My Two Alphas: A Paranormal Menage Romance (Double Desert Shifters Book 1) Read online

  My Two Alphas

  A Paranormal Menage Romance

  Double Desert Shifters Book 1

  Mia Wolf

  Copyright © 2020 by The Wolf Sisters Books.

  All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of the book only. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form, including recording, without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Contents

  Chapter 1 – Lewis

  Chapter 2 – Sandra

  Chapter 3 – Alex

  Chapter 4 – Lewis

  Chapter 5 – Sandra

  Chapter 6 – Alex

  Chapter 7 - Lewis

  Chapter 8 – Sandra

  Chapter 9 – Alex

  Chapter 10 - Lewis

  Chapter 11 - Alex

  Chapter 12 - Sandra

  About the Author

  Books by The Wolf Sisters

  Chapter 1 – Lewis

  “I don’t know that I’m over them being gone either,” Alex said, slinging a muscular arm over my shoulder. His large bear-like hand dangled over my chest as he shifted some of his weight on me like I was his walking shelf. “I don’t know that a pack is ever over losing their Alphas, but we have to move on, man. That’s what this ceremony is all about.”

  He guided me toward the center of our compound, where Terrence and Duncan were piling more wood onto the bonfire. Two strips of hot coals had been smoldering over the last day and night, with four boars buried within them, slowly cooking in preparation for the introductory feast.

  I nodded to the two working on the fires and acknowledged three of the Elders who sat within the shade of the cloister, watching the fire being built, talking quietly between them. Though they were over thirty yards away, and despite the distance and the sound of the river nearby, I could still make out that they were talking about their expectations for the evening.

  “I know, it’s the custom,” I conceded. I knew the potential behind the ceremony. It should have excited me, had me wriggling with anticipation, shifting back and forth like an excited pup. It was something Alex and I had talked about for years, and now the time had come, I wasn’t excited. I wasn’t prepared. I was set on edge. “I don’t know that I’m ready for this.”

  “Dude, you’re ready. We’re ready. We’ve known this since we were cubs. We’ve got this.”

  “Sure.”

  His hand patted me square in the back. I’d seen those hands knock the wind out of men with his attempt at friendly encouragement. That’s the thing about Bears. They don’t always realize their own strength. Alex and I had been rough-housing since we were small. I at least knew his strength, and he, well, he knew to watch out for me taking things too seriously.

  I moved to the water station, a collection of barrels we stored our water in, capped to keep it from evaporating in the desert heat. Moonstone was cooler than most places in the area, a little gem in the desert with its green and trees. But the sun was still harsh when it was high in the sky. I pulled my tin cup from my belt hook and filled it from the tap in the barrel.

  “I think it might empty come tomorrow,” Emily said, stepping around from behind the water station. “There’ll be some hurting heads after the ceremony. Not in the least with this guy.” She reached up and ruffled Alex’s brown hair. It was already a mess anyway, just long enough to stick out at all angles, but short enough that it didn’t cover his ears completely. Being his little sister, Emily looked just like him, except being five inches shorter and a woman. They shared the same narrow jaw, hair color, and dark brown eyes.

  Alex ducked out from under her hand and tucked her head under his arm in a playful headlock. “Better get the cubs ready to haul some buckets.”

  That was her job, or at least, one of her jobs, which she shared with Andrea and Lisa. She was in charge of rallying the cubs old enough to work to contribute to the compound, and their main job was ensuring the water tanks stayed full. We weren’t hurting for water, despite being in the desert. The compound of the Moonstone pack was located at an oasis alongside a river, which enabled us to stay hydrated and keep a small dam for fishing and electricity and as a reservoir for our water supply. Furthermore, it meant we could grow our own small crops to sustain us.

  Emily ducked out from under Alex’s arm and punched him on the shoulder. She carried her own strength, but it was nothing to match Alex’s. Their play fight knocked against me, sloshing the water in my cup.

  “Hey, watch it,” I warned, without too much threat in my voice. I finished the rest of the water in the cup and hung it back on my belt.

  My mother had always nudged me toward Emily. “She’s pretty,” she would say. “She’s sensible. She’d keep you in line.” Mom liked that she was friends with Alex and Emily’s family, that we had all grown up being close. It was easy, simple.

  My answer was always the same: she’s not the one.

  It was like Alex said. We were ready; we were destined to be chosen tonight. If we were the ones, then it meant we were to find our mate to share. That meant that Alex’s kid sister was off the table.

  And I wasn’t attracted to her. She was beautiful in her own way: strong, a good hugger, and she’d make great cubs someday. But she wasn’t my mate.

  “Who do you think it’s going to be?” Emily asked. Her eyes darted between Alex and me.

  “Me and Lewis,” Alex said without hesitation, holding up his hand for a fist bump, which I met. “Who else?”

  “Well, rumor has it that there’s a strong sense it’ll be Jordan and Max,” she said, stuffing her hands into her green shorts pockets under her long black tank top. “It makes sense. I suppose it would be helpful to have Alphas who shift the same. Less differing interests.”

  “Please, as if that means anything,” Alex said.

