Dalton spent most of his time as a kid with Jacks’ family or one of the other guys on Alpha team’s houses. Of course, they weren’t the Alpha Team back then, they were just a bunch of little kids with big dreams. They all wanted out of their small community they lived in and bought the fairy tales the adults often told, like the mating tale. Leaning his hip against the counter and crossing his arms, Dalton shook his head and smiled, remembering some of the things he and his team had done as kids. Those were good memories. Memories that he hoped he would never forgot. Until recently, Dalton never actually thought about the lack of female influence in any of their lives. Each guy had some to an extent, except for Dalton, and he wondered who was better off from experience.
There weren’t any female Shifters left in the world, or so they believed at the time. Over time, males only started producing males and females were bred out of existence. But all the lore said that while they existed in the past, when a male Shifter met his fated female, the man and the bear would know instantly. A bond would form and it would be known immediately. There would be a pull unlike anything for the couple to be together. The male would feel the spark immediately and know he had met his match. The female would be drawn to him until the claiming could be completed. An unbelievable lust would encompass both until the claiming was completed.
The males need to protect, cherish, and honor the female because she would become his sole focus in life. The beast within would unite with the man to achieve that goal. Until that time, the man and bear would roam endlessly looking for his mate, never being satisfied or whole until he found her. It was both a curse and a blessing. The female would be able to calm the animal within them. Once the bond is fully formed, man and animal would unite for one goal: to make their mate happy. No longer would the aggressive and restless nature of the beast control the human side of the male.
Unfortunately for Dalton and the rest of the Shifters in existence, that possibility was all myth and fairy tales, until now. They believed there would be no happy ending for them. Without Shifter females to bond with, their chance at completion was slim to none. That was until Ryleigh and The Holly Group found out about the experiments that The Pandora Group had been doing.
The Pandora Group was a devious group of moneymakers, doctors, and scientists. It was an entity that existed and ran within the confines of the government. They were all humans with one goal in mind: lining their pockets and exploiting Shifters. The group had somehow discovered Shifters and decided to try their hands at playing God by creating Shifters for themselves: females to sell as property or pets and males to form armies. Fuck they still didn’t have all the information regarding the group and what all they had their hands in. What they did know, as it seemed, to be all for money. Dalton wondered how much the group actually knew about them. Did they know there were no female Shifters? Did they somehow manage to learn Shifter history? It all seemed far-fetched, but then again, the proof was in the pudding.
Dalton had wanted to believe the tale when he was a child. However, when he got older he resigned himself to the fact that he would never be whole. He learned to live with fucking when he had the urge and then leaving. That was how most of the guys dealt with what was going on. One and done that was their motto; never sticking around to form any lasting bond because they knew deep down they couldn’t. The only member of his team that had experienced anything more until now was Cash. He had bonded with a girl when they were younger. Dalton knew it was the as close to the real thing as a Shifter could get, but they were still just kids. How much did kids know? Then Jacks brought Ryleigh into their lives and Dalton saw firsthand how much she meant to his Alpha.
Turing and leaning back, resting more fully on the counter Dalton wanted to laugh thinking about how he treated her that day and how she taught him a lesson in return. Never judge a book by the cover could fit Ryleigh to a tee. She was a small, diminutive woman and he never suspected she held a powerhouse inside her small body. He should have already known not to prejudge someone at his age but he had been so focused on not letting anything hurt is Alpha and friend that he never saw Ryleigh coming. When Jacks asked him to assess her hand-to-hand skills and strength Dalton had been determined to prove to Jacks and the rest of the guys they needed to stick with the status quo. She was small, standoffish, and a little awkward going through his tests. He never gave the woman a chance. He criticized her warm up, criticized her stance, shit, he even criticized her motives. And then he went at her like a bat out of hell using his strength and speed against her. It was a dick move and he knew it while he was doing it, but he didn’t care. He was determined to prove her as a liability.
He was an expert, having studied and mastered several forms of martial arts. In his determination to prove that she was unfit for the mission, he never noticed that Ryleigh was blocking as good as some of the guys. He also failed to see that he was pissing the little spitfire off. When she finally let, him have it, he deserved everything he got. She took him down quickly and paralyzed him, surprising the fuck out of him. No one including his team had ever gotten a worse jump on him. Shaking his head, he had to admit Ryleigh was a spitfire.
At first, he was humiliated, but then he respected her actions. He knew that she waited until Ethan had left the room before she confronted him back. She wasn’t trying to put him in his place. Ryleigh simply had enough of his high-handed tactics, and in his own way, he loved her for it.
What he wasn’t as happy about was that Ryleigh had decided he was the little brother that she never had. Being younger than the other guys always had been a bit of a drawback. They respected his skills and his place in the team, but he was often treated as the child of the group. Ryleigh’s constant “little brother” remarks bothered him. He couldn’t help but feel less than that when she said it. But if he thought about it and Ryleigh, he knew it was her way of showing that she had accepted him as part of her family. She didn’t have a family like him and craved the comradery of siblings. He didn’t think he and Ryleigh would ever be as close as she and Cash were, but the respect and affection were there.
