I looked at him now, clothed only in the thick white robe. His gorgeous chest was displayed by the partially open garment and once again I began to crave him, even as all the other emotions subsided.
“We need to get through this, you and I,” I said. “We need to get to the end. Somehow. I can’t leave here.”
“None of that was your fault, not last night, not today. I’ll see to it that you’re not punished or kicked off the show. And they won’t fire me. For one thing, I’m the only person around here who can do this job.”
“Whoever thought up the idea of a reality show featuring a giant wolf shifter must have been a lunatic.”
“You know where that word comes from, don’t you? Lunatic? From the notion that changes in the moon cause temporary insanity. Fitting.”
“Seriously.”
He put a hand on my cheek now. “You’re my moon. You make me nuts.”
“And you’re mine.”
Ten:
Genetics
In the afternoon I was told by Susan, the co-producer I’d met in Louiston, that from now on she would be conducting my interviews. I wasn’t even remotely surprised. Craig seemed so threatened by Tristan that I preferred to avoid further incidents; it wasn’t worth risking Tristan’s life or job, regardless of how much I wanted to be near him.
I didn’t speak to Julia about her date until later, after the chattering about the fight had let up.
“So, how was it last night?” I asked.
“It was pretty funny. We went for dinner and dancing, which isn’t so intimate with cameras around, as you can imagine. And Craig has two---or four—left feet.”
“Oh? No Fred Astaire?”
“Hardly. He’s about as smooth on the dance floor as he is in person. But I got a kiss, which is what I was after. And he’s keeping me around another week, so I can thank you for that.”
“Good. I don’t think I want to lose you, particularly now.”
“I don’t know what you mean, but I assume that it has something to do with the sparring match this morning?”
“Craig insulted me and Tristan got angry.”
“Really? You’re going to sit here and act like that’s all that happened?”
“For now, yes. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” I wanted nothing more than to protect Tristan, even from Julia’s curious mind.
“Just be careful, honey. What happened this morning wasn’t horseplay; those two were ready to kill each other. If you’d gotten in the middle…”
“I think I already am in the middle,” I said quietly. “Anyhow, tonight’s elimination. I’m glad you and I are both safe.”
“Me too.”
That evening we had our second dismissal ceremony. Craig showed up at the house to mingle and drink with the ladies. The first thing he did was take me aside, and I was glad as I got a chance to look at his wound. Tristan had gotten a good swipe in and, though the makeup artists had done their best to cover it up, his face wasn’t quite so pretty now. I was proud of the man I was growing to love.
“I wanted to talk to you,” the alpha said. The cameras were on us, and I wondered what he could possibly say without revealing to the world that something was happening between the producer and me. There was absolutely no way that Craig would allow anyone to think his position was being usurped by a lesser wolf or man.
I sat down next to him when Craig summoned me over to a bench, my body language dictating my disgust as I stayed as far away as I could.
“Could we try that again?” asked a cameraman. “And this time, sit nearer to him, Nikki.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled. We redid the take, and I sidled up far closer to the alpha than I wanted to.
“I find myself feeling very strongly for you, Nikki,” said Craig, insincerity oozing out of every pore. “I want you around at the end. But I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
I looked at him, trying to figure out his game. Why would he want me around when I’d shown him such a lack of respect, regard, interest?
“Of course we’re on the same page,” I said, smiling sweetly. “I don’t want to leave here, ever.” I meant the last bit, anyhow.
“Good. I really like you, Nikki.”
“I’m glad,” was the most I could muster. That was the end of our conversation.
The dismissal ceremony saw the departure of two women. I got the impression that the powers that be were attempting now to accelerate the show’s progress, to get to the end more quickly. The question was whether that was Tristan’s or Craig’s doing.
I hardly saw Tristan that evening; only through the odd doorway for a second at a time. I could tell that he’d been issued strict orders to stay away from me, and I knew that he’d adhere to the rules as long as he could stand to do so. I hated it, but at least I knew he was safe.
After we’d said our saccharine good-byes to the departing women, neither of whom I’d ever really spoken with, John Stone gathered the ten remaining candidates around.
“We have a special surprise for you tomorrow,” he said. “We’re heading into the woods, as a group. We’re going to meet with Craig’s---and my---pack.”
Ooohs and aaahs filled the room. A pack of sexy man-wolves is enough to get any woman excited, after all.
“If you’re lucky enough to end up being Craig’s mate, you’ll need to know your way around shifters. Interacting with a pack of wolves isn’t for the faint of heart. They hunt, they protect, they kill. And they fight.”
The last sentence was odd; were we going to watch wolves go at one another? My curiosity was piqued, but I hoped that Tristan wasn’t to be involved in any of it. If some other young wolf wanted to get into it with Craig, so be it.
The next day a stretch SUV came to pick the remaining women up and brought us into the mountains. We didn’t know where we were going, but my assumption was that the pack’s headquarters would be in the woods. After driving for about a half hour, the driver turned down a dirt road leading into the forest, which went on for a couple of miles, taking us deep into the undergrowth.
