Alpha Games Boxed Set (Paranormal Shifter Romance BBW): Volumes 1-4 Page 2

  My stomach sinks, knowing this is what my friends saw moments ago. My wet clothing is plastered to my body in unflattering ways, my long, dark red hair is coming loose from its ponytail and hanging in bedraggled strands around my pale face. Nevertheless, I smile at myself, congratulating the wolf in me on an excellent escape. Then I start on the task of peeling my clothes off, not easy since the cold and rain seems to have fused them with my skin.

  But a few minutes later, when I’m warm and mostly dry, the world is a hundred times better.

  I pick up the top Rafe brought. I hold it up against my body. It’s huge, clearly meant for his tall, built frame and not my small, curvy one. I’ve always been sort of self conscious about my shape, an odd shape for most wolves. It’s like I eat the same as the others, but my body just holds on to it. And okay, I also like food. And wolf males are…well…nurturing. I study my self in the mirror after toweling my hair off, wondering if I will look the same to them as before. All of them look the same to me.

  I slip into Rafe’s soft tee and pants and cant resist a look at myself in the mirror and a laugh at how his clothing hangs on me.

  I pull my toweled hair back into a ponytail, and try not to think again of the gentle way Rafe moved over me, sapping the cold and the wetness away. Making me home again with the touch of his hand.

  I turn off the light and close the bathroom door. Rafe’s pants drag on the ground as I walk out into the living room, holding my wet clothing in a towel under my arm.

  The guys don’t notice me at first.

  They’re all leaned forward, discussing something in low voices. Probably me.

  I clear my throat so that they don’t feel like I’m eavesdropping. They all pull back, trying to look innocent, except for Rafe, who gives me an irritated glare, like I’m interrupting something important.

  Lindon smiles up at me. “Let’s talk more tomorrow. You look exhausted.”

  “I am.” I yawn and stretch and try not to notice that Rafe is still glaring at me. “So where am I staying?” I ask.

  “How about with me in my—” Hawthorne doesn’t even get to finish his rather enthusiastic offer, because Rafe grabs him by the collar with one hand and tosses him back onto the couch, then stands icily and walks over to me.

  Every time he approaches I feel the air crackle with anticipation, my hairs rise. But he just walks casually past me into the hall. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”

  “Ooh, the grand tour. Nice,” I blurt out. He turns to pin me with a glare, and I shut up.

  Then he goes back to leading me up the stairs, which are luxuriously covered in embroidered carpet. I run my fingers along the beautiful oak bannister.

  Rafe pulls open a door at the end of the hall and gestures for me to go in. It’s a beautiful bedroom, nicely furnished with a cherry set. Bed, dresser, nightstand. Beautiful, gauzy, spring green curtains line the windows, one of which has a beautifully cushioned window seat beneath it in yellow and green. It’s almost like it was made for me.

  “Will you be needing anything else tonight?” Rafe’s voice is soft and cold at the same time. It brings to mind quietly falling snow. “I’ll need a second to get sheets on it. If I’d had notice…”

  “It’s perfect.”

  “I’ll be right back.” He exits back into the hall, leaving me alone in the room. Moonlight from the window splays over the softly carpeted floor and I take a step towards the gorgeously cushioned window seat that looks like it would be a great place to sleep tonight. I peek out at the street. No cars. I peek out at the trees scattered across the grounds. No Fang, as far as I can see.

  I sit down on the cushion, lean back on the wall, and let the gently falling rain calm my tattered nerves. Rafe comes in with the sheets and starts making up the bed. I don’t offer to help. Rafe doesn’t like help, he likes to do things himself.

  “If you need anything else, let me know,” he says, standing and brushing off his hands.

  “Thanks, this is great for now.”

  “Wait, are you hungry? I should have asked, of course you’re hungry.”

  “No thanks,” I say, feeling drowsy.

  He narrows his eyes at me. “You need to eat. I’ll go get something and be right back.”

  “Just like your dad, always trying to feed people.” I wrap an arm around my waist and give him a playful, albeit sleepy grin. “Don’t worry, I have reserves. I won’t waste away in one night.”

