Alpha Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #2 (Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance) (16 page)

With that bizarre message, he jumped off and charged away at
a dead run. Confused, the other wolves swung anxious heads between his
disappearing tail and Sara's fearsome growl as she staggered back up again.

Too late. The rest of the pack had arrived. The tiny
battleground filled with wolves, at least twenty-five of them pouring in.
Energy and anger crackled through the air as they descended.

Within a few chaotic seconds, it was over. The two rogue
wolves were easily subdued and each held down by several pack members. Alpha
stalked among them all, his stark expression boding no tolerance for any more
bloodshed.

Sara saw Caleb take a swipe at one of the rogues, his lethal
claw tip stopping just short of taking out an eyeball. Like a coward, the rogue
wolf yelped and tried to duck his head rather than fight back, now that he was
totally outnumbered and his pseudo leader had fled.

She turned her back, knowing Caleb wouldn't dare do anything
more brutal, not with his father there. She vaguely sensed a small contingent
head out after the speckled rogue wolf who'd escaped, but she no longer cared.
The only thing still holding her attention lay motionless on the ground.

She flung herself beside Rafe, nosing him, licking at the
small wounds he seemed to have everywhere despite her efforts to protect him.
Sand and dirt coated some of them. Crushed sage flooded her sensitive nose,
along with the alarming coppery scent of his blood. Nudging his face very
gently, she whined.

“Get up, Rafe. Get up, I love you, don't you dare do this to
me now.” Her scratchy wolf voice half-howled, half-whined, setting other pack
members to howling along with her in distress.

She barely heard Alpha issuing terse commands to the rest of
the Guardians. Curling her body around Rafe's, she aligned her heartbeat with
his, drew her breaths with his, sent every damn ounce of healing strength into
him she could.

A woman with dark reddish-brown hair pushed through the
wolves, who immediately parted for her. Otsana Bardou knelt beside by her son
and ran quick, practiced hands over his body, checking his wounds. Face grim,
she gently felt his limbs for breaks. She paused at the lump on his head. Using
the lightest touch, she grazed it with her fingertips.

Rafe groaned.

Another chorus of howls and yips ricocheted around, this
time encouraging and excited. Sara pushed herself into Rafe's body.

Slowly, his eyes opened. Glassy with pain, they blinked. He
groaned again, panting a bit and flexing one paw. Carefully, he reached out and
touched his mother's human hand with it.

Otsana smiled.

Sara cried and whined and wrapped herself around her mate as
tightly as she dared. He leaned back into her, weak but sure.

Her heart expanded to overflowing, she cried over his head
from sheer relief, soaking her mate with a rush of grateful tears.

Epilogue

One Week Later

“Ow! That still hurts.” Accompanied by a smile, Rafe's
complaint dissolved into a tease.

Sara giggled at him and proceeded to keep gently pulling
away the bandage on his upper thigh. Seven days of enforced bed rest at the
den, mostly in his faster-healing wolf form, had brought Rafe back to fighting
shape. Almost. He still felt a wincing pull in his left leg where one of the
rogues had nearly ended his life by slicing him deeply about a centimeter from
his femoral artery. The wound had mostly healed, as had the concussion from
getting solidly knocked on his head.

Most importantly, something inside had healed in an
staggering rush. Rafe wasn't one to dwell on emotions. But he was pretty sure
this was a damn big emotion rippling through him every day whenever he looked at
Sara, thought about her, talked to her, heard her voice, felt her tender yet
very promising kiss on his lips.

Better yet, his mate was at peace. Something changed in her
after the fight. Calm, centered, and sure of herself, Sara now carried herself
with the assurance he'd already believed in. It made her even more stunning in
his eyes.

Still angry at himself for being careless enough to get
jumped and knocked out by the rogues, leaving her to handle them on her own, he
also kicked himself for missing Sara in action. Apparently she'd been at the
top of a game no one else had thought her capable of.

