The Female Alpha Trilogy (Shifter Romance Books 1-3)

BOOK 1

THE RISE OF THE

FEMALE ALPHA

CHAPTER ONE

The morning was cool and crisp when Sienna Blackstone stepped out onto the porch of her small and simple cabin with a steaming cup of tea in hand. She blew over the liquid to cool it before sipping and savoring the fortifying and uplifting mint, oatstraw, and nettle leaf blend. It was a brew that had a tendency to be a touch on the bitter side, and on a day like today, a generous dollop of honey went a long way towards fighting off the chill that signaled the coming end of summer.

Pulling her woolen shawl a little closer around her, she observed her small community as day broke and people began to stir. She was usually the first awake, and although her cabin was semi-isolated and removed from the rest of her pack’s dwellings, she still felt protective of those she lived with. Whatever her position in the pack, and despite how invisible she was to most of the males unless they needed something from her, they were still her family.

A commotion on one side of the village got her attention, and she craned her neck over the edge of her porch railing, trying to get a better look at what was going on. She contemplated going into the center of the village to get a better look, but it soon became clear that the noise was one of celebration, and it seemed to be heading in her direction.

The cause of the interruption to Sienna’s otherwise calm morning routine quickly became clear. Kane and one of his lackeys had returned from a hunt. They’d left in the afternoon the day before and not returned in the night as they usually did. Assuming they hadn’t been ambushed, that meant only one thing; they’d been on to big game.

Sure enough, the crowd made its way to her edge of the clearing in the middle of the cluster of cabins that formed their village, and she saw the massive antlers of a once-powerful stag. It was quite an impressive feat for Kane to bring in an animal like that after going out with just one other hunter, and when she saw her alpha strutting towards her, blood dripping from a gash on his side, she realized he’d come closer to losing his fight than most of the others would ever know.

Why don’t you make yourself useful and prepare something for this scratch, said Kane as he approached. He waved off a few of his trailing admirers and stepped up to the porch, followed closely behind by a younger wolf with several cuts and blossoming bruises of his own.

Come inside and take your shirt off, said Sienna.

She pushed open her cabin and set about preparing herbs and dressings while water boiled in a kettle hung over the fire. Bloody wounds like this were common enough in a wolf pack where rough play often resulted in bruised egos and vicious fights that had to be broken up by a more superior wolf, so it was a job that she was more than used to performing. Sienna scooped a handful of pre-mixed herbs into a shallow wooden bowl, poured a little of the boiled water over them, and ground them into a paste.

Kane grinned down at her while she used a damp cloth to wipe away the blood and dirt that had accumulated in his wound on the journey home. Having a cut like this cleaned was immensely painful, but she’d learned the hard way not to offer him anything to dull that pain in the presence of another wolf. The first time she’d done so had won her a smack in the face and a black eye that ensured it would be the last time she insinuated her alpha wasn’t tough enough to handle a little pain.

You like getting a chance to touch me, don’t you? he growled while she wiped away the last of the blood and viscera. She’d placed one hand on his abs to keep him from twitching in response to the stinging pain. Maybe I should give you a romp after this for services rendered.

The young hunter who’d come in with Kane, snickered at his alpha’s crude joke. Kane would never deign to lie with someone like Sienna, and he loved pointing this out at every opportunity.

You sure you have energy after hunting that stag all night? she said with a bit too much sarcasm.

Kane’s hand shot out and his fingers latched onto a swath of her curly reddish-brown hair. He yanked her head back at a painful angle and snarled down at her. Maybe you need a reminder of who you’re talking to?

I’m sorry, Kane, she whimpered, partly from the pain, and partly because she knew she needed to put on a good show in front of one of his hunters. I’m just concerned for my alpha’s well being after risking his life to feed us.

His grip relaxed, and Sienna blinked away the unavoidable tears that had been triggered by the sting of almost having a chunk of her hair ripped from her scalp. The warning was clear that she needed to keep her big mouth shut, and that her position in this pack was only as secure as Kane’s need for her. If he decided to banish her from the pack for even the slightest of reasons, there wasn’t a wolf she knew who would reach out to help her.

Sienna gritted her teeth and set about preparing the poultice for her alpha’s wound. She knew that the quicker she finished caring for his injuries, the quicker he’d be gone from her cabin, and in that moment she could think of nothing she wanted more.

