Alphy's Challenge (19 page)

Alphy, again, continued. “Your three
enforcers attacked them, with the help of two
human
thugs.” He paused to hear the round of gasps. The
representative from the council was particularly interested. To risk exposure
to humans incurred a severe penalty. “I still hold the two humans, who will be
given over to the council, who as you see,” he pointed out the eagle shifter
elder and his escort, “is here today.”

“The second attempt,” Alphy turned his full
attention back to David, “was just moments ago, no doubt to try to persuade me
to lose to you. Oh don’t worry, the intruders’ bodies, which include two of
your enforcers, are still there to identify them.”

David’s face turned dark red, and several
more alphas distanced themselves from him. Alphy had no illusions that they may
be good alphas, because they weren’t. He believed they were just saving their
own hides. “Is that why you invited these other alphas? Did they agree to help
you? The attackers weren’t all elk, so who else helped you?”

Ryker didn’t tell him they weren’t all elk. Alphy
had only guessed, but figured he didn’t have anything to lose. Either David
would deny his
involvment
, or maybe even hang himself
with a slip like “I didn’t send any
others
”.
In any case, it would send a message to the other alphas, and all in front of
the council! Alphy almost smiled at how well that part played out.

As Alphy expected and prepared for, the other
alpha shifted and charged. Alphy easily dove out of the way. The rack on the
alpha was pretty impressive, but Alphy had a lot of training with dodging sharp
objects. He had to remember to stay clear of the sharp hooves, too. Those weren’t
anything to take lightly. Alphy waited until the alpha took and missed another
pass. Giving into his bear, he quickly took on his bear form
.
In the matter of a second,
goosebumps
formed over
Alphy’s
enlarging form and fur replaced
smooth flesh. The change was too fast to hear the bones and ligaments over the
clod of the elk’s hooves and the shouting bystanders. He was full size and
ready by the time David had turned and charged. David wasn’t a bright fellow. He
didn’t particularly look before he charged because when he saw Alphy had
changed, he panicked and tried to stop. However, it was too late, and Alphy did
the same thing he had done the other enforcer, rearing up and coming down to
latch his jaws on the alpha’s neck. He didn’t hesitate to rip it out, knowing
the kill was justified. The shifter world was a brutal place. It had to be to
keep safe from the humans, or from each other.

Alphy bellowed out his victory at the other
alphas around him. He was challenging them to just try to test his limits, but
Alphy knew he didn’t have any. The other alphas must have felt
it,
too, as they were quickly headed back to the vehicles
and leaving little dust clouds where their wheels sped with their impatience.

Alphy turned to the councilman and shifted. After
putting on some sweats he had brought earlier, Alphy approached the eagle
shifter, Tyler Ghost. The other man stood and stepped forward. He extended his
hand. “Alpha Ralph, your bear is the most impressive one I have ever seen. You
handled yourself well, and under the circumstances, that’s equally impressive.”
Alphy
took the councilman’s hand and shook it. Tyler
had a good strong grip, and even though he didn’t look older than his early
forties, Alphy knew this shifter was far older than that. “I look forward seeing
you rebuild this sleuth, or pack, as someone had emphasized.”

“Thank you, Councilman Ghost, and thank you
for coming. And you.”
Alphy
quickly gave a quick nod
of recognition to the coven leader, Raymond
Kazmet
. “You
are both invited to our pack house for a celebratory dinner.”

Tyler perked up. “Delightful! I am eager to
meet the woman I spoke to, a Miss Betty.”

Alphy smiled. “Yes, my great-aunt. She was
the one who kept the territory all these years, until I came to claim it.”

“Smart woman, that one.
We’ll head over there now.” The councilman
led his two bodyguards and assistant over to a vehicle, and they climbed in.

Alphy turned to the coven leader, Raymond.
Raymond held out his hand to Alphy, who gladly took it. “I would love to stay,
but I’m afraid it won’t be for too long, I have an early meeting tomorrow. I’m
very glad to see it worked out so well for you here. I’ve been speaking with
Ryker. He had high praises for you, and I’m surprised to see they weren’t
exaggerated.”

