Awakened Alpha (Awakened Shifters Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  Awakened Alpha

  Awakened Shifters Chronicles Series

  By:

  Amelia Wilson

  Table of Contents:

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1: A SIGN

  CHAPTER 2: PATCHED UP

  CHAPTER 3: KARMA

  CHAPTER 4: ANSWERS

  CHAPTER 5: INTRODUCTIONS

  CHAPTER 6: SUSPICION

  CHAPTER 7: A DARK SECRET

  CHAPTER 8: RENOWNED

  CHAPTER 9: REVELATION

  CHAPTER 10: HANSON’S DAUGHTER

  EPILOGUE

  JOIN OUR TEAM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ALSO BY AMELIA WILSON

  PREVIEW OF RIZER PACK SHIFTER SERIES

  Copyright © 2019 by Amelia Wilson

  All rights reserved.

  http://ameliawilsonauthor.com/

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited, and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  PROLOGUE

  The white moon seeped through the branches, creating soft splotches of light throughout the forest. Trees flew by at a breakneck pace, blurring into endless shadows passing by Adeline’s vision as they disappeared into the night behind her. Where am I? She thought, but she couldn’t find an answer. Only more and more trees, the feeling of the branches whipping against her face as she dove under and through them. She didn’t know where she was going. She only knew that she had to follow this strange trail of scent filling her nose. Her paws thudded rhythmically against the cold dirt, soft with midnight dew.

  She could see everything out here, a map of the forest etched into her mind. A squirrel crossed her path, but she didn’t care to attack it. She knew she had somewhere to be, but the question was where? She ducked under another tree as her feet found the solidity of a nearby boulder. Bounding up to the top, she found herself standing on an enormous cliff overlooking the forest below. Lights from the city twinkled through the trees, a strange contrast to the surrounding nature. Adeline caught her breath, the chill of autumn stinging her snout as she looked out at the nature around her. She wondered how she could have ended up this far from her cabin.

  This has to be a dream, she thought, somewhere though in her mind she wasn’t actually believing it. She found herself with a strange urge. I’m not alone, she realized, discovering that the scent was now much stronger here. She turned to find herself face-to-face with another wolf. She could feel her hackles rise. An intruder. The wolf stared at her, head low to the ground, its fur a deep red.

  Adeline held her ground as the wolf inched towards her, cautiously padding in a circle around her. She didn’t like this feeling of being watched this carefully, and kept her warning stance. She could already tell that this stranger was the source of the scent she had been following.

  The other wolf was now right in her face. Adeline bared her teeth at him, a fierce growl emanating from her throat. The other wolf shrunk back, also growling at her. It was a male, much larger than her and could easily sink his jaws right into her neck. Suddenly, she could hear a voice, low and foreboding. I knew I would find you… He said, though he didn’t speak. Adeline could hear him as if he were a thought invading her mind.

  What do you want from me? She asked him. The wolf was now eye-to-eye, and Adeline could make out the subtle notes of brown coloring in his irises. The wolf didn’t answer, just watching her menacingly. Adeline could feel herself almost shaking. She tried to avoid him, ducking down with her ears pulled back in caution. He stepped in her path, keeping her in his sights.

  Suddenly, a loud sound disturbed them, a rousing chorus of howling. Safety, was all Adeline could think of, and felt the urge to howl back. Quiet! The other wolf warned, growling at her again. Adeline could tell that the nearby howling was making him uneasy.

  While he was distracted, Adeline calculated. She took a wild chance, leaping towards the intruder, biting into his fur. She could taste the salt and iron of his blood as he reared his head back in agony. He shook her jaws off of him, nudging her sharply onto the nearby boulder. I have no chance, Adeline thought in a panic as the wolf bounded towards her. He had her locked in his jaws now. Adeline winced as she felt the sharp pain shooting up her shoulder.

  The wolf shook her violently. Adeline knew she was too weak to fight him off, but she wouldn’t give up without giving him a fair fight. She frantically snapped at his heels, and soon they were a pile of teeth and claws raging into a fierce tumble on the cliff side.

  Adeline was pinned down now, the wolf staring deep into her eyes. I can taste your blood, he said to her hungrily. It must be true after all.

  What are you saying? Adeline asked, struggling under the weight of this intruder on top of her. The other wolf didn’t answer, but they could both hear the howling growing closer and closer. Adeline realized she didn’t have much time, but she thought she would try just one more time to escape, just long enough for this mysterious pack to arrive. They would have to have smelled them by now, and would soon be inspecting this side of the mountain to see what was going on.

  Adeline snapped her jaws again and again, nipping in precise motions at her attacker’s feet. He yelped back, growling so fiercely it shook her bones to the core. She could feel herself tumbling against the sharp rocks, her footing leaving the safety of the cliff as she rolled towards the edge.

  The wolf hovered over her, an evil plan concocting in his eyes. Adeline looked down, feeling nauseous at the sight of the treetops below her. It was a long way to the bottom, and her stomach churned at the thought of reaching the bottom. You don’t have to do this, she begged the attacker. She struggled under his paws, and could smell the stench of his breath on her face.

