Bad Alpha Anthology

291 Pages·2016·1.21 MB·English

by  Gray Karyn White J R

Evernight Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Evernight Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-77233-456-2

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Karyn White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
BAD ALPHA

10 Author Anthology

Edited by Karyn White

For Blood by J.R. Gray

Destiny Realized by Khloe Wren

Exiled Alpha by Amber Morgan

Drakon’s Prize by Moira Callahan

Tiger’s Mate by April Zyon

Dark Heart by Elyzabeth M. VaLey

Resisting His Mate by Lynn Burke

The Alpha’s Vixen by Jocelyn Dex

Always Midnight by Ashlynn Monroe

Becoming the Alpha’s Mate by Harper Shaddock
FOR BLOOD

J.R. Gray

Copyright © 2015

Chapter One

Roman

I hadn’t seen her since I was a child, and I wasn’t really
looking forward to it. We stood on either side of a large field, staring
one another down. My pack and his. We all stood in our human state,
and I had all my enforcers keeping my people back. They wanted to
charge on the other pack. They wanted blood. They needed
retribution, but I wasn’t allowing it. This was for their own good.
Snarls filled the air as the moon got closer and closer to rising.
I looked into Alex’s gaze, across the field, and waited. He was
a cold bastard, but this was a means to an end. He was going to bring
her out, and I would do this for my people. We couldn’t handle being
at war any longer.
“Roman, are you ready to put aside our difference and unite
our packs as brothers?” Alex said over the growls of both our packs.
I groaned inwardly. I hated that stupid fuck. He always had to
have the first and last word. It would be so easy to unleash hell and
have it out, here and now. Every single wolf was present, and the loss
would be too much to bear.
“We will be joined by blood and forever united.” Every word
hurt as it came out of my mouth. This was the last thing I wanted, but
I didn’t have any other choice.
A girl stepped out from behind him. She wasn’t anything close
to what I expected. As a child, she used to tower over me and throw
her weight around. I wasn’t a small kid either. I expected a fight every
time I saw her on the playground. She wasn’t weak. There was a time
or two she came out the victor of our squabbles. But now it was clear
I had outgrown her by at least a foot. Interesting.
“Then promise yourself to Victoria, here and now, in front of
both our packs,” Alex yelled out over noise of hundreds of wolves
starting to get rowdy.
I could feel the moon rising even as he spoke. It would crest
the trees within minutes. Soon we would all be called to our savage
animal forms, to run as brothers. Alex and Victoria walked towards
the center of the field, and I started off to join them. I had no one at
my side as I’d made even my beta stay back to deal with the pack. If
one of them broke rank, we would descend into chaos.
When we met in the middle, Alex held back leaving Victoria
to step forward. She held her hand out, palms down, to take my mine.
My heart pounded in my chest as I fed off all of the energy around us.
The tension was thick, and I felt like a caged animal. I was a caged
animal.
“I pledge to take you as my wife, under the next moon, and to
give you my children to bind us forever by blood.” I said the words,
but I couldn’t put any heart behind them. I avoided her eyes as I did,
but she wasn’t looking at me either.
She had her gaze fixed on the ground at my feet. I knew Alex
had forced her into this. At least we had that in common. I dropped
her hands as soon as I finished and stepped back.
“Toska pack, we now share a brotherhood with the Fala pack.
The punishment for killing one of our brothers is death, by the old
laws, which we follow.” Alex spoke, and I waited for my turn to say
my lines.
“Fala pack, to you I say the same. These are our brothers, and
the punishment for killing a wolf from the Toska pack will be death.”
She watched me as I spoke. I met her gaze, finding her eyes
were still sharp and green. Her dark hair fell to below her waist. She
was beautiful, not rail thin like was so in fashion. The woman had