  He eyes me suspiciously, ignoring my jab at my weight. “That’s not the point.”

  “We’ll have to argue about it tomorrow, because I think I’m going to fall asleep any minute.” My eyelids dip in approval, and I can feel sleep coming like a curtain as the rain beats its peaceful tempo.

  Through my lowered lids, I see his body before me, long, taut muscles under his thin, cashmere sweater and chinos.

  I open my eyes a little wider and see him staring down, a small stress wrinkle between his brows indicating that he’s thinking deeply about something.

  It’s an odd moment, just us and the moonlight and the rain. There’s a tension between us that I know I’ll feel more strongly tomorrow when I wake. I can feel it in the air around me, waiting.

  Then my eyes close. Darkness for a minute, then I’m moving, and I wake to find myself in Rafe’s arms, carried gently to my mattress and laid down there. I keep my eyes closed, feigning sleep.

  He walks away to the door, but stops, and I open one eye to watch him.

  He’s just standing there, long fingers grazing the handle as he stares at me. His scent lingers around me, woodsy but clean, like the forest after rain.

  “Lock your door,” he says, apparently aware that I’m watching. “I don’t trust Hawthorne.”

  “Oh, come on…”

  “Would you just lock your door?” he asks, exasperation in his voice.

  “Fine, I was going to anyway.”

  He nods and turns away.

  “Rafe?” I call out.

  “Yes?”

  “Nice house. Needed an upgrade?”

  He turns back and gives me a wry smile. “Why not?”

  I shrug and pull the blankets around me. “Goodnight, Rafe,” I say sleepily. Then I’m asleep before I can hear his response. Safe at home for the first time in two years.

  Chapter 3

  The next morning I wake somewhat confused. A delicious, savory scent wafts through the room, lifting me up to a sitting position. I rub my head, looking around the room and trying to gain my bearings. As sleep fades, I remember last night. Walking out on Fang, coming here. Reuniting with the guys. The smell hits me again. My stomach rumbles and I rub it nervously. I know that smell.

  Rafe must have something on the stove.

  I run through a mental list of things I need to get done today. I need to call Megan, one of my human friends from college, and get her to bring my stuff over without exposing her too much to the guys. I gave her a bunch of stuff when I was first starting to plan. She was just happy to know I was back in town, she didn’t know I was planning to walk out on Fang until I asked her to hold all of it. And I’m glad she didn’t ask unnecessary questions. Questions I couldn’t have answered for her.

  I knew Fang would never think I had involved a mere human in my plan, so she was safest knowing about it.

  I reach into the pile of my clothes on the floor and rummage for my phone. It falls out of my jean pockets and I swipe to unlock it.

  “I found a place, can you bring my stuff?” I text Megan. She says sure and I text her the address. She says she’ll head out in a while. Perfect, just enough time for breakfast. Showering at this juncture would be pointless, anyway. Rain counts, right? I change into my clothes and fold Rafe’s. Let him think I’ve gotten tidier in the time I’ve been gone.

  I open my door and peek out.

  Just Lindon downstairs in the living room, stretched out on the main couch with his laptop on his lap.

  Perfect.

  I step lightly down t
he hall, past what I’m guessing is Rafe’s door because it looks like the master bedroom, and pause for a moment to listen. Nothing. I must be right. If he wasn’t downstairs, he’d probably be working. I wonder what he ended up going into. Our kind is a dying breed, but a rich one, and we like to keep it that way. Thus, our Alphas tend to also be business minded.

  Even when we lived out there, far from town, we had nice buildings and amenities for when we needed to hide or just have shelter. And sometimes it’s nice to be human. Opposable thumbs and all that.

  Lindon’s head snaps up when I come down the stairs. A bright smile crosses his face, and his golden eyes glow. “How are you feeling?”

  “Okay. Megan’s bringing my stuff over.”

  He sits up, frowning. “Yeah? Is she, um…”

  “She doesn’t know. And she won’t,” I say. “I’ll be careful.”

