Lovers: An Aleph Series Stories Novella

by Julie L. York

  He’d been taught better, hell, the lesson had been beaten into him the few times he’d intentionally caused problems with pack alphas.

  He glared at the young male until, wisely, he and his friends sat back down and quietly began talking to each other, desperately trying to ignore the Alpha in the room. Jethro didn’t hesitate, but turned around and stalked back to the bar and sat down. He didn’t want to make any moves on the cute little female who was with the group. Dressing down the son of an alpha in front of other pack members might not have made the best impression.

  He ordered another beer and sat on the bar stool, his back to them, effectively showing every Were in the bar just how insignificant they were. There’s not one person here who worries me.

  Right. And that’s why you’re hiding from a female.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Sarah decided to stay where she was sitting because there was no way her knees were going to hold her up after that. She’d noticed the unknown male the minute he’d walked in the door and within seconds, her wolf had been trying to claw its way out of her skin and sashay its way over to him, flutter her lashes and grin stupidly.

  A few minutes after that, her inner voice, the one vastly different from her wolf, had yelled at her to pay more attention to him. She’d visibly blinked a few times. Her inner voice had never yelled at her before. Usually it was soft and subtle. This time there was nothing subtle about it telling her to go sit in his lap and the future would be in her hands.

  Within fifteen minutes of him walking in, Sarah was convinced she was seeing either a Councilor from another District…or one of the Aleph men was sitting in the human owned bar in the human town near her pack.

  For no apparent reason.

  She wasn’t close to her alpha, but an Aleph being anywhere near their pack land…that news would’ve been all over within minutes of the envelope being opened. The fact that there hadn’t been one warning only made her wonder even more just whose ass she was ogling. Regardless of who he was, she couldn’t find any fault in his appearance, laid back though it seemed. His dark hair had a wave to it, and was curled enticingly around his ears and into his collar.

  Until he’d approached Brent, the idiot, she’d not been able to see his eyes, but his body was drool worthy; powerful shoulders above a rock hard waist and long legs. The man was built. A perfect adult male.

  When he’d turned to check out their booth, she’d seen his eyes and made a reassessment of him.

  This was no Councilor.

  Only Aleph men had eyes like that.

  And once he’d said his name, his rough voice rolled over her senses and made her wolf want to jump him.

  In more ways than one.

  She was impressed with Jethro’s restraint. If her father had seen Brent’s behavior, he’d have ground the young Were into the peanut shell covered cement. Brent often tried the patience of the most reserved Weres in the pack and outright irritated everyone else. She snickered; even the humans disliked him. For Jethro Aleph to simply set him down, and not beat him down, showed her the kind of male he was.

  Any male who backed up his position with fists and violence was not an alpha who would be in power for long. Good leaders inspired their pack to listen, obey, and follow out of respect by being strong and fair, and only using force when absolutely necessary. Her father spoke often about this, and she knew he had issues with the way their pack was being led.

  Why is an Aleph male here?

  Sarah had heard the stories about the Aleph family, the same as any other Were growing up in the U.S., but unlike many others, she always took stories about anyone with a grain of salt. It was too easy to twist the truth into a great story.

  But after seeing Jethro Aleph in action, she was beginning to believe that maybe the stories were based in reality. The Aleph family was revered, but also feared. From just that small interaction with her peers, she could see why he’d been chosen as the Regional Alpha heir. Some Weres simply exuded power and control; he was definitely one of them. But how he’d chosen to diffuse the situation said more about the future of the Region than any words anyone could say about him.

  He had every right to kill Brent if he’d wanted to and no one could have stopped him.

  She wasn’t sure what had prompted his interference into their argument, but she was grateful. Brent had been flirting with her and the two other females with her. The more he drank the more he flirted and the more he flirted, the more he drank. He was fairly harmless, just annoying and immature. This time he’d pushed his luck with being grabby and she’d gotten angry and had flung his arm off.

