Emma's Alpha (2 page)

The pub went quiet as she stepped through the door and all heads turned towards her. Emma felt herself redden all the way to the tips of her ears, looking around she saw no women, just big, tall, muscled men. Taking in the scene before her, she paused.
Were they sniffing? And was that a growl she heard?
Suddenly the door behind her, which had shut without her noticing, swung open and banged into her back.

Turning, she saw the tallest and broadest man she had ever seen, her neck tipped back to see his face, which was ruggedly handsome, a scar ran down his right cheek, his nose slightly crooked, but it was his eyes that held Emma’s attention. They were golden-brown and appeared to glow, thick black hair rested on his shoulders, Emma felt a compulsion to run her hands through it. To step into his arms and never leave. Desire shot to her knickers and an aching throb began between her thighs
Shit, I didn’t come here for this.
She thought.

She spluttered an “Excuse me.”And pushed out into the night, running towards her car, a deep voice shouted,

“Wait come back.”

She kept going, she’d dig out her map and find the B & B herself.
Great, that’ s what I get for leaving early and
not getting directions.
Just before she reached the safety of her car a hand grabbed her around the waist and brought her to a stop. Frigid fear froze Emma in her tracks. She grew angry with herself, years of self-defense classes, yet she still froze when grabbed by a huge bulking man.

“Stop, I won’t hurt you, I just want to talk,” a deep masculine voice said in her ear.

Emma managed to turn her head and looked up into the face of the man from the pub. The need to step into his arms nearly overwhelmed her and the throb between her thighs intensified.
What the hell was going on?

“My name’s Mike Cross, I’m the town’s mayor, you’re not from around here are you?” he asked.

“I just got here,” she stammered. “I’m looking for directions to The Den B & B.”

He released her, even though for some reason she didn’t want him to. For the few moments his hand was around her waist she had a sense of home, and being held by such a muscular man was wonderful.

“Directions won’t be a problem, I will show you, it’s not far, just up the hill at the back of town. My car is parked around the corner, is yours the Mini I didn’t recognise?” Mike asked.

Emma was a little dazed and just nodded her head, Mike held his arm out for her to lead the way, she stumbled slightly, righted herself, embarrassment coursed through her. He will think I’m a right clumsy cow
she thought as they walked towards the cars.

Emma heard what she thought was a growl from Mike.

Emma turned her head and asked, “Did you say something?”

“No, why?”

“Nothing I must be hearing things,” Emma said and carried on walking.

* * * *

On reaching the cars Emma unlocked and slid into hers, Mike held her door and told her to follow him before closing it and walking to his Land Rover. On getting in, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and flicked through his contacts until he found home and pressed send, his grandmother answered on the second ring.

“Good evening, this is The Den, how can I help you?”

“Hey, Grams, it’s me, is Emma’s room ready ‘cause she’s here,” Mike said.

“Yes, I prepared it today, but Mike we have Brian Roads checking in tomorrow with a few of his pack to run over the weekend and they’re not the most discreet pack we have ever met.”

“It will be fine, Grams, I will speak to him. Get the kettle on, she looks in desperate need of a cuppa and we’ll be there in two minutes.”

Then he hung up, scanned through his contacts again, and rung his brother Scott.

”Hey, it’s me, she’s here, put the word out to the pack to be careful, okay? See you later, we are just pulling up now,” he said.

“Is she as hot in real life, bro?” Scott laughed.

Mike felt his temper rise and he growled at Scott before hanging up. He shook his head and wondered why Scott’

s comment bothered him so much, it wasn’t like she was his mate, she was human. He couldn’t believe the strawberries and cream scent he had picked up in town was Emma. It had made his wolf sit up and his cock harden. Which was very strange, he had never had this kind of a reaction to a female before. When he had caught hold of her, those few moments of feeling her in his arms were heaven, he just knew she would mold perfectly to his body. Turning off the engine he watched her turn on her interior light and reach into the back seat to talk to someone.

“We are here baby, you can get out soon.” He heard her say. “What? Who the hell is she calling baby?” He mumbled to himself.

Mike grabbed the door handle and opened his door, stepped out and slammed it, he looked up in time to see Emma jump and pale slightly.

