Alpha Scent (Amber Woods Shifters)

1

Brianna kicked her leg high against the punch bag suspended from the ceiling. The creaking from the chains giving her only small satisfaction. Agilely she spun again, bringing her fist dead centre sending the bag swinging in the opposite direction.
Sweat slipped down her forehead as she reached out to catch the returning sack. Grabbing her water bottle she downed half in one go, the thirst a result of an intense workout for the past two hours. Breathing hard she stopped to look at her reflection. Her long black hair pulled up in a ponytail clung to her head, blue eyes vivid with energy. At five foot four she was the smallest of the organisation but that did not make her the weakest, far from it. She had to work really hard over these past two years to establish her rightful place in the shifter security team. She had never belonged to a pack for many years, always going from town to town trying to find her calling, or whatever the hell that meant.

Rummaging in her bag she pulled out a white towel and wiped it across her neck. The contact reminding her of the day two years ago when she had come too close to being bound for life, claimed as it were amongst her kind. She had been working in a local bar when in walks one very muscular sexy alpha, hair as black as midnight, green eyes reminding her of the forest she u
sed to run in when she was a cub before that day when her pack had quite literally been torn apart. That was the day she took off and never looked back.

Taking another long drink of water she sat on the mats, back against the wall, remembering
how he had strode toward her with that confident stride, taking a seat at the bar. They had chatted for a few hours, and even though she hated to admit it, her overly heated body was drawn to the alpha in ways that only she could describe as primal, instinctive. His eyes followed her around the room as she went about her work, those piercing eyes boring into her back, making her feel wanted, making her feel in general. He was guarded about what he told her, but what she did find out was that he was called Marcus, his pack was of the amber woods, way up north of the country. At the end of her shift, she was just about to step into her car when strong arms spun her around, the alpha pressing his body against her. His eyes were glazed in lust as he had swooped down, kissing her in a mind melting embrace. Her wolf had yipped in delight as his tongue traced down her neck, biting gently, marking her, treacherous little bitch.
Mine, my mate!
he growled as he pressed his very obvious desire in between her thighs. Gasping, she looked up at the night sky, praying to the ancient gods that what she was feeling was real. Her wolf was pacing under the surface, recognising her mate. But in the darkest corner of her soul, she remembered the pain that could only come from binding yourself to another for eternity, she had seen the damage when the females of her pack had been ripped from their mates by a rival clan of wolves, bloodied and battered and forced to be taken by them. Overpowered in numbers, the males had been slain. As a young wolf she had shifted, only looking back once as she headed away from her home deep into the forest, only stopping once to see the anguish on the females faces at losing their mates. They would not survive long, once the bond had been broken they died, simple as that. Pulling herself to reality and catching him off guard, she had used all her strength and flipped him onto his back before, jumping into the car, tearing out the parking lot, never looking back. That was two years ago.

The door to the gym swung open and her
partner Luke sauntered in. He was always a winner with any willing female, at six feet tall they always looked almost comical together with her petite frame. His blond hair was pulled back with an elastic band, dressed in the usual colours of the organisation, black combats and black t-shirt with the
lunar security
logo emblazed across it. He smiled when he saw her. Sure, he had tried it on in the early days but even though he was a nice guy, her wolf just didn’t see his wolf in the same way.

“Hey beautiful, you finished your workout?”

Brianna rolled her eyes at the small endearment that he used, knowing it wound her up.

“How many times do I have to te
ll you not to call me that, people will think were an item or something!”

Pushing herself up
, she grabbed her bag shaking her head at him.

“And would that be a bad thing, you know you like me, we could have a friends with benefits arrangement”

He always knew how to tease her and guaranteed to get a smile out of her, even on a day like today when her mood was really off and she didn’t know why. From getting up this morning she had been cranky, her skin had itched like her wolf was clawing to get out. Hence why she had kicked the crap out of the punch bag and was now a delightful sight of sweat and a red face the colour of a baboon’s backside.

“Knock it off Luke
, you know I don’t have a thing for you, so go find some other wolf to mount”

She laughed as he grabbed his chest in a wounded gesture
.

“Ok, well if you change your mind, I’ll be waiting”

“I won’t change my mind Luke, and if you try anything stupid like last week, waiting outside my room with only a towel wrapped your waist, I will hunt you down!”

She stood with hands on hips glaring at him, willing him to defy her. She could actually see a slight hesitation before he smirked.

“Ok, little wolf, that’s the last thing I want, with your tracking skills I would have my balls stuffed down my throat before I could blink”

“Damn right they would”

Brianna had exceptional tracking skills, every shifter had a unique skill and tracking was hers. When she signed on with lunar security her wolf had relished the challenge. She was well respected amongst the firm for all the success stories she had accomplished. But, she also knew to keep a low profile when possible. As a security firm confidentiality was crucial, letting outsiders known the skills of the employees, some of warrior class could be fatal.

“You need to get showered”

“Are you saying I stink?” she snapped

“No you smell delicious to me, but there’s a new case come in, mega money, low key,
Murdoch is looking for you”

Brianna sighed
slinging her bag over her shoulder. Her boss, Murdoch, was a pain in her backside right now. He had her working double shifts, and she was still waiting for the overtime cash to land in her hand, shady fucking wolf.

“Fine give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready”

“You want any help in there”

“Luke” she snarled.

