by Lia Davis
Claimed by the Alpha
Shifters of Ashwood Falls, Book 13
Lia Davis
Claimed by the Alpha
Shifters of Ashwood Falls, Book 13
© 2020 Lia Davis
Published by Davis Raynes Publishing Group, LLC
PO Box 224
Middleburg, Fl. 32050
Cover Art by Glowing Moon Designs
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
www.AuthorLiaDavis.com
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Shifters of Ashwood Falls Series
The Collective World
About Lia Davis
Also by Lia Davis
Prologue
The attack on MoonRiver
Betrayal.
It cut deep but not deeper than when the betrayer was the person you trusted with your life.
It damn sure wasn’t a word that Luna Raines would associate with her mate. For months, she had visions of an attack that would destroy MoonRiver. The images weren’t clear at first. All she saw was death and blood. She told Royce---her betraying bastard of a mate—but he played it off, saying the den was secure and strong enough to take on whatever was coming.
But the visions never stopped. Every night, her dreams were plagued with pieces of the attack. Then that morning clarity slammed into her in the form of the most painful vision she’d had—both physically and emotionally. There was only one thing to do. And it would kill her.
Luna paced the living room of the home that no longer felt like one. It was a temple built on lies and deceit.
“So explain just how you plan to kill our father?”
She stopped her pacing and faced her two eldest sons, Hayden and Dane. Her youngest, Tanner, was on his way from his sentry post.
Tanner. It broke her heart to tell him his father had gone rogue. Like her, Tanner thought Royce hung the stars and moon. Hayden and Dane had suspected for a while that Royce had switched sides in the war against the rogues.
Fuck. “How can I be so blinded to what was under my fucking nose all along?” She sat on the sofa and blew out a breath while the images of the vision that woke her a few hours ago rolled inside her mind. Usually, she pushed them out of her mind because they were too bloody and painful. Right then, she needed that pain so she could change the fate of the future. For her boys. For her Pack.
“He has to die,” she said with a calm she didn’t feel.
A knock on the door stopped her thought process. Her heart hammered in her chest, but she was being paranoid. Royce didn’t knock on his own door or anyone else’s.
Hayden pushed off the wall he was holding up and jerked open the door. Torin gave him a tight nod with his lips pursed before moving his lethal gaze to Luna. Torin was Hayden’s best friend, and one of the strongest Enforcers MoonRiver had. He was also part of the hate Royce club.
Crossing the room to her, Torin dropped to his knees in front of her. “I am loyal to you, and the Pack is too.”
She knew what he was saying. She would become Alpha before the day was through. Luna wanted to shake her head and tell him that she wasn’t strong enough to take the Alpha power. She wasn’t a dominant wolf, so the power itself could kill her if Royce didn’t.
Pushing the latter thought out of her mind, she placed a hand on Torin’s shoulder. “Thank you. Has the Pack been evacuated?”
“Those who wished to flee have. Keegan sent some Enforcers to help move the submissives and children. The rest of the Pack refused to leave and insisted on staying to fight.” Torin stood and moved to stand next to Dane.
Keegan was the Alpha of a neighboring leopard Pack and a good friend. His parents and Luna’s were allies and fought side by side in the war. They were able to take down several rogue groups. That was until Felix rose in power to one of the larger packs, the Onyx Pack, and killed Keegan’s parents, making him Alpha.
Not long after Luna mated with Royce, her own parents met their deaths, making Royce—as the alpha male—the new Alpha of MoonRiver.
The biggest mistake of my life!
Luna stood and straightened her spine while lifting her chin. As soon as she met Hayden’s stare, a flash of a vision stole her sight. For a brief few seconds, the only thing she saw was an army of rogues and mutants storming the den with Royce directing them. Fury and lethal power rose in her. She may not have been born a dominant wolf, but she was a maternal female. No one hurt her family or her Pack.
“They are coming.” She moved to the door, and Dane’s words made her pause with her hand on the handle.
“What are you going to do?”
Luna drew in a long breath for the strength she would need. “I’m going to defend my Pack and take back what is mine.”
She would have her life back, her Pack that she was born to rule, and kill her mate.
When she opened the door, Tanner was standing on the other side. His eyes widened then narrowed on her. “Mutants just breached the borders, and Royce-fucking-father-of-the-year is leading them.”
She didn’t reply as she moved past him to walk down the street in the direction she sensed Royce.
Drawing on the Alpha from the mating bond with Royce, she welcomed the flow of power that filled her. At the same time, she called to her wolf, surrendering full control over to her. We have our Pack to defend.
Yes. Kill the bastard.
“Well, well. I didn’t think you had the guts to come up against me.” Royce glared at her with an emptiness she’d seen many times over the last few years.
“You’re a traitor to the Pack and therefore are the enemy.” She felt her Enforcers move in behind her.
