and get it upstairs. I had more than just belongings; of course, I had all of my deejay equipment, speakers, decks, headphones, and boxes upon boxes upon boxes of records.

  Nyle opened up the back of the truck and told me to go on ahead and get the doors opened so we could get everything through. As I turned to head towards the door, I heard a crash behind me.

  I turned so sharply I about gave myself whiplash. One of Nyle’s friends, the redhead with the ocean of freckles across his face, was looking over at me, a panicked look in his eyes. And rightly so. At his feet was one of my speakers. I saw red, the wolf inside me bursting out.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

  “Niko!” Nyle warned.

  I advanced on the red head. “Do you know how much that cost?”

  “Well, I-“

  “More than your life is worth to me, pal,” I spat. “This is expensive, okay?” I patted the top of the speaker. “A lot of this stuff is really fucking pricey, all right?” I addressed everyone at this point, feeling Nyle’s eyes burning into me, but I didn’t have time to care. “Be fucking careful or don’t fucking bother, you got it?”

  “Niko, that’s enough,” Nyle barked advancing on me, taking off his sunglasses so I could actually see his amber eyes burning brightly at me. “These people are helping you, they’re not your servants. Quit it with the bad attitude or they’ll just go and you’ll have to do this yourself.”

  “I didn’t ask for their help,” I shrugged. “If they want to go, they can go.”

  Nyle shook his head. “You’re being an ass, Niko.”

  “I’m going to go and open the doors,” I sighed. “Let’s just get this over with, okay?”

  “You’re acting like a brat.”

  “And you’re acting like you’re Dad or something,” I snapped. “Do what you want, but I’m going to get the doors opened up, like you said to.”

  I grabbed a box and started back towards the building, heading up the stairs to the top floor and throwing the front door wide open. The apartment really was beautiful, and cool looking too. It had all th
ese exposed brick walls and huge windows that let in all this light. There were already shelves built onto the walls for all my records and there was a space where I already knew I was going to set up my turntable. I could turn this into a decent place to live, I knew I could. I just needed to get over the fact I was in Furbitten Falls instead of Howling Hills.

  Nyle and his friends helped bring all of my stuff upstairs, the redhead in particular being a lot more careful with all my equipment now that I’d bitten his head off about it. I felt bad. He wouldn’t look at me and I’d been a grade A dick. It was a knee jerk reaction to him nearly breaking a super expensive piece of equipment, and then I’d snapped at Nyle too. Fuck, moving brought out the worst in me for sure.“Do you want some company tonight?” Nyle offered. “We could order takeout, I could help you settle in, get your place looking right.”

  I shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I’m not really all that hungry,”

  “Do you want me to help set your stuff up?” he asked, gesturing around at the boxes that littered the floor. They’d helped me bring up the furniture, so I was pretty much done. Nyle was just trying to look out for me, which was actually pretty sweet. I didn’t want him to put himself out though; I knew he had stuff to do tonight too, not looking after me. I’d have to get used to being here alone anyhow right? Might as well start right now.

  “That’s really sweet, Nyle, but I’ll be okay,” I said. “I want to set up my turntables and get some practice in. I’ve got shows this weekend.”

  Nyle nodded. “I know, I booked them,” he smiled. “Well, you know where I am if you need me.”

  “I sure do,” I said. “Thanks for today, bro.”

  Nyle smiled. “No worries.”

  “And sorry about-”

  “Don’t apologize,” Nyle replied. “Jimmy has butterfingers, if you’d not said that he might have actually broken something. Though maybe be less of an ass next time.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’m never moving again, this was horrible!” I laughed. “I’m just going to have to live here for the rest of my life.”

  He laughed and crossed the room, pulling me into a hug. “Congratulations on the new place,” he said. “And remember, if you need me, I’m only a telephone call away.”

  He left me to it and I sat on the sofa for a moment, taking in the sound of silence that filled the whole place. It was weird. In Howling Hills I could hear the traffic, hear people in the apartment next door, here there was just a whole lot of nothing. It made me want to make noise, to fill it up and let it fly out the windows and bring this town to life.

  That’s what I loved about music. It could affect people, it could make you feel things, evoke a memory, do anything. It was powerful and I loved wielding that power like I was a wizard or something, using it like it was my own magic, my super power.

  I unpacked my boxes, moving some of the furniture around until I had a set up that I was comfortable with. I put my records on the shelves, promising myself I’d put them in a proper order later on but not really believing that I would actually do that. Then I set up my turntable. Now was when things would get really exciting.

  I positioned the speakers and turned the volume up load, ready for it to infect me, ready for it to fill this place with sound and make it feel like home. The beginnings of an infectious pop song blared from a speaker, I grabbed another record and had that ready to go too, knowing that I could seamlessly blend them into something no one had ever heard before, trying out new things, new combinations of songs and mixes, just letting my fingers do the talking.

  It was so loud I could swear the walls were vibrating with the sound of music. At some point night fell and I had to grab a lamp from a yet-to-be-unpacked box and set it up next to my decks. The first flaw in my set up found and fixed! I kept playing long into the night, losing myself in the pulsing sound of the bass, pounding like it was my heart, keeping me alive. And maybe it was. Music was all I’d ever needed.

