The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

Anya just stared at her for a moment, grinning from ear to ear. “Joseph!” she shouted towards one of the cooks, “One medium-rare with an emphasis on the ‘rare’ for our guest the Arbiter.”

No sooner than the word ‘Arbiter’ had escaped her Anya’s lips, Sadie found herself surrounded by throngs of werewolves asking questions. They weren’t rude, but were rather just enthusiastic.

“Is it true you like to play basketball naked?”

“How long have you been an Arbiter?NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“What brought you to Gravestones?”

“Do you prefer Star Wars or Star Trek?”

It was like an overly enthusiastic and musky press conference. She was fielding questions left and right until someone thrust a Guinness into her hand. It was Todd.

“Uncle Vladimir says that it’s your favorite.”

“You and your uncle are gods among men,” she muttered, biting the bottlecap off to get to her sweet nectar of life.

“Isn’t that bad for your fangs?”

“I’ve practiced.”

Soon, she was reminded why she loved hanging out with werewolves so much. When they had “meetings,” it was more like a party. They didn’t stand on ceremony or stuffiness like vampires did. The only thing that they were missing was a couple of monster trucks . . . otherwise, it was the biggest redneck convention she’d ever seen. Even the werewolves in the three-piece suits would just kick back on a lawn chair, scratch themselves publicly and suck down cold beer and hot dogs. They lived out in the open rather than the closed spaces of her own darkworlder brethren. She had often wished that she’d been born a were.

They were just picking teams for an impromptu game of full-contact football when she heard her name echoing over the din. She saw Vladimir next to a distinguished looking though slightly vexed gentlemen. ‘That’s gotta be Ivan,’ she thought. ‘I’m guessing he didn’t get his way.’

She made her way over, grabbing another beer and a bag of Fritos on the way. “Hey Vlad!”

Ivan smirked. “Vlad?”

“Don’t encourage her,” Vladimir growled. “Sadie, this is Ivan Petrov, pack leader for the Northwestern United States.

She saw Ivan roll his eyes. He definitely felt formidable to Sadie, but didn’t have the same presence that Vladimir did. Being around all these weres made it easier to discern how alpha each was in comparison to each other, and Vlad was radiating it. She began thinking about how she’d really like to see his wild side, then shook her head to clear the thought. That was when she remembered that she should tell him about seeing Teresa.

“Nice to meet you Arbiter,” Ivan said, trying to offer a hand but getting caught in a big hug, letting Sadie wrap and arm around him so she could drink some beer over his shoulder before letting him go.

“Told you,” Vlad said.

“Okay, she’s as friendly as you said she was. I’m just not used to vamps being anything but –” He stopped, not wanted to offend. That secured his place as a beta . . . an alpha wouldn’t much care about hurting an outsider’s feelings. Ivan was probably a good political liaison, but not as natural of a leader.

“Rude? Uptight? Full of shit?” Sadie just kept filling in the blanks until both weres were laughing. “Todd told be that the other packs have been making noise about the local vamps?”

Ivan nodded, wiping tears from his eyes while trying to compose himself. “Yeah. They’ve gotten a little cockier everywhere this Halloween season, but it’s been really bad up here. They’ve been pushy in both the human and darkworlder political arenas. They’re really upset about Turning restrictions, even though they’re close to quota right now.”

Sadie wondered how they would legally pull off all the Turns she thought that they were planning if they were really that close to their maximum limits. “Vamps have been bitching about that for a long time.”

“Not like this,” Ivan replied. “The elves are securely in their camp too, and they’ve convinced some of the larger covens that this is all just human prejudice against the ‘higher’ darkworlders.”

“You going to their little pre-ritual ritual?” Vlad asked, rolling his eyes.

“I wasn’t planning on it. If I let the Captain or anyone else bully me into giving up my free time every time the bloodsuckers have a ceremony, I’d never have time to myself.”

“I’ve never heard a vamp so blunt with their own kind,” Ivan said.

“Good reasons, I assure you. Hey, I’ve been trying to figure out what all this attitude is about, so I’ll let you know if I hear anything, okay? Or Vlad will –”

“It’s Vladimir!”

“Sure thing Vladilicious.”

“Sadie, I’m going to –”

“Vladaroonie.”

Ivan was laughing again and Vlad was barely containing it. But playtime was over.

