BETA: Her Alpha(2)

“Yes, but let me get my travel mug. I’m running behind now.” She pulls a mug out of the cabinet, and I laugh.

“What? You don’t like my kitty mug?” It’s got a three kittens playing with a ball of yarn. It doesn’t suit the sophisticated woman I see before me, but at the same time it does. She’s got me curious and fucked in the head.

“It’s cute, but odd…all things considered.” We’re wolf shifters, so I just shake my head.

“Hey, buster. Sheriff or not, don’t knock my style.” She pushes her finger into my chest. She’s strong, but she’s messing with a grown shifter. I grab her, and in seconds, I have her back pressed against the sink. My face is just inches from hers, and I have the urge to taste her parted lips. She’s breathing heavy, her chest heaving. I growl a warning, “You shouldn’t mess with me. I won’t take too kindly to getting taken down by a pretty girl.” With my hands wrapped around her wrists, I can feel her pulse race.

Pouting and arching a brow, she teases, “Oh…did I hurt your big, wolfy chest?”

“Don’t be a smart ass,” I say through

Chloe presses her hand against my chest. I can feel it burn through my uniform and it’s intoxicating. Why the fuck is my wolf sleeping? “Fine. Are you going to let me up so we can get a move on? I’ve got a job to do.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I let her up before I say or do something crazy, and add, “I’m going to wait in the car.”

“Okay, Erik.” I rush out the door before my mind goes nutty. I’m attracted to her. I want to know more about her, but it’s useless. We’re not mates. If we were, we’d be tearing at each other’s clothes and my dick would be hard as stone. Instead, we’re flirting like regular humans.

I can hear her open the front door, so I turn to watch her walk down the stairs. She’s beautiful in her super-high heels, like she really needed them. Chloe was about five nine; nothing to my six-four, but tall for a woman.

She has slender legs and hips that are only accentuated by that itty bitty, poor excuse for a skirt. My eyes move up and down her form, trying to figure how I could want her, but not enough for my mating wolf to kick in.

She gets in, and I stare at her short skirt. I hear her give a little sigh, then I look up at her. I can’t tell what she’s thinking. I want to know, but I refuse to ask. Turning away, I shift into gear and drive off. We’re silent for a few moments before she asks me questions about my job in Seattle. “It was difficult, but I don’t regret it. I stopped a lot of crimes in progress.”

“Didn’t you worry about your wolf breaking free?” I think I learned to tame him too well. He wants to lay dormant now.

“At first I was, but I spent a lot of time meditating. It’s been something that calms me. So I would take a few minutes to do it in the morning. That way I didn’t lose my cool during a chase or arrest.”

We reach a stop sign and she says, “I tried meditation once. Never again. I’m not the silent type. Even my mind is a chatterbox.” She smiles at me innocently, but it only serves to emphasize her beauty. She brushes her hair behind her ear nervously. My stare is obviously making her uncomfortable, so I look away and focus on the road.

We’re silent for a minute, but I can’t get past what she’s wearing so I ask belligerently, “Do you normally wear skirts that short?”

“It’s not that short, and it’s not your business,” she snarls. Her vibrant green eyes darken in anger.

“I’m just trying to be a friend. The humans aren’t like us. They don’t need to be mates to fuck a woman. I’m worried they could come after you. They’d find you irresistible.” I am worried and a tiny bit jealous.

“Really, I’m not scared. I could rip their heads right off their bodies, Erik. I promise I’m safe.” She says it like she’s trying to soothe me, patting my arm in the process.

“Okay. Just be careful,” I say before she hops out of my vehicle.

After dropping her off, I go to the station and meet with my deputy, Ryan. He’s a slender jackass who’s obviously envious, but I can’t fix his insecurities. He doesn’t like that I got the job before him since he’s lived here all his life, but if he was capable of handling the position I wouldn’t have been even offered the position. He thinks I got the job because of nepotism. He’s been pissy since I started so I told him if he could beat me in a wolf fight in the woods, he could have the position and I would be the deputy, but he lost in seconds. Now he looks at me like he’s ready for a rematch. I can’t really trust him, but I don’t have much choice. There’s no one here that’s a prime candidate to be a policeman.

