The Alpha's Mate [boyxboy]

Chapter One

The Alpha's Mate

©2016 H J BRADLEY

FIRST PUBLISHED 2016. 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE RIGHTS UNDER COPYRIGHT RESERVED ABOVE, NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, STORED IN OR INTRODUCED INTO A DATABASE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR ANY MEANS(ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING OR OTHERWISE)WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF BOTH THE OWNER OF COPYRIGHT AND THE ABOVE PUBLISHERS.

THIS BOOK IS A WORK OF FICTION AND ANY RESEMBLANCE TO PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD, OR PLACES, EVENTS OR LOCALES, IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL. THE CHARACTERS ARE PRODUCTIONS OF THE AUTHOR'S IMAGINATION AND USED FICTITIOUSLY.

*

Thirty years ago Jax Webster wouldn't have even had the knowledge of how difficult it was to dig a grave when the frost came in. Now however it was almost second nature to him, and it was as he shoveled the last of the frozen dirt onto the pine coffin that he wondered who would dig his grave when the Aithne finally came for him. There was no one left, the Red Wood Pack was nothing more than a solitary Alpha and a territory too large for him to protect alone.

And Jax was so very alone right now.

Rebecca had been the last one, a beta who had insisted that she carry the next generation, and despite his reservations he had bred with her. It would only be fitting that the last of his pack was not killed by the assassins that haunted their every move, but by Jax's own son.

Steven. The vulnerable infant still sleeping soundly upstairs in his cot, who had screamed his way into life even as he took the last of his mother's life. Now it was just them and Jax would miss Rebecca so very much. He hadn't loved her even though they had bred but she had been Pack, and Pack was family. The child she had left him was the only family he had left in this world.

Standing up he gave the grave one last glance before throwing the shovel over his shoulder and walking back into the house. It wasn't the Pack house, oh no he had had to give that up. There were too many memories wrapped up in those walls. So instead he had used his not inconsiderable wealth to purchase this much smaller property on the outskirts of town, where he could be close enough to humans that their energy would protect him. Yet far enough that he couldn't do them any harm during the full moon, especially as he had a pup to teach the ways of the Were.

He stalked through the kitchen and then up the creaking stairs, pulling off his sweat soaked shirt as he did so and throwing it into the hamper as he passed. Sticking his head through the door to his bedroom he watched Steven's tiny chest rise and fall with each rapid breath that the infant took. Satisfied that his son was still alive, though logically he knew that his heightened senses would have informed him if something had happened, he moved towards the last door in the hall.

"Come on Jax." All but stumbling into the bathroom he turned on the taps for the shower, making sure it was just this side of too hot. "Stop freaking out."

The panic attacks were new and uncomfortable, something that Alpha's weren't supposed to experience in the first place. He was supposed to be strong, powerful, there to keep the Pack together no matter what. A snort of laughter burst from him at that, well now he was an Alpha with no Pack to keep together.

Shaking his head he quickly removed the rest of his clothes and and stepped under the water, grave digging as it turned out was dirty work. Though that was probably something that he could have figured out anyway without having to do the job itself. Giving himself a thorough scrub down and rubbing some soap through his thick black hair, Jax turned off the water and wrapped the towel around his hips. It was then that he noticed there was a new scent coming up from outside, and though they had the occasional passerby come by this one was straying just a little too close to his den.