Surrender to the Alphas (Waxing Crescent Book 5) Read online

  Surrender to the Alphas

  Jasmine Mills

  Published by Jasmine Mills

  Copyright © 2019 Jasmine Mills

  All Rights Reserved

  May not be copied or distributed without prior written permission.

  Cover photo: © Deposit Photo

  Cover design: Ashe Moon

  Surrender to the Alphas

  Published by Jasmine Mills

  Copyright © 2019 Jasmine Mills

  All Rights Reserved

  May not be copied or distributed without prior written permission.

  Cover photo: © Deposit Photo

  Cover design: Ashe Moon

  Sign up to Jasmine’s newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dGdttr to hear about her new releases!

  Prologue

  Bats are blind? That’s a myth.

  I could see perfectly well in my bat form. My vision was pretty damn good, actually.

  What was different about me was that at night, when all the other living beings were restricted by their inability to see in the dark, I could echolocate instead. I made high-pitched squeaks—too high for humans to hear—and when the sound bounced back to me, I could tell where objects were.

  So tell me how that adds up to me being blind. Some people just lack logic.

  I was not a flying rat. I didn’t carry rabies. Nor did I go after human blood.

  Trust me, I’d heard all the stereotypes. I’d been nicknamed Batgirl since I was in the third grade.

  I had small, sharp teeth and soft gray fur, a pointed nose and wide black wings.

  I was the only flying mammal—and that came in handy when I was going about my work.

  The Waning Crescent Shifter Post had bird shifters on staff… but no other bats. I could do everything they could do, and I could do it at night.

  Of course, my sneaking around in search of a scoop eventually got me in trouble.

  The down-and-dirty, pain-becomes-pleasure, erotic-with-an-edge kind of trouble.

  But I couldn’t complain. If those alphas hadn’t caught me and punished me, I wouldn’t have ended up with my four loving partners and my amazing kids.

  Not to mention all the good times, laughter, and mind-blowing orgasms that came along the way.

  One

  “You have to let me do this,” I said, pleading from the bottom of my heart. “You have to let me try.”

  “I really wouldn’t recommend this,” Warden said. “You don’t want to get on an alpha’s bad side. They’ve crushed far, far stronger people than you. If you try this, you’ll soon see the error of your ways.”

  I folded my hands, leaning forward over his desk. Like everything else in the office, it was brand new and gleaming.

  While the traditional newspaper industry was disintegrating, the Waning Crescent Shifter Post was going strong. It was the main way that shifters kept up with what was going on in the community, since putting anything online would have been too much of a risk.

  These were the hallowed halls I’d aspired to as a journalism student. Now they seemed to mock me every day. I’d made it here, but for what?

  “It can’t be that dangerous.” And if it is, it’ll be worth it, I silently added.

  “It is,” Warden said. “I don’t think you understand.”

  Warden was generally a decent boss. Despite being middle-aged, he related well to me. We weren’t close, but we got along fine—except that right now, he was keeping me from the story that would make my career.

  Up to now, I’d only been given fluff pieces—stories about cupcake competitions and injured squirrels that were rescued at the park.

  I wanted to do more than this. More with my life in general. I’d been working here for almost two years, and I was still getting the crappiest assignments.

  Was it because I was a woman? Because I was an omega? Or just because I hadn’t gone aggressively enough after the good stories?

  I’d begged and begged for something meatier, but the best I’d gotten was a few short articles about the recent five-way romance that some of the pack alphas had engaged in.

  Now I had inside information about something that would blow that out of the water. I was going to get this scoop, whether Warden liked it or not.

  “The alphas can’t get away with what they’re doing,” I said, trying another tack. “The public deserves to know what they’re up to.”

  “Look, whatever you think you know, maybe it’s true and maybe it’s not,” he said. “If it is, maybe it’s better to just sit on it. I used to be idealistic like you, but the longer you stay in this business, the more you see those ideals don’t always work. The world doesn’t need to know about everything that goes on—not if it’s going to put you in danger.”

  “I don’t care about the danger. I can take care of myself.”

  “You’re a bat shifter, Cassidy. Your animal can’t even take care of you. What are you going to do? Suck their blood?”

  “Or I could fly away.” I rolled my eyes.

  He sat back, resignation in his eyes. “You seem determined to do this. I’m not going to stop you—but you don’t have my support in this, either. “

  Excitement sparked in my heart. “So if I get a story, you’ll publish it?”

  “I’d be a fool not to. But, Cassidy, I don’t recommend this.”

  “Yeah, I kind of got that impression already.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Taking a deep breath, I opened the window of my apartment. I’d changed into black bike shorts and a stretchy tank top—comfortable clothes that would allow me to move around if I needed to shift back at any point during the night. Of course, I hoped to stay in my bat form. I’d be faster that way, not to mention harder to catch.

  I’d told my friend Lydia about my plan earlier, which I regretted. Her warnings echoed at the back of my mind, along with Warden’s. They had both been so certain that I shouldn’t do this. They didn’t understand I had to do this.

