Shade: A Wolf's Hunger Alpha Shifter Romance Read online

  talons from his chest, none too gently. He forced a smile as he looked down at the upturned face of his eager companion. Disgust rolled through him as the evidence of his insanity invaded his nostrils, the scents of their recent sex cloying the air. He was surprised that he managed to keep his voice civil as he told her. “Sorry, you’ve got to leave.”

  Her eyes closed to mere slits, quickly changing as anger marred her beauty. “What? Are you kidding me, Shade? I’m not a one-night-stand kinda gal, and you know it. So what’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let this happen. It’s my fault and I apologize.” He hid his smirk at her comment. It was the reason he had grabbed her on the way to his office while he’d rushed through the nightclub. She was exactly that type of girl, or in this case, She-Wolf.

  1

  “You’re a fucking asshole,” she spat out, her voice no longer sultry and sexy. “You were the one that came on to me. Remember? You brought me back to your office and, well, you know. We had sex, Shade. I thought we were starting something here. So what? You were just playing me?” Shade ran a hand through his dark brown hair, his stomach churning with what he had done, and more. “I said I’m sorry. I don’t know what more I can say. You’ve got to go. Now. I have business I need to attend to.” She reached up; the hand that recently had stroked his cock so tenderly now raking the skin across his cheek. He allowed it. Shade could have stopped her. He knew what she was going to do, and with his Alpha abilities, he could easily have halted her attack, but he’d been an ass and he knew it. When she moved in for another assault however, he snatched her wrist, shaking his head. “One hit is all you get.” “Wait ‘til my brothers hear about this.” “What? You’re going to tell them you dropped

  your panties so easily?” Shade’s tone hardened, his anger growing as the gnawing hunger clawed at his guts painfully. “Yeah, classy. Just leave. As I said, I’m sorry, but we both know we’re not mates so this would never have gone anywhere, Trixie.” Trixie’s painted face glared at him, her hands on her hips as she snarled. “This doesn’t end here, Shade Shawcross. Nobody treats me this way. Nobody, not even you. You stuck up Alpha cu..” Shade waggled his finger, cutting her off. “Don’t, Trixie. That’s no way for a lady to talk. Just leave while your dignity is somewhat intact.” Trixie spun around, her blonde hair flying around her, the scent of her fury filling Shade’s office to cloy in his throat. What the hell had he been thinking? Shit. He hadn’t, that was the point. His head hadn’t been clear for days and he had no idea what the hell was wrong with him. He felt bad for using her, but then again, she’d been trying to get in his pants for months and she’d been blatant in her endeavors. If she’d thought she stood a

  chance of him mating with her she was sorely

  mistaken. Shade had no plans to mate, with her or anyone else. He enjoyed his carefree life far too much to be tied down to one female and that’s how he liked it. One roll in the hay was not about to change that. Trixie wasn’t that good a lay. Hell, nobody was that good. She stopped at the door, looking over her shoulder, pouting. “Shade, baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper. Let me make it up to you.” Shade couldn’t believe it. She was still trying to make more of their quick sex session than what it was. His eyes bored into hers as he shook his head. “Sorry, Trixie. We don’t have a connection, there’s no future for us.” “Bastard!” she spat out, flinging the door open and storming out, slamming the door noisily behind her. He sighed as he watched it shake in the frame, rattling for seconds until it settled down. Her Shifter strength almost wrenching it

  completely off its hinges.

  Shade sat down on the edge of the desk, his stomach clenching as his hunger grew. Again. Damn it. Would it never ease up? He had been eating, and hunting, like a madman for days and he felt as if he was on the brink of insanity. What in tarnation was wrong with him? The door opened again, his anger rising quickly. Couldn’t the woman just take no for a freaking answer? His tone sharp as he growled roughly. “Trixie, give it up already. Just leave.” Royce, one of his Beta’s walked in, hands in his pockets and a grin on his face. “Trixie left and I gotta say she did not look happy.” Shade sighed. “I know.” “Did you two, ya know?” Royce waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Shut up, Royce. I’m not in the mood for your jokes.” “No, you’re not.” Royce walked over to the leather sofa then paused. “Oh, wait, did you two do it here? Do I need to disinfect it before I sit down?”

