Read Craving the Alpha: Part One: BBW Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance (Lycan Lovers) Online
Authors: Kate Kent
Craving the Alpha: Part One: BBW Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance (Lycan Lovers)
Copyright © 2014 by Kate Kent
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This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to organizations, actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Published by: Lil Black Dress Press
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“My head was pounding; my mind racing. I could hear the beat of my heart, thumping with every step as I ran through the dark woods. Snapping branches, the crackling of leaves crunching under my feet as I raced through the forest … the hum of nature that had once bought me joy as a small child growing up near Camp Rocky was no longer a source of pleasure. Now it was a source of fear.
I gasped for air as I struggled to keep running through the woods. I felt if I stopped, I would surely be eaten alive. Why had I gone back to my cabin to grab my sweater? It was a choice I knew I would regret for the rest of my life. Leaving the other campers and counselors at the bonfire had turned from what I thought would be a quick detour into a grave, life-changing decision.
When I had reached my cabin just minutes before, I could feel eyes boring into my back. I shrugged it off, feeling silly. I must have been spooked by the camper’s stories of lore and folk tales told round the fire from the night before. But seconds later, my fears were realized. I turned to look behind me and all I could see was fur, fangs, and an intense gaze. Later, I would find out those evil yellow eyes had watched me for days. I started to run, hoping I could escape, but it was impossible. In seconds he was on me, and life was never the same.”
From the Personal Diary of Susan Samford
Captured by Vlodik Clan Member Troy
“You bitch,” I hissed, gazing at Beverly. I could see the camp paperwork I was in the process of filling out littering the ground. I pushed back a strand of lanky brown hair that was matted to my forehead. Despite the trees, the high humidity at the campsite made for a sweltering day. Thank God this was my last day at Camp Rocky forever. There was no way I planned to repeat this experience. Babysitting one hundred campers for the summer sounded good in the help wanted ad; crafts, food, fun and more. But in reality, even though each of the team counselors were only assigned a group of ten campers each, it was tough work and the pay was pitiful. It was sad that I needed the money so badly that I’d had to put up with this crap. But, at least I had a job.
I looked down at the paperwork. Some of it was sticking to the mud from the rain we had last night. I would probably have to fill it all out again. There was no wind. I knew Beverly had to have pushed it off the picnic table while I was in the bathroom, probably while Todd’s head was turned. He didn’t seem to have a mean bone in his body.
“You say something Kristen?” Beverly grinned up at me from her seat at the picnic table next to Todd. Naturally, she looked perfect in the tiny baby blue crop top and red short shorts she was wearing. Her long blond hair was all in place—not a drop of perspiration on her face. I felt like smacking her. I knew I must look like a hot mess. The long layered haircut I had gotten before camp because I thought it would be simple and sophisticated was no match for the weather. The shorter strands were pancaked to my head from the heat. My brown eyes were red, itchy and swollen from pollen and lack of sleep. Sweat beads were clinging to my full breasts. To make it worse, camp food is cheap food. I had spent the last two weeks filling my face with carbs and more carbs—cereal, bread, cheap cake and cookies. I had probably added ten pounds to my curvy frame.
Although we are both juniors at the University of Maryland, I had never met Beverly until I started working at the camp two weeks ago. For some reason she was determined to make my life miserable. She was constantly taking little digs at me. With her snarky comments in front of the campers and all of the leaders, including Todd, it was like being back in high school. Hard to believe we were both twenty-one.
I shook my head. It was almost over. The campers had been picked up earlier in the day and all the leaders were gone except Beverly, Todd, and me. Mr. McGreevy, the camp manager who hired us, had asked Beverly and me to stay one more night to clean up the camp and complete the camper reports and other paperwork. When Todd found out we were staying, he made a last minute decision to stay also.
“One more night at Camp Rocky—how can I resist it?” he’d grinned boyishly. “Even if it does mean scrubbing a toilet or two; it’s not like I have anywhere special to go.”
I had stifled the urge to let out a whoop when he’d said he was staying. I couldn’t decide if he was just a glutton for punishment or if he had the hots for Beverly. Either way, it had meant one more body to help with bathroom cleanup; but best of all, I wasn’t gonna be stuck here with Ms.Biotch by myself.
Not too surprisingly, Beverly hadn’t done much cleaning. Instead, she had grabbed a towel and laid out in the sun, complaining she had a headache. Todd and I had done all the grunt work together and now we were also the ones doing all the paperwork. Just gut it out, I told myself. Not too much longer and I can go home, wash the grime off my body, enjoy some good food, and collect my paycheck.
“Hey Kristen, here you go,” Todd said as he picked up the papers that were spread all over the ground. He handed me a stack as Beverly shot him a disgusted look. “I think we have them all here.”
