Marked by an Alpha

Dani pushed a strand of dark hair back from her forehead that had come loose from her high ponytail as she leaned forward and wiped down the table. It was almost closing time and the restaurant was empty of customers. In the back the cook was still cleaning up and one bus boy, was scrubbing dishes, but the front half of the restaurant was silent. In ten minutes she could clock out, slip off the unreasonably high black heels that her boss required her to wear during her shift because he liked the way it made her ass look, and go home. She'd make sure that her mom was okay, make her take her meds and eat something, and then she'd finally take a shower and tumble into her own bed. Standing she tugged at the short pink skirt that barely covered the lacy boy shorts that she'd worn that day, knowing that Frank, her boss, was in California for a business conference. The actual uniform for The Dirty Wolf Steakhouse included a thong with a pearl string. Dani rolled her eyes and stopped for

The girl, whose name he didn't yet know, tried to stand back up, but her swollen ankle obviously wasn't fit to walk on and she yelped before collapsing back into the chair, glaring at him as if he was the cause of her injury. "Careful Baby." Alpha Luca West reached for her, trying to support her injured ankle, and hoping he could convince her to hold still so she wouldn't injure herself further. His bright green eyes beamed as he took in the figure of his gorgeous newly discovered mate, even as she moved about, clearly overwhelmed, he thought, by everything that had just happened. Over the previous thirty years of his life he'd imagined what his mate might look like, but she was a hundred times more perfect than anything his mind could conjure. She smelled of lavender and lemon, and he wanted to gather her in his arms and carry her out to the car and drive straight back to his pack line, forgetting any and all of the business that had sent him out into the world at the beginning of

Dani insisted that he put her down, despite his protests and then she hobbled on one leg over to the living room couch where her mother had been laying since she left at a little before eleven that morning. The TV was blaring, and Dani turned it down, as she surveyed the dimly lit room, feeling the heat rising in her cheeks and refusing to look back over her shoulder at Alpha West.The room was neat, Dani made sure of that. There was a couch that was threadbare and worn. It had come out west with her father when he had moved out from Texas, which meant that it was quite a bit older than Dani. On either side of the couch was a chair, and each of those had an afghan thrown over it to cover how worn they had been after decades of use. The coffee table in front of the couch was littered with bottles of medication. There was a plate with a half eaten piece of pizza remaining on it, and a half filled glass of water next to it. Dani had also left a full pitcher or water on the coffee tabl

The sound of someone banging on the door woke Dani with a start, and she opened her eyes to find herself pressed against Luca's chest, his strong arms encircling her waist. It was the best sleep she could remember having in years. She felt him tense beside her, and she quickly held onto his hands, panic rising in her chest. "No, Luca. It's okay. Really." He could hear her pulse rising rapidly, and the scent of fear was clearly radiating from his little mate. "Who the fuck is banging on your door like this at six a.m?""It's probably just one of my mom's friends. Ignore him. He'll go away.""Why the fuck is he banging on your door?" Luca growled the words, his canines lengthening."People get drunk and-" Dani voice trailed off for a moment. Pausing she took a deep breath, "lost, they get lost in the house. So I have locks. Lots of locks. To make sure no one comes in here that I don't want in here." She shook her head as if clearing it of the absurdity of the situation. He bega

"What did you mean about expanding your territory?" She was holding up a blue bikini and trying to decide whether it should go or stay, while purposefully not looking at him. "Just that. My territory has gotten bigger over the years." Dani dropped the bikini into the suitcase and turned to look at him. "How?" She asked seriously. "What do you mean how?" His lips curved upwards in a half smile. "Exactly that. How did your territory 'get bigger?'" She said the last two words in a mocking tone, making it clear that she wanted him to lay the explanation out in simple terms. "Well, when I see something that I want, I take it." He pushed her back against the bed as he said the words, leaning over her slowly and breathing in the clean, delicious scent of her skin. His body ached for her, and his wolf paced inside of him, begging to take her, but he refused, instead only reaching out and tracing her cheek lightly with his finger tip. "I've wanted a great many packs that I have come acro