Alphy's Challenge Read online

  Alpha Berry took on a slightly more serious look. “I’m sorry for your losses, Ralph, all of them.” The alpha gave him a knowing look. He was the one who’d tracked Alphy down to inform him of what happened, so he knew about the loss of his team.

  “Thank you, sir. I want to thank you for taking care of the funeral expenses. I was informed that the burial is set for tomorrow.”

  “You’re welcome. You have enough to worry about. Yes, tomorrow is correct. I believe it’s at one.” The alpha’s sigh sounded regretful. “I hope you understand I can’t have you in my territory longer than necessary. I hate to have to push you during this time, but my bear doesn’t settle while you are here.”

  “I understand and completely agree. My bear doesn’t like it either.”

  Looking slightly relieved, the alpha pick up a folder and pen, stood up and walked around the desk to him. He placed the folder on the part of the desk in front of him and opened it up to a small pile of papers. The click of the pen seemed to fill the entire space right before the alpha handed it to him. “Do you have a place to go?” The shifter leader’s concern was genuine, offering Alphy a slight bit of comfort.

  His hand didn’t shake with the turbulent emotions battling inside him when he reached up and took the offered pen. “Yeah, a great-aunt lives in Canada. She was my grandfather’s sister. She’s the only family we have left and is willing to put us up until I can figure out what do next. She owns enough acreage to get lost in. I think it would be good for us.”

  “Canada? That’s a bit of a move. Have you talked to the teens about it? They are typical modern teens with their cell phones practically surgically attached to their hands.”

  Tension eased just a bit from Alphy’s gut when the two shared another moment of amusement before he answered.

  “She isn’t too far from a city of Toronto in Ontario, so it should be enough to appease the tech gods and still allow their bears to stretch.”

  Alphy scribbled his signature on the line that was highlighted for him. When he was finished, he handed back the pen. The alpha stood, and handed him a check for the house his parents had owned. It was a fair amount. Alphy had already finished the papers for taking his parents’ bank accounts earlier that morning at the bank.

  “I’ve arranged for help to pack things up, and they should be there now. I’ve also arranged for you to be able to use a storage unit if you want put most of it away until you’re more certain of where you’re going to settle before hauling it around. I’ll have it sent to you when you are ready for it.”

  Alphy nodded. “That will be appreciated, thank you.”

  Alpha Berry put a hand on his shoulder and lightly squeezed. Alphy knew it was meant as a gesture of comfort, but his bear growled at the touch. The alpha didn’t hold it for long, and he withdrew his hand, “If you have any need, you are always welcome to call. You have an ally with us.”

  Alphy felt the lump form in his throat again and the pinpricks at his eyes. He quickly took back control over himself before he responded. “Thank you, Alpha Berry. That means a lot to me.”

  The alpha led him out and to the front door. After the door was closed behind him, Alphy took in a few breaths, bringing the sweet smell of summer flowers into his lungs, before descending from the porch. The noontime sun bathed over his large muscled form, warming his skin as he returned to his silver-grey truck. It actually had been his father’s truck. Both parents had had their own vehicles.

  No alpha wanted a bear as strong as he was in their territory, so finding any place for him to settle was a serious problem. He felt so incredibly grateful to the fates that he still had one relative and in a place where he could gather himself to plan what next to do. Life was hitting him hard at the moment. However, he knew with each storm in life came a blessing as well. He mused that the blessing from this should be pretty epic. Perhaps it sounded callous, but hope was really the only thing right now helping him keep his inner strength.

  Pulling up in front of the ranch style home he had grown up in, Alphy witnessed several people he knew from his years of growing up carrying things from the house to a large moving truck. His bear growled at seeing people touching the things that belonged to him before he could even choose what he wanted done with it.

  A sinewy, bright red haired man appeared, exiting through the doorway with a large box. Alphy suddenly felt a happy beat in his heart paint a smile across his face, and a sudden snicker huffed out. Climbing out of the truck and schooling his face, he stomped over the lawn in the direction of the man.