Finally he pulled up next to a large, very rustic-looking log cabin. It was dark and ancient-looking, and its only particularly distinctive feature was the front door, which was enormous. My assumption was that it was designed to accommodate the giant wolves who would be using it.
We got out of the vehicle one by one. We’d been told to wear sensible clothing, suitable for the outdoors, and I had on track pants and a t-shirt topped with a light hoodie. My hair was tied back in a ponytail. Of course, the sensible thing didn’t extend to our makeup which was as immaculately applied as ever.
As we stood outside facing the cabin with the camera crews around us, the door opened and a large, light brown wolf padded out. I hadn’t seen him before. He was handsome, but not as large as either Tristan or Craig; he was thinner and less muscular-looking.
As he stood before us, two crew members approached him with a silk robe and wrapped it around his body before he shifted into human form. It was John Stone.
Quickly they covered him, tying the robe in the front with a belt.
“Hello, ladies.”
“Hi, John.” By now we were experts at replying in unison.
“Today you meet Craig’s pack. Normally on shows such as this one the important meetings involve family members, but this wolf pack is essentially Craig’s family. As such he wants to see you interact with them. There will be some challenges in place for you today, as you can imagine, and they won’t all be social.
“Our entire crew is made up of shifters, but since we need them to film, you’ll only be meeting the ones who aren’t working on the show. And here they are.”
With that, wolf after wolf emerged from the house until at least a dozen had come out. Each was enormous and distinctive from his packmates. They ranged in colour from black to blond to white, each striking in his own way.
I felt apprehension from the women around me, though Julia seemed calm a
s always. For my part I only felt curious; the wolves had never worried me and the shifting had never seemed to phase me. The only issue I had with them was their seeming desire to kill one another, but even that appeared to be a simple instinct; part of their natures, and they didn’t seem to fear it so why should I? The animal within me was learning to understand and even embrace the will to protect, to fight, to vanquish. I wondered still if I was imagining it, a wolf inside me; if it would one day manifest itself in the form of a transformation on my part.
Members of the wardrobe staff emerged again with robes for each man. So this was to be a sort of pajama party in which we’d chat with strong males clad only in thin robes. This would be interesting indeed.
To my surprise, when the wolves shifted a few were female. They were as striking and beautiful as the men were handsome, and all seemed to be powerful in their own way. One of them reminded me of myself, even. She was a big girl with large, bright eyes. Her wolf form, however, was sleek and powerful. I wondered if she had a different perception of her human body because her shifted form was so elegant. I decided to talk to her first.
Her name was Kyla and she was friendly, though I got the impression that there was a wariness in her. The cameras seemed to annoy her a little and now and then I felt her tense when they came close.
“What does it feel like to shift?” I asked her.
“It hurts, I won’t lie. The first time it happened I was about eighteen. It was terrifying. But you get used to it. At first your body aches like anything, as you can imagine. But there’s something really liberating about getting to run as a wolf.”
“I’ll bet there is.”
“I’m glad to see you here, you know,” she said quietly. “You’re a proper woman. Thank God there’s at least one of you.”
I smiled. I liked her. I looked around and noticed that Julia was making friends with a very handsome male, and it occurred to me that this may have been a bad idea on the part of the producers; these men were very attractive indeed, and the women were horny.
“Listen,” I said to Kyla under my breath, “What can you tell me about Craig? Why is he the alpha?”
“That’s a good question,” she said. I immediately got the impression that she wasn’t a fan. “He shouldn’t be, you know.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The fight was thrown---the fight they had to determine who was going to be the leader. It wasn’t right.”
I took Kyla by the arm and led her to the side of the cabin, away from cameras and microphones. I was shocked by this news.
“What do you mean, thrown?”
“Tristan was up for the position. The whole pack thought he should be alpha. Every single one of us.”
“And why isn’t he?”
“It’s hard to explain; you’d have to ask him. But what I can tell you is that every shifter has instincts and Tristan is a protector. Craig is more an aggressor; he’s confrontational and controlling. Tristan thought that was better in an alpha because it means he can defend the pack without hesitation. But what he didn’t realize is that Craig is totally scatterbrained and irresponsible. I’m sure you know that by now. Tristan is focused, and his protective instinct would have served the pack well. But when the time came he gave the fight to Craig because he thought the pack would be better for it.”
“And you’re not better, I take it?”
“Not really. No one’s really happy about this, and I think Tristan regrets the whole thing now but it’s too late.”
“What would have to happen for Tristan to become the alpha?”
“Well, the rules dictate that they’d have to fight in front of the pack, or at least enough of the pack to approve the result. Tristan could challenge Craig again, but it would all have to be done formally, and the pack would have to vote on the outcome. But Tristan’s too protective of Craig to do that to him and take away his power.”
“I wonder why,” I said.
“It’s just how he is. He looks after people and he’s loyal. He’s a good man, our Tristan.”
“Yes, he is,” I said.
