Alpha Reid

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

*Before you begin, please note that this is only a four-chapter sample of my book, Alpha Reid. Join my Patreon to read this book while it is ongoing, or pre-order the full book on Amazon Kindle.* 

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Reid

The shrill howl of a wolf echoes through the forest, followed by another. Tonight, the woods are crawling with wolves out running together under the light of the full moon. They're running wild, free, answering the call of their most basic instinct at this stage in the lunar cycle, when the moon's energy is at its peak. For many, it's a time for cathartic release, to let go of the past and move into a new phase.

Just a few minutes ago, I was out there running with them. As my pack's Alpha, it's my duty to lead the run every full moon- it's a ritual that promotes pack bonding and solidarity. Us wolf shifters are always looking forward to the full moon run, but anticipation was particularly high for tonight's run because it wasn't just with our own pack; we joined in with the other five packs of wolf shifters that we're aligned with for the run. The full moon run felt so different tonight, so full of promise and possibility. Until it wasn't. As the run was nearing its end, I decided to cut back ahead of the others, seeking a few moments of solitude before everyone else returned.

Typically, my pack would begin and end the run at our own packhouse, but for the combined all-pack run tonight, we gathered at the packhouse in the town of Summervale, home to the original pack in this area and the largest pack in our alliance. The 'six-pack'; that's what we call ourselves when referring to our alliance. The name is corny as hell- it started out as a joke since the alliance is comprised of six separate packs of werewolf shifters, but somewhere down the line, it stuck. At this point, we've all been together for over half a decade, so there's no changing it; the name is as good as official.

The six shifter packs in our alliance originally came together in response to a threat from a shifter pack out west- one led by a crazy ass Alpha who started on a spree of hostile takeovers of surrounding packs. All these years later, Alpha Xavier and his shadow pack still haven't been stopped. About a month ago, the six-pack came face to face with them for the first time while aiding a large shifter pack in Denver that we'd been brokering an alliance with. I'd like to say we were able to take them out at that point, but no such luck- instead, Alpha Xavier now knows about the six-pack, and we're being targeted next. Over the past month, we've been doing all we can to prepare for the war to come.

"Well?" I hear someone ask, and I glance toward the treeline as I'm buttoning my pants to see my buddies Gray and Theo approaching. So much for my five minutes of solitude.

Gray is Alpha of his own pack, too- he was forced into the role right around the same time I was. His pack stumbled upon mine years ago while they were on the run from the shadow pack. We quickly aligned and, hearing firsthand from Gray and his pack how lethal an attack from the shadow pack was, began to search for even more packs to align with. Strength in numbers, right? After brokering alliances with four other packs, we all moved into adjoining territories in Colorado and the six-pack was born.

Along with the formation of the alliance came the formation of my four closest friendships- with Gray, Theo, Jax, and Brock. The five of us are all in our twenties, close in age and either the current or future Alphas of our packs. With so much in common, we were bound to be close, and working together to form and run the six-pack's security squad has brought us even closer over the years. Now, we're practically brothers. While we only account for five of the six packs, there's a sixth future Alpha, Chase, that we'll be bringing into the fold soon enough. The plan was to bring him in when he finished high school this spring, but with the shadow pack war looming, he's already been up at the squad complex in training.