Royce flicked his gaze to them and grinned. “You really think you can defeat me?”
“I can and will take back my Pack.”
A grin turned into a smile that made her spine turn to ice. Then Royce advanced to her faster than she’d ever seen him move. Fisting her hair in one hand, he wrapped the other around her throat. Around them, chaos broke out. Royce’s mutants and rogues were fighting the MoonRiver Enforcers.
“You want the power so bad? You can have it.” Royce snarled and his eyes darkened, turning almost black as he pushed the Alpha power into her.
She screamed, feeling like she was going to explode from the inside out. Her wolf howled and threw herself against Luna, wanting out to tear Royce apart. Pain clouded her mind and it was hard to think.
The plan?
Oh yeah, kill Royce. That wasn’t going as well as she hoped. She was too weak.
Tears streamed down her face, and she closed her eyes. Then Royce leaned in and whispered, “I hope you didn’t truly believe the children were safe in the tunnel systems.”
A part of her that she wasn’t aware of snapped. It was like something deep inside her broke. Her wolf growled, deep. The children were hers to pro
tect. They were hers!
Shifting her hands into the claws of her wolf, she thrust one forward, tearing into Royce’s stomach. He growled out a curse and tightened his hold on her, but she no longer felt the pain. She was broken. On autopilot.
The only thing she knew was to kill.
She pulled on the power Royce was punching into her, balling it up in her core. Then she threw it back into him, faster and harder than he did her. He yipped and stumbled back while releasing her.
Falling to her hands and knees, she kept her head down then slowly sucked back in the Alpha magic. That time she felt the Pack. They were hurting. She needed to end the fight and end Royce before she lost everything.
“That was a nice trick, bitch.” Royce moved toward her, and she waited.
When he got about a foot from her, she leaped up and shifted at the same time. Her wolf landed on Royce, biting into his shoulder while blasting magic through their bond.
He threw her off of him. She landed on her side and slid a few feet before she jumped back up on all fours. The pain from her injuries never registered, and she didn’t stop attacking. Her wolf was in full control and feral.
When he came at her again, she rammed into him while throwing every ounce of power and magic she had into him. In the process, she hit him hard enough she broke a few vertebrae.
“Luna…” He wheezed and coughed as he laid on the ground. She inched closer until she stood over him. He looked her in the eyes and in that split moment, he wasn’t rogue. He was the man she fell in love with. Then he pleaded. “End it.”
Her wolf pounced, biting into his neck and shaking until his body went limp. She dropped her lifeless mate on the ground, feeling the Alpha power run through her body, strengthening it.
She let out a howl, letting her Pack know that they had a new Alpha. Howls echoed around her, and she took off, going through the den, taking down every last rogue that was too stupid not to run.
Her sons and Enforcers were at her side the whole time. When there was no one else to kill, she collapsed on the ground. The last thing she remembered was Tanner picking her up and calling out to Sasha, their Healer.
Chapter One
“You’re very pretty.”
Luna paused her reading of one of the many children’s books and met the big blue eyes of the curly brown-haired little girl standing in front of her. A smile pulled at Luna’s lips. “So are you.”
Kathy, the seven-year-old human girl, had been fascinated with Luna since she arrived at the underground rebel base a few months ago after escaping Faelin’s warehouse. That was where she met Colt, the little girl’s uncle and a mutant.
Picking up Kathy, Luna cuddled her close as she began to read the story again. They were inside the small play area in the center of the rebel base. It surprised her when she first arrived and saw that the base was set up like a small den. Then again, there was a mix of shifters, humans, and mutants living there. Plus, the leader of this particular base was Rafe. In a sense, he was their Alpha.
Her thoughts drifted to how easy on the eyes Rafe was. He was the twin of her dead rogue-bastard mate, but Rafe was the polar opposite. It helped that he didn’t look like his evil twin as much as they did when they were kids.
In his final months of life, Royce had changed his appearance. Maybe it was because his aura had darkened so much from aligning himself with Felix, the former Alpha of the Onyx Pack. Royce was experimenting with several serums and potions back then. Not that Luna knew that at the time. She learned what Royce had done over the years. The more they learned about Felix and his mutants, the more she realized she mated a monster that made the rogue and the mutants look like puppies.
Rafe was different. Or was he? Luna didn’t know him anymore. Too much time had passed, and war always changes a person. The question was, had it changed Rafe for the better or the worst?
Gods knew she wasn’t the same person. She went from the loving maternal female she used to be before killing her mate. Oh, she was still maternal, but she was also an Alpha who protected her Pack with lethal efficiencies.
Turning the page in the book, she glanced up at the kids. They made her think about the little ones at home. Like the Pack kids, these children accepted their mixed culture. Luna hadn’t met a single one who was afraid of a mutant.
That was because they didn’t live through the war Ashwood and MoonRiver had.
