A Mate for the Beta:

by E A Price

  Melody mouth gaped open and she slapped her forehead. “Liv dropped me off, she wanted to see Iris.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us this yesterday?” Adam asked impatiently.

  “I’m really sorry, I completely forgot, it just... it just slipped my mind.”

  Sensing she was telling the truth Adam nodded at her and gave her a killer smile, despite herself Melody turned to jelly at the powerfully sexy Alpha.

  “Who’s Liv?” Alec asked.

  “Livia,” interjected Emerald haughtily, “is my niece. She really won’t have anything to add to what Melody has already told you, so I ask that you leave her alone.”

  Alec kept his face emotionless. “I will still need to talk to her, if she spoke to Iris then she might be able to give us an idea what Iris was thinking about yesterday.”

  Emerald sniffed. “I’d rather you left my niece alone, I don’t want her upset.”

  Melody creased her forehead at that. Relations between aunt and niece hadn’t really appeared to be that sympathetic, particularly on Emerald’s side. Besides she didn’t imagine Liv to be the kind of person to be upset over the Beta’s gentle questions.

  Adam folded his massive arms over his chest. “We have no intention of upsetting anyone but do I really need to remind you that a woman, a witch from your own Circle, is missing.”

  Emerald rose imperiously. “I am ordering you to leave my niece alone.”

  Adam stood up. His towering bulk making the room seem tiny. “I told you we can’t do that. You will damn well make sure she is available for questioning.”

  All pretences of good manners had left her. “You stupid dogs, stop pretending you’re trying to find Iris. You don’t care, as far as I’m concerned one of your pack must have killed her. You’re a bunch of animals and you hate us. Who else but one of your pack could have killed Iris?” She had started ranting to the point where she was almost spitting.

  Adam’s wolf roared within him. “My pack have not done anything wrong, how dare you! It was probably one of your witches, how else could they have gotten away without leaving a trace.” Ground out the Alpha. Alec leapt up and placed himself between the two of them.

  “Filthy mutt!” Screeched Emerald.

  “Fucking witch!” Bellowed the Alpha.

  “Get out! Get out of my house! You dirty rotten animal!”

  “With pleasure you evil old hag!”

  Adam stomped toward the front door, it slammed so forcefully that all the windows shook. Emerald strode from the room, the sound of her heels skittered on the stairs, the other occupants of the room apparently forgotten by them.

  Melody stood looking at Alec awkwardly. Alec was staring after his Alpha. Without looking back he said softly, “we still need to speak to Liv.”

  Melody hesitated but only for a second. “I’ll tell her she needs to come and see you.”

  “Thank you.”

  He followed his Alpha. He had expected some kind of flare-up between the two of them, and it was actually less violent than he imagined. No claws, no magic spells, yep it was definitely one of the milder meetings between the Alpha and the leader of the Circle.

  He wanted to care about what had just happened, he wanted to worry about the fall out of it but he couldn’t. All he could think about was the enchanting scent. He wondered why it appealed to him so much.

  Chapter Three

  Alec nursed a beer. Only his second beer of the night. He’d come to Bar Luna with the intention of either getting laid or getting drunk. Neither of the two options really appealed to him at that moment.

  Glancing round the bar he noted his Alpha, a pretty red head was draped over him like a boa constrictor. He noted a few other of his pack members similarly occupied.

  Alec had felt his heightened arousal all day, ever since he had left the boarding house. He had thought that a quick screw would take the edge off. But on entering the bar, his desire had waned. The thought of taking any of these women to bed just didn’t excite him.

  A scantily clad female bobcat shifter sashayed past him winking in his direction. He gave her a half smile but returned his attention back to his beer. He wasn’t a vain man but he knew women found him attractive.

  The bobcat’s perfume tickled his nose. It had a chemical floral scent, but there were hints of vanilla. He thought back to earlier. The intoxicating vanilla scent from the boarding house. Just remembering it made his cock twitch. His wolf had been restless all day, and when realising Alec’s intentions at Bar Luna the wolf had surged forward and tried to force a shift. Alec had managed to calm him and regain control. Just.

