fate of the alpha - episode 1
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Authors: tasha black
FATE OF THE ALPHA: EPISODE 1
A TARKER’S HOLLOW SERIAL
TASHA BLACK
13TH STORY PRESS
Contents
Copyright
Foreword
Episode 1
1.
Chapter 1
2.
Chapter 2
3.
Chapter 3
4.
Chapter 4
5.
Chapter 5
6.
Chapter 6
7.
Chapter 7
8.
Chapter 8
9.
Chapter 9
10.
Chapter 10
11.
Chapter 11
12.
Chapter 12
13.
Chapter 13
14.
Chapter 14
15.
Chapter 15
16.
Chapter 16
17.
Chapter 17
18.
Chapter 18
19.
Chapter 19
20.
Chapter 20
21.
Chapter 21
22.
Chapter 22
Afterword
Also by Tasha Black
Copyright © 2014 by 13th Story Press All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First Edition: December 18, 2014
13th Story Press PO Box 506 Swarthmore, PA 19081
Cover design 2014 by Cormar Covers
FOREWORD
T
hanks for taking the time to read the first installment of Fate of the Alpha!
K
EEP IN
T
OUCH
:
Be sure to sign up for my mailing list here:
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OU CAN ALSO CHECK
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ROP ME A LINE
, I’d love to hear from you!
And thanks again for reading my book. I know there is no shortage of books out there. It means a lot to me that you chose to read mine!
-Tasha
Episode 1
CHAPTER 1
A
insley Connor ran through the college woods, her wolf form moving so fast it felt more like flying.
Smooth pine needles tickled at her paws, and the scents of Tarker’s Hollow filled her nose. Ainsley still struggled to master her wolf abilities, and since becoming alpha, her already heightened wolf senses were off the charts. She inhaled deeply and practiced differentiating the myriad of smells.
She could pick out the subtle metallic tang of the nearby train tracks going all the way to Philadelphia. The denizens of the forest all had their own unique aromas. The scents of squirrels, assorted birds, raccoons, a family of deer, and a lone fox danced across her muzzle. There was even the sweet woodsy aroma of the chipmunks living in the abandoned terra cotta gutter drain of the Hooper’s Victorian a mile away in town.
And of course, she thrilled at the deep, spicy musk of her mate, Erik Jensen, as he ran just ahead of her. She could also pick up on the smells of other wolves who had recently run these woods. She immediately recognized whiffs of Cressida and MacGregor, but the others eluded her for now. She would have to learn them all, eventually.
The scents of the woods intrigued her, but they were overpowered by the full-out assault of the campus cafeteria, now in full swing for fall semester. Even before the first rays of dawn had dared to peek over the horizon, the air was filled with the aroma of bacon and eggs and hot fluffy pancakes.
But still no sign of the intruder.
There had been several reports of a rogue wolf in the college woods, but so far, no one had actually seen anything outside of some vague hints and tracks. Ainsley and Erik had come to investigate for themselves, although she honestly had no idea what she was meant to do if she found an outsider wolf trespassing on pack lands.
Erik, in the form of his giant black wolf, spread his paws and skidded to a stop in front of her. Ainsley barely reacted in time to avoid a collision.
Erik’s body slid gracefully upward into human form.
Even when she was a wolf, Ainsley loved looking at Erik. And right now he was naked, which enraptured her.
Silky black hairs kissed his long legs. His buttocks swelled to perfect globes. A satisfying inverted triangle formed from his narrow waist to his wide, muscled shoulders. And he smelled like heaven.
Ainsley rose into human form before he could turn around. As she reached out to wrap her arms around him, she realized he was deep in thought and dropped her hands to her sides.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Tracks.”
Great. She hadn’t even noticed the tracks. One more example of what a crummy wolf Ainsley was.
“Is that why we were running?”
“Of course,” he said. “Why did you think we were running?”
“Because we can?”
Erik’s deep laugh put her at ease, as it always did.
Good thing too, because Ainsley was surely one of the worst wolves to ever trot through the woods of Tarker’s Hollow College. If she weren’t the alpha, it probably wouldn’t bother her. But as things were…
Well, Ainsley was going to have to learn to be a better wolf
quickly
.
The problem was that she had left Tarker’s Hollow when she was only seventeen, immediately after learning she was a wolf. And she’d spent the years in the interim denying the change.