by Ranae Rose
True Alpha
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
True Alpha
Half Moon Shifters Book 2
Ranae Rose
eBooks are not transferable. This book may not be sold or given away. Doing so would be an infringement of the copyright. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are products of the author’s imagination and are in no way real. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
True Alpha
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2012 Ranae Rose
Cover Design by Ranae Rose
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Chapter 1
It was impossible to get a job while pregnant. Mandy fumed over that fact as she steered her car around a bend in the familiar mountain road. There weren’t many of the sort of positions she wanted in the communities near the remote stretch of the Tennessee Smoky Mountains she called home, so each one counted. She’d been to half a dozen different interviews over the past several months, since she’d abandoned her life in Nashville and moved in with Jack.
So far, no one had called back, and it wouldn’t be any different this time. As soon as she’d walked into the interview, the hiring manager had stared at her six and a half month pregnant belly like it was something that might explode. He’d spent more time looking at it than at her face. By the time she’d walked out of his office, she’d already felt thoroughly hopeless despite the fact that she was perfectly qualified for the job.
Of course, it was true that if she was hired, she’d need to take a few weeks of maternity leave in a couple months. But that didn’t diminish her qualifications, or her experience, or… “Damn it,” she huffed, pulling into the driveway. A strange car was parked in her usual spot in front of the little log cabin she and Jack shared. It probably belonged to a lost tourist – sometimes they stopped to ask for directions. That was how she’d met Jack, seven months ago.
Normally, the sight of the vacationer’s car would’ve caused her to smile in memory, but today she just frowned at it as she slammed her car door shut and stomped past. Stupidly, she’d worn a pair of heels to her interview, determined to impress. With the extra fifteen pounds of baby weight she was carrying, every step she took in them was agony. She would’ve loved to kick them off, shift into her wolf form and then chew them up like a naughty dog, ruining them for good so she wouldn’t be tempted to wear them again. But she didn’t dare – not with thoroughly human tourists around. So she clambered onto the porch and to the front door, doing her best to assume a neutral expression so she wouldn’t look like the angry, hungry, pregnant wolf shifter she was.
“Jack?” she called softly when she didn’t find him inside the cabin’s main room, which functioned as a living room, kitchen and dinette combo.
No answer. His truck was parked out front, as usual, but maybe he’d shifted into his wolf form and gone into the woods on foot, perhaps taking a shortcut over the mountain to one of the vacation cabins he performed maintenance on for a living. But if that was the case, where were the tourists who’d left their car in the driveway? The little grey economy model was empty.
Slipping out of her torturous heels, she padded into the bedroom. Jack wasn’t there, but there was no way she was going to go looking for him in her maternity pantsuit. She slipped off her blazer with a relieved sigh; it had been a warm day for early October, and she could’ve sworn that being pregnant made every day seem ten degrees hotter anyway. She had her blouse halfway unbuttoned when she heard it – the distinct sound of Jack speaking. Her heart fluttered a little, as it always did when she heard his voice after returning from being away from him for any significant amount of time. She loved the rough timbre of it, the rich cadence of his Southern accent.
She hurried to the window, which faced the small yard behind the back of the cabin and the forest that stretched beyond. His voice had come from that direction. He must’ve just emerged from the woods with someone – maybe his best friend Ronnie, who lived nearby.
She pulled back the curtain and got an eyeful of Jack standing shirtless next to a pile of split wood, an axe gripped casually in one hand. His shoulders, chest and perfectly-defined abs gleamed with a sheen of sweat, and the sun made his dark hair shine. She stared for a moment, transfixed, before the fact that he was facing five strangers registered.
The tourists were young – around her and Jack’s age, from the looks of it. The group of twenty-somethings was comprised of two males and three females, one of whom was standing very close to Jack. Mandy gripped the almost non-existent windowsill, her nails digging into the wood. One of the guys was saying something about a drive – a very long drive, it seemed – and Jack was nodding, a slight frown on his face. A slender woman with long, straight brown hair was standing less than two feet from him, eyeing his glistening muscles as if she’d never seen anything so wonderful before.
Jack said something that was more of a grunt than an actual sentence – that was usually what he did when he didn’t want to answer a question, or when he was thinking – and the woman beside him giggled like he’d just said the funniest thing in the world, rocking back on her heels with the force of the hilarity and inching a little closer to him.
Mandy wanted to growl – why was she still in her human form? Clearly, what those tourists needed was a scare. From a wolf. A pregnant she-wolf with the raging hormones to back up her bark. She could easily shift and slip out the front door and into the woods. Then she could circle around to behind the cabin and leap out, snarling and maybe snapping at the girl’s heels a little as she ran away…
Jack could tell them that she was a coyote. Tourists from far away probably wouldn’t know the difference. Just as she was about to let the curtain fall and head for the front door, Jack caught her eye. His gorgeous golden-hazel gaze took her by surprise, and as she stared, he tipped his head in the slightest of come-hither motions. She let the curtain fall and marched out of the bedroom much less stealthily than she’d intended, pausing only to slip her feet into a pair of comfortable, worn-out moccasins.
