Alphas Prefer Curves

by Unknown

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

  “To fix your mistake.” She shook off her father’s grip and ran full-speed down the aisle. She heard gasps all around her as she started to change, her clothes ripping at the seams as fur and muscle burst out of the fabric. One of the bears on security detail moved to stop her but she bowled him over, in full black bear form now as she charged into the arena.

  She was going to stop this once and for all.

  Chapter Fourteen

  There’s no way I’m going to die like this, Caleb thought, staring into Damien’s wide-open jaws. Thinking fast, he changed back to human, his form narrowing so that Damien’s paws were on either side of his shoulders rather than pushing down on them. Scooting down, he pressed his palms against the bear’s stomach and with a mighty shove, he sent Damien flying across the arena.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, Caleb sprang to his feet, watching as Damien landed, rolling away. The crowd was going wild, waves of boos and cheers assaulting Caleb’s ears. He blocked it out, forcing his attention back to his opponent. Damien returned to all fours quickly, opening his mouth in an enraged snarl, and Caleb braced himself, preparing for another change.

  A sudden motion caught Caleb’s eye, and he glanced to the side to see a large female black bear charging across the arena, heading straight for them. Damien turned to look, too, but she was already on him, sending him to the ground with a well-placed tackle before the referee was between them, pushing the two of them back.

  “Outside interference is not permitted!” the referee roared. He turned to Caleb, his eyes snapping fire. “Caleb, you are hereby dis-”

  “SHUT UP!” Sonya snatched the microphone headset from around the referee’s head, having already changed back into human form. Ignoring the referee’s sputtering outrage, she adjusted the headset around her own head. Caleb couldn’t help staring at her as she stood in her full naked glory, the red curls at the juncture of her thighs matching the ones cascading down her shoulders. Her full breasts swayed a little as she turned to face the audience, not a hint of fear or shame in her eyes.

  “People of the Blackwater clan!” She had to shout twice before the din of the uproar died down. “I declare this match invalid, based on the fact that your alpha is an impostor!”

  The crowd erupted into chaos again, and Damien seized the opportunity to change back to human form. “Lies!” he shouted, reaching for the headset. “What authority do you have to cancel this match, anyway?”

  “No, you don’t!” Caleb intercepted Damien, pushing him back before he could reach Sonya. The two glared at each other, but Sonya simply ignored him, continuing to address the clan. “I must extend my apologies,” she continued. “This entire situation would not have come about if not for my father. He had a financial arrangement with your former alpha, Bran, who was giving him a percentage of the profits your clan makes off the mining industry.”

  “I always knew some of that money was unaccounted for!” someone shouted in the audience.

  Sonya nodded. “Bran eventually decided he’d had enough and broke off the deal with my father, the were-bear you see there.” She pointed to the VIP stands where her father sat, stone-faced. “My father didn’t take too kindly to that, so he hired Damien to kill him and take over the clan in exchange for Damien upholding the financial arrangement. To sweeten the pot, my father also threw me into the deal, promising me to Damien as a mate.” She shot a dirty glance at Damien as murmurs rippled through the crowd.

  “Is this true?” the referee asked Damien, his eyes narrowed.

  Damien scoffed. “Of course it’s not—”

  “So you’re saying we won’t find any discrepancies in the accounting records if we go through them?” Caleb interrupted. Damien simply folded his arms, glowering.

  “It’s true then?” somebody else shouted. “These two bastards have been siphoning off our hard-earned money for their own means?”

  “Very true,” Sonya said.

  “This doesn’t change anything!” Damien sputtered. “I’m still the alpha by right! And we are having a death match over my title!”

  “Please,” Sonya scoffed. “You’re actually having a death match over who gets to be my mate.” She gestured to her own naked body. “And as you well know, even if you do kill Caleb, you have no leverage over me now.” She pinned her father with a frosty glare. “I would regret it if you killed my mother, but my father is dead to me. You can have him!”

