Curves For The Lone Alpha (A Big Girl Meets Bad Wolf Romance) (6 page)

“But why? And why now?”

“Your new bitch is the key.”

I bared my teeth. Even if I were packless traitor, I was
still an alpha and I wasn’t about to let anyone call her that again. Ever. Even
in a dream. I had a hundred questions for Joseph, but it was too late. He was
gone. And I knew he was right. I didn’t have much time.

- X -

I hadn’t bothered dressing. I stood in the moonlight in full
view of the cabin. I think part of me wanted her to see me. To see the side of
me I usually kept hidden from human eyes. I willed her to be awake and watching
out the window. It was my alpha’s pride again. I wanted her to see the man
become a beast. Basically I wanted to show off. But there was no time for
theatrics.

I ran.

I was on all fours within half a dozen strides. Nothing more
than a momentary discomfort as I let the beast out and hit the tree line at
speed.

The woman’s scent lingered. I couldn’t get it out of my
head. There was a texture to it, something different, something I had never
felt before. I’d gotten used to feeling incomplete. I ran without a pack. I’d
never had a true mate.

Even Charlotte, who I had loved in my own way, as she loved
me in hers, had been a political arrangement. Her death had been devastating.
Her death had been the first shot in a war. Her death had been the beginning of
the end. And yet even while I mourned her, I knew she had not been the one.

I was used to being alone. I liked being alone. And now all
of a sudden that had gone out the window. I was incomplete. I felt it in a way
I had never felt it before.

There was something about her, something about this woman
and that lingering scent.

Cute too. Well padded, sure, I had no problem with that, but
those curves. She was like something out of an old movie. A damsel in distress.
I guess she had baggage and those curves seemed to be part of it. Maybe I could
change that. Maybe I could…

Woah!
My padded feet slipped on a patch of gravel and
I almost flew headlong into a tree. I needed to get her out of my head. I
needed to concentrate, to get the job done or we were both dead.

I put my head down and I ran. The trees became a blur as I
focused on the forest floor in front of me. I suppressed the man and let the
wolf take over.

The world around me became a kaleidoscope of colors, scents
and sounds. Every tree, every leaf, every blade of grass, every stone… I was
part of it. I didn’t need to think. I let instinct guide me as I increased my
pace and felt the burn in my flanks.

Even when I heard the howls I didn’t slow down. I was too
late. I knew I would be. My sensitive ears were assaulted by the gut-wrenching
outrage and despair of a pack mourning the death of their leader. It was not
the first time I had heard it.

Joseph. I’m sorry Joseph. I’m sorry I wasn’t there in
time.
Tears stung my eyes as I altered my course and headed towards the
mournful howls. He was too proud. They all were. They clung to the old ways.
They wore tradition like a shield, even as their world came tumbling down.

Now it was up to me. Travis was a murderer and a rapist, a
child-killer, he wasn’t fit to live, let alone lead a pack. They wouldn’t let
him. They’d send the helicopters. They’d rain down fire on the entire pack and
everyone would die. Everyone from the oldest bitch to the youngest pup would
die screaming and there was nothing I’d be able to do to stop it happening if I
didn’t bring them Travis’ hide.

I ran. I put my head down and became a streak of gray fur
sliding between trees like a ghost.

I was banking everything on the element of surprise. It was
why I hadn’t fought back at the bridge. I let them take me down. I let them
kick my ass as I cowed and cringed like a pup. Travis would send the pack,
his
pack now, to track me down. He’d have to kill me and the woman. He couldn’t
risk either of us getting out. I wasn’t planning on giving him the chance.

I smelled the camp before I saw it. It reeked of squalor and
fresh blood.

I couldn’t help feeling a sense of shame when I finally came
upon it. Half a dozen trailers mounted on blocks. Peeling paint, rusting metal,
piles of rotting garbage. This is what they had been reduced to. This is what
they called home.
They
did this to us.
They
forced us into
hiding.
They
caged us knowing that we were beasts. And when we acted
like beasts, they used it as an excuse to burn it all down. I didn’t know
exactly who
they
were. But I had their scent now. I was getting close.
And once I’d dealt with Travis I was planning on getting right back on their
trail.