  Shade picked up a heavy crystal Wolf

  paperweight, throwing it at Royce’s head. His Beta’s hand shot up, catching it easily as he yelled. “Hey! Don’t take your bad mood out on me. I’m just asking. I do not want to be sitting down on top of you and Trixie’s bodily fluids. Yours is bad enough, but hell, Trixie has been around the block more than once. If you get my meaning.” “First, there are no fluids.” Shade’s eyes narrowed. “I used protection, as I always do. Second, we didn’t make it to the sofa, so you have nothing to worry about.” “Fuck, Shade. What is going on with you? Come on, you need to talk to me, man. I’m worried about you. We all are.” Shade pushed away from the desk, the office suddenly seeming small and confining. He drew in a ragged breath, his heart stuttering in his chest, his beast howling to be free so they could hunt and sate their hunger. Damn it. He’d spent more time hunting these past days than he had the entire past few months. Something was wrong but he was

  Alpha and he was loathe to admit weakness to

  anyone, even his best friend. “I’m fine.” “Like hell you are. If you were you would never have done the dirty with Trixie fucking Evans.” Royce finally sat down, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees as his eyes kept pace with Shade’s movements. “You’ve been hunting alone too. Don’t think we don’t know about that, boss. Ash and his guards have seen you, not to mention others. We’re ...” Shade snapped around, growling. “So you’re keeping tabs on your Alpha now?” Royce tilted his head, his silence speaking volumes as he stared up at Shade. The seconds ticking loudly on the clock above his desk, his ears hurting with the racket. His head feeling as if it were about to explode in a bloody mess. Shade’s hands flew up, covering the sides of his head to try to cut out the noise, Royce rising quickly and coming to his side. “Shade, are you all right? What’s wrong, buddy?” Shade shook off his friend’s hand, storming

  away to the other side of the room, putting as much distance between them as he could. His Wolf close to breaking free, so close it scared the shit out of him. He was Alpha. Always in control. Yet he wasn’t. What. The Fuck. “Shade?” Royce stepped toward him. “What’s going on? Are you gonna shift? Here? In the fucking club?” “No.” Shade barely managed to reply through this descended fangs, keeping his face turned away until he had regained control. “All right, this shit is just getting too weird. I’m not leaving until you tell me what the hell is happening with you.” Royce crossed his thick arms across his chest, planting his feet wide as he stood at the door. Shade finally relented, his near miss at losing control shaking him to the core. “I’ve no idea. It started almost a week ago. A hunger like nothing I’ve ever felt before and no matter what I eat, it doesn’t go away. I thought maybe it wasn’t food I

  needed. So I grabbed Trixie for a hot sex marathon

  but that didn’t work either. I feel as if it’s eating me up from the inside out and my beast just won’t shut the hell up. It’s prowling all the time and howling like a fucker. Everything is enhanced, sounds, sights, scents. It’s driving me insane and I don’t know how to stop it.” Royce didn’t say anything for long moments, his eyes staying on Shade as he processed what he’d said. “I think you have to do two th
ings, Alpha.” Shade noticed his friend slipping into Beta mode. “First is that you go, now, and speak with Lana, she is the Pack Healer and you should’ve consulted her before now.” Royce raised an eyebrow pointedly. “Second, you should consult the Pack archive journals for any information. Better still, get Ash to assign someone to look through them for you.” “No. Absolutely not.” Shade snapped. “The less that know about this the better. I don’t want the Pack worrying their Alpha is going off the deep

