Fat-Free Alpha

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright©
2014 Angelique
Voisen

 
ISBN: 978-1-77233-114-1

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry
Desigsn

Editor: Kerry
Genova

ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of
this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written
permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

To my wonderful readers, thank for supporting this series. I hoped you
enjoyed the stories of the wolves of New Haven as much as I enjoyed writing
them. To Anna, who taught me not all fat is bad.

FAT-FREE ALPHA

Wolves
of New Haven, 5

Angelique
Voisen

Copyright
© 2014

Prologue

For a werewolf, an adult-sized
coffin was easy enough to carry. A child-sized coffin was even lighter, but
Carlos Medina keenly felt its weight when he hefted it along with his mate.

He held on to one end while Reed
Williams held the other. The march from the church to the funeral car felt
impossibly long. Watching the coffin being lowered to the ground was pure
torture.

“Bonnie died a quick death. She
didn’t suffer,” Reed said, interrupting the silence.

The priest had gone long ago, so
had the remnants of their pack. It was only Carlos and his mate now. All he
wanted to do was strangle Reed to death, but some part of him desperately
believed the spirit of their adoptive daughter was still watching over them.

The least he could do was be an
example, or at least try to.

“She was human. She didn’t deserve
to die in the first place.” Anger colored his voice, but Carlos didn’t care.
“Not especially in a bar overrun by werewolves in the middle of a turf war.”

Reed flinched at his words. Carlos
didn’t need to say the next few words out loud because his mate knew them.

Bonnie
died because of you, Reed. You brought her there because you thought it was the
right decision. You went against my orders.

“I’m sorry,” Reed repeated.

His voice was pained and his face
looked haunted. Not very long ago, Carlos wouldn’t hesitate to bring the
slender man in his arms and comfort him. Then again, long ago their wolf mate
bond didn’t feel this miserable or fractured.

The beast sharing Carlos’s soul was
as unrelenting and unforgiving as he was. Bonnie may have been just a human
twelve-year-old, but she was still their pup. It was Reed’s and his
responsibility as parents to protect her and make sure she didn’t come to harm.

She experienced enough hurt in her
young life as it was. With two drug addicts for parents, she entered the foster
care system when she was five. It took them years to make her smile again.

“Sorry won’t fix things. It won’t
bring her back.” Carlos didn’t care how his words drove his mate to the brink
of despair.

Reed deserved to go to hell. Bonnie
was their binder, the little stick of glue keeping them together. Without her,
Carlos wasn’t sure he could ever forgive his mate again.

He had forgiven Reed for straying,
for sleeping with other wolves, and betraying his trust a number of times. For
Bonnie, there was none. Every inch of his forgiveness was milked dry.

“I know that, Carlos. Fuck. What do
you want me to do? I can’t bring her back to life,” Reed said harshly.

He gripped Carlos’s shoulder, but
he didn’t fight back when Carlos brushed his hand coldly away. Sensing Reed’s
wolf’s pushing against him, Carlos ignored the whining beast just as he ignored
the man he thought he loved.

“I can’t talk to you civilly right
now, Reed. I’m just going to tear you apart,” Carlos snarled.

Without another word, Carlos began
to strip. Reed said nothing as he peeled away each piece of clothing from his
hot and sweating body. Carlos’s wolf itched and snarled, wanting to be free of
the constraints of the human skin containing it.

“If you want to
kill me, Carlos.
You’re free to it.”

Almost fully shifted, Carlos let
out an angry growl and leaped at his mate. Reed didn’t bother shielding himself
as Carlos’s claws began to shred the skin on his arms. He didn’t even reach out
for his other bestial half to defend himself and level the field.

Reed only closed his eyes in
acceptance.

The peaceful look on his mate’s
face disturbed Carlos profoundly. The coward badly wanted to die. Reed wanted
to take the easy way out so he could live with himself. Damn his mate. Carlos
growled into Reed’s face, but his sharp teeth and claws remained still.

Reed’s eyes flew open.