Meat from the stag sizzled and popped over the cooking fire later that night. Wolves young and old sat around the fire on blankets or some of the wooden benches that had been carved and placed long ago. Some of the young pups wrestled and ran between the legs of the adults, and a group of girls giggled and pointed at boys too young to realize that they were already being eyed as potential mates.

Sienna sat on the edge of the feast. She picked at her food and watched the girls and boys with their awkward games of love and lust. It was a world she’d never felt a part of, and something inside her still envied those young girls with their skinny bodies and their smooth straight hair. Sienna had gone from an awkward runt to a fully formed woman practically over night, and her hips were just a little too shapely, and her boobs a little too big for any of the males to pay much attention to her. While they might fight over one of the lithe and fragile females, bringing them gifts and trying to win their attention, they only every came to visit Sienna when they’d had a bit too much to drink or when they wanted to fuck and move on.

Perhaps that’s why she was so nervous when Roald came to sit beside her. He’d only recently been accepted into the pack, and after his years of running as a lone wolf, Sienna could sense something in him that she easily identified with. He knew what it was like to be on the outside of things, and she thought maybe he saw that in her too.

How come you’re not with the other females? he asked. He reached out and plucked a small piece of meat from her plate, popped it in his mouth, and smiled at her in a way that made her stomach flutter a little.

I feel more comfortable here, she said shyly. All they do is talk about their mates and gossip. It’s not really my thing.

You don’t have a mate yet? How old are you?

I’m twenty-two, she answered. It was getting to be a little old to still be unattached, but she didn’t really care what other people thought about her. She’d gotten over that a long time ago. She’d had to in order to survive life in the pack.

Still young, he said.

Sienna blushed and mumbled something unintelligible in response. She felt completely out of her element.

I think I might grab some of that stag before it’s all gone. He rose to his feet and looked down at her, his strong jaw outlined in the firelight. Will you be here when I get back?

Sienna nodded dumbly, trying to think of something cute to say but failing miserably. Instead, she just watched as he went off in search of a plate and some food. Her eyes followed him around the fire, watching his strong body move and imagining taking him into her bed that night. The other wolves she’d lain with had been rough and quick, giving her little satisfaction or enjoyment, but she knew Roald would be different. She could sense the passion in him, and a nervous lump formed in her throat when she thought of having his naked body pressed up against hers.

The image shattered when Kayleigh, a nineteen-year-old wolf with blonde hair and a tiny waist, walked up to Roald and started flirting with him in a blatant fashion. His eyes flicked towards Sienna with a touch of guilt, but he couldn’t have felt that bad about it, since he followed Kayleigh back to her seat instead of returning to Sienna.

As usually happened at feasts, or any other pack event really, Sienna quietly slipped away from the fire and went back to her cabin. She brewed up a cup of calming tea and curled up with a blanket and a book, her door locked tight to ensure that no lonely and desperate wolf found his way into her bed tonight.

––––––––

The noise from the feast had died down considerably when Sienna stepped out onto her front porch. It was late into the night, and a few people still sat around the fire drinking or trying to find someone to lie with, but the majority of the pack had gone off to sleep or to find a little privacy.

Shivering a little against the evening chill, Sienna stripped out of her clothes and untied the band in her hair, letting her curls fall free. She looked down at her body and sighed. It wasn’t that she was disgustingly fat or abnormally short, but more that she was different from the other females in the pack. She had curves where other females had none. Her breasts hung large and full, and her bum was round and shapely. It was impossible for her to believe that there was anything wrong with herself, she had too much self-esteem for that, but it was incredibly frustrating to always be losing out to the girls who were born with tiny hips and perky little breasts.

Sienna shook her head and ran off the steps off the porch, the dirt cold and hard beneath her bare feet. She ran like this for several paces, enjoying the exertion in her legs and the sensation of her muscles warming up, before leaping forward and shifting into her wolf form in mid-air. She landed effortlessly and transitioned smoothly into running on four paws instead of two legs, dodging through the trees and letting go of the frustrations of her day.

She loved to run when the moon was high in the sky and the night was still and quiet. Out here she could indulge her own inner lone wolf. Sienna didn’t quite have the courage to leave the pack and wander on her own, but she loved the freedom of her night runs. Sometimes she though they were the only thing keeping her sane.

