Alpha On the Run: A BBW Wolf Shifter Paranormal Romance Read online

  “Mm, okay,” Anna said, equally reluctant. She sprawled sidewise on the couch. Naked, sexy, and waiting for him. It was all the incentive he needed to hurry.

  He saw her watching him on his way, and brought his hand up. He licked her juices off his hand and relished her smell and taste. He felt Anna take a sharp breath in at the sight. Their emotions were almost one. He couldn't wait to see what more was like.

  Joshua sat back on the couch and rolled the condom on. Anna twitched against him.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “It feels weird.” She smiled a little. “I've never felt that before.”

  “What part?” he asked, leaning down to crawl over her.

  “I felt you putting the condom on. The cold. And the squeeze – oh!” she said when he kissed her neck again.

  She was completely distracted. Joshua grinned. He pulled her hips up and thrust into her quickly. Anna groaned and clutched him to her. Her eyes closed. He watched her eyelashes flutter and her face tense with pleasure. Seeing her was almost as good as the feel of her clenched tightly around him.

  He thrust into her over and over. He relished the feel of her skin against his and the way her hips bucked up into him. Her pleasure boiled over in his mind, and he knew she shared his as well. It was better than he could have imagined. Every thrust into her, and every stroke across her skin, brought him pleasure two times – his at the giving, and hers at the receiving.

  The heat, the sun and the quiet turned the morning into a haze. He was only aware of the sweat on his skin and the sound of Anna's breaths and the movements of their bodies together. The sunlight gave her skin golden and bronze highlights. It set off the black of her hair beautifully. He almost couldn’t believe he could touch her. But he could and, in fact, he was.

  Joshua kissed her shoulder and nibbled. When she groaned he bit down. The pinprick of pain broke the haze.

  Suddenly time moved again, and they were desperate to finish. Joshua thrust into her and grabbed her hips. He sucked at the bite on her shoulder and licked. Her hands found purchase in his short hair and tugged to pull him closer to her.

  They came together in a wash of pleasure that made Joshua's vision go blurry. Even after he finished Anna continued to gasp and twitch for several moments. Her aftershocks rippled across the bond and made him shudder. He kissed her throat until she calmed.

  They lay together in the heat. Moving seemed like a great effort. Soon they would have to clean up.

  Joshua could stand to be trapped in a cabin with her. Everything would be fine. Somehow.

  That afternoon, Anna made an unfortunate discovery.

  “I think I might need to go into town.” She faced away from him and stared determinedly at the vegetables she was chopping.

  Joshua resisted the urge to growl. The emotional intimacy that came with the bond had a side effect. The thought of getting her killed had gone from merely guilt-inducing to a threat of total despair. “Why?”

  “I checked the car's gas tank when I was coming in. I was meaning to get gas all this week, and then I ended up tearing my way back here – I have just enough to get into the closest town one way. Not even enough to drive out of the area if anything happens.”

  “Nothing's going to happen if we don't get their attention,” Joshua said, unhappy.

  “You don't know that.” She turned, gesturing harshly with the knife. Then she realized what she was doing and put it down rapidly. “Look, it's not just a matter of the pack. It's the middle of the summer in the middle of nowhere. Forest fires happen. Injuries happen. Landslides and flooding happen in this area, too. You're a city boy, so let me tell you, it is completely irresponsible to sit here with no way to get out of here in a hurry if we need to. How sure are we that they'll notice me? I'd be spending maybe ten minutes out of the car at the gas station.”

  “Shouldn't you have extra gas here?” he asked.

  Anna sighed. “I'm counting that in. One of the containers was knocked over by an animal, and the other was already half empty. Believe me, I won't let it go this long again.”

  He wanted to tell her no, you aren't going, nothing is so bad as getting taken by Stephen. He wanted to offer to take her place and go instead.

  Unfortunately, the latter suggestion was pure stupidity. They might or might not notice that Anna was his mate. They knew his scent and would be looking for him. Even if he wasn't caught, they might pick up his scent at the gas station later.