They walked together over to Raymond’s car.
He also had brought a small escort, but they had brought their own vehicles and
were
now standing by them waiting to follow their
leader.

“You may like to know I have spoken to the
clutch we protect. There are only three of them, but they are interested in
joining you and helping you build. They do have some questions for you, and
they are waiting on me to report if you are trustworthy enough, which answer I
can assure you, is positive.”

“Thank you, Ray. Let’s head to the house and
we can discuss it further. We are eager to get some buildings started, and our
overzealous doctor—”

Not too far away, they heard Seamus sing out,
“I can hear you.”

Alphy and Ray chuckled, and Alphy continued. “He
is eager to get a paranormal hospital going.”

Ray’s eyes widened.
“Really?
I would be most interested in that. I wondered what Seamus was about, when he
asked for all that equipment.”

“Truly.
We are still working on drawing up the
plans, and as I said before, we still need some homes built, but we have been
working it out.”

Watching Ray and his entourage drive out of
the clearing, Alphy ordered everyone to head back to the house. They signaled
the others and departed the area, leaving the bloody corpse of the ex-alpha
where it lay.

Chapter Thirteen

Alphy could see
the mess from the attack as he and his inner circle approached the house. On
his right stood Raymond surrounded by his entourage next to his vehicle,
speaking to his coven. Not seeing Tyler, Alphy continued towards the house.
Before he could step onto the porch, Gale appeared through the splintered
doorway. Her face lit up at seeing him, and she ran across the space and
launched herself into his ready arms. Alphy had no problems catching his mate.
He’d been worried sick about her, and even though he was told she was all right,
it still didn’t sit well with his bear. Now that he held her, he felt a large
part of himself reassured that she really was all right.

Keeping his mate
locked in his
arms,
Alphy climbed the steps and walked
into the entryway of the house. He was further shocked at the scene before him.
Councilman Tyler had Betty against the wall, kissing her like his next breath
depended on it.

Alphy stepped
aside to allow Tom through. He’d been anxious to get to his mate, too. Tom
seemed to be just as curious as
Alphy
was about the
tongue-dueling couple, and he slowed just a bit as he passed them, staring at
them until he was past.

Enzo and the
others followed through the door. A crooked smile played over Enzo’s lips.
“Huh, didn’t see that one coming.”

Kace
drawled, “Aw, man, what about the feast?”

Slate
huffed
an amused grunt. “She is the feast, for Tyler
anyway.”

“Wow, they’re
still going at it.” Ryker’s voice sounded nearby, but Alphy couldn’t quite see
him with his buddies in the way. “He didn’t even say hello before swallowing
her up like that.”

Seamus snickered.
“You’d think they’d need to come up for air by now.”

Gale giggled.
“We’ve tried to stop them, or interrupt them, but it’s like nothing else
exists. Isn’t it sweet?”

“Not when you
can smell it. Their pheromones are so thick they’re giving me an uncomfortable
headache,” said Ryker.

“Yeah, me, too,”
Kace
said.

Seamus rolled
his eyes. “Not that head, you horn-dog.”

Slate
interrupted. “No, I would say dickhead was a more appropriate name to call
him.”

Alphy rolled his
eyes. “All right, that’s enough.” Alphy finally placed his mate on her feet,
but keeping a hold of her hand, walked up to the vigorous couple. “Mister Ghost,
Betty.” Alphy projected his voice, and after he repeated it one more time, the
couple slowly became aware of their surroundings.

They were both
breathing pretty hard, but Alphy noted Betty’s face tint pink as she looked
around at the audience. Alphy turned to the others and barked an order.
“
Kace
, take who you need and fix the
doors and windows.
Ryker, I want those accounts frozen like we
discussed.” After everyone dispersed, he faced the councilman who was watching
Betty’s retreating form. “Something I need to know, Councilman Tyler?”