  “It makes way more sense to have two different Alphas if you ask me,” I said. “It’s because of the differing needs that it would be more beneficial. We’re a diverse group here. It’s not just Wolves, not just Bears. We’re Panthers, Bob Cats, Foxes, Armadillos … Hell, we even have—” I lowered my voice, looking over my shoulder to ensure Terrence and Duncan weren’t in earshot, “—two Dragons in Moonstone. What other compounds can say that? We need variation in leadership.”

  “As if those two count,” Alex muttered.

  “Hey, not cool, bro,” Emily scorned, reaching up and slapping the back of her brother’s head gently, but with enough force to anchor in the message.

  “Ow! What did I do? They can’t shift. If you can’t shift, are you really a shifter? It’s a valid question.”

  She gave him a warning glare before turning her attention to me. “I don’t know, Lewis. I haven’t been to another compound, so I can’t say. Can you?”

  I shook my head, only half acknowledging her question before going on. “Besides, it doesn’t really matter what people are saying anyway. Fate decides.”

  ***

  “Before we begin,” Elder Victoria announced to the compound pack. “Let us remember our Alphas who have passed. Not just Johnathan and Michael, who departed one year and one moon cycle ago, but those who came before them. Let us take a moment of silence to honor their leadership of the Moonstone pack.”

&n
bsp; The crackle of the fire and the tumble of the river beyond the courtyard were the only sounds heard. The Elders stood atop one side of the cloister, five in total, in flowing white cloth turned orange in the firelight. The blue-white light of the rising full moon behind them provided a glowing outline of the figures.

  I bowed my head, listening to the murmur of gratitude under my mother’s breath to my side. She always had the words that I didn’t. Her strength and wisdom were where my gratitude resided.

  Several moments passed before Elder Victoria spoke again.

  “Now is the time to choose the next Alphas of the pack. Some of you are old enough to remember the last ceremony. And some of you are getting to experience this for the first time. I will explain the process. Our Bag of Bones—an actual bag of bones, mind you. I’m not referring to the other Elders,” she said as a few chuckled. “Our Bag of Bones holds the bones with the names of the natural pairs carved into them. This is what we Elders have done, ourselves. From the bag, we will draw three pairs, and they will be our contestants.”

  Elder Victoria stepped back in line with the other Elders, as Elder Roger stepped forward.

  “Our hand has been in the pairings,” he said, his voice frailer than Victoria’s, being nearly two decades older than she. “It is fate which chooses the contestants. And it is the contestants who seal their destiny.”

  I shifted my position on my feet, my hand clasping my wrist in front of me. I felt as if Elder Roger was speaking directly to me, to Alex, telling us alone what we needed to know in order to succeed.

  “Once the pairs have been drawn, you will be set the task of finding your mate. And we all know this isn’t just someone to get your jollies off with. But your mate. She will harbor, bear, and raise your cubs. I expect you to choose her in earnest and wisdom. The first pair to find their mate will be our new Alphas.”

  Clapping pattered through the pack as Elder Arnold came forward with a burlap sack, Elders Amelia, Sara, and Victoria at his side. The sack was passed to Victoria as she took her place next to Roger.

  Arnold, Amelia, and Sara each reached a hand into the bag, holding themselves back from the Bag of Bones so as not to accidentally peer inside.

  “Elders, hold your bones,” Victoria instructed. “When the moon has reached its peak, you shall draw.”

  I watched the massive moon above us move painfully slowly. Up, up, up, while its cold light bathed us. My jaw ached from clenching it, and I realized my neck hadn’t relaxed since the ceremony started.

  “This is ours,” Alex whispered to me. “We’ve got this.”

  I didn’t want to doubt him; I didn’t doubt him. But something gave me pause; something kept whispering in my ear, What if?

  “Elders,” Roger’s voice broke the tension in the pack. “Draw your bones.”

  Each retrieved their bone—sheep, by the smell of them—in their clenched fists. In one of their hands was our future. For that I knew without a shadow of a doubt as if the high full moon had purified my clouded mind. Our names were carved into one of those pieces.

  The Elders raised the bones in the air without looking at them. Victoria moved behind each and collected them, returning them to Roger and folding the Bag of Bones over her arm.

  “The first pair,” he said, his thumb running over the carved names. “Two Wolves, Jordan and Max.”

  The pack clapped as the two came forward, giving each other a high five. They were strong contenders and would likely make good leaders. With both of them being Wolves, they had the added instinctual advantage of reading each other’s movements seamlessly, as if they were one. It would be unlikely that they would come to disagreements, unlikely that they would differ on what kind of mate was right for them. They were good looking too, and they had a reputation with the ladies from what I’d heard, which meant that their chances of finding their mate were even greater. Not that looks mattered. Fate wove us all together with our destined one, and nothing would deter that. It was only a matter of timing.

  Despite being the same age as me, Jordan sported the early signs of silver in his black hair and beard covering his jaw. He was of a slender build, having that hidden strength that an opponent regularly missed if they didn’t know him. He was smart and quick, and his strength put even me to the challenge.

