The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“Your own Beta never would have defeated you if your wolf hadn’t given up,” Larry said. “An Alpha wolf with the Mantle doesn’t lose to a Beta unless he wants to.”

“You know what happened, Dad.”

“I do. It was a mistake, but it’s done now. The question is what to do with this girl. Since you didn’t call the father and you’re asking our advice, I assume you want to help her.”

“It’s like I NEED to help her, Larry. Our wolves, they’ve bonded. Four years of fading away, and suddenly my wolf perks up and claims her as his own pup.”

“You’re shitting me,” he said.

“Nope. At first, I didn’t know what to think. When I looked into her eyes, her wolf submitted to mine. ‘MY PUP, MY PACK,’ is what he told me. So, yeah, I need to help her.”

Donna was shaking her head. “That’s crazy. I’ve heard of that happening with a mate, but never with a pup.”

“She’s not a second-chance mate; it’s not that at all. My wolf sees her as his daughter.” My human side did too; she needed protection, and I wanted to be there to protect her.

“What about the human mother,” Donna asked. “Is it possible she is your mate?”

“She’s less than half my age, Mom, and I’ve never seen her that way. My wolf is not interested in her, and I’m not interested in anyone else.”

She put her hand over mine. “This is an answer to my prayers, then. Not the answer I thought I would get, but an answer none the less.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “I’ve been praying for a woman to come along and rescue you and your wolf from the trail to death you’ve been walking. This girl will be your salvation, Leo. Love and protect her with all that you are, and who knows? Maybe someday you’ll find a woman to run at your side again.”

“No woman wants a fifty-one-year-old former Alpha who’s been banished,” I said.

“I see an Alpha and his heir, ready to make their own Pack a reality,” she responded. “Keep her hidden; if a Pack wolf smells her and word gets out, either she’s killed, or someone force mates her to bring the Alpha mantle into a Pack that doesn’t have one.”From NôvelDrama.Org.

“Option three,” I said as I shook my head.

Larry looked me in the eyes, his wolf staring mine down. “There is an Option Four, where she becomes Alpha of the Pack she chooses. If you don’t want to be Alpha to a Pack, prepare her to run her own. Train her to be a good Alpha. It’s her birthright, Leo.”

“What about her family? Her human family?”

“I can’t tell you what to do there, son. You know the rules. You also know the risks of a werewolf child among humans. They are helpless and clueless against the danger she is in, just because she exists. If you can’t remove them from the situation, you’ll have to convince them to let you help.”

I took a sip of my coffee as I thought, the temperature now low enough to drink. “I’ll just have to find a way to convince Liv.”

Donna had only taken a few pieces out, and she returned the rest to me. “Your daughter should inherit Catherine’s jewelry,” she said. “We have to leave, but we’re a phone call away, Leo.” We stood up, and she kissed my cheek. “You and your wolf are going to live and love again. I can feel it.”

I watched them walk out and sat back to think. I had to be close, and for that, Liv and Natalie needed to trust me.

Trust isn’t easy to establish or maintain.

I was going to have to show them.

I arrived at Liv’s house at eleven in the morning on Friday. “Unky LEO!” Vicki raced at the door, reaching up for me while I was still walking up the sidewalk.

“Where is your jacket, young lady?”

“In dere,” she said. “Sharks! Unky Leo, we saw sharks!”

I stepped inside the door, where Liv was waiting with Vicki’s jacket. “She didn’t want to wait, so we went to SeaLife yesterday when they opened. I had to drag her out of there,” she said with a laugh.

“HUUUUUGE sharks, Unky Leo! Ovah my head!”

“Wow, it sounds like you had fun,” I said. “Are you ready to have fun today?” She nodded as Mom zipped her jacket up. I looked around and didn’t see Natalie. “Is your grandmother coming?”

“No, she’s not up for it.”

I led them out to my truck, where I’d purchased a booster seat for Vicki that I installed in back. “Snowmobiling is fun, but you have to have the right equipment or you freeze. We’re going to get lunch, and then we’ll go shopping.”

“You don’t have to buy stuff, Leo,” Liv started to say.

“I’m hoping this will be something you want to do again, and I don’t compromise on safety. Now, do you two like chicken strips?” They did, so we drove to Raising Cane’s in Apple Valley and ate lunch before heading to Lakeville and the power sports dealers. It took almost an hour to get both of them set up with snowmobile gear and helmets before we were heading back east to my home.

