Alphas Unwrapped: 21 New Steamy Paranormal Tales of Shifters, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Witches, Angels, Demons, Fey, and More

by Michele Bardsley

  “Winged men, huh?”

  She glanced over, expecting to see him upset over the mention of his wings. Instead, she found him smiling at her. Unsettled at how easily he disarmed her irritation with him.

  “Gargoyles, angels, demons, harpies—”

  “Those are women,” he interjected.

  “Don’t interrupt. Harpies aren’t real are they?”

  “There are more things—”

  “Quote Hamlet again, and you’re walking Mr. Pessimist.”

  His laugh echoed softly in the car. “Do you have something against that play, doctor?”

  “I’m a doctor. Everyone dying bothers me. So much of it could have been avoided.”

  “That’s what makes it a tragedy, I suppose.”

  “Is this going to be one? A tragedy, I mean?” Ashley put her hand on the gear knob. The road ahead looked patchy in places.

  A warm hand covered hers. She glanced down and then into Daniel’s vibrant eyes before shifting her attention back to the road. “Have faith in me, Ashley. Trust that you’ll get out of this alive and whole.”

  She knew he referred to his wings.

  The sickly sweet scent of apples permeated the air. Daniel slapped a hand against the dashboard and moaned.

  It took a moment to realize that he was in pain. She pulled off the road to the shoulder and undid her seatbelt. Habit locked the parking brake.

  “What are you doing?” he ground at her through gritted teeth.

  “Tell me what’s wrong.” She touched his arm. Alarm shot through her. His skin was fevered. Her hand moved to his back, just below the wings. His muscles bunched and flared under her palm. Inflammation, possibly infection. “You’re burning up. I’m taking you back to the hospital.” She grabbed the seatbelt strap.

  Daniel’s hand covered hers when she would have released the brake. “You take me back there, and we’re both dead. Everyone in that facility will be killed if we return.”

  Her thoughts spun in another direction. “Is this a virus or something?”

  His laugh, dry and pained, shocked her. “Your mind is fascinating. No, it’s not a virus. I’ve been poisoned.”

  “What? I’m turning around.”

  “Do you have medicines in your hospital that can cure corruption, Ashley Baker? Will your machines leech the poison from my bones and prevent my body from becoming one of the hunters I killed earlier?”

  All the noise in her head died. She stared at him. “This poison will turn you into those things?”

  “That or kill me. There’s a doctor, an angel doctor, at the Del Rosa Mission who can help me. Get me there, and I might have a chance.”

  “You’re telling me the truth?”

  “Angels never lie.”

  She sighed and stared at the open wilderness ahead of them. “Since you’re the only angel I’ve ever met, taking you at your word about angel honesty would be foolish.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  She glanced over and caught his wink again. If he was well enough to flirt with her, he would have to last until they arrived. “Of course you’d say that. I’ll hold you to your word.”

  “You really do care about me, doc.” The tension in his voice eased.

  If he only knew how much. “Of course I do. You’re the only one who knows how to get me there and back home again.”

  His laugh was cut off by the sounds of howls in the distance. Ice filled Ashley’s veins.

  “Get us moving again. They’ve found your trail.”

  She didn’t hesitate. Seatbelt on, a little spin out from where the tires had sunk into the soft shoulder, and they were on their way.

  They hit a patch of ice and she fishtailed before righting their course.

  “Try not to kill us on the way there, okay?”

  “I thought you guys were pretty indestructible.”

  “Most of the time we are. Right now, a good gust of wind could shatter me into a million pieces.”

  “I doubt that. You’re like a bulldozer on steroids.”

  “I’m not sure if I should feel flattered or insulted.”

  “A bit of both, honestly.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Any time.” Heavy silence filled the air. Wind whipped through the fields to their right and left, sending shadows in odd directions. Her imagination conjured up red eyes pacing the car. Every gust battering against the vehicle was a warning.

