Alpha Balla': A Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance Read online

  “Hey, Michelle,” John said, barely glancing at her. But even with that quick glance, he couldn’t deny the fact that she was a very alluring woman. If she had a soul and a personality to go with it, she would be the total package.

  “So, what’s up next for you? You going straight home? You going out?” Michelle asked.

  “What do you want, Michelle?” John asked, getting right to the point. He stopped walking and turned to face her directly. She smiled wickedly.

  “I just want to find out what makes you tick, John Wild,” Michelle said, her voice getting more seductive as she moved closer to him. “I want to find out exactly how wild you really are.” She placed her arms around the back of his neck and pulled slightly as if she expected him to kiss her. He pretended not to notice and kept standing there, looking around anywhere but her. He hated to admit it to himself, but if he looked down into that beautiful, sexy face of this woman who obviously wanted to get to know him biblically, then he might just forget his rational mind and say yes. That was the curse of being a man.

  “Well, that’s not going to happen,” John said.

  “Why’s that? Are you spoken for?” Michelle asked mocking.

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe? That sounds like maybe not.”

  “It means maybe. Which means it’s none of your business.”

  “What if I want to make it my business?” Michelle asked, kissing John’s shoulder and sliding the sleeve of his t-shirt upward slowly, her mouth following right behind it.

  John stepped back and pulled her hands away from him gently. He was getting aggravated. He took three deep breaths as he looked into her eyes.

  “You need to leave me alone. I’m not interested in playing any of your games—on or off the record.”

  “You can’t be serious. You would pass this up? You call yourself an athlete?” Michelle asked.

  “Last time I checked, sex is not a sport unless you’re doing it way wrong,” John said.

  “Oh, you’ve never done it with me. I can make it a sport all right,” Michelle said, allowing her gaze to sweep over his body.

  “I’m just not interested,” John said. “I realize that’s probably something you haven’t heard before, but it had to happen sometime.”

  John started walking away.

  “You bastard. I know you’re hiding something. No rational, sane man turns me down. You’re hiding something, and I’m going to find out what it is. You won’t know what hit you when I get through.”

  Michelle’s voice echoed through the corridor as John walked out of the field house and headed across the parking lot. He heard every word she said, and he was trying to laugh it off as the deranged mumblings of a woman who obviously had some issues with entitlement. It was all in her head.

  But what if she did try to dig? What if she somehow found out about the secret he was hiding? In her hands, he would be lucky if he just became a media spectacle and called a “freak.” He would instead probably be locked up in a lab where he would have to endure constant experiments.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Where is he?”

  John paced back and forth several more steps before checking his watch impulsively yet again. He looked out the window in fear at the darkening sky. Soon it would be totally dark and that big, bright, full moon would be looming high overhead, illuminating everything in a perfect yellow glow.

  And awakening the curse within him.

  It was almost six o’clock. Usually, his best friend Keith Martin was right on time. He had never missed the night of the full moon since John had shown him what he was and what happened to him during the full moon. This was too important to mess up.

  John had called him six times and texted him, but there was no answer. That was not like Keith at all. He had been John’s best friend for years, and he was the most reliable man he knew. That was the reason John had entrusted him with his devastating secret. Of course, Keith had thought he was full of it and probably had suspicions that John was on some sort of drug until he showed him. John wished he had been able to see the look on Keith’s face properly, but when the change had come over him, he’d blacked out. He awoke in the morning still locked in his cage.

  He had decided to lock himself in the cage every full moon after the first change. He had woken up in a field with no recollection of what happened or how he got there, but with all of the weird changes happening to his body and the research he had done into the matter, he knew what had happened. He had become a werewolf. After the first change, he found that he was able to transform at will if he thought about it, and sometimes he changed when he didn’t want to, but after a while he was able to control the shift most of the time, unless he was under some severe stress or anxiety.

  But not during the full moon. That night, he was a complete animal, and he was not responsible for anything he did. But he would never be able to live with himself if he ended up hurting somebody. So he had ordered a cage made of the highest quality steel with the thickest bars. He just needed someone to make sure that he stayed there. Even with the cage, there was a chance that he might escape, and he almost had a few times. But Keith, his trusted friend, was right there with the loaded gun and the silver bullets just in case. He had sworn to John that if he ever got out of the cage, Keith would put him down with no hesitation. Keith was a good friend and a great man. John had wondered whether or not Keith could actually shoot and kill his best friend, but he hoped that he would do it.

  Keith was actually John’s agent. He was a ruthless negotiator who was always lobbying for a higher salary. John wasn’t really in the football game for the money, but it was always nice. Especially with such a physical sport. Even with being a werewolf, the game took its toll on your body and health over time.

