Annie Nicholas: The Alpha

Hope sprung in Spice’s heart. Her attraction to him was out of character. She usually loved them tough and bad. Maybe he could be the new beginning she’d come home for.

Tyler followed Eric into the kitchen with Robert and Sam in tow. “What’s wrong with you, Eric? You almost lost control of your beast.”

Running his fingers through his hair, he tried to hide the blush heating his cheeks. Spice is home . He’d lost hope of ever seeing her again. The desire in her eyes when he loosened her jacket and the smell from her pussy set his beast-side on a craze.

I, Eric Turner, the geek next door, turned her on . The sexiest, most confident girl he’d ever met, his high school obsession.

“Sorry, she took me off guard.” He looked at Robert, his calm, overly serious second in command of the pack, who shook his head at him. “Damn, I almost changed in front of her. What a disaster.” Eric’s mouth went dry.

Sam handed him a glass of water. If anyone understood losing control of his beast, it was him. Ever since the Omegas conquered the Ayumu werewolf pack, their females kept knocking on the door. The bodybuilder had trouble refusing them, and his beast liked the attention. He didn’t completely transform mid-intercourse anymore but they heard his howls.

Eric needed to stop thinking of the pack as Ayumu. They were all Omegas now and he their alpha. The sip of water he tried to swallow went down the wrong way and blocked his windpipe. Nothing came out, not a cough and not a breath.

“Eric?” Sam asked.

Katrina scurried into the kitchen. “I make tea. You want some?” She stopped. “What is wrong with Eric?”

He coughed out a manly squeak and pointed to his throat.

Redheaded Tyler pushed pass Sam and pounded on his back.

Not a moment later Spice sashayed into the room. Even in his distress, her presence drew him like a magnet to iron.

A solid smack on his back set off a cough. He expelled the water from his throat, and it landed on her generous, rounded chest.

She stood with arms out at her sides, and her mouth hung open.

“Smooth, real smooth.” Sam patted him on the shoulder and exited the room. The others followed in silence but a few seconds later, Eric heard their restrained laughter from the direction of the living room.

He grabbed a dish towel from the rack by the sink and raced over to her. “I’m sorry.” Without a coherent thought in his scrambled brain, he dried her tight, white sweater.

Tension in her shoulders as he bent over to stroke around her curves clued him in that he’d done another boneheaded maneuver.

Her intense stare weakened his knees as he glanced up with her breast cupped in his hand. The urge to fondle it sent a shiver up his spine, but the ingrained gentleman inside of him beat down the beast, who wanted more than just a touch.

He jerked his hand away. “Sorry.” Alphas shouldn’t apologize that much. Daedalus would kick his ass if he heard him.

Eric straightened and swept the annoying hair out of his eyes. Why did he decide to let it grow? Who cared if all those guys in romance books had long freaking hair?

“Don’t be.” She gave him a small, seductive smile.

He kept waiting for this wet dream to end.

“Who’s Daedalus?”

Nothing more deflating to a man’s ego than to ask about the resident stud vampire. “Sugar’s boyfriend.”

“The one she has to ask permission to cut her hair. Then you’re not together?”

“No.” That question showed how much she paid attention to them as kids. He and Sugar had been best friends since sixth grade. Dating her would be like dating a sister. Even though they were identical twins, Spice got placed in a different category from Sugar. She topped the list for the five-finger-knuckle-shuffle when he needed it.

She leaned closer and ran her finger down his chest. It left a trail of heat along his skin. “What’s happened since I left two years ago?” Gesturing around the room, she raised an eyebrow. “New house, new boyfriend, new friends, and…” She stepped to press against his body and gazed at him with green sparkling eyes. “New Eric.”

Where did he start? We hired a Nosferatu vampire to teach us how to fight about a year ago, who by the way, is banging your twin sister. Oh yeah, all of us are werewolves, except Sugar, and I defeated the local alpha in a fight to the death so it made me top wolf in Chicago.

“Nothing much. We pay rent to Sugar and live here.” The old Eric she referred to still resided inside of him. He still liked Star Trek , ‘live long and prosper,’ worked from home for a computer software company, and read as much as Sugar.

His heart twisted a little. She didn’t like him ; she liked the changes the beast made inside of him. After the werewolf attack, his eyesight returned to twenty-twenty. He got stronger and faster, which meant leaner and more muscular.

She moved back and placed her hands on her hips. “Six of you live under this roof?”

“Seven. Daedalus lives here too.”

Shaking her head, she grinned and looked at the floor. “Unbelievable.”

He heard the front door open and close. “I’ve got Thai.” Sugar’s voice, higher and more musical than Spice’s, called out.

“What’s going on?” Daedalus must have given her a ride from work. “Why are you guys so serious?”

The expression on Sugar’s face made Spice’s long, smelly bus trip from Las Vegas worth the effort. Her little sister squealed, shoved the bags of food at her male companion, and hugged her. “Spice, I can’t believe you’re here.” Sugar’s reaction melted a little of the ice she’d formed around her heart.

A tall, bald man approached them, juggling the extra bags of Thai in his arms. Upon a closer look, she noticed the slight up-turn of his ears into points, the pale skin, and when he smiled at her, the sharp fangs.

Dread clenched her heart. Without having to ask, she knew who this must be. Daedalus. Her innocent, stupid twin shacked up with a vampire.

Sugar released her. “Daedalus, this is my sister.”

He nodded in her direction. “I’ve heard so much about you. This is a pleasant surprise.”

“I wish I could say the same.”

“Spice!” Sugar’s eyebrows rose as her eyes went wide.

“What the hell do you expect from me? You hooked up with a bloodsucker?” She’d dealt with her fair share of these creeps. They might be legal citizens but it didn’t keep them from being monsters.

Sugar stepped between them, then started shoving her down a hallway. Once out of sight, she grabbed Spice’s arm and led her into the master bedroom.

As the door closed she heard Daedalus comment, “I want to be the red pieces.” She insulted him in public and he worried about a board game?

“Spice Clara Monroe, you’d better behave in my house. Do you understand me?” Her little sister stood with one hand on her hip and shook her finger an inch from her face. “I love that vampire. He’s the best thing to ever happen to me.”

All she could do was stare at her. She’d grown into a strong woman. Even though they shared the same birthday, Sugar always seemed much younger than her. Frail and sweet, so easily hurt and so easy to love. “You’ve grown a back bone.”

“I’ve had to, you left me.” Her voice hiccupped on the last word. “Where have you been?”

Spice glanced at her shoes. “Around.” The worn sneakers would be terrible in the Chicago winter. “I need a place to crash.” She shrugged. “The house seems full though. Could I crash on the couch until morning?” After that, she didn’t have a clue what to do. She’d sold her backpack and clothes at a thrift shop to get the cash for the bus here.