The Alpha's She-Wolf
Read The Alpha's She-Wolf Online
Authors: K.S. Martin
Contents
Shauna and Naomi
Shoshauna
Elizabeth Macgregor, Shauna for short, walked the four blocks from McDonald’s
to the bank in her leather ankle boots. Her long legs ate up the concrete as
she gulped her large black coffee she’d just purchased. You had to pay for
parking around the bank so they stopped for breakfast and left the old Jeep SUV
waiting in the restaurant’s parking lot. She readjusted her shoulder bag and
the files she carried under her arm. A warm spring breeze lifted the curls of
long espresso colored hair that escaped the braid swaying down her back. She
was in a sharp navy blue suit that she saved for funerals and bankers. Shauna
felt much more comfortable in jeans and bare feet. Naomi Edwards hurried to
keep up alongside her. Naomi was much smaller, very petite with close-cropped
almost white blonde hair. Her shapely tanned calves worked in the spiked heels
to keep up with her sister. Her very short teal peacock printed tight knitted
dress hugged her shapely rear end and stopped just three inches below the swell
of her bottom cheeks. The two couldn’t look less alike. Where Shana was
Amazonian, tall and big boned, Naomi was short, tiny, and curvy. They were
nearly opposites in all things except the love they held for each other. She
was not really her sister, but it was close enough. The girls, abandoned as
babies, grew up together under the care of Missus Elaine Branson. Missus
Branson was a local in the area that took in abused and abandoned children. Dozens
of children had come and gone from Branson house but Shauna and Naomi had come
and stayed. No one wanted to adopt the oversized kaleidoscope eyed and aggressive
Shauna or a pixie like Naomi who always hid behind Shauna. It was really Naomi
that was vicious and Shauna that put on a good show, and truth be told Shauna
was all bark and no bite. Naomi went nowhere without her ‘protector.’ The two
were inseparable. They shared a bedroom from birth until Missus Branson died
and left them the house. Missus Branson knew what they were by toddlerhood and
she finally told them when they turned twelve. She was afraid that someone may
come looking for them and since she loved them both dearly she did not want them
to be caught unaware or to be afraid if things started to change. As best as
she could, Missus Branson explained what she knew, and that was a lot of fairy
stories, myths and legend passed down through the family while they were young.
Shauna didn’t believe any of it back then until Naomi suddenly grew fangs and
when her own sprouted, she had no choice but to believe it. Larger than normal
canines was the only change the girls experienced.
Family
legend said that there was once a pack of werewolves in the area. It was a
large and powerful pack. The people lived and worked like most, hunted during
the full moon and were decent people for the most part. There were never any
human killings in the area and as far as Elaine Branson knew they only hunted
animals. When a rival pack invaded the area when driven from their town by
another stronger pack, a war started here. Mostly it was unknown to the humans
but Missus Branson’s grandfather was best friends with the son of the alpha and
so was aware of the werewolf war. A few humans did find out about them and it
was open season on werewolves. The werewolf war between the wolves went on for
years until finally so many members died that there weren’t enough members left
of either side to call themselves a pack. Any that lived through it considered
themselves lucky and left town to find others, to create a pack of their own or
join existing packs in other parts of the country. There were rumors that
there were still lone wolves in the area and Missus Branson suspected that one
of the lone males was impregnating human females or there were female wolves in
the area that did not have the means to protect such a child. She said that Naomi
and Shauna were not full sisters since Naomi was a few months older than Shauna
was, but they could be halves. They came to her house under very similar circumstances.
Both wrapped and in similar car seats, both were about a week old and both had
their names pinned to the blankets. There was nothing else on the paper though
and the car seats were available at any Wal-Mart. The only thing they
physically had in common were their eyes. Shauna’s were a vivid green, bright
blue and grey mix, where Naomi’s were amber, brown and grey mix. The funny
thing was though that the grey streaks in both of the girl’s eyes was placed
exactly the same, streaked the same and brightened the same during bouts of
anger or the full moon. Missus Branson said her grandpa always said his friend
the werewolf had the weirdest grey eyes, and Missus Branson thought that Shauna
and Naomi had weird eyes too, but she loved them both like her own until she
passed away a few months ago.
Shauna
pushed through the heavy glass door of the bank. Naomi was on her heels as
close as a shadow. They sat down in waiting area just inside the lobby after
signing the book on the table outside of the bank employee’s offices. A petit
woman with a dyed red permanent that reminded Naomi of Ronald McDonald stepped
up to the book then glanced up at them. She motioned them into her office. Naomi
followed and stepped into the office closing the door quietly behind her with a
click. She sat down next to Shauna. “What
can I do for you today
ladies?” Her nameplate said Sadie Perkins. Shauna laid the file on the desk
and flipped it open trying not to gape at the ridiculous color of her too curly
hair.
“I am the executor of Elaine Branson’s
will. I have papers,” she pushed them across the desk. “I would like her
accounts put into mine and her names,” she jerked a thumb at Naomi, “and I
would like to see inside the deposit box.” She fished the key out of her
jacket pocket. Sadie Perkins examined the document for a few moments, her
reading glasses perched on the end of her long pointy nose. She toyed with a
silver cross pendant that hung at her neck. Shauna wondered if she knew what
they were.
