Alpha Call

BA
Tortuga

Wendy doesn’t need any help to get rid of her evil ex. As a
cop, she can handle anything life throws at her. In fact, she’s sure of it,
even when trying to capture the ex alone puts her friends in danger. Too bad
local werewolf alpha Brett has different ideas. He doesn’t care if Wendy wants
to be a lone wolf. He has to protect all the werewolves in his town. Including
her.
Especially
her.

Wendy finds Brett irritating, overbearing and sexy beyond
belief. Brett thinks Wendy is trouble with a capital T, and hotter than the dog
days of summer. Butting heads can be fun, but there are other ways to rub
against each other. Intimate, lusty ways. These two sexy shapeshifters are
playing to win.

A
Romantica®
paranormal erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

The sting when Brett, the big alpha of Boulder’s local
Packlands, popped her ass shocked Wendy down to the bone and she snarled, her
inner wolf overcoming her inner cop in a fierce rush, everything in her
reminding her that she wasn’t part of a pack. Any pack. The tiny burst of pain
distracted her from the growing panic that she had been investigating the wrong
perpetrators ever since the attack on Mike last night.

“You’re lucky I don’t have my sidearm on me, you fuck!” she
snarled at Brett, teeth almost snapping at the air.

“I’m lucky? You probably would have drawn down on Stephanie
here in the state you’re in, if it wasn’t for me. I can fucking smell your
panic.” Brett bared his teeth at her, growling, as if this was her fault.

“What’s going on?” Her best friend Stephanie was a
sweetheart, a dear little wonder of witchiness, with her potions and rites and
the constant scent of sage and rosemary. But some fights were for weres. Alone.
And Steph wasn’t a werewolf.

“I don’t know, but she’s freaking out,” the big alpha said
and casually shifted, moving halfway between her and Steph, separating them.
That was a classic strategy, but she wasn’t a perp. She was here looking for
evidence in Mike’s attack. Sweet, gentle EMT Mike, whose big crime had been
taking Stephanie out on a date. Except that wasn’t the case, was it? This
wasn’t about Stephanie. This was about Wendy and her past and the reason why
she wasn’t part of a pack anymore.

“I am not freaking out!” Wendy caught herself yelling, that
tiny bead of guilt that had been growing since last night when she’d smelled
something totally unexpected on Mike’s wound.

Not feral dogs as the policeman in her had suspected. Not
Stephanie’s jealous lovers, Shaw and Jordan, as the wolf in her had expected.
No. She’d smelled the bastard who had been her worst nightmare, once upon a
time.

“I don’t…Wendy? Honey?” Stephanie sounded so freaked out,
stepping toward her.

“You just…” Wendy could feel panic creeping up inside her,
and by the moon, that made her mad.

“Stop.” Brett barked, the command in the man’s voice
undeniable, fierce.

Wendy rocked back on her heels and she fought the urge to
howl. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Steph asked and came to her, hugged her
tight, and damn, didn’t that make her feel worse? Wendy was the one who had
accused Stephanie’s lovers of injuring Mike and now… “What’s wrong, honey? You
can tell me.”

“I don’t know. I thought for sure I wouldn’t ever. This is
all my fault.” Apologizing was hard. Wendy hated it.

“Nonsense.” Stephanie sounded so sure.

“No. He followed me here. I can smell him now. I thought at
the hospital I could, but it was so medicinal. He—” Jack was here. Jack, her
crazy ex, had found her again, after so many years.

“He who?” Brett asked, voice sharp, getting right in her
face. God, he was a fine son of a bitch, even if he didn’t know squat about
her.

“It’s not your problem!” Wendy snapped, the guilt about Jack
following her here, endangering others, making everything worse.

“My Packlands, my problem.” Brett’s chest bumped into hers
and she was reminded, rather forcefully, that wolf pack alphas were used to
getting exactly what they wanted, the information they needed. Now.

“Guys. Guys, careful.” Stephanie started flailing, her
panicky voice scraping along Wendy’s nerves as if it was nails down a
chalkboard. Brett grabbed Stephanie by the upper arms, shifting her away with
surprisingly gentle hands.