  And she wasn't actually asking for his permission. She didn't need it.

  “All right,” he said heavily. He breathed out and clenched the table top with his hands. “Let's get ready. The sooner you go, the sooner it's over with.”

  Anna looked relieved. “It's really not far, it's a twenty minute drive to the gas station. I should be back in less than an hour. Let me grab my keys.”

  Joshua shook his head. “There are a few things you should do. Do you have a knife anywhere, something you could use?”

  “I can't fight,” Anna said. “Don't know how. But I have a pocket knife.”

  “Using a knife isn't really complicated. I'd tell you not to, since an inexperienced person using a weapon is just giving their attacker one, but you can't disarm a werewolf anyway. What you want to do with a knife is get a grip on the handle and stab, not slash.” He waited expectantly until she took out the knife. He took it from her then, flipped it open and placed her hand on it. “Thumb like this, so it's harder to knock out of your hand.”

  The knife itself was okay. Not a fast draw, but it was meant to cut things, not people. At least the point was sharp.

  “Stabbing, not slashing,” Anna repeated. She thrust it experimentally. He corrected her, and she tried again with more enthusiasm. “Why?”

  He smiled at the quick improvement. “Organ damage. Slashing's shallow, so any serious damage is going to happen days later from infection. Stabbing, you have a chance of a disabling injury. But your main goal is just getting them to back up so you can run.”

  “Got it.” She took a deep breath. “Thank you for this. I know I’m just a civilian, and I don’t know how to handle myself, but – you trust me to take care of myself. That’s important.”

  “You’re an adult, Anna,” Joshua said quietly. “And you’re my mate. You would be an alpha if you were a wolf. You lack training, but that’s not your fault.”

  She put the knife away. “What else were you thinking?”

  “That you shouldn't look like the woman they saw. Don't want to encourage them to check you out.”

  “Won't they smell me anyway?” Anna asked.

  “They'll have to get closer if your skin's covered.” He almost started going through her clothes. Then he remembered that she might not agree her territory was his now, just because they were mates. She was human. “Do you have a hat, maybe? One big enough to stuff your hair into?

  “Better idea,” she said. She dug through a trunk. “I have a big shawl. I can pin it over my head and neck the way my grandma does to go to mass. Less skin means less for them to smell, right?

  Anna was soon dressed in clean underwear and jeans, a long button down shirt, and her newest pair of hiking boots. It was a little hard to tell when the whole cabin smelled of her, but he thought the clothes didn't smell much like her compared to the rest she had.

  Then she pinned her hair up and wrapped the shawl around her face. It took her a few tries to keep it from slipping down her back. Once on it covered everything but her face, so it was hard to tell who she was from behind.

  “I didn't know Catholic women wore headscarves?” he said, watching her.

  “Not since the beginning of Vatican II in the sixties, but Abuela's a traditionalist. Dad said she was furious with the church for getting rid of Latin.” She turned to him. “How's this?”

  Her scent was filtered through the smell of cotton, but still unfortunately detectable. “Well, you're not identifiable by sight,” he said.

  “I have an idea,”
Anna said then, and went to the spice cupboard in the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, mystified.

  “Getting cayenne powder.” She pulled down a bottle. “Come get a whiff of this, but be careful, I don't want to hurt you,” she said.

  She only had to open the bottle for him to understand what she meant. The smell was overpowering and sharp even across the room – if she opened the bottle in his face it would be painful. He got a little closer and sneezed.

  “I thought I'd put some on me – not a ton, just powder my scarf and shirt with it,” she said.

  “Good idea.” Soon he confirmed that even from a few feet away he couldn't concentrate on her smell at all. “Just try to keep your face down, so they can't recognize you that way,” he said. “They didn't meet you for very long.”

  “Got it. I just hope no one who knows me asks what's going on.”

