New Alpha-New Rules (2 page)

Harper spotted a
bowl of pretzels on the bar that did interest her and since no one was sitting there,
she went to get them. She was starving. Sidney hadn’t let her eat before they
left the house. She squeezed between the stools to reach for the bowl when she
turned back long muscled arms had her caged.

“Don’t eat those.
Everyone’s hands have been in there. Let me buy you some real food.” His deep
dark voice soothed over her nerves. Alpha. Harper nibbled her bottom lip and
looked up into the darkest most delicious eyes ever. They were liquid dark
chocolate pools and she immediately got lost in their wicked twinkle. She stuck
a pretzel in her mouth and chewed. Alpha or not, she was starving. He lifted a
hand and called the bartender over to them.

“Get you
something?” A man behind the bar asked. He was older, short, and balding. He
had to be O’Malley.

“Yeah, get this
sweet thing a burger and fries, medium?” He gazed into her eyes and she nodded.
“Medium, and another draft for me.” O’Malley filled a mug and handed it to the
Alpha who threw a twenty onto the bar.

“Be right out.”
The man said and went in the other direction toward the window that looked into
the kitchen.

“What’s your name
sweetheart?” That voice did something to her core. Long forgotten muscles deep
in her belly clenched springing to life. She’d almost forgotten they were down
there.

“Harper.” His
brows twitched. Could he scent her arousal that quickly? Crap. No matter what
Sidney said, Harper had serious reservations about getting laid tonight. She
couldn’t do that. She needed to know someone she decided. She’d only ever been
with Bronson and even though she hadn’t been with him in a long time, she still
didn’t think that she could have sex with just anyone. Even an Alpha would have
to wait until she was ready.

“That a first or
last name?” He lifted her by the hips and put her on a stool. His hands stayed
on her but it didn’t unnerve her as it may have when she was younger.

“First name.
What’s yours?” She grabbed another pretzel and he slid the bowl from her reach.

“Ryder. Your
burger will be right out. That bowl is full of DNA. I used to work in a bar,
never eat anything they put out. They don’t change the bowls and whatever it
is, they are trying to get rid of it so it’s probably stale sweetheart. I know
you can’t catch anything but still.” He crinkled his nose. Harper crammed the
rest of her pretzel in her mouth anyway. What did she care about germs? She was
wolf with an almost instant healing rate. She didn’t get sick. “That’s a really
cute skirt you have on sweetheart. It makes me wonder about what’s under it.”
Harper smiled softly feeling her cheeks burn. She’d bet he’d like what was
under it a lot more than she liked it. The vinyl on the stool where she was
perched was cold and a little sticky.

“Hey Harper, is
this guy bothering you?” Jake crowded in on them with a few of the pack behind
him.

“No, he’s buying
me dinner.” Her eyes were still lost in his liquid brown ones.

“He’s not pack
Harper and Bronson is barely in the ground. You aren’t done mourning him yet.”

“Oh I am done.”
She gave Jake her full attention now. “I will not mourn Bronson Thibodaux and
you don’t tell me what to do.” She hopped off the stool and was pointing her
finger at his chest now, she would’ve aimed for his face but he towered over
her like most everyone in the pack towered over her, for a wolf, she was small.
He grabbed her finger and held it away from his chest and Ryder growled deeply.

“You buried him a
week ago, show some respect.” Jake’s eyes flashed. The vein in his forehead was
pulsing and he was losing control. She didn’t care. He should mind his own
business like his pregnant mate.

“Let me tell you
something Jake and this goes for the rest of you too. You all knew what he was
doing and who he was doing it with. You all know that I worked two jobs to keep
him in his drugs and porn and you know that he hadn’t shown me any respect for
the past five years. I am done with all of that and if you don’t like it, you
can suck it.” She very nearly screamed at him. Sidney was crossing the dance
floor weaving her way through the dancing couples.

“You will give him
respect in public whether you like it or not. I don’t give a shit what you do
in private but out here you will respect him like you should and you will mourn
him for a year as it should be little girl.” Jake jerked her forward almost making
her fall off her high heels. “And you look like a whore.” He hissed. The
growling behind her had deepened and grown louder. When the word ‘whore’ left
his mouth, Jake never saw the fist coming that filled it. Blood splattered like
paint across his face and Jake went down in a big heap. An arm came around her
and lifted her back onto the stool.