She channeled all of her willpower as she walked around the cabin, resisting the urge to shift into her wolf form. Jack would be upset if she did, and with good reason; it would be irresponsible to let humans see her that way.
More importantly, she couldn’t afford to transform at the moment because doing so would mean her maternity clothes splitting at the seams, and that was the last thing she needed. They were expensive, and she’d been out of work ever since she’d moved in with Jack. Besides, good bras were hard to find in her new size, and when she shifted, the transformation always snapped her bra bands right in half. If she was going to shift, she’d better strip down first, and it was too late for that; she was already rounding the corner of the cabin.
Six pairs of eyes turned to her, including Jack’s. For a moment, she just stood there, her chin lifted defiantly as she surveyed the strangers. They all stared at her like she was some sort of freak, reminding her of her failure of an interview. A fresh flash of anger rushed through her, and she made her way deliberately to Jack�
��s side, inserting herself between him and the overly-friendly brunette.
The girl took a couple steps backward, looking shocked. Good. Let her see that Jack was as taken as he could possibly get.
Jack laid a hand on Mandy’s shoulder, and her temper immediately began to cool as every muscle in her body relaxed beneath his touch and she breathed in his woodsy, masculine scent – her favorite smell in the world. It always calmed her, even when nothing else could.
“Uh, sweetheart?” Jack said, leaning close to whisper in her ear. “It ain’t that hot out here, is it?”
“What?” she asked, tearing her gaze away from the strangers to face him. She expected to meet his eyes, but they were lowered, fixed on her chest. She looked down instinctively, knowing he wouldn’t be checking out her cleavage so obviously in front of strangers unless something was wrong.
Like if she was walking around with her shirt unbuttoned all the way down to the top of her swollen belly. Swearing softly, she pulled her shirt shut over her chest, covering her bra, which had been left totally exposed, and hastily shoved the buttons through their holes. That was another thing about being pregnant – she was more forgetful than usual. She’d never gone outside half-dressed before, but apparently she didn’t have room in her brain for jealousy, scare-tactics and clothing all at once. “I was just changing clothes when I heard something out here,” she said, forcing herself to meet the tourists’ gazes again. They were still staring at her like she was crazy – which was sort of understandable – so she turned back to Jack. “Giving directions?”
He shook his head. “Mandy, these are my cousins.”
“What – all of them?” The words tumbled out before the revelation had completely registered. If the woman who’d been eyeing up Jack like a Christmas ham was his cousin, the situation was even more disturbing than she’d thought.
“No, just those two,” he said, pointing toward the men. “Daniel and Noah.”
Daniel was perhaps a little older than Mandy had estimated – early thirties, maybe? – and tall, with a short crop of light brown hair and golden-hazel eyes that looked stunningly like Jack’s. Noah had the same eyes, and dark hair just like Jack’s, though he was a little shorter. It wasn’t hard to believe they were Jack’s cousins, but it was difficult to comprehend that they were standing in the yard behind the cabin in the middle of the Tennessee wilderness. “I thought you two were in Alaska.”
“They were,” Jack said. “They’ve come back.”
Mandy just stood there for a moment, absorbing the information and trying to make sense of it. “As in, they’ve come back on vacation?” She didn’t dare to assume the only other alternative. She knew how badly Jack had longed for the return of his last remaining family members after they’d abandoned the Smokies to try their luck in Alaska, leaving Jack alone as the last member of the Half Moon Pack. As the alpha, he’d never considered leaving his territory, the place where he belonged by birth. And so he’d lived alone for years, until just seven short months ago.
“Not on vacation,” Jack said. “For good.”
Mandy eyed the men before her with renewed interest, trying to keep her expression impassive as conflicting emotions whirled inside her. Should she be overjoyed that Jack’s family had returned – that she and Jack were no longer just a pack of two? Or should she be wary of the men who’d left Jack behind? Jack wasn’t showing any signs of emotion, just standing there like a statue, the warmth of his hand on her shoulder his only sign of life. The few feet of thinning autumn grass between him and his cousins seemed like miles.
“What about the others?” she asked, turning her attention to the women. One stood close beside Daniel, her hand clutching his tightly. Her glossy black hair streamed straight and shiny over her shoulders, framing a youthful face with stunningly bright brown eyes. She looked exotic – Alaskan Native, maybe? The other two women were fairer, and shared the same brown hair and blue eyes – the one with her hair cut in a short bob stood by Noah, while the longer-haired girl who’d been ogling Jack stood to the side by no one in particular.
“This is Daniel’s mate,” Jack said, nodding toward the brown-eyed girl.
“Clarissa,” she said, giving a small wave and tentative smile.
“And Noah’s,” he said, indicating the woman with the sleek bob.
“I’m April,” she said. “This is my sister, Violet.” She reached out and took her sister by the hand, pulling her close. Violet nodded silently, her mouth pressed into a thin line as her gaze darted from person to person.
