Shifter

Chapter One

by

Rebecca Zanetti

Pissing off an Alpha male was definitely the wrong way to start her day. Perhaps Erik was just irritated.
Nope, he was pissed. Yep, that was definitely a ticked expression. How could he look so sexy and angry at the same time?

Luna cleared her throat and tried to gather her stack of papers into some semblance of organization.
“I apologize if I’ve insulted you. I mean, your ego.”
She was fairly certain that all males, especially Alphas, had substantial egos.

Erik Volk sat back in his chair across the conference table, one dark blond eyebrow lifted.
He’d cut his hair short—very short—making it look darker than his eyebrows.

“My ego,” he repeated.
That voice. Seriously. Deep, growly, and thrumming with power. All Alpha.
It was shocking that the guy had let his brother become Alpha of their pack instead of just ripping Seth’s jugular right out.
What kind of stranglehold did Erik have on his demons anyway?

She swallowed. “Yes.”

Trying to appear in control, she cast her gaze to the only other person in the opulent conference room—her current Alpha, Yago Yassi.
He sat at the head of the table, his expression showing…what was that? Shock? Irritation? Bemusement?
Her stomach dropped. She truly needed to learn to read expressions better. Those online videos were not helping.

Yago cleared his throat and faced Erik. “I do apologize for any confusion.” He glanced at the printouts.
“Luna, I don’t understand what you’re trying to do here.”

She had been extremely clear. “I’m trying to find the appropriate mate for our incoming Alpha,” she said slowly. Again.

Yago shook his head. “You’re the only descendant with even a drop of Alpha blood in your lineage. You’re it.”

This was not a game of tag, and the entire situation was probably a farce anyway.
“I understand that we haven’t traced any Alpha blood to anybody else. However, there are definitely more suitable mates.”
She took a chance and looked at Erik again.
“And then once you have children, they’ll have Alpha blood, right?”
If there were children, of course.

“Not Copper Pack Alpha blood,” Yago said, his voice lowering to a growl.

The current Alpha was several hundred years old, and his hand trembled slightly as he flattened it on the thick copper-edged table.
“I know you don’t see yourself as creating leaders for our people, but it’s your role.”

Actually, her role was as the lone—the one and only—scientist in any of the wolf packs.
At least, as far as she knew.
In fact, the pack’s future might depend on her, and Yago knew that.
He was just playing on faith and hope right now, and he should know better.

Plus, she wasn’t any good at keeping secrets.
“I have other work to do,” she said through gritted teeth.

Her cheeks heated as she tried to face down the most powerful male she’d ever met.
Well, until Erik Volk walked into the room.

“You can do both,” Yago said.

She wanted to shake her head, but she lacked the nerve.
She didn’t have time to do both, and only somebody desperate would believe Erik Volk wanted to switch packs.
He was Silver through and through, and most likely there to conquer the entire land.

“I think we—”

“No,” Yago said. “Enough of this.”

He stared directly at Erik. “I appreciate you coming into my territory and hope there are no hard feelings…well, about…”

Erik didn’t move.
“About you sending a kill squad of six males to murder my brother and slaughter his mate?”

A chill spiraled through Luna.

“That really wasn’t very nice,” she muttered.

Yago ignored her. “Your brother impregnated his human female before they mated. You know that’s nearly impossible, and the offspring will probably be feral.”

“That’s an old wives’ tale,” Luna protested, her ears heating from the tension in the room.

Erik slowly nodded. “Yeah, and it’s bullshit. You wanted to kill Seth because you thought I was going to take over the Slate Pack by mating Emily Nightsom, which would leave your pack in the cold when it came to alliances. You wanted to murder my brother and used an unborn baby as an excuse.”

Yago leaned forward, his body taut. “And Seth killed all six of my soldiers. By himself?”

“You know Seth fought them alone,” Erik murmured. “The bodies were brought back to you, and you could scent him. Well, what was left of the bodies.”

Bile rose in Luna’s throat. She didn’t want any part of this kind of brutality.
Erik seemed fine with it, and she’d never forgive him for so casually kidnapping her in September.
She couldn’t let him take over her life, and she just knew he would.

“So that’s in the past?” Yago asked.

Erik tilted his head as if trying to decipher a puzzle.
Luna couldn’t blame him. Yago wanting a different pack member as Alpha showed definite weakness.
There should be viable contenders within the Copper Pack.

“We do need a fresh start,” she tried to assist her current Alpha.

Erik glanced at her. “I haven’t decided if the insult is in the past or not, but if I do take over as Alpha, there will be no mercy for anybody who goes after my brother or his family. That’s nonnegotiable.”

“Unless we go to war,” Yago countered. “Then your alliance must be clear.”

Erik flicked his gaze toward Yago.
Oh, there was no way Erik was here to help them.
Why couldn’t Yago see that?

“We won’t go to war.” Yago stood.
“Good. I’m sorry the rest of the council wasn’t here to meet with you today.”

Erik stilled. “Council?”

Yago faltered. “Yes. As I’ve gotten older, we’ve formed a committee of sorts to lead. There were four other members, but your brother killed two of them.”

“Having a council implies weakness. You have to know that.” Erik’s face showed no expression.

Yago swallowed. “I need to get to the copper mine. You two may work out the arrangements necessary for you to join our pack and your ensuing union.” He glanced at his watch. “I have work to do.”

With that, he swept from the room, loudly shutting the door.

The thick atmosphere of tension lessened just slightly.

