Fate of the Alpha: The Complete Bundle (17 page)

Grace glanced down at the gurney.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

Near the bottom end of the gurney, a furry gray tail peeked out.

“How are
you?”
Grace chirped, trying to keep his attention on herself and off the gurney. “Are you getting any time off for the holidays this year?”

Adam looked pleased to be asked such a personal question. Grace usually kept things very professional with him. He was known to be a bit of a ladies’ man and she didn’t want him getting the wrong impression.

Oh well.

“I’ve got a bit of time off here and there. What are your plans?” he asked with a wolfish grin.

The elevator brightened as the clouds revealed the rest of the moon.

Ainsley moaned loudly, causing the coroner to look away from Grace.

Time slowed to a crawl. Grace’s heart constricted as she prepared for him to see the tail and rip the sheet off the gurney.

She could kiss any hope of ever becoming sheriff goodbye.

Julian reached out his hand and jostled Adam’s coffee cup.

The steaming black liquid splashed all over the coroner’s white lab coat. Adam cursed and tried to wipe it off himself.

“What’s going on?” the nurse asked.

Grace almost jumped out of her skin, she had nearly forgotten he was still standing beside her.

“Oh, wow, sorry, man,” Julian said in an innocent voice.

She quickly pressed 1. There was a ding and the doors slid open.

“I thought you said this patient was going to the morgue,” the nurse said as Grace, Julian, Ainsley, and the gurney raced out into the main lobby of the hospital.

“Her prognosis has improved,” Julian called back.

Grace had her eyes on the front door. Twenty paces. They could make it. They would make it.

“What’s going on with this patient?” the blonde at the front desk asked, pushing her pink glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“Police business,” Grace flashed her badge.

“What do you
mean-
” the blonde began.

Julian raised one hand in the air and waved to her.

“Ignosce,” he murmured.

The pink glasses dropped down the bridge of the blonde’s nose again but this time she didn’t bother to push them up. Instead she turned back to her computer monitor with a confused expression.

Grace pushed and ran. The automatic glass doors opened before them and the cold night air washed over her skin.

Ainsley pounded past them toward the trees that separated the parking lot from the open space beyond, bordering the falls. Well, good for her, she’d made it. She’d get back to Tarker’s Hollow on foot. Or on paw, or whatever.

Grace turned the gurney toward the rear lot where her car was parked and took off as quickly as she could without endangering the furry body on the gurney. Julian jogged alongside in companionable silence.

Grace had to ask.

“Did you Jedi mind trick that receptionist?” She couldn’t help but grin. Really, in spite of the circumstances, it was hard not to geek out. Julian
was
amazing. Really, really amazing.

“Sorry, I don’t really get the reference. I’m not a Star Trek fan,” he replied.

A squirrel raced up one of the weeping cherries that lined the parking lot and Sadie’s tail moved slightly with what Grace prayed was just a breeze.

“We have some movies to catch up on,” Grace said as they took off to her car at a run. She tried not to think about what it would be like to have the elderly wolf wake up in her Civic.

A
insley crashed
through the college woods in the form of a large red wolf, taking the long way home to end up behind Princeton Ave so she could sneak in her own back door.

She hadn’t anticipated shifting, and now she had no clothes waiting at the edge of the woods. She figured a wolf sneaking into her yard would raise fewer eyebrows than her naked human form.

Erik would have known that she would need to shift and would have helped her plan better. She tried not to think about how many things would be different if Erik were here.

The kids next door were inside, but crowing so loudly she could hear them from the other side of the picket fence where she was crouched. The fact that they were awake was a good thing - it meant the parents weren’t sitting around staring out the window.

Quick as a thought, she leapt over the fence, landed in the middle of the backyard and sailed from the foot of the porch stairs to the backdoor in one bound.

The neighbors’ German Shepherd exploded in a hurricane of rapid fire barks.

Crap.

Ainsley instinctively growled back.

Immediately the pet silenced itself. At least
someone
thought Ainsley was in control.

Before anything else bad could happen, she slid upward into her human form. The instant she had a thumb again she grasped the knob, twisted, and slipped into the kitchen. She wondered if there were some sort of door opening system her wolf could use. The accessibility feature at the mall was just a big button that made the door slide open - surely there was a residential application?

Ainsley tabled that idea and dashed up the stairs. She probably had about five minutes to get dressed before Grace and Julian arrived with Sadie. The car ride was a longer distance since they had to drive around the falls and woods.

Ainsley had just reached her room and pulled on a bra and panties when there was a knock on the door.