  The smell of alcohol, sweat and lust was slowly overpowering the memory of the scent, and it was making him annoyed. It briefly occurred to him that it could mean something. He’d never reacted this way.

  He’d heard stories about true mates who had known the importance of one another by their scents alone. But then he’d also met wolves who had impulsively mated and bonded thinking they had scented their true mate when they hadn’t. When it got close to the full moon wolves became horny, and all scents became more potent to them. A number of his kind had mistaken lust for true love. And the full moon was less than a week away...

  The thought of binding a woman to him wasn’t appealing. In irritation he downed the rest of his beer and signalled for another.

  Kim the manager of Bar Luna, and a fellow pack member, placed a beer in front of him. “Heads up, bunny boiler at one o’ clock.” She cocked her head to the front door.

  Alec groaned as he saw the woman walking towards him. Kim walked away laughing.

  It was Carrie the receptionist at the Sheriff’s station and his sort of secretary. Sort of in that she was supposed to be his secretary but she was so poor that Alec rarely asked her to do anything. She could answer phones and put on a friendly face to the public though. And there was that thing about how Alec had slept with her...

  Carrie had flirted with Alec since she met him, she made no move to hide her interest in him. Alec had kept her at a cool distance until a couple of months ago two nights before a full moon he’d been pretty drunk and not thinking clearly because of the pull of the moon and had taken her to bed. It was one of the biggest mistakes of his life, and he had made a lot of mistakes, but this easily made the top five.

  She had assumed their night together meant that they were dating and had appeared crushed when he told her otherwise. Now every time there was talk of firing her she brought up her perceived injustice at the way she had been treated. Alec, feeling guilty that he hadn’t exactly made it clear to her that it was a one night thing, couldn’t bring himself to get rid of her. She was a pain in the ass and one step away from being a stalker.

  “Alec!” She strutted over and placed a hand on his arm familiarly. She was wearing a short skirt, too short in his opinion, and a very tight t-shirt with a deep v-neck. Carrie was an attractive woman he had to give her that, with dark blonde hair, hazel eyes and puffy pink lips. She was tall with long legs, and although she was very skinny she had large breasts. In looks she was a bit like a barbie doll, although barbie probably has a better personality. Alec wanted to laugh at the thought.

  “Carrie.” He nodded at her curtly before extricating his arm.

  She surveyed the bar and was pleased to see a number of males young and old were giving her appreciative looks, the desire in their eyes was evident. Catching sight of Adam glaring at her she turned back to Alec. Adam hated her and she didn’t know why. Okay so she had tried to seduce Adam once or twice before giving in and moving onto Alec, but shouldn’t she be the one who was offended? She was the one who was rejected!

  Alec could scent the heightened arousal at Carrie’s entrance. He hoped that another male would join them and start flirting with her so he could slip away. Although he feared that the other males were too afraid of him to try anything with ‘his woman’. Even though he had made it emphatically clear that she wasn’t his.

  If he tried to leave her
now she would kick up a fuss and start screeching and hollering at him, she’d start lying saying how they were supposed to get married and that she might be pregnant... She’d done it before. His wolf was agitated enough tonight, if Carried started making a scene he might shift and start tearing the place apart. Or worse start tearing Carrie apart...

  His wolf was on edge, snarling at the physical contact she had tried to initiate. The touch of her hand repulsed him tonight. He didn’t like Carrie but was surprised, he’d never felt sick just from her touch before.

  “So honey, you gonna get me a drink?” She batted her eyelashes at him. He definitely wanted to puke.

  Before he could reply Kim ambled over. “Carrie, you still haven’t settled your tab. It’s been building up for a while now.”

  Carrie’s cheeks flamed red. “I was going to come and see you...” She lied.

  Kim folded her arms. “I need the money Carrie, I can’t let you keep drinking in here until you pay.”

