Alyssa's Wolves (Wolf Masters, Book 4)

Alyssa’s Wolves

Wolf Masters, Book 4

Becca Jameson

Published 2013

ISBN: 978-1-93176-154-3

Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509 Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright © Published 2013, Becca Jameson. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Liquid Silver Books

http://LSbooks.com

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

Blurb

After fleeing an arranged marriage in a polygamist society in Oklahoma, Alyssa Franklin wants nothing more than to enjoy her early twenties, take some classes at the local college, and learn about the world outside the confines of her childhood pack. Embraced by the loving Masters family in Oregon, Alyssa is beyond grateful for her good fortune. Nothing can upset her new life, except maybe the scent of her mate wafting toward her at a local rodeo…

Tyler Evans has been sent from Alyssa’s Oklahoma pack to ensure she is indeed mated to one of the Masters. He’s completely unprepared to realize Alyssa is his mate. In a rash, split-second decision, he flees her presence, not wishing to upset the perfect life his mate is living. Tortured with the need to be with Alyssa and unable to avoid the pull she has on him, he abandons his family in Oklahoma and treks to Oregon to claim his mate.

Michael Masters has been living in Spain for two years, knowing Alyssa is his mate and wishing to give her time to mature and experience life before claiming her. When he learns she believes another man is destined for her, he returns from abroad to claim his mate. Hoping she was mistaken, Michael treads lightly with his fingers crossed that fate has not deemed it necessary to share her.

When these three souls collide, tension rises. None of them are interested in a ménage. However, fate has other plans. Can the three lovers, drawn to each other by a power they can’t deny, work together to become a unit? Or will outside forces be able to tear them apart before they’ve even had a chance to consummate their mating?

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to my beta reader, Jen, who loved this series as much as me and provided me with great feedback to make my stories better.

Super special thank you to my editors, Devin Govaere and Deirdre Mursch. They turned a relative disaster into something wonderful!

Prologue

Alyssa Franklin heard the firm, distinct knock on the front door even from inside her bedroom. She’d been sitting on pins and needles all week, praying silently this day would not come. The book she’d been feigning interest in fell from her hands. She had no idea what volume it was.

She tiptoed over to the closed door and pressed her ear to the hollow wood.

“Ma’am. Sir.” The distinct voice of her pack leader vibrated through the entire house when her parents opened the front door. For Alyssa, opening that door was akin to stabbing her in the chest. Life as she knew it would never be the same. No visit from Fredrick Wells this week could be good. She’d dreaded this visit for years, since she’d found out she was destined to be mated to Frederick’s brother, the smarmy Dwight.

“Good afternoon. Come in.” Her mother’s voice sounded strained. Forced. Good, maybe the woman would tell the pack leader
no
.

“I’ll be quick. I’m aware your daughter turned eighteen this week. It’s time for her to be mated. The arrangements have been made. She’ll attend the ceremony this Saturday and move directly to Dwight’s residence following the consummation.” All those sentences came out in a rush, seemingly on top of each other, before Alyssa even sucked in one breath of air.

Alyssa cringed against the bedroom door.
Consummation?
What was she, a sex slave involved in some ancient tribal ritual? That wasn’t far from the truth.

Inside, Alyssa screamed.
Mom. Dad. Somebody please tell him
no.

Her wishes were not granted, however. Before any voices were heard again, the front door closed with a
snick
, sealing her fate.

Hours later, Alyssa still paced the hardwood floor of her tiny bedroom, biting the last unchewed fingernail on her right hand absentmindedly. She glanced out the window for the hundredth time. It was dark. It was late. Was the rest of the world sleeping yet?

A glance at the clock told her it was midnight. Could she do this?

Yes. She had no choice. Her heart pounded. She squeezed her eyes shut … and then flung them back open. Every time she shut her eyes she had a vision of that fat slob Dwight Wells with his hands on her. Her stomach churned again. She hadn’t eaten since lunch, and that meal had long since been vomited.

Alyssa sat on the edge of the bed and leaned forward with her head in her hands.

Think
.

The voices she’d overheard that afternoon rang in her head. Alyssa stood with greater resolve. She had no choice. She’d do anything to avoid having Dwight’s plump, nasty fingers even so much as grazing her cheek. She couldn’t even comprehend a fate that included having his penis plunging into her. Just the thought alone made her stomach heave again.

She was ready. Heavens, she’d been ready for weeks. She had a satchel packed beneath her bed. It was small. Just the necessities—two changes of clothes, a few dollars she’d tucked away, and photos of her childhood and parents. Would she ever see them again?

With one last glance around the only room she’d ever slept in, Alyssa pulled on her warmest coat, eased her bedroom window up, and climbed out into the night. It was only a short jump to the ground, and then she ran. She didn’t even wait to attach her pack to her back. She worked the straps over her shoulders as she scrambled away from the house.

The only thing worse than a forced mating to a sixty-five-year-old man with three other wives would be getting caught running away from home to avoid said fate.

Alyssa tore into the trees behind her house and headed in the direction of the highway. It was a long trek, but she’d looked at the map and knew she’d eventually reach civilization if she kept this path and didn’t veer too far off course.

Heaving for breath, she kept up an incredible pace for someone as out of shape as she was. She’d never run in her life. Adrenaline aided her purpose. Thank God for a moon that was somewhere in the middle stages of brightness at this time of the month. It wasn’t full, but at least it was there to help guide her. She didn’t have a flashlight. There was only one in the house, and she hadn’t wanted to arouse suspicion by stealing it away to her bedroom.