“Hang on!” she yelled, stepping into a pair of yoga pants.

The banging sounded again, more urgently.

Something must be wrong.

Ainsley shook her head and grabbed her old Timberwolves hoodie off its hanger. She slid it over her head as she traversed the narrow hallway and pushed her arms through the sleeves as she flew down the stairs.

She pulled the door wide open, then staggered backward a step when she saw Justin, one of ex-sheriff Clive Warren’s old sidekicks framed in the threshold.

“Justin,” she heard herself say.

Ainsley knew that Justin’s loyalty was all hers now. But something about the way he was looking at her made her distinctly uncomfortable.

“Hey, Ainsley, how’s it going?” he said.

Ainsley studied him carefully. He didn’t seem to be drunk.

“I’m fine, Justin. What’s wrong?”

“Oh nothing. I just...felt like I should come right away. Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m fine,” she said, realizing that there
was
something odd about his behavior after all. He kept licking his lips and unconsciously running his hands across his abs.

“Oh,” he said, and tugged at the bottom of his t-shirt, pulling it tight around his muscled chest. “Do you mind if I stay? I just have this feeling that I’m supposed to be here, to protect you.”

“Sure,” Ainsley said, “you can stay until Grace gets here.”

Justin smiled and sauntered inside. He was only inches away from her.

“Please sit down,” Ainsley gestured to her father’s reading chair. “Have you ever had this feeling before?”

Justin shook his head and gave her puppy dog eyes.

“Okay, well just stay there,” Ainsley said. “I have stuff to do upstairs.”

She headed back up. Something was off, but there was no time to worry about it. Grace and Julian were coming and she had to make up a bedroom for Sadie since Javier had the guest room.

Before she reached the top of the stairs, there was another knock on the door. Too late, they were here already.

She made it to the living room just as the knocks on the door turned into pounding. She swung the door open again.

Justin’s best friend, Will, was there. That made sense, since Justin was there.

But Stan Snyder, a low-ranking middle-aged pack member from all the way across town with whom Ainsley had never exchanged more than a few words, was standing beside him. He seemed an unlikely companion to the other two.

“Ainsley,” Will said. Before he could say more, Stan shoved him unceremoniously to the side.

“My alpha, you needed my help?” Stan asked.

In the street behind them, Ainsley make out four or five more shadowy figures making their way down Princeton Avenue toward her. Her nose told her they were packmates.

“I’m
fine
. What is
with
everyone tonight?” Ainsley asked.

Will had approached the door again. His gaze locked onto hers intensely. “I thought you called me,” he said. “You need me. I- I’m supposed to be here.”

“No you’re
not
, pipsqueak!” Stan admonished. “Go home! I’m protecting Ainsley tonight.”

Just as they began to argue in earnest another figure dashed up the porch stairs. It was MacGregor.

“Ainsley!” he called.

“Let me guess, you’re wondering if I need help?” Ainsley asked as politely as she could. MacGregor was a friend.

“Gentlemen, may I have Ainsley’s ear for a moment?” he asked Will and Stan. They looked like they were ready to fight him just for asking.

“
Yes
,” Ainsley said.

Will and Stan shuffled slowly to the front lawn where they glared at each other.

“What’s going on, Mac?” Ainsley asked, realizing too late that she had used Erik’s nickname for him.

MacGregor gave himself a slight shake.

“Ainsley, you’re the alpha and...you don’t have a mate. Every male wolf in town is probably going to come to you if you don’t drive them away. Not that you should. You should pick one, quickly, and do what needs to be done.”

Ainsley stared at him, horrified. She could smell the arousal of the men. The air was choked with it. How had she not noticed that?

“You won’t be choosing a mate for life!” he said quickly. “But you probably need to obey the moon. The desire will weaken you if you don’t feed it.”

As Ainsley tried to take in this information, she noticed that MacGregor was gazing raptly at her lips. The moon pulled at her then. She hadn’t realized it in her panic, but it had been pulling at her all along.

“Ainsley, I’m sorry,” he said with a pained look. “But I’m compelled to ask. I cherish and respect you. Will you allow me to give you solace in your time of need?”

Just then, there was a pounding on the back door and Ainsley was shaken out of her reverie.

“Go away!” she said in her deepest alpha voice. “
All of you
, go home. I do not need your protection.”

She closed her eyes and sent out the message to each of the throbbing green points of light from her pack that reached to her, submissively, longingly.

No. Enough.

“So sorry, Ainsley,” MacGregor whispered to her as he turned to leave.

