The Alpha Won't Be Denied

Copyright 2015 by Georgette St. Clair

This book is intended for readers 18 and older only.  It is a work of fiction.  All characters and locations in this book are products of the feverish imagination of the author, a tarnished Southern belle with a very dirty mind.

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Alphas? Wolf shifter Virginia Battle has had her fill of them. She’s grown up with an Alpha dad and four bossy, overprotective older brothers - so there’s no way in hell she’s going to give arrogant, sexy Carver Lawrence the time of day. Yet he keeps showing up everywhere she goes, scaring off all the guys who want to date her – and not making a single move on her. Then after one drunken night in a casino, she wakes up next to him in bed…with a wedding ring on her finger.

Now her pack is howling for his blood (literally), he’s insisting that she’s really his wife, and before she knows it she’s whisked off to a sexy honeymoon at a mountain resort. Carver’s known from the minute he laid eyes on Virginia that she was meant to be his – but can a strong-willed woman (with some pretty big secrets) and a demanding dominant Alpha ever find love?

Just when Virginia’s starting to see the advantage of being married to a sexy, dominant Alpha, she and Carver learn that there’s something very wrong at Honeymoon Mountain.  Does it have anything to do with the secret she’s been keeping from her family? And with guests disappearing from the mountain resort, the townspeople hiding a deadly secret of their own, and someone – or something – very scary sniffing around at her cabin, will she survive long enough to find out?

              It was feeding-frenzy time at The Zoo. Techno music pumped through speakers hung from the rafters, women in tiny dresses gyrated on stage, and the dance floor was packed. Hormones were so thick they fogged the air, almost visible to the naked eye.

“They’re a bunch of animals in here tonight,” Sally Reynolds said. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the music and the din of the crowd. She was correct, both figuratively and literally; every species of shifter came to The Zoo on Saturday nights.

              “Oh, I don’t know, I like that one.” Virginia Battle pointed at the muscular wolf shifter who was leaning against the far wall and watching her. He had thick, dark hair and wore a motorcycle vest over his T-shirt.

              Sally looked him up and down doubtfully. “If you like them tall, dark, and stupid, he’s perfect.”

              “That’s exactly what I’m looking for!” Virginia leaned close to Sally and yelled into her ear as a particularly loud song blared over the speakers. “Someone I’d never be tempted to go out with more than once. I’m not looking for anything permanent.” She deliberately met the shifter’s gaze across the crowded room, then returned her attention to her friend. From the corner of her eye, she could see him nursing his beer andchecking her out.  Working his way up to coming over and asking her for a dance.

              She glanced down at her outfit. She was wearing black silk slacks that flowed over her long legs, high-heeled boots, and a scoop-neck top. She’d spent some time on her makeup, something she neverdid at work, , and had even added a pair of big hoop earrings to the mix. 

              Sally, who was crabby tonight, wore an adorable flowered halter dress that showed off her great figure, but was ruining the effect by standing with her arms crossed defensively over her chest and her shoulders hunched, with a scowl on her face.

              The wolf looked at Virginia again, and took another sip of his beer.

              “He’s interested.  I’d say your chances of success are a hundred percent,” Sally said. “I mean, as long as nobody from your family, or Mr. Hot Stuff, shows up tonight.”

              Virginia’s gaze swept the crowd. “I don’t see any of them here yet. Maybe we got here early enough. I’ll dance with him once and give him my number and leave. Then we could meet up somewhere else. Preferably out of town.”

              “Good thinking!” Sally nodded, looking over the crowd again with an obvious lack of enthusiasm.  A while ago she’d told Virginia that she liked her brother Pierce, but she never had worked up the courage to tell him. Now she seemed like she was in a funk, no longer interested in the men who came to the Zoo. Or any other men, for that matter.

              “I have to use strategy to get around my brothers. And
him
.” Virginia said the word “him” with particular venom, and there was no need to explain who she was talking about.

              Carver Lawrence. The man had been the bane of her existence ever since she’d met him – and even more so since he’d moved to Timber Valley a few months ago.  Just thinking about him made her pulse quicken and her palms grow sweaty.  Whenever he came near her, he had an unfortunate physical effect on her, and he knew it. And he always made sure she knew that he knew it.

              His gaze would sweep over her body and deliberately rest on her swollen nipples as they strained against the fabric of her shirt. Or he’d sniff the air and smile, letting her know that his wolf was scenting her arousal.

              Virginia looked around one more time, just to be sure. If any of her brothers was there, or Carver, there would be no point in dancing with the man. Or any other member of the male species, for that matter.

“I am so sick of this,” she muttered to herself. “Next thing you know my brothers will be trying to give me a curfew.”

Virginia felt someone tap her shoulder and she jumped. She swirled around with a snarl on her face, ready to confront her brothers or Carver, but it was just Edward.

              “Virginia!” Edward said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you! Would you like to dance, maybe? I mean, with me? Now?” There was a hopeful look on his blandly handsome face. He was the wolf who had the lowest place in the pack. He was the opposite of dominant; a nice guy, but Virginia just wasn’t attracted.

She struggled not to openly wince.  She’d known him since high school, and he’d always had a crush on her. She couldn’t believe he hadn’t gotten sick of it and moved on.