Jacks and Cash were always giving him shit about not thinking things through totally before taking action. It pissed him off sometimes, especially when he knew his actions were justified. But just like most older brothers, they felt they knew best. Most times Dalton let them think what they wanted but did what he needed, just like he had when they were all kids.
Witnessing Jacks and Ryleigh together, Dalton wanted to believe the legends but being the pessimist he truly was, he didn’t think he would ever find that person to complete him. His job as an enforcer was to protect his team at all costs, even if those costs were to himself. He would do that job until he had no choice but leave and take care of his beast; letting the bear take completely over. Shifters were restless and he could feel the pull of his wild side constantly. With no anchor, the men of the clans went rogue and Dalton knew that was his fate. His team was his family and they came first, always. He couldn’t imagine someone else replacing them as being more important than his Team.
With the beast constantly looking for something he would never find, it was hard for many of them to stay in one place for very long. Dalton and the rest of the guys were determined to be the exceptions to that rule and he would hold out for as long as he could or take himself out. He wouldn’t leave that responsibility or burden to anyone on his team. When a Shifter went rouge they were more beast than man. This caused a problem and teams like his were dispatched to take care of the problem. Generally, by taking the rouge out permanently. He wouldn’t allow that burden to become someone else.
Grabbing a beer out of the fridge, he made his way to the table and sat down. Twisting the cap off, he stared at the bottle. It wasn’t the answer to what he had been looking for, but for a tiny moment it would help. He would only allow himself one but he needed something to take the edge off. This one bottle would do little to nothing for that. With his metabolism, he would need a hundred tim
es the alcohol in that bottle to even get a buzz. But he liked the bitter taste and the slight sting it created in the back of his throat. His thoughts were starting to seriously mess with him.
He needed to shift and regain some control, but until one of his team members got back. The beer would have to do even though he knew it wasn’t going to be enough. He had to stay alert and ready, just in case. Thoughts of shifting brought up another painful memory, his first shift. Dalton remembered how scared and vulnerable he felt. He couldn’t control what was going on with his body and the beast took over. He didn’t have a good man like Jacks’ dad to teach him what he needed to know about being a Shifter. He had learned most of it by watching from the shadows. His old man wasn’t the kind of person to lift a finger to help anyone, even to his son. He often wondered why the man even kept him around. Peeling the label from the bottle of beer, he remembered that day like it was yesterday.
The change was brutal and scared the crap out him. Had Cash, his now second, not wandered across him, Dalton was sure that he would have stayed in shifted form for the rest of his life, becoming one of the rogues that needed to be hunted down and terminated. After he had changed back, Cash had tried to find out why he didn’t know what to do and why his old man hadn’t been there to help him through the transition but Dalton made him promise not to tell.
Running his fingers through the condensation on the bottle, even he had to admit that he was surprised that Cash never brought up that day again. Cash, being the kind of man he was, stuck to him closely after that; helping as much as a kid could help another kid. If Dalton was the muscle of the group, then Cash would be considered the conscience. Although the man could take out men larger and stronger, Cash maintained a softness that none of the other guys seemed to have. The man cared, but Dalton wasn’t stupid enough to say that to the big guy. Although he might be the muscle, Cash was a worthy opponent and would kick his ass in a second if he thought he or any of the guys needed it. Smiling, Dalton continued his not so fun journey down memory lane. His beer had gone warm and it no longer appealed to him. The ring of water on the table held so much more appeal now. He ran his fingers through the condensation, hoping to distract his weary mind.
Chapter 2
They all lived in the same community, or clan as the Elders liked to call it. Shifters tended to stay with their own kind, calling the groups clans. Bears stuck with bears, lions stuck with lions, and so forth. But with many communities or clans, they had their issues too. Dalton believed it was the lack of female influences in their lives. Very few males ever stuck with the same female for any amount of time. Many of his kind had no idea what a motherly influence was like. He sure as hell didn’t. His dad was a hard man who would go on benders for days and forget he had a kid. Sometimes Dalton would come home to no electricity or water. It happened more times than he cared to remember. He learned early to horde food so that he wasn’t starving during those times. He also learned to keep his mouth shut because if his old man got any grief from the people in their community Dalton was the one that paid.
He learned that lesson early and quickly. One time after noticing Dalton didn’t have the right clothes for winter and was sporting a few bruises more than normal for a kid his age, Jacks’ dad tried to step in. His old man made a good show of it in front of the man saying that he had just gotten behind on bills and was planning on getting Dalton some new clothes soon. He played the bruises off by saying how clumsy Dalton was. Jacks’ dad let it drop and left. He trusted Jacks’ dad. Dalton had hoped that things would change; the man was a high-ranking member of the community and everyone seemed to respect and honor his wishes. As an idealistic kid, he hoped that his dad would change. He was wrong.
