Beta’s Alpha Daughter: River Pack Series, Book 1, Ebook

I, Xayla Lewis, have a way with attractive humans. Let’s just say my bed is only empty when I want it to be. Nikita, my wolf, is not impressed. She wants to find our fated mate.

Firsthand experience told me that, human or wolf, losing a mate ruins your life and makes you depressed. I love my mother, but I never want to break like that. Hence my reaction the day I met and ran from my fated mate.

To say I, Evander Mason, was surprised that my mate ran from me is an understatement. In a single action, she revealed her strength and appeal. Running away from your alpha mate is remarkable and damn sexy.

Hezekiah, my wolf, agrees, even though he is upset that we didn’t chase her down. To be honest, I wasn’t worried about finding her until I lay in a hospital bed, unable to look for her. Now I fear she could be gone forever.

Books does not end with a HEA.

Corwin

“What did you do?” My voice echoes off the vehicle interior. Bending down, I grab a towel from the floorboard and swipe the blood off my face and arms.

“Sir. Sorry. We—you, well Tar was breaking free, with the humans and the police so close...”

“And you thought it best to drag me to a vehicle?” My pulse is pumping with fury. “To what end? Shall I forget any chance of tracking my mate and your luna?” 

“N-n-no-no, Sir,” my delta stutters as his hands cross over the steering wheel to turn down Barry Street. “It wasn’t our intention. We—we were keeping you safe, Sir.”

My head pounds with an ache I can’t explain. I wasn’t hit in the head. Attempting to release the tension, I roll my head and neck in a circle. Silence enters me and my mind clears just enough.

“Pull over!”

“Yes, Sir.” My delta swerves the car to the side of the road. Placing it in park, he eyes me through the rear-view mirror.

“I need security camera footage! One hundred square blocks! Any trace of Alex or the purple-eyed warlock and you link me.” My arms show a tint of red, but that is as good as they will get without water. With an exhale I toss the towel back on the floorboards. 

“Yes, Sir. They taught me how at Crescent Moon. Up a couple of blocks is a place with computers we can use.” My delta finally is able to form words without stuttering.

I open the door and look back over my shoulder at the driver. “Hermin, mindlink me when you have something.” Then I tuck my head back into the car with another request. “Call Romand and have him send students out to search for their luna.” 

Shutting the door behind me, I take off on a run in the direction of the food truck. Someone had to have seen something. There is no way that group of attackers was able to disappear that quickly without leaving evidence of where they went. Hermin should’ve had Salvin or someone follow the attackers. His luna should have been his priority, not forcing me into a vehicle. 

“I can handle myself,” Tar grumbles in my head. His voice jars against my skull and I slow my run to a jog that I let fall into a walk a minute later.

Making my way back to the crime scene, Tar speaks again. “There has to be a limit to the flashing out of sight thing. Magic doesn’t just work without a cost.” 

My thoughts agree with him, but the scent of blood draws my thoughts away from my wolf’s banter. I lift my head to the lowering sun and take a deep breath.

“Tar, can you smell—?”

He interrupts my question as his own thoughts can’t be contained. “I can’t smell her. I can’t even feel her. The only scent I have is back toward the taco truck.” He whimpers in my head.

“Get your head straight,” I tell him, sliding along the edges of the street that lead back toward the truck. The scent of tacos mixes with the scent of blood. Not the most pleasant combo. Turning the corner, I stick to the side streets, attempting to stay out of sight. The blood on my shirt smells as bad as the taco mix and the huge stain makes me stand out. I should have grabbed a fresh one out of the car.

Approaching a side street one over from the food truck, I can see that the seating area is a mess, tables are turned over and scattered. Alex’s smile flashes through my mind, replaying her tongue wrapping around the spoon after offering me a bite of her dessert.

“Focus, Corwin.” Tar’s voice clears my mind. 

Looking around, I pull back into the shadows to cover my presence as I take in the rest of the scene. A medic pushes a man strapped to a gurney over to an ambulance to load him into the back, while another medic loads a gurney with a zipper-sealed black bag into a second ambulance—the body of the man I killed before the warlock with purple eyes roared and took my mate. This one has no lights or sirens when it pulls away. Tar attempts to growl, but I shove it down. 

“He got what he deserved. They attacked us in town, with humans everywhere, he deserved worse. The warlock deserves my claws.”

“I hate the purple-eyed man, but we can’t be taken in for killing someone.” He groans in my head. “You better keep it together. We cannot be caught. It’s not worth it.”