When her feet began to hurt and sweat poured down her brow, she slowed to a fast walk for a while. It was cold. That couldn’t be avoided. Too bad for her that her eighteenth birthday fell in December, and she lived in Oklahoma. She was lucky it was unseasonably warm. On any given year, there could be snow on the ground by now. At least tonight it was above freezing.

Alyssa pulled her coat tighter around her neck and kept moving. She swiped her brow with her gloves to keep the sweat out of her eyes.

It took more than an hour to reach the highway, and then Alyssa stayed next to the tree line as she kept heading farther away from her home. She didn’t want anyone to spot her along the road just yet. All night she traveled, keeping a pace that was a mixture of running, jogging, and walking to cover as much distance as possible.

Finally, she emerged from the edge of the tree line and scrambled up the incline beside the highway to reach the shoulder. She was more tired than she’d ever been in her life. And sore. Every muscle in her body ached. Blisters had formed on her toes from running in the only tennis shoes she owned. They weren’t intended for such long distances.

How far had she gone? Miles for sure. It couldn’t be too much farther to the intersection where the highways crossed. That was her goal. Hundreds of people would travel through there, stopping for something to eat. She intended to scope out a suitable person and hitch a ride to Anywhere-but-here U.S.A.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to keep walking much longer. Lights up ahead alerted her to her goal. It was still very dark. She had no idea what time it was. She didn’t have a watch or a phone. She’d never needed either. No kid in her small world had a phone. Who would they call? And as for a watch, her parents had gotten her wherever she needed to go all her life.

She’d been rather old when she’d first begun to question her strange life in her mind. Twelve. And then, only because her father had taken her to Oklahoma City one Saturday for supplies. That trip had changed her life. Without it, she’d never have witnessed the outside world so thoroughly, seen how others lived, watched children her age laughing and playing in their yards. Girls and boys of all ages filled the aisles of the stores she went in with her father. Their cheerfulness had been infectious. She’d known then and there she wanted that for herself. Freedom.

Now that freedom was right in front of her in the form of flashy, blinking lights of every color. Alyssa hastened her pace once again and crossed the parking lot she came to with her head held high. Hopefully no one would notice her emerging from—nowhere.

She didn’t have much money, but she needed to go inside the truck stop and order something, anything, to occupy her while she scoped out the patrons and selected someone to aid her escape.

Timidly, Alyssa entered the diner and took a seat at the counter.

A waitress leaned over the counter from the other side and said, “Coffee?” Alyssa’s worries about ordering vanished. She’d never even tasted the stuff before, but she didn’t care. It would be hot, and it would give her the freedom to sit on the bar stool. And wait.

Within fifteen minutes of her arrival, she spotted them. Perfect. Two good-looking, hunky men came in and took a seat not far from her perch at the counter. They glanced her way and nodded. A shiver shook her at their intent stares. Hot liquid sloshed over the sides of the untouched mug of coffee, warming her hands when she jiggled.

It unnerved her that the newcomers stared at her, but not for the reason most young girls would be nervous. Nope. These men were lupine. She knew that about them, and more importantly, they knew the same about her. All three of them had an above-average sense of smell. It was thick in the air. And no one else in the diner was a shifter.

Alyssa smiled.
Get brave, girl. This is your best option.

Trembling enough to make walking difficult, Alyssa jumped down from the barstool, grabbed her pack, and headed to the booth the two wolves had occupied. She didn’t even bother to bring the coffee with her. As it was, her hands stung from the splash of liquid that had landed on her fingers moments ago.

She paid no attention to the sting. In fact, she stuck her hands in her coat pockets to occupy them while she swallowed hard and opened her mouth. No task in her entire life had been as important as this one. She squeezed her hands into fists around her gloves in her pockets, the strain taking the edge off her predicament.

“Hey,” she uttered. She tipped her head to one side and smiled again, hoping she was enticing. She glanced from one man to the other. Both were tanned from hard work outside, but the similarities stopped there. One had brown eyes and dark hair, thick waves that landed over his forehead in need of a cut. The other had deep blue eyes and blond hair that gave him a slightly less rugged appearance. Both were probably what most women would consider sexy. She could do much worse than to align herself with them.

At least they weren’t past retirement age and slobby fat. She swallowed around the lump enlarging in her throat.

The blond man glanced behind her and then around the diner. “Are you alone?”

“Yes,” she mumbled. Fear climbed her spine. They were attractive enough, and she knew deep down she’d do anything if they’d just take her with them wherever they were going. She only hoped they wouldn’t take advantage and push her to have sex with them before she could even wrap her mind around the idea.

She knew about sex, but only because she was inquisitive. Not because anyone had told her much about it. She could read. There was a library in her town, a human library, and she’d read nearly everything in it over the years, even though most of the books never got checked out or came home with her to her parents’ house.

“Why?” The dark-haired man scooted over and motioned for her to take a seat on the bench with him. “You look exhausted. Like you ran all night.”

Alyssa hesitated and then sat. At least her legs would stop wobbling. Between her fear and her exhaustion, she was sure to collapse soon.

“I did.” She decided to be slightly forthcoming. Flat-out lying wouldn’t get her anywhere. They didn’t need to know the entire truth, just enough to be willing to aid her escape.