“Hey, Erik. You’re late. I was starting to worry,” he says mockingly.

“Don’t be a dick. I was meeting with Hunter Grey,” I growl at him.

“You sure you’re all right? You seem grumpy.” I am. Chloe has my body confused.





Chapter 2


Eight months later…

I just got back from a long day of work to find Chloe cooking me dinner. Hunter just got on my ass about some human troublemakers that showed up yesterday. I’ve gotten rid of them, but he still was pissed, like it’s my fault they were here in our woodlands getting smashed. “What gives with Hunter? He’s getting real fucking pissy,” I say, wrapping my arm around her shoulder for a quick hug. It’s these little indulgences that I’ve allowed myself.

She pulls away from me, then whacks me with the ladle she has in her hand.

I pinch her for the smack, and she growls with a pout. “Hey, don’t get bent out of shape, babe. He got on my ass for no reason today. Just trying to figure out what’s going on with him. Is it the new hotel?”

Chloe hands me a beer from the fridge. While drinking a glass of wine, she says, “First, he’s the alpha, so cut him some slack. And second, don’t say I told you anything, but he thinks he’s found his mate.”

“He thinks he’s found his mate? How could he not know?”

“It’s not that simple. They haven’t met. He’s dreaming of her, and the dreams are so real to him. He wakes up more and more depressed every day.”

“Damn, so is he going to look for her?”

“He’s been going out of town once a month, but he’s had no luck. Between our business trips and setting up the hotel, Gage and I started searching for her.”

“That’s strange for one of us to dream of our mate.”

“Do you dream of yours?”

“Nope, only you, babe,” I say teasingly, but in all reality, I do dream of her, every night, but most of the time they’re nightmares. All of them end with her finding her mate and forgetting me.

“Shut up, and set up our plates,” she hisses, hitting me with the kitchen towel.





Four months later…

It’s been one helluva long year of loving a woman that doesn’t belong to me. Chloe has owned my heart since we first met. That day is still vividly etched in my brain. I can remember her reddened face after her long run, her scent pouring off her and tantalizing me with the urge to sniff her, and pinning her to the counter. I let out another snarling growl, allowing my frustration to take over again. I’m living on anxiety and fucking anger.

I hate that I’m not her mate. If she meets her mate before I leave, I’m going to lose it. I have to leave her for good and move away. I love her with all that I am, but that love isn’t enough. Being a shifter has been a fantastic life, that’s until I met Chloe. Now it’s a delicious, sweet hell.

I’m about to skip town and move as far away as I can. It’s too much to love her the way that I do. I feel obsessed and out of my head.

Ryan’s ready to take over if Hunter can’t find a replacement soon. He’s too cocky and weak to be the sheriff, but I don’t have a choice. I gave Hunter my notice yesterday. I told him that I needed to go find my mate, and she’s not here. He didn’t know that my real reason for leaving is because I can’t keep looking at Chloe and wishing she was mine. It’s becoming unbearable.

Reassuringly, he said that I needed to do what I needed to do, but to give him time to straighten some things out first. He’s just met his mate, and they’re busy mating every waking minute. I’m glad he found her because now he’s not such a dick. Plus, Chloe has been so worried about him for so long now. On top of the whole mating thing, Hunter’s been having mysterious problems with the vacation resort he built. There have been small fires and other issues that have delayed the opening.

I was getting ready for the day on patrol when Rocky, my cousin on my mother’s side who happens to be the Beta, shows up at my place. We don’t always get along because I’ve been ashamed of our families past and Rocky’s lack of respect for the Alpha.

“What’s up, Rocky?” I ask, attaching my gun belt to my waist.

“I hate him and his entire family,” he snarls, pacing my living room. His rage is pouring off him, and it’s got me ready to tie him down.

“Him who?” I don’t know who he’s talking about.