Alpha Beast (Southern Shifters Book 8) Read online

  Alpha Beast

  Eliza Gayle

  Gypsy Ink Books

  Contents

  About The Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Also by Eliza Gayle

  Books Writing As E.M. Gayle

  About The Book

  ALPHA BEAST

  by

  Eliza Gayle

  Copyright © 2016

  All Rights Reserved

  [email protected]

  http://ElizaGayle.com

  Eliza on Twitter

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  Eliza on Goodreads

  To find out about new releases, free ebooks and special sales, please Sign Up For My Newsletter at elizagayle.com/newsletter.

  Book Description:

  He thought he'd been careful...

  Bhric has an obsession he doesn't want anyone to know about. A weakness that could take him down if it were found out.

  There's also the problem of what he is. He rarely shifts because he doesn't have to. The beast inside him already has control.

  When he learns that the rogue Blackwood Pack knows more than they should, he'll have to choose between an obsession and the good of the Clan.

  The Clan doesn't stand a chance...

  Ever since Marcy woke up one morning unable to remember the previous two days, she's been on edge. Her head hurts all the time, her body burns for something she can't identify and the idea of sex with any of her usual friends with benefits repulses her. She's gone from a well adjusted, although possibly sex addicted, damned good nurse to a writhing mass of contradictions who struggles to get through her day.

  Oh, and she's pretty sure she has a stalker too. A big, bad and very scary tattooed beast of a man who doesn't repulse her.

  1

  Bhric wandered down Main Street toward Sienna's bakery where everyone had congregated to celebrate and were waiting his arrival. Apparently a lot had happened while he'd been away. A new human had moved in and Calder took her as his mate. That had definitely come out of left field.

  That lone ass bear had gotten attached to Niki early on and Bhric had it half in his head that the attachment might cause them all trouble down the road. He was relieved that wouldn't be the case.

  Then there was Greer. That little shit up and walked away from a mission to find a missing shifter when he found his woman down in Georgia. They'd gone off on an extended honeymoon and had just finally returned to Deals Gap. Not that he really minded him not pursuing the other shifter all that much. The search for the missing woman had been half hearted at best on his part back then and he didn't disagree with Greer's position that the shifter deserved the life she wanted without his interference.

  Unlike the elders that ran the nearby wolf and cougar clans, and technically controlled the neutral zone, Bhric silently refused to succumb to all of their rules and regulations. Oh sure on the outside, it kind of looked like they were following along. They took their marks that identified them as hybrids, and he kept his eye on them in case there was trouble.

  But the reality of it was that they were not under clan control. He ran this town as he saw fit. With a lot of help from his guys.

  He shoved his hands in his pocket and frowned. He'd been away a lot lately and his crew was beginning to notice. Tensions were running unusually high between the clans and the outlying rogue packs. His guys had questions he didn't want to answer. Not yet.

  The beast crawled under his skin and Bhric growled a low warning. His plan to stay in total control of the animal was not an easy feat and seemed to grow harder and harder with each passing day. Hell, who was he kidding? He did not have as much control as he thought and the more he tried to deny his beast the harder this mental bout got.

  Fucker.

  He stopped in front of the Sweet Retreat window and tried to refocus on what was right in front of him instead of things he couldn't have yet. Sienna kept a mouth-watering assortment of cookies, cupcakes and her now famous bear claws on display at all times. Fur pushed at his skin as his other half balked at him.

  "I know. I know. We don't give a shit about baked goods. There's only one sweet treat you want and she lives on the other side of the mountains where she happens to be safe from our bullshit." At least that's what he told himself to sleep at night. Until he fixed some of these shifter problems, he had to leave her be. "I don't think it will be too much longer." He spoke the words out loud to make them more forceful and in the hopes he would believe them more. "We've got to finish what we started with the Blackwood pack first."

  The untimely death of the rogue pack's alpha at the hands of Calder had complicated matters. Not that the bear wasn't justified. Any man or beast who goes after a mate deserves whatever he gets.

  Justified or not, the act came with consequences. Now instead of focusing on Simon's undercover research in their midst, they had much larger problems to contend with. Namely, who would win control of the pack.

  Luke was about the only one he could tolerate and that was only on a good day. They were all pains in his ass. The full bloods all thought they deserved to be in charge.

  But a couple of the wolves making moves were beyond dangerous. They were reckless and stupid as well. That combination alone could land them all in a war they weren't ready for.

  With the peace treaty between the wolves and cougars tenuous at best, it wouldn't take much to push the tension to a breaking point. The elder council wanted to hold onto tradition and antiquated beliefs with a chokehold and there were plenty of hybrids willing and able to take up a battle against their bullshit.

  Bhric turned away from the window of the bakery and headed back down Main Street in the direction of Dark Moon, the bar he'd turned into a home. His guys were happy right now. Dean, Gage, Greer and Calder had all taken mates. That left him the pissed off asshole still living in denial. They could wait a while longer before he spoiled their fun with the reality of what was coming and his foul mood.

