Alpha’s Forbidden Fate (Night Shifters #2)

1. Selene

Chapter 1

Selene

I stare as the sweat trickles down the bartender’s neck.

The bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallows.

It would be so easy to lean in and lick him.

Or sink my teeth into him.

“Miss, can I get you something else?” he repeats. I blink once and look away. Coming here was a bad idea.

“No. Just the check please,” I reply.

He eyes me suspiciously before moving on to serve someone else.

I run a finger over the now-empty whisky glass. Alcohol helps keep the cravings at bay, but tonight, nothing seems to be working.

I’m dying for a drink, barely keeping a tight rein on my blood lust. I haven’t had human blood in six years.

“Let me guess, boy trouble?” A blond biker girl seated next to me says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

Where did she come from?

This thirst is making me sloppy and inattentive.

I turn around to face her.

“What?” I groan.

I really need to get out of here.

“I asked if you are thinking about an ex. I know I am.”

“Not really,” I swallow hard as my eyes instinctively go to her throat, where her pulse is jumping deliciously against her skin.

Stop it, Selene!

I should have just stayed in and had my favorite soup delivered. Coming here was a mistake.

If Levi were to see me here tonight…

A human bar is the last place I should be, especially with my cravings. Over the years, I’ve managed to control them, but lately, it’s all I can think of. Metallic, sweet blood pooling in my mouth.

“I’ll tell you what, whatever you are going through, I bet I’ve been there before,” she says and takes a swig of her beer.

I wonder if I’ll taste the alcohol in her blood.

“I doubt it,” I answer her.

I’m certain that blond biker girl wouldn’t have sat this close had she known what I am.

A cold-blooded monster. That’s how my brother, Levi, referred to our kind when I confronted him about the human prisons I had discovered beneath our home.

I recall his exact words as he yelled, pointing to the dozens of pale bodies squeezed together in a tiny cell. “We need them to survive, Selene. They are just food. Weak, spineless food. This is the real world, and we are the superior race. This is what we are, cold-blooded monsters.”

Those faces have haunted me for years. They are the reason I decided to stop drinking human blood. I refuse to be like my family.

Instead, I choose to feed on animals. Their blood is not as potent as human blood, but it keeps me alive. Unfortunately, animal blood does make me weaker. So, I have to be careful. I don’t heal as fast, and it’s difficult to manifest the fa?ade of being human with only animal blood sustaining me. And the taste… bleh. It’s much less appealing.

I changed the very essence of who I was when I left that life behind. I make my heart beat to bring color to my cheeks, and instead of my family’s pale skin, I can actually pass as human.

I even took a job as a tutor in the local school to earn money. I obtained my teaching certificate about a year ago, but this is all that was available. So, for now, I tutor. I work with humans, and act like a human.

I am not a monster.

I am not a monster.

That is why, instead of sitting at the bar and fantasizing about draining the life out of this human girl, I drop a twenty on the counter and stand to leave.

She is still blathering on about something, but I’m so focused on not feeding, that I’ve stopped paying attention.

Hundreds of thoughts are swarming in my head as I try to make my escape. I don’t even notice the person walking toward me until I bump into him, or rather a muscular chest fitted into a crisp white shirt.

I look up through my bangs to find a pair of beautiful grey eyes rimmed with dark lashes staring down at me.

The man, whoever he is, is breathtaking, and so is the scent of his blood.

I’ve never smelled anything like it: dark, powerful, and most definitely addictive.

What the hell is going on with me tonight?

“I’m sorry,” I mutter as I try to sidestep him.

“No, I am. Please, go ahead,” he says as he backs up.

Then he turns a little to let me make my way past him.

I should go.

I should leave.

But the scent of him is quickly getting branded into my very being. I need to taste him.

Saliva pools in my mouth.

I could strike right now, sink my teeth into his jugular. It would tear so easily.

It would be so fast that he probably wouldn’t even realize what happened.

Fuck! I need to get out of here.

“Are you okay, miss?” he says.

