Alpha Meets Beta (Alpha Meets Omega Book 4)

by Sky Winters

  “Do you want me to call the cops?” the guard asked.

  “No. I’ll take care of this. Say nothing to anyone.”

  “Yes, sir,” the guard replied, looking puzzled.

  Dane bolted from the observation room and back down the hallway to get to the elevator. He hurried back down through the lobby, Berta calling out to him to ask if he’d found her. He didn’t have time to waste on an answer. He just kept going out to the garage to get his car. He didn’t know what he was going to do. He was a powerful dragon, but he was no match for the entire Black Talon Clan. He was going to need backup.

  He made two calls, asking the only people he knew to turn to for help. First, he called the Alpha of his clan and explained the situation to him as quickly as possible. Then, he called Transformation and asked to speak to the head of security there.

  “We’ll be there with plenty of reinforcements,” they told him.

  Dane ended the call and pulled off the highway into the abandoned parking lot of an old factory where he wouldn’t be seen. He was already shifted and waiting when the others arrived to join him, stripping down and shifting before taking to the skies behind him as he took flight toward the Black Talons reservation. The wolves from Transformation would meet them there, coming through the woods from a different point of attack.

  The fact that they had sedated her told him they knew about Adriana’s capability of shifting into multiple animals. She was no threat to them in any form, but the fact that she could shift into something small enough to elude them had resulted in them rendering her unconscious. They would keep her that way. He’d have to find her and find her fast before they could do any real harm out of spite for him.

  The Black Talons were expecting them. The moment they breached the perimeter of their compound, there were dragons in the air to meet them. They could only hope to keep them busy, to fight them off while the wolves did their work on the ground, finding Adriana. Right now, his fight was in the air.

  He charged the first dragon that came at him. It was easy to tell the Black Talons from any other dragons as they were aptly named for the obsidian claws that were a symbol of their heritage. They were also known for their fighting skill, something they honed over years of intense training. His own clan did the same, but not with the intensity of the Black Talons. They wouldn’t be easy to defeat.

  The skies filled with flapping wings as dragon faced dragon, their fierce teeth and claws meeting one another’s scales. Dane narrowly missed having one of his wings nearly detached by one dragon while he was entangled with another. Luckily, one of his clan brothers came to his rescue, sending his attacker flying sideways.

  It seemed like it went on forever, but the Black Talons finally gave in and began to retreat. It seemed to easy. Dane wondered how they had known they were coming and why they were willing to back off before the battle had truly ended. It seemed out of character. He signaled for the clan to leave, but he landed on the ground, shifting into human form and walking toward the Black Talons who had done the same.

  “Where’ s Adriana?” he barked at one of them.

  “You’ve got some balls on you, Jensen,” one of them barked at him.

  Dane recognized him as one of the men who had come to visit him. He kept walking toward him, unfettered.

  “Where is Adriana?”

  “Aw, did you lose your bitch?”

  “I swear that I will end you if you don’t tell me where she is.”

  “I don’t know. She’s not here.”

  “I don’t buy that. You took her. I know you did.”

  “Yeah, we took her. She slipped out on us somehow. That’s okay. We’re going to find her, and when we do, we’ll make sure that she doesn’t get away next time. You’re going to give us the construction company if you want us to let either of you live in peace.”

  “Fuck you. You better hope she’s okay,” Dane spat at him.

  “You want to throw down right here, Jensen? You think we stopped fighting just now because we are frightened by you? We aren’t. You just don’t matter to us. We’ve got better things to do than have a pissing match with you and your weak-ass birds.”

  Dane felt a tickle against his foot. He looked down to see a small field mouse leaning drunkenly against him.

  “Fuck you. This might be all for today, but I’m not done with you,” he spat at him before shifting and taking flight, quietly scooping up the mouse in his talon as he departed.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Adriana

  Adriana awoke laying on a pillow encased in soft satin. Her head was raging as she tried to lift it enough to see where she was. The last thing she could remember was staggering toward the sound of Dane’s voice and half-collapsing against the side of his foot. She was careful not to move too much, not wanting to draw attention to herself in case she had somehow ended up in the wrong place.

  Things were blurry, but she began to focus enough to realize she was back in Dane’s penthouse. She breathed a sigh of relief. He’d realized it was her and taken her with him. She comprehended that she was lying beside him on the bed. He was asleep, and she didn’t want to wake him, so she closed her eyes again, content enough to just remain in mouse form while she slept off the rest of the sedative they’d filled her with.

  When she woke up again, he was watching her, a look of concern on his face. She noticed a mirror laying on the bed between them. It seemed odd, at first, but then she realized he’d probably used it to make sure she was still breathing. She opened her eyes and looked at him, and he spoke to her.

  “I sure hope that is you and I’ve not brought a random field mouse into my house,” he told her.