“What about
me
?” Justin asked from the living room.

“Yes, you too,” she said. “Out!”

He slunk out the door and joined the others on the front lawn. Though they had left the house, none of them seemed to be leaving the yard.

“What are you doing?” Ainsley asked.

“I don’t know. But I don’t want to leave,” Will said helplessly. “Please, don’t make me.”

“Fine. You can all stay in the yard, but you can’t come in,” she said, wondering if it was the right answer.

A good alpha has to understand what her pack can and can’t do, and be sure not to ask more of them than they can give.

Erik’s words rang in her head and she felt a degree of peace.

Just then, her cell phone buzzed in her pocket.

Cressida.

W
e did our best
. Ophelia wants you, she’s heading your way.

C
rap
.

She had almost forgotten that she had to deal with Ophelia in all of this. It just wasn’t fair.

The sound of Grace’s Civic pulling up outside pulled Ainsley out of her self-pity and got her moving. She dashed out to the porch.

The men on her front lawn had stopped pacing to stare at the commotion coming from the car.

Grace and Julian were whispering heatedly to each other. Julian was carrying something wrapped in a blanket.

“Change of plans,” Ainsley said. “Take her to your place. Ophelia is coming here. I’ll try to head her off.”

“But, why are all these men -?” Grace began.

“No time to explain!” Ainsley yelled over her shoulder.

J
ulian tucked
Sadie into the backseat of Grace’s tiny car as gently as he could.

“What the hell is going on?” Julian whispered.

A group of men wordlessly pacing Ainsley’s front garden, with more heading down Princeton to join them. They didn’t seem threatening, exactly, but there was something driving them that made it feel like their silence could explode into violence at the slightest spark.

“Just move,” Grace told him as she slid behind the wheel.

The sound of her seatbelt strap sliding tight against her slender hip did things to Julian that almost made him ashamed.

He hopped into the passenger seat and she began to pull out before his own seat belt clicked. He was glad to see that she wasn’t driving quickly or carelessly, though. She pulled out onto Princeton slowly, with admirable restraint given the circumstances.

He glanced over and took her in. Grace’s posture was excellent as usual. The only sign of the tension she felt was a slight tightening in the corner of her lovely mouth.

“Now what?” he asked, wondering how the young woman would handle their major change in plans. Grace seemed like the kind of person who always had a plan.

“We’ll take her to my apartment. Camilla Parker Bowles will be glad to see her.”

Julian nodded. It hadn’t occurred to him to wonder what had happened to the little dog after Charley escaped. He didn’t exactly picture Grace as a dog person. But taking responsibility for the orphaned animal without making a big deal about it seemed in character for the steadfast friend he was getting to know.

They pulled up to an old Victorian right around the corner on Elm. Grace tucked her car into the driveway, triggering a floodlight which illuminated the backyard. On the street behind them, a man walked intently toward Princeton. He must be reporting for prowling duty in Ainsley’s garden.

He thought to ask if Ainsley would be okay, but he knew Grace would never leave her friend in danger.

Grace hopped out of the car in a heartbeat. She headed toward the back door of the house, but when she reached the porch, she leapt onto the railing like a cat, and leaned out over the forsythia bushes. What could she be doing?

Her small hand snaked out, and when the light went off, he realized she had unscrewed the bulb on the motion sensor floodlight.

Smart.

She returned to the car and placed a finger to her lips, unnecessarily. Julian knew this was a small town and if the Victorian was chopped into apartments, the neighbors were likely to be intensely nosy about each other’s comings and goings.

Once again, he scooped Sadie up with an arm under her neck and the other under her hips. She was blessedly small, for a wolf.

As stealthily as he was able, he followed Grace to the back door and carried Sadie up three flights of stairs. At each landing, his heart raced at the idea that a neighbor might peek out of a doorway.

They made it up to Grace’s apartment without incident. She opened the door to a very tidy little flat with a fireplace and charming sloped ceilings.

Grace slipped out of her shoes and padded through the living room, to a bedroom on the other side. Julian followed as quietly as he could. He couldn’t help but notice the lingering aroma of actual home-cooked meals in the kitchen. Most women Grace’s age seemed to eat out of a microwave box or a take-out container these days. It was refreshing to think of Grace humming and preparing a quiet meal.

Once they were in the bedroom, Grace turned on a small table lamp, revealing a twin bed with a simple down comforter, a cane rocking chair, and a trio of framed pictures on a pine bureau.