curves to her. We studied each other for a moment. She pulled her lips
back, exposing her gleaming white canines and hissed at me.
A low growl started in the base of my gut, but I swallowed it
back. I had to do this. It would save hundreds of lives over the next
three generations.
“It is done. Now we run.” Alex stepped forward to take my
hand.
We shook, and he gave me one of his crooked smiles. There
was evil behind his eyes. Blackness through to his soul.
“Brother.” He pulled me into a hug.
I didn’t stop him. Our bare chests touched, and we clapped
each other on the back.
“Brother.” I returned, offering him a smile. “I hope I never
have to see you again, after I put a child in your sister,” I said to
myself.
I stepped back and closed my eyes. It would be so much easier
to deal with all this when I gave over to my wolf. Slowly, I let him
out of the cage I held him locked in, deep inside my mind. Pain
engulfed me as my form started to shift, giving in to the call of the
moon. I gritted my teeth through the worst of it. I would have never
dishonored my ancestors by making a sound. Soon, I was in the back
seat, and the wolf had control. My thoughts turned to a snarl of smells
and sounds, processing them in quick time, and my mind went silent.
Bliss.
I lifted my nose to the moon and howled to give thanks. The
night was cool, and soon the cries of the other wolves joined mine. It
was time to run. It wasn’t often I was allowed out to play, but the one
night a month the moon called to my animal, I couldn’t resist. None
of us had a choice.
I took off in a run. My pack filled in around me, with my beta
running on my right flank and a snow white wolf on my right. I knew
it was her by the smell. We tore through the underbrush with our new
brother pack running alongside. I paid them no mind. I was free.
Before long Victoria nudged into me playfully. I growled at
her, nipping as she came close again. She didn’t back down. I
belonged to her, and she knew it. She shoved me to the side as I ran,
veering us off course. The pack moved with me. I snarled as she came
near again, and she backed off.
She stilled for a time, but as the lines broke and carnage took
over, she returned. The fever of the moon took control of the wolves,
and they started to turn on each other to work out their differences or
take to off in small groups to hunt. Not a soul paid us any attention. I
could have deflowered her in the middle of it all, and no one would
have seen, too wrapped up in their own lust.
She bit at my hind legs, and I turned on her. My animal had
had enough of her behavior. But she was too fast. She took off, and I
went after her. It was miles before I caught up. I grabbed her by the
muzzle and threw her to the ground. She rolled, kicking out her hind
legs and tried to flip me. We went back and forth, in the tall grass,
each trying to get the upper hand, until I pinned her under me. I
snarled in her face, and she was suddenly human again.
It wasn’t easy to go back to my human form with the moon's
pull so strong, but I forced my wolf back into its cage. I was a full
blooded alpha, so I had the power and control most wolves didn’t.
I threw myself off her and climbed to my feet. “We should go
back.”
She stood looking me over. “Why, when we can play here
ourselves? They won’t miss us.”
“I’d rather run with my pack.” I turned from her.
She grabbed my arm. “I am your pack now.”
I shrugged her off, as I turned back around. “You’re not yet
and—” I trailed off. It wasn’t worth saying. I didn’t want to ruin this
before it started.
She grabbed at me again, digging her red nails into my skin.
“Come on, I’m just being playful.”
I growled low. “Why the fuck are you even doing this if you
hate me so much?” I wanted to shove her back into the tree, but I
wouldn’t ever be a man like that. I exhaled slowly, trying to hold back
my beast and the aggressive behavior that came with who we were on
this night.
“You’re not the only one who can put duty before yourself.”
She had conviction in her voice, but—
I tilted my head trying to suss her out. All of a sudden I didn’t
believe her.
Chapter Two

