The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“How bad is it?”

“When my professor was diving here as a student, tiger sharks and hammerheads were everywhere. Helicopters, aircraft, and drones made it too easy to find and catch the big ones, and we’re still paying the price. Thank God we came to our senses and set aside underwater preserves in areas like this. Perhaps in twenty or thirty years, we’ll see those numbers again.”

“What about Great Whites?”

“The water is too warm up here for them now. They didn’t fall as far as other species, since Whites have been threatened species for decades. Once we came up with effective monitoring for beach areas, the pressure to cull the adults has lessened.” Crowded beaches now had sonar webs that could sense large sharks and give warnings.

That trip was epic, even if they wouldn’t let me fly the helicopter. Brisbane was nice too, a mall setting with a lot of people looking on. Linda was happy with all the footage we’d taken and headed for the hotel as soon as we arrived in Melbourne. The rest of us got into a van with Nicholas’ cousin, heading north to their station in Bonnie Doon.

***********

I think we were all a bit nervous as we drove past farms and parklands towards Bonnie Doon. Our plane had arrived from Brisbane just after midnight, bringing me with Amy, Makani, Noelani, Nicholas, Fiona, Carly, Olivia, and Leo. The girls had changed their flights so they could support us.

My Mom had arrived in Melbourne an hour before we did, and it was great seeing her again. Ian and Dorothy had flown in two days after the wedding, and Susan and Hammer would fly to Melbourne tomorrow with Linda and the crew. “How many people showed up?”

“Most of them,” Craig said. He was Uncle Joseph’s eldest son and still lived at the family compound where the meeting was. He was single and a sophomore in college. “Dad said only three of our kind couldn’t make it. Most of the wives came with, so this is the biggest gathering in a long time.”

“That’s good,” I replied. “How is your wolf doing?”

“He’s a little intimidated right now,” Craig replied honestly. “I’ve never felt the kind of dominance Leo puts out, much less yours. And it is a little weird feeling Nicholas’ wolf now; our wolves used to be equal, and now mine just wants to roll on his back when he comes up.”

“A lot will change now,” I said. I’d spent a lot of time talking with Nicholas, Ian, and Leo about what we would be doing.

“Remember when you were worried that mating and becoming an Alpha would mean you might not get to go to college for what you wanted,” Mom teased. “Those were the days!”

“Oh, my,” I replied. “Easy button compared to this.” Heck, it was going to be hard to balance a mating with my career and commitments, much less family on the other side of the world and an untrained Pack.

Craig told us about his family and their land as we drove, and soon we arrived at his family’s station. He pulled to a stop in front of a sprawling one-story farmhouse. There were tents pitched around the yard and a few campers off to the side, only a few with lights showing. “Full house?”

“You wouldn’t believe how full. Come on, my parents, Joseph and Margaret, are waiting by the door.”

As always, I let my bodyguards get out first, and that’s when everything went to shit. “MATE,” Fiona growled out, and she took off for the stairs and Joseph. He had no idea what was happening, so he growled and pushed his wife behind him. By protecting this woman and growling at her, he was rejecting her. It was a slap at her wolf, and she shifted to eliminate the threat to her mating.

“NO! STOP,” I yelled as her wolf leaped for the pair.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Joseph shifted as well, but his wolf was confused. It wanted the beautiful she-wolf running towards it, not the human behind him that his other half loved. Fiona crashed into Margaret and bit into her arm as she screamed and tried to fight off the enraged wolf.

Leo shifted before I could, and he knocked Fiona off of Margaret’s chest. He quickly pinned the struggling wolf, holding her neck until she submitted to him. Joseph’s wolf thought about interfering, but Leo’s dominant wolf looked at him, and he backed down.

I took control. “Craig, take your mother inside and take care of that bite. Joseph, go inside and change while Leo and I deal with Fiona.”

Craig helped his Mom up, holding his shirt over her bleeding arm as she cried. Family members had started to gather around, drawn by the screams and the dominance of the new arrivals. Joseph shifted back first. “Don’t hurt her,” he asked.

“She attacked a human,” I said. “That must be dealt with.” He grabbed a pair of shorts that one of the family members tossed him and grabbed his torn clothing before going inside. I took over for Leo, kneeling and holding Fiona’s scruff while he jumped back into the van and pulled on new clothes. Ian approached me. “Do you have a silver collar or something you use to restrain wolves?”

“There are a post and chain in the back Joseph use for punishments,” he said.

I pulled an apologetic and devastated Fiona around the house, chaining her up to the thick post set into the ground. I didn’t have to tell her how badly she’d messed up; she’d attacked a human, and there was a fifty-fifty chance that Margaret would die. Fiona’s life was forfeit if that happened. Even if Margaret survived the forced change, Fiona earned a harsh punishment.

There was no guarantee Joseph would choose Fiona over the woman he’d been married to for decades, and no guarantee he’d forgive her for his wife’s death. Fiona let out a mournful howl before lying down, her head on her paws.

If there was a worse way to bring the Werewolf world to this family, I couldn’t think of it.

“We could have handled that better,” Amy sent to me as I finished up.

“No kidding.” I’d reached my limit on problems three problems ago. “Can you and Leo handle things for a few minutes? I have to call Alpha Steven and tell him what happened.”

“Sure, but don’t take long. Craig will finish bandaging up Margaret in a few minutes, and everyone is gathering in the living room to figure out what is going on. They are pissed and scared for Margaret, who they think is in for a painful death.”

I pulled out my phone and walked away from the house as I made the call. “Vicki? What’s going on?”