Alpha Blood Box Set (BBW Werewolf / Shifter Romance)

by Mac Flynn

  “So why does Leonor hate Stevens that bad?” I wondered.

  “Stevens took Stacy away when she reached maturity and educated her himself. Leonor never quite forgave him for doing that, but she still wanted to remain friends with her adopted daughter’s husband. Stevens refused to let Leonor near the house, so Stacy snuck out and visited her. There was a big fight when he found out, and they’ve never forgiven each other.”

  At the end of his tale my mouth was open and my head tilted to one side. “What details didn’t you learn?” I asked him.

  Luke sheepishly shrugged and smiled. “That was pretty detailed, wasn’t it?”

  “Um, yeah. I don’t think the village gossip could have given better detail,” I replied. At that moment there was a great crash from the apartment and something went flying over the desk. Luke pushed me to the floor and covered his body with mine as half the merchandise fell on top of us. We whipped our heads over to the crash-landed thing and found it was a wolf in Stacy’s clothing. It snarled, dove over the desk and back into the trouble in the back room. “You think maybe this might attract unwanted attention?” I pointed out.

  Luke pursed his lips and nodded. “I think you may be right,” he agreed. He stood and helped me up, then scurried around the desk and into the apartment. In a moment he returned, but stumbling backwards as though he’d been pushed. His back knocked into the desk and he scowled at the beaded doorway. I hurried over to his side, but didn’t see any marks.

  “I’m guessing they don’t care,” I guessed.

  “They’re working out a lot of pent-up aggression,” he replied.

  “Is that another way of saying they’re really mad at each other?” I mused.

  “Yep.”

  “So what do we do? Wait for them to tear the whole place apart?” I suggested.

  “I’d rather not, but two female wolves in blood lust are two too much for me to handle in that packed a room,” he told me.

  I grinned. “Then what about a female helping you?”

  He looked at me and smiled. “That might not be such a bad idea. Get transformed and we’ll get in there.”

  “All right, here goes.” I closed my eyes and focused on the picture of me as a werewolf. Those sharp fangs, the long claws, that vicious howl, those damn puffy bits of fur springing from my cheeks. I felt the fur pop out first, followed by the changes I actually wanted. My hands lengthened and my knees turned backwards for ease of traveling on all fours. I stooped over and felt my clothes rip and fall to the floor. I opened my eyes and saw the world with a vision so bright and sharp that I could see the termites climbing the wood walls. “Leonor needs to fumigate this place,” I commented. My voice was now a deep growling sound. I looked to Luke and saw that he was transformed beside me.

  “We’ll have to tell her later. Right now let’s get them back to their senses,” he advised me.

  We dove into the room and found the place a mess. There wasn’t a pillow with its stuffing intact, the small table was overturned, and the curtains were pulled down. In the middle stood two full wolves ten yards apart. They snarled at each other and leapt at each other, but Luke jumped forward and slammed his heavier body into their heads. They were shoved into the far wall, but sprang up like indestructible toy clowns, the ones with the rounded bottoms.

  Luke sprang at Stacy while I took Leonor. She fought like a wild cat-er, dog, and I got my share of bites and scratches from her. We tumbled head over tail in one corner of the room while Luke wrestled Stacy in the other. Stacy’s voice broke through the noise. “What in the world are you doing, Luke? Get the hell off me!” she growled.

  “And get off me!” Leonor demanded. Her voice was even, but angry.

  Luke and I scuttled back and bumped backs in the center of the room, each looking in confusion at our opponents. “What do you mean what are we doing?” Luke asked her. “We’re trying to get you two to stop fighting.”

  “And destroying the building’s foundations,” I added.

  Stacy and Leonor looked at us with blinking eyes, and then they burst out laughing in a strange, guttural way. Stacy shook her head. “We weren’t fighting for real. This is what we always do after we haven’t seen each other for a while,” she told us. She glanced around the room and sheepishly smiled. “Though I admit sometimes we get carried away with the performance.”

  Luke and I glanced at each other, then back to Stacy. “Did Luke hit you too hard?” I wondered.

