Alpha Betrayed: A Dark Shifter Romance

JULIET

My mother...

My dead mother is alive and of at least relatively sound mind and body and she never tried to find me.

To save me.

And now I'm going to be eaten by a wolf like Little Red Riding Hood before I have a chance to tell her just how shitty it was to grow up a motherless daughter in the Zion pack.

I skid to a stop on the pine needles covering the forest floor, my lungs burning from my sprint and a part of me ready to take the easy way out. The giant red wolf snarling in front of me looks like he could gobble me up in one bite.

I could do it. I could ask him to open wide and jump inside.

Or I could lay down and lift my sweater, baring my soft, vulnerable belly the way I did that one time in the arena. It would be over in seconds, and this time the monster tearing me apart would finish the job.

He wouldn't leave me alive to suffer the pain of knowing my mother abandoned me to be raised by a psychopath to make her own life easier.

That has to be what happened.

My father decided he was ready for a new wife, but he wanted to keep the kid, the heir, and pretending my mother was dead was the easiest way out. He'd already been married three times before my mother, but none of those women had given him a child. The pack had assumed he was barren and that the Alpha throne would pass to his younger brother's children when he died.

Then along came Mom, a beauty from an absurdly fertile pack in France with two Ivy League degrees and an impeccable pedigree.

Not that my father cared that my mother was a genius, I'm sure. Hammer liked to brag that I was brilliant, but only because I was an extension of him, sprung from his loins and therefore something he could take credit for. I'm sure my mother's pretty face and allegedly fertile womb were his primary motivations. Even before I learned my mother was still alive, I was laboring under no delusions that Dad loved Mom or grieved her loss all that much.

Sure, he said he did, but he was married again six months later to Crystal, the woman he tried to knock up for a few years before he divorced again and married Ford's mom. Adriana came with a bonus prize-the son Hammer had always wanted. Even when he was a tween, it was obvious Ford would grow up to be a handsome, powerful, dominant wolf, just like his dear old stepdad.

Ford...

He's behind me.

If I lay down to die, he'll try to save me, and possibly end up dead for his troubles. One wolf, he could probably take, but this red menace isn't alone.

As I back slowly away, a tall, willowy shadow with dark red hair emerges from the trees on the other side of the clearing.

It's a woman, a girl, probably not much older than eighteen or nineteen, and ballerina slim. But that doesn't mean anything. Her wolf could be a beast with paws the size of my head. Human size doesn't always equal wolf size. Adriana's wolf was nearly as big as my dad's, even though as a woman she stood barely five foot three and prided herself on being a size two.

If this woman and the red wolf gang up against Ford, he might not come out on top, and I can't do that to him. He deserves to go to Lost Moon and make his revenge dreams come true, even though I sure as hell won't be going with him.

"Get behind me." A strong hand grabs my upper arm, dragging me backward.

It's Ford, my hero, my stepbrother, my rival.

My...friend?

I don't know what exactly we are to each other anymore, only that I'm glad he's here. After the initial flash of temptation, the easy way out holds no appeal.

I don't want to disappear. I want to survive and punish all the people on my shit list, including my mother, whose name is now at the top, right next to Hammer's. She basically sold me into slavery, too, knowing full well I would never be safe in Hammer's pack. Even two minutes with her was enough to see the intelligence in her eyes. She understood exactly what she was doing when she turned her back on the innocent baby she'd brought into the world and walked away, leaving me in the dragon's den. "Relax," the willowy girl says, lifting her hands into the air as she sways forward.

She moves like a ballerina, too, and is probably older than I first assumed. As she steps into the sunlight, I see slight wrinkles around her eyes and a hollowness to her cheeks that's more than a side effect of her thin frame. She lost her baby fat long ago and has a cool, easy confidence very few achieve in their teens.

She smiles as she comes to stand beside the red wolf, tangling her fingers in the fur at his scruff. "Alexander is protective of me, that's all. It's a twin thing."