He stood upright and naked in front of a roaring fire, fresh
blood on his chin and chest, Joseph’s corpse at his feet. The rest of the pack
weren’t happy, but by the only laws they knew, he was their leader now and they
would be loyal to him…. while he lived.

When he saw me he stood back with a big shit-eating grin on
his face. He was waiting for me to shift back. He was waiting for me call him
out. He’d spit in my face and call me a traitor and order the pack to take me
down. Most of them were sorry excuses for wolves, but with numbers on their
side and Travis waiting in the wings to deal the killing blow I wouldn’t stand
a chance… so I didn’t give him one.

Fuck the old laws.

I hit the campsite at full speed and headed straight for
Travis. The pack barely had time to register my presence, but Travis saw me
coming. He saw me coming but didn’t have time to react. I like to think he knew
he’d fucked up. He’d expected me to play by the rules. I like to think that he
knew he’d underestimated me. I like to think that in that split second between
when I jumped and when my teeth ripped his throat out he felt a fraction of the
fear that sixteen year old Dorothy Ludd had felt when she had met her untimely
end at the hands of the big, bad wolf.

Travis was dead where he stood before I landed on the ground
next to him.

Perhaps he had been expecting something more. Some kind of
ritual or challenge. An epic battle for the hearts and minds of this pathetic
excuse for a pack. But in the end he got what he deserved… an execution.

I took no joy in his death. I took no joy in the fact that
for a packmaster to die in human form shamed both him and his pack. For a
moment I stood on all fours, my back to the rest of them, panting and sweating.

I allowed myself to enjoy the taste of his blood. Sweet,
thick and fresh. The animal in me wanted more. One taste was never enough. We
always wanted more.  I fought against
the animal. I embraced the man. I stood on two legs and turned to face the
camp.

It was worse than I had ever thought possible. In the past
this had been a noble pack. One of the biggest and most prosperous on the
continent. I hadn’t realized quite how fast they’d fallen or how far.

Snot nose kids with jutting ribs and distended stomachs
played in piles of garbage. Women with filthy, tangled hair in threadbare
dresses wailed as they hid behind their men, if they could even be called that.
There wasn’t an alpha amongst them. They knew it too. It was as if Joseph’s
death had pulled back the curtain to reveal their true nature. This wasn’t a
pack. I didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t a pack.

“What the fuck do we do now traitor?”

Someone had the balls to speak up, even though their voice
shook with fear. He stepped forward, just a skinny teenager in a faded football
jersey and filthy jeans. He smelled familiar. Joseph’s son, grandson perhaps.

“That’s not my problem.” I said. I tried to remain above it
all. It wasn’t my problem. We all chose our own paths. We all had to deal with
our own problems and my path didn’t need any more. But I couldn’t help cast a
sideways glance at the half-naked, malnourished kids playing in the garbage.
Had they been given a choice of paths?

Enough.

It wasn’t my problem.

I growled and pulled myself to my full height, “I just came
for my fucking bike.”

- X -

When I awoke I was alone. James had gone, but his warmth
lingered, suggesting a recent departure. It wasn’t just his warmth that stayed
with me. I could still feel his presence, or at least the memory of his
presence, as if an echo of the man had chosen to stay with me.

Fortunately my head felt a little clearer. The effects of
both the champagne and the blow I had received had mostly passed, although I
could still feel a mighty big lump on my brow. Gone too was the emotional
intensity I felt around James. Whatever it was about him that drew me like a
horny little moth to a really sexy flame. Don’t get me wrong, every time I
thought of him I still got a little squeeze of pleasure deep inside my tummy.
It just wasn’t the same as the need I felt when we were in the same room.

Armed with this newfound clarity, I wrapped my naked body in
a blanket and left the bedroom in search of snacks. I always think better when
I have something to nibble. James had gone and as far as I knew he wasn’t
coming back. Things would probably be a lot simpler if he didn’t return. But
for now I just couldn’t accept that as a possibility. I was operating on the
assumption that any minute now he would come back for me.

