Free A Wolf's Obsession: Part One: (BBW/Shapeshifter Paranormal Romance) (Alpha Lands Serial) by Josey Alden

Chapter 1

    Rosa Mendez belonged in the Alpha Lands.  
    She knew this like she knew that her eyes were blue and that her sweet tooth sometimes got the best of her. She knew it like she knew she would honor her parents' wishes for her to stay away from the Alpha Lands while they were still paying her college tuition—but after that, she would be her own woman.
    While she was in high school, her parents forbid her to visit the reservation, warning her of giant werewolves who patrolled the borders, waiting for full-blood humans to cross. Rosa knew that frustrated parents started the rumor to try to keep carloads of teens from drinking in the small bars that dotted the border. It was impossible to convince her parents of that fact, though, so Rosa was forced to make her plans in private up to the day of her college graduation.
    With her English degree and teaching certificate in hand, she quietly accepted a job in the Wolf Nation as part of an educator recruitment program. As in many other communities across Texas, teachers here were in short supply. Rosa was eager to help fill this need.
    And she was thrilled at the idea of becoming an alpha wolf's mate—a secret she shared only with her best friend Cynthia.  
    "I still don't get it," Cyn said as she helped Rosa pack up the last few things in her room for the move. "You have the whole United States—hell, the whole world—to find Mr. Right, and you want to limit yourself to the guys in three wolf tribes right smack in the middle of Texas? In a place you've never once visited?"
    Rosa gave her friend a patient smile. This running argument had gone on for three years, ever since Rosa revealed her plans in strict confidence. She appreciated Cyn's concern, but this wasn't so much a choice as a calling. She'd tried to date ordinary guys, but not one of them held her interest for more than a few weeks. They all seemed shallow, disrespectful, and unrooted. How could she adequately explain the overwhelming need she felt in the depths of her soul when she thought about being with a werewolf? In human form, these gorgeous creatures were everything she wanted in a man: powerful, intuitive, intense. In wolf form, they spoke to her ancient soul in a way no other being could. Even though she was an English major, she could not find the words to explain this to Cyn. No one but Rosa herself could understand why she had no choice but to go to the Alpha Lands.
    "Would you say I was limiting myself if I stayed in the city?" Rosa said. She pulled an armload of books from her shelf and stacked them neatly in an open box. "Yes, I'm moving to the Alpha Lands, but it doesn't mean I have to date only those men. You can practically walk to Austin from the south end of the reservation."
    "But you won't go to Austin or Dallas or anywhere else," Cyn said. "I've never seen someone so obsessed with the Alpha Lands. Hell, I don't think half the people in the state even know the place exists."
    Rosa paused before returning to the shelf for more books. "Don't worry. I won't settle for the first wolf who looks at me twice. I have standards."
    "Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," Cyn muttered.
    After they loaded the remaining boxes into her old, black Land Rover, Rosa turned to her friend and gave her a long hug. Tears came to her eyes when she realized that for the first time in four years, she wouldn't wake up with Cyn in the bedroom next to hers tomorrow morning. Cyn clung to Rosa's neck, crying openly. Her friend never stuffed down her feelings. When the sobs stopped, she stepped back.
    "If anyone, and I mean anyone , lays a paw on you, I'll kill him," Cyn said. She was a twenty-something wisp of a woman, but she was as tough as someone twice her size.
    Rosa smiled through her tears. "I'm not heading to the wild, wild west," she said.
    "You may as well be."
    She didn't have much of a response for that, so she stayed quiet. She wasn't naive. By taking up residence in the Alpha Lands, Rosa was, in effect,