Alpha Betrayed: A Dark Shifter Romance

THE FIRST DAY (JULIET)

I rise from the darkness like an air bubble seeking the surface of the water, swift and relentless and desperate to return to the place I belong.

I have to get back to the world of air and light.

I have to escape the bony fingers clinging to my ankles, my wrists, whispering that I don't have to go. I can stay if I'd like. I can rest. I can join the legions in the shadows beyond and finally be free of all my troubles. But I can't.

There's something I have to do, someone who's waiting for me on the other side.

I burst upright, covered in dirt, and gasping for breath, instinctively swiping at the ash covering my eyes. It sticks to my eyelashes and clings to my lips like cotton candy sugar, sticky and stubborn. It's between my fingers, too, caked under the fingernails I can barely see in the pre-dawn light.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I hold up my hand, shocked by how slim and small it is.

Wasn't it bigger before?

Wasn't I bigger...whoever I am?

I run my fingers over my face and through my long hair. I pull a handful of it forward, but I can't tell what color it is. It's too caked in ash. It's like I took a bath in it.

Or ran through a sprinkler and then rolled in the dirt, just like we used to do...

The thought vanishes before I can finish it, evaporating like smoke rising from a fire. Whatever that memory is, it's lost to me now.

It belongs to whoever I was before.

It feels like I'm rising in an elevator car, leaving the person I was, and all her memories, on the floor below me. I sense faint murmurings from that realm, but it's nothing I can see or hear or access.

Still, I know I've been here before. I've been this girl before.

As I stretch my legs out in the sand and soot, wiggling my toes, the way my muscles flex feels familiar. I know how to move in this body. I know it can run slowly for hours but quickly for only a minute or two. I know it craves lean protein and feels sluggish after too much bread or sugar. I know these fingers once played an instrument, though I can't remember which one, and that I could probably learn to play one again without too much trouble.

I also know that I'm back in this body because I'm a phoenix, the only shifter with the power to fly and flame and rise again.

And I know the wolf trotting toward me from the shoreline, his silver gaze locked on me like I'm the answer to every question, is mine.

He belongs to me and me to him and both of us to each other.

I don't who he is or how we met. I can't recall a single memory shared, but the moment I lay eyes on him, love swells in my chest until it's so big I can't hold it inside of me.

It escapes with a sob, flying through the air toward him as I open my arms, calling him to me. He rushes across the sand, nearly knocking me over as his solid, furred body collides with mine. But the touch of his paw on my shoulder and the rough brush of his tongue against my cheek is gentle and sweet.

"Bet that doesn't taste too good." I dig my fingers into his scruff, laughing as he continues to clean me with a soft growl that seems to say "Shut up, woman, and let me tidy you up."

"I'll get in the water in a second." I wrap my arms around his strong neck and rest my cheek on his shoulder, love washing from my core in waves, so grateful to be with him that I don't care who he is. I just know he's good and kind and I couldn't wish for a better being with which to share my first sunrise. "I need to hold you for a minute." I nuzzle my nose deeper into his fur. "And smell you. You smell so good. Like home."

His ribs vibrate with another soft growl, and I hear a faint voice in my head, speaking as if from a great distance, You remember. I thought you'd forget. I wasn't even sure you'd come back. F**k, I was so scared, Juliet. So f*****g scared. I'm so glad you're back. So glad and so grateful.

I pull back, peering into the wolf's eyes, the euphoria pumping through me fading a bit as I realize this wolf isn't just a wolf. I don't love him any less for it, but my gut knows a human element can make love tricky. It's so easy to love an animal. A wolf's love is pure and endless. A shifter's love is more complicated.

And potentially dangerous...

A soft tremor vibrates through the marrow of my bones, a knowing that's more than a memory. It's instinct, my own animal magic telling me I'm not safe and neither is my new (old?) friend.

I look up, scanning the pale gray sky. Only a single seagull circles overhead and the sun has yet to rise, but I feel like I'm being watched.

I turn back to my wolf, brushing a hand over his massive head, hoping my touch brings him comfort as I say, "I'm sorry. I don't remember. I don't know who I am or who you are, but I know you were important to me. And I believe I can trust you." He whimpers, a sharp, pained sound I understand is born of grief, not any urge to contradict me.

"I'm sorry," I say, still running my hands over his fur, promising him with my touch that everything is going to be okay. "But it's not that bad, I promise. I feel good. I'm hopeful and so happy to see you. When you ran up from the beach, I was so glad. I just knew there wasn't anyone else I'd rather be with on my first morning."

He drops his head, nuzzling it against my shoulder with a mixture of relief and pain that makes me wish I had the entire day to reassure him. But the unsettled feeling is getting more intense with every passing moment, and I sense we don't have much time left alone.

I grip his scruff, urging him back far enough for us to lock eyes. "But we're going to have to catch up later. We're in danger. Someone is coming. For us. I don't know who or how close they are, but I'd bet both my hands they don't wish us well. We should run, hide." The fur lifts on the wolf's neck and shoulders. Again, I hear a faint voice in my head whisper, It's him. He's here. I can smell him.

"Him?" I ask, my brow furrowing.

Your father, he says, the one who wants you dead.