Kyla smiled at me now. “You like him a lot, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I do.”
John gathered the candidates after we’d spent about half an hour chatting with pack members. He’d changed into a stuffy TV host suit by now.
“Ladies, it’s time for today’s challenge. If you’ll follow me behind the cabin I’ll tell you what you need to do.”
Julia walked over to me, rubbing her hands together. “This is going to be good. I just know it,” she said, a glint in her eye that reminded me of the look I’d seen on Tristan’s face before he’d pulled me into the pool.
Behind the cabin was a circular clearing. To its side was a sort of rack containing helmets and items that looked a little like wooden broom handles with cushions attached to either end.
“Ladies, today you’re going to learn what it is to be a wolf fighting for supremacy. Of course, we shifters have large teeth and claws, and we wouldn’t want you biting each other” (snickers from the crowd) “but we’ll get you geared up and tell you the rules for the fight ahead.”
I wondered how nervous the fake-boobed women were. Even if the weapons were heavily padded, I imagined that you could do some serious damage to implants with them.
We were told to use what they’d aptly named “clobbering sticks,” but to avoid hitting faces and breasts (which was a disappointment for me). They paired us up with opponents and the winner of each match would move on to fight someone else.
My first fight was against Joanna. I was somewhat pissed off at her for having ratted Tristan and me out for our frolicking in the pool, but I wasn’t about to unleash some sort of primordial fury on her. Just, I hoped, enough to win.
Julia went first, against a woman called Jacqueline. I had no doubt that my good friend could beat anyone here; she was clever as well as feisty.
Her fight lasted only about thirty seconds. Jacqueline was clearly terrified of pain and I thought at one point that I saw her pull her weapon to the side to allow Julia to hit her flat across the stomach, which was an automatic disqualification. I only hoped that all the fights would be so easy.
When the time came for me to fight Joanna, I tested a strategy that involved being a defensive fighter. I was quick for my size, and managed to block each shot and then to swat her in the belly when her guard went down. She took the defeat fairly well, at least.
After we’d each fought and narrowed the field to five, Julia had to fight Brittany, who somehow managed to take her out while blocking her own expensive chest from attack. I must admit that I was surprised to see how athletic Brittany actually was. She dodged and blocked each blow with seeming ease and finally caught Julia in the brief moment when she’d lifted her weapon to swing it. I was almost glad; if I was going to have to fight again I preferred for it not to be against my best friend among the women.
I fought Bree next, and it was another easy match. My aggression was beginning to come out as I realized that I could win the whole tournament, and when Bree saw the look in my eyes it only took a second for her to back away. I had no desire to injure her but I felt something like bloodlust erupt within me as the large men and women of the pack surrounded us. I wanted to be accepted among Tristan’s ilk, to show them what I could do.
Finally it was down to Brittany and me. I looked at her from across the ring and saw in her face a look of determination, and I knew she meant business. She already hated me and there was no way she’d give in and allow what she regarded as an inferior woman to beat her; it would be the worst fate imaginable to a person of her breed. In that regard she was an awful lot like Craig.
I, on the other hand, was determined in my own way to win. There was no way I was giving anyone the chance to push me out of the house.
As I stood considering my strategy, Julia pulled up next to me.
“She’s quick, so don’t expose any sensitive bits to her. And
for God’s sake, beat the living shit out of her.”
“I will. At least I’ll try. Seems that Brittany’s competitive side is stronger than I’d even thought.”
“Yeah, I’m a little surprised by how hard she’s fighting to stay here. Of course, she’s probably just looking for more airtime.”
I knew that it would be an uphill battle, and I fuelled my desire to win by thinking of the catty comments Brittany had made over the last several days. It was clear that she thought I was unattractive and that I shouldn’t have been in the house in the first place. I wouldn’t be surprised, I thought, if she were the one ultimately responsible for the separation between Tristan and me. She and Joanna seemed to have a fairly tight friendship and it seemed just like her to rat me out to Craig.
As I contemplated this last theory I grew angry, my resolve replaced by something like bubbling rage.
John gave us the signal to enter the ring and I moved in slowly, stalking Brittany as a panther might stalk its prey. I could see immediately that she was confused by my lack of aggression; her technique had thus far involved waiting for the attacker to come to her, then swatting them as soon as she had a chance.
But I was going to make her come to me. I suspected that she’d hate for me to control the situation.
And she did.
It was always hard to read the expression on Brittany’s face, but, her eyes denoted a sort of angry frustration that filled me with satisfaction. I wasn’t giving her what she wanted, and she was very unaccustomed to not getting her way.
“That’s it,” I thought. “Come to me, you nasty piece of work.”
Finally, after what seemed like minutes, Brittany did just that. She lunged at me, crying out and striking at me with the wooden shaft of her weapon. I blocked her easily, a hand holding each end of my own. We repeated this process several times over, each time with her being forced to take the initiative and strike a blow. I could see her face going red again, betraying her anger. There was no question that she was set on winning, and there was no way I could let her.
Winning the Alpha Page 9