  Sarah now sat, trying not to stare openly at Jethro Aleph, or any part of his anatomy.

  She wasn’t sure what to do next.

  Her wolf still wanted to plop itself in his lap, while her inner voice was trying to get her out of her seat and at least talk to him. She couldn’t find a good reason to walk up to him, so she opted to sit with her group, now that they were behaving themselves, and hope she could find a reason to approach him before he left the area. She didn’t want to be too forward.

  Male Weres didn’t mind strong, independent females, but many of them drew the line at a female making the first move, openly and blatantly. Something about the stalking and hunting and the XY chromosome was enough for any decent male to want to be pursued. Oh, thanks to her older brothers she knew males didn’t mind being pursued once they initiated things, but only a loose female would openly walk up to a male.

  She sighed and wrapped her hands around the warming beer in front of her. How do I get his attention and be subtle about it?

  There’s nothing subtle about us, let’s show him.

  Are you crazy? I’m not going to walk up to Jethro Aleph and throw myself at him!

  Why not? It’s not like he’s never had a female do that to him.

  And that’s exactly why I won’t be doing it, so go back to sleep.

  Her wolf growled at her, but she growled back louder. With a resigned huff, it curled up in a corner and glared at her.

  A part of her seethed at the thought of any female anywhere being in his arms, or on his lap, or being anywhere within 30 feet of him. Between her wolf and her inner voice, she was almost convinced she had the right to be with him, and that if she approached him, he would not be offended at it.

  She went to chug her drink, but before the glass touched her lips, she hesitated, put the glass down, took a deep breath and stood up.

  With every Were’s eyes now solidly glued to her, she decided there was no way to back down and not lose the respect of everyone in her pack. Good or bad she couldn’t walk away now. Hopefully, I’m not reading this all wrong. I swear if you, or that other damned voice, have led me wrong, I’ll ignore you both for the rest of my life.

  All she heard in response was heavy panting.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Jethro was having a hard time keeping his shock to himself as the hot, curvy little female came walking towards him. He’d seen strength in her when she’d stood her ground with the young, drunken fool she and her friends were with, but he’d never expected her to be so forward. Being who he was, he was leery of females who approached him, too often being pursued and wanted for the power his name could give them, or the pup they would try to trick him into giving them. He was never liked for his personality.

  But, then again, being a male, he didn’t mind being noticed for his looks and his aura of power; he just didn’t want females to get the wrong idea, thinking it OK to come on to him whenever they wanted. And just because his ego noticed, and approved of, their drooling grins, it didn’t mean he’d have sex with any of them. Or take them as his mate.

  This little female wasn’t like the others; at least he hoped that she wasn’t. She wasn’t giving off any crazy bitch vibes. At least not yet. He snorted. He didn’t turn his head to look at her, but felt her presence slide up next to him on the stool, settling her delectable behind just a few inches away from his thigh.
She didn’t speak immediately and he got the sense she was just as nervous as he was.

  He tried not to breathe too deeply, so he wouldn’t offend her. “Good girls” didn’t like to be noticeably sniffed out, and she most definitely smelled like a good girl; springtime and grass clippings, in one hot package that made his wolf want to roll all over her, rubbing its scent deep into her skin.

  “I…I wanted to thank you for stepping in,” she started hesitantly. Jethro noticed that her voice, though quiet, was not weak or quivering. “Brent isn’t a bad kid, but he sometimes thinks he’s bigger than he really is.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that,” Jethro quipped. “He’ll be fine, maybe, if he just remembers he’s not the biggest, baddest wolf in the forest.”

  She snickered and the sound made his wolf shiver in pleasure and whine to be let out to play. He internally raised his eyebrow at his wolf. It hadn’t reacted like this to a female. Ever. It was rather disconcerting. He didn’t mind physically reacting to a female, far from it; he enjoyed knowing his anatomy still worked. He just wished he knew what it meant this time.