“Any of the rest
of you wants to disrespect the lady?” Ryder said to the crowd. All heads shook
and two of them pulled Jake away from the pissed off Alpha. Their Alpha didn’t
frequent bars. Max was at home with his mate and pups as he was most evenings.

“Thank you.”
Harper said quietly.

“You were doing
fine on your own until he got physical. I won’t watch a male abuse a female.
It’s not right.” He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to touch his
forehead to hers. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Jake
was Bronson’s best friend, Bronson was my mate. He died.”

“I gathered. He
wasn’t good to you either.” She grimaced. “He’s gone and you survived whatever
he did to you and whatever he did behind your back.”

“Hey sweets, come
back to the table, we’ll chat.” Sidney interrupted them and looked Ryder up and
down. “Sir.” She widened her eyes and tilted her head then looked back at
Harper. “You can bring your friend if you want.”

“I don’t want to
intrude. Your burger should be out any second.”

“You bought her
dinner?” Sidney asked and he grinned. “Then you have to join us, I mean if
Harper wants you to. Besides, I think you know that good looking Beta over
there and I’d like to get to know him better. Maybe you could ask him to come
over and join us.” Sidney nearly bounced in her heels. Harper wondered how she
did that and decided she must have very big feet to get that kind of leverage
in her heels. Harper’s feet wouldn’t lift her one millimeter higher.

Ryder turned and
looked at his pack then jerked his head toward Harper’s table across the dance
floor. One by one, they picked up their drinks and made their way through the growing
crowd. Along the way, they picked up two tables and extra stools to bring with
them. They surrounded her table just as her burger arrived. She felt self-conscious
about eating in front of them when none of them had anything but she was hungry
so she took a huge bite of the grilled meat and groaned. Ryder shifted in his
seat and she glanced at him, he swallowed hard. His eyes went amber on her and
she offered him a bite. She knew this was taboo and was only done by mates but
tonight was a night for breaking rules. He wet his lips with his tongue, his
eyes never leaving hers.

“Come on, I know
you want it.” She coaxed.

“Oh, I want
it…more than I’ve wanted anything for a long time.” Her teeth sank into her
bottom lip. Curtis reached across the table for one of her fries and Ryder’s
hand gripped him by the wrist in a flash. He dropped it without a word and
apologized to Harper. When the blonde server happened by, Curtis bought a round
for everyone and two baskets of chili cheese fries.

“My apologies
again for my rudeness everyone, food and drink on me, my bad. Ma’am.” He nodded
and Harper smiled at him in acceptance. “Miss Sidney would you care to dance?”
He asked.

“I would love to.”
Sidney gushed. The music was a bluesy tune with a heavy beat and Sidney pulled
all of her signature moves on the unsuspecting wolf. His hand covered one side
of her ass while the other was planted between her shoulder blades. She
couldn’t escape if she wanted, not that she looked like she wanted. Harper
watched while she nibbled her burger. Her first bites had been huge but now she
wasn’t as ravenous and tried to mind her manners. He still watched her then
followed her line of sight to the dance floor.

“When you’re done
eating, I’m going to ask you to go out there with me. When I do, are you going
to say yes?” His voice was deep and coaxing. Harper felt her toes curl in her
shoes.

“I’d like that.”
She swallowed. “I don’t remember when I danced last.”

“That’s a shame.
You’re a very beautiful woman Harper and you should be shown off. Any wolf
would be very proud to have you on his arm.” She finished her burger while he
watched her. It was eerie how his gaze never left her. Her own mate never paid
that much attention to her not even in the beginning.

“Come dance with
me.” He helped her off the stool and led her out onto the floor. Sidney and
Curtis were still out there and Sid looked like she was having the time of her
life. Her smile and her eyes were bright. She also noticed other pack members
around the room watching them.

“Maybe this isn’t
such a good idea.” She looked over at a small group huddled together while they
glanced anxiously at her. Her pack was getting restless and it was her fault.
They didn’t like it that she was dancing in this outfit with an Alpha that they
didn’t know.

“Nonsense.” He
twirled her around and she forgot them. His hands were warm against her through
her clothes. He kept them above her waist and on the outside of her clothes,
unlike Curtis who had a handful of Sidney’s rear end the other hand up under
her shirt. She seemed to like it, but that was Sid. If he did anything that she
didn’t like, the whole county would know about it. That was probably why she
wasn’t mated at her age. Sidney had no secrets and if you were with her, you
gave up your right to privacy. “You’re a good dancer Harper.”

