Read Online fate of the alpha - episode 3 by Tasha Black - Free Book Online

his bed. The two had never met, but Erik knew the man beyond any shadow of doubt.
    Jake Miller.
    Jake had the assured demeanor of a true alpha, but he carried a heaviness on his shoulders.
    Erik wondered for a moment if he recognized Jake from a family photo or if he knew the alpha because he still had a touch of the wolf in himself after all.
    “It’s too late to fix things,” Jake said, staring at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the ceiling. He spoke as though they had been talking for a long time already.
    “Why?” Erik asked.
    “It fed on my men. It’s almost strong enough to break free,” he said, looking down at his big, callused hands. “We should never have gone in after it. I’ve doomed the entire pack.”
    “What should we do?” Erik asked.
    “Evacuate the town, Erik Jensen,” Jake said, turning to Erik with fire in his eyes. “Take everyone far away, before it lures in another poor soul. The mine needs to be condemned, and the pack needs to get away, before they end up like me.”
    Jake opened his mouth and a snake slowly slithered out.
    Erik woke in a cold sweat to the sound of a high pitched scream. It wasn’t his own.
    LeeAnn.
    Erik threw himself out of bed and rushed through Mary’s room in his boxers. She was already up, standing at the edge of her bed.
    He took the stairs two at a time and found LeeAnn at the wide open front door.
    “Ruth! Rachel!” she screamed in a voice that was raw with panic.
    Cold air rushed in, filling the living room with an ominous chill and blowing LeeAnn’s yellow nightgown out behind her. Erik spun to take in the room, but he was sure in his soul that the girls weren’t in the house.
    So, apparently, was LeeAnn. She ran into the front yard and he followed her. He couldn’t help searching the view of the creek, praying not to see two small bodies floating.
    LeeAnn pulled the Tweety Bird nightgown over her head and tossed it to the ground. Erik got a glimpse of pale breasts and the curve of the c-section scar on her belly highlighted in the stark moonlight before she dropped onto all fours and bristled into an earthy brown wolf.
    The mother wolf lifted its delicate snout and let out a long, mournful howl that echoed off the surrounding mountains.
    Lights began to turn on in the bungalows up and down the street.
    LeeAnn dropped her nose and loped off into the darkness. She was headed in the direction of the library. And the mine.
    “We should follow her,” Mary’s voice said, inches from Erik’s ear. He hadn’t even heard her follow him. “We need to shift, now. ”
    “No,” he said quickly, turning to her.
    Mary studied him quizzically, while Zeke watched from the doorway.
    “Zeke can’t shift yet,” he ventured. “And besides, I know where she’s headed. Meet me at my truck.”
    He ran inside for a pair of jeans and his keys, then shuffled them into the truck.
    Zeke sat glassy-eyed in the backseat. It was clear he wasn’t awake enough to understand that his little sisters were really missing.
    “I was jealous,” Mary said, almost inaudibly from the passenger seat. “I didn’t like taking care of them all the time.”
    Erik was driving fast on a barely familiar road, but he spared her a glance. The lights from the houses strobed on her serious face.
    “This isn’t your fault,” he told her. “I promise. Now, whatever happens, I don’t want you going anywhere near that mine. Understood?”
    “Hey!” she yelled.
    Erik turned back to the road just in time to pull up. Bonnie was running toward the truck, waving her hands, her flaming hair dark against a white night gown.
    She pulled open the back door and slid into the rear cab with Zeke.
    “I’m coming with you. I’ll watch the kids,” she said.
    Erik pulled out again, fast enough to skid a little. The mine was just ahead. He took the sharp turn into the parking lot in time to see LeeAnn’s lupine form bound through the gates.
    Then he spotted them.
    The gravel flew as he threw