  Her father and mother stood, their faces terror-stricken as the clan descended upon them. Sonya had to look away then; though she’d publicly condemned them, it still hurt to watch her only family suffer. Damien started for her again, but the referee and his assistants restrained him once more.

  “I’ll remember this!” he howled, spittle flying from his mouth as he was dragged away. “Mark my words, you’ll never sleep safely in your beds again so long as I’m alive!”

  “Then I guess we’ll just have to make sure he can’t carry out that threat, won’t we?” Caleb said quietly, coming up from behind Sonya. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his sweaty chest. Sonya leaned into him with a sigh, enjoying the feel of his naked body against hers. She didn’t even care that they were in public.

  It was all over now, for real.

  Epilogue

  “Is this really happening?” Sonya asked as Caleb twirled her in his arms. They were whirling across the dance floor in the town hall, which they’d rented out for their mating ceremony. The whole clan had been invited, and nearly everyone had shown up. The ceremony had been moving and emotional; Sonya had never been so certain of anything she’d ever done in her life.

  “It’s really happening.” Caleb pulled her close then nuzzled her neck. “You look gorgeous.” He ran his hand down the side of her wintergreen ribbed sheath dress, lust gleaming in his eyes.

  “You’re not so bad yourself,” Sonya teased, adjusting the red tie Caleb had paired with his black suit. Cuff links shaped like bear paws glinted at his wrists. They’d belonged to Bran, the former alpha; Caleb had been given them when he was made the alpha three weeks ago.

  A swirl of blue caught her eye, and Sonya smiled as she saw her mother dancing with another bear in the crowd. Both Sonya’s father and Damien had been swiftly executed as per clan justice, and the rest of Damien’s cronies had been banished, which had both been a relief and a hardship. It had affected her mother the most since she’d been with Sonya’s father for so long, and Sonya was relieved to see that some of the weight had been lifted off her mother’s shoulders.

  “I’m so happy everything has worked out,” Sonya whispered.

  Caleb rubbed his hand up and down her back, sending shivers through her. He slid his hand down to her ass, blatantly squeezing it. “Me too,” he said. “Otherwise I’d be seriously missing out.” He broke away from the embrace and started pulling her from the dance floor.

  “Where are we going?” Sonya said, laughing. “Our guests are going to wonder why we’re leaving so early.”

  “I’m pretty sure they know exactly where we’re going,” Caleb said, a smirk in his voice as he pulled her into an alcove and started kissing her breathless. Sonya clutched the lapels of his jacket, desire flooding her body with warmth.

  “Can we get the car?” she asked, pulling back.

  “Race you there.” Caleb winked.

  They ran out the steps of the front door, laughing all the way.

  About The Author

  Catherine Vale has been writing fiction for as long as she can remember, but it wasn't until she wrote her very first paranormal romance story that she found herself hooked on the raw, edgy love affair of shifters, vampires and other dominant alpha males and the captivating women that love them.

  Catherine Vale writes both contemporary and paranormal romance for readers who are willing to take a walk on the wild side of love. Her stories always include powerful alpha males, smart and sassy heroines and a happily-ever-af
ter (even if she often puts her characters through hell to get there!)

  Do you want to know when there's a new release? Special offers, giveaways, free books and more! Subscribe at http://www.CatherineVale.com/Secret

  Connect With Catherine!

  Connect with Catherine online at:

  Website: http://www.CatherineVale.com

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/valeromance

  Other Books By Catherine Vale

  Untamed Hearts

  Untamed Desires

  The Wolves Next Door

  Shifter Most Wanted

  A Touch of Vampire

  Heartbitten

  A New Adult Vampire Romance Novel by

  AUBREY ROSE

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  Or follow me on Twitter @TheAubreyRose

  ***

  Copyright © 2014 Aubrey Rose

  All rights reserved.