  Stacy sat on her hunches and transformed into her human self sans clothing. She grabbed a fallen curtain and wrapped it around herself before Luke celebrated her birthday suit. “I’m fine, and so is Leonor. This is just our way of greeting each other.”

  “By tearing each other to pieces?” Luke argued.

  “By getting a good fight going. It eases the muscles and joints in me,” Leonor spoke up. She transformed back and I was forever grateful when I found she was wearing one of those expensive elastic clothes. I wondered if the creepy antique business was really that lucrative. “But now you’ve ruined it and I don’t feel like starting over.”

  “That’s all right, Leonor. I think you nearly bit my ear off,” Stacy laughed. “Now about those costumes.”

  20

  Leonor rolled her eyes, but there was a ghost of a smile on her lips. “You’re stubborn like your father, you know that?”

  “And I’d like to think I’m stubborn like my mother, and you know where she got her stubbornness,” Stacy added.

  Leonor scoffed. “Probably from that no-good son of mine. He wanted me to go to that ball with him, but I told him he only invited me because it was a masked one and nobody would see my face around his group.”

  “Who’s your son?” I asked her.

  Leonor waved off the question. “Just some lout who thinks he’s a big shot.”

  “What did you say when he asked you about going to the ball?” Stacy wondered.

  “I said I wouldn’t go, but that was before I heard you were going. Now I’ll go just to keep you and your friends out of trouble. Especially where my son is concerned.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow. “What about your son?” he asked her.

  Stacy stepped forward and quickly patted Luke on the shoulder. “It’s nothing, he’s just a little rowdy, that’s all.” She looked to Leonor. “The costumes?” she pleaded.

  “All right, all right, just let me get some of these kinks out.” She rubbed her neck and looked at me with a newfound respect. “I must admit this lady’s got a hell of a butt with her head.”

  “It’s the hardest part of my body,” I quipped.

  “Leonor,” Stacy warned.

  “Oh, very well.” Leonor toddled to the overturned chest, righted it, and opened the lid. She rummaged inside and pulled out five parcels wrapped in brown paper. “These should do the trick with those costumes.” She tossed them in front of Luke, who skittered back and growled. Leonor ignored him and went over to a linen cabinet against the wall behind Stacy. It was a wonder it was still standing, though covered in pillow stuffings. She knelt down and opened one of the doors to reveal piles of hat boxes. Five of those were pulled out and tossed in Luke’s direction. “That’s what you’ll need for your ball,” she told us.

  Stacy walked over to her adopted grandmother and gave her a big hug. “Thank you so much, Leonor. You have no idea how much we appreciate this.”

  “I might get a good idea tomorrow night, but try not to wreck the place,” Leonor requested.

  Stacy smiled. “We’ll try, but there’s a lot of trouble around us right now.”

  “You mean with those ugly rumors?” Leonor guessed. Stacy glumly nodded, and Leonor waved her hand. “Fiddlesticks. You don’t care about what they’re saying. Just walk your own path knowing you lived it.”

  “You’re a lifesaver, Leonor,” Stacy complimented.

  “Bah.” Leonor stooped and picked up a handful of pillow stuffing. “Now get out while I fix this mess. Our greeting fights always turn this
place upside down.”

  Luke nodded down at his ragged clothes over his muscled body. “Could I change before we leave?” he pleaded.

  Stacy laughed. “Why not? We wouldn’t want you scaring children with that getup.”

  “I’ll second that request,” I chimed in. My borrowed clothes were tatters on my furry form.

  “All right, but hurry it up,” Leonor agreed.

  Luke and I borrowed Leonor’s bedroom, transformed into our human selves, and dressed in our new clothes. I was glad to have clothes that didn’t smell like wood sap or manure. Mid-change I glanced over at Luke. He had his shirt off and his rippled muscles flowed beneath his tight skin. It was enough to get me hot. Luke paused, sniffed the air, and turned to me with a sly grin on his face. “Focus,” he teased.

  “I am focusing, just not on what I should be,” I countered.

  “Do you really want to try anything here?” he pointed out.