  John heard the engine pulling up outside right then and saw the lights. Keith was there. He was just in time. John could feel the tension in his body, and he knew that the shift was coming. He was about three minutes from going to the cage and locking himself in. He just would not be able to electrify the cage, which was done with a switch on the wall, and he would not be able to turn it off in the morning either. The steel might hold up to an all-night onslaught of him thrusting his heavy wolf body and strength at the thing, but it was very risky, so the electricity was vital. Keith had told him that even with the cage powered up, he still grabbed it and almost lifted it off the floor to flip it over behind him when he was fully wolfed out. It was remarkable the type of strength he had then.

  “Hey, sorry I’m late. I had a flat tire, and I was already running slightly late. I just came from the office. It’s been the day from hell,” Keith said in one long breath as he burst through the door.

  “It’s okay, just don’t know how many heart attacks I have left in me,” John said.

  “Look at this funny guy!” Keith replied as he followed John down the stairs to the basement where the cage was set up.

  “I appreciate it buddy; you know that.”

  “I do. It’s all good,” Keith said as John stepped into the cage and Keith locked the door behind him. He double checked that the lock was working properly. “Are you ready?”

  “Yeah,” John replied.

  Keith flipped the switch to turn on the power to the cage. The loud pop and hum of the electricity had an odd drowsy effect on John, but luckily it didn’t bother Keith who would usually sit there watching Netflix on his phone or reading with his headphones on.

  John sat down in the middle of the floor and waited for the change to overtake him. He knew that Keith would not really look at him, and he was grateful for that. He didn’t want anyone to ever really see him in that condition, but Keith didn’t seem to mind. He actually seemed very fascinated by the fact that his best friend was a werewolf.

  John closed his eyes and took several deep breaths as the change started to come over him.

  ***

  Michelle wiggled her toes against the cold floor under her bare feet as she tip-toed down the
corridor to John Wild’s basement. The stairwell was fancy, as was the rest of the house, but dimly lit with just a few touch lights that clung to the wall in intermittent spots. She had to concentrate on not falling and not breaking her camera. That would have been a hell of a thing to happen.

  She felt strangely exhilarated as she moved down the staircase. It was such a trip to be in Mr. John Wild’s house without his knowledge. She had snuck into a few houses when she was a kid and did stupid things, and this was definitely bringing back old memories. It was just as fun and exciting as it had been when she was twelve. But this time, she was probably not going to steal anything or do any vandalism. Nope, she wanted to make sure that John never knew she was here.

  As she reached the bottom of the steps, she could see a large room that looked like a pretty awesome man cave. There was a big screen TV, a large sectional couch, a pool table, Foosball table, and a small kitchen with a fridge. It was a cool pad to hang out in.

  Where was John? She had seen him and his little friend come down this way.

  The large room was dimly lit, with just a small light coming from the kitchen over the sink. But off in the other corner she could see a corridor with some light coming from the end of it. She thought she heard voices, or maybe… growling?

  Curiosity was definitely getting the best of her as she moved silently through the large living room area and into the corridor. She didn’t want to make a mistake and bump into some random thing sitting along the wall or a light switch or something. That would be a hell of a way to get discovered here.

  As she reached the end of the corridor, she took several deep breaths. She was a journalist. She was a professional, and she was doing whatever was necessary to get the scoop. Sometimes that meant getting your hands dirty, which she had never had a problem with before. There was no reason to chicken out or get cold feet now.

  Besides, she had to know what John was hiding. There was no way a man like that was going to pass up an opportunity to be with her. It was insulting on every level. She knew he wasn’t gay; she had seen him date a few beautiful women. It must have been something bad if he’d dragged his weird little sports agent friend down here for this. Were they doing something illegal? She’d heard about athletes who liked to dabble in the drug trade. Maybe he had a gambling problem? That was usually the cause of it.

  She was really hoping it was all worth it. She’d had a bit of a day. Sneaking into John Wild’s house was easier said than done. The man had a massive amount of security cameras and bodyguards hanging around outside. But oddly enough, he’d sent all of them home tonight.

  Michelle had lucked out on the fact that John was having some landscape work done on his property. He was planting a new line of shrubs at the end of his property, which she supposed would give his place a bit of a more rustic feel. She was learning new things about this man every day. Not only was he sexy as hell and an amazing athlete, but he also had a sensitive side to him. She thought that was pretty sweet. It almost made her feel bad for deceiving him—almost.

  She had found a way to sign up to be part of his landscape crew under a fake name. He had his assistant do all the hiring of such menial tasks anyways, since he was so busy practicing football. Today was actually her first day. The landscaping was so demeaning that she just couldn’t believe she was doing it to get a story. If it didn’t pay off, she was going to be so mad that her wrath would be terrible.

  Michelle worked beside them all day until it was time to knock off for the evening, at which time she decided to use the bathroom. She figured that was a good time to go since everyone was busy leaving and packing up so they wouldn’t miss her. Luckily, John hadn’t come home yet, and his butler showed her where the restroom was. She pretended to leave so that the butler would see her, but she easily snuck back inside and hid out in a guest bedroom on the first floor.