  First Edition: March 2013

  ISBN: 149613978X

  ISBN-13: 978-1496139788

  To my fans

  PROLOGUE

  "This was when she asked him whether it was true that love conquered all, as the songs said. 'It is true', he replied, 'but you would do well not to believe it.'"

  ― Gabriel García Márquez, Of Love and Other Demons

  ***

  England, 1642

  Robert Chatham would always remember his first kiss. It was on that same day that the vampires took him.

  ***

  Robb squirmed in his chair. The sun would set soon, but there were still two courses to go before dinner was over and he could run free. His parents ate silently, the silver forks glinting in the candlelight.

  A servant clad in black and gold set a steaming bowl of stewed beef in front of him and began to pour wine into his glass.

  "That's enough for the boy," his mother said. It was the first thing she'd said all dinner. The servant wiped the mouth of the wine bottle and darted a fearful glance up at the queen.

  "May I leave early?" Robb said. At thirteen, he resented being called a boy. Other thirteen-year-old princes ruled empires, after all. The French king was younger than he was, and had been ruling for years already, or so he'd heard. "I'm full."

  "You know you oughtn't steal sweets from the kitchen," his mother said. "You ruin your meals."

  "I didn't," Robb protested. "I only want to go to the wall and watch the sun go down in the woods."

  "The woods, the woods!" His mother put down her wine glass; the purple liquid sloshed up and over the rim, staining the white tablecloth. A servant came over hurriedly to wipe the spill with a cloth. "Robb, you have your studies to finish."

  "But I finished!"

  "Don't talk that way to your mother," his father said indifferently.

  "All the other boys get to go out and watch for the black ghosts," Robb said, slumping in his chair.

  "There are no ghosts," his mother said derisively. Her cheeks were flushed.

  "The black ghosts are just an old wives' tale," his father said. "You know that, don't you, boy?"

  "Eliza said—"

  "I don't want you hanging around those urchins!" His mother gulped wine and snapped her finger, and a servant ran over to refill her glass. Robb wished he wouldn't. He had recently begun to notice that she argued more when she drank wine. "Especially not that gypsy girl."

  "She's not a gypsy," Robb muttered sullenly. "And there are black ghosts."

  "Look at what you've done," his mother said, her eyes flitting over to the end of the table where his father sat. "You shouldn't let him run around the city like he does."

  "Oh, this is my fault?"

  "Who was it but your mother told him so many ghost stories when she came to visit?"

  "Leave my mother out of this," the king growled.

  "I'll leave her out when she leaves the palace. At any rate—"

  "May I go?" Robb asked. "I finished my beef."

  "Go!" his mother said, whipping her head back to him. Her eyes flashed darkly and Robb knew that tonight he would hear his parents fighting in the room down the hall from him.

  Before she could change her mind, he had pulled the napkin from his neck and tossed it on the table, slipping out of the room with a quick step.

  He took the stairs three at a time down to the kitchen, tearing off his royal vest and throwing it onto the kitchen counter as he came in. The kitchen help was busy around the stove, making the dessert. Robb peeked over the table to see what it was. Fig and honey tarts.

  "Why hello there, my little prince!" The cook's voice boomed in Robb's ear, and he picked up the basket of tarts, resting them on his sizable belly. "Here for another sweet?"

  "Just one, cook," Robb said, his tone wheedling. "My parents said I could leave early."

  "Off to watch for black ghosts?"

  Robb looked for sarcasm in his eyes but saw none. The cook wrapped up two tarts into a cloth, their crusts glazed with honey, and handed the package to Robb.

  "One for you and one for your girl," the cook said, winking. Robb flushed hard and took the tarts.

  Guards marched along their sentry routes in the palace, but Robb knew all of the sentry posts by heart. Darting out of the palace kitchen, he looked left to right before crossing the narrow walkway and slipping through a crack in the palace wall, out into the main city.