Fisting his hands-on top of the table, Dalton tried to contain the emotions the memory was having on him. Anger and resentment, he could deal with, but the vulnerability he still felt bothered him. Dalton never forgot the lessons he learned after that day. He never let the other families see that anything was wrong after that; even if he had to lie, cheat, and steal. He would do it just to keep up the illusion his dad wanted him to portray, no matter the cost. He got odd jobs cleaning houses or cutting grass and learned to do the things he needed to survive without anyone’s help. He also started watching to make sure that the other boys in his group weren’t being treated the same way he was. He had always protected them and watched out for them. They were his real family. It was probably why his job as enforcer came so naturally to him when he was older. He was used to staying in the shadows, watching and waiting until he was needed.
When the guys came of age and decided to join the service Dalton was happy for them. He knew that they needed to get on with their lives and away from the clan. Jacks was starting to portray more and more Alpha tendencies and it was causing problems within the clan. Just like any animal pack, there was a pecking order and the group of boys now coming of age was disrupting that order. It was time to move on and find their own way, even if that meant leaving Dalton behind.
He was the youngest and he knew that he would be left behind. It bothered him that he couldn’t look out for them while they were away, but he was aware that some of them needed the change and to get away from their families even more than he did. He would never stand in their ways; he encouraged them to go. He even assured them that he would follow as soon as he was able. He wanted to serve his country and his friends and he also wanted to make a difference. Staying with the clan was not the way to do that. Some chose that life path, but he wasn’t one of them.
Jacks and the others offered to wait until they could all join at the same time, but Dalton wouldn’t have it. That started one of the worst years of his life, but he was always happy the guys weren’t there to see it unfold. Leaning back in the chair he ran his fingers through is hair. All of these memories needed to stop. They weren’t helping anyone, not even him.
The phone ringing brought him out of his unhappy jaunt down memory lane. He pulled his phone from his pocket.
“Yo,” Dalton answered.
“How is Ryleigh?” his Alpha, Jacks, said without a preamble.
“Dude, she won’t leave the fucking computer station. I have tried everything I can think of,” Dalton replied.
“Damn. Listen, we are wrapping things up and we are going to hitch a ride back,” Jacks said. “Wyatt is going to stay behind for a couple of days. Cash should be there pretty soon. If you can, try and get Rye to take a break. If you can’t, tell Cash when he gets there. He seems to be able to get her to listen.”
“Will do. Now tell me what went down,” Dalton probed.
Dalton spoke to Jacks for the next half hour going over the mission and what went down. It didn’t sound good and only made Dalton’s feelings about being left behind greater. He hated leaving his team unprotected, but he was stuck being a babysitter and doing a pretty shitty job of it to boot. He should have felt honored that his Alpha, Jacks, trusted him to take care of and keep his mate safe, but he didn’t. He was way out of his depth. Dalton had no idea how to deal with her or any women on a personal level. Sure, he had no problems getting them out of their panties, but this was Ryleigh, his Alpha’s mate. He didn’t have the skills needed to make her listen. She generally just blew his concerns off and continued with what she was doing. He thought about just yelling at her and forcing her to take a break but knew he would never take that approach with her. Truth be known, he didn’t want to make her cry.
Deciding he would try and entice her away from the computer with a good meal, he started to pull stuff from the refrigerator to make a salad to go with the lasagna he had placed in the oven while talking with Jacks. After that had been done, he set the table thinking he had a good plan going. What woman could resist a home cooked meal with good company? He was the Enforcer for the Alpha Team. No way was one little woman going to take him down. He had a job to do and he was going to do it. Ryleigh needed to take a break. All he needed was to get her away from her computer and reports.
She wouldn’t leave that damn computer to save her life. He had met some determined people in his life. Shit, he was one of them, but Ryleigh took the cake. Earlier when he tried to get her to take a break, and she just brushed him off. He tried distracting her, but again she just blew him off like he was an annoying child and that pissed him off even more. He was a grown fucking man, and she was acting like a child in his opinion. Didn’t she have a clue how blessed she and Jacks were? In Dalton's mind, her responsibility was to the child she was carrying. The team would deal with the rest. It was their job to protect and figure this mess out, not hers.
Shit, he liked Ryleigh, he even respected her, but she wasn’t thinking clearly. She needed to take better care of herself and the baby she was now carrying. He knew that Ryleigh was committed to finding any and all the information she could get on The Pandora Group, but this was ridiculous and he had no clue how Jacks handled this crap. She looked like hell and smelled worse than Wy or Bas did after getting caught up in their hacking for days on end. To make matters worse, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do about it. With his buddies, he would have badgered and ridiculed them until they took the break they needed. With Ryleigh, he felt he needed to be more delicate. She was a woman after all. He didn’t deal with the ladies that had come into his life long enough to find out how their minds worked. He was in way over his head.
Dalton: NAC & The Holly Group (Alpha Team Book 2) Page 2