“You’re an asshole. The goddamn alphas always are. I really
need to find a town without a goddamn pack.” Wendy poked Brett in the chest
with one finger, acting way braver than she felt.

Brett’s nostrils flared, then the man’s eyes went bright
yellow. “Who is attacking people in my town?”

The scent of angry male hit her dead on, but it wasn’t
Brett. It was another. Not right. Rotten and in wolf form. Jack.

“Shit!” Brett whirled before she even had a chance to
respond, shifting to his own wolf form in a breath, and Wendy knew she knew she
couldn’t hold onto her humanity.

“Wendy?” Steph backed away. “Wendy, oh goddess.”

Wendy looked at her dearest friend in the whole world. Her
oh so human friend. “Go, Steph. Run. You’re just going to get hurt if you stay.
I’ll call you.”

The change took her in a rush, the world turning gray as she
hit the ground on her paws, her clothes falling away as she spun to fight the
violent bastard who was trying to ruin her life.

Brett barked, encouraging her to flank Jack as he attacked
from the front, going immediately for Jack’s throat. Jack was wickedly smart,
though, and deflected the blow, chasing after Stephanie instead.

No. No way.

No way.

They both gave chase, paws digging into the asphalt as they
headed out.

Run! Run!

Brett’s voice was everywhere, a mantra as they gave chase
together. They covered more ground in minutes than she usually did in an entire
moon. Her muscles screamed at her, the thin mountain air feeling fiery in
Wendy’s lungs as she asked more out of her exhausted muscles. She was in good
shape, for goodness sake. Hell, she was in exceptional shape, in both wolf and
police form. What god had she pissed off, exactly, to be chasing her abusive,
fuzzy, crazy ex through the outskirts of Boulder alongside the grumpy alpha
asshole who had messed up her best friend’s life?

The possibilities were endless, she guessed. She pissed off
people all the time; why not gods too?

Brett nipped at her side, the huge wolf driving her faster
as they tried to flank their prey, tried to take down the sorry son of a bitch
who had been attacking humans on her beat.

At least Steph was safe. Stephanie had slipped into the car
and locked the doors, leaving them to the chase the kidnapper.

The interloper.
Brett’s thoughts were inside her and
she growled at him, even as she ran.

Fucking Jack, thinking he could hurt innocent people,
exposing her to the local alpha. She’d been hiding out in Boulder for years
now, never so much as tweaking anyone’s interest, especially any pack’s. She
didn’t play the alpha-wolf hierarchy game. Not anymore. Never again.

They headed into the state park, gaining elevation quickly,
leaving the buzz and crackle of the city behind. She heard a girl’s scream up
ahead and her companion headed into the underbrush. Great. He was just leaving
her to deal with all this shit. God knew if he would be able to double back in
time to help and she had no idea where the trail led.

She spared a moment to wish she had her police department
partner, her Glock or some kind of backup, but there hadn’t been time to
retrieve any of those things. Hadn’t been the opportunity to call, either, not
when the wolf change took her so fast. The beast in her had come to the fore
and everything else was left behind.

And now she was going to have to deal with a scared,
possibly infected jogger when she was fuzzy. Damn it.

The jogger, a teenaged girl, dangled from a tree, Jack’s
teeth around one of her running shoes. Wendy never even slowed, just barreled
into him, slamming both of them off the trail, away from the jogger and hard
into a copse of pine trees. They thudded against each other and the tree
trunks, crashing hard.

Ow.

It took a second to catch her breath, to figure out where
her feet were, and by then Jack was on her, teeth on her ruff, digging in and
shaking her. Brett’s bark hit her ears only about a second before he tore Jack
off, biting hard enough that Jack cried out, and then the chase was on again.
She guessed Brett knew more about where they were, which stood to reason. He’d
been there his whole life; she walked a city beat and headed toward Estes to do
her fuzzy days. Her legs tried explaining that she wasn’t built for long
high-speed chases, that she wasn’t a horse, and she ignored them, just kept on
going.