  The setting sun cast red wisps of light over the buildings, and the city was just coming to life. Tavern owners shook their rugs outside the doors, the smell of barley and ale wafting out of the entryways. The scents of the city were far different from those of the palace. Here, the sweet fragrances of bakeries and beer mingled with the pungent aroma of dung and wastewater and the mobs of unwashed peasants. Robb ran quickly through the crowded streets, avoiding the hoofs of the horses and goats whose owners led them through the stream of people.

  Robb could see the high city walls looming up ahead, but he stopped just before the main gate, letting his eyes wander over to the market vendors who were just not taking down their stalls. Eliza might be in there with her father; she sometimes waited for him to watch the sunset. The nearest vendor was packing up his cart full of silver and gold chains. Robb walked over and examined a gold necklace that was lying on a blanket of wares. The stone was beautiful—a dark green amethyst that sparkled from a hundred cut facets, and there was a twist of red that ran through the middle, probably a deposit of iron in the rock. An imperfection, sure, but an imperfection that glowed and made the stone strangely attractive.

  "Hey! Put 'at down!"

  The market vendor came over to Robb, his brow furrowed.

  "Boy, leave 'em jewels alone. You cain't be affording to break something so valuable as 'at."

  Robb set the necklace back down on the table, and the vendor stepped in front to bar him from even looking at the wares. Feeling slighted and irritable, Robb pulled out a bag of coins from under his shirtsleeve and untied the string. Three, four gold coins clinked into his hand, and he looked up to see the market vendor watching his hand hungrily.

  "How much?" Robb asked.

  "My apologies, young master," the vendor said, his hand shaking as he clutched his hat to his chest. "I didn't see that you was a noble."

  "How much?"

  "Well, such a beautiful gem is quite rare, you see," the vendor said, a greedy look on his face. "It would have to be five guineas at least."

  "Five!" Robb slid the coins back into his purse. Five guineas?

  "I wouldn't even turn a profit on 'at," the vendor said, wheedling. "It's the best deal you'll find."

  "Two guineas and I'll take it," Robb said, enjoying the barter. "The stone is flawed."

  "Not one bit!" The vendor turned back to the table to prove his claim, but the necklace was gone.

  "Wha'?" the vendor said. He whirled around. "You thieved me! How'd you take it?"

  "Excuse me?" Robb said. Immediately the market vendor retreated into apologies.

  "I don't m
ean—you're nobility, of course, but—how did I lose the dang thing—" The vendor turned in circles, looking around on the ground for the missing necklace.

  A whistle from above caught Robb's ear, and he looked up to see Eliza perched on the building ledge just behind the market stall, the necklace dangling from her hand. Robb's eyes went wide. She winked and darted away, lissome, across the ledge behind all of the awnings, down the market street. Her feet padded silently above the crowd of people, her thick black hair streaming out behind her. Robb followed her, catching glimpses of her above the crowd of people. At the end of the market she jumped off of the last stall to a ledge on the city wall and slid down a gutter to the street. Her feet were bare and black with soot.

  "You weren't going to pay him two guineas for this, were you?" she said, grinning mischievously as the necklace swung from her fingers. Her green eyes sparkled, and Robb tried not to stare at them. "You know it's not real gold, and the stone's just dyed quartz. It's worth a handful of shillings, maybe."

  "It looks pretty, anyway," Robb said, ashamed both of not knowing the truth and of being willing to spend so much on a cheap bauble.

  "Hey! You! You there!"

  The market vendor had followed him down the street. Before Robb could react, Eliza had grabbed his hand and pulled him through a gap in the crowd.

  "Run!" she cried.

  Robb could barely keep up with her, but Eliza knew every inch of the city and soon pulled him into a narrow alleyway off of the main road, just next to a fish shop. The market vendor's shouts echoed through the street behind them. He followed her down past piles of discarded fish heads, pinching his nose to stop himself from gagging. Just when he thought they had reached a dead end, she slid her fingers into a large crack in the stone and pulled. The stone shifted, and Robb could see the forest beyond.