  end. It’s bad enough you know, let’s keep it between us, okay?” “That’s a little naïve, don’t you think?” Royce said pointedly. “Ash and the Pack guards already know something’s up, and now Melony and Nick certainly know you’re not right. Not after hooking up with that minx Trixie. Normally you keep well away from her. However, what do you do tonight? You waltz in here and go straight for her, the two of you disappearing back here for more than half an hour. To top it all she storms out of here calling you some rather filthy names that I’d rather not repeat. So, yeah, boss, there’s more than me that knows there’s something wrong with you.” Shade continued to pace, his insides painful, his head spinning as Royce watched him warily. “At least I don’t need to worry about this place.” “Nope,” Royce agreed. The Den. One of the Pack’s businesses and by far one of their most successful. It had started out as a plain old Shifter bar for Shade’s Pack, the Silver Lake Pack hence the name,

  and the neighboring Pack that Trixie was a member of. However, it soon grew to the threetier nightclub it now was. Open to humans who flocked to it from wide and far at weekends to live on the “wild side” with Wolves. Females seemingly desperate for a night of passion in the arms of a Shifter, hell, the men looked for that thrill too. Whatever, it all meant that The Den made a shitload of money for their Pack. Shade didn’t complain, Royce was left in charge most of the time, with Shade coming in once or twice a week to check things over, or if Royce had a problem he needed his help with. Tonight hadn’t been either of those. Shade had appeared with the sole purpose of trying to feed this insatiable hunger in another way but had failed miserably. The sound of Royce hitting his palm against his forehead loudly had Shade turning his attention back to his Beta. “What?” “The Archives, you don’t need to hunt through them.” Royce looked pleased with himself. “Well,

  you do, but it’ll be much easier than looking through all those old ledgers. I’ve just remembered that Lana started a project months ago of getting them digitized. She has a ton of them on a disc. She said they were too precious to have on a hard-drive in case we were hacked. Yeah, I know, as if anyone is going to hack us for our history but anyway, that’s what she said at the time. Anyway, she’s been hard at work with some helpers and I’m sure she’s all but finished. You can get the disc, or discs, no idea how many she has, but then all you need to do is load it up and do a search. Far easier than trying to find something in those old tomes.” “Shit, yes, I remember her asking my permission for that.” Shade nodded. “I told her she could recruit some of the teenagers to help her. They’re quicker with tech than anybody and thought they’d be the best people to get the job done.” “There you go.” Royce swiped his hands up and

  down. “Job done. You can start looking tomorrow.

  For now, I think you should go back to camp and get some rest. No offence, Alpha, but you look like crap.” “I think you should get back to work,” Shade snapped back. Royce sidled toward the door. “On my way. Try not to upset anymore of my customers tonight. Please and thank you.” Shade growled as Royce sped away his Beta chuckling as he left. “Cheeky mutt.” Shade muttered, still annoyed at himself for his earlier actions. “Never shit where you eat.” He told himself as he switched off the light and left, knowing he’d made a huge mistake. One he was certain would come back to bite him on the ass. That was something he’d deal with later, right now, he was exhausted, hungry but exhausted. He’d take Royce’s advice. Go home and try and sleep. The bottle of single malt waiting on him might just help in that department. If it didn’t,

  then the box it came in would certainly be used as

  a sleeping aid because it held several more that he’d be dipping into. He needed rest, no two ways about it. If copious amounts of alcohol was the only way to achieve it, he’d deal with the resulting hangover. Anything was better than careening through the forest for yet another night in search of prey that did little to assuage the hunger that gnawed inside him. Tomorrow he’d begin the search for the answer to what ailed him. Shade needed to find it, fast, before the entire Pack found out their Alpha was

  on the brink of madness.