  Once I got my scoop, I could just imagine where I’d go from there. Warden would give me bigger assignments. The higher-up bosses would take notice of me. I’d be a star, rather than an afterthought.

  I couldn’t wait.

  With another deep breath, I closed my eyes and summoned the bat within me. I started to shrink, my body folding in on itself as my line of vision came closer and closer to the floor. My arms shriveled, long lacy wings sprouting from them. I could feel my hands turning into claws, my feet into talons. My teeth sharpened inside my mouth.

  I flapped my wings once, re-accustoming myself to this body. Then I lifted up, toward the window, and flew out under the light of a full moon.

  I can’t really describe the sense of flying to someone who’s never done it. It’s like nothing else in the world. Being in a plane, or even skydiving, has nothing on it. When you propel yourself with your own wings, it’s like floating on thin air.

  The bliss of flying took over for a few minutes, so that I didn’t have to think about where I was going. I caught an updraft, letting it carry me like a tide. As I passed a flock of birds going the other way, I felt an odd sort of kinship with them.

  After a few minutes, I reached my destination—the farm where I’d overheard the alphas were going to meet tonight. Two of them were already there: Richmond, the bison alpha, and Trey, the tortoise one.

  They were just getting out of their cars—Richmond’s beat-up pickup truck and Trey’s immaculate sedan—and greeting each other. As they bumped fists, I flew straight through the open door of the barn.

  Everything was going smoothly so far, and yet my heart still beat faster as I found a spot to hang upside down
in the rafters. I clenched my talons around the piece of wood, filled with fear. If the alphas caught me, they’d kill me—but at least I wouldn’t be here to suffer the consequences.

  What if everything actually went right? What if I really had caught them conspiring, and I wrote an article and exposed them to the public?

  Right now, I was more scared of things going right.

  Richmond and Trey entered, giving me a chance to get a good look at them—even if it was an upside-down look.

  Richmond was tall and bearded, with the shoulders of a lumberjack and the face of a male model. He had all the features of a hipster, but he couldn’t be mistaken for one. The slight weathering around his eyes and the dirt under his nails made it clear that he was the real thing. I had the impression that he actually owned this farm.

  Trey was a different animal—in more ways than one. As a tortoise shifter, he had a certain quietness about him. He moved slowly, and anyone would’ve thought he was harmless. I knew from hearing about him in the news that was very much not the case.

  They were mid-conversation about baseball, of all things. Internally, I shook my head. I was here for the juicy stuff, dammit. The stuff that’d reveal how they were betraying our entire confederation.

  As I hung there silently, another man entered. I recognized him immediately. With his hooked nose and sharp eyes, he should’ve been ugly—but he was the opposite. Maybe that had something to do with the rippling muscles I could see underneath his polo shirt. This was Oakley, the vulture alpha.

  “Evening,” he said to the other two. “Just waiting on Jacob now?”

  “That’s right,” Trey said.

  They didn’t have to wait long. The barn door slammed open a few seconds later, and Jacob charged through. The mountain goat alpha, he was known for being brusque and upfront. Apparently that included how he treated inanimate objects. His short hair was mussed as if he’d just rolled out of bed, and his T-shirt and khakis were wrinkled—and yet none of that took away from his jaw-dropping attractiveness.

  “Good evening,” Richmond said. “We were about to get started.”

  Jacob plopped onto a bale of hay, bits of straw flying all around him. “Great. I’m ready.”

  I held steadily to my rafter, watching their discussion carefully.

  “Last time we met, we were talking about the potential directions we could take our confederation,” Richmond said. “I’m sure no one needs a refresher, so let’s dive back in.”

  My bat’s ears twitched as I listened even harder. It sounded like the alphas were about to talk about the rumors I’d heard. From what I understood, they’d started working with a rival confederation – our enemies – in order to expand their packs.

  “I’ve been considering it since our last meeting, and I think we should merge with the Waxing Crescent packs,” Trey said.

  “I agree,” Oakley said. “I don’t see a downside.”

  I tensed up. The downside was that merging involved both packs fighting it out to see which alpha would head the new pack! Blood would be shed, and these alphas didn’t even care enough to remark on it.

  “Yeah, let’s go for it,” Jacob said with a yawn. “It’s silly to have two separate packs, anyway.”

  It wasn’t silly! Waning Crescent and Waxing Crescent were two different towns. They each had one confederation made up of all the packs from the different species. That was how the shifter community worked! How could these four have the balls to think they could improve on that?

  “Sounds good,” Richmond said. “We’ll attack tomorrow at midnight. We can meet downtown and go from there. All of you will bring as many healthy, strong shifters from your packs as you can.”

  “Perfect.” Oakley sounded far too pleased by the plan. “And then, when we’ve conquered the Waxing Crescent packs, we’ll all have an ice cream party after?”

  “Of course,” Richmond assured him. “No better reason to celebrate, right?”

  My stomach turned. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. These four men were downright evil. How could they discuss attacking other people so mildly? How could they be so keen to celebrate the death and destruction they would sow?