  “You could say you found God at last,” Joshua joked. “Or hey, maybe you got a really bad sunburn and your doctor said you couldn't go out with any of your skin exposed.”

  “My skin is way too dark for that, Mr. Tall, Mysterious and Pasty,” Anna joked back. “I'm going to head out now. I'll see you in an hour, I hope. If I'm not back call the cavalry.” She picked up a pair of mirrored sunglasses and slid them on.

  “Don't worry, it'll probably be fine,” Joshua forced himself to say

  He watched her leave from the doorway. He felt like he should be following, but he would just draw attention to her. He was supposed to be by his mate’s side. But instead she went alone.

  Chapter Seven

  Anna sped the whole way to the gas station. She was fueled by the fear she could feel in Joshua's mind. Her heart pounded with adrenaline. She knew it echoed Joshua's own heart rate.

  She pulled into the station and looked over the parking lot nervously before she opened the door. Things she saw every time gained a dangerous significance. The trees came up to the edge of the parking lot. They would provide cover for sneaking werewolves. And it was impossible to watch the entrance from the single pump.

  Weren't animals supposed to sense fear? She made herself calm down before she exited the car. She was just getting gas. Joshua was scared, and he had every reason to be, but nothing was going to happen.

  Anna got out of the car and slammed the door. The sound made her jump and laugh at herself. She bent over the pump and inserted her debit card quickly. She was glad the owner had finally updated the previously ancient equipment two years ago. All through her childhood drivers had had to pay at the register for gas. She wanted to be out of here as soon as possible.

  When she turned to open her gas gauge she froze. A new car was parking in the lot. She told herself it was probably nothing just as one of the werewolves she met with Stephen got out of the driver's seat.

  Anna swore at herself. She ducked her head and let the shawl's fringe hang over her eyes. She busied herself with the gas pump. If she had only left a little earlier – -- or if she didn't speed on the way here. She could have seen them in the lot and kept driving to the next gas station.

  Too late now. Bolting would look suspicious and she didn't have the gas for some kind of high speed chase.

  She kept her breath even and did not look up. The werewolf walked over to her car with one other she didn't recognize behind him.

  “Excuse me, ma'am?” he said. “I'm Officer Hunter, can I see your ID?”

  Oh, hell. She looked up out of the corner of her eye. The badge was faked well. In panic, she improvised.

  “No hablo inglés,” she said rapidly. “Cual es el problema?”

  The man beside him breathed in very slowly and deeply, then shook his head. Then he yelled over his shoulder “No dice, Stephen!”

  The spice worked. Anna tried to breathe.

  “I can hear her breathing from over here,” Stephen said from the car.

  “Doesn't speak English anyway,” the man said. “Probably just scared we're immigration or something –”

  “La Migra?” Anna asked, trying to sound appropriately panicked now. “Yo soy –”

  “Shut up,” he said curtly, and she fell silent.

  She wanted to contact Joshua via the bond, but she wasn't sure if they would know. Hadn't Joshua said they sometimes could?

  “Check the license plate before we go,” Stephen said grouchily from the car. Anna's heart froze.

  The one she recognized, “Hunter,” walked around the car to check the plates against a paper in his hand.

  “It's a match!” he yelled.

  At his words, three things happened. Anna dropped the pump and tried to bolt, the second man lunged forward, and Stephen exited the car.

  The man grabbed her by the shawl. She jerked forward, and he swore when it came off in his hand. Anna wished she had the pump still and could blast it into his eyes, but instead she ran around the car –

  Straight into Hunter, who grabbed her by the arms with an iron grip.

  About a second later he started sneezing. Anna tried jerking again, but his hands didn't give. Before she could fight more, the other man pressed cool metal to the back of her neck. A gun.

  “I take it you speak English,” Hunter said.

  She remained dead silent.

  “What the hell is this?” he asked. “Curry powder?”

  “Anti-werewolf poison,” she said. “You'd better let me go if you want the antidote.”