“Thing of beauty, bro,” Caleb had told him with enthusiastic
admiration, after Rafe had been with it enough to receive visitors and hear
stories. “We came charging in to save the day, and I was so sure she'd be dead
or at least ripped to pieces by those bastards.” Rafe's mouth tightened into a
thin line at the thought, but Caleb hadn't noticed, engrossed as he was in
recreating the scene. “But there she was, and I swear, for a second I actually
didn't recognize her. You wouldn't have either, man. She was this fierce
she-devil thing. Totally possessed. I have
never
seen a wolf just sort
of—float—over the ground the way she was. She was fighting like some sort of
ninja! I might have been scared of her if I had to go up against her myself.

“Now she's probably the best Guardian we have, and you're
stealing her away.” His brother had shaken his head. “Oh, well. Good thing, since
she probably would have handed my ass to me if we sparred on the mat.” Caleb
laughed.

The large rogue wolf, the one Rafe intended someday to rip
apart limb from limb, had managed to escape. His final warning message to Sara
promised more darkness to come, which boded more fighting.

For right now, though, Rafe had only one very sexy thing on
his mind.

He looked at his mate, letting his frank appreciation and
admiration show on his face. She noticed, despite keeping her hands busy
removing the bandage, because that rosy flush he loved to see crept up from her
delicate neck to her adorable little nose.

“What?” she asked, smiling. He reached out a hand to tuck a
few golden strands behind her ear.

“Just thinking what an amazing mate you'll be. What a strong
pack we're going to have. And how every single wolf in it would die for you,
knowing how tough and fearless you are.”

She pulled the bandage off, face completely flushed now.

“It's all because of you,” she said. The crystal blue eyes
finally looked up at him. She was so beautiful it snagged his breath.

“And I'm what I am all because of
you,”
he said back.
The truth of that statement hammered in his chest. He leaned forward to pull
her closer for a long, wet kiss that ignited his skin and sent a message straight
down to his stirring cock.

Sara sighed into her mouth, then pulled back a bit. Her
breathless laugh brushed sweetly over his lips.

“You're not healed all the way yet.” The murmur of her voice
stroked his every nerve ending.

“I'm healed enough, my beautiful wolf. Besides,” he said as
he ran a finger along her bare thigh and enjoyed her gasped breath and the way
little goosebumps popped out on her skin. “It's about time I have my mate in an
actual bed, isn't it?”

She laughed softly, although the ragged note in it promised
a hot, panting tussle in his very near future.

“If you insist. Mate,” she said, drawing out the word long
and firm.

“As your alpha wolf, I definitely insist.” He grinned at
her. “I've got to make up for lost time.”

“I like the sound of that,” she said, and proceeded to prove
she could kiss him senseless.

the end

What's next? Read
Caleb and Rielle's story in
Hunting Wolf,
Book 3 in the Black Mesa
Wolves series. To find out when it's released, sign up for the
newsletter.

ALPHA WOLF

Copyright © November 2013 by J.K. Harper

Cover by
LFD Designs

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced,
scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission
from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously,
and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments,
events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

J.K. Harper writes
about paranormal romance and urban fantasy because despite a lifetime of
wishing, all the cool supernatural book characters of her childhood just don't
seem to be real. Besides, it's really fun to make stuff up.

Julie is owned by three cats, two
horses, and a dog. She lives in the rugged, gorgeous canyon country of the
Southwest, which is a great place to let her imagination run wild.

If you are interested in finding out more about Julie and
her latest writing projects, please visit her website:
http://www.jkharper.com/

J.K.
Harper Books:

Guardian Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves Book 1

Praise for Guardian
Wolf:

"The characters of Lily and Kieran are smoking hot and
burn the pages with their passion.... If you enjoy shifter romances, then you
are going to love
Guardian Wolf."
-Sizzling Hot Book Reviews

"What a great beginning to a new series.... It packs a
wallop that I didn't see coming. I can't wait to sink my teeth into the next
one." -Night Owl Reviews, 4.5 Top Pick