I just need to breathe, and try to take my mind off the cravings.

I have to leave.

Instead of replying to him, I keep my head down, sidestep him, and quickly scurry out of the bar.

“Breathe, Selene,” I whisper to myself.

Once outside in the parking lot, it comes to me. His scent is so overpowering to me because he’s not human.

A nymph? Maybe a Fae?

I have never had blood from any other supernatural creatures. I turn to head back towards the entrance of the bar and then stop myself.

What the hell am I doing? I should go home.

Actually, I should probably go hunting for a rabbit or something to ease this craving. Then I can head home and watch a movie or something.

“There you are,” a voice startles me back to reality. I am so thirsty I can barely see straight. My senses are all muddled, it’s the only reason someone could sneak up on me like that.

“I’m sorry? Are you speaking to me?” I ask, turning around and coming face-to-face with the blonde girl from the bar.

“Yes, I’m talking to you.” There’s a bit of snark in that response. So, I give it back to her.

“What do you want? I’m in a hurry to get home.”

“Yeah, right! I know who and what you are, Selene!”

She knows my name?

How does she know my name?

I’ve worked hard to keep a low profile.

“Look, whatever it is you think I did, I can promise you that I most definitely didn’t. So, please, just go back inside.”

She lets out a low, devious chuckle. “So fucking polite. Sorry, no can do. I have been trailing you for weeks now. There is no way I am letting you leave now.”

“I don’t want any trouble,” I say as I move away from her. This really is not the night for her to be messing with me.

I reach into my leather jacket, searching for my car keys, when she takes another step towards me.

I look around. There is an unfamiliar scent in the air.

The full moon is illuminating the whole area.

“I don’t want any trouble.” I repeat. “I am heading home, and I would suggest you do the same. Whatever you think I am guilty of, I’m not. I’ve been laying low, not bothering anyone.”

I am so freaking thirsty that I can feel the veins in my body pulse with need.

The sound of the girl’s heartbeat gets stronger every passing second. Instead of backing down, she takes another step towards me.

I take a step back.

Then she lets out a low whistle, and three men I hadn’t seen before, emerge from the shadows.

I should have seen them before. Or at least smelled them.

What the fuck is going on?

“Look what we have here,” one of the tall, dark-haired males grins at me. “You were right, Mia; the spell worked.”

“Told you!”

What spell? Witches? Fuck! What exactly did I get myself into?

“Yes, Elias. I told you she was a vampire. I saw her when I went to pick up Summer from school. I have been on her trail for weeks now,” the biker chick, whose name is obviously Mia, replies.

“This ends tonight. Vampires are not welcome in this town. Not anymore. You should have never come back here,” one of the others replies.

Then, their eyes glint in a familiar way that makes me stiffen.

Wolves!

I am dealing with fucking wolves. Four wolves against one vampire, and they have vengeance on their minds.

Please don’t let them shift!

I can’t let their fangs touch me. Although I’ve never witnessed it myself, I was taught from a young age that a wolf’s bite is fatal to a vampire. If one of them even nicks me while in their wolf form, I am done for.

And without human blood in my system, I am weak and vulnerable. The bite would kill me even faster.

I consider calling out for help but I know that will be useless.

If they are wise enough to work with a witch, using magic to mask their scents, then they probably have a spell to keep the humans away as well. There is a treaty between the humans and the supernaturals that they must abide by. They wouldn’t be dumb enough to allow humans to get entangled in this nasty business. Stupid wolves with their stupid treaties.

No wonder my father hated them so much.

“Look, Mia, I haven’t hurt anyone. If you have really been trailing me as you claim, you must know that. I don’t bother anyone. I keep to myself.”

I know how this confrontation is going to end, so my only option is to try to reason with them. Mia lets out a shrill laughter.

“Okay then.” I say, resigned. I guess this is not going to go my way.

Two of the males come charging towards me.

Fuck! I am going to die.

As I tense, readying myself for the fight, one of them throws a clumsy punch towards me, and I realize that I may actually have a chance.