Luna never took much interest in the rebels or their purpose. Being inside Rafe’s group, she wished she had learned more about their cause. As long as they didn’t go after her Pack, Luna didn’t care what they did. She never dreamed the camps they lived in were actually under the protection of other Packs.
Luna was staying at the rebel base while working with Rafe and a small team from Ashwood to track down and stop Faelin from following through with his plan to destroy all shifters, or whatever his sick plan was.
One thing she never thought she’d do was become friends with a mutant. But she did, twice. The first time was with Gina, a human bio-geneticist who was captured and turned into a mutant by Felix. Gina had escaped Felix and tried to reverse what the mutant serum had done to her, making her more human-like, but she still looked like a mutant. She had features of both a tiger and a wolf. And she was the most timid and polite mutant Luna had ever met.
Gina had eventually moved to the Birchwood Pack—a neighboring wolf Pack and one of Ashwood’s strongest allies—to work with their Healer, Sven.
The second mutant Luna called a friend was Colt. She met him a few months ago when she was held captive in the human-made basement of a small warehouse Faelin locked her in. That was also where she met Nyla, the half soul demon, half-witch Faelin was trying to control to get her to transfer the powers from a wolf carved moonstone to himself.
Nyla refused, and no amount of torture had changed her mind. She was also Kirk’s half-sister. On the demon father side, of course. Kirk’s mother was a leopard shifter from Ashwood Falls.
After finishing the story, Luna closed the book and set it on the small red and blue table next to her. The kids that sat on the floor jumped up and started playing. Kathy stayed where she was, staring at Luna. Staring back, Luna said, “Go ahead and ask your questions.”
The child pulsed with interest and curiosity. “Mama says it’s rude to be nosy.”
“Well, I think what your mom means is that questions can make some people uncomfortable. But I’m okay with your questions.” Luna watched as Kathy’s features brightened.
She sat up straight and opened her mouth, then closed it again. Luna waited, giving the little girl time to choose what to ask first. After a few seconds, Kathy asked, “What is it like to have a wolf inside you?”
Luna frowned. For her, the relationship between animal and human was unbalanced. Some would say she was unstable. That wasn’t the case. Luna’s wolf helped her live through the breaking of the mating bond while absorbing the Alpha power at the same time.
“Did you ask Rafe? You know he’s a wolf too.”
Kathy ducked her head. “Rafe is…I can’t ask him. He’s the Alpha.”
Luna found it interesting that the human child would refer to him as Alpha. Maybe it was time Luna learned more about the structure of the base Rafe was running. Would he not want to leave?
Shaking off that last thought, she focused back on Kathy. “I’m an Alpha, too, you know.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
Laughing, Luna tapped the tip of Kathy’s nose. “Yep, really. To answer your question, my wolf is very much a part of me. I can feel her inside me and hear her thoughts.”
“I bet it gets confusing.” Kathy bunched her brows together then added, “And annoying. I think having a wolf inside me would be hard.”
Luna laughed. “It is hard. But I was born with my wolf like all shifters are born with their animals. It takes us a while to find a balance.”
“Kathy.” Stacy entered the playroom and locked her gaze onto Kathy. “I hope you’re
not bothering Luna.”
“No, Mama. We’re just talking.” Kathy scrunched up her nose before wiggling out of Luna’s lap.
Luna stood and crossed the room to Stacy. “She wasn’t bothering me. I miss my Pack, so spending time with the kids helps a little.”
Stacy nodded, but Luna could tell that something was bothering her. “I can’t imagine. Rafe educated us a little on the general knowledge of shifters. I think it was to gain the trust of the whole group.”
“Mama, Luna can hear her wolf’s thoughts. I want to meet her wolf.” Kathy jumped up and down in front of them.
Luna laughed and ruffled Kathy’s hair. “One day, you will. Why don’t you go play with the other kids for a bit?”
Kathy rolled her eyes. “You two just want to talk without me here.”
Luna lifted a brow, making Kathy sigh and walk off. After Kathy was distracted with the other kids, Luna motioned Stacy to the door. “What’s bothering you?”
Stacy offered a weak smile. “Is it that obvious?”
“To me, because I’m an Alpha. It’s in the job description.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Stacy glanced at the kids, then to the floor. “The last time I saw Colt, he was human.”
Ah. Was Stacy finding it hard to accept him? “But you recognized him when we arrived.”
“We talked on the phone and video chatted a few times, so I knew what he was or is now.” She dropped her shoulders. “I feel bad for even talking about him or feeling like…”
Luna looped her arm with Stacy and walked with her down the hall. The whole place reminded her of an old tunnel system under the city. “Until I met a mutant named Gina, I thought they were all vile, soulless, bloodthirsty monsters. Hell, I gave the order to track them down and kill them just like a rogue.”
