The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“I thought I’d have a lot of children. This apartment made sense if one of them mated young, and needed a place of their own while still being close. That’s how I think of you two. I want you to be close by for safety while still having a place you call your own.”

She sat on the bed, looking out the window. “I accept, Leo. It’s very generous of you.”

“It’s one less thing you have to worry about because you have too much on your plate right now.”

“I need to get my stuff out of my old apartment,” she said.

I’d sent a mental summons to my Pack when she accepted the apartment, and they knocked on the door before coming in. “We need to talk about security,” I said. “It’s too dangerous for either of you to be out alone. I’ll be around whenever I can be to watch over both of you, but your Pack will be helping as well. Anita will be the primary bodyguard for Vicki, with Mike as your driver and roving security. Brent will be your primary bodyguard.”

“Not you?”

“It will raise fewer questions if you tell people I’m your Uncle Leo since that is what Vicki calls me. I’ll watch over you both. If things go south, Anita and Brent will get the two of you to safety while Mike and I deal with the threat. All three of them are legally armed and trained for this.”

She looked at Brent, who I knew was VERY happy with this assignment. “If you’re my uncle, what is Brent?”

He gave Liv a nervous smile. “The best cover for me would be if I was your boyfriend,” he said. Liv’s mouth opened, so he quickly continued. “Nothing has to happen, but if we sit together, hold hands, that kind of thing. No one will think anything except how lucky a guy I am to be with a woman like you.”

Smooth. The boy was smooth as frozen custard. “Don’t think of taking advantage of this,” Liv said. “Nobody knows I have a boyfriend. Hell, I haven’t dated in years.”

“We met in class, and we’re taking it slow because of your daughter,” he replied. “I’ll stay by your side during the funeral, or anywhere else we go.”

“I need Pack members close because the people involved are wolves, and the two of you can’t scent the danger like we can. Since we’re all Pack, we can communicate silently between us.”

“I hear Unky Leo in my head, but he can’t hear me,” Vicki complained.

“Anita will be helping you with that,” I said. “She will start training Vicki on using her wolf senses and preparing for her shift.”

“I’ve helped teach the Pack youth for years, she’s in good hands.”

I looked at my watch. “We should be going, the deputies said they would be ready in twenty minutes,” I said. “Anita can watch Vicki back in the main house if that’s all right. We’ll all take my truck, and Brent will drive you back in your Lexus. I’ve got moving boxes and tape out in the garage; let’s grab all the things you and Vicki need, and we’ll take care of the rest later.”

We arrived at her apartment on time, and the Deputies handed over the keys. It took thirty minutes for us to go through their rooms, filling boxes that Brent and Mike took out to the vehicles. Liv couldn’t handle going into her Grandmother’s bedroom, so she had me pack everything for her to sort through later.

We got home just before dinnertime; I could smell the lasagna and garlic bread as soon as I opened the door. With the extra help, we got all the boxes unloaded and up to their new apartment in five minutes.

My in-laws arrived as we were sitting down to eat. They didn’t look happy. They sat at the open chairs at the large table, and I could tell by his eyes I wouldn’t like the news. “My brother,” I asked.

“Yes.” Larry took a gulp of the red wine in his glass. “The Stillwater Pack has legal and illegal sources of income. The pair you killed had mostly done burglaries and insurance scams. The Alpha was apologetic; he had no idea the target was a werewolf, much less one under your protection. He’s working to limit the damage, and he’s furious about them killing your grandmother. It’s bad business, and it is bringing too much law enforcement attention to his people.”

“He’s furious,” Liv said coldly.

“Yes. The kidnappers should have waited until you were both at home alone, or grabbed you when you were driving her. The contract was to deliver the mother and the child to a location in Hudson, Wisconsin. John Petersen, your younger brother, was the one who ordered the kidnapping. He paid them ten thousand dollars in advance, another twenty was due on delivery.”Exclusive content from NôvelDrama.Org.

“Is it enough to take to the Council,” Mike asked.

“Yes, but I don’t know what that would accomplish. Vicki is a child, a werewolf that hasn’t shifted and was not a member of a registered Pack at the time. The Council won’t take action on what happens to lone wolves out there. When they hear about the Alpha Mantle, their first reaction will be to take her into custody for her own good.”

My wolf didn’t like that a bit. “That won’t be happening.”

“I agree. You’re going to have to resolve this with a challenge against the Marengo Lake Alphas at the Alpha Summit in February. That gives you six weeks to get your sorry butt in shape.”

“It will be enough,” I said. “Nobody is going to hurt them again.”