These werewolves are not experienced fighters, by any means.

I can take them.

I silently thank my parents for the training and martial arts classes they put me and my brothers through. My hand wraps around his throat, and I choke him until his body begins to sag.

Then, I use all my might to toss his body in Mia’s direction.

The next one, Elias, I presume, charges. He looks angry at how I have handled his brother, but they asked for this.

“What is it? Scared?” I taunt.

He growls and throws a punch that I easily dodge before punching him in the throat.

He staggers back, choking.

“Okay. Enough of this, Mia. Can we just go our separate ways? I am not looking for a fight.”

“Then you should have stayed out of our territory.” She growls as she comes towards me.

Her kicks are a lot more precise than those of her counterparts. To her credit, she is a skilled fighter. She manages to get in a couple of good hits before I push her away.

Not a slouch myself, I throw a few punches, hitting her in the face.

She spits out blood.

The other wolves are watching intently.

“Mia, please just let me go,” I try again.

She doesn’t listen and once again comes running towards me. I’m struggling to focus. The smell of their blood is driving me crazy with thirst.

I want to tear into them and drink.

She kicks my feet, and then her sharp nails dig into my throat. I just barely push her off me.

I grab her head and dig my nails into her scalp, ripping out some of her hair. This gets her attention and she snarls angrily.

As she backs up to take a breath, she looks to her pack and says, “Enough of this. I am done playing games.”

I can feel my bones ache from the impact of her blows.

I am preparing for her next move when my worst nightmare begins to happen. Mia lets out a low growl as she falls to the ground on all fours. I watch in horror as she begins to shift.

Every bone in my body is telling me to run, but I am frozen in place.

I want to run, but I know if I did, she wouldn’t let me get far. I can’t outrun her in wolf form.

This vendetta she seems to have against me and my kind will only end one way. One of us is going to die tonight.

The sound of her bones cracking fills the night air, and I watch as the fur forming on her skin bristles in the wind.

I am trembling as I look around for something, anything that I could use to defend myself.

There is a nearly full trash can right next to the building, and something that looks like a rickety old bike.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Her pack is cheering as she works through her transformation. A plan is forming in my brain as I run towards the bike. I begin to kick and pull at the bike to break the weld holding the bike’s frame together. Finally, after what seems like an eternity but was probably about a minute, I break off the top bar to use as a weapon.

I turn around to see Mia has transformed into a huge brown wolf.

This is it!

I am probably going to die in the parking lot of a bar, on a random Friday night, but I am not going to do that without a fight.

She is so huge and everything inside me is terrified, but I stand facing her, as ready as I’ll ever be.

Within seconds, she lunges and her huge body is on top of me. Her weight pushes me into the ground, and I almost lose my hold on my makeshift weapon. But it’s all I have.

Her mouth is open, snarling teeth in my face, as she drools saliva on top of me.

I know she can crush my head with just one movement of her jaw.

Oh, fucking hell!

Using all my strength, and holding her back with one arm, I use my other arm to stab her in the side with the metal bar. I can tell the moment I pierce her thick skin and hit something vital because her eyes dim a little.

Her mouth is so close to my neck.

Just one bite and I’m dead…

I pull out the metal and then thrust it in deeper.

Her body feels heavier, and her breathing becomes labored as blood pours out of her wounds.

My hand feels sticky, but I don’t stop.

I stab her again and again and again.

I stab her until all the light leaves her eyes.

Her body is heavy as it weighs down upon me.

Then I let my hand fall to the ground.

And I wait… for the other wolves to attack.

For them to kill me. I thought I could fight them off, but I can feel all my strength seep from me.

Is this how I die?

Oh, I don’t want to die out here.

For a moment, I think about my siblings. Would they even mourn me if they found out how I died? Would they grieve me?

Perhaps not. I was always a disappointment to them.

Maybe I should stop fighting to stay alive.

It’s a little too quiet.

My eyes are closed as I wait.