“This is my mate Mandy,” Jack said, wrapping his arm a little tighter around Mandy’s shoulders.
Something flickered across the others’ faces – was it surprise? It was gone too soon to tell. Mandy let Jack hold her close to his side as the reality of the situation sank in – she was standing within a few feet of five other werewolves. Other than Jack, she’d never met another wolf shifter. Now, their little pack had more than tripled in size. It was almost too strange, too sudden, to believe.
“Nice to meet you, Mandy.” Clarissa was the first to break the awkward silence.
“You too,” Mandy said. Out of all of them, Clarissa seemed the friendliest – with her young, innocent-looking face, she was hard not to smile back at.
“Well, I guess we’ve got a lot of catchin’ up to do, seein’ as how this is the first time I’ve heard from either of you in months,” Jack said, eyeing his cousins. “Let’s go for a walk.”
Noah and Daniel nodded.
Jack smoothed his hand over Mandy’s back in a comforting gesture. “Think you can stand to miss me for another hour or two?” One corner of his mouth quirked in a teasing smile.
“I’ll survive somehow,” Mandy said, smiling back, though she wished he didn’t have to go. Spending an awkward couple of hours with three near strangers wasn’t how she’d envisioned unwinding after her crappy interview.
“All right then,” he said. “Don’t you girls worry about whatever luggage you’ve brought; I’ll get you and your mates settled into one of the vacation cabins on this mountain when we return.” He pressed a quick kiss against Mandy’s temple. “See ya, sweetheart.” He, Daniel and Noah disappeared into the woods before the heat of his kiss had faded from her skin.
After staring at the trees for as long as she could without looking like a complete idiot, Mandy turned to face Clarissa, April and Violet. “It’s a little too hot out here to be standing in the sun for no reason. Why don’t we go inside?”
All three women agreed politely, but as Mandy turned on her heel and strode around the corner of the cabin, her cheeks heated, and not just because of the sun. It was still hard to believe she’d walked outside and approached a group of strangers with her shirt hanging open, no matter how hot it was.
The inside of the cabin was cooler than the sunny outdoors, and Mandy resisted the urge to sink onto the couch and give her feet a break. “Would anyone like a drink?” she asked, crossing the small living area and approaching the fridge. “I’ve got a pitcher of sweet tea in the fridge.”
“Sure,” Clarissa piped up.
April echoed her, but as Mandy pulled the pitcher from the fridge, Violet was silent. The girl’s flirting fit hadn’t exactly left Mandy in the mood to go overboard with Southern hospitality. She was pulling glasses from a cabinet when Violet finally spoke up. “That would be great.”
So Mandy poured four glasses and carried them two at a time, relishing the short trips across the room because as long as she was busy, she didn’t have to make small talk. When everyone held a tumbler full of tea, there was nothing left to do but stand there with the other three women, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that they were going to be members of her and Jack’s pack. Sure, she’d known that being Jack’s mate made her the alpha female, but that hadn’t seemed like much of a responsibility when it had been just them. What was an alpha female supposed to do in a situation like this? “Please, have a seat.” She didn’t know, exactly,
so she gestured toward the couch, which had been softened from long years of use and was surprisingly comfortable.
Clarissa plunked down first. April followed, and Violet sank down onto the arm of the couch, sitting close beside her sister. Though the sofa wasn’t large, they’d been careful to leave enough room for Mandy to sit.
Barely stifling a sigh of relief, she lowered herself into the empty space beside Clarissa. Her feet tingled with the sheer joy of not having to carry weight. “So, Alaska…” She tried to imagine the three women and Jack’s cousins traveling all the way from there in that little car, but it wasn’t easy. She’d lived in Tennessee her entire life, and all she’d ever seen of Alaska were calendar and internet pictures, maybe the occasional wildlife documentary on TV. “What brought you all here?”
“We want to join the Half Moon Pack,” April said.
“Right.” She’d already known that much.
“It was Daniel’s decision,” Clarissa added. “And of course, I’m his mate.” She shrugged and looked like there was nowhere else in the world she’d rather be. “I’m sure it’s a good idea. He’s told me so much about Jack and the Smoky Mountains where they grew up…”
“Noah wasn’t going to stay behind in Alaska without Daniel,” April said. “They might as well be brothers.”
Mandy shot a quick sideways glance at Violet, and their eyes locked. “I don’t have a mate. I wasn’t going to lose my sister.” She sounded defensive, but sure of her decision.
“This must be a serious change of scenery for you all. Aren’t you going to miss Alaska?”
“Well, yeah.” April nodded. “But we all think this is for the best.”
Mandy could’ve believed it if it hadn’t been for Violet’s frown. Even if Clarissa and April were happy to be there, it was obvious that Violet was less than thrilled, even if it had been her decision to come along. Not that Mandy blamed her, but… “I’m sorry if I seem rude. This is just so unexpected, and I’m not really used to being around other shifters. Not wolf shifters, anyway.”