“Shit, she scares easily,” Mike muttered. He had smelt it earlier when he grabbed her. His wolf howled at the thought of her being scared of him—

or anything. She stepped out of her car and looked up at The Den, and in that moment all he wanted was for her to be happy here.

She turned to Mike. “Thanks, I’m sure I can manage from here.”

“It’s not a problem, I live here with my Grandmother Mary, she runs the B & B. So show me your bags and I will help you get them inside and get you booked in.”

“Oh, you live here?” Emma stammered. “I’m Emma Brody, the new house keeper, I’m a week earlier than planned, I hope that’s not a problem?”

“Not at all, I know my Grams got your room ready this morning, so it’s perfect timing. Come on and I will introduce you to her.”

Mike breathed in and caught the scent of a canine, that’s right, he remembered she had mentioned in one of her emails she had a dog. He had told her she was welcome to bring him, as they were animal friendly, he had secretly laughed at that. Emma reached into the back seat and out came an excited little white dog, it rushed over to Mike sniffing away, the dog abruptly stopped and whimpered, before running back to Emma and cowering.

“Awe come on Jack, there is nothing to be scared of, Mike won’t hurt you,” Emma said. Whilst picking up the dog and stroking his ears, she looked back at Mike. “It’s not you personally, he doesn’t like big, tall, men. In fact, he only ever liked Craig, but he was small compared to a lot of men we saw about the clinic.”

Mike bit back a growl.
Who the hell is Craig
?

“Don’t worry, he will get used to me in time. Let’s get you in and settled,” Mike said.

At that moment the front door opened and Grams stepped out, she walked to Emma and hugged her.

“Grams, this is Emma, our new house keeper, Emma, Mary or Grams. I believe you have started getting to know each other over the last few weeks,” Mike said whilst gesturing between them.

He and Grams were close and she knew there had been a compulsion for him to get to know her, he had told her about their conversations through the emails. Even though Emma believed she was emailing Grams.

“Welcome, Emma, I feel like I know you already. I’m pleased you arrived safely. Come on in, the kettle is on.

Oh, this must be Jack, he is lovely,” Mary said.

* * * *

She hurried Emma into the house and down a hallway. Emma caught a glimpse of a dining room, living room and an office, before entering the kitchen. Emma looked around in wonder at the spacious farm house kitchen, it was how she always pictured a kitchen should be, the heart of the home and this one gave off that feeling. In the center of the room was a large pine table with eight matching chairs around it, three mugs sat at one end with a jug and sugar bowl. Emma heard a click and looked to see a steaming kettle on one of the granite work tops.

Mary walked over, grabbing the mugs from the table and turned to Emma.

“Tea or coffee, hun?”she asked.

“Coffee please,” Emma replied.

“Mike dear, are you staying for a coffee,” Mary asked.

“Yes, Grams. I’m going to get Emma’s bags and take them to her room. I need to make a quick stop in my office, but I will come back for it shortly,” Mike replied.

“Here’s my keys, please be very careful with my viv, then again I will come with you,” Emma said.

Mike took the keys and asked, “Viv?”

“It’s a vivarium, a tank I keep my bearded dragon in, she is called Dolly, come on I will help you, then I can get Dolly set up,” Emma answered.

Emma placed Jack on the floor and followed Mike out.

“It’s so quiet here, so different from London,” Emma commented.

“It will be a big change for you being in the country compared to a city, but I’m sure you will settle in fine,”

Mike said.

He then popped open the boot to find a wooded box with glass sliding doors, Emma bent into the back seat and started pulling out bags and a suitcase.

“I don’t have a lot, just my animals. So I was pleased to be able to bring them with me, Craig would have kept them for me if I couldn’t bring them, but I would have missed them terribly,” she said.

“Who is Craig? You mentioned him before,” Mike bit out.

“Oh, he is my best friend and work colleague from the clinic,” Emma said in reply.

“So you haven’t left a husband or boyfriend behind?” Mike asked, he watched her pale and shake her head. “No, no one, just Craig.” Mike got the impression that wasn’t the full truth, but not an outright lie either.