Jack spun as they chased him toward a tangle of bark and
brush that he couldn’t go over or through. Then he turned and crouched, leaping
at her in a move that was too fast to process. Wendy snarled, her paws digging
into the soft dirt, hunting purchase for the blow she knew was coming. She knew
Jack, knew how he fought, knew how he cheated. Fucking coward.

She braced herself, head down to protect her throat, and
when the connection didn’t happen, she yelped, looked up.

The pack alpha had intercepted Jack, his teeth flashing and
snapping as the two males fought. She was stunned for a moment, absolutely
caught by the ferocity, the beauty, the strength of their pure power. Brett
was—well, he was huge and amazing.

Then she fucking shook it off and waded in.

She’d already played this game, damn it. She wasn’t going to
let her guard down again, let either one of the frickin’ males distract her.

Jack’s teeth sank into her ear and she tugged away, biting
his lip, tasting blood. He stumbled back, pushed by the Brett’s teeth and fury,
the alpha claiming his territory. Jack tried to hold his own, but there was no
real contest. Brett pushed and pushed, growling and snarling, teeth drawing
blood with every snap. He pushed Jack, with Wendy’s help, toward the edge of
the mesa, where the land dropped off sharply.

When the ground crumbled underneath him, Jack disappeared
with a yelp and a puff of ancient-smelling dust. Wendy and Brett both scrambled
back, paws slipping in the dried leaves. One of the huge pine trees came down,
the whole thing uprooted by the impromptu landslide, slamming into the ground,
the impact enough to daze her, leaving her pawing the fallen tree and coughing.

When the dust settled, there was sort of a jagged hole, a
slippery slope leading down into…darkness and pine needles and earth.

Wendy put her head down, sniffing hard. There was a hint of
Jack, but nothing strong enough to say that he was still down there until she
saw his tail disappearing deep into the forest. Wendy shifted abruptly, leaving
herself filthy, naked and really fucking cold. “God damn it!”

Brett shifted too, the motion painfully easy, as if he was
shrugging out of a robe. “Well, fuck,” he growled, spitting to one side, just
like a man. “He got away.”

“You think? Really?” She shook her head, ears still ringing
from the impact. “I have to get back, get to my squad car and call in some
backup. Shit, someone needs to make sure that jogger is okay.” The last thing
anyone needed was a crazy rogue wolf running around biting humans.

“No. I mean, yes, I’ll get someone on it. You, though,
you’re coming back with me.” His hand wrapped around her upper arm and Wendy
felt her eyebrows rise so high that her forehead actually ached.

“I’m doing what?” she asked, trying to keep her voice
steady, even as he pulled her closer, hands rubbing her upper arms, trying to
warm her up. Her body responded to the touch and, fuck, didn’t that piss her
off? “Get your hands off me.”

“You’re coming to the Packlands with me. We need to talk.”
His eyes were on her breasts, on her aching, hard nipples.

“Bullshit, you want to talk.” She slapped his hands away,
telling herself that she was not interested in a pushy, growly alpha male. “I’m
going to go to my car, get clothes on and find that fucker so I can rip his
tail off.”

The alpha gave her a look, one that, she had to admit, made
her want to show her belly a little bit, offer him more skin. Instinct was a
crazy thing. Good thing Brett wasn’t her pack leader. She didn’t have a pack.

“We’ll see,” Brett said. “You do know who I am, yes? You’re
violating pack law. You’re a police officer. You should understand law.”

She did. She understood completely. Which was why she looked
him straight in the eye, smiled and stomped right on his bare instep.

“Fuck pack law.”

“There’s a rogue wolf in my territory.” Brett McMillan hated
repeating himself, but somehow, not one of his lieutenants seemed to get the
picture. They were all milling around his living room, drinking his Cokes and
not fucking listening to him. It was bad enough that their packmates, Jordan and
Shaw, had been framed by the crazy fucker, now the psycho was biting humans.

Humans, for fuck’s sake.

That was the death penalty for their kind.

“Goddamn it!” He roared and everyone actually stopped and
looked at him. God save him from big, growly males. He was going to start
drowning the aggressive males at birth. Females too. That would go over like a
lead balloon. “I want a progress report. Now.”

