Guarded (True Alpha 2) (8 page)

Mia’s heart rate picked up and raced faster with every word he was saying. This was it; this was the pull to
belong
to him that she had been feeling all along. Only he had already claimed a mate once before.

“Is this something you can only do once in your life?” she asked, breathless.

He dropped his gaze. “For the females, yes. They can only be claimed once, and the bond can only be broken by the death of the male. Then she’s able to mate again, at least in theory. Most are devastated by the loss. It’s not uncommon for females to die soon after their mates.”

Mia’s eyes were wide as he explained all of it. “And for the males?”

He shook his head. “The bond is really one way in a sense.
He
bites
her,
not the other way around.
She’s
bound to
him.
The magic occurs inside her body. But it affects him as well. The submission becomes permanent, and it crosses over even stronger to your human form. And that works both ways. He must always protect her. She will always be his.”

Mia frowned. “Wait… if she’s bound to him, but he’s not bound to her… does that mean he could mate with more than one female at a time?”

Lucas gave a disgusted look and shook his head. “No decent wolf would do that.”

Mia swallowed. She already knew not all wolves were as decent as Lucas. Hell, she hadn’t met any
humans
who were anywhere near as fiercely loyal and protective as he was. But regardless of that, she knew what she needed to know: that males could mate more than once. And the mating bond was severed by death. That had to mean… it was at least possible…

He could be her mate.

If he would have her.

She drew in a deep breath. Even if it were technically possible, that didn’t say anything about the darkness she knew he still carried about his mate’s death.

His mate.
She understood now how much power those words held.

Mia laid a hand on Lucas’s where it rested on his knee. “I’m so sorry, Lucas. I can imagine how hard it must have been to lose your mate.”

He pulled his hand away and rubbed both hands over his face. “I told you, Mia. I didn’t
lose
her. She’s dead because of me.”

“You can’t really mean that,” she said, pleading with him to let go of whatever ridiculous guilt he was carrying around. “You can’t blame yourself for whatever happened. It’s like you said. You were her
mate.
You were bound to protect her by this…” She waved her hand around, not really knowing what she was saying. “…this ancient magical bond. Whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault.”

Lucas stood so suddenly, it nearly rocked her off the couch. He took a stride away from her, then whirled back. Anger was lighting up his face, turning it a blotchy kind of red.

“Do you want to know how she died, Mia?” he demanded. “Is that what you want?”

His anger struck her mute.

But he wasn’t waiting for a response. “I let her walk straight into a trap. Why? Because I was
busy.
” His eyes glittered dark and hard and cruel. “Too concerned with SparkTech and proving myself to my father and scoring the next big acquisition. I was too worried about
myself,
so I let her go,
by herself,
to meet up with people I didn’t even
know.”
He was shouting by the end, then he turned to pace away from Mia, ending up by the windows overlooking the Bay.

She untangled her legs from the couch and rose up to follow after him. “But you couldn’t have known—”

“It’s my business to know, Mia.” He turned around, fisted hands locked in crossed arms over his chest. “A true alpha would have known. Would have
made sure,
before he let his mate walk into a coven of witches out for blood.”

Mia stopped in her tracks. “Wait… what?
Witches?”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about our world.
Obviously,”
he said bitterly. “I’m sure you’re already wishing you could go hide, go back to being a recluse again. Dragging you into our world is just one more example of how very much I am
not
any kind of real alpha anymore.”

“I… I don’t understand.” Were there really witches in the world? She supposed it wasn’t that ridiculous, given that shifters were certainly real, and the whole shifting thing was definitely some kind of magic… but she had never heard of it before. He was right—there was so much she didn’t know.

“Well, let me lay it out for you.” His voice was so cold it sent a shiver down her back. “So you’ll know exactly who you’re putting your trust in to keep you alive where other supernatural creatures are concerned.”

“Lucas, I—”

“Oh no,” he cut her off. “You need to hear this.”

She held still, frozen by his words. Now that he had started, he wasn’t going to stop.

“They were posing as a startup. One we might be interested in acquiring. This was our first meetup, but they had impeccable credentials. Then again, they
would,
given they were
witches,
and could conjure the illusion of just about anything that suit their purposes.” His voice dripped an icy hatred. “Tell me, Mia, do you know how the police obtain both the human and wolf DNA of shifters they bring into custody?”

“I… what?” The sudden shift in topic and his angry pointed words made her feel like the floor was tipping.

“The police bring in
witches.
They have a spell that forces the shift. And for that kindly assistance, the police look the other way on a lot of dark magic and witch mischief. Like wolf hunting.”

Mia braced a hand against the window they were huddled next to. “You mean witches hunt wolves… but why?”

“The heart of a wolf is a powerful thing, both physically and magically. Especially the heart of a mated female wolf. Even more so for the mate of an alpha. She carries the strength of them both in her heart.”

Mia could see his eyes glass over, but he was so tightly bound, arms locked over his chest, that she didn’t dare touch him.

“The witches lay a trap, they catch a wolf, and then they…” He swallowed back a pain she couldn’t even imagine. “They cut out her heart.”

“Oh my god, Lucas.” Mia’s hand flew to her mouth and trembled there, tears springing to her own eyes.

A growl rumbled inside his chest, and his words came out in angry bites. “They forced her to shift so they could have it in wolf form, where it was most powerful. By the time I found her, they were long gone. There was no way to even prove a murder had occurred.”

Mia gasped, horrified. “Because she died in wolf form.”

“They didn’t just take her heart, Mia. They took mine as well.” His dark eyes were filled with so much pain she could hardly look into them without sobbing herself.

He nodded at the horror on her face. “So now you understand how deeply I failed to protect her. And why I will never, ever fail someone like that again.” He straightened and unlocked his arms. “I’ve arranged for a bodyguard to come watch over you. You’ll be much safer in his hands. He’ll arrive on Monday. Until then, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.”

Mia’s heart was too drenched with pain for her to speak.

He peered into her eyes for a long moment, then said, “I will guard you, Mia. But I will never claim you, or anyone, ever again.”

With that he brushed past her and marched to the couch. In silence, he gathered his papers and laptop and strode toward the bedrooms at the back of their suite.

The door slammed behind him.

Now that Mia understands what happened to Lucas's dead mate, she questions whether he's truly the mate for her.  Meanwhile, Lucas wrestles between keeping her close and letting her go... but he can't resist when she asks him to teach her more about being a wolf.

GET THE NEXT TRUE ALPHA EPISODE!

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Hunted
(True Alpha 3) 

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True Alpha
(Vol 1-6) 

releases 10/28

RELEASE SCHEDULE - 2014

9/2 - 
Desired 
(True Alpha 1)

9/2 - 
Guarded 
(True Alpha 2)

9/16 -
Hunted
(True Alpha 3)

9/30 -
Captured
(True Alpha 4)

10/14 - To Be Named (True Alpha 5)

10/21 - To Be Named (True Alpha 6)

10/28 - Box Set (True Alpha 1-6)

If you enjoyed
Guarded
(True Alpha 2),
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Alisa Woods lives in the Midwest with her husband and family, but her heart will always belong to the beaches and mountains where she grew up. She writes sexy paranormal romances about alpha men and the women who love them. She enjoys exploring the struggles we all have, where we resist—and succumb to—our most tempting vices as well as our greatest desires. She firmly believes that love triumphs over all. 

TRUE ALPHA is Alisa's debut New Adult Paranormal Romance serial. Find 
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Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

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About the Author