The Alpha’s Bargain (Howls Romance)

©Ryan Michele 2017

Chapter One

The wind whistled through the trees bending the strong trunks at its will. Leaves rustled creating music through the night’s sky, while the clouds hid the moon leaving everything blanketed in darkness. The smell of rain lingered in the air everything indicating the storm was coming through, hard and fast.

Off in the distance, wolves howled warning of the fast approaching weather change.

My hair blew in the wind as the swing rocked back and forth watching the changes from my front porch. It was my favorite spot and spending hours here had become my past time. Whether the sun shone down, moon glowed or the storm rose, sitting here in this spot filled me with peace.

Storms were my favorite though, the more lighting, thunder and rain the better. It was as if two worlds were colliding bringing a force down on one another that rivaled the other. An epic battle of wills crashing and tearing through the land – all of it part of nature and her works.

Sporadically, the clouds would give way to the crescent moon playing hide and go seek with the earth below.

Small droplets began to fall to the ground, the dirt pressing out of its way before the water seeped in. A burst of energy floated through the air as lighting cracked, thunder crashed and the rain began to pour down around me. All the while not a drop hit me because of the large awning above.

The air invaded my lungs and the calm seeped deep into my body.

Yellow eyes glowed in the distance making their way quickly to me. A beautiful light brown wolf with white around his ankles hopped up on the porch, his nails tapping on the wood. He shook his body hard and fast spraying me.

Rolling my eyes, I wiped the wetness from my bare arms and glared down at my brother as he shifted. Ren, stood before me with a wide mischievous smile on his face. “Thought you could use a shower.” He chuckled as a large crash of thunder hit shaking the ground beneath us, my feet feeling the long rumble.

“And here I thought I liked you.”

Ren reached to the ground snagging his sweatpants and pulling them over his body. Wolves never cared about nudity. It’s a part of our lives, but being siblings, my three brothers, kept themselves covered for the most part, which was greatly appreciated.

The swing gave a creak and groan as my brother’s heavy weight settled besides mine all the while the rain and wind picked up around us.

“Why do you love storms so much?” Ren asked pushing the swing back and forth with his powerful legs. Ren was the oldest in the family and would one day be alpha according to my father. A job that Ren rolled with and didn’t make much fuss about. Stating, he’d worry about it when the time comes. Which to me was an admirable thing.

In some packs rifts would cause problems between the alphas fighting for dominance. So far, we’d skated those lines and hadn’t had that issue.

“Peace Ren. In all the chaos that is the storm, the peace will come.”

He let out a huge sigh and laced his fingers behind his head. “Have you told dad yet?”

My insides clenched and the headache that stayed at bay began to come back seeping into my temples. “No.” Telling my father would mean trouble and bringing that to my family wasn’t on the top of my list. The problem was it couldn’t be hidden for much longer. We were drowning. Our pack, the one my father, his father before him and his father before him – grew was losing more money than we were bringing in.

Therefore, our savings was dwindling to the point of scraping by and no pack could survive the way things were. With sixteen mouths to feed, electricity that needed to be paid and to live, we needed a holy grail of help.

I’d done everything possible to get us back in the black and the stress of it has been getting to me and my wolf. Lately, she was restless to a point that a run nor a hunt would calm her. The human side of me wasn’t much better. The pressure of making things right, of helping my family and not being able too was sending me down a dark path.

It couldn’t be stopped because no matter what accounts money was shifted to or creative ways to put off the bills – they just kept coming. All of it weighed so heavy on my chest there were times I couldn’t breathe and felt like an utter disappointment to everyone around me.

My parents had me attend the local Breed College and get a degree in finance, which only nailed my coffin harder because I felt like a failure on so many levels. The problem was the money wasn’t coming in as fast as we needed to and it was time for everyone to get jobs outside the pack so we could get back on our feet.

Ren and I were the only ones who knew how low we were because I confided in him. It was either that or allow the pressure to take me completely under.

“We’re going in now and talking to him, Caleigh. This can’t go on and the longer we wait the further down we’ll go.”

He was right and the only reason for me putting it off was my ego which was totally stupid on my part. It was so damn hard though knowing you failed. You failed everyone around you when you should know exactly what to do to make it right. I had no other options at this point and finding a money tree wasn’t an option.

“Right.” I breathed not wanting to, but having to do the responsible thing. We rose from the swing just as another crash came to the earth. This time it felt like a warning, one that made the hair on the back of my neck stand to attention.

My father was the best man I knew, loyal, fair and trustworthy to the highest degree. It was one of the reasons I was so down on myself about telling him. He put so much trust in me to handle the finances and here it was all fucked up.

Having him disappointed in me was the worst feeling ever. Tears threatened to push their way to the surface, but I held them back and followed Ren into the pack house.

**

“I knew we shouldn’t have renovated.” My father looked down at the papers on his desk, his hands feathered through his dark hair and brow arched in worry. “That’s what dragged us down so far.”

He was right. Our pack owned two bars on the Breed side of town where the shifters resided. Each one gave a different feel to accommodate everyone. Howls was more upscale compared to The Grey Wolf where you’d find peanut shells all over the floor.

The Grey Wolf had been shut down now for four months for renovations that cost a mint. Alone Howls could hold its own and then some, but with The Grey Wolf shut down and the amount of money going out to fix the place up, we were falling.

“How much longer before Grey will be open?” I asked him hoping beyond measure he’d say tomorrow. Hope was a powerful thing.

“We have about two more months.” He rubbed his hand over his face and sucked in breath. “Fuck, I don’t want to go to the bank for a loan.”

Breed had their own banks, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem lay in other packs deeming you as weak because you needed to take out the money and not have it on point. Nothing was ever kept secret it seemed and word would get out that my father couldn’t handle his pack or businesses. It would create a rift and look bad on all of us.

“I’m so sorry.” I whispered feeling the ache in my chest grow tighter. The guilt of not hacking it rode me so hard it hurt like a physical pain squeezing the life out of me.

My father’s head popped up. “What do you have to be sorry for Cal? You did everything exactly as it should be done. There are no I’s or T’s left uncrossed here. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

My words came out in a choke, hearing my father, yet still feeling like a disappointment. “I let everyone down.”

“Nonsense. It’s just more money going out than coming in. It’s business and you can’t get all worked up because of it. I’ll figure it out Cal.”

“What can I do?”

“Right now, nothing. Give me some time and I’ll get it worked out.”

I had no idea how he would do this considering we were more than a hundred thousand dollars in the hole after moving it from savings, but he’s my pack leader and I put my trust in him.

My father rose from his chair behind his desk. “Come here.” I strode into his harms where he wrapped me in his warmth and kissed the top of my head. “Next time you bring this to me right away Cal and we’ll figure it out.”

I nodded.

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

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