Falling for an Alpha

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2014 Vanessa
Devereaux

 
ISBN: 978-1-77233-020-5

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Lisa
Petrocelli

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All
names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For my
parents.

FALLING FOR AN ALPHA

Perfect
Pairing, 7

Vanessa
Devereaux

Copyright © 2014

Chapter One

Gabriel
rubbed his temples.
 
His head pounded as
if someone were beating it with a sledgehammer. He’d had his share of headaches
but nothing quite like this one. This was worse than any of the thumpers that
had accompanied hangovers. And yes, he’d had his fair share of those too, including
the memorable one he’d gotten the morning after his brother’s bachelor party.
However, the severity of this one made it downright scary.

He
tried to stand, but the pain was intolerable. His surroundings seemed to spin
by him at ultrafast speed, which in turn made him want to lean over and vomit.
He slid back down to the ground.

The ground.
This was the first time he’d noticed
where he’d been sitting—obviously not indoors. Fallen leaves and twigs surrounded
him, and the sound of them crunching beneath his body echoed through his ears.

He
shivered, trying to focus on exactly where he was. Deep in the forest by the
look of things, and he noticed the sun rising over the mountains to his left.
He couldn’t remember a damn thing, let alone how he’d gotten out here in the
middle of nowhere.

Gabriel
shivered again, rubbing his hands up and down his arms, and suddenly realized
he was naked. Holy shit, whatever he’d been doing, however he’d gotten here,
he’d obviously lost his clothes along the way. Or maybe he’d taken them off.

Sex, did I have
sex last night?
 
If he had, it must have been the worst kind
ever because he didn’t recall doing it, or the woman he’d done it with.

He
remembered that he’d been washing his truck. He’d driven it to the “serve
yourself
” car wash down the street, and he had been hosing
it down, but after that he couldn’t remember a thing.

The
sun inched up in the sky, casting more light on him, and he had to squint. The
brightness hurt his eyes. In fact, it felt like someone was sitting on both
eyeballs, bobbing up and down on them just for the hell of it.
 
He put his hand up in front of his face,
hoping that would help. He shivered and wanted to throw up again.

His
clothes had to be around
somewhere.,
not that he could
even remember what he’d been wearing. If he’d been washing the truck as he
assumed, then probably jeans and an old T-shirt. He stood up but his legs felt
like marshmallows and he fell on his butt, making his head throb even more.

Wolves
howled, their lingering echo vibrating throughout the canyon. Definitely a
hangover, because for some strange reason he understood everything they were
saying.

“
Nice morning.”

“Sleep well?”

“
Time
to go hunting.”

His
stomach rumbled thinking about what the last one had said. His mouth watered, which
was strange, because usually when he’d drunk too much, he was parched the next
day. He stood again, this time managing to stay steady on his feet. He always
kept his cell phone in the back pocket of his pants. No pants, no cell phone,
no calling someone to come get him.

Suddenly
feeling dizzy again, he clung to the nearest tree trunk. He wrapped his arms
tightly around it and rested his forehead on the bark, hoping that would help.

He
shivered again. He had to get out of there. If only he could remember how he
got here, getting out of this place would be a lot easier. If he did get to
safety, he’d already made a vow not to overindulge in booze ever again.

Maybe
it wasn’t his fault. It’s possible someone was playing a joke on him, slipped
something into his drink to knock him out, brought him up here, and taken his
clothes. They might even be watching him right now to see how he was going to
react when he woke up. He glanced around. Somehow, that didn’t seem likely, and
he needed to focus on getting home. He was cold and hungry, and hopefully, two
aspirin would take care of the headache.

Gabriel
made his way through a clearing to his left. Twigs snapped underneath his feet
and a branch caught his arm, grazed it, and drew blood.
Shit.
He wiped it away with his hand.

Maybe
he’d run into someone who could help him. They’d have a cell phone or they
could drive him back to town.
 
He looked
down at himself, suddenly remembering he was naked. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be
charged with exposing himself.

What
if he’d been sleepwalking? Could you walk this far while still asleep?

He
turned into a small clearing where a lone wolf stood just a few yards away from
him.Something
about it looked vaguely familiar—the
eyes, he’d see those eyes before, and the white and grey fur around its muzzle.