  He was positive he wanted to get to know her curves better, but he knew she was not a female to be taken lightly, and was almost positive she was a virgin. Which meant he wouldn’t be any closer to those curves unless a mating offer was a part of the bedroom talk. His chest and stomach tightened with those thoughts, prompting him to focus his attention below his belt. Down boy, I am not going to show that off. Yet. He held his breath for a heartbeat or two, until his wolf, and his pants, calmed.

  Sarah started to speak again when the bar door crashed open. She watched in fascination as Jethro sighed and rolled his eyes in the mirror across from them. A door crashes open, and he rolls his eyes?

  She turned her head to look directly at him and glanced behind her to see her alpha and several other men with him. They were not happy.

  “What did you do?” she asked before her brain caught up to her mouth.

  He turned to her, with an amused look in his eyes, and a small smile on his lips. “What did I do?”

  “I’m sorry,” she stammered. He laughed and the sound made her wolf do another little sexy shimmy.

  “Don’t apologize, if my father was here, he’d probably have asked the same thing,” he smiled. “As for what I did, well that’s easy to figure out, considering your alpha just blew in the doors. I put his son in his place, and the pup went to the payphone in the back and cried to daddy, and now daddy is here thinking he’s gonna put me in my place.”

  “Put you…you are who you said you are, right?” She watched him try not to laugh again. She liked the way his lips quirked in amusement and the way that movement radiated over his entire face and into his eyes. “OK, so you told the truth. Why would he think that he could do anything to punish you?”

  Jethro just shrugged. He wasn’t entirely certain the pack alpha’s presence was directly related only to the son. A small niggling in the back of his mind said that his coming between the son and this beautiful female was most likely the reason the alpha was going to try to interfere; he’d smelled the sexual interest all over the stupid, young fool.

  Well, he can try to interfere, but we all know how that’s going to end. Jethro didn’t want her to worry, so he turned slowly on his stool and leaned his elbows back against the bar counter behind him, all the while keeping his angry wolf under control. This idiot is going to bite off more than he can chew, and I won’t be pulling my punches this time.

  ‘Bout damned time.

  He turned to look at the female, who looked confused. “By the way, you learned my name earlier, it’s only fair that I know yours,” he smiled. He refrained from holding his hand out like he would with a male because his wolf wanted him to grab her and pull her onto his lap and hold on tight.

  Sarah smiled back at him, noticing that he only looked relaxed. His muscles were coiled, and he was ready to spring if her alpha pushed. “My name is Sarah…Sarah Tomlinson.”

  “Sarah, what a perfect name,” he said. He quickly clamped his mouth, just in time to catch himself before his wolf added Aleph to it. He wanted to talk to her more, learn more, and find out what it was about her—more than any other female—that had his wolf begging for her attention.

  But her alpha chose that moment to plant himself in front of him, with several burly Were goons surrounding him. Jethro eyed the man and curled his lip in a sneer, “Had to bring a posse with you to just talk to me, huh?”

  He didn’t have much respect for this particular alpha to begin with, and his opinion was dropping by the second. Though the pack was apparently well integrated into human society in this area, stories about the politics and handling of internal issues had reached Aleph House; which was one reason he had gone out of his way to “swing by” the area on his way down south.

  While clearly insulted by Jethro’s taunt about his show of force, Sarah’s alpha was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. Jethro could see him radiating irritation and he waited to see what the man was going to do before he made his next move. He’d done what was required of him by his father and had announced that he was in the area. Jethro thought this particular Law was stupid, but the Council had made it an absolute during his grandfather’s time.

  Adam’s compromise a few decades back had been a good one, for his time. If there weren’t issues, and they were only traveling through, they’d warn the local alphas, but if they were going in to observe problems, giving them a warning wasn’t going to happen. Personally, Jethro thought that giving any warning of any kind about where he was headed was a dumb idea.

  Nothing like announcing your location to anyone wanting to take you out…that’s the first rule that goes when I take over.