  She scrubbed a hand over her face and focused bleary eyes on the road.

  “You need me to drive?”

  His question startled her and she jerked the wheel. Cursing her slow reflexes and exhaustion, she righted them immediately. “No way. And don’t scare the driver like that.”

  “Do I scare you?”

  She snorted. “Not in a million years.” The fringes of her driver side peripheral vision were starting to become a little too unsettling. “How fast are those wolves of yours?”

  “Fast. Why?”

  There was definitely something out there. A glance to her left showed the unnatural bending of the grass, opposite the wind’s direction. Either it was one of the demon dogs or cougars were back in Texas. “Fast enough to catch up to us?”

  “How long did you pull over?” He turned in the seat and watched the landscape.

  “I don’t know.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. She debated increasing speed, but the roads were treacherous. Spinning out of control would make them sitting ducks.

  “Keep going. Be prepared to react if they show themselves.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that.” Her jaw ached from the teeth clenching. “How did they find us?”

  “Your blood scent. It was all over the garage. They’re like wolverines, once they have your trail, they will never stop coming.”

  “Great. So what did you do about them last time?”

  “I killed them.” The tone of his voice held an edge of ice she didn’t expect.

  “The pack?”

  “No, I killed every last one of them.”

  Her heart pounded in her chest. She licked her lips to force out the next question. “How many?”

  “Hundreds by the time winter ended.”

  Hundreds? Her mind shuddered at the thought.

  “By yourself?”

  “No. My brothers came to my aid. Several kept Azazel engaged while his wolves hunted you. We lost a lot in the fight that year.”

  The heavy weight of his words settled like a rock in her stomach. “Why me?” The words were barely whispered past the dry lump in her throat.

  “Your powers woke up that night. Your family had been hiding from him for generations.”

  “What powers are you talking about?” This was nuts. A black shape dove out of the brush and launched at her car. A scream tore from her throat and she swerved. Her foot slammed on the gas and they lurched forward.

  “We’ll finish this conversation later.”

  The animal slammed into the car’s side. Metal and fiberglass crunched in the impact, and she fought to keep the car on the road. Overcorrecting sent her into a tiny spin, and she re-bit the inside of her mouth.

  Pain washed through her, hyperfocusing her mind the way a rubber band snap on the wrist used to during crunch time studying in med school. Eyes on the road and hands on the wheel, she gunned the engine and they sped forward, swerving the tiniest bit on the ice.

  “Are you going to do something?”

  “Like what?”

  “Blast them with angelic super powers?”

  “You watch too much TV.”

  She laughed, then, a painful, strained laughter that belied her tension. Forcing her muscles to relax, she used her mirrors, watching for another attack.

  “There’s another one coming on my side.”

  “Dammit.” She barely made out the shadow as her hands automatically moved to vehicle to the left to give into the impact. It still careened into the side. More metal screeched and crunched. What the hell were these things mad
e of?

  “Can’t you stab it or something?”

  “What, you want me to roll down the window and hack at it? This is a sword, Ashley, not a stick.”

  “I know.” She shivered, realizing at that moment, just how stupid hanging a bloody arm out the window of her car had really been. These were monsters. Huge, dangerous, and keeping pace at over sixty miles per hour.

  “Can you go any faster?”

  “I’m already pushing this car too fast for the icy roads. We lose control and it’s over.” Another hit to the driver’s side, this time close enough for its muzzle to the window.

  “These things are bigger than the other one.”

  “I told you so.”

  “Really? We’re going to do this now?” She slammed her car into the dog on the left—she couldn’t call it a wolf, and dog was pushing it—and it screeched before falling away. A howl followed.

  “It’s falling back.”

  “I can see that. Hitting it with the car must have worked.”

  “No, I mean the one on my side. It’s falling back as well.”

  “Why?” She pushed the car harder, eyes focused straight ahead. Were they waiting to ambush them further up the road?

  “Are they gone?”

