Alpha Men of the Otherworld

by L. M. Mountford

  Alpha Men of the Otherworld

  By L.M. Mountford

  Copyright © 2021 by The Lord of Lust Publications

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  L.M. Mountford

  United Kingdom

  Alpha Men of the Otherworld

  Published 2021

  By The Lord of Lust Publications

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Edited by readabit: Copy Editing and Proofreading Services Est 2018

  L.M. Mountford – 2nd Ed.

  ISBN: 978-1-913945-61-9

  Contents

  About the Author

  Bibliography

  Title

  Alpha Heat

  Alpha Heat – Chapter One

  Alpha Heat – Chapter Two

  Alpha Heat – Chapter Three

  Alpha Heat – Chapter Four

  Alpha Heat – Chapter Five

  Alpha Heat – Chapter Six

  Alpha Heat – Chapter Seven

  Alpha Heat – Chapter Eight

  Blood Lust

  Blood Lust – Chapter One

  Blood Lust – Chapter Two

  Blood Lust – Chapter Three

  Blood Lust – Chapter Four

  Blood Lust – Chapter Five

  Also by the Author

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  A self-confessed Tiger fanatic, L.M. Mountford was born and raised in England, first in the town of Bridgewater, Somerset, before later moving to the city of Gloucester, where he currently resides. A fully qualified and experienced Scuba Diver, he has travelled across Europe and Africa diving wrecks and seeing the wonders of the world.

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  Danny Royce knew this was a bad idea. A terrible idea. The worst idea in a long sad history of bad ideas. He didn’t have any choice. He was desperate.

  He needed her help.

  And it meant going back there... Lupus Latr.

  A small quiet place built along the Avon to all the rest of the world, Lupus Latr, looked much like any other little village across the south of England. A collection of traditional old houses and shops lined a warren of weaving roads that all led to the central hub of the community, a thatch-roofed pub with a wartime memorial on the doorstep.

  Yet it had a secret. A secret the villagers had kept and protected since before the age of Druids. When the old gods had ruled the land, the spirits walked the earth, and man and beast were as one.

  Danny’s stomach started to loop when he saw the signs for the historic little hamlet, but he wasn’t sure if it was trepidation or anticipation. It was quite probably both.

  It had been eight years since he’d left- or rather since his mother had packed their bags and spirited them away in the dead of night. It felt like he’d been running ever since.

  But there came a time in everyone’s life when they had to face their demons, and as he pulled his old Rover into the village’s only car park, Danny knew his day had come.

  Overhead, the sky was melting away from shades of pink and orange to a deep magenta.

  On any other day, it would have been a beautiful night.

  Welcome home Danny, he mused, switching off the ignition and climbing out into evening air, fragrant with the scent of cut grass. Just the way he remembered. It was good to know it still smelt the same, if nothing else.

  There’d been a time he knew every street and building. His father’s family had been key members of the community since Roman times, after all. His blood was as much a part of Lupus Latr as the stones and mortar. When he was small, he’d played in the fields, fished in the rivers, and hunted in the woods. As he grew, he attended the local schools and made a name for himself on the rugby grounds. Then eight years ago, on the eve of his eleventh birthday, she had arrived in town, and everything changed.

  A point made clear by the commercialised front of his hometown.

  “Fucking McDonalds,” he pondered, passing by the building that, eight years before, had been a little greengrocer shop but now sported the infamous neon ‘M’. There was a Costa Coffee too, even a goddamn Dominos. The smell of the cooking meat made his stomach rumble, reminding him he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.

  He’d left London in such a rush, even skipping out on all his afternoon lectures. Danny had been desperate to put as much distance between himself and that girl as possible. Before the urge took him again.

  No, he needed to get this done.

  He could still feel it burning inside him. The heat. The awareness. The throbbing energy crackled through his skin, making it feel too tight for his body. The hunger. The raw, undeniable need.

  Dormant for the moment, but there all the same and growing stronger.

  Danny couldn’t understand it.

  It had begun about a month ago, the morning he started attending ICL. It had started off like an itch he couldn’t quite scratch, a tingle of sensation racing down his spine while he’d been moving through the halls to his first lecture. Then he’d heard footsteps behind him and glanced around just in time to see a girl running by. Suddenly his every sense was focused on her, and he couldn’t stop himself from giving her a long, slow once over.

  She was a cute little thing. Long raven hair that cascaded all the way down her back, half-rim glasses that framed her angular face and sat high on her nose, a small mouth with peach-coloured lips, and sparkling blue eyes. Dressed in a conservative button-up white blouse and slim-cut blue jeans that showed off long athletic legs he longed to feel wrapped around him, she was the walking embodiment of a smoking hot bookworm fantasy.