  I wrapped my wings around myself tightly, but the comfort only lasted a second. I couldn’t listen any longer. With one last glance at the four alphas, I flew out of the front door.

  To my surprise, none of them commented that there’d been a bat in the barn. My presence was usually an unwelcome surprise to people, and I’d been attacked more than once for simply existing.

  At home, I hastily typed up a rough draft of an article. It was unpolished, but all the information was there. I sent it to Warden, and then I collapsed into bed.

  So much for the alphas being so dangerous. I’d gotten in and out without any trouble. They hadn’t harmed a hair on my head. I had to admit, I was pretty proud of myself. That had gone better than I’d ever hoped.

  Still, as I lay in bed trying to sleep, I wondered if I was being too quick to claim victory. It had almost been too easy.

  Whatever the case, it was over now. The article was sent in. It was too late to take it back.

  TWO

  The article appeared the next day, under a glaring headline on the front page of the paper. Warden must have been up half the night editing it.

  I stood in the office, my heart pounding as I read through the article yet again. It talked about everything I’d overheard – the alphas’ plan to attack Waxing Crescent and take over four of their packs. I’d emphasized the ice cream party they were going to have afterward. To me, that was the most disturbing part.

  Warden approached me, a grin on his face. “There’s our new star reporter.”

  I shook my head, even though those were the words I’d always longed to hear. “Don’t speak so fast. It’s only one article.”

  He shrugged. “I knew you could pull this off. I shouldn’t have been so cautious about it. Anyway, I’d like to have someone on the scene when they meet tonight. I know it’s asking a lot from you. It would definitely be more dangerous than I’m totally comfortable with. Although if, by any chance, you’re willing to take the risk…”

  I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll do it!”

  So it was that I ended up flying over the streets of downtown that evening, hunting for the group of alphas.

  Would I betray my confederation by publishing this information? We were supposed to follow our alphas – but they were doing something wrong! Would their attack fail due to my article? I wasn’t sure. The article hadn’t said when or where the attack was taking place, only that they were planning it.

  Now that the alphas’ plan had been exposed, they were going to have to act decisively, or not at all. I hoped they simply wouldn’t do it. That would mean I personally would have saved so many lives. Imagine that… me, Cassidy, the humble little omega – not just a star reporter, but also a humanitarian, and all at the young age of twenty-four.

  As I flew over the main intersection, I spotted the alphas, standing huddled together on a street corner. They looked almost downcast. Were they disappointed that their plan had been foiled? Were they confused, wondering who had figured them out?

  My bat’s lips curled upwards as I allowed myself a smug smile.

  I flew directly over them, ready to take mental notes. But before I could hear anything, Oakley shifted at lightspeed. Where a human had been, a vulture flew up instead. Before I could take in what was happening, huge talons wrapped around my frame. Then I smashed against the pavement.

  As Oakley returned to human form, I struggled to get out of his hands. He held me tightly, not letting me go no matter how hard I tried.

  “Well, well,” Richmond said. “What do we have here?”

  “Looks like a silly little bat to me,” Oakley said. “One who’s been sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

  “Maybe she’s been watching too many Batman movies,” Jacob said. “Thinks she’s going to be the caped crusader for
our city.”

  I thrashed in Oakley’s hands, flapping my wings as hard as I could. Still, he wouldn’t let me go. There was only one way for me to get loose from his grasp. I shifted back to human, and my growing size made me too big for him to hang onto. Still, as soon as I got into human form, I found that he and Richmond held my hands behind my back. I was just as captive as I’d been before.

  “Let me go!” I spat. “The four of you are sick.”

  “Is that so?” Oakley asked, jerking my hands behind my back. “Seems sicker to try to go after four alphas when you don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

  “I do know,” I said, still trying to get free. “I heard you. Don’t blame me for the fact that you were exposed.”

  Speaking of exposed, I was wearing the same tight clothes I’d worn the night before. I felt practically naked next to them – which was oddly arousing. I was far too aware of their bodies and the way their hard muscles contrasted with my soft flesh. But I had to stop thinking those thoughts. I needed to get free and get to safety.

  “You didn’t expose anything but your own ignorance,” Trey growled into my ear. His words were quiet, and somehow that made them all the more deadly. “Wherever you got your information, it was wrong. And yet you went ahead and published it anyway.”

  “No one is ever going to listen to the Waning Crescent Shifter Post again,” Richmond said. “Much less you specifically.”

  The fight went out of my body, and I stood there, limp. “What are you talking about?” I whispered. “I was there last night. I heard everything you said.”

  “Yes, we’re well aware,” Richmond said. “We tailored our discussion directly to you – at least, until the point that you left. You should never leave before a meeting is over – or did journalism school teach you nothing?”

  “But… your whole plan…”

  “Was a fabrication to trick you into publishing it,” Oakley said, coldly. “Didn’t it all seem a little ridiculous to you? I mean, really, an ice cream party?”