  Alphy barked out the man’s name to get his attention. “Ryker!”

  The thin young man jolted violently, causing him to drop the box. Alphy was startled just a bit at the box dropping. He would have thought it was something breakable like dishes, but nothing crashed. When Ryker whipped around to look at him, the man’s face transformed from fearful to a bright and joyous expression, further warming Alphy’s heart.

  Alphy barely kept himself from falling when the man barreled into him, bracing his arms in a tight hug around him. The shock of the impact was only slightly painful, but with so many years in the military, he had a pretty high pain tolerance. He easily ignored it and gave his enthusiastic friend a proper bear hug. It was a good thing his friend was a vampire. A human would have ended up with broken bones. Though most myths were wrong about vampires, like the myth about the sun, other myths, like about their strength, were correct. Even the small vampires, like his friend, were extremely strong.

  Ryker pulled back. “Damn good to see you, man! It’s been way too long.”

  Alphy brought his hand up and threaded his fingers into the red soft strands on top his head and ruffled his friend’s hair.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Alphy drawled, “Now my turn’s done, next time it’s your turn to visit.”

  The man ducked from the hair assault and ran his fingers through the semi-long bright red locks, trying to put them back in place. “Still petting me like a pet, I see.”

  “Still playing the stereotypical white-until-you-burn vampire, I see.”

  The man gave a mock shocked face and feigned to be wounded by placing his hand over his heart. “You wound me. I’ll have you know the chicks dig us sun neglected computer geeks.”

  Alphy gave a hearty laugh. “Not that any of them have a chance with you.”

  The man smiled. “Yeah, but they don’t need to know that, and it’s great fun when I lure them away from all you tanned skinned beef-cakes.” The man’s green eyes roved his form. “Still the sexiest friend I have,” he hummed out.

  Alphy laughed again and wrapped his friend in his arms. “Sorry, buddy, I’m still straight. I tried, I mean really tried, to get a boner for you guys, but the titties get me every time.”

  A screech filled the air, and Alphy turned just in time to catch his sister, then a double hit as his brother joined her. He was grateful he was so strong. Suddenly Havana leaped back with a panicked look on her face then yanked Reese back, causing him to stumble backwards onto the lawn with a grunted “oof”.

  Alphy looked at her, confused. “Havana?”

  She looked back at him with tears streaming down her face. Alphy reached up and wiped the dampness away. Her voice was watery. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

  Alphy gave her another confused look. He wasn’t used to his sister being like this. She was always headstrong and nearly fearless. “For what?”

  “I hurt you. You were hurt, and I wasn’t gentle. Did you get hurt? Where are you hurt? What can I do?”

  Alphy’s brows rose high onto his forehead. He pulled her into an embrace and cupped her head to his shoulder, rocking her a little bit. “Shh, I’m ok. You didn’t hurt me. I’m just a little sore and my senses are just a little slow, but I’m ok. You don’t need to do anything but give me a hug. That’s what I need.” Alphy was alarmed when she started bawling. As Alphy held her tight while Reese hugged her from the other side, he looked at his younger brother and
saw tears slipping down his face as well. He felt a thump when Ryker joined the hug.

  After a little bit, Alphy noticed other sleuth members, whom the alpha had provided to help them move, had gathered around them reminding him they had a lot of packing to do. Their parents had been alive for a long time and had accumulated a lot of stuff.

  Slowly, the group hug peeled away. He may be an alpha and military man, but he wasn’t ignorant of others’ emotions, especially the females. He always cared for them, so he hoped he would be perfect for his mate once he finally met her.

  Pulling back and cupping Havana’s face in his hands, Alphy looked into her watery eyes. He saw a lot of pain in her deep brown eyes and a lot of other emotions he’d deal with later. One thing at a time. “I’m ok, and I’m here now. We may have a lot to do, and you may feel life is so far out of control, but you are not alone, ok? I promise you that everything will be all right.”

