Alpha's Vow (Shifter Ops series Book 2) Read online

  “I’m sorry. I never intended to mate. I definitely wasn’t looking. I mean, she’s a human!”

  “Fate kicked you in the nuts.” Channing is so fucking thrilled with himself for figuring it out.

  “Shut up, asshole.”

  “What are you going to do?” Rafe asks. There’s warning in his tone. A hint of danger.

  I shrug. “What can I do? I have to convince her to see me again. Every day that goes on… gets harder.”

  “Son of a bitch.” Rafe turns away.

  “Tell me about it.”

  “The player got played.” Channing’s still way too gleeful about my sitch.

  “Played by Charlie?” I snarl.

  His perfect toothpaste-commercial smile widens even more. “Played by Fate, sucka.”

  “I really don’t know why you find this so amusing.”

  “Neither do I.” Rafe backs me up, for once, sending Channing a quelling look. To me, he says, “You’re sure? She’s yours?”

  “I’m hers,” I say miserably. I don’t dare tell my alpha that I’ve reduced myself to stalking her in wolf form along her mail route every day just to stay near her. Just because the need to protect her, to keep other males away from her, is so strong, it consumes me.

  Rafe’s brows pop. “Well. I guess you’d better figure out how to get that second date.” He says it like it’s a military order.

  I rub my hand over my short hair. “Yes, sir.”

  I flip the sizzling bacon and tear open a five pound package of ground beef to go with it. I need all the fuel I can get. This need to mate Charlie is running me dry.

  After I make a dozen hamburgers piled high with bacon, I take them out to my workstation. I’ve been working on the only angle I could come up with for Charlie: her brother Chad. Charlie’s worried about him because he’s been out of contact. That happens in the military, especially when soldiers are on a tour. It doesn’t mean he’s necessarily in any more danger than usual.

  I call Colonel Johnson. He’s the officer who put together our Shifter Forces team. A lion himself, he literally sniffed out shifters in the service and invited them to serve on elite nightwalker teams. He put our shifter skills—night vision, strength, speed, spontaneous healing—to good use, and by putting us only with our own kind, he ensured we didn’t have to hide what we were.

  Not all Shifter Forces teams are grouped by species, but we wolves were, because we already function well as a pack. We follow our alpha implicitly. Of course, it also means our pack would follow an order from Rafe over an order from the colonel, but that was a chance Colonel Johnson was willing to take.

  Colonel Johnson answers on the second ring. “Corporal, I located your fly-boy.”

  “Great.”

  “He’s flying combat in Syria—active air strikes.”

  I curse inwardly. “I’ve got a favor to ask—it’s pretty big.”

  “I can’t pull that kid out of there,” Colonel Johnson says immediately.

  “Not that big.”

  “What do you need?”

  “Any chance I could get five minutes of video conferencing with him?”

  “What’s this about?” the colonel demands.

  “It’s about a female, Colonel,” I snap back, my patience a frayed wire.

  “I don’t follow.”

  “He’s my mate’s brother. She’s worried about him. I’d just like to give her a chance to connect with him. Can you hook me up?”

  Colonel Johnson lets out a low chuckle. “Fate caught up to you, did she? Lotta women gonna mourn the loss of you on the playing field.”

  “Well, it’s not in the bag yet, so I’d appreciate this solid.”

  “Oh. You haven’t claimed her yet? And she’s human? That doesn’t bode well.”

  I bite back the fuck you that rises to my lips. “No, sir.”

  “Okay, Corporal. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I owe you. Big time.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I just said I’d see.”

  “I appreciate it, Colonel.”

  I hang up and bring my empty plate to the kitchen, thinking of Charlie when I put it in the dishwasher. Everything makes me think of Charlie.

  She’ll be out on her route right now.

  Which means… that’s where I need to be, too.

  I slip out the door and climb on my bike to ride it down the mountain. Once I get close to town, I hide the bike, strip off my clothes, and shift.

  Charlie

  I get out of the mail truck and tuck the mail into the boxes on the bank of mailboxes at the corner, then sling my bag over my shoulder to walk along the dirt road and deliver the rest.