  Minutes later he was closed in his office and unscrewing the cap from a bottle of whiskey he'd pilfered from the bar downstairs on his way in. If nothing else, he could drink his beast into submission. That got him a vicious growl in his head that made his temples pound.

  "Shut the fuck up."

  Before he could get too far with the booze and his internal fight, his phone buzzed. He reached into his pocket and fished it out. The screen read Calder.

  Probably calling to find out where he was. Bhric debated not answering and then pictured the entire gaggle of his extended family invading his office instead.

  Fuck that.

  Instead of declining the call he pressed answer and growled into the phone, "What?"

  Yep, he was surly and that was Calder's problem not his. He had a bottle of whiskey waiting for him and he didn't like being interrupted.

  "You need to get over to Sienna's place. We've got a problem."

  Bhric rubbed his temples, but the serious edge in the bear's voice made his body go rigid. He wasn't going to like this. At all.

  "On my way." He didn't bother asking for details. It would only take him a few minutes to return to the bakery and he got the impression that getting
there was more important than talking about it. At least it gave him something to do to take his mind off of one sweet nurse with a body made for sin. Cliché or not, it was the fucking truth.

  Since meeting the little saucy woman who helped birth Niki's cub, his sexual desires had gone through the roof. And he'd been pretty voracious before then. The difference being that now he only had his hand to relieve the pressure. Until he could claim her, there would be no one else. Nothing but a mate could soothe the beast from a mating call...

  2

  Bhric raced down the tail of the Dragon, no longer mindful of his surroundings as anger and fear coursed through him and drove him forward. From the moment Calder had informed him that the former pack leader of the Blackwoods not only knew about Marcy, but had declared her his human piece from Sweetwater, he'd lost almost all control to the beast.

  Unfortunately, the asshole was dead and Bhric couldn't squeeze the life out of him for his not so subtle threat on his woman. The unknown at this point was whether there were more members of the Blackwood pack that knew of Marcy's existence and potential link to Bhric.

  He slammed his hand down on the handlebars.

  Fuck. This was exactly the kind of thing he'd been trying to avoid by not claiming her.

  But he couldn't stay away from her and someone had seen him. Now he had to get to her before someone else did.

  He sped up as he flew down the dark, empty highway. Normally this time of year the infamous stretch of road in the Smoky Mountains would be filled with tourists daring the hundreds of hairpin turns with their motorcycles, sports cars and sometimes bicycles seeking the ultimate thrill of an adrenalin rush.

  Fortunately, not many visitors or locals for that matter, hit the dragon in the middle of the night. There were too many dangerous curves that most were only willing to brave during the day. Even then, plenty didn't make it. They had the Tree of Shame in Deals Gap to show for it. It stood covered with helmets and automotive parts from its victims.

  Most laughed at it and stood next to it for a stupid selfie when they first saw it. Until they got on the road and realized just how treacherous and unforgiving these mountains could be. Then the mountains earned their respect.

  He twisted his hand and sped up again at the thought, leaning into a sharp turn that had his denim clad knee a hairs breath away from the blacktop. This is what he lived for. The extreme rush of danger while surrounded by the wilds of nature. The beast inside him always craved the adrenalin rush one way or another. He'd been riding this stretch of road his entire life. Long before tourists overran it.

  He'd gotten his first motorcycle as a small cub and that had been it for him. He spent countless hours testing his limits on two wheels, knowing full well his beast could handle far more. Not that he cared.

  His parents called him reckless. He lied and told them he was just having fun, when in reality the untamed animal inside him craved more and more.

  Tonight he was definitely not out here to have fun. At the other end of the Dragon and deep into Tennessee lie an obsession he couldn't control any longer waiting for him. One that could be in danger as he raced toward her.

  Anger coursed through his blood as the beast mocked him for waiting this long to do something about his situation.

  Fuck. He chuffed into the wind. It wasn't just some situation. She was far more than something that needed dealt with...

  Marcy had crashed into his life like one of the mountain tourists crashing headlong into a tree. Hard and fast and with no warning.

  Sierra, the human mate to one of his wolves had come to Deals Gap at the exact moment, Niki, one of his cougars under his protection, had gone into labor with her first child. With most of their crew too far away to help and their doctor otherwise engaged, Sierra had reached out to her best friend for help.

  Marcy.

  As a pediatric nurse in Tennessee, she might have had a lot of experience with difficult births, but at the time she had no idea what she was walking into when she arrived at Dark Moon.

  After a crash course on shifters and apparently a lot of screaming on the part of all involved, Marcy safely delivered Niki and Dean's child and thus ushered in what they all hoped would finally be a new generation of hybrid shifters.