“Thanks Todd, I appreciate it.” I glanced up at Todd. Other than the fact that he seemed to hang on to every word Beverly said, he seemed like a really decent guy. It didn’t hurt that he had that hot beach bum look going on with an easy going smile, sandy blond hair and an ass that looked amazing in the board shorts he always wore. I knew I wasn’t his type the minute I saw him so I had pretty much tried to stay out of his way for the past two weeks. I mean, why try to go for what you know you can’t have?
I took the papers from him, trying not to meet his gaze. They didn’t look as dirty as I thought they would. I would just have to brush them off and hand them in. Surely Mr. McGreevy would understand that here in the middle of nowhere paperwork could get dropped in the dirt. But, I wasn’t so sure how sympathetic he would be. He seemed like a grouchy perv. The way he had eyeballed me up and down when he interviewed me had given me the creeps. And his questions—he had been super nosey, asking me about everything from what I read to what my parents did. He gave me the heebie-jeebies. The prospect of explaining muddy paperwork to that fat, balding old man made me shudder. If there had been other job options I would have walked out of the interview room and never looked back, but I desperately needed the cash.
“Hey, Todd,” Beverly looked directly at Todd, flashing a wide smile. “I’m gonna crash outside under the stars tonight. Care to join me?” Smiling, she added coyly, “Unless you’re afraid of the bogeyman of course.”
Todd chuckled. “Those stories last night were crazy weren’t they? But, never fear, the Toddster is here—ready to protect you from all those monsters that go bump in the night.” Flexing his biceps, he added, “Nobody’s gonna hurt you with big man Todd here.”
“Haha!” I laughed out loud. But inwardly, I shuddered. There were always plenty of scary stories told as we huddled round the campfire at Camp Rocky, and last night was no different. Campers shared stories about the hairy toe, the licking dog under the bed, and Bloody Mary Worth. Then, one of the counselors shared rumors she’d heard about a girl who’d worked at Camp Rocky some years ago and seemed to have vanished into thin air. According to the story, all the campers and counselors were huddled around the campfire for a weenie roast. One of the counselors, Susan, was chilly and went back to her cabin to get a sweater. She was never heard from or seen again. A search party was called in and eventually they found doglike tracks, animal fur, and a large clump of human hair matted with blood. But, Susan was never found. Some speculated she was kidnapped, and others figured she ran away. The story would have been like any other fantasy tale—except I knew it was true. Susan had lived near my neighborhood and it was all over the news when she’d disappeared. They had closed off the camping areas for a while, but eventually opened them again. A shiver went through my body as I thought of Susan. I hoped she had run away and arranged to meet a lover somewhere near the camp, and was living it up in some sunny paradise. But in truth, it was more likely her body was decomposing somewhere in the hundreds of acres of isolated woods where Camp Rocky was located. It gave me the chills thinking about what happened to her.
“Ooh Todd, you are such a man,” Beverly faked a swoon and batted her lashes. “But seriously, sleep with me under the stars and save yourself the stench of spending a night in those cabins. They reek from the bleach we used to disinfect them.”
“Umm, cabins
we
disinfected Beverly?” I said sweetly. “Seems to me you were off working on your tan while Todd and I were doing the cleaning.”
“I had a headache,” Beverly whined, then added with a smug smile, “the good news is it’s gone.”
“Hey—girl’s; let’s just chill.” Todd interrupted. “It’s our last night here and I think we can stop the arguing for once. Yeah, I will join you for sure Beverly,” Todd added as he eyed Beverly’s tight body, “that bleach is powerful stuff.”
“It sure does stink. I think I will get my sleeping bag and join you all also,” I smirked.
Beverly shot me a dirty look and I walked to the rustic cabin I’d been staying in, stifling back a laugh. It was so obvious that biotch wanted to spend some alone time with Todd. Well, guess what—she had made my last two weeks miserable, so why should I give her the chance to snuggle up to him?
I grabbed my sleeping bag and duffel from the cabin, giving the room one last glance. I was so happy I was not going to have to see it ever again. It had been rough. I mean, when I first saw Camp Rocky, I was excited. The idea of sleeping in the woods, roasting weenies by the fire, chomping on s’mores—it all sounded like so much fun. But, then the reality hit. I was watching a ton of noisy kids, sleeping on top of a twin bunk bed in a smelly sleeping bag I’d bought off of Craigslist, walking to a community washroom to take a shower and use the bathroom, and getting up at the crack of dawn to a bugle recording. I don’t consider myself high maintenance, but I do like my comforts—and this wasn’t it. But hey, at least there was electricity in the cabins; not that it did much good as there was no cell service or internet reception out here in the boonies.