The light burbling of water indicated that she was quickly approaching the edge of her pack’s territory. The Silverlake pack owned everything on the other side of the creek that she was now running parallel to, and she was careful not to stray to close to the water’s edge for risk of triggering a war between the two packs. Tensions had always been high between these two groups of wolves, but since no one really ever came out here, it was nice to run where she had little chance of being interrupted.

Sienna was so lost in her thoughts and the rhythm of the run that she didn’t sense danger until it was too late. She’d veered towards the stream’s edge in order to avoid fresh deadfall that blocked her way, and she’d run directly into a net trap that had tightened around her and pulled her into the air.

Hanging there was awkward in her wolf form. She couldn’t seem to get her paws to sit comfortably on the thick strands of rope that made up the net, so she shifted to human and curled up with her back against the netting and her knees tucked up into her chin. She was completely naked and immediately felt chilled, but it was more comfortable than having her paws slip through the gaps in the net.

She had no way of knowing how much time had passed while she hung in the net. Calling for help was out of the question this close to the territory boundary, but she really didn’t know what else to do. The trap was on the wrong side of the creek to have been set by the Silverlake pack, but as near as she was aware, her pack didn’t use traps like this either. Or maybe they did, she considered, it wasn’t like anyone told her much about anything.

Sienna laid her head on her bunched up knees and began to cry softly. As if her morning encounter with Kane hadn’t been bad enough, she’d been jilted by one of the only men in her pack she thought might be able to understand her, and now she was suspended in the air with no way of getting herself down and no idea who might be coming for her. A cold thought went through her mind, and she wondered if it might not be better if someone found her here and put an end to her miserable life.

The tears had dried up, and Sienna half-slept in her uncomfortable position. Her body shivered from the cold, and she wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or not when she saw a man dressed all in black hop across the stream and walk towards her. He moved gracefully, and there was a calculating look in his eyes. He approached the net and looked up at her, not saying a word before disappearing into the nearby bushes.

This confirmed to Sienna that she’d just imagined the whole thing, but then the net bounced a little and she felt herself being lowered to the ground. She landed with a light thump, and soon the stranger was there again, helping her untangle herself from the net. She took his hand and allowed him to help her up, feeling self-conscious of her nakedness in front of this startlingly beautiful man.

Are you okay, my dear? he asked.

There was something in his eyes that made her feel completely at ease around him and she nodded in response, mumbling a shy thank-you. Something deep inside her wanted to shift back to wolf and run, but instead she stood there, arms at her side, naked and entranced by the man’s gaze.

I’m glad to hear it, he said. I’ve not caught anything as lovely as you in quite some time.

His eyes flashed to pure black and two razor sharp fangs sprouted from his teeth. His tongue darted out to lick at the dangerous looking points, and he looked at Sienna with lust in his eyes. His hands caressed her hips and belly, sliding up to fondle her breasts before grabbing her neck and sweeping away the hair that covered it. She was completely helpless to do anything but stand there and act as a willing meal for this dreadful vampire.

His fangs were just inches away from plunging into her neck when a white blur appeared at the edge of her vision. A large furry object slammed into the vampire, tackling it to the ground and breaking the hold it had on her. Sienna fell to her knees and fought to control her breathing. The realization that she’d come very close to dying giving way to the new danger of whatever had attacked the vampire.

A large and powerful white wolf snarled and snapped at the vampire who’d managed to roll and escape to within a few paces of the wolf’s powerful jaws. Sienna had never seen anyone like this in her own pack, and she hoped that he was a lone wolf and not one of the Silverlakes. The last thing she wanted was to be free of the vampire only to be caught by a rival pack that would just as soon tear her apart as let her go free.

The cry of a hunting party howling from the trees made it clear that the white wolf wasn’t alone, and that backup was close behind. The vampire seemed to realize the same thing, and he took advantage of the momentary distraction to bolt off into the forest. The pack of Silverlake wolves burst from the woods and leapt across the stream, joining their leader in pursuit of the vampire.

Sienna knew she had to get out of there, but her limbs were numb and she could barely move. She was exhausted and worn out from her run and the night spent hanging in a cramped position, and she took a few desperate steps away from the water before tripping and stumbling to the ground. The trap had pulled her ankle at an awkward angle, and trying to put weight on it made it clear that it was quite severely sprained. Too tired to shift into her wolf form, she lay there and cried, hoping the Silverlake wolves would chase the vampire far enough away that it wouldn’t be worth their time to come back for her.

She pushed herself up