Shifters, Beasts, and Monsters

The Alpha Paranormal Collection

There's an
alpha male lover that roars in the heart of even the most dangerous and
mystical of creatures - 13 Beauties meet their Beasts in these hot paranormal
novellas by 15 of your favorite bestselling romance and erotic romance authors,
including several NY Times and USA Today bestselling authors.

Love,
Lust & Luck By Terry Towers writing as Elixa Everett (NYT/USAT)

When called
to the aid of a beautiful woman down on her luck, Shamus is surprised to
discover that he and Suzanna are destined to be together. Lifetime unions
between mystical beings and humans have been unheard of... until now.

Moan
For Bigfoot by Virginia Wade (NYT/USAT)

On a weeklong
outing in Mt. Hood National Forest, what begins as a flirty, fun-filled trip
soon turns into a nightmare, when an ape-like creature encounters a group of
campers.

Ravaged
by the Rainbow by Skye Eagleday (NYT/USAT)

Shakyo’s
ceremony has called forth a tentacle monster which seeks those exactly like
this innocent virgin. She felt nothing could be worse until her hated enemy
suddenly appears--her tribe's head medicine man who has accused her of
witchcraft.

Bad
Wolf by Savannah Reardon

Nikki has the
hots for sexy alpha werewolf, Zane, and she wants him for more than just his
body. However, vindictive alpha-female, Sara, stands in her way. Can Nikki win
her man, or will she get eaten by the Bad Wolf?

Monstrous
Obsession by Giselle Renarde

Artemis has
never relied on a man for anything. When she moves in with her biker boyfriend
Budd only to find his creaky old house haunted by a possessive incubus, can she
learn to accept help from the man who loves her... before it's too late?

The
Zrakon's Bride by Linda Barlow

Are maidens
still sacrificed to sea monsters? Kate discovers a Scottish village where they
take the ancient legends seriously. And a modern Highland laird who likes his
sacrificial treats bound to a rock.

Breeding
with the Beast Parts I and II By Jessi Bond

Captured by
the fearsome beast, Beauty imagines she'll do anything to escape his clutches -
until she learns he is an ordinary human, who can only be freed from his
terrible curse if she agrees to bear his child. Will Beauty find it in her
heart to free the beast?

The
Demon's Plaything By Natalie Deschain

When an agent
offers to take on Elizabeth as his client, she has no idea what she's in for.
He's an incubus, a demonic creature that offers fulfillment of her innermost
desires in exchange for her very soul.

Wolf
Mountain by Aya Fukunishi

High in the
mountains above a remote ski resort, Aylen and Emily peer through their
binoculars at the distant wolf pack. Why are they not mating? What scent have
they caught on the wind? Why do these wolves seem... different? It won't be
long before they discover the terrible truth...

Mated to
the Minotaur by Audrey Grace

Fossilized
remains of the Minotaur have been uncovered in Crete, and journalist Emily
Worthington is off to get the scoop, along with handsome intern Jason. She
discovers that he is descended from the Minotaur, and Emily is understandably
perturbed. But things take a turn for the erotic when Jason starts to
shapeshift into one...

Bought
by the Wolf King by Francis Ashe

When kind,
innocent Jovena’s family farm is threatened with bankruptcy, she hatches a plan
to sell herself into the harem of King Morzan, ruler of an exotic eastern
kingdom who is surrounded with mystery, shadow and rumors so unbelievable they
cannot be true – rumors of werewolves.

In Her
Dreams By J.E. & M. Keep

I felt
invisible until a dominant incubus offers me sweet surrender and affection like
I’ve never known. He makes all of the pain go away. For the first time in so long
I feel loved and desired...

Sold to
the Dragon by Christie Sims & Alara Branwen

Kara was delighted
when her father told her that their family's money troubles were over. However
she was upset when he said it was because she'd been sold to a dragon! Will
Kara ever be able to come to love this beast?