He raised his eyebrows and gestured to the bed. Did she want this shaggy bundle on her clean linens?

Grace nodded, so he lowered wolf-Sadie to the bed. For the first time, he pulled back the sheet that covered her.

Grace stepped forward and they both gazed down at the prone form of a large grey wolf. Sadie’s dark whiskers quivered like she was tracking something in a dream. Her wide front paws twitched slightly as if to dig at Grace’s snow white sheets.

Julian couldn’t resist reaching down to stroke her thick pelt. It was softer than it looked, and warm, as if she had been lying in the sun. But Sadie didn’t respond.

Grace placed a hand on his arm. An electric current ran through him and he closed his eyes. She gasped and removed her hand.

By the time he opened his eyes again she was gone, but he heard the sound of tiny paws skittering across the pine floors of the flat.

Camilla Parker Bowles tore into the room and sailed through the air to land at Sadie’s side. Immediately, she flopped herself down next to the wolf and tucked her tiny snout into the indentation between Sadie’s shoulder and head. Mournfully, she looked up at Julian for a long moment, then closed her eyes.

Julian backed away from the sad scene as he heard Grace’s light steps in the kitchen.

“She’s crated when I’m not here. I don’t know what else to do. She doesn’t seem to mind,” Grace explained.

“They like the feeling of a den,” Julian said, quoting some dog trainer or other.

“Mmm,” Grace said, but her expression was uncertain.

Julian knew he should just go. He had managed to spend two hours with Grace without screwing it up royally. It would be great to leave on an up-note for once.

“I guess I should--” he began.

“Have you eaten?” she asked at the same time. She smiled. It was a nervous smile but her eyes were hopeful.

“I haven’t eaten, no,” he said, hoping it wasn’t a mistake, but not really caring, especially if staying might mean another smile. “I guess I just didn’t think about it, what with all the kidnapping and werewolves and whatnot.”

“Yes, you’re new to Tarker’s Hollow,” Grace nodded, “I’m sure it can be overwhelming at first.”

“At
first
?” he asked. “Do you mean to tell me that this was just an average Saturday night for you?”

Grace laughed and ran a hand across her cheek to smooth a stray tendril back up into her gleaming bun.

“No, tonight was actually pretty crazy, even for Tarker’s Hollow.” She turned and looked into his eyes earnestly. “I’m really glad you were there.”

“Me too,” Julian managed as his heart hiccuped. “So, what’s for dinner?”

“Something easy...Pancakes?” she asked.

“Perfect,” he nodded.

“Okay, but I need to change first,” she said, and indicated the stool at the counter.

Julian smiled and pulled it up close to the counter so he could watch her work when she returned.

Grace disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Julian tried not to imagine her taking off the uniform, but knowing she was naked just a few steps away drove him more than a little crazy. He looked around the kitchen, desperate for a distraction.

A small round tin on the counter drew his attention. He pulled it over and as he did, he thought he heard bells ringing in the distance.

The tin itself was a simple thing, meant for Christmas cookies, although it was a bit too early for that. The picture on the lid depicted the creche, with baby Jesus in his manger, and the animals watching over him, shaggy and gentle.

Julian took a look around. The tin seemed out of place in Grace’s carefully appointed apartment.

What could be inside?

He glanced up at the door, but it gave him no clue as to how much longer she would be changing clothes.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Julian spun the lid, applying gentle pressure. He found the contents less mysterious than he’d hoped.

Simple cookies, shaped like pigs. Their aroma was heavenly. Surely Grace wouldn’t mind if he helped himself to one while he waited.

Grace’s bedroom door flew open before he had gotten the cookie halfway to his mouth. She gasped and stared at him in horror.

“I am SO sorry,” he said, quickly returning the pig to the tin with its brethren. “I saw the pretty tin and I was curious. And then they seemed so delicious.”

“That’s okay,” she said breathlessly, in a way that made him sure it was
not
okay, though he couldn’t imagine why. It was embarrassing that she’d caught him looking at her cookie tin, but it wasn’t like he’d been pawing through her lingerie or anything.

“They smell delightful. Did you make them?”

“No, my abuela - my grandmother- did,” she explained as she replaced the lid to the tin and put it on the counter, out of his reach.

“That’s nice,” he said carefully.

“She’s a good cook,” Grace said, a bit more calmly.

Julian looked on as she began to gather ingredients for pancakes, glad the crisis seemed to be averted. She had changed into a cream colored scoop neck t-shirt and a pair of black yoga pants. So she wasn’t trying to impress him. Her hair was still up in the bun. He longed for her to take it down.

