Wolf Creek Alpha (Texas Pack 1)

Text copyright © 2012 Jo Ellen

All Rights Reserved

To my husband and kids for giving up the mac

Rafe looked over the financial report that Devlin had prepared.  Since Devlin was the
pack’s
financial guru, he had no doubt that their future was secure.  As alpha for the pack, he was glad to have one less thing on his mind. 

“Good job
,
Dev.  I wish everything could go this smoothly.”

Devlin grinned, “Yeah, sucks to be you.”  They both laughed
,
since they knew Rafe had been born to be a leader. 

The problem with being the
alpha was having two younger brothers that knew you too well.  Devlin was the youngest with Ian being the middle son.  Ian was
Rafe’s
top enforcer and he was glad to have
his
brother watching his back.

The shif
ters lived very long lives due to
the blessings
from the pond.  Raf
e was over one hundred years
old,
but
he
looked to be around thirty-four.  Ian was two years younger than Rafe
was
.  Devlin was the
baby,
being seven years younger than Ian.

“I’m going to Charlie’s, want to come?”  Charlie’s was the one bar in town where everyone congregated.  Rafe figured
that
he could use a break and just enjoy a few beers while things were quiet. 

The pack owned sever
al
acres near the
small east Texas town of
Wolf Creek
. 
They
al
so had a few businesses in town
and Charlie’s was one of them.

“I’ll come.  I’ve been staring at
my computer screen for too long
.
I think I’m
getting
cross-
eyed.
 
Ever see a cross-eyed wolf?  Time to shut it down,” Devlin said
,
grinning.
             

They almost ran over
Ian as they headed out the do
or.  Of
course,
Ian would go too
.  They had plenty of
pack members to patrol
the
grounds and protect the pond
.

“Just let me assign a patrol an
d tell them we’ll all be gone.”

Ian called one of the other enforcers to set it up.  They hadn’t had problems with trespassers going near the
pond
,
as
it
was private
property,
and they would see
or smell
any strangers coming before they ever reached the pond
.

The brothers
were amazingly simil
ar in looks.  All three of them
had long
,
dark brown hair with eyes as green
as the forest surrounding them.

Rafe
stood around six foot six
with a brawny physique.  He was the strongest and fastest wolf in the pack. 
He had
been born to lead his wolves, but
he
still depended on those nearest him for their opinions.  

With his brothers about the same height as
he was
, they were an intimidating group when seen together.  Ian was burly like Rafe, with Devlin being only slightly smaller
than
he was
.
  They liked to call Devlin the runt of the litter since he was an inch shorter than
Ian was
.  Of course, this would set up a round of rolling around in the grass trying to get the best of one another.  They liked nothing better than beating on each other in play. 
 

Seen together, the trio was enough to make women stop and stare.  Thankfully, they were somewhat oblivious to their
own charisma as babe magnets.  Their
parents kept them from growing up too full of themselves.  Good looks were nothing more than genes,
they had
told them.  What
mattered
is character. 

Women and
all
their
differences were a delight to Rafe
.  He would never intentionally hurt their feelings, but he preferred to be the one
doing the
chas
ing.  It was built into his DNA, like all canines. 
He especially enjoyed
the
strong women that flirted with him. 
He was sure that it
was due to his being an alpha.  Weaker women tended to bring
out his protective tendencies.

Rafe got in the
driver’s
seat
of his Taho
e
while Ian took point
as lookout.  Ian was
surveying the area while Devlin poured himself into the back seat. 
As top enforcer for the pack, Ian took his job seriously.

Ian was the most reserv
ed of the three.  Women would
try get
ting
his attention by throwing
themselves
at him
outrageously.  B
eing the strong, silent type made him
a challenge to some women. 
He also preferred the chase, and didn’t understand why they came on so strong when he wasn’t encouraging them.

“I want to shoot some pool
.
Who
wants to lose some money?”
said Dev.