He was pissed off, furious that he couldn’t find the new
wolf who had attacked someone on his territory and then there was that woman.
The cop. She made his teeth itch.

“We haven’t found anyone, Boss. Not even a scent. It’s as if
the forest ate them.” That earnest look on Jerome’s face made him want to hurt
something.

The evil look on Sam’s made it worse. “Except for the girl.
You found her.”

He gave Sam and Jerome both the death glare. “Shut it about
the girl. She’s my problem.”

“Are you sure? I could check her out for you, man.” That was
Mitch. Fucker. Horndog. “Watch her close.”

The growl that rose in his chest had everyone backing up a
step. Booyah. That was why he was the alpha. “You leave her to me. Understood?”

Mitch put his hands up. “Yeah. Yeah, Brett. I was just
playing.”

That’s right. Show your bellies.
He rolled his head
on his neck, sighing. The other male hadn’t gotten any real good bites in, but
he was fucking sore, tired too. He’d looked for three hours before following
Wendy back to her car and…insisting she come with him. There had to be benefits
to this whole alpha thing, right? Right. “Okay. I want one more sweep. I want
someone at the EMT guy’s house. I want to know everyone who even sniffs at Shaw
and Jordan’s place.”

Sam groaned. “It smells like a whorehouse up there.”

“They’re maniacs, man.” Mitch chuckled. “Their girl is
getting the hang of this whole wolf thing, though.”

Jerome grunted. “I’ll take the EMT. He’s quiet, at least,
even though hospitals smell so bad.”

“Mitch can go see the lovebirds.” Sam grinned. “I’ll sweep.”

“But…”

Sam growled. “I’m the elder. I’ll sweep town.”

Mitch backed right down and Brett tilted his head. Something
smelled different there. Huh. He’d have to file that away for later.

“Good. Someone find me something. Soon.”

They all nodded, sucking down the last of their sodas and
heading out. Brett took a deep breath, the scent of pack good, familiar. Even
if they did drive him crazy.

Now for the one that was driving him more than crazy, more
than wild. There was something about that hot, fierce blonde that made him
growly. It was time to check in on Wendy.

* * * * *

“Stay put. Asshat. Not fucking likely.” The guys on the
force would never let her live it down if they found out Wendy let herself get
disarmed and locked in someone’s bedroom. She’d be a laughingstock.

A joke.

Officer McStupid.

She supposed it was better than Officer Fuzzy.

Still, she liked Officer Key just fine.

It wasn’t as if she could explain that Brett was an alpha,
that they’d been trying to find a rogue werewolf who was spreading their
peculiar virus, right? Right.

Still, this was just…rude. Really.

Wendy cheered as she finally got the fucking window open
after spending an hour and a half working at it. Painted shut. Lazy fucker.

Wendy wriggled halfway out the window, hands propped on the
siding as she stared down at the huge bush in the way of her just landing on
the ground. Damn it, she didn’t want to break a leg or anything, but that had
thorns or prickly things or something.

“Where are you going?”

The big alpha butthead’s voice startled her and she whacked
her head when she pulled back inside the window.

“I’m going to check in with my captain. I have work to do. I
didn’t want to break your door down.” And attract notice. Asshat.

“Uh-huh. I have a phone.”

“So did I, until you took it.” She held her hand out
imperiously. “Along with my piece, if you don’t mind.”

“Not yet.” He smiled, teeth white through the dark beard,
and she was torn between admiring it and bashing him in the head.

She went for the attack. “I can have you arrested for
harassing a police officer.” She bared her teeth. “Our kind doesn’t handle jail
well.”

“You know what I have the right to do to you by pack rules,
right? Coming into my territory and not letting me know.”

“I’m a cop, asshole. Don’t threaten me.” This was why she
wasn’t pack anymore, right? Because of the assholes and their rules.

“I’m not.” He was the one to bare his teeth this time,
letting her know there was a difference between a smile and a threat. “If I
was, you’d know it.”

“Fuck off.” She wasn’t going to bare her belly to anyone.