  I’m nerved up because I’ve been seeing a wolf on my mail route lately. It’s big and grey with a splash of white on its nose. And it’s fucking huge. Wolves look so cute in the Save the Planet calendars I get in the mail—the ones with beautiful wildlife photos of coral reefs and baby elephants. I'm a sucker for donating to Save the Planet type causes, so I get tons of these types of calendars free. There’s always a cute and fluffy wolf featured in one or two of the months.

  In real life, wolves are not fluffy. They are not cute. They are massive, graceful, super deadly predators, and the sight of them activates the OH SHIT part of your brain. The part that tells you to Run!

  Except all I do is freeze mid-step, with my mailbag heavy on my hip.

  I’ve seen the wolf three times this week, which is downright weird, considering they have a huge territory.

  I’m three quarters of the way down the road when I spot him. I freeze, careful not to make eye contact.

  “Nice wolfie,” I call nervously. My mail person training never covered what to do when confronted with endangered wildlife. Aggressive dogs, yes. Attack squirrels, yes (don’t ask). Disgruntled people. Rain, sleet, and snow.

  But not big-ass wolves with my, what big teeth you have muzzles and yellow eyes.

  Fuck fuck fuck. What do I do?

  Whelp, you’re gonna die, my frontal lobe offers helpfully.

  I review my options:

  Pee myself

  Run away and hope the wolf doesn’t chase me. Too much to hope I can outrun it

  Fall down and play dead

  I think option number one is a certainty no matter what I choose.

  I go with a fourth option. “Nice wolfie. Good wolfie.” I sidle away.

  He keeps his distance, trotting along beside me, but a good fifty feet away. He doesn’t seem to be hunting me. I mean, he’d square off to me if he were, right?

  “Nice wolfie,” I say again, darting another glance at him. He stops and sits with a little whine.

  Huh?

  Could he be someone’s domesticated wolf-dog?

  But no way. I mean, this wolf is huge.

  I’m so busy worrying about the wolf, I forget to worry about my feet, and trip over a loose stone.

  Eek!

  I go down, flat on my face, belly, and hands. The mailbag spills its contents, but that’s not the part that freaks me out. It’s the wolf sprinting for me.

  “No!” I shriek, scrambling to my feet. The last thing I need to do is lie on the ground and offer my neck like a sacrificial goat. Or lamb. Whatever.

  Amazingly, the wolf skids to a stop, leaving twenty feet between us. He lowers his head, almost like an apology, then turns and trots away, glancing over his shoulder a couple times. What the F? Seriously—what is up with that crazy wolf? When he disappears behind the sagebrush, I let out a long, shaky breath and bend my trembling legs to start picking up the mail scattered across the dirt.

  Now, belatedly, I remember I have pepper spray clipped to my bag. Lot of good it did me there. Well, if it happens again, I’ll be prepared.

  Lance

  I pull up in front of Charlie’s house at 9:00 p.m. I’m itchy and edgy. I feel like I need to shift and run off the excess energy, but I just did that. Literally. I ran all evening, then showered and changed to come here.

  I
’m still wincing over seeing Charlie fall on her face today. I’m the biggest asshole. I didn’t mean to scare her, but of course I did. My wolf is huge, and she felt threatened. The reminder that she’s human—fragile and breakable and completely in the dark about my kind—hit me hard.

  It had me questioning whether I was wrong about her being my mate. I mean, why would Fate choose a human for me? I’m not alpha of my pack, but I could be. I’d certainly be at the head of any pack. Pairing an alpha male with a human doesn’t make sense. Not when our species is already dwindling.

  Standing in front of her door, though, all my doubt vanishes. Her scent lingers everywhere, prickling at my skin, sending my blood south. Her effect on me is undeniable.

  I’m ready to beat down her door to get to her, then throw her over my shoulder and carry her home, caveman style.

  Too bad that won’t fly. I raise my fist to knock. She’s going to think this is a booty-call visit. Showing up at nine at night? This isn’t going to look good.

  If she’d given me her number, I could’ve texted her before I came over. Of course, I have access to her number. I looked it up and put it in my phone the minute I got home the morning after her birthday. But I figured texting without her permission wasn’t going to fly any better than showing up, so here I am.