  He’d managed to drag his eyes away just in time, but she must have sensed him watching her because no sooner had he done so, her head had snapped around to fix on him.

  Her big blue eyes had narrowed suspiciously, but far from being intimidated, the challenging look had sent another tingle down his spine, stirring his beast.

  Then, just like that, she was gone, vanishing am
ongst the surrounding press of bodies as quickly as she had appeared, leaving just her heady scent in her wake. A scent clean and fresh, with hints of vanilla and cinnamon. He inhaled it greedily, his mouth watering.

  That had just been the beginning. As it turned out, not only was the girl- he soon learnt her name was Jackie Hunt- attending ICL, but she would also be attending all of his lectures. As she sat just two seats down from him, she was also just close enough for him to faintly catch her scent on each breath. It was close enough to make his heart race.

  And it had only gotten worse, the urges growing stronger and harder to control.

  He’d almost lost it that morning when she’d cornered him in a corridor, all fire and brimstone, demanding to know why he was constantly watching her. And it had been all he could do not to push her up against the lockers and silence her with a hungry kiss. He almost had when she’d stepped in close and started to prod him in his chest with her finger. The beast in him had taken over and closed the gap, his head dipping so they were almost nose to nose, lips just brushing-

  If she had stood her ground, he didn’t want to think what could have happened. Instead, she’d softened under him, rising on her tiptoes to meet him, lips parting for him.

  That momentary surrender, however, had broken the spell.

  He’d fled.

  No apologies, no hurried explanation, just turned on his heel and bolted as fast as his legs could carry him. Which was probably for the best, because her furious shouts had hounded him all through the halls.

  If Jackie had been anybody else, Danny might have hoped she’d forget about it. It was Friday after all, and that meant she’d have a whole two days of free time to get it out of her mind, but Danny doubted Jackie Hunt had ever let herself forget about anything. She was possibly the most stubborn girl he had ever known, and he wouldn’t put it past her to hack into the school database to steal his address and come round to his lodgings, just to kick his ass.

  And if that happened, he didn’t want to think about what might happen.

  He needed to sort this out.

  He needed help.

  He needed to see...her.

  Erza. The Werewolf Princess. His Alpha.

  There’d be plenty of time to grab a burger on the way home if he survived that long.

  Wolf’s Run was not a trail you would find in any A to Z or guidebook, but every inhabitant of Lupus Latr knew it like the back of their hand.

  It was a short walk up from the village centre, along the high street, then a sudden sharp turn at the Butcher’s, up an alley, and along a cobbled path into the woods. That was the marker and the boundary, where the old world and the new meet went separate ways. Where the villagers could cast off their skins and embrace their true nature and run.

  Even for all the danger he knew would lie ahead, Danny walked easily through the trees. It felt good to be back on the run, to walk in the footsteps of his ancestors and breathe in the free air. The city was too cramped, too confined. There was nowhere to move, and even the air was a poisonous smog. The confinement had made his skin crawl. It had hung around his neck and bound his limbs like iron fetters. Here he was, free in the way nature had intended. The beast in him longed to be let loose, to be allowed to run and hunt as he had when he was a pup. To reclaim his kingdom.

  However, he forced it down, knowing he needed to stay focused on the task at hand.

  That wasn’t why he was here. Those days were long gone, forgotten, given over to history and darkness, along with all that was left of his kin.

  Yet even as he walked along the ancient path beneath a canopy of oaks, chestnuts, and beeches, his eyes scanned the space between every trunk for the slightest hint of movement.

  They were out there. Danny could feel them watching, waiting, preparing to launch their attack.

  It didn’t matter that his father had once been their Alpha. After he and his mother had fled, they would have been cast out, exiled. Where once he had been a prince, he was now an invader, and he was trespassing on sacred territory. He would have only one warning, one chance to plead his case for safe passage before they would attack.

  It was their way. The wolf’s way.

  Snap.

  Danny froze, his ears pricked, trying to pinpoint its direction, suddenly very aware of how dark it was getting. Night was creeping in as the hour drew on, and he still had two miles to go to Lacum Hall, the seat of Lupus Latr’s ruling family.

  His father’s ancestral house.

  His heart raced. He waited, silently counting down from twenty, fighting to keep calm. If he made a sudden move, or anything that could be considered aggressive, the attack would be immediate, and for the kill. There was no room for softness in this world nor mercy, only submission or death.

  Only when he was certain no attack was- for the moment anyway- forthcoming, did he slowly raise his hands into the air and turn a full circle. “I’m alone, I didn’t come to fight.”

