Rebecca Royce - Alpha Wolf

Michael looked at Scarlett. In her tiny arms, she held his three-year-old niece.

Murmuring reassuring words to the child, she looked down at him and smiled.

“Thank you for getting here so fast.”

“I’m not sure you needed me .” He called the shift onto himself, returning to his human form. “That was a great move with the chair.”

“I had to make do.”

She seemed calm as she held the still crying Virginia, but he could tell from her eyes as they darted back and forth that she hung on to her demeanor by a tiny thread.

“Let me take her.” Michael held out his arms and let Scarlett hand him Virginia. The child was a perfect combination of Tristan and Ashlee with her red hair and Tristan’s former brown eye color. But then again he thought all of the babies born to the pack were perfect. The child sniffled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Uncle Mike’s got you.”

With his free hand, he pulled Scarlett up against his side. “I bet you never thought you could fight back.”

“When they came at the children, all of a sudden I was capable.”

He nodded. “Even the Beta wolves step up when the little ones are threatened. You did well. You should be proud of yourself.”

“When I stop shaking, I will be. Thanks.”

For his part, he might never sleep again thinking of how close he had come to losing her to one of his father’s creations, but he wasn’t going to mention that to her.

Across the room, Faith shifted back, having finished off the last wolf. Jumping from foot to foot, she hollered with delight. “I got it. Did you see that, Theo? Did you see how quickly I took it down?”

Theo raised an eye at Faith. “I saw it, dearest. Now if you could have managed to do it without giving me three different kinds of heart attacks, I might have preferred it.”

Faith laughed, which made Michael snicker. “Sheesh, you’re getting old.”

Doing a quick headcount, he was relieved to see everyone was there. Everyone but one, actually. Walking toward Ashlee, he handed her Virginia as he smiled at Elizabeth and Braden. They were shaken up but, he hated to admit it, the children had actually gotten used to the attacks.

With each incident, they bounced back faster to their usual jovial moods.

His wolf spoke to him. They’ll get their wolves early. Already, their canines want to protect them.

Michael nodded. He’d never been entirely sure how the magic that gave them the wolves worked and if he asked his wolf, he got strange answers he couldn’t follow.

Maybe that was part of it, maybe he’d never know. Still, he needed to ask one more question on the subject.

When Todd died, did his wolf go with him? Or did he go to someone else?

His wolf snorted and lay down to go to sleep. Apparently, he wasn’t going to be informed on that subject today.

Kissing the top of Scarlett’s head, he knew he was a very lucky man. He still had to tell her what had happened and he couldn’t promise her it would never happen again.

“Todd died in the woods helping us get Tristan back.”

She gasped as her eyes filled up with tears. “Not when he’d finally learned what being a wolf shifter truly meant.”

“It’s awful.” There weren’t words for his level of sadness. Still, there was something he had to do. “Come with me.” Squeezing her hand, he pulled her from the room. Tristan was going to want to have a meeting to go over what happened and the conversation he needed to have with Scarlett would determine if he went.

Finally, finding a quiet spot, he stopped walking and leaned down to kiss her. She was soft and smelled so much like home to him some of the tension he’d been holding lessened in his shoulders. He couldn’t relax completely, not yet. Not until they talked.

“What just happened happens a lot these days. Dad has raged a full-on assault against us. Probably because we took the fight to him a few too many times.”

She nodded, her eyebrows slanting downwards as if she was confused by what he spoke about.

He continued. “This will be our life here until it isn’t anymore.” He swallowed.

“Unless you want to leave. For you I will go anywhere. Run for the rest of my life to keep you safe, if that’s what you need.”

Scarlett’s eyes widened. “Michael, what I need is you and what you need is here.

There’s no pack here without you. This is my home too. We’ll defend it together.

Kendrick’s not going to win. Not now. He can’t.”

Leaning down he kissed her again. “I may need you to remind me of that a few thousand times.”

She laughed. “No you won’t.”

For a Beta wolf, she sounded decidedly sure of herself, which he loved. In fact, as he thought of it, he loved everything about his mate, Scarlett Kane. He might be the Alpha in their relationship, but he was happy to let her be in charge of their lives.

Forever.

In this life and the next one.

The End

As a teenager, Rebecca would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework. She hopes that these days, her parents think it was worth it.

She is the mother of three adorable boys, and she is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They live in northern New Jersey and try not to freeze too badly during the winter months.

A hardcore fan of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal, Rebecca tries to use all of these elements in her writing. She’s been told she’s a little bloodthirsty so she hopes that when you read her work you’ll enjoy the action-packed ride that always ends in romance. In her world, anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect it probably will.