Wolf Mountain
by Aya Fukunishi

The Zrakon's Bride
by Linda Barlow

Love, Lust & Luck
by Terry Towers writing as Elixa
Everett

Moan For Bigfoot
by Virginia Wade

Bad Wolf
by Savannah Reardon

Ravaged by the Rainbow
by Skye Eagleday

Monstrous Obsession
by Giselle Renarde

Breeding with the Beast
Parts I and II by Jessi Bond

The Demon's Plaything
by Natalie Deschain

Mated to the Minotaur
by Audrey Grace

Bought by the Wolf King
by Francis Ashe

In Her Dreams
By J.E. & M. Keep

Sold to the Dragon
by Christie Sims & Alara
Branwen

By

Aya Fukunishi

CHAPTER 1

THROWN TO THE WOLVES

‘OK, now
keep your eye on the big one over there. You see her?’

Emily
peered through her binoculars, carefully scanning the clearing below. After a
few moments a dark, hulking creature flashed into view, in sharp contrast
against the deep white snow. ‘You mean the big one prowling by the trees?’

Aylen
nodded her head. ‘Yeah, that’s the one. She’s the alpha female. See, you can
recognize her by the way she’s curling her tail to expose her genitalia. See
the way she’s presenting herself to the alpha male? That means she’s recently
entered her estrus cycle, and she’s getting ready to mate.’

‘But they’re
not mating, right? That’s what you said earlier?’

Aylen
looked thoughtfully through her binoculars and frowned. ‘No, they’re not. We
can’t figure out why the alpha male isn’t jumping her. He should be fucking her
five ways from Sunday by now, but she’s been presenting for three days and he
hasn’t so much as glanced in her direction. She’s getting pretty desperate. See
how the little one over by the tree is bleeding? That’s what happens when momma
wolf doesn’t get her cock.’

‘That’s
weird. Do you think the alpha’s sick or something?’

‘I don’t
know, maybe.’ Aylen began to pack her gear into her duffel bag. ‘We don’t know
all that much about him, to be honest. He showed up about six months ago out of
nowhere, just wandered into the middle of the pack and tore the throat out of
the old head of the pack.’ Aylen paused, remembering the scene. The wolf had
strolled through the pack without a hint of fear or hesitation. She’d almost screamed
when the attack came. She’d never seen such speed and ferocity in a wolf. The
old alpha didn’t even have time to defend himself.

Aylen
looked thoughtfully at the mountains. ‘I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s
something different about this pack. It’s not just the alpha acting unusually.
They’re all a little off. It’s almost as if they’ve caught the scent of
something more attractive. Whatever it is, I’m a little worried. Until the
alphas mate, nobody mates.’

‘What? Why
not?’

‘That big
alpha will kill any male who tries to fuck before he’s had a piece of the
action. It’s a dominance thing. I tell you, though, he’s gotta mate soon. The
little guys won’t wait for ever, and if he doesn’t let them get some action
tonight they’re gonna start challenging him. He’s too strong to lose, but it’d
be a bloodbath. He could kill half the pack without even trying.’ Aylen snorted
through her nose. ‘Typical guys. OK, Em, you ready to go?’

‘Sure.’
Emily slung her backpack over one shoulder and adjusted her jacket. ‘Let’s
roll.’

Aylen slid
through the hatch of the high hide and climbed easily down the ladder towards
the thick snow. She moved quickly and smoothly down to the snow, as if she’d
been born for the mountains. Aylen was completely at home after five years of
working as a ski instructor and, more recently, assisting a professor
conducting a study on the local wolf packs. She’d been raised out here in the
back country, in one of the few remaining Native American settlements in the
state.

Emily, on
the other hand, descended the ladder slowly and carefully, as if fearful that
the rungs would break beneath her. She was the epitome of a city girl,
unaccustomed to anything beneath her feet but the sidewalk. She’d met Aylen a
few years earlier while on her first and only skiing holiday in the mountains.
Emily had proved completely unable to pick up any of Aylen’s instructions
– hell, she could barely attach her skis without help - but the two had
struck up an unlikely friendship in the bar at the foot of the slopes.

Since then
Emily had visited at least once a year, and in the bar she’d shown herself to
be much more adept at picking up hot young college girls for Aylen than she’d
ever been on the slopes. Aylen might have been self assured and in her element
on the mountain, but when it came to approaching women she was painfully shy.
Emily, while straight herself, had no problem flirting with the young co-eds
before skillfully guiding them in the direction of her hot Native American
friend. ‘Trust me, ladies,’ she’d joke. ‘Once you go Injun you never go back.
Just make sure she doesn’t try to scalp your pussy.’ Tasteless? Sure, but it
made Aylen laugh, and she never complained about the girls.

