Page 4 of Alpha Bond

“I’m just—!” she begins, about to get up from the machine. I can see she’s trying to hide the fact that her arm’s dangling uselessly. I turn away, ignoring her attempts to call me back. It’s a pointless conversation that will only lead to her either trying to coax me to change my mind or annoying me until I snap at her. Neither works for me.

“See you later,” I call back to her as I thread my way through the sweating, gyming shifters to get to the doorway.

“Are you joining us anytime soon, princess?” Callum is looming in the doorway. “Or should I send word out to the bad guys that you need more time to get pretty for ‘em?”

“Ready, sir.” I bite back the snappy response that’s on the tip of my tongue. Instead, I run a hand over my head. The brief movement is enough to dry my close-cropped hair, and it bristles beneath my palm.

“You sure you’re good to go out alone?” he asks. “We’re still getting reports of some unusual activity out there. I’m going to suggest to Titer that we need to send out a full team if things don’t calm down.”

I nod briefly as the pair of us head onto the corridor that leads down to the courtyard that the barracks overlook. Even at this hour, there’s a bustle of noise as the troops get into the activities of the day. I hear a sharply shouted roll call as another of the units gathers. All big, strapping shifters like myself. All grim-faced and honed, too.

“Definitely, sir,” I respond. I prefer working alone anyhow. Or with Casey. We make a good team. We both know the area around our settlement better than anyone. Probably why she’s so annoyed about not going. This is our duty: keeping the pack territory safe. Making sure nothing gets past the perimeter that encloses the family units within the walls.

It’s a duty she takes seriously. So do I. Without my pack, I’m nothing. Just a lone wolf scrounging for survival. A stray.

Like before.

I know loneliness better than anyone. It’s what I was when they took me in, after all. Just a pup back then. Mourning the worst kind of loss. Mourning my family.

“I could send Gage or Tarkin with you?” Callum’s words pull my thoughts back to the present.

“No!” I snap the word more forcefully than I’d planned, and the older man blinks but doesn’t comment. He may be the pack beta, but I’ve built a reputation for doing things my own way. Nobody argues the point – when it comes to getting the job done, my track record is unbeaten. And I only work with Casey Stone.

“Western quadrant?” I ask as we stride toward the huge gates that lead to the outside world.

“Yep,” he confirms. “Titer sent word this morning. He’ll have a patrol out on the eastern side by midday.”

“You sure about that?” I feel my brows pull together. Greyson Titer has been a good alpha: fair, strong, tough. But lately, things have been…slipping. It’s troubling to those of us who see the danger out there. To those of us who feel we might be doing a better job than he is. It’s troubling to me.

“I’m certain.” Callum angles a hard stare my way. I’m sure he knows what’s on my mind. I’ve been pretty vocal about my concerns these past few months. Who can blame me? This is a hard life we lead. No room for error…and our leader’s been prone to them lately. Small oversights. Lapses. Nothing anyone would really pick up on…unless they’re oversights that might cost you your life. It’s what got Stone in trouble – an unexpected encounter with a lone wolf that we shouldn’t have run into. Titer’s intel was off.

Callum’s still looking at me. I give a brusque nod. “Good,” I say. I don’t take it further. It’ll only end up getting back to Greyson and leading me into a world of shit. “I’ll be back after nightfall.”

“We’ll keep a watch for you. Take care near the chemical plant. That’s where we’ve noticed most of the activity.” Callum glances upward. “Gate open!” he yells up to the figure standing sentry on a platform, looking out past the perimeter wall. There’s an answering call and then a rattle of steel and chainlink as the huge roller door begins to slide upward. I step through and stand outside for a moment, blinking as my eyes adjust to the dawn light.

It’s easy to forget the outside world when we’re in the safety of our little sanctuary. An abandoned town adjoining an old steel mill. The human world has come to view it as an artists’ commune for crackpots and non-conformists. Which we are, in a way. Wolf shifters could never conform to human society.

Of course, they’ll never know what we are if we can help it. And that means keeping other packs at bay. The security teams who live within our outer walls are our insurance against the wolves who threaten our small community. The ones who would betray what we are in order to take over what we’ve built out here. And what have we built? A home for our pack of misfits, who’ve found safety with each other.

I’ll protect that any way I have to…because I know what the alternative is. The notion of a “lone wolf” is overrated. We’re social creatures. We need each other.

I breathe in deeply and make my way out past the mesh that encircles the outer compound. Beyond the sheltering walls, it’s cold. Gray. Uninviting. But although most would rather be back in the warmth of our pack home, this is a world I know. One I understand. A place where I can be of use to my people.

Leading them as alpha would be better, but that’s not on the cards for me. I’d have to take a mate before they’d even consider me. I’d have to be one of the lucky few who can prove that I’m stable enough to form a family unit and not be planning to disrupt our unconventional – but content – band of outcasts.

Take a mate…

That’s never going to happen. Jagger Law isn’t the mating kind.

Chapter 3

Sierra

The wolf in me whines in protest as I force myself to get to my feet. I’ve been curled in a dark corner of a warehouse for two days. Licking my wounds. Not that it helps. I’m cold. Hunger is gnawing at me like a rodent in my gut. Thirst has joined it, and I know that’s going to be overwhelming soon. I need to eat, but thirst will kill me. Probably helped along by the fever that’s begun to build within me.

I’m sick. The wound in my throat has become infected. Hardly surprising. The filth out here is everywhere. It seems this was once an industrial park, but the stench of garbage nearby tells me that there’s a waste dump out here. Not surprising. It’s the only area I can imagine urban wolves fitting in. They become scavengers once they leave the fertile wealth of nature, where my own kind roams freely. We have all we need to survive as nature intended.

Those who move into the cities aren’t always so lucky. Either they form small pockets and integrate into human society. Or they exist on the edges of civilization, creating their own packs. It’s something I know very little about. My people have spent generations in an unspoiled mountain region.