After Betty was
no longer visible, Tyler answered, “She’s my mate.” His voice was a bit breathy,
and Alphy recognized the subtle shift he made to readjust his dick. Still
looking in the direction Betty had gone, he continued. “I was beginning to
think I would never meet her, and here she is.” Tyler shook himself and turned
to face Alphy. “I apologize. As soon as I scented her, I was completely
overcome by instinct, and once I saw her …” Tyler didn’t finish, and Alphy didn’t
need him to.

“Congratulations,”
he said, smiling at the shorter man.

Gale peeked
around him.
“Yes, congratulations.”

“Thank you, both
of you. I guess you’re going to be seeing a lot more of me. Uh, I hope you
don’t have a problem with that.”

Alphy shook his
head. “Actually, I’m really happy for you both. Just don’t expect me to give up
my alpha position.”

Tyler shook his
head. “In order to do that, I would need to give up my seat on the council and
I would need to challenge you. I don’t have the will for the first or the
strength for the second. That does remind me, though. You are now the alpha to
David’s herd. You’ll need to take it over as soon as possible.”

Alphy groaned.
“I’ve been thinking about that. I think I know what I’m going to do.”

“I’m curious to
what it is. I gather then that you are staying here permanently?”

“Definitely.
This is my home, and my bear refuses to hear of
anything else.”

“Well then,
let’s go sit down and talk while your men are fixing the house and my mate is
finishing up the feast.”

Alphy noticed
the delight the councilman had at referring to his “mate”. Right as they were
about to make their way into the living room, coven leader Raymond entered the
house. “Alphy, I have news when you’re ready to hear it.”

Alphy pulled
Gale onto his lap and situated her as the others got comfortable. She didn’t
fight him or argue or even suggest going anywhere else, so he assumed she
really needed to be with him right now and he had to admit to himself that he
couldn’t let of her right now either.

“Raymond, what’s
your news?” the councilman asked.

“I’ve spoken to
my second, and he has learned there are two other members of my coven who are
interested in learning carpentry. They have heard you are welcoming the
gargoyles and have inquired if they can also join. They are quite young but
respectable.”

Alphy felt Gale
tense slightly as he nodded at the news. “I’d like to look into that. I’m sure
Kace
wouldn’t mind teaching his trade. He’s done it before.
When are they thinking of coming up here?”

“That will
depend entirely on you. They will need more time to pack, I’m afraid, than the
gargoyles, but not much. They are still living with their parents.”

Gale wiggled
slightly and fidgeted, Alphy guessed it was from learning of another kind of
paranormal.
“Something on your mind, honey-bear?”

Gale’s eyes
darted around before she leaned in and whispered, “Gargoyles?
Real gargoyles?
They’re real?”

Alphy refrained
from chuckling at his mate’s eager innocence. “Yes. And they really do turn to
stone during the day.”

The sounds of
electrical tools sounded through the room as they were interrupted by Connie.
“Excuse me, alpha.” She waited from him to signal for her to continue. Alphy
gave her a nod. “We needed to know if we were to make a plate for the two prisoners.”

Tyler
interrupted. “Oh, forgive me, I’ve forgotten to mention I had my assistant
organize a team to come and collect them. He’s in the barn with them, I
believe. They shouldn’t take too long. I had a team nearby in town. You did
mention when we briefly talked earlier, that you wanted to turn them over to
the council. Am I right?”

“Yes, thank
you.” Turning back to Gale’s mother, Alphy offered her a smile. “I guess that
means no plate for them.”

The group
started to discuss the paranormal hospital idea, drawing in Seamus to ask him
more questions. It wasn’t long before Tyler’s assistant entered and stood by
his employer’s side. The assistant wasn’t a small man. He had a well-defined
muscular body. Alphy didn’t doubt that he doubled as another bodyguard for the
councilman. His black hair was professionally trimmed and styled, and his face
was clean shaven. He stood just a few inches shorter than Alphy. The man leaned
over and whispered something to Tyler. Alphy watched the interaction. Tyler
seemed slightly surprised by whatever it was he just heard.