Oh well, one more night to go. I left the cabin and headed over to Todd and Beverly. Passing the washroom building, I ducked my head in the door and caught my reflection in the streaky mirror. Just as I suspected, I didn’t look so hot, but I actually didn’t look as bad as I thought I would. My long hair was a little flattened but it still had some body to it, and my face and legs were lightly bronzed from working in the sun. But my body—
eeks
; I had definitely put on some poundage. My boobs looked huge and my stomach was protruding. I liked my curves but they weren’t looking the best right now.
I gave the door to the washroom a gentle shove as I closed it. Goodbye old friend, I thought. No more of your community showers under dirty taps or having to find you with a flashlight to pee at night. I walked round the corner, just in time to see the back of Chip the camp maintenance man’s pickup truck backing down the gravel road. It was supposed to be a white truck but you wouldn’t know it. It was caked in mud from driving through the dirt and rusted from sitting in the rain. Walking over to Todd and Beverly, I was surprised to see something other than the usual pork and beans, frosted chocolate cupcakes, and hot dog dinner on the picnic table in front of them. Instead there were a couple of steaks, two readymade twice baked potatoes, a pint of coleslaw, and even better, what looked like a mason jar full of moonshine. I hadn’t had alcohol in two weeks.
Todd nodded in the direction of the table. “Cool, eh? McGreevy sent it up with Chip.” Todd picked up the jug of moonshine and poured a swill down his throat. “Nice, huh?” he said passing the drink over to me.
“Don’t mind if I do.” I took the jar from him and greedily took a long sip. “Yikes!” I jumped back, coughing, “that stuff is strong.” The hot liquid was burning my throat. I wasn’t a big drinker and this was like downing pure alcohol, but what the hay. I needed a drink right now and this was my only option. I reached for the jar again as I sat down at the table and helped myself to some of the food.
I had to admit, McGreevy surprised me. It was nice of him to give us this little feast, probably to thank us for staying an extra night. And he had even included alcohol. That really surprised me. There were ‘No Alcohol’ and ‘No Smoking’ signs all over the campground. Maybe he wasn’t such a creepster after all. Of course he hadn’t known that Todd was staying so there were only two of everything, but the steaks looked pretty thick. As much as I loved good food, I was happy to share with Todd. I was thanking my lucky stars that he had decided to stay and not leave me alone with Ms. Biotch.
Surprisingly, the night was not turning out so bad. With the tasty meal, alcohol, and the chirping of crickets filling the night air, it was all in all pretty relaxing. Even Beverly had lost that holier than thou look and was taking more than her turn with the moonshine; Beverly and I drinking out of the same jar—who would have thought.
As the moonshine kicked in and we all talked more, I realized that despite our differences, we actually had a lot in common. Todd brought up the first night at camp when we had all sung a silly song introducing ourselves.
“That was a riot,” Todd said laughing, “I couldn’t stop cracking up when Harold Ben said his name was Harold Hen and started clucking.”
“I know, I know,” I said, “and when he started flapping his arms it was hysterical!” I giggled thinking of scrawny Harold Ben, another camp counselor, as he ran around making silly faces, clucking and fluttering his boney arms up and down. “Cluck, Cluck, Cluck!” I squawked a few times, imitating him. Beverly snorted as she watched me, sputtering up the sip of moonshine she’d just swallowed.
“The kids were in stiches,” Todd said, “they were laughing so hard.” He brushed a strand of hair from his eyes. “Hey Beverly, when you sang that song you said your last name was Collinswood right?
Beverly nodded chanting, “Yeah that’s right. Beverly Collinswood is my name. Ask me again and I’ll tell you the same.”
“Beverly Collinswood?” He rolled her name around his tongue thoughtfully. “Any relation to the lawyer, Bob Collinswood; the one I see on all the billboards in the DC area?”
I glanced over at Beverly. That was it, she had a rich daddy. That’s why she felt so entitled.
The laughter left Beverly’s face. “He’s my stepdad,” she said, pursing her lips and looking down. “My parents divorced when I was thirteen. It wasn’t great before with my mom and my real dad bickering all the time. But after mom married her boss Bob Collinswood, well, things got worse. Mom loves spending Bob’s money, Bob loves bitchin’ about it. That’s what they do—fight and make up. I’m surprised he even bothered to adopt me. They pretty much don’t give a damn about me or what I do,” she shook her head sadly.
“I hear you,” Todd commiserated. “My parents never got a divorce but maybe they should have. They can barely stand each other. When they aren’t fighting they’re not speaking to each other.” He sighed, “I just try to stay away as much as possible.”