              “I’m sorry, Edward, but I already agreed to dance with somebody else,” Virginia said gently, and she turned away before she could see his face fall in disappointment the way it always did. He nodded, then turned and walked away.

              “He’s been leaving flowers and poetry on the clinic doorstep for me,” she said. Virginia, a healer, worked in the town’s clinic a few days a week, when she wasn’t at the clinic on her pack’s property. “It’s creepy.”

              “At least someone is leaving you flowers and poems. I got nothing!” Sally heaved a melodramatic sigh.

              “You’re wasting your time pining after the wrong guys,” Virginia said. She really didn’t think that Pierce was ready to settle down.

              Edward was still watching them, she realized. She needed to go dance with someone, or he’d realize she’d lied to him to get rid of him. “I’ll be back!” she yelled into Sally’s ear.

“I’m going to get a drink. I’ll be at the bar,” Sally shouted back, and turned and hurried off. Apparently Edward had the same effect on her that he did on Virginia.

She started to make her way through the crowd, then saw that the handsome wolf shifter whom she’d been eyeing earlier was headed her way.

With a quick glance back at Edward, she put her arm around the wolf shifter’s waist and said, “Come dance with me.”

A grin spread across his face. “With pleasure,” he said, and led her onto the crowded dance floor.

The music was slower now.  He circled his arms around her waist. Virginia leaned in to him and they moved across the floor in the midst of a crowd of other shifter couples.

He didn’t make her heart beat faster, but he’d do for a distraction. It wasn’t as if she could commit to anyone permanently right now anyway. There were too many things about her future that were uncertain.

“So, do you live around here?” he said, leaning close to her so she could hear him.

“Oh, not far,” she said. She still lived on pack property; she definitely wouldn’t be inviting him back to her pack lands, where her family hovered like avenging angels, ready to smite any man who sullied their little Virginia with so much as a glance of interest. If he wanted to see any more of her, they wouldn’t do it in Timber Valley.

She realized that she wasn’t able to summon up much enthusiasm at the thought of going on a date, and possibly more, with this guy. What was wrong with her?  She was single, and it had been a long time since she’d been with a man. He was handsome, he smelled nice, he clearly worked out and had a great body. He was no Alpha wolf…but that was a good thing, wasn’t it? She had an Alpha father, and three older brothers who treated her like she was a fragile china doll.  She needed someone like this guy – a nice level of Beta. Not a total wimp, but not some macho A-hole who always had something to prove.

“So, what do you think about…” His voice trailed off and he suddenly stiffened.

Oh, no. Not again.

She glanced across the room. Sure enough, Carver was leaning against the bar, and he was staring intently at them. Not scowling. Just staring.

Unfortunately, that was enough. The guy she was dancing with was big; Carver was much bigger. Taller. Broader.  Muscles everywhere. Like most Alphas, he worked out all the time and trained in martial arts in his human form, and ran for dozens of miles at least a few times a week in his wolf form.  Strong jaw, thick brows over piercing brown eyes. And he had a very intimidating air about him. In fact he’d gotten more intimidating since she’d first met him a year ago.  He’d been the Beta of the Killingworth pack at the time, but he’d been borderline Alpha, to the point where he’d finally had to leave the pack. Two Alphas couldn’t spend more than a few hours with each other without getting irritable and then angry and then violent.

Carver had apparently come into his own as a full-fledged Alpha, which meant he would have to start his own pack.  For some reason, he’d decided to move to Timber Valley, where he hung around all the time and somehow managed to scare off all the men who wanted to date her – any men who hadn’t already been scared off by her family. Awesome. Wasn’t she a lucky girl?

“I should, uh… I’m going to get a drink, I’ll be right back,” the wolf shifter mumbled. He turned and rushed off through the crowd, and she heaved a sigh. Of course he wasn’t coming back. She watched him elbow his way off the dance floor and then hurry out the front door.

She headed towards the bar, sliding between couples who were so wrapped up in each other that they were practically mating while they danced. She felt a twinge of envy. She wished her life were that uncomplicated. They saw someone they liked; they went for it. End of story.

“I see your taste hasn’t improved any.” Carver’s deep, rich voice rumbled in her ear, and she jumped, startled.

She turned around to demand what the hell business of his it was anyway, but he glided right past her…leading a woman by the hand. Onto the dance floor. He was going to dance with her. The woman.

“Virginia!” She heard Sally shout her name and felt Sally’s fingers closing on her arm. With a start, she realized she’d half shifted without even noticing it. Her head had gone wolf. Her snout had extended, her lips curled back in a snarl, and she was salivating.  She quickly shifted back to human form and swallowed the saliva. Great. Now her makeup would be all messed up and her hoop earrings had fallen off.

She looked around on the dance floor; the earrings were gone. 

She stared at Carver and the woman, a pretty blonde in tight jeans. They were bumping and grinding on the dance floor, and it took all her strength to remain in human form. She knew that she couldn’t stand Carver and she had no desire to mate with him, but her wolf didn’t seem to get the message. Her wolf wanted to shift and race through the crowd and attack the woman he was dancing with. Her wolf wanted to taste blood.