Armed with some cheese and crackers, I flopped down on the
couch and allowed the mass of thoughts that were swirling around in my head to
slow a little so I could attempt to digest them.

First and foremost, I’d seen a wolf change into a man. I’d
seen it happen right in front of me. I’d seen other things too. I’d seen a few
wolves, unnaturally large wolves that acted with human-like intelligence. I’d
seen a man who looked like he was on the brink-of-death return to full health
in a matter of hours. Then there was those crazy wolf dreams. Those I guess I
could write off, but I couldn’t just dismiss everything else I’d seen and felt.
The old guy, Joseph, was just the cherry on top of this big crazy werewolf
shaped cake.

There. Werewolf. I’d said it. Werewolf wasn’t the right word
though. Werewolves were, or so I had been led to believe by fairy tales, men
who transformed into monsters at the whim of the moon. These wolves appeared to
be in full control of their own actions and able to change at will. If not
werewolves then what?

By habit I went for my phone, to do some research on the
matter, but of course there was no signal out here. Instead it was just me and
my thoughts. I really thought that the rational, logical me would put up more
of a fight. That I’d go back and forth a bit or even opt for full-blown denial.
But no, I accepted it all. Not just because I’d seen it with my own eyes. But
because I’d felt it. I felt it whenever I was near James. Whatever he was,
wasn’t quite human, but he was still very real.

I wrapped up the whole werewolf issue and filed it away in
my head for future research. I wasn’t done yet, but I was surprised at how easy
it was to get that one out the way.

Next on the list of things that were bothering me was my own
behavior. Less than twenty four hours ago I’d been engaged. And while I had
been the one to get dumped, it didn’t seem right to be jumping into bed, or in
this case the shower, with a hunky stranger so soon after I’d been happily
promised to another.

That was it though, had I been happy? It was difficult to
acknowledge, but in all honesty Mitch and I had been drifting for a while.
There was an extent to which this had been what had prompted me to plan this
trip in the first place. Something adventurous. Something romantic. Something
to prove we were actually meant for each other.

Now, though, in the cold light of day, I was beginning to
realize I had been in denial. There was something about our relationship that
had been bothering me for a while, but I hadn’t been willing to admit it to
myself because it hurt so much.

Mitch was ashamed of me.

He loved me. For all his flaws I knew he loved me. And
despite the fact that he was not what anyone would call sexually adventurous,
he loved my body too. But once we were out in public and especially when we
were with his small circle of friends and colleagues he was ashamed of being
seen with me.

He’d always put too much stock in what others thought of him
and the fact that he was dating, and eventually engaged to, a big, curvy girl
somehow made him feel like less of a man in the eyes of others. Of course he
never said anything along those lines, but it had been there the whole time.
Missed dates, invitations turned down because he thought we should stay in
instead, even his body language when we walked side-by-side.

Now I was admitting it to myself it didn’t really hurt the
way I thought it would. Instead I actually found myself feeling sorry for my
former fiance and whoever he ended up with. I didn’t hate Mitch for being
ashamed of me. I pitied him for not having the strength of character to follow
through on his desires.

It was unfair to compare the two, but I couldn’t see James
giving a damn about what other’s thought of his choice of partner... or mate.

James. With issue number two resolved to my satisfaction,
that left the big bad wolf himself. From what I had heard of James’
confrontation with Joseph he was here on a mission to kill someone. Given his
words to me earlier, that may have been exactly what he was doing right now.

The man he had come to kill may have been a bad person.
Maybe he was mixed up in the fire which was obviously a big part of the
animosity between James and Joseph, but James had given me no indication that
he was acting in any kind of official capacity. Even if he was, there was no
authority that I knew of that would send him to kill someone.

If James killed this Travis, no matter what Travis had done,
he would be a murderer. The thing that really scared me was I had somehow got
the impression that Travis was not the first. That this is what James did. He
was a killer.