Alphy's Challenge (3 page)

No alpha wanted a bear as strong as he was in
their territory, so finding any place for him to settle was a serious problem.
He felt so incredibly grateful to the fates that he still had one relative and
in a place where he could gather himself to plan what next to do. Life was
hitting him hard at the moment. However, he knew with each storm in life came a
blessing as well. He mused that the blessing from this should be pretty epic.
Perhaps it sounded callous, but hope was really the only thing right now helping
him keep his inner strength.

Pulling up in front of the ranch style home he
had grown up in, Alphy witnessed several people he knew from his years of
growing up carrying things from the house to a large moving truck. His bear
growled at seeing people touching the things that belonged to him before he
could even choose what he wanted done with it.

A sinewy, bright red haired man appeared,
exiting through the doorway with a large box. Alphy suddenly felt a happy beat
in his heart paint a smile across his face, and a sudden snicker huffed out. Climbing
out of the truck and schooling his face, he stomped over the lawn in the
direction of the man.

Alphy barked out the man’s name to get his
attention.
“Ryker!”

The thin young man jolted violently, causing
him to drop the box. Alphy was startled just a bit at the box dropping. He would
have thought it was something breakable like dishes, but nothing crashed. When
Ryker whipped around to look at him, the man’s face transformed from fearful to
a bright and joyous expression, further warming
Alphy’s
heart.

 
Alphy
barely kept himself from falling when the man barreled into him, bracing his
arms in a tight hug around him. The shock of the impact was only slightly
painful, but with so many years in the military, he had a pretty high pain
tolerance. He easily ignored it and gave his enthusiastic friend a proper bear
hug. It was a good thing his friend was a vampire. A human would have ended up
with broken bones. Though most myths were wrong about vampires, like the myth about
the sun, other myths, like about their strength, were correct. Even the small vampires,
like his friend, were extremely strong.

Ryker pulled back. “Damn good to see you,
man! It’s been way too long.”

Alphy brought his hand up and threaded his
fingers into the red soft strands on top his head and ruffled his friend’s
hair.

“Yeah, yeah,” Alphy drawled, “Now my turn’s
done, next time it’s your turn to visit.”

The man ducked from the hair assault and ran
his fingers through the semi-long bright red locks, trying to put them back in
place. “Still petting me like a pet, I see.”

“Still playing the stereotypical white-until-you-burn
vampire, I see.”

The man gave a mock shocked face and feigned to
be wounded by placing his hand over his heart. “You wound me. I’ll have you
know the chicks dig us sun neglected computer geeks.”

Alphy gave a hearty laugh. “Not that any of
them have a chance with you.”

The man smiled. “Yeah, but they don’t need to
know that, and it’s great fun when I lure them away from all you tanned skinned
beef-cakes.” The man’s green eyes roved his form. “Still the sexiest friend I
have,” he hummed out.

Alphy laughed again and wrapped his friend in
his arms. “Sorry, buddy, I’m still straight. I tried, I mean really tried, to
get a boner for you guys, but the
titties
get me
every time.”

A screech filled the air, and Alphy turned
just in time to catch his sister, then a double hit as his brother joined her. He
was grateful he was so strong. Suddenly Havana leaped back with a panicked look
on her face then yanked Reese back, causing him to stumble backwards onto the
lawn with a grunted “
oof
”.

Alphy looked at her, confused. “Havana?”

She looked back at him with tears streaming
down her face. Alphy reached up and wiped the dampness away. Her voice was
watery. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Alphy gave her another confused look. He wasn’t
used to his sister being like this. She was always headstrong and nearly
fearless.
“For what?”

“I hurt you. You were hurt, and I wasn’t
gentle. Did you get hurt? Where are you hurt? What can I do?”

Alphy’s
brows rose high onto his forehead. He pulled
her into an embrace and cupped her head to his shoulder, rocking her a little
bit. “
Shh
, I’m ok. You didn’t hurt me. I’m just a
little sore and my senses are just a little slow, but I’m ok. You don’t need to
do anything but give me a hug. That’s what I need.” Alphy was alarmed when she
started bawling. As Alphy held her tight while Reese hugged her from the other
side, he looked at his younger brother and saw tears slipping down his face as
well. He felt a thump when Ryker joined the hug.

After a little bit,
Alphy
noticed other sleuth members, whom the alpha had provided to help them move,
had gathered around them reminding him they had a lot of packing to do. Their parents
had been alive for a long time and had accumulated a lot of stuff.

Slowly, the group hug peeled away. He may be
an alpha and military man, but he wasn’t ignorant of others’ emotions,
especially the females. He always cared for them, so he hoped he would be
perfect for his mate once he finally met her.

Pulling back and cupping Havana’s face in his
hands, Alphy looked into her watery eyes. He saw a lot of pain in her deep
brown eyes and a lot of other emotions he’d deal with later.
One
thing at a time.
“I’m ok, and I’m here now. We may have a lot to do, and
you may feel life is so far out of control, but you are not alone, ok? I
promise you that everything will be all right.”

Havana nodded, and Alphy pulled her in for
another hug. He kissed her on the top of her head before pulling away and
taking a look around at everyone surrounding him. They had a lot of help, but
they also had a lot of packing to do, so he drew them all inside and set to
work.

They didn’t finish until after midnight, but
they had managed to get everything packed. The things he wasn’t certain about,
like furniture and plates, he put into storage. The things he knew they needed,
he had put into his truck. His siblings packed what they wanted to take. They were
clothes horses for sure. The biggest challenge had been the garage.
Alphy’s
father had loved building things, be it metal or
wood, so he had a garage filled with tools and parts of all sorts.