I slide back into the alley and cut up a side street to meticulously track out in a circular fashion from the site of the crime, taking deep breaths to scent and taste the air. I search for anything that would indicate a lead to find Alex. Staying as unseen as possible, my blood-soaked shirt is a dead giveaway that I was involved. I search the neighboring streets for signs of my mate or even skid marks from a vehicle that might have taken off quickly.

My headache pounds. I stop placing my hand on the brick building next to me and lean against it. Taking deep breaths, I note that I will need to see Dr. Ham. But I can’t go now and leave my luna in the hands of the enemy. She needs me and I will not be failing her. Pushing off the wall, I focus myself by squeezing my hands tightly into fists, redirecting my pain to my palms. 

It is not our last day. 

Walking down another side street, I spot a wolf in the distance. He is a student from campus. I let out a low growl, getting his attention. When his face turns toward the sound, I wave at him. My mind hurts too much to mindlink right now. 

“Give me your shirt.”

His hands tremor slightly as my alpha tone leaks into my demand. It is hard to keep it under wraps given my current state. I take off my own shirt and the wolf manages to take off his campus-logoed T-shirt and extends it out to me. I toss his shirt over my head. It is tight but it will have to do. I hand him mine.

“Get that to Dr. Ham for blood work testing. I need to know as much as we can about who the blood belongs to.” Then hopefully we can find a connection to the one who took my luna and why he mattered so much to the kidnapper. “Give me your phone.” I put my hand out and he digs his phone out of his pocket, placing it in my outstretched hand. Dialing Jake, he picks up on the first ring.

“Corwin, what’s going on? Someone said you were attacked and Luna Alexandra is missing.” He is breathing heavily.

“Have Romand get his truck. Bring Ali and your mate, meet me at the cross section of fifth and vine street. I will be there in ten. Don’t make me wait, Jake!”

“Already moving,” he says and I hang the phone up on him. 

The wolf’s eyes bulge. Why his is concerning himself with anything but the job I assigned him is beyond me. His job is getting the shirt to Doc for the bloodwork to get done. 

Annoyed, I inform him, “Hermin is over at Pop’s computer shop. Go there, he has a vehicle you can take. Get the shirt to Dr. Hammerston. Do not contaminate it with anything. Go!” My alpha tone screams out of me and the wolf takes off running to get to Pop’s.

I don’t care if his legs collapse under him as long as the shirt gets to the doctor for testing without someone else’s slime and sweat on it.

Tar is quiet in my mind. I can sense him searching for any trace of Storm.

A mindlink pushed through when I was on the phone. The ringing it left in my head is distracting. Salvin is back on the street with the rest of the pack searching. Hermin and Salvin are great deltas and they learned so much when we were away for training at Crescent Moon. But we will be having words about how they handled things today. I only hope their new skills outside of warrior training will serve us well in our investigation and rescue of my mate.

I take off at a run to meet Jake, sweat quickly soaking into my newly acquired shirt. 

* * *

Arriving at the cross section of fifth and vine, I debate my next move.

“We need to find our mate!” Tar roars as if I have not been searching for her.

“If you are not going to be helpful then bark off, because I have heard enough whining for a lifetime out of you!” My voice barrels through my mind at my wolf. We both feel the pain. I don’t need him roaring at me. Seriously. That is when I notice Tar has turned from me in my mind and his fur is shaking with his silent cries. My heart breaks.

“I am sorry, Tar. But us yelling at each other isn’t going to help us find Alex. What do you think we should do next?” My tone is soft and my wolf's head lifts and looks back at me. 

“We could look for the rogues that worked with the hunters. Maybe they can tell us how to find where the warlock's lair is.”

“Lair?”

“Hideout, bungalow, hole he crawled out of.” He pauses for a breath. “Maybe send someone to see who claims the body.”

“I knew you were a smart wolf. Those are great ideas. Let’s add check in with Hermin on the security cameras to that list.” 

The roar of a vehicle coming to a halt quickly draws my attention. Romand’s truck is pulled to the side of the road. Jake hops out of the driver's seat, his mate getting out of the passenger side with Roman and Ali climbing out of the back.

“I brought a change of clothes in case you shifted.” Jake hands me a bag with clothing in it. I strip off the now wet shirt and toss it in the bag. Ali and Briella avert their eyes, which makes me chuckle and happy at the same time for they respect their luna by not gawking at her alpha.

My chest tightens as my mind runs through all the possibilities of what could be happening to Alex. What happened to Briella when she was taken by the she-wolf trafficking ring, that cannot happen to my mate. It won’t. 

Today is not our last. 

Tar hums in agreement. “Not our last. Never our last.”