  “I came to take them home, Aleph,” the man stated, as if anything he said carried any weight.

  Jethro just raised an eyebrow and didn’t respond for a few minutes, letting the man shift from foot to foot in nervousness. But he didn’t back down.

  I’m guessing he wasn’t told which Aleph was in the bar; just that one had caused problems. This should be good.

  “Well, you’re welcome to take them home, except for Sarah. I’ll see to it personally that she makes it back to her house before she turns into a pumpkin,” he grinned, winking at her.

  She couldn’t help her blush at his possessive, forward declaration. If anyone had been unsure of his intentions, he’d just made them crystal clear: unless, and until, he said otherwise, Sarah was his. She slid a glance toward her alpha, hoping that he wouldn’t try to override Jethro. She saw the look in his face and realized there would be a fight soon. He wasn’t going to back down, and Jethro would be unable to.

  “Well, I don’t see how Sarah is any of your affair,” her alpha began. He stopped and, realizing what he’d said, tried to back pedal, “I mean, she’s a part of my pack, and I take care of my own.”

  “Oh really, so that’s why your son is an unmannered whelp, huh?” Jethro sneered. Before the man could do more than sputter, he continued, “and as for being a part of your pack, I’m glad you recognize your responsibility to them, though you’re not doing a very good job if your own son is allowed to get drunk in a place like this and make unwanted advances on the females in the group. But your pack?”

  He clucked his tongue, “Yeah, that’s not entirely accurate.” He stood up slowly, letting everyone get a good look at him, and leaned down to get into the male’s face. “They’re mine. You only lead them as long as you have my good opinion.”

  The man looked completely confused, but Jethro was not going to let him off the hook or give him any hints about who he was.

  Sarah decided to step in and keep her alpha from making an even bigger fool of himself. “This is Jethro Aleph. The Regional heir? The announcement was mailed to the pack a few years ago,” she prompted, hoping her alpha wouldn’t be so stupid as to provoke Jethro into a full-fledged fight. A few snarls, some fists flying, that was going to happen, but she didn’t wa
nt blood drawn.

  Before Sarah could finish blinking, she was wrapped in strong arms and being hauled outside, the door slamming behind her. When her eyes fully opened, she looked up at Jethro, questions written all over her face.

  “I didn’t want to fight when there are humans around, Sarah. It’s not safe for us, or for them, to shift and battle it out for blood over something that really is nothing more than a pissing match. Your alpha already backed down, and I gave him a glare, just to rub it in,” he said with a wink, carefully setting her down.

  He’d not taken them far beyond the glow of the outside lighting. He didn’t know if she had her own car or had walked. He’d walked to the bar from his motel room and could easily walk back, however, he hadn’t wanted to take her too far away from those she knew, in case she balked at being alone with him.

  “A pissing match, huh? If these were my brothers, I’d say everyone was getting ready to whip it out and take measurements,” she laughed.

  Jethro was astonished that she’d speak so openly, not because he was a prude or thought less of her, but because up till now, he’d seen nothing that would lead him to believe she had such a mouth on her. Once his surprise cleared, he couldn’t help his laughter, bubbling up from deep within him…and he couldn’t help his retort, “I’d still win.”

  Turning a shocking shade of red, she laughed just as loud as he was at the mental image of all the males she’d known her whole life, all dropping their pants and still being humiliated by a stranger. More amusing to her than trying to imagine pieces and parts she’d never seen in real life, was imaging the looks on their faces when they realized they had nothing to brag about. She found herself reaching out to hold on to something to keep from falling down laughing.

  As she wiped the tears from her eyes with one hand, she realized her other hand had been holding her upright using Jethro’s forearm. Slowly fingers slid through hers, tingles stalking up her arms and down to her toes. Her hand was engulfed by Jethro’s warm grip. She lifted her head, knowing he was going to kiss her. Her wolf and her inner voice were silent. Giddy, but silent. She closed her eyes and lifted her lips to meet his.