  “You must have injured the leader of the pack. They’ll never stop following us, though, so make sure you keep going.”

  “Comforting, Daniel. Really comforting.”

  “Angels don’t lie, remember? Can you keep this speed?”

  She couldn’t help wishing that, for the moment, he could have stretched the truth just a bit. “I wouldn’t dream of slowing down.”

  “Good. We’re almost there.”

  There was no way a patch of ground blessed by a priest could keep those things at bay, but if the angel wanted to believe, who was she to say otherwise?

  Chapter Seven: An Angel’s Fall

  DEL ROSA MISSION was nothing like Ashley expected. Stone arches lined a salted pale brick path. Broken walls surrounded them, and the once defendable position was a crumbling ruin of early Spanish architecture.

  The nauseating lurch in her stomach wasn’t from the race through pothole-laden side roads. She slammed the driver’s door shut, wincing at the groan of twisted metal. Her fingers traced the dented side. There’s no way her insurance would cover the damage. “This is your haven? They are right behind us.”

  “They can’t come here.”

  Consecrated ground, he’d said. What did that mean? The entire Mission is blessed? How far out? There were questions buzzing around inside her exhausted brain.

  Daniel strode away from the vehicle with a confidence she envied. Nothing made sense anymore. The doctor inside her wanted to heal him, wanted to keep looking for answers that made sense, but this nightmarish adventure had sucked the last of her reserves. Four days of back-to-back surgeries and barely enough sleep to function had taken its toll already. Spending the past hour and a half cruising through crappy backroads while battling demon dogs on icy roads had finished the job.

  “This place doesn’t seem lived in.”

  He opened a wrought iron security gate and banged on the ancient gray door behind it. “After all this, you still don’t trust me?”

  She leaned up against the door frame and watched the area behind them. No movement, and she hadn’t heard howling since that last attack. “If you’re an angel, why do you have to knock?”

  “You think I’d have lost my wings if I could materialize in and out of existence?”

  The sound of a sliding lock disengaging had Ashley straightening up. She brushed down her jacket and waited, hoping she didn’t look as terrible as she felt.

  “Relax. She’s going to love you.”

  “Who?”

  “Iris.”

  Ashley glanced up, surprised to find a joyous smile on his face. “Who’s Iris?” And why did jealousy spike through her at the expression he wore?

  “A force of nature.”

  The door opened wide. In the entrance of a well-lit entryway stood a woman who had to be in her late seventies or early eighties. The stooped posture did nothing to diminish the sheer energy glaring at them through iron gray eyes and a roadmap of wrinkles. Her laugh lines were pronounced and quick to deepen.

  “Hello Iris. Did you miss me?”

  She arched one finely plucked iron gray eyebrow, smiled, and slammed the door shut in their faces.

  Ashley’s jaw dropped open.

  Daniel’s laughter shocked her almost as much. “Come on, Iris. Open up. You know life is boring without me.”

  The door reopened, and she still glared at them. “She can come in. You can go stay in the chicken coop with the rest of the bird brains.” Her voice was strong and heavily accented with a Texan twang that instantly relaxed Ashley.

  “She just said you have the brain of a chicken.”

  “Yes, she did.” He looked down at her. “Isn’t she great?” He strode into the Mission foyer, and she trailed behind.

  “If you like to be insulted, I’d be happy to oblige.”

  “Don’t bother. He thinks they’re jokes and ignores them completely. When you get to be my age, you have to start putting laxatives in his iced tea to get a good gut reaction.” Iris turned on her heel and strode away.

  Ashley stared after her, wondering if she’d heard the woman right.

  She wore a dress that seemed to have aspects of Hispanic and Native American designs woven through it. It reminded her of photographs and paintings she’d seen at a local museum on the meshing of both cultures.

  “So, who’s the lady? She’s too classy for you.”

  “Iris, this is Ashley Baker. She’s the girl I was telling you about.”