Victoria

I wanted to kill him. Those damn gray eyes saw right through
me. I felt my lies crumbling around him. I channeled my anger and
placed both hands on his chest, shoving him back.
“Get. Out. Of. My. Space.” The shove lit something in him,
and I had to stifle a groan. He was cute when he got all angry. It was
half the reason I used to sit on him in the playground. With five
brothers, who didn’t like a little roughhousing?
He lifted a hand and curled his fingers into his fist, then
opened and closed his mouth a few times, before turning away from
me. I smiled a little and tucked my hair behind my ears. It was a win
in my book. I watched him walk away, his ass swaying side to side.
Tattoos covered his arms in full sleeves, but he had this sexy biker
look to him. He had his wolf over his ribcage and the Alpha brand on
the back of his left shoulder, as well as his pack brand on his right. I
would get a second brand, to match his, when I joined his pack after
we were wed.
I wanted to reach out and touch him, but he hated me so much.
I guess I didn’t really blame him.
“Are you coming?” He’d stopped about ten paces away and
stood with his head hanging forward, his beard almost touching his
chest.
The other wolves’ calls sounded through the dark night.
“Do we have to?”
He was so different from how he’d been as a child, handsome,
but closed off. Not the sweet little boy I knew.
He looked over his shoulder at me with his brow scrunched.
There was the glimpse of the boy. "I have no interest in spending any
more time with you than I have to."
His body started to shudder as he let his wolf form back out. I
sighed and let mine do the same, taking off a split second behind him.
The wind blew my white fur back as we ran to rejoin our packs. I
closed my eyes, letting myself fully settle into the mindset of my
wolf. It was easier like this. We weaved through the trees following
the calls. I lifted my nose to the sky and let out a howl, calling back to
them.
When I caught sight of my brother, I veered off to run at his
side. After next month, it would be many months, or even years,
before we ran together again. He slowed his pace, as I took my place
at his shoulder, nudging into me lightly. He was so good, always
putting everyone before himself.
The packs ran, hunted, and fucked until the moon set, and we
found ourselves back at the field where I'd been promised to him.
Roman lay naked in the grass, on his back, looking up at the stars. I
walked over to sink into a place beside him. The night was warm, so
the light breeze felt good on my bare skin. I lay down and curled on
my side to face him.
If he felt my eyes on him, he didn't look over. He didn't watch
the shows, and he didn't sleep. He just lay there. My eyes lulled half
closed, but they sprang back open when I heard the grass next to me
crinkle. He'd rolled to his side to face me. I didn't dare move, but I
could feel his eyes on me. They trailed down my body and back up.
The air became thick between us, as I stared into his dark, gray eyes.
There was something there, a brief moment he didn't hate my
existence, and then it was gone.
He pushed to his feet and offered me a hand. I placed my
fingers over his palm, and he closed around them, jerking me to my
feet.
"Let's go home."
My heart jumped into my throat. "Home?"
He laughed. "So the asshole didn't tell you?"
I shook my head. "You've been signed over like a piece of
property. You belong to me." He said the words like they tasted foul.
A shiver ran down my spine. I looked over at Alex, who was
busy taking a girl from behind.
"I'm new to this. I'm sure he has his reasons." I loved my
brother, but I hoped the reason wasn’t to spy on Roman. I pushed it
out of my head. My brother could be an asshole, but I believed he was
doing this for the packs.
"Being an asshole is a reason now?"
I bit my lip to not laugh. "You pull it off well, so what's your
excuse?"
He raised a brow and lingered for a moment before turning
around to shift. I wanted to know why he wouldn't shift while looking
at me. He was beyond frustrating, and we were only hours into this
arrangement.
I'd never seen this part of the grounds. The pack lands
belonged to the Fala pack and thus were forbidden to be hunted on by
any other. The sun crested the trees surrounding his modest ranch. He
didn't wait for me, shifting before walking into the house, without a
backward glance. The interior was utilitarian, done in bland shades of
gray. It wasn't warm. Even the house wanted me to leave. He headed
straight down the back hall, closing the bedroom door behind him.
I looked at the ceiling. He ignited so much rage. I wanted to
curl up in the damn corner. I’d wanted to do this, but now I felt like I
had been sold and not even to someone who wanted me. This wasn't
me. I wasn’t about to let him make me feel weak.
I took a deep breath, marched up to his door, and threw it
open. He lay sprawled out in bed and hadn't bothered with clothes. He
looked so different lying there. Almost softer. I didn't ask permission
to enter. I walked right over to the full sized bed he slept in and lay
down, turning my back to him.
He sighed. I didn't react.
"You can sleep in the guest room," he said through gritted
teeth.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. "What's the point? You're
going to have to fuck me at some point since you own me now. Might
as well get it over with."
He bared his teeth, and I did it right back. A low growl ripped
through him. I scoffed.
"You're not scary." He was actually terrifying, but I didn't
believe he would hurt me.
"You have to be a virgin when I take you at the next moon."
His words were barely more than a growl.
"Like anyone is ever still a virgin anymore when they mate?" I
rolled over to face him.
He would be the type to follow the rules.
"You will be," he said the words, but his body betrayed him.
His thick cock grew rock hard between his thighs. I stared. It
was probably the worst thing I could have done. I saw naked men