Curse of the Alpha: The Complete Bundle by Tasha Black Page B

night.”
    He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
    “Ainsley, you really don’t know what’s going on here, do you?”
    She shook her head.
    “Cressida, check out upstairs, just in case.”
    The silver wolf growled and trotted away.

Chapter 2
    A insley kept her gaze averted . She couldn’t afford to take any chances now that their chaperone was gone. It seemed she was developing a hair trigger with this alpha drawing thing.
    “May I?” Erik gestured to a box of her father’s old jeans on the table, waiting for GoodWill.
    Ainsley nodded and smiled to herself. When she heard the hiss of his zipper she looked up carefully.
    The jeans hung low on his hips. Her father’s physique had been quite different from Erik’s. She tried and failed to ignore his rigid abs, bulging biceps and the wide planes of his chest. There was something to be said for manual labor.
    “Tea?” she asked.
    “Sure.”
    “So what’s really going on? Please enlighten me. I don’t see how an inn and a highway are really going to change the way of life in a town as old as Tarker’s Hollow.”
    She busied herself washing out the old copper kettle.
    “Do you know how the pack works?”
    She shook her head and waited for him to get sarcastic.
    “Okay, well, the alpha is the leader,” he began softly. “He sorts out minor disagreements within the pack, monitors concealment within the greater community and plans the future of the pack. More importantly, though, he protects the pack.”
    “What do you mean protects?”
    “I mean he protects the pack – he has to be strong enough to fight off any threats.”
    Wow. She tried to picture her dad fighting anything more than a stack of books. There really was a lot about him she never knew.
    “Is that why Mr. MacGregor told me he wouldn’t be a good alpha?”
    “When did he tell you that?”
    Ainsley was instantly embarrassed.
    “When I was home for the funeral he came over to talk about buying the hardware store. He told me he was the beta and he asked me to stay here and choose an alpha…”
    Oh god, she couldn’t.
    “What did you say?”
    “I told him that I chose him.”
    Erik made a choking sound. Ainsley whipped around to see him hiding a smile behind his hand.
    “Did he..?”
    “Yes, he did,” she said crisply, turning on her heel.
    Erik began to laugh. It was genuine, without malice. Ainsley focused primly on filling the kettle.
    “Then what?”
    “He stopped it, thank god, I didn’t know what was happening. He told me that I’d have to mate for life for it to work and that my father had someone else in mind for me.”
    Shit. Double shit. Triple shit. Fuck.
    “Who was that?”
    She couldn’t admit that it was him.
    “What kind of tea do you want?”
    “Whatever you’re having. So who did your dad want you to choose?”
    “Erik, I don’t think it matters, seeing as I’m not going to do it.”
    “If it doesn’t matter, then tell me.”
    “Clive Warren,” she said before she could stop herself. She turned to see if he would believe her lie.
    “Clive Warren, really?” Erik looked disappointed. “I guess he’s a nice enough guy. He certainly is strong.” There was a faraway look in his eye.
    Ainsley almost felt guilty.
    “Yes, but it doesn’t matter how nice he is because I’m not going to,” she forced herself to say it, “ mate with him. End of story.” She turned and reached for the mugs.
    He laughed again and the warmth of it was comforting.
    “Anyway, Ainsley, the beta assists the alpha and also keeps an archive of the pack’s history and bloodlines. He’s generally not an alpha-type.”
    “So pick someone else!”
    “The alpha’s leadership has to be absolute. This isn’t like voting for president and choosing someone else in four years if you change your mind. The drawing of the alpha is for life, and packs are torn apart if an alpha is displaced. It needs to be done the right way – so that it feels right and smells right and is