  “Okay, you know the penalty though…” Lindon remembers Megan. Hard not to remember Megan, really.

  He smiles and shakes his head, shutting his laptop. “Well, I’ll be here if you need me.”

  A wonderful smell is coming from the kitchen, and I try to ignore it, at least for a moment. “Actually, if I could borrow your laptop at some point…” I ask him.

  Lindon looks up at me. “Sure, I’ll be using it sometimes, for work, but…”

  I wave a hand, trying not to blush when my stomach burbles loudly. Come on, stomach, you can wait ten minutes. “I just need to email some of my teachers, get extensions on deadlines.”

  “You haven’t graduated yet?” Lindon asks softly, no judgment in his voice.

  “Life gets in the way.” I shrug. The smell feels like it’s getting stronger. Dammit. “Anyway, I’ll be able to go back and get the rest of my stuff at some point, you know the stuff Megan doesn’t have…so it’s just for a while.” I don’t want to see Fang, but I’ll need to get my computer back with my assignments on it. School doesn’t stop just because you’re homeless.

  Someone brushes me and I realize it’s Rafe just as he disappears around the corner. He comes back with something in his arms. A black briefcase. He sets it down on the couch beside me and heads to the kitchen, where he must have been before.

  “What’s this?” I ask, eyeing the bag.

  “My computer,” he says. “Go ahead and use it.”

  “You sure?” I tap the bag with my hand and think about it. “Isn’t that a little, I don’t know, personal? What if I see something I shouldn’t?”

  “Like what?” he asks. “I trust you.”

  “Okay then.” I shrug and reach into the bag. Lindon gets to his to his feet and glides toward the kitchen with that unnatural grace he has.

  “Damn Rafe, that smells good. Can I have some?” he asks.

  Rafe shakes his head. “Not done yet.”

  My mouth waters and I sniff the air. Bacon and eggs with veggies, if I had to guess. Toast. His usual. Why is it so sexy when a man can cook?

  I take the laptop out of the bag carefully and set it on my lap. It’s nice, fairly new, and starts up in seconds with a bright, glossy screen.

  “Nice computer,” I call out begrudgingly.

  “It’s adequate,” he replies, still paying attention to the stove. He’s in feeder mode and he won’t acknowledge any of us until the food is on the table.

  I’ll get my stuff from Megan, I’ll email my teachers…My head swirls as I try to stick to short, logical thoughts and not the fact that my whole world changed in the space of one night. And I’m back in the situation I ran from, and only just now really considering what that means. It’s a hard thing to do.

  And on top of that, Fang could show up any minute to take me back, and we’d all have a fight on our hands.

  I close my eyes and force my thoughts to more pleasant, simple ideas, doable things on the to-do list, and when I open them there’s a plate in front of me. Rafe is holding it.

  “What’s this?” I ask, as he comes back from the kitchen with a plate for himself.

  “Breakfast.”

  “Thank you,” I say. “But I meant, what’s this?” I gesture to the pile of food that’s twice the size of his serving or Lindon’s. “I think you mixed our plates up.”

  “Nope,” he says, grinning and shoveling a bite in while avoiding my eyes. I give him a suspicious glare but poke at my food.

  “It’s too much.”

  “Just eat what you can.”

  “That’s just code word for ‘I’m trying to fatten you up’”, I grumble.

  He shrugs, not looking at all abashed.

  “Come on, Aspen,” Lindon says, joining in. “Gotta stock up against the hard times.”

  I look around the mansion. “These aren’t exactly hard times, and you don’t understand because male wolves stay as lean as they want no matter what they eat.”

  “Gotta love that metabolism,” Lindon laughs, but his eyes are twinkling as he studies my plate. “On the other hand, I don’t think even a yeti could finish that plate. Sheesh, Rafe. I know you like ‘em curvy, but damn. Want me to help, Aspen?”

  Rafe growls at him. “I just thought since she didn’t have dinner last night…” he throws up his hands. “But fine, think the worst of me.”