  He laughed. She wished she had her hands free so she could punch him. “Nice try, but I know how to cook. This is some kind of spice.”

  “First grade Cayenne pepper,” she said through her teeth. “Rated at 50,000 Scoville units. Hottest thing I keep in my kitchen.”

  “Fuck,” the man said appreciatively, and sneezed again.

  She thought she should be scared, and she was, a little. But mostly, she was angry.

  She sat in the back of the car, on the opposite side of the driver. One of the men sat next to her with the gun. Hunter was in the front with Stephen. His tracker, the man who originally scented her, wasn't in the car. He was unable to stand being so close to Anna. She took vicious pleasure in the way his eyes had watered when Stephen ordered him to scent her for Joshua.

  She had a sneaking suspicion he knew, though. They had no reason to grab her just based on the car license plates, when they had let her go before. They must have known something. If only she knew what it was. If only she knew how they even had the plates from that first day. They could have had someone else circle around in the woods and write the numbers down, maybe?

  The car stalled and slowed going up another steep hill. Anna smirked a little. It was a stick shift, but she bet it was rented, because Stephen kept messing up the gear changes. That, or he'd never driven anywhere with hills like Pennsylvania's.

  If only she could get the door open and jump out when the car slowed. With three werewolves right behind her she had no illusions about how that would go, though. She needed a head start, or people around to protect her, or some advantage. Any advantage,

  She touched Joshua in her mind, very carefully keeping her face blank in what she hoped was a good impression of utter terror. She didn't dare try to send him more specific emotions, afraid that they would be able to tell somehow. But just his presence was reassuring. She felt a determined white noise that made her think he must be coming after her. She hoped he had an actual plan. Unlike her.

  Feeling him there helped her stay calm and still. She would not start crying or begging. She would not tell them where to find Joshua if they didn't already know.

  The car turned onto a gravel path. She resisted the urge to grab the door at the way the tires bounced. It would suck if they shot her over a misunderstanding.

  She wanted to look up to see if they were coming to a destination. They'd told her to keep her face down – whether to stop anyone from seeing her clearly or so she couldn't tell where she was going, she wasn't sure. Surely they'd have blindfolded her if that was it? Or would that be
too visible? She couldn't believe anyone would get more than an instant's glimpse of the windows. There probably wasn't anyone to look. They'd hit the middle of nowhere five minutes out of town.

  The car stopped.

  “Get out and open the gate,” Stephen said to the man sitting next to him.

  Anna made a mental note – gravel road with a gate a few minutes down it. She didn't know if it would be any help, but she was trying to keep track of the car's turns. It was hard when she couldn't tell if they were turning because of a switchback or an actual intersection, though.

  Hopefully Joshua would find her with the pack sense and it would turn out not to matter.

  She heard metal screech and a curse. “It's stuck!” the man called.

  Anna didn't let herself tense, but her heart rate picked up. She wondered if they could hear it.

  “Push harder,” Stephen ordered flatly.

  There was a brief argument. She gathered pushing harder wasn't helping.

  “Give me the gun,” Stephen finally said, exasperated. “Go help him get the damn gate open.”

  Anna turned her head very slightly to look to the side. She barely dared hope. Should she just wait for rescue? Would it do any good to wait for one that might never come?

  They weren't looking at her. She crept her hand over to the door. When they pointed the gun down to pass it, she pushed the door open and flung herself out of the car.

  Shots rang out over her head. She rolled, got around the miraculously close tree and stumbled to her feet. Another gunshot missed her as she took off running – hit another tree? It was hard to get a clear shot on a moving target in the woods. Anna had gone deer hunting before.

  How fast could wolves run? Faster than her, surely.

  She heard a yell behind her and dared to twist her head. They had stopped. She saw the ripple of fur across skin and understood – they had to stop to change. She had seconds, maybe minutes.

  Joshua had mentioned it was hard to shift, and recovery time was needed before you could do it again. There were some places canines couldn't go that humans could.