The red wolf snarls again, but this time up at the ballerina.

She laughs. "He said it's because I'm a dumbass who takes stupid chances, but that's not true. I'm not a dumbass. I simply refuse to cower in the shadows because I was unlucky enough to get the short end of the genetic stick." Her smile takes on a wry edge as she adds, "I'm Catherine, and I'm a hedgehog shifter." She waits for a beat, then motions toward us with a graceful sweep of her arm. "Go ahead, it's okay to laugh. I'm fully aware how ridiculous it sounds."

"What do you want? And why are you here?" Ford asks in his deep, don't-f**k-with-the-people-under-my-protection voice, clearly not in the mood to be charmed by this woman.

His crankiness floods my chest with warmth. Catherine is gorgeous, confident, clever, and a pro with the self-effacing humor, a combination that would have most men on their knees in thirty seconds. But Ford is still shielding me with his body, tensed to destroy both of these strangers if they make a wrong move.

Though, if this woman is telling the truth, we probably aren't in much danger. I could take her in our human forms-she's taller but I'm tougher-and I could end a hedgehog with a flick of my big toe.

"Prove it," I say, stepping to Ford's side to face the twins more fully.

Catherine arches a brow. "Prove what? That I'm a tiny prickly pear with legs in my shifter form?"

"Yes." I turn my attention to the wolf, Alexander, "And you, prove that you have some manners. I'm clearly no threat to your sister, so skin up and tell us why you're here."

Catherine glances down at her brother, arching an elegant brow. They appear to telepathically confer for a moment-something most shifters can do in their furry forms, though not always in their human ones-then she smiles and bobs a breezy shoulder. "All right. That sounds fair. But if your big boy there comes after my brother, I'll chew his finger off with my tiny, but very pointy teeth."

Before Ford or I can reply, she lifts her arms into the air and swirls into a pirouette. When the turn is finished, her long black sundress lies in a puddle on the ground. It's as if she's disappeared.

But then the puddle ripples, twitches, and a second later a tiny but absurdly cute hedgehog wiggles out from one armhole.

Ford grunts. "Cute."

It's exactly what I was thinking, but I can't help shooting him a hard look out of the corners of my eyes. It will be cute when we know what the hell these two are up to out here in the forest in the middle of nowhere.

He tips his head ever so slightly, seeming to understand me, even without telepathy.

I shift my attention back to the clearing in time to see Alexander finish his transformation to his human form. Immediately, I have to fight to keep my eyebrows from sliding up my forehead. Alexander is a very scary wolf, but a very beautiful man, with dark red hair with a hint of curl, a short, scruffy beard, piercing green eyes, and a body I can't help but appreciate, even on a potentially dangerous stranger. Especially considering he's nude.

Growing up in a shifter community, you grow accustomed to casual nudity among all age groups early on, but there's nothing casual about Alexander's sculpted form. From his broad shoulders to his thick, powerful legs, and everything in between, he's an artist's study of the ideal man.

This time it's Ford's turn to shoot me a hard look.

I clear my throat, pulling myself together before someone other than my extraordinarily perceptive stepbrother sees my appreciation for everything Alexander has going on. "So?" I arch a cold brow, taking a cue from my mother's playbook and keeping things icy. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Alexander crosses his arms over his chest and widens his stance, making no move to cover his crotch or get dressed.

But from my brief glance between his thighs, he has nothing to be self-conscious about in that area, either. Even his c**k is gorgeous, a thing I've only thought once or twice before-one occasion being last night with Ford.

But I only assumed his c**k was beautiful, hidden beneath his stretched-out sweatpants. I've never seen Ford bare, and I never will, because I'm dying a virgin queen.

Virgin queen, virgin queen, I silently chant as Alexander takes his sweet time responding.

"Consider us the Lost Moon U welcome wagon," he finally offers in a silky baritone that sends a pleasant shiver up my spine.