  I glanced around the dingy, dark room with its small, ruffled bed of worn blankets and the floor a mess of dust and hair. “You’re right, you should focus,” I replied.

  “Me?” he argued.

  “Yes, you. You’re distracting me, now be a good boy and get on your clothes,” I commanded him. He shook his head, but the smile stayed on his lips and we both dressed. We walked out and found Stacy had dressed out there. Some of the place had even been cleaned of the pillow stuffings.

  “All right, Leonor, time to say goodbye,” Stacy told her adopted grandmother.

  “But I’ll see you tomorrow night?” Leonor asked her.

  “Of course, but you better be ready to dance with me,” Stacy teased.

  The old woman straightened her small stature and puffed out her chest. “These old bones could dance all night.”

  Stacy smiled and gave Leonor a hug. “Good. Until tomorrow.”

  “Until tomorrow, Stazia.”

  We piled the boxes into our arms and walked out to the alley above the stairs. Stacy led us through the maze back to her apartment, but before we got there Luke sidled up to her. “You haven’t told us why you wanted to go there rather than a costume shop,” Luke reminded her.

  “You mean besides for the sane company?” Stacy quipped.

  “That’s debatable, but yes,”

  “It’s because of Leonor’s son,” Stacy admitted. “He’s pretty important to our plans and I wanted to make sure he was going to that ball.”

  “Who’s her son?” I asked her.

  “Oh, just Callean,” she revealed. Luke and I stopped and gaped at Stacy. She walked a few feet ahead and turned back to us. “What? Didn’t you know, Luke?”

  He shook his head. “No,” he replied.

  “I guess that’s the details you didn’t know about Leonor’s story,” I teased.

  Stacy shrugged. “Well, he is. Callean’s his father’s last name, but he was raised by Leonor until he was fifteen. Then he went out and made his fortune in the gang world,” she explained to us.

  A smile slipped onto Luke’s face. “So this is how you’re going to guarantee he’ll help us rescue your father? Get his mom to convince him or she’ll spank him?” he guessed.

  Stacy grinned. “It’s a good angle, but if he’s half as stubborn as his mother then we’ll have quite the battle.”

  “Have you ever met him?” I asked her.

  “Only once, before my mother passed away. He visited Leonor at the same time we did. At that point he was a mid-level thug for one of the local gangs, so my mother and I didn’t really make his full acquaintance,” she told me. She sighed and ran her hand through her frazzled hair. “But that’s enough talk for now. Let’s get back to my apartment. Leonor’s greeting fights pack a punch, and I could use a lot of comfort food and a long nap.”

  Alas, that wasn’t quite how our return trip went. I expected us to wander to the dingy part of town again, but instead Stacy led us to an old, clean residential street with large houses and lawns. At the end I could see a small park surrounded by thick bushes and tall, old trees. She slowed her pace so we caught up to her, and she dropped her voice to a whisper. “We have followers,” she told us.

  I half turned to look behind us, but Luke straightened me. “Don’t look. We want them to follow us,” he whispered.

  I sniffed the air, but came up empty. “But I don’t smell anyone,” I argued.

  “Which guarantees they’re one of Lance’s followers,” Luke replied.

  “How many are there?” I asked them.

  “Only the one. She must be a scout,” Stacy replied.

  “A girl?” I wondered.

  “Men aren’t the only ones fooled by Lance’s words,” Luke commented. “Let’s get to the park and-”

  “Way ahead of you,” Stacy interrupted him. She quickened her pace and we kept up so we all reached the park in a minute.

  Stacy walked through an arch created by the thick bushes and quickly stepped aside. She yanked against her while Luke took the other side and set the packages on the ground beside him. I held my breath and listened as a pair of light-stepping feet hurried after us. A girl of about eighteen rushed through the arch and Luke grabbed her. She screamed, but Luke slapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her behind his bushes. Stacy and I crowded around our terrified captive.

  “I’m going to let my hand off your mouth, but one scream and I knock you out cold,” Luke threatened her. He removed his hand and the girl let out a terrified, but quiet, gasp of breath. “Who told you to follow us?” he questioned her.