  “I don’t have any to spare right now...” Carried looked at Alec hopefully but he concentrated on his beer pretending he wasn’t listening.

  Kim’s stance softened and regarded her not unkindly. “Why don’t we work out a payment plan then? Come on back to my office and we’ll talk.”

  “Ummm...” Kim came out from behind the bar and started pulling a reluctant Carrie with her. Carrie cast Alec a look of longing and Kim winked at him. God bless her.

  Not wanting to be around when Carrie returned Alec downed the rest of his beer and slapped a twenty on the bar. Nodding goodbye to a few pack members he headed out into the cool night air. His senses alive at the memory of that delicious scent.

  *

  Liv tossed and turned. Her bed was lumpy. Her pillows were too thin. Her quilt was too thick. The ticking of the clock was too loud. Everything was against her going to sleep.

  She had been tense all day, ever since the Sheriff had visited. He had been in her home. He had been so close that she could have just about reached out and touched him.

  Her body flushed remembering him. He was taller than she thought, he would tower over her five foot frame. And so broad too. Just about two of her would make up the width of his massive chest. And she was not an overly small woman. He oozed power, almost as much as the Alpha. Where the Alpha had an easygoing power that washed over people, Alec’s was a barely restrained ‘hit you over the head to make you comply’ type of deal.

  But oh his eyes! She never would have thought so before, but his eyes were his best feature, which was saying something when you considered all his other features. They exuded a fierce intelligence as well a primal hunger. God how she wanted him to see her, how she wanted to be captivated by those eyes.

  She wondered where he was right now... Probably in Bar Luna getting dry humped by some random woman.

  She suddenly felt very cold and alone. She pulled the pink covers around her more tightly. Well it was her own fault if she was alone wasn’t it? She wasn’t perfect but she was pretty enough to be noticed. If she wanted to be with a man why didn’t she just put on something tight and revealing and flaunt herself at Bar Luna like all the other girls did. She winced at the thought of her aunt Emerald’s reaction to that.

  She had been on dates before, well two. One with a teacher’s aide from the local school who she had met through her friend Terri, he had spent the night hinting that perhaps she ought to order a salad and no dessert, that was when he wasn’t ogling the tall, trim black haired waitress. Terri had been almost spitting when she found out. The other was with Devon, a red wolf shifter who was part of the pack her friend Ed belonged to. They were twenty minutes into the date when they both realised that neither was attracted to the other. They both relaxed and then actually started to enjoy each other’s company.

  Of course both of those had happened before she spotted him. Alec Hart. Sheriff Alec Hart.

  It was almost a year ago now; she’d been at the library. She was sitting in the second floor window seat reading a murder mystery. It was a dull book and she almost didn’t care whether the murderer actually got caught or not. She looked out the window and there he was. He was stood chatting to the Alpha Adam outside the Sheriff’s station. She had seen Adam before but never spoke to him; he had visited the boarding house to speak to aunt Emerald on a couple of occasions. Speak was putting it mildly, they always had blazing rows about the Circle encroaching on pack land and vice versa.

  She couldn’t hear what the two men had been saying but they both seemed to be smiling and laughing. And god when he smiled it was blinding! Just looking at him made her whole body hum. His uniform looked like it had been painted on, it showed every muscle of his heavenly body. Her own body had become so warm she had run out of the library as quickly as possible for fear of spontaneously combusting.

  After a few discreet enquiries, well after asking Terri, she had found out who and what he was. She was a little daunted to hear that he was a wolf, and a Beta no less. After all they were supposed to be the enemy and everything – well according to aunt Emerald. But that didn’t deter her lust. After all, surely there was no harm in quietly lusting after him?

  Every chance she got she would sit at the second floor window hoping for a glimpse of him. She wasn’t brave – or stupid – enough to actively follow him around. As a wolf he would have noticed her in a heartbeat. She wasn’t exactly built for stealth. She dreaded the thought that he would laugh at her and dismiss her for being a love struck child.