  Max’s hair was sandy blond. Unless you ran with him, you never really knew how his Wolf side matched his human side. It wasn’t until you got close to him that you could see the slight blond in his otherwise silver fur. But in both forms, his eyes were that sky blue that women seem to like.

  I added my clapping respect just as the noise began to die down at the request of the Elders, who held up a hand each to silence us.

  “Our second pair,” Elder Roger went on, “is a Wolf and a Bear, Lewis and Alex.”

  My heart skipped a beat as Alex nudged me with his elbow and smirked. “Told ya.”

  Emily and Mom cheered us on behind us as we stepped forward, standing across the fire from Jordan and Max. It might have been my excitement at the moment, but it sounded like the pack was making more noise for us than for the other two.

  “And the final selection from fate,” Roger said when the pack members hushed themselves. He paused, and I could see his brow furrow slightly as he tilted the bone toward Victoria, who equally appeared to be trying to control her expression. He shook his head and put on his authoritative mask. “The final pair is a Mountain Lion and a Coyote, Denis and Victor.”

  “No way!” I shouted.

  “Dude, keep it down,” Alex hissed.

  Murmurs ran through the pack as the final two stepped forward. All around us were quiet voices tinged with anger and annoyance at the third selection. A few scattered claps sounded, but they did little to mask the obvious disdain.

  “With due respect,” Andrea, a close friend of Emily’s, said, her voice rising as she too came forward. Her red hair tumbled over her shoulders and glistened in the firelight. “Denis and Victor have only been here since just before our Alphas passed. Does that not seem suspect to you?”

  “What accusations are you making?” Elder Sara asked solemnly. “Be clear about what you are saying.” Her voice was loaded with warning.

  Andrea let loose a tuft of air through her teeth, trying to control her annoyance. “I’m not making accusations. I’m only pointing out that these two have hardly been a part of the Moonstone pack long enough to be more than outsiders. Should they really be considered contestants for Alphas?”

  Some voices joined in agreement.

  Emily stepped in line with her friend. “They don’t know how to live in the compound,” she said quietly. “More than once, I’ve come to find them lifting the lids from the water barrels without putting them back.”

  Elder Sara rolled her eyes. “Is that truly an offense?”

  “With all due respect, yes,” Emily persisted in her quiet voice. “In the dry season, when the river and reservoir get low, the water station is all that we have. It’s the difference between life and death. And if these two can’t follow a basic survival practice here, then what chance do they have at effectively leading us?”

  “They’re disrespectful,” another voice came forward. Lisa, a short Hare, pushed through from the back of the crowd. Her oval face was just visible over the fire’s flames from where I stood. “They have no respect for the order of the pack, for women, or even for you, our Elders.”

  Elder Roger raised his hand. “That’s enough. The names have been chosen.”

  “Look,” Denis said, holding his hands out as if making an offering to those under the cloister. He flicked his head to the side to move his chin-length dark brown hair out of his eyes. “Andrea, I hear where you’re coming from. I really do. We just waltzed in here out of nowhere. Now, I can see how it’s easy to pick on the newcomers, and that there’s a pecking order—which we have done nothing but respect since our arrival. Our arrival, that was a full thirteen months ago. Since then, we have done nothing but show our con
tributions. Surely we’ve earned a place in the pack by now?”

  I wondered just what Denis thought he and Victor had contributed to Moonstone. My fists tightened at the freeloaders who had taken up space in our shelters and used our water. At group meals, they were still at the end of the lines, behind the cubs. They didn’t rank with the adults, with the pack members. They didn’t rank with those who were still earning their place in the world, even if what they could manage was very little. Instead, Victor and Denis’ places were at the back of the line, ranked last. Their place in our pack was, as they said, thirteen months after their arrival, still as outsiders. It baffled me that fate could think them suitable.

  The other half of the pair, Victor, spoke up. “Now, now,” he said. “I know you all have your opinions on us. But please know, we have the pack’s best interests at heart. After all we went through, to be blessed enough to find you, fine folks, for you to take us in … we owe you a debt. And this is how we can best repay it.”

  I shook my head. All they had been through, I thought, inwardly scoffing. Their story varied from person to person. Sometimes they had been run out of their commune by those wise few humans, dubbed as paranormal experts by some and crazy people by others, who were onto the shifters in the world. Other times their story revolved around them simply being travelers looking for a home. My personal favorite was how they had needed to kill a human to protect their pack, and needed to run to avoid being persecuted by human law. The only thing I was certain of was that Denis and Victor were conmen, to say the least.

  Victor was almost the opposite of Denis to look at. Denis was made up of bulk, but short in stature compared to the rest of the contestants. Jordan, Max, Alex, and I were all way above six feet. Denis, on the other hand, was closer to Emily’s height, perhaps topping her by a couple of inches. I’d only seen him shift once, to his Mountain Lion side. I’d never met a Mountain Lion shifter.

  Victor, on the other hand, was closer to our height. He wore jeans and a black leather biker vest over his bare skin on a daily basis. He liked to keep himself hairless, head to jeans, which I personally found repugnant, a rejection of the Coyote in him.