Alphy’s
mending muscles were burning with pain from
being overworked, but he was used to it and knew how to accept and manage it,
but watching the pain show on the faces of his bone-weary siblings had him
feeling worse than his physical condition. Alphy scolded himself. He had taken care
of his troops better than he took care of his siblings, and that was
unacceptable! He loved them, and now he was completely responsible for them. He
should have paid more attention to them and sent them to bed hours ago, but he had
been too busy to notice their need. And knowing they weren’t in any condition to
hear where they were going, he decided to wait until tomorrow.

As his brother and sister headed up to their
air mattresses, and everyone else, except Ryker, had gone home, Alphy took time
to thank his friend. Pulling Ryker into a manly hug, he offered him a tired
smile. “Thanks, man.”

“It was really my pleasure. Watching you
shirtless and sweaty is every straight woman’s and gay man’s dream.”
And, as if to reaffirm his admission, Ryker wiggled his eyebrows at
him, pulling a laugh out of him.
“Seriously though, anything you need or
want, you can always call. My coven leader wanted me to offer us as a resource,
should you need it.”

It didn’t surprise Alphy. He had saved the
vampire leader’s daughter once. But he still appreciated the gesture, as not
many shifters had vampire friends.

“Thanks, man, that means a lot to me, and I
may take your coven leader up on that someday. How’s Seamus?” Alphy switched to
the question he’d wanted to ask all day but hadn’t found the right time until
now.

 
“Sea-salts
will be home for good soon, in a few days.” Ryker smiled at him, revealing his
fangs. Seamus was his twin brother, who had also been in the military as a
military doctor. It was painful for the twins to be apart. Alphy was able to see
Seamus once in a while, so he knew they talked every day.

“Thanks again, man. You have my number. Have
your brother call when he gets a chance.”

“Will do, handsome.”

The next morning started a little bit late,
but by the time the funeral was set to be held, they were ready to go, although
Alphy had yet to tell his siblings where they were going.

The funeral was a brutal affair for both him
and his bear. The people crowded them with their sympathies, or some of them
cornered him with their available daughters.

Hearing the sympathies was like rubbing salt
in the wound. He was already deeply hurting about his loss, and he didn’t need
people bringing it up repeatedly.

But the mothers who pushed their daughters
his way were offensive. He was used to mothers trying to see if he would mate
with their daughters. He was an alpha, he was military, and he was told often
enough how attractive he was.
But at a funeral?
His
own parents’ funeral of all things! He had had enough. He said his good-byes,
steered his brother and sister to the truck, and headed out.

They had made it to the main highway east,
when they finally questioned him. “So,” Reese’s tired voice sounded over the
rumble of the engine, “where’re we calling home now?”

Using the palm of his hand to rub his eye, Alphy
sighed heavily.
Then after returning his grip to the steering
wheel, he answered, “A place up near Bancroft.”

“Bancroft? Where’s that?” Reese asked.

Havana stayed quiet. She hadn’t talked much
or eaten much. Alphy made a mental note to keep an eye on that. He knew people grieved
in different ways, but he didn’t want her to cause herself harm.

“It’s in Canada.” Alphy braced himself for
the freak-out, but it didn’t come. He glanced over at the two buckled beside
him. Havana was looking out the window. The reflection showed a tired, haunted
and lost look on her face, but Reese was nodding. “Cool.
Always
wanted to go there.”

Alphy gave a half smile. “Yeah, well, I don’t
know if you know this, but we have a great-aunt who lives and owns some
property up there. Her name is
Reberta
, but she said
she prefers to be called Betty. It’s a place to start until we decide what to
do next.”

“Huh, I didn’t know that. Mom and Dad never talked
about her, or even called her.”

“Yeah, well, she doesn’t have a phone.” He
glanced at his brother and schooled his features not to laugh. Reese had a
horrified look on his face, so Alphy continued. “Mom would send her letters
with updates on the family. She gave me her information before I left home.
I’ve never been there so I don’t know what there is, but I was able to get an
emergency message to her and she responded back. All I know is she lives on
five thousand acres of fields, forests, and rivers.”

When Reese turned slightly to face Alphy
more, his confusion showed on his face as he asked, “If she’s family, why
hasn’t she ever visited, or why didn’t Mom and Dad ever take us there to
visit?”

Alphy shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know
how to answer. Their family didn’t have any squabbles that he knew of. It was
as if she just wanted to be isolated. But that didn’t explain why his parents
didn’t ever visit. It was no use worrying about that now. The only one who
could possibly answer was in Canada awaiting their arrival, and if all went
well, they would be there on the third day. But as things have been going, and
with his training to always be prepared, he had a couple of back-up plans in
place for their journey.

He looked over at his family again. His sister
had fallen asleep against a pillow she had brought. She had it tucked between
her and the door. Reese was leaned over, resting his head on her shoulder, and,
by his breathing,
Alphy
could tell he had fallen
asleep as well. His inner bear gave a snort of amusement at the scene, then
generously sighed and settled down. They both were grateful for the silence, so
he didn’t disturb them.

Chapter Three

Alphy was used to pain, sure, but not being
able to move from his vehicle in three days, other than to fill it with fuel,
was torture. His siblings added to the pain of it. If he ever had an enemy,
surely he could find a way to use this as a form of torture. He was a physical
man, so not being able to move hurt, and having to deal with emotionally amped
teens in a confined space … well, he nearly gave an unmanly sob of relief when
they found the driveway onto their great-aunt’s property.

Shades of greens and browns rose up thick
around them from the tall trees and shrubs crowding the forest. His bear sat up
and paced inside his head, antsy to get out and
shift,
eager to explore. He had not even gotten out of the vehicle, and already he
felt like this was the right place to be, like this was home. When he pressed his
index finger against the small, cold switch, the window lowered, buffing his
senses with the fresh floral air. He was thankful all his senses were back to
normal.