  I rap on the door with my knuckles, shifting on my feet.

  Fates, I’ve never been so nervous with a female before. I was the kid who had girlfriends by age ten. I literally was born with game. Rafe got the serious gene. I got the player one.

  Nah, that’s not true. We weren’t born to these roles. Rafe wasn’t born with a stick up his ass. He was a normal shifter kid before our parents’ murder. But the PTSD of that trauma forced him into the role of alpha far too early, and he took the whole world on his shoulders. He refused to let me take any responsibility at all, other than to do what he said. So I guess I purposely took on the role of playboy. It was that, or resent the hell out of Rafe for treating me like a fucking baby.

  I hear Charlie moving inside. She looks through the peephole at me.

  I hold up my palms. “It’s not a booty call. I have a surprise for you.” My breath catches and holds as she remains still for a moment inside. When she opens the door, my heart starts beating again.

  “May I come in? I promise you’re going to like it.”

  Charlie’s in a tit-hugging threadbare graphic tee with no bra, and a pair of loose pajama bottoms that fall below her hips, giving me a view of a swath of bare skin at her midriff that makes my mouth water. She folds her arms across her apple-sized breasts and cocks a hip. “What is it?”

  “Please don’t make me spoil the surprise. I swear on everything holy you will be glad you let me in.” Yeah, I’m literally reduced to begging here. My female has zero interest in me. How can this be?

  Except, that’s not true. Because I see her nipples—hard and stiff—poking out through that shirt behind her crossed arms. That confidence boost is all I need to turn on the charm. I lean one hand against her house, giving her my best pirate smile.

  She leans in toward me. I don’t even think she means to, but it’s like my body calls to hers. Her face gets closer to mine and I breathe in her pine and peaches scent. My semi grows. My wolf is both appeased and incensed at being so close to her. My heartbeat picks up. I risk a casual touch, brushing a lock of pale hair from her eyes.

  “Come on, don’t leave me hanging out here.”

  Charlie’s smile is reluctant. She grabs a fistful of my leather jacket and tugs me inside, walking backward in the cutest possible way. I know, backward walking isn’t meant to be cute, but fuck—on this woman—it’s insanely adorable. I check out her bare feet. Her toes are polished in bubblegum pink and I make a mental note to suck every single one of them as soon as possible.

  I pretend to mop my brow. “Whew. You had me sweating it for a minute there, and we don’t have much time. Come on.” I take her hand and tug her to the couch, where I sit down. When she hesitates, I reach for her waist and pull her onto my lap.

  “Oh!” she exclaims, one of her cute bare feet kicking out.

  “See what happens when you don’t trust?”

  The scent of her arousal blooms as she squirms on my knee, catching hold of my shoulders to steady herself.

  I’m dying to explore this position way more intimately, but there’s no time. Besides, I’m supposed to be proving I’m not here for a booty call.

  I turn on my phone and flick open the email from Colonel Johnson, then click the link he sent me.

  “What is this?”

  “Just wait, angel. It’s coming.” The spinner spins on my screen as the teleconference loads. Then it brings up an empty screen.

  Charlie looks at me. “I really don’t under—”

  An image appears. A handsome but tired-looking young man in uniform blinks at the screen. “Charlie?”

  “Oh my God, Chad!” Charlie covers her mouth with her hand, snatching the phone from my hand and surging up from my lap. She spins to give me exaggerated bug-eyes.

  “Is everything okay? What’s going on?” Chad sounds alarmed.

  “Yes! Everything’s okay! I don’t even know what’s going on. I was worried about you and...” —she shoots an apologetic glance my way— “I guess my friend arranged this for me.” She mouths the words, thank you at me.

  I’ll be following up for more of her thanks later.

  All fucking night.

  No—no. That’s wrong. I’m not here to get my dick wet. I’m here to court Charlie. As if I have any clue what that means or how to do it. If she were a wolf, it would be so easy. One sniff and she would know she belonged to me. She might kick up a little fuss at being claimed—make me work for it a little, but there’d be no question that I would prevail.