He threw his hands up in surrender.

“Ok. I will be just outside the gym”

Brianna, stepped under the hot water, washing away the last two hours. She was tired, cranky and hungry. Those three never went well together with her, in any order.

Marcus paced in the large panelled room, his wolf was edgy
, unable to settle. He glanced up at the emblem shield on the wall with the organisations logo of Lunar security proudly on display. Being here was against everything he believed in. Two months ago, three female wolves from his pack had disappeared, quite literally vanished. As alpha, he had his best enforcers on the ground, hunting from dusk till dawn, coming back empty handed every time. Despite his head of security and beta using the latest tracking devices they had come up blank. That had made him more pissed off than anything, it was his duty to protect the pack, to lead, and here he was in the office of the best security team in the country, asking for help.

“Alpha, try to relax they will be here soon”

Marcus looked over at his oldest friend, Connor. His beta was slightly younger than his eighty years, but his maturity and analytic mind had earned him his rightful place at his side running amber woods.

“This just feels fuckin wrong Connor, we should not involve outsiders,
this is pack business” the Scottish lilt rumbling in his voice.

“I know but we have tried everything, Marcus, this company is the best there is and discretion is central to everything they do, it cannot hurt to see if they know of anything”

Marcus placed his large frame in the wooden chair, one of many surrounding the executive oak table. Raking a hand through his tussled shoulder length hair he tried to calm man and wolf. The door clicked open, his eyes carefully assessing the wolf coming to the seats in front of him. An older shifter, greying hair with grey eyes. The man shuffled some papers in his hands, stretching out his hand to shake the alphas.

“Sorry to keep you waiting alpha, but I have just come back from a meeting wit
h the council, they had many issues to go through, I’m Murdoch, head of Lunar security”

Marcus took the man’s hand, gripping it tight once before releasing. He nodded hi
s acceptance and sat back down. He could scent the man’s genuine honesty for the delay and that made it slightly easier to take another step further into involving outsiders.

“Thank you for meeting with me. I am Marcus
Buchanan, alpha of amber woods and this is Connor O’Leary my beta and head of security”

Murdoch
acknowledged the beta before opening up some files, notebook and pen at the ready.

“So how we ca
n we be of service Mr Buchanan?”

“Firstly, I insist on the highest of security and confidentiality on this case, even though it pains me to admit it I do need help from outside my pack”

“Of course, we have the highest standard of operations here, it is what we strive to achieve in every single case we take on, you are welcome to look at our encryption software and security details?”

Marcus could smell just a tinge of fear coming off this man, he was not surprised at six foot one, built like a brick shit house and of ancient alpha bloodline he would have scared most people.

“I insist that my Beta does that with your people before I sign up for anything”

“Very well, I can arrange for that straight after this meeting if you like”

Connor leaned forward, hands on the table.

“That would be acceptable
Murdoch, thank you”

“From the beginning, three female wolves from my pack disappeared from amber woods terr
itory just over two months ago. Despite my best enforcers and security team we have come up with nothing. There has been no trace, no scent, it is like they have just vanished”

Murdoch scribbled a few notes down before looking up at Marcus.

“Any reason you can think of why that would happen? Was there any indication that they were not happy at amber woods?”

Marcus snarled at the man, was he implying he could not keep his pack content? Fuckin outsiders. This is why he never dealt with them, pack was everything and as alpha
he would protect each and every one. Just not three female wolves. Reigning in his wolf, he took steadying breaths, staring at the man in front of him who had bowed his head in submission.

“They were happy in the pack, two of them were due to be mated the following week”
his voice gravelly.

“Sorry, I did not mean to cast any doubt on your position as alpha, it’s just that I need details if we are to find them”

“We are just anxious to get this case going Murdoch, losing any pack member is like severing the link, every wolf feels the wrench and the pain” Connor spoke firmly and clear.

“I understand, I will need to get details and personal items so that we can proceed if you wish to continue with our service”

Marcus sighed, feeling the pressure of having his alpha position. Looking at his second, he nodded once.

“We accept, part payment will be today and the final
charge can be billed to us if you should succeed” Marcus growled.

Murdoch pulled his phone out of his pocket, pressing speed dial.

“Luke, get bri and head over to the conference room, I have a new case for you both”

Marcus practically shivered when he heard the name
Bri, it reminded him of the sexy petite female wolf that he had nearly claimed in the parking lot. Two fuckin years he had been searching for her, he had never been so surprised at her strength when she knocked him on his back before hightailing out of the lot. She was his mate, his to claim, to cherish, adore and make scream with pleasure as he would take her over and over between the sheets. He shifted uncomfortably as he adjusted his crotch. Connor raised an enquiring eye at him, before shaking his head, filling out some paperwork. Why the hell she bolted he still could not fathom, he would never give up searching for her, and when he caught up with her he was going to show her exactly why you don’t run from a horny alpha wolf.

If this company proved to be any good maybe they could help him find his mate.

“Two of my best wolves are on their way here. One is skilled as a combat warrior, the other is a highly gifted tracker, the best in the country”

Marcus leaned forwar
d.

“If they are the best in the country why have I not heard of them?”

“Because confidentiality and anonymity is key in this organisation, if we laid all our cards on the table we would be open books, setting ourselves up to fail”