The
wolf approached him and he stood still. He wasn’t afraid. It got closer,
rubbing his body against this leg.
 
He
looked down and found the wolf looking up at him. Now he remembered where he’d
seen it before. He’d spend last night wrapped up beside this creature. The
wolf
 
had
kept him
company, kept him warm and safe all night.

****

“How about the third row?”

Amber
focused on the eye chart hanging on the wall ahead of her.

“
C, G
…”
Was the next letter an F or a B?

“Amber,
you having problems with that?” asked the doctor.

She
bit her lip. She didn’t want the doctor to know what she already did. Her
eyesight was failing.

“
B, H
…”
M or n?
 

“
N, P, S
.”

He
scribbled something on a pad and then pushed the stool over and sat in front of
her.

“All
right, Amber, just
relax
, put your forehead against
this bar, and look directly into the light.”

Maybe
she shouldn’t have said anything about the blurry vision she’d been
experiencing on a daily basis for the last three weeks. She tried not to blink,
knowing he was examining her eye in detail.

“Very good.
Now lean back
and I’ll put some drops into your eyes.”

She’d
always hated this part of the eye exam. She blinked continually as he dropped
the solution first into her right eye, and then the left. He checked her eyes
again and then handed her a tissue to wipe her cheeks where some of the liquid
had run down her face.

“Judging
by what you’ve told me and the state of your eyes, I’d say you have some
advanced diabetic retinopathy.”

Her
heart sank. She’d suspected as much.

“Am
I going blind?”

“I
can’t say for sure at this point, but your sight is deteriorating at a faster
pace than I’d hoped to see.”

The
thought of not being able to see again made her want to cry. She was suddenly
scared, glued to the seat, and didn’t want to move from its safety. It had to
be a mistake.

“Did
you bring someone along to drive you home? Sometimes the drops can make it hard
to see for an hour or so,” said the doctor.

She’d
thought about asking her mom but she knew her mother would fuss and panic just
like she had when Amber had been first diagnosed with diabetes.

“No,
I’m going to have some tea in the café downstairs for a while until they wear
off.”

“Sounds
like a good idea. I’ll send your notes to Dr. Patterson and he’ll talk with you
some more. Maybe the two of you can look into some laser surgery, depending on
how things progress.”

Amber
nodded and stood.

“I
have some brochures for you, and the names of some support groups.”

Amber
took them. She had enough of these pamphlets to wallpaper her kitchen. She
slipped them into her purse. The next support group she’d be joining would probably
be one for the blind.

“You
can schedule your three-month follow-up appointment on the way out. Take care,
Amber.”

She
nodded, walked over to the receptionist, but opted to make her appointment
another day. Right now she wanted to get out of there and the constant reminder
of things to come.

The
elevator door was open so she walked straight into it. She hadn’t realized that
she hadn’t pressed a floor number until a man got on.

“You
want the first floor?”

“What?
Oh yes, sorry. I was miles away.”

She
hugged her purse to her stomach and rode down to the first floor that housed
the medical building’s café. It was crowded but she knew she needed to eat
soon. She approached the counter and waited in line.

“A tea, and also one of the low sugar
blueberry muffins.”

She
paid the cashier and waited for her order. She headed for an open table at the
back of the café. Someone had left a magazine on the chair. At least that would
give her something to read while she ate. She’d always hated eating alone in
public.

Alone.
That word had a
double-edged meaning right now. She was going to be blind and all alone. Her
mother had nagged her for years to stop focusing on her career and to settle
down and start a family.

At
the time, studying for her master’s had been the most important thing to her.
Now she realized her mother had been right. If she did find a husband, she
might never see his face. If she had kids, she’d never have the pleasure of
seeing them emerge from her body. She would never see how cute they were when
she fed and held them or know how wonderful it was for a mother to see her
child take a first step. And would she even be able to continue in her career
as a teacher?
 
Amber had tried to hold it
in, but she gave in and burst out crying.

Two
people from a nearby table looked over at her. She pretended she had a cold and
gave two fake sneezes, suddenly feeling embarrassed by her outburst.