“Now, honey.” He let his face relax, this time with an evil
glint in his eye. “I bet you’re hungry.”

Yeah and the moon was coming, soon. “I’ll go grab a burger.”

“Have supper with me before you go.” He held up a hand when
she opened her mouth. “That’s all I ask. Then you can leave.”

She frowned. It never worked like that. Never. Everyone
wanted something. Everyone. “I have your word?”

“You do.” He held out his hand, big and square and
calloused.

Wendy wasn’t interested in taking it.

Not at all.

“Come on, huh? Shake on it.” He was damn persuasive. Part of
his job, she guessed.

“Uh-huh.” Her hand landed in his, a jolt of pure electricity
shooting up her arm, the touch sending all her bells and whistles to ringing.
Fucker. He held her hand for a moment, thumb drawing a circle on her palm, then
let go.

“So, steak or hamburgers?” He finally stopped blocking the
door, heading downstairs.

She followed, eyes taking in everything. The house was two
stories, a log cabin, huge for a single male. It was neat, though, clean. It
also smelled as if a group of males had just left.

“Your bodyguards deem me safe enough?”

“My what?” He glanced back, then stopped, politely waiting
for her to catch up. “My lieutenants, you mean.”

“Whatever.” She didn’t play by their rules. Bossy assholes.

“Well, if they were my bodyguards, they’d be here protecting
me from grumpy cops.” He chuckled. “I think steaks.”

“I’m grumpy because you jumped my ass.” Not to mention that
she had a fucking problem with Jack running around attacking people and getting
her in trouble.

“No, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure if you were a threat and I had
to make sure you’d be all right. You are trespassing on my lands.” He sighed,
rolling his head on his neck.

“I don’t care much for the laws of the pack. I pay taxes, I
have a place in town. I’m not bound to report to you.”

She got a soft, rumbling growl in response. “The wolves
report so we can protect one another. It’s not as if we live in a friendly
universe.”

“I’m fine. Let me do my job. I’ll get rid of him for you.”
Wendy tried her death glare on him.

He raised a brow at her. “How about you tell me about him
instead?” He pulled out a pair of steaks, which made her mouth water just
looking at them.

“You saw him. I’ll hunt him down and send him on.” Then
she’d move on. Fucking males. Hunting her.

“No. I mean tell me how you know him.” Brett pulled out a
crusty baguette and a box of salad mix.

Yeah, as if she could do that. It was bad enough that he was
here because of her. Wendy’d be damned if she admitted to something as
ridiculous as being stalked by the ex.

Brett glanced at her, raising a brow. “Well?”

“What does it matter, man?” What the fuck was wrong with
her? Why the fuck wasn’t she just lying to the man?

“Because you’re part of my pack now. I need to know what he
has against you.”

A low growl bubbled up inside her, deep and rough. “I’m not
pack.”

“You’re in my city.” He straightened, his arms crossing over
his chest.

“I’m not pack. I’m a cop. Boulder isn’t your city.”

He just stared at her, dark eyes serious, steady. Then he
shrugged. “You don’t want to tell me, I’ll figure it out. But make no mistake,
this town is my territory. You want to chop cucumbers?”

“Sure.” At least then she’d have a knife in her hand.

She chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, the easy action
relaxing her. She got the salad going, he got the bread in the oven. There was
an indoor grill thingee on his stove.

The scent as the beef hit the grate was stunningly good and
she couldn’t stop her growl.

“Yeah. Been a long day, huh? So where did you move here
from?”

“Outside Canon City.” She’d still be there if it hadn’t been
for Jack too.

“Yeah?” He gave her an evil grin. “Did you work at the
prison?”

“At the beginning, sure. It’s hard for our kind to break
in.”

“Yeah.” He tilted his head. “Yeah, I guess so. Especially a
female.” He didn’t touch the steaks, letting them sear well. That showed some
patience.

She tossed the salad. “You’ve got a good-sized pack here. A
lot to handle during the moon.”

“Mostly they police themselves.” Chuckling, Brett pulled out
dressings and steak sauce. “I’m pretty lucky.”