Emily
finally reached the ground and sank deep into the snow. Aylen had already
clipped her skis to her feet, and Emily leaned back against the ladder as the
dark skinned girl helped her with hers.

‘Honestly,
Em, when are you going to learn to do this yourself? You’re like a kid.’

Emily
smiled girlishly and pecked Aylen on the cheek. ‘Yeah, but you love to take
care of me don’t you, Ay? Without me to dote on you’d have nothing to do but
watch wolves fuck all day.’

Aylen
laughed and helped Emily to her feet, wrapping her arm around her waist until
she’d steadied herself. In the years since they’d met Aylen had often
fantasized about the cute little white girl, and more than once she’d used the
mental image of a naked Emily laying back on the rug in the high hide to...
help things along. She knew Em didn’t swing that way and she’d never dream of
risking the friendship by making a move on her, but you can’t blame a girl for
dreaming.

‘OK, little
Em, let’s get the hell out of here. Last one to the bar buys the first round.’

Aylen
turned easily on her skis, pointing herself downhill and pushing herself off on
her poles. Emily, clumsily turning as if walking in clown shoes, followed a
moment later. As she dug her poles into the deep snow and slowly slid down the
slope she saw that Aylen was already way ahead. Once again, she knew, she’d be
paying for the drinks.

In the
distance a lone wolf howled.

*

Aylen
tugged off her hat, allowing the wind to whip through her long, dark hair. She
loved the feeling of speed as she shot down the mountain, skimming gracefully
across snow that shimmered with color in the light of the setting sun. This was
her favorite part of the day, in that brief moment of exhilaration on the empty
slopes before sliding up to the doorway of the warm, friendly bar. In that
moment between the magical solitude of the mountain and the promise of a
cocktail among friends in the small, cozy bar she felt that things just couldn’t
get any better. It was as if the stars had aligned, and the gods chose to bless
her with a perfect life.

Aylen knew
that Emily would be far behind her, gamely crawling down the mountain at little
more than walking pace, but that didn’t matter. Emily always told he she could
ski ahead as fast as she wanted, just so long as she paused every so often to
wait for Em to catch up. There was little danger up here anyway. The tourist
slopes off to the east were where the inclines got really steep, but here
between the monitoring station in the high hide and the bar at the foot of the
mountain it was a gentle, easy run all the way down. So easy, in fact, that the
resort had never bothered to open this run to the public. The snowfall was too
irregular to keep it open through the season, and every so often there’d be a
clearing without a flake of snow. The skiing wasn’t great, but at least it
meant Emily would be OK.

Aylen was a
third of the way down the mountain before she paused for a break to wait for
her friend. A few hundred meters above her she could see Emily clumsily edging
down the slope, her skis pointed inwards so she didn’t get much above jogging
pace. Aylen shook her head and laughed. This is a girl who goes skydiving every
other week, hurling herself out of a plane with nothing but a silk canopy
strapped to her back, and yet she’s terrified of the bunny slopes.

Aylen
squinted up the slope and frowned. For a brief moment she’d swear she’d seen
something dart through the trees a little ahead of Emily. It could have just
been snow falling from a branch, but she couldn’t tell. Whatever it was, it was
gone now. Aylen shook her duffel bag from her shoulder, loosened the strap and
reached in for her water bottle.

The attack
came so quickly that Aylen barely saw it. The wolf bounded from the treeline
towards Emily, judging its angle so that it would match her trajectory. From
the other side of the slope a second wolf exploded from the pines, closing in
on Emily and preventing her escape. Aylen watched in horror as Em panicked,
wobbled on her skis and fell, tumbling head over heels down the slope. Her skis
broke off her shoes and she rolled until she reached the larger wolf, the first
to emerge from the treeline. The beast reached down and slowly, almost
casually, closed its jaws over the girl’s neck.