  Havana nodded, and Alphy pulled her in for another hug. He kissed her on the top of her head before pulling away and taking a look around at everyone surrounding him. They had a lot of help, but they also had a lot of packing to do, so he drew them all inside and set to work.

  They didn’t finish until after midnight, but they had managed to get everything packed. The things he wasn’t certain about, like furniture and plates, he put into storage. The things he knew they needed, he had put into his truck. His siblings packed what they wanted to take. They were clothes horses for sure. The biggest challenge had been the garage. Alphy’s father had loved building things, be it metal or wood, so he had a garage filled with tools and parts of all sorts.

  Alphy’s mending muscles were burning with pain from being overworked, but he was used to it and knew how to accept and manage it, but watching the pain show on the faces of his bone-weary siblings had him feeling worse than his physical condition. Alphy scolded himself. He had taken care of his troops better than he took care of his siblings, and that was unacceptable! He loved them, and now he was completely responsible for them. He should have paid more attention to them and sent them to bed hours ago, but he had been too busy to notice their need. And knowing they weren’t in any condition to hear where they were going, he decided to wait until tomorrow.

  As his brother and sister headed up to their air mattresses, and everyone else, except Ryker, had gone home, Alphy took time to thank his friend. Pulling Ryker into a manly hug, he offered him a tired smile. “Thanks, man.”

  “It was really my pleasure. Watching you shirtless and sweaty is every straight woman’s and gay man’s dream.” And, as if to reaffirm his admission, Ryker wiggled his eyebrows at him, pulling a laugh out of him. “Seriously though, anything you need or want, you can always call. My coven leader wanted me to offer us as a resource, should you need it.”

  It didn’t surprise Alphy. He had saved the vampire leader’s daughter once. But he still appreciated the gesture, as not many shifters had vampire friends.

  “Thanks, man, that means a lot to me, and I may take your coven leader up on that someday. How’s Seamus?” Alphy switched to the question he’d wanted to ask all day but hadn’t found the right time until now.

  “Sea-salts will be home for good soon, in a few days.” Ryker smiled at him, revealing his fangs. Seamus was his twin brother, who had also been in the military as a military doctor. It was painful for the twins to be apart. Alphy was able to see Seamus once in a while, so he knew they talked every day.

  “Thanks again, man. You have my number. Have your brother call when he gets a chance.”

  “Will do, handsome.”

  The next morning started a little bit late, but by the time the funeral was set to be held, they were ready to go, although Alphy had yet to tell his siblings where they were going.

  The funeral was a brutal affair for both him and his bear. The people crowded them with their sympathies, or some of them cornered him with their available daughters.

  Hearing the sympathies was like rubbing salt in the wound. He was already deeply hurting about his loss, and he didn’t need people bringing it up repeatedly.

  But the mothers who pushed their daughters his way were offensive. He was used to mothers trying to see if he would mate with their daughters. He was an alpha, he was military, and he was told often enough how attractive he was. But at a funeral? His own parents’ funeral of all things! He had had enough. He said his good-byes, steered his brother and sister to the truck, and headed out.

  They had made it to the main highway east, when they finally questioned him. “So,” Reese’s tired voice sounded over the rumble of the engine, “where’re we calling home now?”

  Using the palm of his hand to rub his eye, Alphy sighed heavily. Then after returning his grip to the steering wheel, he answered, “A place up near Bancroft.”

  “Bancroft? Where’s that?” Reese asked.

  Havana stayed quiet. She hadn’t talked much or eaten much. Alphy made a mental note to keep an eye on that. He knew people grieved in different ways, but he didn’t want her to cause herself harm.

  “It’s in Canada.” Alphy braced himself for the freak-out, but it didn’t come. He glanced over at the two buckled beside him. Havana was looking out the window. The reflection showed a tired, haunted and lost look on her face, but Reese was nodding. “Cool. Always wanted to go there.”

