Her Alphas by Gabrielle Holly

full moon. The human consort had settled into the old rocking chair outside
the cell, plucked a tattered paperback from the basket and pretended to read.
    On that night, the book was just a prop—something to rest
her gaze on so she wouldn’t have to meet Jenny’s glare. She didn’t want her
charge to know exactly how frightened she was. Gwen glanced up a couple of
times and found the new werewolf sitting on the cot, fidgeting with her clothes
and toying with the edge of the thin mattress. Maybe she’s as scared as I
am.
    When the moon had risen high enough to cast its rays through
the skylight in the cell, Jenny had stood and slowly stripped naked. Her
attention seemed riveted to the ceiling and Gwen waited for the agitated pacing
and ranting to begin. It never did.
    Instead, Jenny’s arms hung loosely at her sides and the pale
yellow light washed over her expressionless face. She could have been any young
woman out stargazing. When the change began, she barely seemed to notice. Even
when the silky blonde fur erupted from every pore and her tiny upturned nose
stretched into a long snout filled with sharp teeth, she barely flinched.
    Gwen had dropped her book back into the basket and watched
in fascination. This shift was like none she’d ever witnessed before. Rather
than violent and grotesque, Jenny’s change was so beautiful that it conjured up
images of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.
    The next six nights were more of the same. Jenny seemed to
embrace each transformation and when Gwen unlocked the cell door on the last
morning of the fourth cycle, one word echoed in her mind.
    Serene.
    * * * * *
    Present
    “Serene,” Gwen finally said in answer to Alex’s question.
“She seemed so calm on that last cycle. Almost like she’d been drugged.”
    Alex set down his fork and turned his gaze toward the
cabin’s ceiling, as if he were trying to work something out.
    “Well, that must be it,” he finally said. “I’ve thought
since the beginning that her former drug use was causing her strange behavior.
I guess it just took a while for the damage to her brain to heal. Maybe the
regeneration of the cells kind of went into overdrive in the process and dumped
a big dose of endorphins into her system during that fourth moon week.”
    “What about her little cottontail snack today in the
clearing?” Tommy interjected.
    The annoyance in Alex’s expression was obvious as he turned
toward Tommy, then Gwen. “You told him?”
    Tommy laughed. “Dude, don’t start pissing all over, marking
your territory. She didn’t tell me anything. You guys were like twenty feet
away from me clucking about it like a pair of old hens. Doggies aren’t the only
ones with excellent hearing.”
    Gwen glanced back at Alex and thought he looked almost
embarrassed by the obvious oversight. He cleared his throat and sat up a bit
straighter. “I don’t know—relapse maybe. I’m going to chalk it up to youth and
inexperience. Jenny’s what—nineteen—twenty?”
    “She is twenty-two,” Sergei said quietly.
    “Okay, twenty-two. Even as a human, she probably didn’t have
much self-control. She’s by far the youngest in the pack. You’re just going to
have to remind your mate of the rules, Sergei.”
    The Russian nodded and took another swig from his bottle of
beer.
    Alex stood and gathered up his plate and silverware. “Well,
let’s just take a wait-and-see attitude. I think we’ve answered all of the
questions we can tonight.”
    “Not all of the questions,” Tommy offered. “The human has
one.”
    Gwen’s brow knitted. “No I don’t.”
    He winked at her. “Oh sure you do. You were just wondering
earlier, ‘boxers or briefs?’”
    The sensation of Alex’s glare only heightened Gwen’s
embarrassment. She wasn’t sure if she was more upset about her lover’s anger or
the fact that the Cat King could read her mind.
    Tommy reached across the table and grabbed Gwen’s hand. “Just
to put your curiosity to rest,