‘No, no,
God please no!’ Aylen was babbling, her mind racing. Tears streamed down her
cheeks as she stared, frozen by terror and guilt, at Emily’s limp body. The
wolves padded to her feet and gripped her by the legs. She was dragged to the
treeline, and in moments she was gone. The girl hadn’t made a sound from the
moment the wolves appeared, and her body was limp as she was dragged to the
treeline.

Aylen
dropped to her knees in the snow, weeping uncontrollably. Her breath caught in
her throat and she wanted to scream. Her tears melted the snow beneath her
head, and she –

She heard a
growl behind her.

*

Aylen awoke
in darkness. The sun had fallen, but there was no moonlight. She opened her
eyes and was panicked to discover she couldn’t see a thing.
Oh my God, I’m
blind!
She whimpered quietly to herself, not thinking straight. Slowly
– too slowly - her eyes began to focus, and she began to see faint shapes
above her. Something glowed in the darkness, like distant light on rock.

Cave,
she thought.
I’m in a cave. How did I get here?

Her
memories came back, fuzzy at first. The enormous wolf had been standing behind
her, growling menacingly while several more watched silently from the trees.
She’d tried to run, but before she’d managed to make even her first step the
wolf had been on top of her. She remembered the crushing weight force the air
from her lungs and bring tears to her eyes. She was sure she’d die before the
wolf even had a chance to take the first bite. She’d... yes, she’d hit her head
on a rock. She remembered bright red blood soaking into the white snow in the
moments before she passed out. Now her mind was beginning to clear she felt the
pain quickly returning. Aylen reached her hand to her head and winced as she
felt the sore lump under her hairline, hidden under some sort of fabric. It
took a moment for the thought to surface from the muddy waters of her mind.
Bandage?

Her heart
soared. She must have been found! Maybe Emily was alive as well! Somebody must
have bandaged her wound, and that meant rescue; civilization; safety. So why
was she in this cave? Where was her rescuer? Had he gone to find help? To tend
to Emily? Why would he leave her unconscious in a cave? Aylen stood slowly on
weak, rubbery legs, hitting her head on the rock as she rose, and slowly worked
her way through the blackness towards the dim moonlight outside the distant
mouth of the cave.

She emerged
into the relative brightness of the moonlight and froze in shock. In her haste
to escape the cave she almost walked straight into the pack, their dark,
muscular forms prowling through the white snow. She almost yelled when she saw
Emily lying in the clearing in front of the cave. The poor girl was moving
slowly, as if waking up. Aylen wished she could rush to her to check her
injuries, but from here, at least, she didn’t appear to be bleeding.

Aylen froze
in fear as two wolves slowly padded into the clearing and circled the girl, and
a chill ran down her spine as they began to growl. She knew at any moment they
would pounce, and the last sensation Emily would feel, if she was unfortunate
enough to be conscious, would be jaws closing over her flesh. Aylen scanned the
ground for something she could use as a weapon. A thick branch or a sharp rock
would be little match for two full grown wolves, but she had to do something to
save her friend. She just couldn’t live with herself if she knew she’d abandoned
Emily to her fate; if she fled like a coward to save her own skin. Her eyes
danced about the clearing in a desperate search for anything she could use to
fight off the wolves, but the ground was bare.

A deeper
growl emerged from the undergrowth, and the wolves fled as a chill climbed down
Aylen’s spine. She raised her head and instantly saw why the wolves ran so
quickly. It was the alpha male, padding slowly towards Emily across the
clearing. The huge creature stopped at her feet and watched her silently. Aylen
thought it looked almost friendly, like a family dog, but only until she saw
its jaws. The coarse hairs around its mouth glistened with beads of saliva and
its yellow, intelligent eyes narrowed as it silently studied Emily’s body.

Aylen had never
been this close to a wolf. She’d watched them from the high hide through
binoculars a thousand times, but at that distance it was easy to forget that
these creatures were killers. Their playful fights, rough and tumble that
looked so cute and harmless from half a mile away, didn’t seem quite so
innocent now. Under the sleek fur of the alpha she could see enormous, powerful
muscles poised like a coiled spring. Steam rose from the wolf into the cold
night air as the intense heat of its bulging muscles evaporated the moisture
clinging to the creature’s thick fur.