Return of the Alpha

Return of the Alpha
is the third and final book in
The Craven Trilogy
. It is recommended that you read
The Alpha's Search
(book one) and
The Lost Years
(book two) before reading this book.

Chapter 1

LOUISE

It had taken me a while to trust Bella. It wasn't her fault—she'd done absolutely nothing wrong except for moving into the same apartment as Kata had previously occupied. My experience with Kata had made me ultra cautious. It had taken Craven to convince me I was being paranoid. He was right of course. Bella and I were now firm friends.

“So?” Bella sounded exasperated. “Are you coming?”

“I need to think about it.” I was playing for time and she knew it.

“What's to think about?”

“I've got so much to do around the apartment.”

“Such as?”

“I—the—hmm.” I glanced around the room. “The curtains need cleaning.”

“Would that be the new curtains you put up the week before last?”

“Yeah.”

“Louise, look at me.”

I'd been trying to avoid eye-contact. She could read me like a book. “What?”

“The curtains don't need cleaning. Nothing in this apartment needs cleaning. This apartment is a dust no-go zone. You're just making excuses.”

“That's not true.”

It was.

Bella gave me her ‘
really?
’ look.

“Okay, you're right. I'm just not sure if I'm ready yet.”

“Craven thinks you are.”

“You two have been discussing me?”

“Of course we have. What do you think we talk about?”

“I'm outraged.”

“No you're not. Look, you're the beta's mate. You have to exercise your wolf regularly.”

“I didn't shift at all for several years, and it didn't do me any harm.”

“You thought you were human then. You don't have any excuse now. The longer you leave it, the harder it will be.”

“Okay, okay. Give me a break. Next week. I promise.”

“Not good enough.”

“I just gave you my word.”

“Last week, you gave me your word that you'd do it this week.”

Damn it. Her memory was too good. “This time I mean it.”

“Look. I know the thing with Kata knocked your confidence.”

“
The thing?
You mean
the thing
when she tried to kill me?”

“Sorry.” Bella held up her hands.

“No. It's me who should be sorry. I shouldn't take it out on you.”

“It's okay.”

“No, it isn't. I know Craven thinks it's the Kata
thing
, but it isn't that. I’d spent so long living as a human that I'd forgotten what it was like to be a shifter. When Craven found me, and showed me that I could shift, I was scared but excited too. I still am, but—” I'd promised myself I wouldn't do this—promised myself that I wouldn't tell anyone how I'd been feeling. “I feel like a fake—a fraud.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can't explain it. It's like I'm neither one thing nor the other. Not human, but not a shifter either.”

“Trust me. You're a shifter.”

“I know. It's just that I lived as a human for almost five years, and before that—. I can't even remember what happened before that. There's a whole chunk of my life missing. Almost forty years. Where was I during that time? What was I doing? Was I living as a shifter or a human?”

“That
is
pretty fucked up.” Bella laughed.

“I know, right?” I managed a smile. “If I could figure out what happened during those years, maybe I could move forward.”

“What have the doctors said about your memory?”

“They said it might come back, but there's no guarantee of when or even if.”

“I'm sorry, Louise. I shouldn't have pushed you. I didn't realise what you were going through. I won't do it again, I promise. We still friends?”

“Course we are.” I gave her a hug.

“I'll get going then.” Bella began to walk towards the door.

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

“I'd like to go for a run with you.”

“Are you sure?” Bella beamed

“Not really, no.”

*********

We took Bella's car. The doubts began to set in the moment I said I'd go with her, but it was too late to change my mind. I owed it to her and to Craven, but most of all I owed it to myself. Being in denial wouldn't bring my memory back. And besides, denying who I was—what I was—wasn't healthy.

“Where do you want to go?” Bella asked, as we pulled out of the car park.

“Anywhere except Black Woods.”

She glanced at me, puzzled.

“That's where Kata set up the ambush.”

Bella nodded, and then gave a young male shifter the finger as he cut us up. “Why don't we follow that little shit and teach him a lesson?” she growled.

“Let's not.” I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not.

“How about the plains?” she suggested.

“I haven't been there before.”

“They're in the north east of the territory.”

“Is it safe there?”

“Everywhere in Darmoor is safe since your mate was appointed beta. From what I hear, the number of incursions has fallen to an all time low.”

I was so very proud of Craven. Even though he'd only been beta for a short while, he'd had a massive impact. He'd taken a particular interest in security which had been almost non-existent when we first arrived. The neighbouring packs now all viewed Darmoor with much more respect.

“If we're lucky, we might manage a kill while we're there,” Bella said. “There's lots of deer.”

“Great.” I managed a smile. Since rediscovering my inner wolf, I had been forced to kill, but only in battle. I still couldn't get my head around the idea of killing to eat. In all honesty, I much preferred getting my food from the local supermarket. Craven regularly went out to hunt, and he always asked me to accompany him. I was running out of excuses.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Bella asked after she'd parked the car. “I feel like I've pressured you into it.”

As I looked out over the expanse of open ground, my heart began to race. “Yeah. Let's do it.”

We slipped out of our clothes, and placed them in the back seat of the car. Her transformation was swift and effortless. Bella had a beautiful human body, but she was even more impressive as a wolf. I was surprised she didn't yet have a mate. Her wolf looked up at me and growled softly as if to ask what I was waiting for. I clenched my fists, closed my eyes, and let it happen. I felt little or no pain—at least not physical.

We raced across the open ground. One minute Bella was in front—the next, I'd take the lead. We appeared to have the place to ourselves.

Bella suddenly stopped dead in her tracks—her nose sniffing the air. My sense of smell still left a lot to be desired. It was a thousand times more powerful than in human form, but I was still very much out of practice. I tried to catch whatever Bella had latched onto.

There! I'd picked up the scent too now. We exchanged a glance, and set off in pursuit of our quarry. Bella took the lead. After a few minutes, we had visual contact. Four adult deer were grazing in the longer grass. The adrenaline began to course through my veins. We were still some distance away when the deer caught our scent. In its panic, one of the deer became separated from the others. That made our decision an easy one. It was fast, but we were faster. With every second, we closed the distance between us and our prey. Just another few seconds, and we'd be within striking distance.

I noticed a grey blur in my peripheral vision. At first, I didn't realise what it was, but then it took shape. A male wolf coming in from the right. He was approximately thirty metres ahead of us, and headed straight for the deer—
our
deer. Bella and I both skidded to a halt—looking on in disbelief as the wolf felled the deer.

“That was our kill.” I sensed Bella's angry words.

The wolf looked up at us. He was already chewing the meat ripped from the deer's throat. “I don't think so, ladies.”

Bella growled. “Where are you from?”

She must have picked up on his scent too. He wasn't a member of our pack.

“What's it to you?” He tore another strip of flesh from the deer. “Why don't you two go and
play
somewhere else?”

Bella looked at me; her eyes were ablaze with anger. No words were necessary—we both knew what we had to do.