  Adriana stood and stretched, feeling more alert now. She jumped off the bed, and he stepped down after her, a look of disappointment on his face until he saw her begin to shift back into human form. She was still weak, almost collapsing onto the floor, but he rushed in to support her in his arms, holding on to her tightly.

  “Thank God. I was so afraid.”

  “I don’t know what happened. I was going into the bathroom and someone grabbed me from behind. I felt a pinch in my neck, and then everything went black. Every time I would start to come to, someone would show up, and everything would go black again.”

  “Yeah, they were drugging you so you couldn’t change. They seem to know you are a multi-shifter and could escape them, which you did. How did you manage it?”

  “I don’t know, really. The last time I was coming to, I could hear all sorts of chatter. They were talking about dragons headed their way, and I figured it must be you and whoever you were bringing. Then there were wolves all over the place, and I had come to enough to shift, so I got down into the smallest thing I could to slip under my door. I was hiding by a tree trying to gather my bearings when I heard you and went toward you.”

  “You didn’t recognize the wolves as your own?”

  “No. I couldn’t really see with all the drugs in my system. All I saw was paws and snouts. I just wanted to get as far away as I could, but I was stumbling around all over the place. It’s a wonder someone didn’t step on me.

  “Thank God they didn’t. I’m so glad you are okay. I was terrified.”

  “Are we safe?”

  “For now, yes. We’re safe here, but not when we go out. They are going to keep coming for us, for you, as long as I don’t give them what they want.”

  “Turner and Hood.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do they know about the money? The books?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe they suspect it’s hidden somewhere, but I don’t think they know anything concrete.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “I’m not sure. How about we just sleep on it, and when we wake up, we’ll figure out what to do next.”

  “That sounds good, but can I have some water first? I’m like the Sahara here.”

  “Of course.”

  Adriana guzzled the water down and slipped beneath the co
vers on the bed, moving the pillow she’d been on previously under her head and settling in. Dane slipped in beside her, curling up to her back and nuzzling his face against hers. She drifted off into a comfortable sleep, lulled by his rhythmic breathing against her skin. She awoke hours later to his kisses drifting softly across her skin, hungry but tender.

  She’d thought she was too tired for sex, but the moment she felt his touch, she wanted him. It was the perfect end to what had been a horrible experience. The drugs had worn off, and she was feeling more like herself now, though a bit of nausea remained. Still, she forgot all about that while he was touching her.

  She leaned into him, kissing him softly, pulling him in. He was gentle, spooning her from behind and entering her slowly, barely moving in and out of her in such a way that it almost made her want to cry. She pushed back against him, loving the way he felt inside of her, letting her body dictate the pace. Another woman might want to run at this point, knowing how dangerous things had become with him, but she had never experienced the feelings she was having for him, the longing she felt for him whenever she thought about how he made her feel.

  She couldn’t imagine being with someone safe anymore. Maybe she got off on the danger. Maybe she always had. She remembered her reaction to Parquo. She could have shifted into something small and attempted to escape. Instead, she chose to meet him on his own terms. She chose to meet him head on. Perhaps a bit of danger was what her life had been missing.

  She knew that sex with a man like Dane had been missing. There was never any disappointment with him. Not only was he well equipped, but he also had the stamina of a stallion and the skill to match. He was capable of making her a quivering mass with his mouth, fingers, or cock without much effort. Part of it was that he seemed to know her body as well as she did, and part of it was something much harder to articulate. There was a chemistry between them that could not be denied.

  She moaned as he drove into her depths, pushing her open with his girth as he rotated his hips to hit her g-spot in the process. Soon, she was shaking as she came, her body tensing from head to toe before dissolving into a fluid stream of release. It had never felt like this with anyone, and she could no longer imagine anyone else making her feel this way.

  There was no doubt that Dane was the one. She just hoped that she wasn’t the only one that felt that way. She’d seen his concern for her, but how deep did that run? They’d not exchanged any promises, and he could just be dutiful, the type of man who would never leave a woman in crisis, especially when the crisis had derived from something he had created or caused.

  His hips jerked forward, a low groan emanating from his throat as he came inside her, his powerful cock exploding his seed into her. He relaxed as the tension between them subsided, his cock eventually slipping free from her as they lay there in their mingled juices, falling back into a peaceful slumber with all of her thoughts back into the abyss for now.

  The dream that followed was unexpected. She was in a dark place and couldn’t find her way out. There was a light, and she flew toward it, but she wasn’t a dragon. She wasn’t sure what she was. She only knew that she had to go toward the light or she would perish.

  She could hear Dane, but he was far away and couldn’t save her. Her heart raced as she flew faster and faster but seemed to go nowhere. The light got no closer, but the voices did, threatening to do her harm. They were coming for her, and she couldn’t get away. Dane couldn’t come for her, and she knew this was the end if she couldn’t find a way out.

  She fought for the light, desperately trying to get to it even as her enemies closed in. She considered going a different way, down one of the dark corridors nearby, but she didn’t know where they might lead. She didn’t know if there was a way out, so she kept heading into the light. An explosion sounded behind her, and it propelled her forward. The sliver of light was suddenly a flood, and she was moving toward it at great speed, heat behind her.