  The whole thing was kind of funny to think about and made her feel like some sort of spy or maybe Nancy Drew. She had always wanted to be one of those investigative journalists, but somehow she had gotten stuck writing for the local paper. It was a start at least; it was ten times better than any other job she’d ever had.

  So after that, Michelle had spent some time snooping around the house. She didn’t find anything interesting or incriminating, and several doors were locked, leaving her shit out of luck. She had only searched around for about an hour when John came home.

  So, now here she was. She really wanted to get this over with, and she desperately wanted a shower. After working all day in the heat, she felt like she might not smell the best. It was pretty nasty. The only time she liked to sweat was in the gym and in the bed, but after both, she took a long shower. Being sweaty for extended periods of time was just disgusting, and she hated it.

  She could hear the murmur of voices continue for a few minutes, but suddenly the voices stopped. What she now heard was the guttural growl of what sounded like a large dog or a wolf. There weren’t any wolves around as far as she knew, and coyotes did not sound like that. What was John up to? Maybe the nice guy routine was a total act and he was getting into dog fighting or some other nasty thing. That idea was pretty despicable, even for Michelle, but it would be an unbelievable scoop, so she kind of hoped it was something that bad.

  She would be a hero among all reporters for giving this information to the public and for bringing John down. Then the bastard would realize that Michelle Patton was nobody to screw with. It had never really happened before, although she supposed it was bound to happen eventually. But not from an amazing guy like that. She was top-notch, and most men could tell that immediately by looking at her. What the hell was John Wild hiding that was so scary he couldn’t risk her even getting into bed with him?

  Michelle took a deep breath. This is it. Let’s do it.

  Michelle peeked her head around the corner slowly, just enough for her eyes to see into the room. It was a dimly lit room, about half the size of the basement man cave. The room had no furniture, except a chair that John’s agent was sitting on, reading a book on his phone it looked like. He wasn’t paying any attention whatsoever to the noises coming from the cage right in front of him.

  What the hell? Why was there a large, steel cage in front of him? And why were there so many strange noises coming from it? The cage was mostly covered by darkness; she couldn’t see what was going on exactly, but it sounded like an animal that was in a lot of pain.

  She tried to squint her eyes to peer into the darkness, hoping her eyes would adjust and she could make out some shadows that might reflect from the rays of light in the front side of the cage. It was to no avail; her eyes started to hurt after just a few seconds of this.

  Damn. Her heart began to sink as she was starting to realize that all of this might have been for nothing. It wasn’t fair. The man was clearly hiding something here that he wanted no one to know, but if she didn’t get the proof, then nothing could be done. She couldn’t even go to the cops and tell them what she had just found out because she had entered the house through illegal means.

  Suddenly, a vicious roar echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls and rattling in her ears, starting what would most likely be a vicious headache soon. Behind the roar came rapid movement in the cage as a figure slammed into the steel bars that held it prisoner.

  It was now standing in the small ray of light provided by the lamp in the corner of the room.

  Michelle’s heart nearly stopped. She almost dropped her camera. This was not real. It couldn’t be. But there it was. It was the most bizarre thing she had ever seen, and she doubted that anything she would ever see would come close to being this remarkable.

  She was looking at a creature she did not recognize.

  It was half man and half wolf, it seemed. And it was still changing.

  And it was John Wild.

  She could clearly see it was him. But his eyes were bright red. His mouth was open in a loud snarl that curved over vicious and sharp canine teeth that jutted ou
t of his mouth, still growing down toward his chin.

  Hair was beginning to cover his face, turning into thick fur covering his whole body. His body began to shift and move, bones crunching and tendons moving as the body began the process of reshaping. His spine was curving down into a weird C shape.

  Finally, he could not stand up any longer and he fell forward on all fours. She could see now that his hands and feet had turned into large claws that were still being shaped, his fingers curling under as long, razor-sharp claws grew from his nails.

  The entire process had taken no more than thirty seconds. John Wild wasn’t there anymore. In his place was a wild beast. It looked like a brown wolf, only much bigger, and it somehow still retained some human elements. It was hunched over in an almost chimpanzee-like position, but it was able to stand up fully as well as it continued to beat the sides of the bars and roar at the sports agent who sat there reading as if nothing was going on.

  Michelle was sweating bullets now. John Wild was a… wolf? How was such a thing possible? It couldn’t be. There had to be a trick involved. Did they somehow know that she was there and were pulling a prank on her?

  No. It was real. There was no way that anyone could fake this.

  She suddenly remembered the camera shaking in her hand. She was doing her best to calm her nerves down, but it really wasn’t working. She had to get out of there soon. If the sports agent—Keith she thought his name was—spotted her, he might throw her in the cage with that animal to keep her quiet.

  Or he might just turn and shoot her with that gun on the small table next to him. He was watching over John to make sure he didn’t escape, and if he did escape and Keith had to protect himself, then John Wild would be no more. She wondered how they might cover that up. Home invasion gone wrong? A momentary lapse in security? Drug deal?