“I think you are
just a good leader. I haven’t danced in forever.” He nodded, his lips pressing
into a thin white line. The song stopped and everyone clapped while the singer
said that the band was taking a break. Ryder led her from the floor and back to
her table where half of her pack waited. “Shit.” She muttered. Ryder held onto
her hand and didn’t drop it when they got close even though she tried to wiggle
from his grasp. “I wasn’t kidding Jake, I meant what I said.” She started
before he had a chance to speak a word. Ellis reached for her, he was Bronson’s
cousin and he’d always been nice, smarmy but nice. Now, he just looked at her
with a nasty hateful look on his face.

“Harper. You’re
living in my family’s house. You are no longer welcome there if you can’t
behave, as a grieving mate should. Pack your things. I want you out by
morning.” His eyes flashed up at Ryder. “There are plenty of males that will
pursue you if you behave as you should through this. If you’ll leave this bar
now, I’ll let you stay in the house. I might even give you a whirl myself in a
year.”

Ryder stepped forward,
past her and growled backing Ellis up a step.
“Mine.”
Whoa, did he just
stake a claim on her? They’d met an hour ago. Harper gasped.

“Hold up there big
boy.” Sidney got between Ryder and Harper. “Not yours. You just met. Give her a
minute. She just lost her mate and even though he was the biggest low life that
ever crawled out from under a rock,” the pack growled behind her. “Ya’ll know
it’s true, don’t growl at me. You’re only upset because she is flirting with
another pack, if it was one of you, nobody would care. You don’t like it
because she’s finally free and don’t nobody like it when a good looking woman
is free.” She turned back around and faced Ryder again. “Just give her a
minute. She’ll take your phone number and maybe she’ll see you again but there
won’t be any claim staking here tonight.” His eyes went full amber and most of
the wolves backed away and that included his pack. Ryder was a big wolf, big
and intimidating. He was solid from head to toe, all six and a half feet of
him. He was broad through the shoulders, and power rolled off him. He was not
to be messed with and every wolf left in the room knew it. Many had ducked out
of the doors because this thing may go nuclear.

“Anything that
gets broke, you pay for, got that?” O’Malley called from behind the bar. He was
wiping the counter down with a white rag. The Alpha gave him a sharp nod.

Ryder stared them
all down then looked at Harper. “Where is your cell phone?” She pulled it from
her purse and handed it to him. He scrolled through it and tapped the screen.
Harper thought that he must be putting his number into it for her while they
all watched him. Anxiety was rolling off the pack around her and it was making
her wolf jumpy. Usually she was pleasant enough. If she was let out to run
often then she was amicable but right now, she was pacing inside Harper’s
skull. If this went on much longer, the wolf would force a shift and that was
not allowed in public. Ever. He put the phone up to his ear.

“This is Ryder
Dawson, I am the Alpha of the Green Valley pack. We’ve moved into the area
recently onto the Reed farm property to your...,” he looked at Curtis.

“South.” Curtis
answered.

“To your south. I
am at O’Malley’s Pub with several of your pack members. I am calling to make
you aware of our presence if you were unaware and to let you know that several
of your pack members are being disrespectful of Harper. Just so you are aware,
I am making public claim to Harper.”

He stared into her
eyes while he listened to her Alpha. Max was probably fit to be tied right now.
Another Alpha tattling on his pack and calling them out for bad behavior then
laying claim to a she-wolf that was just recently widowed. Max and she would
certainly have words later. She just hoped she was in her jeans and not this
scrap of fabric skirt.

Sidney was
grinning at her now and making faces. She would think that this was funny.
She’d probably told him ‘no’ to goad him into action. It wouldn’t surprise
Harper one bit. They would have a great laugh about it later. “I don’t
appreciate any male treating a female as badly as they have treated her this
evening. I am taking her home with me because I don’t think your wolves will
let it rest as it stands tonight. One of them has asked her to move out of her
house by morning because she is in a bar dancing.” He listened and grunted.
“Absolutely. I will take excellent care of her and return her to you in the
morning before breakfast. Hopefully, you will have control of your wolves by
then.”