Craving the Alpha: Part One: BBW Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance (Lycan Lovers) (3 page)

There was a buzz of activity. Many of the people were drinking wine or coffee as they milled around the room or sat in small groups chatting. Near the center of the space I could see a dance floor, but no one was dancing now. Instead, a group of people was crowded around something. I strained my neck to make out what they were looking at.

Though I couldn’t see clearly, I caught sight of several large, bushy dog tails swishing back and forth from the edge of the crowd. Judging by the size of the tails the dogs had to be monstrous. I nudged Todd. “Geez, those dogs must be huge.” At six feet, Todd was a lot taller than my five foot, four-inch frame and could easily see over the top of the woman in front of him.

He turned to me, a strained expression on his face. “I don’t think those are dogs Kristen. I think they’re wolves!”

CHAPTER THREE

“Wolves,” Beverly snorted. “How could there be wolves in here. You can be such an idiot, Todd.” Beverly rolled her eyes as she walked closer to the group surrounding the animals. As she made her approach, the group parted.

I jumped back as I took in the creatures that we could now clearly see. They were enormous, about twice the size of wolves I had seen in pictures. Instinctively, I knew Todd was right. They were wolves. And with their massive size, I knew they had to be some sort of special breed. There were about a half dozen of them, all very large and powerful looking, but two really stood out. One wolf looked like a regal prince with magnificent downy white fur, claws that tapered to a soft taupe shade, and glinting, yellow eyes. The other wolf possessed a commanding presence, like he was king of the beasts. He was formidable in size with pure raw muscles encased in dark chocolate fur. The dark wolf’s eyes rested on me, and a sensation of déjà vu flashed through my mind. Where had I seen those golden, cocoa eyes before?

At that moment, Caleb spoke, gesturing towards the wolves. “You may have already met them, but let me formally introduce you to my sons and some of our Lycan pack members. This is Markus,” he said pointing towards the dark wolf, “and Dorian,” he nodded his head towards the white wolf. My sons will one day replace me as the alphas of our Lycan tribe. And we have many more pack members here,” he added, nodding his head toward the other wolves who were excitedly circling us.

As he introduced the other wolves, my mind went numb, not hearing his words. I gazed at Caleb in shock. “Yes,” he said, seeing my stunned expression, “they are werewolves, and so are the rest of us here.”

Todd and Beverly were shaking their heads. I could see their looks of pure disbelief. I knew they were wondering what kind of crackpot Caleb was. It couldn’t possibly be true. Yet, at the same time, they both had a look of unease, like maybe it was real. When I looked at the wolf Dorian’s light eyes, they looked just like the catlike ones I knew Dorian the man had. As I gazed at the wolf Markus and he gazed back at me, I knew from his rich, coppery brown eyes that as crazy as it all seemed, Caleb was telling the truth. Markus was a wolf, Dorian was a wolf, and their father Caleb was a wolf. All of these other people standing beside me were probably wolves too. A chill ran through me as I realized we were being held captive by werewolves. I had read paranormal stories about them, but those were fiction. I never imagined they could actually be real.

“I know it may seem shocking to you at first,” Caleb said, “but this is how it is and I hope
you will accept it
.” he waggled two fingers as he accented the words ‘you will accept it’. “And yes,” he continued, “all of the people here are wolves. We are one of the largest packs on the East Coast. There are thirty-six of us in all.” His face took a dark turn. “At least, there were. We lost a number of our bitches and pups in a rare strain of the parvovirus last year. Parvo usually only kills the young, but this strain took out many of our women too.” He turned his head, brushing back the tears.

“We had accepted that our lineage might be fated, but all things changed last night. Your camps were attacked by a rival wolf tribe, the Vlodik clan. They have in the past killed humans, but last night was the first time they have carried out an attack of this scope. Of course, they are probably far away by now, leaving us with a very big problem.” He shook his head.

“I thought I was having a nightmare last night. I heard noises but … how could we not have woken up?” Todd asked. “I mean yeah, I did drink a lot of that moonshine,” Todd said reflecting, “but not enough to lose my mind and not know I was being attacked by a pack of wolves.”

“Yeah, we had booze too. But I didn’t drink that much at all.” Shelby said wrinkling her brow.

