My unexpected Alpha [EDITING]

Chapter 1

Nora closed her eyes and took a deep breath the second she stepped out of her car. She drew the familiar scent of the wilderness into her nostrils, exhilaration gushing through her blood as the feeling of home settled deep in her bones. She'd been away for almost a year, spending some time with the pack's allies in the Catskills, learning how to fully utilize the gifts she'd been born with so that she could best help her own pack. 

She'd valued that time away from home, a time where she'd made new friends and learned to do extraordinary things, time where she'd gotten to know herself and the kind of person she wanted to be. Even so, it was good to finally be home again. She'd missed her family, missed her friends and her pack, and she'd missed the place where she'd grown up and experienced so much. 

There was pain, but there was also joy and love, and everything that was home. It was the sound of a door opening and the familiar scent of her father that had her finally opening her eyes, a brilliant smile shaping her lips as she looked towards the house where she grew up and the man standing in the door smiling at her. 

Her father looked like a man in his prime. He was tall and built, most males of their kind were, and he had some silver in his thick dark hair that only added to his appearance. He was fifty-four years old, but he didn't look a day over forty and even as his daughter she knew he was the kind of man that any woman would find attractive. She'd seen pictures of him from when he was her age, and he'd always been attractive, but her father had the good fortune of being one of those men who only got more so with age. And now those emerald green eyes were filled with two decades of love and affection as he looked at her. 

"Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to get your ass up here and give your old man a hug?" Laughing, she retrieved her bag from the backseat of her Jeep Cherokee and rushed around the nose of the car to get to him. His arms were already open as she jogged up the porchsteps, dropped her bag on the porch by her feet and slid right into them, just like she'd used to do when she was little. 

"Hey daddy, I've missed you." One of his hands cupped the back of her head, his other arm curled tight around her shoulders, and she could feel his lips against the crown of her hair. 

"I missed you too, kiddo. It's good to have you home." 

She squeezed him tight and pulled just her head back to look up into his handsome familiar face. She opened her mouth to tell him it was good to be home when they were both distracted by the sound of an approaching car, and her dad let her go to wrap one arm around her shoulder and tuck her into his side as they both turned to look at the car driving up. 

It hadn't even stopped before the front passengerdoor was thrown open, her best friend Lexi appearing, she hit the ground running and Nora laughed as she suddenly found herself pounced on. 

Both of them went down, and Nora couldn't stop laughing as Lexi - lying on top of her - smothered her face with kisses.

"Lex! Stop, you're getting your spit all over me!" she got out between laughs, grabbed the side of Lexi's head, pulled it down and gave her a big kiss right on the lips. 

A second later, Lexi was being pulled off her, then her dad was there to pull her to her feet with a chuckle and amused shake of his head, and as soon as he let her go, she was pulled right into the arms of another man she'd missed like crazy during the last year. 

"Damon," she whispered, closing her eyes and pressing her face against the chest of her big brother, breathing in his familiar beloved scent, her wolf rolling around in ecstacy at being home and surrounded by the people she loved with all her heart.