The garage had radiant floor heat installed, so as soon as I parked, we were able to get out and start dressing in their equipment. I’d purchased matching suits for them, in black and hot pink with the Polaris logo. Snowmobile pants when on first, and I helped them adjust the straps over their shoulders as they extended well above their waists. I held open Vicki’s new boots as she put her feet into them, then zipped them up and pulled the pant legs down over them. The jackets went on next, the racing neck tight, then the helmets. It took a while to get everything adjusted, but once we had it, they would go on a lot faster. Last on was the gloves. I took a photo with my phone of them in their matching Polaris-logo suits; they looked amazing. I quickly pulled my gear on, then opened the garage door in front of the snowmobile.

Vicki was bouncing as I brought the big sled out and started it up. It was a snug fit on the long seat, with Liv behind me, and Vicki in front, but I didn’t mind a bit. Since Vicki had never been on one, I started slow. The little girl wasn’t impressed as we puttered around my land. “Faster, Unky Leo! Faster!”

“We have to go to the trails then,” I said. “I want you to hang on, and lean the way I do,” I said as I went out to the road. We had to drive along the ditch until I could join the trails that cut across miles of open farmland. Going a little faster, they liked that and the motion of going up and down the slope as I avoided power poles and drove over driveways. We caught up to a trail crossing a mile down the road. Turning on to it, there was almost a mile of flat farmland ahead of us with a fifty-mile-an-hour speed limit. “Hang on,” I said. I opened up the throttle, and both girls started to scream as the engine accelerated us down the trail.

I immediately slowed to a stop, thinking I’d scared them. I was wrong. Vicki turned in the seat and looked at me with her gloves on her hips. “No! We go FASTER, Unky Leo!”

I turned around to check with Liv, who was laughing. “You heard the girl,” she said. “We feel the need…”

“THE NEED FOR SPEED,” I finished as I turned back and gunned the throttle. I don’t know who had more fun on the trails, but it was the most fun I’d had in years. We stayed out for another hour before the sunset, and by the time we got home, it was completely dark. I’d scheduled a pizza delivery for six, and we pulled into the garage at five-forty.

Vicki gave me a big thank-you hug after I helped her get her helmet off. “Go again? I want to go AGAIN!”

“Another day,” I said. “I’m hungry, and dinner will be here soon. Put your helmet on that shelf, then I’ll help you with the rest of your stuff.” Liv helped her with the helmet, then we hung up the suits and put the boots and gloves on a dryer. “You can take the gear home if you want,” I said.

“I think she’ll want to ride again,” Liv said as Vicki agreed. “You have a beautiful home,” Liv said as she looked around the big kitchen and the open main floor plan.

“Catherine and I built it expecting we’d have a big family, but it didn’t happen that way,” I said. “It’s more than I need, but I can’t sell it because she was so much a part of building it. It feels like a museum sometimes.”

She looked at a photo on the wall of Catherine and me on our wedding day. “She was beautiful,” Liv said.

“Inside and out, the best person I’ve ever known. We had twenty-five great years together,” I said. I heard the driveway motion alarm and looked out to see the driver was here. Liv and Vicki set the table while I took care of the driver, then we had our pizzas. Liv and I both knew that after dinner, we were going to talk, and both of us were afraid of what might be said. You could tell how nervous we were by how we picked at our food while Vicki inhaled piece after piece.

I’d promised to explain everything today, and so far, I hadn’t told them a thing. I was praying that Liv would listen long enough for me to explain everything. I asked her to help Vicki wash up, then meet me in the living room. I was hoping that being away from knives would give me the advantage.

I went back to my bedroom and stripped, pulling on a terrycloth robe. When I came out, the two were sitting on the couch. Liv’s eyes got wide when she saw what I was wearing, and I know she was wondering if she’d made a mistake in coming here. I sat down in a chair across from them. “Vicki, have you been talking with that voice in your head,” I asked.

“Uh-huh. She likes you,” she said.

“What does she tell you about me?”

“Twust you. Unky is like us, he will help.”

Liv had wide eyes and looked ready to snatch her up and run all the way home. “Just relax, Liv. I’m not going to hurt either of you, but I told you I would explain things to you. The explanation isn’t something I can just do with words. I have to show you.”

“Show me what? Why are you in a bathrobe?”

“You might be frightened, you might even scream, but know that nothing that happens here tonight will hurt you. I promise you that you are both safe here in my home.” I stood up, pulling my arms out of the bathrobe before getting on my hands and knees in front of the couch. Liv’s mouth was open as I let the robe hung down, still covering me, then I shifted.