“Carlos?” Reed whispered.

Seeing the lingering despair there
and Reed’s fervent hope Carlos would grant him his wish made him all the more
angry.

Reining in the temper of his wolf
was the hardest thing Carlos had ever done. He leaped off Reed in disgust.
Without another word, Carlos began to run across the cemetery. He didn’t care
where he was going. He just trusted his paws and his beast to lead him. The
wind felt wonderful on his face and fur.

Memories of Bonnie giggling,
gripping his fur, and trying to catch up to
him
on her
wobbly human legs painfully resurfaced. He thought of the long hours he kept,
working his human job during the day and attending to pack business at night.
The thought of coming home to his daughter and his mate were the only things he
looked forward to.

Now, those things were gone.

So Carlos ran until the hours
passed and his sharp memories of Bonnie faded to a dull ache. By the time he
returned to the house he shared with Reed, it was dark. There weren’t any
lights in the house and that alarmed him.

“Reed?
You here?
I’m ready to talk. I’m sorry for the way I’ve
reacted.”

No answer. Heart thumping, he
maneuvered through the silent and empty house. His heart nearly gave out when
he arrived at the master bedroom.

After being injured severely with
the bar
fight with another pack, the fight where Bonnie died,
his heart couldn’t take much stress
any longer. Now it thumped
agonizingly slow against his chest. The bedroom was a mess. Clothes and items
were carelessly strewn around. All Reed’s belongings were gone.

Only his mate’s lingering scent was
left, and even that too would eventually fade. Carlos wasn’t aware of sliding
against the wall. He stared into the mess of his bedroom.

“Fuck you, Reed. I swear
,
if I ever see your face again, I’m going to kill you.”

Chapter One

“Alpha, the representative from the
Starr Mountain Pack just arrived in town.”

Carlos Medina’s fingers trailed
across the inscription on the tombstone and lingered there for a few seconds.
He steadied his breathing at the same thing, and snuffed out the urge to strike
at the wolf who foolishly invaded his private time.

At the advice of his enforcers,
he’d grudgingly conceded to have one wolf shadow him whenever he went out.
Bonnie’s grave was just one of the places he didn’t tolerate anyone else
trespassing.

“Fuck off.”

“Sorry. I just can’t do that,
Alpha.”

Carlos slowly stood to face the
brave, or rather foolish, enforcer. Donnie Mills returned his gaze evenly. He
was probably the only enforcer in the New Haven Pack who’d dare do such a
thing.

Then again, he’d known Don ever
since they were kids and unwanted orphans. They grew up together in the same home
and enlisted in the military the moment they got out of the home.

Don had been by his side when he’d
been bitten, and allowed himself to be bit so Carlos wouldn’t have to go
through the change alone. The man was also there when he’d found Reed and
Bonnie, and he was there when Carlos lost them.

“Carlos, I know this place is
off-limits, but I need to warn you before you face the representative and the
rest of the pack.” Don scratched at the stubble on his cheek.

It was a nervous gesture Carlos
recognized whenever the Beta was debating what information to tell him and what
information to keep to himself.

He narrowed his eyes. “Tell me
what?”

“The other enforcers don’t know,
and the rest of the
pack have
no idea. I’m probably
the only one back from that time who knows.” Don licked his lips, and his eyes
grew a little uncertain.

Carlos found that a little
suspicious. Don was the last wolf he’d expected to watch his words around him.

“Know about what, Don?”
 

“Well…”

“Don. If you don’t spit out what
you have to say, I’m going to beat it out of you.”

“About Reed.”

Just the syllables of his former
mate felt like a sudden and stinging slap. Hearing it again slowed the tempo of
his heart. Emotions long buried and dead resurfaced. So did old ghosts and old
pains.

The weight of the past seemed to
rattle at the door he’d slammed shut ages ago. All it took was hearing Reed’s
name. Damn. Don was right. The Beta knew just hearing Reed’s name would fuck
him up.

“What about Reed?”