  She shot upward, into the daylight and away from whatever was chasing her. Moving at top speed, she kept going, leaving Dane behind even as her heart broke for him. She could feel him gone. She could feel a piece of her destroyed. She flew hard and fast, but the light was suddenly shut off, the large wings of a dragon flying overhead, its dark talons dropping closer as it swooped down to grab her.

  She screamed, but it was only in her head. The small creature she had become was unable to make a sound beyond a squeal. The light went out, and she saw a new one, one coming from a distance. She approached it, but something had changed. She had changed. She was no longer flying. Instead, she was back in human form, walking slowly toward a light that grew brighter with every step.

  She could feel the warmth and she closed her eyes to let it wash over her, but she stepped forward and was suddenly falling, falling, and falling. She screamed, but she couldn’t stop her descent. She couldn’t shift, and there was nothing to grab hold of. A vibration began to shake her, at first just lightly, but then more forcefully.

  Adriana opened her eyes and found herself looking at Dane, who appeared just as frightened. She looked around, taking in her surroundings for a moment before realizing she was in his penthouse and had been having a bad dream.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes. I was having a nightmare, I think,” she replied.

  “What was it about?”

  “I don’t know. Darkness and light. Good and evil. Something like that.”

  “You were screaming.”

  “I was falling. I couldn’t stop falling,” she said.

  “Well, you’re back here with me now. It’s probably just a reaction to the drugs. They’ve likely not worn completely off yet.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” she told him.

  Dane kissed her and curled back up around her, but she lay there in the darkness for quite a while before falling back to sleep. The dream had seemed more like some sort of warning than just a mere nightmare. She wasn’t sure what it meant or if such premonitions were even possible, but it had left her feeling frightened. After a while, she settled back into Dane’s arms and drifted back into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Dane

  Dane woke up with a clearer head now that Adriana was out of danger. He knew exactly what he had to do. He slipped out of bed to shower, letting her sleep off the remainder of the drugs they had given her. By the time he was dressed, she was stirring about, propped up on one elbow and watching him from her side of the bed.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I have a meeting,” he told her. “I know you don’t listen to anyone, but maybe today I can talk you into staying in—at least until I get back?”

  “You’ll get no argument from me. I feel like death warmed over. I could use the rest.”

  “Good. Make yourself at home. There is food in the kitchen or you can order in. I’ll leave a card on the counter for you to use.”

  “I don’t need your card,” she said with a smile.

  “Good point. I’ll leave it anyway, just in case. Security found your bag in the bathroom. It’s on the bedside table, but I don’t know if anything is missing.”

  “Thanks,” she said, swallowing hard. “Ugh. I feel so nauseous.”

  “I’m going to have Berta send my doctor up to see you. He’s a shifter, so you’ll not need to keep any secrets from him. Let him know you were in mouse form after being drugged. The small stature might have made the drugs even more potent.”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  “Don’t open the door for anyone.”

  “How will I see the doctor if I don’t let anyone in?”

  “He has an access code to get up here and Berta will announce him beforehand.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you after your meeting then?”

  “You certainly will.”

  Dane kissed her and pulled a credit card from his wallet and lay it on the counter. He retrieved the heavy briefcase he had packed from a nearby chair a
nd got onto the elevator, blowing her a playful kiss before the doors closed between them.

  An hour later, he was sitting across the table in an empty bar, talking to a Crosby, a friend he’d called earlier in the morning to meet him there. He was the only person Dane could think of that might just be able to get to the bottom of this fiasco and put an end to it. It fell under the old “the truth shall set you free” adage.

  “So, the Black Talons want your construction company to launder money and are after you and your girlfriend to get their hands on it? They’ve already abducted her once and are threatening to do so again if you don’t give them what they want?”

  “That’s right. They wouldn’t have given her back to me without it the first time if she had not escaped.”

  “How the fuck does an Omega female escape from the most cutthroat dragon clan in the country?”

  “Long story, but she’s a Beta and a multi-shifter. She can get quite small when she wants to evade someone.”

  “That’s handy. It’s not always convenient to become the biggest mythical creature the world’s ever known. Anyway, moving on. Listen, I don’t know what I can do for you, man. You know there aren’t a lot of shifters in the bureau and this isn’t exactly a story I can handle to the humans in my branch.”

  “I know, that’s why I brought you something you can give them,” Dane told him.

  He reached down beside him and picked up the briefcase, laying it on the table beside the cups of coffee his friend Clara had given them so they could talk while she cleaned. This was her bar, but it wasn’t open yet. It wasn’t the first time she’d let Dane use it for meetings he didn’t want done in public. Before, it had always been high profile real estate deals.

  “What’s in there?”

  “Books we found in the ceiling of the main construction office and a bundle of cash that was stuffed between the beams.”