  streaming through his window. His head thumping painfully, regretting his binge of his favorite malt whisky the previous night. It was an expensive bender, he’d drank four full bottles in a row. One had not done the job so he’d torn open the others and poured them down his throat quickly in his quest for oblivion. He was paying for it now. How he wished it were true that Shifters didn’t suffer from hangovers. That was just one of the myths surrounding his species. It took a hell of a lot to get him drunk but it was doable and he went at it like an Olympic sport last night. Hell, he should have won a Gold medal for his efforts. Now he was left with the aftermath; a headache that felt like his head was

  going to shatter with every movement. Shade knew he had work to do today. He had to get to the bottom of what ailed him. He was Alpha but he’d certainly not been acting like one lately. He needed to get his ass in gear and sort himself out before the entire Pack realized something was wrong. The last thing he needed while he was in this state was some idiot challenging him. The rage he felt inside would take over and he knew without a doubt he’d attack without warning and the challenger would be dead within minutes. That was not a situation Shade wanted to be put in. It wouldn’t be good for him, or his Pack. They hadn’t had a death by challenge for centuries and he didn’t want to be the first Alpha to have that title. However, he also knew that this thing going on inside him would explode with dire consequences if the situation arose. “Get your ass out of bed,” he grumbled, hauling himself up and toward his shower. He planned on getting to the bottom of things before the day was

  out.

  One way or another he’d find out whether he was fit to continue as Alpha of his beloved Pack. If what ailed him was something serious, something that there was no cure for, then he’d be forced to think of who he would hand over leadership to. “Fuck!” he cursed as steaming hot water cascaded down over him. The mere thought of relinquishing his power to someone else causing a torrent of emotions to rampage through him. Anger was first, quickly followed with sadness and despair. “Not happening.” He tried to convince himself as he had the fastest shower of his life, eager to get started on his quest for a solution. Once dressed he grabbed whatever was in the fridge, ramming it down his throat to quench the rapidly growing hunger, determined he would not allow it to side track him again. He didn’t even taste what he ate, nothing staying in his mouth long enough. Shade was disgusted with himself as he checked the fridge to find it devoid of food.

  Damn. He was certain it had been replenished only the previous day. This was completely out of control. He was completely out of control and it had to stop. Now. Today. If not the consequences would be too much for him to bear. Shade stormed out. He’d get those discs from Lana and he would not stop until he had an answer. If it took him all day, all week, he would sit his ass down at his desk and refuse to move until he found something, anything that would help. As he made his way through the camp, his camp, for once he hated how successful the Pack was, because it meant Lana’s cabin was further than he wished. His feet stomping over the ground as he fought to stay on-track, his beast pawing angrily inside his head as it fought for release. The hunger gnawing inside grew so great Shade’s hand flew to his belly, a soft groan escaping as pain lanced through him. “Shit,” he cursed, his feet swerving and heading straight for the forest. Cutting between cabins and swerving

  around anyth
ing that stood in his path, he soon found himself at the end of the trees. He was already tearing at his clothes, ripping them from his body as fast as he could. “One kill, that’s all I need,” he muttered to himself.

  Shock ran through him as he heard his own words; he sounded like a junkie.

  Looking at the ground he gritted his teeth, attempting to force himself to dress and continue to the Healer’s cabin, but his skin started to ripple of its own volition. His control over himself and his beast deserting him in the face of this unnatural hunger that had invaded him, body and soul.

  Shade was Alpha so his transformations were always fast, quicker than most, but this time it was almost instantaneous and left him breathless. His beast’s head low as he panted with the disturbingly rapid change. It only took mere moments before pain pierced once more in his guts, sending him on the hunt for something, anything to assuage the hunger that ate them up inside.

  Massive paws ran over the ground, the area known to the Wolfso well that he would never fall foul to the many pitfalls. No hole would trip them, no root would slow them down, and no damn thing would stop them as the scent of prey entered his snout. His beast slowed, sniffing the air, and changing trajectory to hone in on the lone deer that had wandered too close to the starving Wolf. The deer was his only focus as he sped through the forest, ducking to avoid low hanging branches, and weaving in and out of the trees, both large and small. His Wolfsped up, knowing the area well enough to expect the large stream that was just ahead, he needed the momentum to propel himself up and over the wide tributary. His paws digging deep for purchase a moment before he launched himself up and over the water, landing softly and taking off again. The scent of his prey was much stronger now. It was close and he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into the animal and devour as much of it as he could. Maybe then he’d get on his way and get