Free Winning the Alpha by Carina Wilder Page A

house, I realized, was set up so that a camera crew could make its way quickly through without too much risk of damage, so all the furniture was streamlined, sturdy and boring.
    On the plus side, I could see the faint outline of mountain peaks through the window under the night sky, sheltering the town of Wolf Rock from the rest of the world. We were isolated, protected. And yet the whole world would soon know where we were and what Craig was.
     
    Julia and I chatted that night about the day’s events, glad to have been assured that the cameras were off.
    “So what’s with you and our producer man?” she asked with a mischievous grin.
    “Nothing. I mean, I think we like each other. As friends. We get along. But there’s nothing going on.”
    “Doesn’t look like nothing to me. I’d say he’s smitten.”
    “Nah. He just feels sorry for me since I’m the odd one out.”
    “ Mmm hmm.”
    I hurled a cushion at her then. They call them throw pillows for a reason.
     
    I woke up in the middle of the night, strange sounds rousing me from my not very deep sleep. Julia didn’t seem to be awake and I didn’t hear anyone moving around in the rest of the house. At first I thought I’d been dreaming, but the noise I’d heard started up again. It was almost like there were animals fighting in the yard, only these weren’t the neighbourhood cats I was used to hearing at home.
    I got out of bed dressed only in shorts and a t-shirt and made my way downstairs.
    When I reached the French doors at the back of the darkened house I looked out. What I saw was stunning; frightening and beautiful at once.
    Just beyond the sparkling swimming pool , two giant wolves were facing one another in an antagonistic and threatening pose. They were lit only by the moon and the twinkling lights scattered throughout the property, and their outlines were magnificent, a perfect, elegant symmetry to their postures. Their backs were arched in threat, each trying to loom larger than the other. Their giant teeth were bared in menacing snarls and as I watched in anticipation while their forms remained still. Each was sizing the other up, waiting for the moment to strike. I couldn’t tell under the yard’s lights, but one of them looked like Craig’s wolf form. The other was new to me but could have been any member of the crew, I supposed. Why would Craig be wrestling with another wolf, particularly when he was the alpha? Was he being threatened? Or was it simply a momentary dispute?
    Craig’s form was tall, lean and grey, and the ot her wolf was dark, almost black, with piercing blue eyes which stood out and glowed brightly in the dark of the night.
    I pulled the glass door open, my curiosity preventing common sense from kicking in, and both wolves immediately shot their heads towards me. Cursing myself silently, I froze. I’d never been around shifters before and had no idea if they’d be aggressive with me. I controlled my urge to mutter “nice doggies,” and instead remained perfectly still, wishing suddenly that I had a steak to offer them.
    The grey wolf was the first to shift , the transformation jarring. It was like watching a video played at high speed and in reverse. His lupine body seemed to rise up, lose its fur and become a fully erect man all at once. It was indeed Craig, who now stood unapologetically naked across from me. He didn’t seem to care much that I was there, other than a look of annoyance on his face. Nor did he appear to feel even remotely self-conscious, and it was all I could do to quell the curiosity which compelled me to stare between his legs at his generous member.
    The other wolf changed now , in the same fashion: pulling himself up, his back going convex, his fur disappearing. Suddenly Tristan was in front of me. His wolf and human forms were as tall as Craig’s, but his shoulders were broader, his body more muscular, more sculpted. His abdomen was a defined six-pack of glistening muscles and his thighs were