Caleb nodded, “We believe there was more in that moonshine than just moonshine; benzodiazepines—tranquilizing drugs, most likely.”

“Date rape drugs …” Shelby gasped.

“Yes, powerful drugs intensified by alcohol” Caleb confirmed. “It appears the camp manager was working in tandem with the Vlodik clan. We
think
he was planning to provide them with women in exchange for money and his own safety. Fortunately for you,” he added, “we changed all that.”

Mr. McGreevy, a pimp for wolves? No, it was worse than that. He was planning to sell us for money to feed his own greed, whether we got killed or not. I felt sick to my stomach.

Caleb continued, “This is our territory. The Vlodik’s don’t usually come over this far. But because of some things that have happened in the past, we make it a point to be on watch when the camps are in session. One wolf is always on guard near the camps, close enough to smell any encroaching danger.”

This was so surreal, I reflected. Hard to believe that there was a wolf watching over the camp at all times and we never had a clue.

“So, you saved us and we thank you very much,” Kaitlyn said, trying to stay calm and control the trembling in her voice, “why don’t you let us go home now?”

Caleb grimaced as he looked at her. “Normally we are able to ward off trouble in minutes, but this time Dorian, who was on guard, had bravely tried to fight off the attackers himself instead of alerting us.” He glanced over at the wolf Dorian who returned his gaze; a self-satisfied expression emanating from the piercing, pale eyes that peered out from the milky fur. “It may have been foolish to try and ward off the Vlodiks single handedly, but we all admire Dorian’s courage for it.”

As I listened to Caleb, I noticed Markus shooting daggers with his eyes at Dorian. The golden flecks of his irises were nowhere to be seen as he narrowed his eyes in anger revealing only dark slits. Could Markus be jealous of his brother?

“Fortunately,” Caleb continued, “it was a hunt night for the rest of us and we were close to the area. So when we heard a commotion, we were able to head off the attack pretty quickly; unfortunately, not quickly enough.”

“What do you mean, not quickly enough?” Beverly demanded to know.

Caleb turned to face all of us. “They had this planned out very carefully. While some of their members attacked at Camp Rocky, others were raiding and assaulting Camp Minnehawk. All of you have been bitten and this means we just can’t let you go. We can’t risk it.”

Reflexively, my hand reached for the sore spot on my neck as we looked at each other in shock. So that’s why it felt rough and throbbed. I had been bitten. It explained the piercing pain I had experienced. It explained Kara licking my wound, probably to heal it some weird wolf way, and it possibly explained why my body felt so strange. I probably had rabies.

“What will happen to us? Are we infected with something?” I asked, my voice shaking.

Caleb spoke quietly, “You will all turn into wolves on the next full moon—tomorrow night.”

My mouth dropped open in shock at Caleb’s words, but I was too stunned to say anything. I could hear gasps and cries of disbelief from the others.

“Wolves? Are you nuts?” Beverly protested.

“Please remember this was not our doing. We did not attack you, the Vlodiks did. But since it has happened, we will treat you as family and make the best of it. We take this as a sign that we are to continue our lineage. When most of our women of childbearing age died from that rare strain of the virus we thought it was over for our tribe. But, now we have another chance. You will remain here under our protection.” Caleb added firmly, “Each woman will be assigned to one of our weremen. He will look after you and provide for your needs. We will not force you but we do hope you will rut with the chosen mate. This will continue our clan’s lineage and provide safety and protection for you. Given the circumstances, this is what is best for everyone.” Caleb rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Todd, we are not sure where you fit in yet.”

“I ah, I ...” Todd’s face fell as he felt his neck.

I winced, looking over at Todd. He was trying to retain his composure but his face was ashen. What would they do with him? And their plans for me, to continue the lineage … they couldn’t be serious—could they? But before I had a chance to think too much, Caleb asked everyone in the crowd but me, Beverly, and the other three girls to move away from the wolves.

“The men are going to make a selection now. You will live with them as a family. As I said, they will look after your wellbeing. If things go well, you will mate with them, and if not, we will find other work for you to do in our community,” Caleb said. “There is always plenty to be done here.”