  But with a human female—fuck.

  I don’t even know how to begin explaining to Charlie what she means to me. How I’m biologically required to mate with her, whether she likes it or not. I mean, of course, I’d make her like it. I’d devote my fucking life to ensuring my female was satisfied on every level.

  But I don’t know how to smooth my way into this. Getting from Point A, post one-night-stand to Point B, claiming her as my lifelong mate, feels pretty damn daunting at the moment.

  But at least I got this right. Charlie’s face is bright with emotion as she questions her brother.

  “I can’t tell you that, either, sis,” Chad says when she asks where he is. “Everything’s classified, that’s why I haven’t been in touch. And Sarge says I only have two more minutes before they have to end this call, but I’m so glad I got to tell you happy birthday to your face.”

  “Yeah, me too. Seeing you is the best birthday present ever.” Her warm gaze flicks to me, making my dick go rock hard.

  “So who was it who set this up?” Chad asks.

  Charlie blushes. “Um, this guy. My friend.” She sends me another look, this time with curiosity ablaze. “I don’t even know how he set it up. He’s former Special Forces.”

  “Mmm, he’s got the inside hookup. Sounds like a bigshot. What kind of friend is this?”

  Charlie turns her back on me. “None of your business,” she says tartly.

  “Oh, so it’s like that?” Her brother chuckles.

  “Time’s up,” a gruff voice barks.

  “Sorry, sis, I gotta go. Tell Mom and Dad I love them. And you, too.”

  “I love you, too. Take care of yourself, Chad.”

  “Yep, I will. Bye.”

  Charlie keeps her back to me for a moment and I rub the back of my neck, wondering if I should leave. When she turns, her eyes are bright with tears. “Thank you,” she says.

  “Told ya you wouldn’t be sorry.”

  She shakes her head. “Not sorry. That was really, really nice of you.”

  I get up from the couch, because it’s not looking like she’s going to sit back down with me. I step into her space, slowly. Close enough to be suggestive, far
enough away to stay respectful. I reach out and lightly rest my hand on the curve of her hip, savoring the feel of that band of bare skin under my palm. “You’re welcome.”

  “How did you do it? You really are that well connected?”

  I shrug. “Getting a five minute call wasn’t that hard. Getting him out of there would be.”

  Her face clouds and I kick myself for ruining the mood, but it’s not fair not to be honest with her.

  “So he is in a dangerous zone? I mean, I figured he must be if he couldn’t tell me anything.”

  “I can’t tell you either, but yeah. He’s in the thick of it right now.”

  Her face falls. “I knew it had to be something like that.”

  I want to tell her something like, He’ll be all right, but the truth is, I don’t know. He’s human, like she is. Their lives are so fragile. “I’m sorry, angel. I’ll keep close tabs on his unit, okay?”

  She studies my face, then blurts, “Why?”

  I falter. Playboy Lance knows exactly how to play this. How to turn this into a sex-charged conversation that leads to the bedroom and me getting into those sexy pajama pants. But another one-night stand isn’t my objective.

  “I told you—I like you, Charlie.” I take my phone from her hand and tuck it in my back pocket, then I step in close to touch her waist again. I lower my face, hovering an inch above hers. Our gazes lock. Her breath catches and stops.

  I slide my hand behind her head to cradle it.

  “Fuck it,” Charlie says, grasping the lapels of my jacket and lifting onto her toes to kiss me.

  For one glorious moment, I kiss her back, my mouth descending over hers, drinking from her lips. My tongue slides into her mouth with a slow, sensuous pulse. It’s not a practiced kiss. I forget all finesse. It’s not the dominant, claiming one my wolf wants me to lay on her, either. No, I’m fully present. I’m following the moment, tasting her, following her beautiful lead. Seeing where it takes us. Her soft breasts brush against my chest, her scent gets up in my nose.

  And then the fuck it registers.

  I ease back. “Hang on a sec, angel. What does fuck it mean?”

  Charlie’s pupils are blown, her cheeks flushed. She rubs her swollen lips together. “I mean… one more round can’t hurt, right?” she says.