  Without another word, the wolf threw her over the edge. Adeline felt weightless, falling as time almost slowed to a halt. She could barely make out the shape of the assailant as she fell faster and faster. He watched her from the edge of the cliff as she crashed through the treetops, the branches cracking and snapping under her weight.

  Then…there was only darkness.

  Adeline shot up from her bed in a panic, her face breaking out in a cold sweat. She clutched at her chest, breathing heavily, her eyes soaked with tears from her terror. She looked down at her hand. She was human. It was just a dream after all. She was back in her cabin as if nothing had happened.

  She stood up from her bed, wandering to the bathroom, her mind still busy with thoughts and questions of her dream. It had felt so real. What did he mean when he said that he had finally found her? What blood did she have running through her veins that the other wolf had found so appealing?

  She splashed her face with cold water. As she wiped her face with a clean towel she stared at her reflection with relief: Same human brown eyes, and same human black hair. At least it was only a dream, she thought to herself. It doesn’t mean that it’s reality. But as she walked back into her room, crossing over to the window overlooking the small logging town in the distance, she couldn’t help but feel a strange tug. For a sliver of a second she almost believed that there was something out there in the woods, and whatever it was it was hungry for her…

  CHAPTER 1: A SIGN

  Adeline locked up her cabin, her
bag draped over her shoulder as she stared up at the row of identical log houses winding up the mountain road. There were a few newcomers moving into Chester’s Seasonal Cabins, perhaps to get away for the chilly fall weekend. She watched as couples cheerfully unloaded their cars, bringing suitcases and boxes of fancy treats and bottles of wine. There was a family further up the path, rounding up their cluster of excited children playing in the street. It was going to be dark soon, the remnants of the sun still dipping beneath the trees. The mountains on this side of Virginia were bursting with the bright colors of autumn, and were the perfect backdrop for a cozy stay in a cabin.

  But Adeline wasn’t here to visit. Sadly, she’d been a permanent resident on the private drive for almost a month now, since it happened to be the cheapest option in town. She definitely couldn’t afford one of those eight bedroom luxury cabins she’d seen on the neighboring mountainsides. Still, she was happy with her cozy place, big enough for just herself with a small loft above the living room serving as her bedroom.

  Adeline trudged through the fallen leaves and climbed into her beat-up hatchback. The mountain roads were tough to navigate, but she’d grown used to them over the past few weeks. She concentrated on the road, her mind wandering with thoughts of the other night. She had never felt something so realistic, and the thought of racing through the forest filled her with a strange satisfaction. The thought of wanting to do it again lingered in the back of her mind, all of it except for the treacherous encounter with that strange other wolf.

  She dismissed it as only a dream. But how could it have been a dream when it had felt so real? As her car rounded the winding turns, she eyed the curves of the mountains, falling straight down into the treetops below. She saw a brief flash to that terrifying moment that ripped her from sleep, the thought of falling, down, down towards the ground, landing on the forest floor with a sickening crunch.

  She shook the thought from her head, disrupted by a sudden vibration from her cell phone. She looked down to see the usual, five missed calls from her mother. She reached down and turned the phone screen over, as if she could hide it altogether. She didn’t want to talk. She had already done enough talking about everything, and couldn’t bear the thought of getting wrapped up in yet another argument about her father’s possessions.

  It had been almost half a year since his death. Adeline didn’t like to dwell on her thoughts about it, though. She had been doing so well just keeping to herself, hiding everything, even the only box of her father’s things that she had dared to keep. The box stayed under her bed, never touched since the day she moved into her cabin. For months she had been struggling with the question of “why?” Why did it have to be her father found in that river?

  When they had dragged him out, his body had been swollen with water. Who knows how long he had been out there? He was supposed to be camping with his friends, but they found him alone, and when questioned, his companions said that they couldn’t find him for days. He had just grabbed his things and disappeared into the night, only to be found in the river with his back in the air.

  Adeline could feel a pit in her stomach as her car rumbled into town. There was such a wild mystery surrounding her life, and she was hoping to escape it here where nobody knew her name, and she could make a decent life for herself. Here, she wouldn’t have to worry about all the questions about her father that she didn’t know how to answer. She didn’t have to be around her mother, who immediately started weighing the value of her husband’s personal belongings. It was then Adeline realized that at twenty-nine, she could do whatever she wanted.

  Having lived closer to the city for most of her life, Adeline was strangely drawn to this town. There was a certain air about it, an odd sense that there was something here that she needed to find. Out of a long list of options she had, this was the one that sounded the most promising.

  The Rickety Hound was a bar on the edge of the small town, typically populated by the loggers coming in after a long day out in the woods. Coming from the city, Adeline wasn’t used to the sight of rugged men gleaming with sweat. As she wiped off the counters, she would sometimes feel a glimmer of attraction towards one of them. Most of the bar patrons were obnoxious and quick to argue. But every now and then there’d be a stranger in the corner, one with a firm jaw and large arms, who would smile at her over the rim of his beer bottle. She wouldn’t pursue him, though. After all, she wanted so badly to stay hidden here. It wouldn’t do her any good to get mixed up with any of the locals.