“Do you cook often?” he asked, noticing with approval she had gotten out flour and baking powder, instead of a box mix.

“It’s relaxing,” she replied.

As she cracked the first egg, it slipped from her fingers. Without a thought, Julian murmured a hovering spell and stopped it from crashing into the bowl, shell and all.

“Hey!” she said, and twirled her wrist in the air, commanding the egg to hover backward, toward herself, as though she were going to hurl it back at him.

An adorable spark of mischief danced in her eyes.

“No,” he cried.

“You’re afraid of a little egg?” she teased.

“No, but I remember what that magic does to you.”

His words hung in the air a moment. Too late, he remembered that Grace hadn’t been the one to tell him about the price of her magic.

“Would that be
so
bad for you?” Her eyes narrowed and she lifted the egg even higher. “Would being with a woman with lowly cottage magic be
such
a punishment?”

“Of course not,” he said.

Julian wasn’t sure if that was the right answer or if it was a trick question, but at this point he was finished playing games. Time to lay the cards on the table.

“I want you, Grace. Badly. And I think you want me too. But I need to know the feelings are coming from you, and not because of the magic.”

In her surprise at his words, she let go of her hold on the egg. It dropped out of the air and splattered on the linoleum.

Grace met his gaze, and her expression softened. For the first time, Julian felt hope. Then she appeared to get hold of herself.

“Why do you like me so much?” she asked, reaching for a handful of paper towels. “You don’t respect me.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because every time I see you, you manage to insult my family’s magic.”

“I respect you personally, as a friend to Ainsley, as a police officer and as a woman,” Julian said. “But it’s true that I don’t think you are getting as much out of your magic as you could if you studied formally. You have an incredible gift that ought to be developed. Your...
trouble
is a perfect example of why.”

“If it hadn’t been for my magic, where would Erik Jensen be?” she shot back as she bent to clean up the broken egg.

“You were amazing that night,” he said. “I’ll give you that. But it was too much. You could have died.”

Grace deposited the mess in the trash bin, and retrieved another egg from the fridge.

“You’re right,” she said, and paused, considering. “But I didn’t. And neither did Erik.”

“You were very brave,” he told her truthfully.

She smiled at that, and reached for the tendril of hair that kept slipping from her bun. Before Julian knew what he was doing, he grabbed her wrist.

He was close to her now, so close he could feel her pulse hammering through that delicate wrist as fast as a bird’s.

“Put the egg down. No more cooking. And no more putting up your hair. I want to see it down.”

He waited for her to argue, or resist. She was the very definition of a modern woman. She would probably be offended at him telling her what to do. Or worse.

But control meant everything to him. And seeing her surrender hers again was all he wanted. This time all for him - not for the magic.

He heard the egg touch the bowl as she put it down. It was like a concerto.

“Take your hair down,” he said, letting go of her wrist.

Her eyes widened, but she obeyed him, slipping her fingers upward to pull the pins out of the bun, one by one. It was the most sensuous thing he’d ever seen.

“Good girl,” he breathed.

Her eyes sparkled with pleasure at his approval.

She pulled out the last pin and then slipped out the elastic. A toss of her head unleashed a cascade of dark hair. It was long, longer than he had imagined - smooth and silky and fragrant. He wanted to bury his face in it, lose himself in the lush femininity she hid from the world, from everyone but Julian.

She stood before him with an inscrutable expression. He admired how relaxed she was under his command. Like she was born to bend to his will.

He reached out and ran his hands through her hair. The silken strands flowed between his fingers like liquid. The scent of jasmine washed over him.

Grace closed her eyes in pleasure at his touch and he was nearly overcome with the way his heart pounded in response.

He leaned forward and brushed her lips lightly with his once, twice. On the third sweep she sighed and her lips parted.

Blazing with satisfaction, he grasped her jaw with one hand and devoured her mouth, sinking his tongue into her in just the rhythm he wanted to possess her with.

He wrapped his other hand around a thick ribbon of her gorgeous hair and used it to drag her closer. Her heart pounded harshly now and her breathing deepened. His own body screamed demands, but he ignored them to concentrate on Grace.

She trembled in his arms, her small body warm and welcoming.

Julian slid his hand down from her jaw to follow the curve of her ribcage to her hip. She was all hard angles, but he could feel her willing her body to soften for him.

Breaking their kiss, he pulled back slightly and looked into her eyes again.

Grace panted lightly, her lips pink and swollen from his attention. Her eyes were endless dark pools.