  Alphy gave a half smile. “Yeah, well, I don’t know if you know this, but we have a great-aunt who lives and owns some property up there. Her name is Reberta, but she said she prefers to be called Betty. It’s a place to start until we decide what to do next.”

  “Huh, I didn’t know that. Mom and Dad never talked about her, or even called her.”

  “Yeah, well, she doesn’t have a phone.” He glanced at his brother and schooled his features not to laugh. Reese had a horrified look on his face, so Alphy continued. “Mom would send her letters with updates on the family. She gave me her information before I left home. I’ve never been there so I don’t know what there is, but I was able to get an emergency message to her and she responded back. All I know is she lives on five thousand acres of fields, forests, and rivers.”

  When Reese turned slightly to face Alphy more, his confusion showed on his face as he asked, “If she’s family, why hasn’t she ever visited, or why didn’t Mom and Dad ever take us there to visit?”

  Alphy shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know how to answer. Their family didn’t have any squabbles that he knew of. It was as if she just wanted to be isolated. But that didn’t explain why his parents didn’t ever visit. It was no use worrying about that now. The only one who could possibly answer was in Canada awaiting their arrival, and if all went well, they would be there on the third day. But as things have been going, and with his training to always be prepared, he had a couple of back-up plans in place for their journey.

  He looked over at his family again. His sister had fallen asleep against a pillow she had brought. She had it tucked between her and the door. Reese was leaned over, resting his head on her shoulder, and, by his breathing, Alphy could tell he had fallen asleep as well. His inner bear gave a snort of amusement at the scene, then generously sighed and settled down. They both were grateful for the silence, so he didn’t disturb them.

  Chapter Three

  Alphy was used to pain, sure, but not being able to move from his vehicle in three days, other than to fill it with fuel, was torture. His siblings added to the pain of it. If he ever had an enemy, surely he could find a way to use this as a form of torture. He was a physical man, so not being able to move hurt, and having to deal with emotionally amped teens in a confined space … well, he nearly gave an unmanly sob of relief when they found the driveway onto their great-aunt’s property.

  Shades of greens and browns rose up thick around them from the tall trees and shrubs crowding the forest. His bear sat up and paced inside his head, antsy to get out and shift, eager to explore. He had not even gotten out of the vehicle, and already he felt like this was the right pl
ace to be, like this was home. When he pressed his index finger against the small, cold switch, the window lowered, buffing his senses with the fresh floral air. He was thankful all his senses were back to normal.

  The truck bounced and rolled over the dips in the dirt-based road as he followed the directions he had memorized from the short note his great-aunt had given him. After a little while, the thick forest of trees opened up to a green field, about ten acres’ worth. A large three story, which included the basement, deep red bungalow style house fitted with solar panels, resided in the middle, surrounded by a huge four-car two story garage, also fitted with solar panels. A large brown wooden barn, with solar panels, was about two hundred feet behind and to the right of the home. Not far from it, and reaching about the same size, was a large grey metal workshop fixed with solar panels. On the other side of the barn there also seemed to be some sort of long greenhouse and a long chicken coop with many different kinds of clucking and pecking chickens spread out around it. Standing above it all were two Whisper H80 wind turbines, which moderately spun.

  Alphy stopped at the edge of the forest, taking in everything he saw. What on Earth does she have going on that needs that much electricity? Alphy let up off the brake and let the truck pull them forward at an idling speed. He had to admit to himself this was much nicer than he thought it would be.

  The truck’s engine droned as they followed the vehicular dirt path across the field toward the garage where an old, beat-up Ford pickup truck sat parked. Huh, why park it outside the garage? What’s inside the garage? Alphy queried to himself.

  In front of the house he watched as a short, stocky mid-thirties looking woman stepped out onto the wraparound porch. She wore jean shorts, a pink shirt, and a smudged apron tied around her waist.