  This night was particularly busy, and Adeline had grown accustomed to seeing the familiar array of faces. But on this night there was a cluster of new faces hiding out in the corner. Janine, her coworker, approached her with a tray of empty glasses. “Careful of those guys,” she warned quietly. “They’re making bets on who will get one of us tonight.” Adeline quivered, the thought of being looked at hungrily made her feel sick.

  She turned for just a second, filling up a glass from one of the taps. As she turned, one of the mysterious males was sitting right at the counter. “That one for me?” He asked casually. He had wildly red hair and a bushy beard, and an almost crazy look in his eye that made Adeline feel uneasy. She slid the glass across the counter towards him, and he took a sip with a wink. Adeline could feel his eyes drifting somewhere else, to the slight dip in her cleavage where the tops of her breasts were just barely dipping out of her flannel shirt.

  “You’ll probably get some good tips tonight,” the redhead said to her as he slapped a dollar bill onto the counter. He raised his glass as he sauntered back towards his group in the corner, all of them dressed in the familiar logging garb. Adeline rolled her eyes, buttoning up her shirt. That was the only downside to working in this place, having to deal with the creeps that would often inhabit the place.

  Something stood out about these guys, though. Adeline watched them carefully, studying the way they joked with one another. Something had caught their attention, and their joking ceased almost immediately. She followed their gaze to the door, where another group was making their way towards a table in the opposite corner of the bar.

  They looked just as rugged as the other group, with beards and longer hair curling around their ears. Some of them were older, their leathery faces worn with time. But they weren’t dressed for logging like the others. They were clad in torn, dirty jeans, ball caps, some of them in fishing vests. But all of them, Adeline noticed, had a distinct tattoo peering out from under their rolled sleeves.

  “Whiskey, straight,” A smooth, deep voice said as one of the men broke off from this new group, taking a seat at the bar. “And a round for my friends in the corner.” Adeline felt a chill winding up her spine as she locked eyes with him. He had the most piercing amber-colored eyes, brighter than she had ever seen. His mouth was curled into an adorably crooked smirk, his sandy hair sticking out from his backwards ball cap in messy waves. Adeline’s eyes studied the stubble on his chiseled chin, trailing down towards the v shape in his old t-shirt, his chest muscles protruding from it.

  “Sorry, what?” Adeline said, snapping out of her trance. She’d seen many others like him saunter into this bar, but none of them had that deep icy gaze that he was giving her. The man laughed, his teeth a pearly white. Adeline could see his canines appeared a little longer than average. “Busy day?” He asked her. “Yeah,” she replied nervously. Everything he said was exciting to her for some reason, filling her chest with a strange flutter. “What’s your name?” He asked. Adeline always used a fake name in these situations, but she felt an odd desire to tell him the truth. Maybe it was the way his eyes looked, pleading to know more about her. “Adeline,” she said, looking up with a shy smirk. “Addie is also acceptable.”

  “Hmm, never met an Addie,” The man said, and Adeline felt a rush of excitement at the sound of her name leaving his lips. “Happy to say that you’re the first.”

  Adeline eyed the group that he arrived with, all of them watching her with an air of suspicion. “Your
guys put you up to this?” She dared to ask. It was best to find out now before she got too attached. That seemed to be the usual routine around here. “Are you saying that I need to be dared to approach a woman that I find attractive?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. Adeline could barely make out the trace of a scar over it. He was already melting down the wall she was barely building. She poured his drink like he asked, sliding it into his hand. He watched her intently as she opened a round of bottles and placed them on a tray. “You new around here?” He asked. Adeline nodded, and the man smiled again as he reached for the tray. “I got this,” he told her as he headed back to his table. He looked over his shoulder. “Hopefully I’ll see you around more often,” he said slyly.

  Adeline could hardly breathe. She’d heard almost every line in the book, so why was this stranger saying it just the right way to make her blush? She watched him, admiring the confidence of his stride and the way his butt looked in his ripped jeans. Something else caught her eye, though, as she looked over at the other group of loggers in the other corner. They were watching the fisherman, their eyes glaring and their faces all turned into a sneer. One of them, the redhead from earlier, was tensing up, and stood from in his seat. The others tried to calm him, but Adeline noticed he didn’t want to be consoled.

  The fisherman kept their eyes to themselves, but occasionally would look over at the loggers, leaning closer in to discuss something. The sandy-haired man from earlier was deep in the conversation, and Adeline’s heart sank as she realized she didn’t get his name. She came up with a brief plan that she would check on them and maybe find out this hottie’s identity. She stepped away from the bar, ready to execute her plan. She noticed that the redhead from before approached the fisherman, fuming with sudden rage. “We were here first,” he said through his teeth, almost a growl. One of the older fishermen stood up, his shoulders straightening so he appeared taller than the redhead. The sandy-haired one grabbed the older man’s arm, trying to coax him. “We don’t have to do this here,” he warned, but his pleas were ignored as the tension built into a shoving match, which then erupted into a full on bar brawl in the corner.