“I see.” Sadie flipped through the
rest of the papers then stacked them all neatly and handed them back to
Shauna. She turned to her computer, clicked, and pecked until papers spilled
from a printer behind her. “I will need both of your identifications please.”
Sadie opened her desk drawer and pulled out a set of keys and a guest
register. “You will need to sign here,” she pointed a long manicured red
fingernail at the next available line in the leather bound book and took their
driver’s licenses to examine and photocopy them. She entered the license
numbers into her computer and more papers spilled out of the printer. Once she
highlighted a few areas, she spun two packets of papers around to face the
girls, “sign on all of the highlighted lines please. This will transfer
everything in your names as requested.” Both signed and handed the papers
back. “Follow me to the vault.” Sadie got up, led them to a secured area, and
opened their box. When you are finished, come back to my office and I will
give you an account statement.” Shauna opened the lid of the steel box that
Sadie placed on the table. There were papers, a lot of them, Shauna handed
them to Naomi who started reading. There was fifty thousand in cash, some
jewelry that looked old and two wedding rings. Both were thin and the smaller
one sat inside of the larger one inside a red velvet box. Mister Branson died
long before Shauna and Naomi came along but his painted portrait hung above the
fireplace in the front parlor where Missus Branson sat in a rocking chair to do
her knitting and embroidering. He looked like he’d been a happy man and
pleasant enough. He had thick black hair, blue eyes that crinkled at the
corners as if he was about to laugh. Missus Branson said he had a sense of
humor that kept her on her toes and that she’d loved him so much that she could
never love another. He’d died of cancer after only twenty years of marriage.
Shauna hoped that someday she could love a man so much that she could never
love another but it was doubtful. Missus Branson said that since they were
werewolves they had only one true mate. They could sleep with any man that
they fancied but there was only one out there to spend their lives with and
that they would know him immediately. Naomi always snickered at that. Naomi
did not believe in fate, soul mates or any other of the fairy tale bull crap
that Missus Branson spouted. Shauna wanted to believe that there was only one
man out there desperately and actively seeking her out because he could not
live without her. Shauna wanted him to find her, she wanted him to chase her
and hold her. She wanted him to ravage her and kiss her passionately. She
wanted a big strong man to love her. She bit her lip thinking about how
exciting that would be, to be chased. Often she dreamt of it, but in the
dreams they were wolves, which couldn’t be right, could it? Shauna had never
changed into a wolf and she didn’t know how to, neither did Naomi.
“What do we do?” Shauna
whispered. Naomi shrugged.
“Leave it for a rainy day? Go on a
bender? Hop a jet to Vegas? Buy supplies maybe, we could get a lot with
this.” Shauna bit her bottom lip, her brows furrowed, and her eyes narrowed.
It was the same look of deep consternation whenever she was deciding on the
best plan. Their conversations were often very similar to this one. Shauna
asked then Naomi gave her a multiple choice list then Shauna would decide and
that would be that. Naomi really had all the power in those exchanges, Shauna
made the decision but always from the list that Naomi offered.
“Leave it.” Shauna dumped
everything back into the box except the paperwork in front of Naomi. “What’s
that?”
“House deed, marriage certificates,
birth certificates, death certificates, her grandpa’s diary, a letter written
to her grandma from a man, but not her grandpa. It’s in French, I can’t read
it. There’s a deed to property out off route ten, over a hundred acres and the
title to the Jeep. Did you know she owned property out there?”
“Yeah, I think I did. It belonged
to her grandparents but she couldn’t bear to step foot on the property once
they passed. Someone rents it I think, runs a farm or something. I’ve seen
the check come in the mail. The next time a check comes, we will see how much
he’s paying, and then we will make a trip out to see the condition the house of
the house. If it’s big and he’s farming the whole hundred acres, we may have to
raise his rent. If he’s not farming the whole thing, maybe we can build little
houses, or an apartment building. You know like an investment or something. Jot
the address down Mimi. I know our clothes and jewelry are hot right now but
there are no guarantees that they will stay hot.” Naomi nodded her white blonde
head in agreement. She dumped the papers back inside the box and closed the
lid. Shauna shoved it back into the hole in the wall and closed the thick
metal door then locked it. She dropped the key back in her pocket. Naomi
followed her back to Sadie’s office where they found her waiting.
“Is everything okay?” Both
nodded. “Excellent.” She turned a sheet of paper around with a balance at the
bottom and pushed a checkbook and some bank pamphlets across the desk. Shauna
stared at it with her jaw unhinged for a moment then snapped her mouth closed.
She glanced at Naomi who grimaced then grinned which made Shauna grin as well.
“I’ve set up your checking account, either signature is good on the checks,
debit cards will come in the mail in about ten days, and if you would like a
Visa card…” Naomi was shaking her head. She thought credit cards were the
devil incarnate. “Okay, no Visa then. Is there anything else that I can do
for you ladies?”
“No ma’am.” They said in unison.