  That's what Deals Gap was, a place designed by the local cougar, wolf and psychic clans to house the ever growing number of hybrid shifters they didn't want in their own clans. What those idiots on the council had failed to realize was that soon they would outnumber their precious pure breeds. Because it seemed the only way a shifter could have a child these days was to widen their gene pool.

  For Bhric, the hybrids were simply family and his responsibility. As their Alpha he kept the peace and insulated them as much as possible from the politics and in-fighting still prevalent amongst the cougars and the wolves. With trouble constantly brewing among the different species, that peace grew more and more tenuous each day.

  Which is how making sure Marcy didn't remember her time in Deals Gap had fallen on his shoulders.

  The anger inside him heated to a boiling point every time he thought about what he did to her. There were only a couple of witches powerful enough to wipe away memories and they hated doing it. He'd been warned it came with consequences and refused to listen.

  He'd sensed a connection with the human woman from the moment he laid eyes on her, but he denied it until it was too late. Now for better or worse she resided an hour away blissfully unaware what that separation cost him.

  The beast growled in his head, a warning that any thought to deny it what it wanted any longer would not go unanswered. And thus his constant struggle continued.

  The near uncontrollable urge the animal forced on him left him no choice, but to visit his mate time and time again. Only by sheer force of will had he managed to keep from claiming her.

  Until now.

  The Blackwood Pack, one of the rogue packs broken from the clans, had stepped up its interference to the breaking point. The fact he named Marcy before dying, meant he'd dealt one last serious blow. And it was up to Bhric to discover how far that knowledge went.

  An engine revved behind him, forcing him to acknowledge Calder and Gage who insisted on accompanying him on this mission. While he had no need for backup in regards to his own protection, he'd reluctantly agreed that he couldn't take chances with Marcy's safety. He had not divulged to any of his crew the true nature of his connection to the woman, but they weren't stupid. If they didn't already know, they would within minutes of his reunion with the nurse.

  Now the two shifters were motioning for him to pull to the side of the road. With a lot of impatience, Bhric pulled into the next turn out and slid to an abrupt stop.

  Brakes squealed and burning rubber filled the night air as he bit back a smile over the two men reacting to his erratic move.

  "What the fuck, Bhric?" Gage exploded while Calder sat silently a few feet away. The bear always preferred silence. Until he didn't. Then he scared the shit out of people with his sheer size and force. The roar worked well too.

  "If you pansies can't keep up, that's not my problem. And that better not be why you forced me over."

  Gage held up his cellphone screen out so Bhric got a glimpse of some words splashed across the screen. "Text from Sienna. She finally got a hold of Marcy."

  Bhric perked up, Gage now had his undivided attention. "Where is she?"

  "At the hospital. She's on duty until tomorrow morning."

  He pondered that nugget of information and nodded his head. "Not the worst news. Big public place with lots of humans and even some mediocre security. The Blackwoods might not risk a snatch and grab until she leaves. What did Sienna tell her?"

  "Gave her some song and dance about someone from their past making death threats against them both. Told her to stay put until I got there. She knows me as Sienna's 'husband' and will probably trust me a hell of a lot more than she will someone she doesn't remember."

  Again he nodded, inwardly cr
inging at the same time. It didn't sit well that she wouldn't remember him.

  He thought back to the night he couldn't get out of his head. Despite the trepidation of allowing someone into her mind, she'd agreed to let the witch wipe some of her short-term memory.

  The look on her face, the way she flirted with him despite her obvious discomfort. He'd picked up a lot about her that night. She deflected emotions with sarcasm or innuendo, making sure no one took the time to figure her out. And she asked a lot of questions.

  That had been the driving force behind making sure she didn't remember shifters. Her innate curiosity probably made her a great nurse, but it was that trait he couldn't take a risk on. There were already far too many unknowns in their world without adding another curious human in the mix. Especially one without a strong connection to a shifter.

  Her friendship with Sienna seemed strong enough. But he'd witnessed first hand how unpredictable humans could be. So he'd brought her to Melena, deep in the mountains where no normal humans ventured.

  There were forces here that kept strangers away. You couldn't see, smell or taste them, but the minute you got close an uneasy chill swept across your body.

  She'd felt it. While she managed to keep her fears quiet, his beast caught the scent the second her brain went into overdrive.

  "Why are you growling?" she'd asked, while plucking at the bottom edge of her thin sweater she wore over her hospital scrubs.

  He shrugged. He had no intention of getting into the tumultuous feelings her presence had begun to spark inside him. Something about her and this place was off and he didn't like it. The dark spirits surrounding Melena's cabin normally didn't bother him. But tonight, hair pushed through his skin and the animal wrestled him for complete control.

  With his constant struggle amplified with her presence, sweat broke out across his arms and back as he fought both physically and mentally with the beast. He needed to get this done and get the hell out of here. No one here would be happy to see him shift. He was too dangerous.