  Now, after carefully watching him for almost a year she was absolutely in love with him.

  What wasn’t there to love? He was tall, good looking, kind, clever, charming... God he was just so damn perfect. Yes, he was - so why would he waste time with a dumpy little virgin witch like her?

  He made her insides clench with warm anticipation at the thought of having him inside of her, the thought of any other man made her want to retch.

  She had never really meant to save her virginity, it had just sort of happened through lack of options. She wasn’t the kind of girl men really asked out. Maybe she should just bite the bullet and try to be with another man. There was no way Alec would be interested in her after all. She should stop mooning and try to go out and be around men, maybe if she got drunk and had a one night stand... Surely once they got started the urge to vomit would be easy to ignore. Although just thinking about doing anything so crude had already made her want to retch.

  Yes, she was attracted to Alec. Yes, he made her heart flutter and her nipples harden, and made her wet between the legs and the thought of his enormous penis, so obvious through his tight uniform, made her want to rip off his clothes... okay she had lost her train of thought.

  He was out of reach, she knew that. He could have any woman he wanted and pretty much already had. She’s seen him with over a dozen women. Each time it was like a giant stab to her heart.

  She kicked the covers off her. She had become hot and angry at the thought of him being with other women.

  If he could go around screwing every woman that moved, then surely she could be with someone too right? Tomorrow she would get out there and put herself forward. No more of the shy little witch, she was determined to get over him and move on. It was that simple. She sighed and tried to visualise a weight being lifted off her heart. Hopefully thinking about it would make it true. Tomorrow she was going to move on. Yes definitely tomorrow... or maybe the day after.

  She closed her eyes and slowly drifted to sleep, visions of his handsome face taunting her. God why was life so hard.

  Chapter Four

  12th September

  Alec sniffed the air. The scent from the boarding house. The scent of vanilla. The scent that had been driving almost wild was here. His scent.

  His wolf danced around wagging his tail. He immediately dropped the file he was reading and strode out of his office almost ploughing into Gabe in the process.

  “Whoa man where’s the fire?”

  Alec ignored h
im but forced himself to walk more slowly. He followed the exhilarating scent through to the front desk and that’s when he saw her... an angel.

  The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen stood before him. His heart and his wolf stood still at the sight of her. It was her scent, it was her that had been driving him crazy. His wolf howled with happiness. His woman. Their mate.

  He don’t know how long he stared at her but he wanted to drink in every single detail of her, to ingrain her in his memory so that the moment he met his mate could remain with him forever. His whole body was alive with need and desire for her.

  She was tiny. Barely even five feet tall. She was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a t-shirt that hugged but didn’t cling to her generous curvy frame, accentuating her rounded hips and ample breasts. Her skin was creamy and smooth. Her light blonde hair fell in large curls to her shoulders. She smiled at him, dimpling her pink cheeks and making her sapphire blue eyes sparkle. God, but she truly was an angel.

  Liv gulped. She’d felt nervous coming here anyway, given that her aunt had specifically told her, well screamed at her, not to. But now the Sheriff was staring at her with a hard look on his face. The object of her desire, and literally the man of her rather x-rated dreams was staring at her. She tried to smile to set him at ease, but he seemed to tense up even more at that. She took a moment to really take him in, she’d only ever seen him from afar but up close he truly was a work of art.

  His eyes were even more beautiful than she thought, they were a honeyed brown colour and so deep. His broad shoulders and wide chest were packed full of muscles barely contained by his brown Sheriff’s uniform. She could just reach out and trace every single muscle. She held onto her purse strap tightly in case the urge to do so became too much to resist. He must have stood at least six feet three tall, more than a foot taller than her. He had thick light brown hair worn just long enough for a woman to rake her fingers through...

  Suddenly he thrust out his hand in Liv’s direction and she almost darted backwards in surprise. “Alec Hart, Sheriff, and you are?”