“I have to admit,” Erik rumbled, looking at the photographs Luna had provided, “I’ve never had a female try to get rid of me before.”

That ego was probably earned. “I’m not trying to get rid of you,” she said, throwing her hands up. “I’m just not the right person to be an Alpha’s mate. I don’t even know how to fight.”

She truly wasn’t interested in learning combat.

“That’s unfortunate because you should learn,” he said.

It was nice of her to refrain from reminding him that he’d once kidnapped her. Jerk.

“I don’t want to learn. I like my lab, Erik. I like my job. I don’t want to host society parties or go on hunts. It’s just not me.”

Plus, she liked her freedom and didn’t trust him. At all.

“I’m not saying I’m taking the job, but if I did, I wouldn’t ask you to be anybody other than who you want to be.”

He sat back, his broad chest filling out his long-sleeve black T-shirt in a way that should be illegal.

She could admit to herself—and only to herself—that he was probably the most handsome male she’d ever met. Well, not exactly handsome, but rough and hard-edged. The strength in his face led to a beauty that could only be found in nature.

He would make a fine Alpha, and the pack truly needed him. Much more than he knew.

She couldn’t be the person to mate him. Wouldn’t be forced to do so, damn it.

She slid two pictures across the table to him again. “Listen, I’ve done all my research, and one of these females will be the perfect mate for you.”

He looked down at the photographs.

A surprising spurt of jealousy filtered through her, shocking her silent for a moment.

What the heck was that?

She had no claim on Erik Volk and frankly didn’t want one. But she’d have to be dead not to recognize the power in every line of his body, in his very fit, muscular, and lithe form.

She cleared her throat and tried to keep from blushing again, knowing it was futile.

She pointed to the first photograph that nicely showed Zelda Graytail, no doubt the fiercest female wolf in the entire pack. Stunningly beautiful with brownish copper eyes, Zelda had a wild mane of curly black hair, dusky brown skin, and finely cut muscles. She stood about six feet tall and had once taken down a grizzly bear—a real grizzly—all on her own.

“This is Zelda,” Luna said. “She’ll make you many fine sons, and she can train them if you’re busy.”

It was nice to go with the positive aspects sometimes.

Erik looked up at her, a glimmer in his eyes. Was that amusement? If so, she could work with that.

“What about daughters?” he asked.

Luna blinked. “Well, yeah. She’ll make you lots of daughters.”

She had figured he’d want sons.

“Why? Do you want daughters?”

“Of course, I want daughters,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

She shrugged. “It was my impression that most Alphas wanted males.”

He studied her then in that way he had that made her feel like she was one of her specimens on a slide under the microscope in her lab. Well, her tiny basement that served as a lab.

“Females can be Alphas,” he murmured.

Not in this pack.

“If you say so,” she said instead. “So, that’s your first option.”

She then pointed to a lovely blonde in the second picture. “This is Francine Goodhouse. She plans the best parties and is the most organized person on the planet. She could take care of all your other duties, so all you have to do is work on protection and defense for the pack.”

Francine also had a very kind heart and would probably be nurturing, which perhaps a male like Erik needed. He’d lost his mother a long time ago. Maybe he required a mate who was on the softer side.

“Can she cook?” Erik asked dryly.

“Of course,” Luna said, brightening. “She’s a wonderful cook. Her snickerdoodles at Christmastime are…”

She paused.

“Are you messing with me?”

“A little bit,” Erik said, “though I do appreciate the time and effort you put into finding these females. Why these two? They seem to be complete opposites.”

Luna lifted one shoulder. “I didn’t know what you wanted.”

“What if I want you?”

She sat back, blinking. Panic coated her throat.

She was a logical female and didn’t want this kind of attraction. Plus, she couldn’t be what he wanted, even if she let herself ease into the whirlstorm he all but promised.

“You really don’t.”

He cocked his head, and tension of a different sort spiraled through the room.

“How do you know what I want?”

“You’re an Alpha,” she said slowly. “You want what they all want.”

“And what’s that?” he asked.

Why was he playing dumb?

“To protect the pack, scare the other packs, make a bunch of money, and have multiple sons to carry on your lineage.”

Although, sometimes, that did create difficulties when the time to pass the torch arrived. Brothers fighting brothers could tear a pack apart.

“Huh,” he murmured. “I wasn’t aware those were my goals.”

He looked around the conference room before kicking back his chair and standing.

“You want to get out of here?”

“Sure.” She organized her papers into a file and stood. “I could show you around if you’d like. Then maybe we can track down Francine and Zelda, or you can see them at the welcoming party tonight.”

He paused in reaching for her. “There’s a welcoming party?”

“Yes.” She rolled her eyes. Parties were her least favorite events—not that she enjoyed public events of any kind. “You need to meet everybody, the members need to meet you, and perhaps you can spend time with both of these females. Maybe a spark will fly.”

Sparks burned from her toes to the top of her head at being near him.

What was wrong with her?

“Sounds like you have it all worked out. Who planned the party? Francine?” he asked.

“No.” Luna kicked at an invisible pebble on the hardwood floor. “I had to plan the event, but Francine definitely executed the festivities. So, don’t worry. It’ll be perfect.”

He grinned and reached for her arm to pull her around the table.

“Sounds like you don’t like party planning.”

His grip was firm and warm…and somehow gentle.

“I’m just not very good at it,” she admitted, stepping in front of him and leading the way to the door, pushing out into a brisk, early winter day.

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