  I grin and put a loaded fork in my mouth and stifle a gasp. It’s not fair that he can cook like this. Against my will I shovel more in my mouth, looking over at him suspiciously to make sure he’s not watching. He’s not, but there’s a slight smile on his face as he calmly eats with one hand and continues to browse through something on his phone with the other.

  Lindon finishes, dumps his plate in the sink, gives Rafe a look that seems meangingful, and then grabs his laptop and disappears from the room, leaving Rafe and I alone. My stomach twists.

  “These are so good,” I say, gesturing to the eggs. Rafe looks up. “Unfairly good.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “Um, a friend is coming over to drop some stuff off, is that okay?”

  “Who?”

  “Megan. A human friend from before. I could stay with her, you know, if it’s too much trouble to be here.”

  He frowns in disapproval and sets his plate aside. “You’re staying here. Definitely.”

  I play with my food, pushing the eggs around and into little mountains and hills. “Well, I don’t know. I had to leave sort of, well, suddenly. But I don’t want to be a bother to you guys, and I was thinking that Fang would never find me there. He’d never guess I was with a human.”

  “He can track you,” Rafe says flatly. “That’s a stupid idea if I ever heard one. You are definitely not staying with a human.”

  “But—”

  “I’ll get word out in the area to watch out for Fang. We can obviously protect you better than any humans.”

  “I don’t want a fight,” I say.

  “Oh, then why did you run off with another wolf and then leave him? You knew there would be a fight. That we would defend you to the death. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe a month from now, but females are in short supply. So he will come for you. And there will be a fight.”

  “I didn’t mean for there to be. There doesn’t have to be. I made him no promises.”

  “So, you aren’t connected to him in any way?”

  “No.”

  “That makes things even more complicated,” he says flatly.

  “Why?”

  “You’re fertile she-wolf. One who has no claims on her. What were you doing with Fang this whole time?”

  “Living my life,” I snap angrily. “Traveling. Seeing the world. Taking classes. Oh yeah, and not being a breeding machine.”

  “No one wants you to be a breeding machine. But it would be nice if you took a mate.” He pins me with a glare that’s too grown up and responsible for his age.

  “Why don’t you take a mate? Don’t you want to be Alpha?”

  His sharp features flinch and his icy eyes flash. “Maybe I have a lot less choice in the matter than you do.”

  “You
know, part of why I left in the first place is that I don’t want to feel forced into mating with someone out of obligation.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I eye him warily, and comprehension lights in his eyes.

  “You thought I’d force you. So I could become the next Alpha.” He’s taking offense, and it’s making his eyes burn an even brighter blue. “That’s why you left?”

  “Not forced, but pressured to do it as my duty. I was the Alpha female,” I say wearily. “You know what they expect.”

  He shakes his head, making his dark, glossy hair catch the light in a beautiful way. “I know, but I would have hoped you wouldn’t have thought I expect the same.”

  “You’d do anything for the pack,” I say.

  “Well, I can’t convince you that I wouldn’t have done it then. But I can assure you that isn’t going to happen now.”

  A tiny part of me is disappointed that he can give it up that easily. It just proves he never wanted me that way. “Okay.”

  “But what about the other guys? Would you consider them?”

  “Lindon and Hawthorne? They never hit on me before. Would they be interested?”

  “They weren’t ready to settle down. They weren’t ready to mate. I think you’ll find that’s different now.”

  “They seemed the same yesterday,” I say.

  He folds his arms, and his muscles bunch in a way that makes me slightly uncomfortable. “You may see Lindon and Hawthorne as childhood friends, but they definitely see you as a she-wolf. A desirable one.”

  “I don’t think I’m that desirable.”

  He lets out a slow breath and runs his eyes down my body in a way that makes me hot all over. Maybe I am more ready than I thought.

  “I don’t think you see yourself the way I do,” he says. “We do.”

  “I’m chubby,” I mutter. “Maybe even fat.”

  “You’re gorgeous,” he says. “And you always were. If you come to like Lindon or Hawthorne, either would make excellent mates. I think you should give them a chance. It’s…hard. To be alone, I mean.”