“Hey Ivan, could I talk to Vladimir alone for a sec?”

“Sure thing. I want to get in on the game before they start.” He rushed over like a kid, waiting his turn to get picked.

“I’ve never seen football games with thirty or forty people per side,” she said, looking at the throng.

“Sometimes we have two quarterbacks per team, or we’ve played with three teams in a triangle. We keep thinking that we need to propose werewolf football as a sport to the television companies, but no one ever bothers to write down the rules.” He looked at her more seriously. She’d called him “Vladimir,” which probably meant something was up. “Have you heard from Mel?”

“No, but it sounds like she’s got a lot on her plate. She moved in with Mary today.”

“Wasn’t that a bit . . . sudden?”

Sadie shrugged. “Far be it for me to discourage impetuous carnal actions, but it might have been. But since neither you or I are living HER life, let’s just be happy for her. But I gave her something to go on . . . I think those may be Turnings that are scheduled.”

“Turnings?! No possible way!” Vladimir had to struggle to get his voice under control. With that many weres around, he was already pumped up and ready to growl. “That many turns would put the vamps way over their quota.”

“I know, but I went to the site of tonight’s ceremony, and there are hundreds of shallow graves Vlad . . . Turning graves. It’s a stretch –”

“Have you asked Terrence?”

“I tried calling on the way over but he wasn’t picking up.” She paused. She needed to say what she was going to say. “Vladimir, does your wife work for Councilman Vallant?”

Vlad stopped and stared. “Vallant? No, she’s a sales rep. Why?”

“I saw that he was providing the fencing and security for the ceremonial site and . . . I went to his house and saw Teresa in the front door with . . . someone.” How do you tell a man that you’re on thin ice with already that his wife is —

Vladimir tensed up like he was going to go ballistic and then . . . nothing. Sadie watched his shoulders and face fall, and a look of sad familiarity flickered in his eyes. That was when she knew that he knew. To make matters worse, she doubted this was the first time.

“You just can’t stay out of other people’s business can you?” he whispered.

“How many times?” Sadie asked. “You don’t cheat on werewolves, because they can smell it. Good grief, do you have any balls at all?” That was when Sadie realized that she was mad at him.

Vlad was growling . “Watch yourself –”

“Or you’ll what? Snivel at me? For the love of darkness, you’re just going to stand there and take it! She’s cheating on you Vladimir, and you’re going to let her treat you like YOU’RE the bitch?!”

Vladimir shoved her, sending her tumbling backwards, but she had more than enough agility to roll with it and pop back up to her feet. Luckily they were far enough away from the others and their activities that no one had noticed.

“Damn it, you’ll strike out at someone who actually gives a shit about you but you let her treat you like a hairy door mat?” Sadie grabbed him and rammed him into a tree. ‘Maybe I can knock some sense into him!’ She growled, “You really think this is what your friend wanted for you? What her brother –” She actually flinched a bit when her reared an arm back as if he were going to separate her head from her shoulders, but the blow was held in uneasy tension. She let her voice soften. “He wanted you to look after her, and you’ve done everything you could. But she’s chosen her life and her side . . . maybe you should rethink yours. Some people can’t be saved. Some people don’t want to be.” She stepped in front of him, watching the wolf struggle with the man just underneath the skin. “You should be alpha. You should be happy and wild and free. Do you really want the rest of your life to be like this?” Her phone started to ring, but before she answered it, she had one more thing to say. “When you finally figure it out, I’ll be waiting.” She wondered if he understood what that meant. In her mind, Vladimir Koloff had become more than a friend.

“Hello? Mary? Calm down! What . . . what happened?”

Despite the tension, Vladimir wasn’t thinking about the argument anymore. There was something about Sadie’s voice and tone that chilled his blood.

“When?” Sadie had gone deathly pale. “Did you call the ambu– . . . Okay, I’ll be there.” She hung up and looked at Vlad, her face lit up with fear.

Vlad had never seen her afraid. “What happened?”

“Mel’s been in a car wreck,” she said, hurrying towards the house, Vlad close at her heels. “Someone rammed her car when she was heading to Mary’s, then fled the scene. And the ambulances won’t fucking go to New Plymouth because they’re afraid wraiths or they think it’s a fucking prank.” She cursed under her breath at the sheer stupidity of some people.