Shelby looked at him pleadingly. “What if we leave?” she asked. “There has to be a hospital that can take this wolf venom out of us, isn’t there?”

“If there was an antidote we would have used it,” Caleb said, his jaw set firmly. “There is nothing to be done here.”

Biting her lip, Lisa tentatively stepped towards Caleb. “But, what about our family and school?” she asked.

“I am sure there will be inquiries,” Caleb said. “But you will be hidden from any officials that visit our property when needed. And, from what we gathered, one of the reasons the camp owner handpicked you is because none of you have the type of families that would raise many questions if you went missing. We will be notifying your schools in the fall that you have withdrawn and that should take care of the matter,” he added matter of factly. “I am sorry it has to be done this way, but we can’t put everyone in our tribe or in your communities at risk. And trust me, once you experience the freedom and joy of being a wolf, you will be happy here.”

“I just can’t believe this is happening...” I said, my voice breaking.

“Believe it,” Caleb responded firmly. “Please understand this is necessary. As I said before, each of you women will be put under the protection of one of our male wolves and we hope eventually you will rut and raise a family of werepups together. If you don’t accept it you will still be treated kindly and fairly. But we
do
strongly encourage you to live as one of us.”

I glanced over at the other girls. The whole thing was so shocking it was hard to take in. Lisa was openly sobbing. Kaitlyn was fighting back tears and working hard to maintain her composure. Shelby had a glazed expression of disbelief. Beverly’s face had lost its normal haughty look and she looked like she would puke at any minute.

“Well, there is no need for further delay, let’s get started,” Caleb said. “Do not be alarmed as the men in their wolf come close to you. They are not going to hurt you. They need to smell your essence and taste you to decide if you are the best mate for them.

We all gasped. “Taste us … what?” Kaitlyn asked stunned.

“What do you mean?” Shelby demanded to know.

Caleb waved his hands dismissing our protests. “Relax, ladies. They will just lick and explore your skin. They will not bite or hurt you in any way. They do this best in their wolf. Please be clear, to keep the harmony and peace within the pack, all decisions made at this community meeting are final. Any violations of this will be subject to punishment by pack council.”

It was hard not to stare at the wolves. They were frightening, massive creatures with beefy limbs and razor-sharp fangs, yet despite the fear they evoked in me, they were also very beautiful.

Caleb rubbed the top of one of the wolf’s heads. “No, they are not going to hurt you,” he said, trying to soothe us.

But his words were of little comfort. The beasts were eyeballing us hungrily, their long, raspy tongues licking their mouths, revealing their sharp, pointed canines and incisors. Ears perked up and tails held high, Markus and Dorian advanced towards us first. The other wolves had flattened their ears and pulled their bushy tails closer to their bodies. They seemed to be hanging back; it looked as though they were letting Markus and Dorian make their selections first.

I couldn’t help but feel shock and dread at the same time. I knew that most of the beasts would probably head for Beverly, after all, she was slim and though I hated to admit it, the prettiest of us here. It didn’t hurt that her perky breasts were barely concealed by her white tank. But deep down, I hoped one of them would pick me. It was almost like I was back in grade school, hoping not to get picked last when we chose teams in gym. But I always was. I have never been athletic. And, even though some of the kids were probably even less coordinated than I, because they were skinny and I was bigger, they just looked like they could hit the ball harder or run faster. I squeezed my eyes tightly as the wolves got closer. This was just totally insane. What was I thinking? Why did I care if a wolf chose me?

“Helpppp meeee!”

Hearing a scream, I opened my eyes again. It was the frail, dark haired girl Lisa from Camp Minnehawk. She shrieked again and made a dash towards the cabin door. A burly, black and white wolf quickly darted after her. Using his powerful fangs he bit into her blue jeans. I almost expected him to bite her but with surprising tenderness he gently pulled her back to the group, dropping her lightly on her rump in front of Caleb.

Caleb gave her an icy stare. “Lisa, if you try that again,” he said gesturing towards the brawny wolf, “Michael may not be so nice with you next time. Go stand next to Shelby and Kaitlyn
now
,” he said forcefully, pointing towards the two other Camp Minniehawk counselors.

“Let’s try this again,” Caleb said, motioning to the wolves and commandeering them to advance toward us.