"I don't think so," Ford shoots back. "How did you know we were here? This is supposed to be a top-secret safe house."

"We guessed," Alexander replies. "Catherine works in the president's office. When she heard that Coralie was stopping to welcome two new recruits on her way to Montreal for a conference, we figured this was where she was headed. It's where we were held before we started at Lost Moon two years ago."

Catherine emits a soft squeak-grunt.

Alexander glances down at her before turning back to us. "Catherine wants to know if it's cool for her to shift back. She thinks she explains things better than I do."

"You're doing a fine job," I say, preferring his bluntness to Catherine's smooth charm. "We don't want to tire her out by shifting again too soon. So why come meet us? What do you want?"

"We wanted to check you out," he says. "See if you're ally material or another pair of f*****g dickhead wolves." His gaze lands more fully on me. "I'm glad we did. Jury's still out on him, but you're Loser Dorm material for sure, aren't you? I've never smelled anything like you. There's a hint of wolf there, but something...smoky underneath I can't place."

"As much as we'd love to keep chatting and sniffing," Ford says, cutting in. "We have to get back to the safe house. Fast. Before someone else realizes we're no longer on signal-blocking ground."

I look up at him, frowning for a beat before his point lands with the weight of an avalanche.

The tracking device. In the shock of coming face-to-face with my dead mother, I forgot all about it.

As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. I have to go back to the safe house and play nice with the people protecting me, even if it's just long enough to get this Hammer-summoning beacon ripped out of my arm. If my father picks up on it, he'll no longer assume those two bodies they found in the motel belonged to Ford and me, and we'll be in more trouble than ever. If I'm spotted this close to Lost Moon, Hammer will realize exactly where I've come for help.

And to whom if he knows my mother is the head of the university. I don't care what happens to Coralie, but I don't want to send the university to war with my pack. That will only lead to more innocent people being killed.

"All right, but come find us once you're inside," Alexander says, bending to scoop hedgehog Catherine into his hands. "We'll be behind the museum a half hour before the welcome mixer tonight. By then, you should have a better idea what we're talking about, anyway."

Ford takes my arm, drawing me back the way we came, but keeping his focus on Alexander as long as he's still in pouncing distance. He clearly doesn't trust these potential "allies," a fact that makes me wonder if my suspicious nature is rubbing off on him. "Maybe. We're not making any promises until we get a read on things ourselves."

Alexander nods. "All right. But if you love your sister as much as I love mine, I think you'll want to hear what we have to say."Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

"She's not my sister," Ford snaps with a territorial energy that's all wrong for our cover story. He clears his throat and swiftly adds, "We're old friends and we've done a fine job of looking out for each other so far."

"Whatever you say, Big Guy," Alexander says, before adding with a soft laugh. "The big guy part was Catherine. She's trying to flatter you, but she's right. We could use more big guys on our side. And you could use our expertise and knowledge of all things Lost Moon. You only have two weeks to get your shit together before the Blood Trials and the Alpha-holes are doing their best to make sure no more Variants get in." He nods my way. "She'll have a target on her back the second she comes through the front gate." Ford backs away faster. "So, you say."

"So, I know." Alexander raises his voice as we turn to run back up the mountain. "Don't tell the wolves what you are, Blondie. They'll use it against you. Keep them guessing as long as you can."

I glance Ford's way, but he doesn't slow to chat about what we've just learned. He runs faster, and I do my best to keep up, hoping I haven't already screwed up our fresh start beyond repair. But what are the chances my father will notice my tracking signal was active again for all of fifteen minutes?

Decent, the voice of doom whispers in my head. You ought to know by now-he's always watching.

But not even my father can have eyes everywhere all the time, and it's four in the morning West Coast time. He and most of his security staff will still be asleep.

I cling to the thought as we climb back up onto the porch to find an unamused Natalie waiting in the doorway, shooting "I'm very disappointed" energy our way with the full force of her eyeballs. The only good news is that mummy dearest is nowhere to be found.