  Iris jerked around to face them. She eyed Ashley up and down. “You have the healing gift, then?”

  Her patience snapped. “I’m a doctor.”

  “Hmph. Well, if I get a cold, I’ll let you know.”

  “Not that kind of doctor, I’m a surgeon, actually. I’ve just met you and already I think I’d prefer the company of the hounds of hell on our heels than your company.”

  “Hounds of hell?”

  Apples. The scent of apples flooded her senses. Ashley’s heart pounded in her chest, and she ducked under Daniel’s arm the moment a spasm hit him. He doubled over, collapsing on her smaller frame with the weight of his. “Do you have a bed I can lay him in?” She strained to hold him upright. What kind of strength did he have in those wings if he could hold this rock hard body in the air?

  The ancient woman stared at her for a moment longer before waving her hand in the universal sign to follow.

  “I’m supposed to be supporting you, you know.” Daniel’s chest labored as he gasped the words to her.

  Ashley could feel the muscle spasms across her forearm where it braced against his back. “You saved my life back there. Let me help you now.”

  “You’re cute when you’re humble.”

  “Don’t push your luck, angel. My good will is fickle.”

  He chuckled and she could feel it all the way through her body. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  “Put him in here.”

  “Hello Iris. I’ve missed you.”

  “Went and got yourself in a helluva mess this time, didn’t you, you bird brain?”

  “That’s the second time she’s called you a bird brain.” She murmured to Daniel, but he just shook his head. The strain on his face told her how bad the pain was.

  “Daniel tells me you’re an angel doctor.”

  “Oh, is that what he told you?”

  Ashley and Daniel made their way into a larger room. It held a stainless steel slab and several modern pieces of medical equipment.

  “You do procedures here?”

  “On people, not usually. But these guys are half bird anyway. I’m a veterinarian by trade.”

  Half bird? Ashley glanced up at Daniel, expecting him to be insulted. Instead, a huge grin stretched across his sweat covered fac
e. Smiling through the pain. Was he always like this?

  Iris took out a sheet and laid it on the table.

  “Put him on the table.”

  “Why the sheet?”

  “Easier to drag him to a portable bed if he ends up passing out on me.”

  “Not going to happen,” Daniel groaned as Ashley helped ease him onto the slab. He hissed through his teeth. “This is cold.”

  “Never bothered you before. Now lay down so I can get a look at what’s left of those wings.” She turned on the overhead surgical lights and pulled up a rolling stool.

  “Aren’t you worried about infection and contamination?”

  Iris pulled glasses out of the pocket in her dress and put them on. “Angels don’t have the same body makeup we do. They don’t get diseases.”

  “Then what’s wrong with him?”

  Iris turned on a magnifying lamp and placed it over Daniel’s back. “Come look at this, doctor, and tell me what you see.”

  Ashley peered at the flesh through the warped glass. Her throat tightened “I see charring of the bone. I don’t know animal anatomy very well, but it’s different from our normal bone structure.” Not quite hollow, the way she’d expected it to be. What worried her was the blistering of his skin around the bones. Dark lines of infection were leeching from the wound into his back. Angels had organs just like people, right?

  “More bird than man. When you look at the wings anyway. Tell me about the burns and the wounds.”

  “The protruding bones are smooth instead of jagged. So I don’t think they were broken off.”

  “I love it when you ladies get all scientific. You could just ask me what happened, you know.”

  “Be quiet. You wanted me to teach her, so let me do it.”

  Ashley glanced up, irritated beyond rational thought. “Teach me what? Veterinary science?”

  “Look what you did, Daniel. Now I just have to show her.”

  “Show me what?”

  “Just look back into the magnifier. Find my finger. Do you see this line?”

  Ashley looked once more and followed the curved edge of her fingernail as it traced one of the lines of infection. “Yes, I see it.”

  “Good, keep watching. I’m going to do something and I want you to see it happen.”