“We won’t let them anywhere near them,” Brent agreed.

Not much else was said about it the rest of the meal; Vicki talked excitedly about her new bedroom, and soon she left with her mother to start unpacking. When the door closed, I looked over at Larry. “Does Alpha Doug know?”

“We talked to him for almost an hour on the drive back,” Larry said. “He can’t keep twelve of us here long-term, but he’ll do what he can. You need to prioritize expanding your Pack.”

“I have an idea there,” I said. “We need to get through the funeral first. That’s the next likely time for John to try to get them again.”

“If he and Brenda wanted them alive so they could watch, that’s out the window now. They already killed once, they’ll target Vicki and get the hell out.”

“Brent, see if you can find a bulletproof vest small enough to fit a child her size,” I said. “Order one in Liv’s size for her, and one for each Pack member. Expedite shipping, here’s a card to use.” I handed him a charge card out of my wallet.

Donna looked at the others at the table. “Anything else we can do?”

“I can’t use the human authorities on this one,” I said. “The Stillwater Alpha would have kept himself clean, and there won’t be a cash trail.” I stood up. “I need to get some sleep. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

Ch. 17

I woke to the sound of a woman screaming.

Jumping out of my bed, I ran into the hallway in my boxers towards the woman, who was yelling at someone to ‘GET OUT! DON’T LOOK VICKI!”

I knew it was Liv, and she sounded pissed. I opened the door leading up to her room, just in time for a naked and completely chastised Brent to race past me. “FREEZE,” I commanded, and he almost fell over with how fast he stopped. “What the hell happened?”

“It’s a misunderstanding, Alpha,” he said as he pulled on the shorts that Connie tossed to him from the bin of spare clothes by the garage door. “Liv opened the door and freaked when she saw me there.”

“In wolf form,” I surmised.

“My wolf must have taken over last night and wanted to be closer to her. I woke up when the door opened, and she screamed. I shifted to explain things to her, and she REALLY screamed, then the told me to get out because Vicki was right behind her.”

“And you thought you’d shift into human form with Brent Junior flopping around and explain why you weren’t creepy.” I just rolled my eyes. If it was only werewolves in the house, it wouldn’t be a big deal, because we weren’t shy about our bodies. We didn’t shift with clothes on, and it was normal. I didn’t have to guess at what a human female’s reaction would be to a six-foot-two, two-hundred-pound naked guy outside her door. “Go get dressed, I’ll take care of this.”

“Alpha, you might want to get dressed before you go talk to Liv about naked people in her stairway,” Connie said.

“Yeah, that might help.” I ran back to my bedroom and quickly dressed, returning to the stairway as Brent came up from the basement. He was fully clothed this time. “Stay here, I don’t know if she’s grabbed a chef’s knife or something.”

He looked stressed. “Let Liv know I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten her.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “There’s a fine line between romance and stalking, Brent, and you just learned which side you were on. Have some breakfast, it’s going to be a busy day.” I left him in the kitchen and went up the stairs to above the garage. I knocked on the door. “Liv, it’s Leo. Can I come in?” I heard her coming, then she opened the door and looked around. “It’s just me. Brent is downstairs and knows not to come up here again unless he is invited.”

“I freaked because Vicki was right behind me. We were coming down for breakfast, I don’t have any food up here.” She let me in, and Vicki ran over to me. I picked her up and set her on my hip as we walked into the small living room. I tossed Sharkbait into the bean bag chair, making her laugh as I sat down next to Liv on the couch. “What’s his deal?”

“What do you mean?”

“Brent. We met yesterday, and this morning he’s camped out at my doorstep?”

“He’s young and new to my Pack, so he’s eager to do well in his assignment. His assignment is to protect you; he and his wolf both know that. His wolf came up here last night, probably because he didn’t think he could protect you from the basement. He wouldn’t hurt you.”

“Unless I trip over his furry butt and fall down the stairs, or he pokes me in the eye with that thing,” she said with a grin. I saw a quick flash of emotions that told me she didn’t mind what she saw at all.

“If you want, I can command his wolf to stay away.”

“No, you don’t have to do that. I’m living among werewolves, and I need to get used to seeing them around. I didn’t recognize Brent, I’d never seen that wolf.”

“That we can fix.” I sent a mental call out to my Pack, asking them to come upstairs in wolf form, carrying their clothes with them.

“Unky Leo, can we ride the snowmobile today?”

“Look out the window, Vicki. What do you see and hear?”

“Sunshine. No clouds. Trees moving, it’s windy.”