  “T-the Captains,” the girl replied.

  “Captains of what?” Luke persisted.

  A strange glint of anger slipped onto her face, but in a moment it was replaced by the fear. “Haven’t you ever heard of the Captains of the Alpha Patrol?”

  “No, who are they?” Luke asked her.

  “Just the most powerful werewolves in the world.” She puffed up with pride that was slightly deflated when Luke growled. “They work for Lance. They put up pictures of her and told us to follow her and see where she goes.” The girl indicated Stacy as the target.

  “How far have you followed us, and how do you not have a scent?” Luke asked her.

  “J-just a couple of blocks, I swear it,” she told us.

  “And the lack of scent?” he repeated.

  She reached into her mouth and pulled out a stick of purple gum. It had the same elasticity as the goop Alston had given Abby and me in the caves near Sanctuary. “I got this stuff from them. Just a little chewing and I’m invisible.”

  “Are these Captains trying to find out about the Underground?” Stacy spoke up.

  The girl shook her head. “N-no, they just wanted to know where you were. That’s all I know, I swear it!”

  Stacy sighed and looked to Luke. “Should we believe her?” she asked him.

  “Not quite,” he replied. He pulled her at arm’s length away from him and knocked his fist hard against the back of her head. Her eyes rolled back and she crumpled unconscious to the ground.

  I scowled at him. “Did you have to do that?” I growled.

  “Yes,” was his firm answer.

  “I have to agree with Becky. That was very harsh of you,” Stacy spoke up.

  Luke knelt down and pulled up the girl’s long sleeve. He revealed a tattoo around her arm in the shape and color of the red armbands. Luke glanced up at us. “Would a casual member of the Alpha party have a tattoo?” he countered.

  “Maybe she liked the color,” I argued.

  Luke tossed back her sleeve and stood. “She mentioned Captains of the Alpha Patrol. I would venture to guess she knows them more intimately than she made us believe. We should take her with us, and it’s easier to do that if she’s unconscious.”

  I gasped when the girl’s eyes shot open and she sprang forward. She landed a dozen yards from us, and spun on her heels with her eyes flashing with fire. Her frightened face was replaced with one full of brash cockiness. She blew a bubble from the piece of gum in her mo
uth and smirked at us. “You’ve got a good hit. Better than I thought you would,” she complimented us. “But I suppose someone who killed Alston would be like that.”

  “Never underestimate your enemy, but I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,” Luke returned.

  The girl shrugged. “We haven’t, but you’ll know me now. The name’s Emily, and don’t underestimate me just because I’m a girl.”

  I tilted my head and blinked. “Emily? That’s not exactly terrifying,” I quipped.

  The girl scowled at me. “Who’s asking you?”

  “Who sent you? Was it Cranston?” Luke demanded to know.

  Emily turned her nose up. “Cranston doesn’t order me anywhere. Besides, I’ve told you enough to get you scared, and you’re wanting to know more?”

  I rolled my eyes. “We’re shaking in our boots,” I quipped.

  “Will you shut up?” she growled. Luke took advantage of the distraction to jump at her, but she dodged his arms and rounded a kick into the side of his face. He went sprawling onto the grass, but caught himself mid-roll and righted himself on all fours. “I said don’t underestimate me!” she snapped.

  Stacy took a chance and lunged at the girl. She grabbed Emily from behind and pinned her arms to her sides. “How far did you follow us?” she questioned the girl.

  Emily smirked. “Far enough that you should worry.” Then she kicked back her leg in an arch that allowed her foot to connect with Stacy’s back. Stacy was knocked off balance, and Emily broke from her grasp and grabbed her arm. Emily swung her around and let go. Stacy was flung into Luke’s arms, and Emily half turned from us. “Just remember the name. It’s Emily.” I didn’t have my chance to get my butt kicked because she took off across the park and in a few seconds was out of sight.

  Stacy looked to Luke, who’s lips were pursed together. “What do you think that was about?”

  “I think we’ve met one of those Captains,” he guessed. “Let’s get the costumes and get back to the apartment before we meet any more of them.”