Chapter Two

At that moment, a car pulled up and a man stepped out. Emma couldn’t help but notice his resemblance to Mike, just slightly shorter and not as broad, she watched him walk towards her with a cheeky smile.

“Hey, you must be Emma. I’m Scott, Mike’s younger and better looking brother.” He proceeded to pick her up and hug her, Emma was sure she heard him sniff her hair, but instantly liked him. He reminded her of Craig for some reason, but she doubted a big man like Scott was gay. Scott put her back on her feet and looked at her funny.

“Who was the last person to touch you other than Grams?” he asked.

Emma took a step back, suddenly feeling scared and confused. Brian always sniffed her and asked who she had touched. Considering he was the reason she left London, she couldn’t believe it was happening again.

“Why?” she asked. A quick look at Mike revealed he looked just as confused.

“Scott, what’s going on? Come over here, you’re making Emma uncomfortable.”

Scott stepped back. “I’m so sorry, Emma, it’s just whoever it was smells divine, I didn’t mean to scare you, the scent just overwhelmed me for a second.”

“Right, okay, no problem, the last person to touch me was my best friend Craig. He hugged me before I left this morning.”

“Interesting,” was all Scott said.

He bent and grabbed all of the bags and the suitcase at Emma’s feet and said “Grab the viv Mike, I’ve got these, is she in the attic suite?” Without waiting for a response, he walked into the house.

Mike shrugged his shoulders, raised an eyebrow at Emma and said, “Come on let’s get you settled, so I can get to my office and get started on some paperwork.”

Emma grabbed the last two bags, which contained Jack’s toys and food, and shut the door. She watched Mike lift the viv with ease, it had taken her and Craig both to put it in the car this morning. She walked over and shut the boot. Emma grabbed the wires trailing from the viv. Mike tipped his head to get her to follow and led the way into the house. Just past the office, he mounted a staircase. Emma got a great view of a perfect arse encased in tight denim, the throbbing in her core, that had settled to a mild ache, was now banging away like a kid with a new drum. She heard a noise that sounded very much like a growl come from Mike. She looked up to see he had caught her watching him, his eyes looked like they glowed for a split second, then dulled again. Scott appeared above them.

“Come on, bro, what’s taking so long? I’ve cleared the sideboard top for you to put the viv on, there is an extension there too if you need it,” he said,

“How do you know so much about viv’s, Scott?” Mike asked.

“You know Danny I was seeing in college? He was into reptiles. So what you got in there Emma, a snake or a lizard?”

“You’re gay?” Emma spluttered.

Scott laughed and said, “Yeah, I hope that’s not a problem for you?”

“No, not at all, Craig is gay, it just surprised me, that’s all. It’s a dragon called Dolly in the viv,” Emma said.

“Cool,” was the only response from Scott.

Emma couldn’t believe this place. Not only did it have the embodiment of her dream man, but Craig’s too! She couldn’t wait to tell him.

They reached the top of the stairs and stood on the landing. It continued to the back of the house and had eight doors coming off of it. To her left a smaller flight of stairs headed up to the attic and that’s where Mike and Scott led her. At the top of the stairs was another small landing with three doors. The door to the left was open, revealing a large room with a double bed, a chocolate colored throw on it, the walls were cream, on walking into the room Emma saw just how big it was. The bed was on the wall you could see from the door and to the right there was a door to an en-suite, to the left was a sitting area with a book case, a big side board, and a comfy looking leather arm chair. At the far end, past the bed, was a large wardrobe and set of drawers, two matching bedside tables at either side of the bed with matching lamps. There was a window at each end of the room with matching chocolate brown curtains.

“It’s beautiful, is this really my room?” Emma asked, even though she saw her bags sitting on the bed.

“Yes, it is,” Mike said. “I’m across the landing and the end door is storage, so you can put your bags and suitcase in there when you have unpacked.”

“I will. Thanks for your help,” Emma replied.

Scott plugged in the viv, and she wandered over to slide open the viv door and remove a towel that contained a hot water bottle. She then went to one of the bags and took out some bowls, taking one to the bathroom and filling it with water, putting some greens in the other, she put them both in the viv. She removed a large bearded dragon and stroked her head, before placing her back in and closing the glass doors.