  His voice rang out through the trees, but only silence answered.

  “Hello,” he pressed. “I know you’re out there. This doesn’t have to get unpleasant, all I want is to talk.” Still, there was no answer.

  Danny slowly lowered his hands. They were out there. He could feel them watching him. Just out there in the dark, beyond the range of his human eyes. His beast could sense them lurking in the dark, waiting, watching, hunting.

  With his guard still up, he turned and continued on down the trail. It was a dangerous move. Nothing was a more inviting target than fleeing prey, and his instincts were roaring at him to turn back. To stand his ground, force them out, and show he could not be herded like sheep but that was the beast talking. The Alpha’s way. He had turned from that path long ago.

  So he walked on slowly and carefully, ever aware of the occasional rustle of leaves and distant twigs snapping underfoot as he was followed along the trail. He walked until the trees opened up and he emerged out into a clearing. On the opposite side, just past the tops of the trees, Lacum Hall stood visual over all its domain, high atop the summit of Monkshood hill, bathed in the light of the autumn moon just as he’d remembered it from all those years ago.

  Beneath it, the encircling wall of yew and oaks was a patchwork of shadows. Within it, darkness moved against darkness as a beast, much like his own, stepped out into the clearing.

  Danny watched it move into the light. At a first glance, a casual observer could almost be forgiven for thinking it was a man. Almost. Against the dark, it walked upright into the illuminated space, but it was larger than any man had a right to be. Impossibly large. As it stepped out of the shadows, it was impossible to miss its unnaturally long limbs tipped by razor-sharp talons, its broad body covered in thick fur, its canine head framed by pointed ears, and powerful jaws large enough to crush a man’s head in one bite.

  And for all that, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Jake, is that you? Little Jake Evans, well, didn’t you get big.”

  The werewolf’s only answer was a deep growl that rumbled up from its cavernous torso like thunder as it stalked out of the shadows, advancing on him.

  Danny held his ground, then heard movement behind him, the sounds of branches cracking and something big stepping out in the open. Careful not to make any quick movements, he slowly glanced back. “Ah, Bill, was that you back there then? Well, can’t say I’m surprised. You two always did stick together. Have you tried licking your own balls yet, or do you just do each other’s?”

  The second werewolf was the spitting image of the first, but where Jake’s pelt was a dark chocolate colour, Bill’s was a lighter, tawny colour shot with gold. Together they advanced, penning him in and closing the trap.

  “Okay, now look, guys, I just want to talk with Erza, we don’t have to do this,” offered Danny, still trying to keep his voice level and calm even as he looked from one werewolf to the next, watching his chances of escape shrink by the second.

  Jake snapped his jaws in answer, wet and shiny with hunger while o
pposite him, Bill raked a yew with his claws, leaving great gouges through the bark. When he brandished them his way, the challenge was clear to see.

  “Ok, maybe we do.” Sighing, Danny shrugged off his coat. Looking down at his feet, he took a deep breath, and gave himself over to the fury that raged in his soul. He’d come this far. There could be no turning back now. “Alright, come on then, you bastards. Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!” His head snapped up and his eyes burned as bright and as fierce as the moon above. “Come on!” His challenge dissolved into a long bestial howl, their ancestral homage to the goddess of the hunt. The orbed maiden with white fire laden whom mortals called the moon.

  It was time to remind these pups just who they were fucking with.

  In the movies, the change is traumatic and terrifying. A devastating ordeal that rips the body apart as the beast breaks free of its bonds to unleash its terrible, unquenchable hunger upon the world. Then again, everyone knows the movies are full of shit.

  In truth, for those that ran with the moon, the change was as natural as a bird taking to the wing. It had been many centuries since the goddess of the hunt had held her sway, but the turn came as easily as if she had been watching over them from up on high in those days of old.

  The beast exploded out of him, tearing through skin and cloth alike in a rush of coarse black fur. His bones twisted and lengthened, muscles swelling with a storm of ageless bestial power. Then the wolf stood tall, its huge lupin head thrown back with the last haunting notes of homage, announcing its return to the heavens and all the inhabitants of Lupus Latr.

  He didn’t care. He wanted them to know. He wanted all of them to know, even her.

  To the flanks, Bill and Jake straightened up, their bodies tense and cautious. They had the advantage of numbers, but Danny was older and had the blood of the once unbroken line of Alpha running through his veins. Their Alpha’s. Only the worst kind of mongrel mutt would ever consider such a foe easy prey.

  Danny sensed their agitation, and his wolf gloried in it. Let them fear him, for they should all fear him. His time had come. It was time to reclaim his birthright and to take what had been stolen from him and his family. His home. His pack.