This all seemed so…normal. Not at all as if he’d for all
intents and purposes kidnapped her. This was insane. This whole thing. “Handy
for me.”

“Hey, you have enough psychos to worry about.” Brett finally
flipped the steaks. “For example, this guy you won’t talk about…”

“He’s an ex, okay? I’ll fucking deal with him.” She’d been
dealing with the crazy fucker since she was fifteen, hadn’t she?

Brett’s eyes flashed bright gold and she knew it wasn’t a
trick of the light. That was pure, pissed-off male. “I have no doubt you can
handle him. You don’t have to do it by yourself. Plates are in that cupboard
there.”

“It’s not your issue.” She grabbed plates, plopping them on
the counter. “It’s mine. I’m not your pack.”

His shoulders drew up, but he was relaxed and smiling when
he turned to slide the steaks on plates. “Those need to rest. Want to help me
pick a wine?”

The clenched teeth sort of belied his pleasant expression,
but overall she thought he did a good job of trying not to look furious. Alphas
hated to be challenged.

“I don’t know anything about wine.” She was a beer girl.
“All I know is red is for red meat.”

“Red then.” He pulled out a bottle, which looked small in
his huge lumberjack hands.

“Cool.” She watched him use the corkscrew with a sort of dazed
fascination.

“I’m not a connoisseur or anything. Mainly I keep wine to
impress women. That and the smell of beer makes me sneeze.” That evil twinkle
was back in his eye when she looked up.

“How’s that impressing women thing working for you, man?”
She didn’t see the place overrun by ladies.

“About as well as you dumping your ex, I guess.”

Oh man, that was bitchy. If the steaks didn’t smell amazing,
she’d go. She’d also seen chocolate eclairs in the fridge. She’d fucking earned
one of those.

“Who says I dumped him?” She had, in a matter of speaking.
It had been more that they’d tied it up in the bedroom and he’d gotten pissed
that she could kick his ass.

“Oh, honey. No man has this kind of rage over one he let go.
Only a woman who shamed him could make him so foolish.” Steak, salad, bread—it
all looked so pretty on the plate he made her. Why were the talented ones
always asses?

“Good thing I’ve sworn off men, then.” She looked at the
steak knife. She could probably slit his throat.

“Don’t even think about it. You’d rather have that steak
than my blood.” He led her to the table before pouring wine.

“You sure about that?” The steak smelled heavenly and the
wine…it made her nose tingle.

“I am.” He waited for her to get settled before sitting.
“Tell me what you think.”

“It smells different.” She sipped it, the flavor making her
want to twitch her tail.

“Yeah. I like it.” He just sort of…stared at her. It was
unnerving.

She put on her interrogation room face and stared right
back. He didn’t really break first; he just started eating.

She dropped her eyes, devouring the steak, the pit in her
stomach huge, energy burned away by running and stress. The steak was so thick
and juicy and just perfectly rare. She might have to be nice to him for at
least a few moments on account of the meat.

“Thank you for the food.” The wine warmed her right up,
cheeks flushing with heat as the spicy drink mingled with the blood perfectly.
It was almost a pale imitation of the hunt.

“No problem. I like to cook.” Brett crunched the last of his
bread. “At least tell me enough about him to have my men keep an eye out.”

“His name is Jack Oliver. He’s strong, sly. He failed his
trials, lived on the outskirts.” A James Dean type with tattoos and leather and
a wild streak. Pure adrenaline for a girl looking for trouble.

Brett grimaced. “Ah. The bad boy. You want dessert?”

God, yes. Those éclairs were calling her name. “I’ve already
eaten a steak the size of my head.”

“Mmmhmm. I have some éclairs, though.” He got them out of
the fridge and she vibrated, trying not to just tear them out of his hands.

“Oh, that’s cheating, man.” They made her mouth water.

“Why? I’m not making them a trade or anything.” He grinned.
“I thought about it, but I think you need chocolate.”

“Yeah, yeah.” They smelled heavenly. “Hand ‘em over.”

He handed over the container without comment except, “Coffee
or milk?”