Devlin was the jokester among them.  He also had an IQ off the charts.  His devil may care manner made people forget just how intelligent he was. 
Joking
around
was
his
way of relieving stress
after working on one of his many projects. 

The men arrived early at Charlie’s around eight o’clock.  It was just starting
to get busy as more people
were
show
ing
up
.  They waved at Hank and held up three fingers for their beer order.  Ian yelled to Hank that the
y’d be in the back playing pool and Hank
gave a nod acknowledging
that
he got
the message
.
             

Luckily,
there wa
s a table open
,
so they didn’t have to wait.  They had been playing eight
ball
for
a while and Devlin was being his usual cocky self. 

“Just can’t beat a math genius,
I know all the angles,
”
Devlin boasted. 

Rafe just rolled his eyes
at the idiotic
pun
, “We’re letting you win because you have such low self-esteem. 
It’s our job as the older and wiser ones to allow you to win
and build u
p your confidence
.” 

“Wouldn’t want the runt to be a whiny girly girl,” Ian said evilly. 

“Yeah, p
ay up
,
old wise ones
.
I’m not the one who’ll be whining
,
” he said with a grin.
 

Rafe saw Chas
e come through the doors and head straight for the bar.  He immediately went over to speak to his old friend
,
intending to catch up on any news from the feline shifter.

             
“I was hoping to see you.  I p
lanned to head over to your place
after I
had a drink
.
  I need to speak to you in private
.”
  
Chas
e spoke in a monotone
voice,
hoping
no one else would hear him.
  Shifters had superior hearing to humans. 

Chase
was normally pretty laid back
,
so Rafe was concerned.
As they left the bar area, he
spoke to Hank asking to use his office.
             

“No
problem,
Boss, I’ll make sure no one else goes in there
.”
 

Rafe could tell Chas
e wasn’t in the mood for small talk.  As they
settled into the office chairs,
he glanced over at the
feline shifter. 
Chas
e was looking
worried,
which didn’t sit well with him
. 

             
“Ok
ay
, what’s the problem?”
asked Rafe.

             
“Shit, you’re not going to believe this, but our seer tells me she sees da
rkness coming.  It’s so fucking
vague;
I just want to hit
something.”

“Was
that all she said?”
 

“Her exact words were, ‘Darkness sur
rounds the animal
spirit’s
path
to the water
s
.
’ I hate seers.  Why the hell can’t they just sa
y what they mean?”  Chase complained.
 

“If I was a betting man,
I would think it’s the dark
fae
, but I haven’t heard anything from the Queen in years.”  Rafe
had a
bad feeling.  He
wou
ld have to contact
Robert;
the Queens preferred
guard
,
and his friend.

“
I’ve put my guys on alert. 
I
don’t want
my pride at risk of any danger that
might
be coming
,
”
Chas
e said.

“I appreciate you’re letting me know.  I’d still like you to come out to the house.  Since I’ll be contacting Robert, I’m sure he’ll have more questions for you.”
 

He was younger than Rafe, but had been an excellent leader for the cougars in the area.  Most people only saw his
playful side.  They did not realize
how deadly he could be to protect his family and friends. 

Both men sat
silently,
thinking on
the
seer’s
words.  If the warning was
in fac
t the dark
fae
, they knew it could
be the fight of their lives. 

“I’m putting my wolves on alert also.  We’ll up the patrols and post mo
re enforcers around the area.  I’m hoping Robert can give us an idea of what we’re up ag
ainst.  I don’t know what
kind
of magic we’ll be dealing with
,” he said grimly.

They did not leave immediately, figuring they had time to relax for a little while. 
Shifters relied on their senses to guide
them and no warn
ing bells were going off at the moment.

Their home was a replica of a Scottish castle.  Very modern inside
,
but
it
looked archaic when seen from afar.  Rather incongruous sitting in the east Texas woods
,
but the
y loved their family home. 
If needed, it
was big enough to house many members of the pack.