  3

  Slater

  Nine days. Nine days and I swear the music hadn’t stopped playing, hadn’t stopped shaking the walls and vibrating it so violently my paintings were jumping. It was obnoxiously loud. How could someone act like that? How could someone just play their music so loud with no consideration for anyone else? Even when I played my music without my headphones, it was never so loud that it shook the walls, never so loud it was inconveniencing anyone else in the building. At least I hoped it wasn’t. No one ever told me it was.

  I’d not met him because he seemed to sleep during the day and party until the early hours of the morning, which pretty much meant I wasn’t getting any sleep that night or any work done during the day from being so tired.

  It was making me hate music. Even when I put on some of my eighties stuff which had done such a good job of inspiring me over the past few months, I couldn’t seem to get into doing anything. I’d finished my commission for Tate though, and that’s all that mattered. Not that I was going to let him pay for it. It was a gift to celebrate the grand reopening of Frostbites, his bakery on Main Street.

  Maybe I should buy him some headphones as a “Welcome to the building, you annoying asshole” gift and be done with it. Maybe he’d take the hint and shut the fuck up so I could sleep. I drove myself insane not being able to get any shut eye. I didn’t know what I was going to do if it carried on. I could complain to the landlord, though maybe that would be a step too far.

  I got myself dressed, trying to make myself look some kind of presentable for the grand reopening of Frostbites, and caught sight of myself in the mirror. My blond hair looked okay, a little messy on top of my head but in that way that is a little bit “I woke up like this”, but my eyes had heavy bags underneath them that made me look about twenty years older than I actually was. I looked a wreck. I’d have to talk to him if it happened tonight, I couldn’t go one like this.

  I grabbed the painting and headed out the door, careful not to catch it on the walls on my way down the stairs. Tate had such a creative eye, when he’d told me about the design he wanted, I was amazed. When I saw how it had come out, I was even more impressed. It was clever and intricate, all silver and blue and glittery, frosty as all heck. If you were looking for a visual representation of winter, this would be it.

  I had to admit, my favorite part was Fishstick’s paw prints in silver, glittery print running along the right hand side of it but I was slightly biased because he was my baby and I loved him.

  A tear sprang to my eye. Was I really getting emotional about my cat right now? Fuck. I must have been tired.

  When I got to Frostbites, Chasen set Jarrett and I to work setting up the newly rebuilt bakery ready for Tate to see. It was super sweet what he’d done, getting the whole place decked out just like he’d always dreamed it would be before Main Street properly reopened to the public.

  I hung my painting to see that it matched everything that Chasen had done. It had been Tate’s hope that the bakery would look the way it did now, he never could have imagined that Chasen would do something like this for him.

  “He’s going to love it,” I said to Chasen, who was nervously waiting by the door. “You know that don’t you? This is a really great thing you’ve done.”

  Chasen smiled. “Thanks, Slater,” he said. They had been going through a rocky patch so that seemed like the type of thing he needed to hear. I was happy to help.

  “You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked, looking back at me from the door. I must have looked worse than I thought.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look fine.”

  “You look like shit too, thanks Chasen,” I snapped.

  “Woah, Slater,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Not what I meant. You’re just worrying me okay?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. “Sorry for snapping. Go back to panicking about if Tate’s going to love his gorgeous bakery.”

  He smirked and went back to the door, waiting for Tate’s arrival. Jarrett appe
ared at my side, his eyes wide with concern. It was easy to dismiss Chasen right now, Jarrett would be a little harder to get rid of, that was for sure.

  “Okay,” he said. “You’ve got to talk to me because you look like hell and it’s making me panic.”

  “Stop it.”

  “I’m serious,” he said in his best serious voice. “You looked tired when we went for that drink at O’Leary’s the other week, now you just look totally wiped out. What’s going on? Is this your neighbor?”

  I nodded. “He likes to party, what can I say?”

  “You can tell him to shut the fuck up for a start,” Jarrett said. “Come on, Slater, grow some balls, for crying out loud.”

  I scoffed. “This is not about me having some balls-“

  “It totally is! Have you been over there to tell him to knock it off?”

  I opened my mouth to answer but couldn’t think of a clever enough response. I hadn’t. And maybe that’s all it would take to stop it. I wasn’t big on confrontation but I also wasn’t all that big on not sleeping ever so maybe it was a better option.

  “Oh my god, Slater,” Jarrett sighed. “If he does it again, just go and talk to him. He’s a human being; he’s going to understand. Plus, you said he was hot. This is an excuse to talk to him!”

  His logic was sound which only made me feel angrier about it. It made sense. I’d not told him the noise was bothering me. Maybe that’s all it would take.

  Tate’s face when Chasen showed him the bakery for the first time was an absolute picture. I don’t think even Chasen expected the reaction that he got. He’d made it exactly to Tate’s specifications and Tate had no idea. It warmed my heart that the two of them were going to be okay after everything that happened. Fate was stronger than whatever life tried to drive between two mates. It was wonderful. It made me feel, I don’t know, maybe a little bit hopeful.