Alpha's Awakening - Signed Paperback (Discontinued Cover)

He’s the kind of alpha dreams are made of, but I can’t make another mistake.

After a bad breakup, I can’t get out of town fast enough. I’m headed north to the peace and quiet of a borrowed cabin in a small town. It’s time for a clean slate and a chance to reinvent myself.

But with my mother calling to remind me that I must keep looking for a mate, I have no choice but to mingle with the locals.

A secret romance with a hot ginger alpha wasn’t what I had in mind, but the sweet wolf sweeps me off my feet with the love and affection I've always craved.

That is until my ex begins to harass me, and a string of nearby murders have us both scrambling to figure out what exactly is going on.

There’s also the matter that Chance is next in line to lead the pack and will have to produce an heir…

TROPES: standalone, gay for you/bi awakening, alpha wolf, hurt/comfort, grumpy x sunshine, forbidden love, forced proximity, found family, strict roles, and HEA.

Chapter One:
I rolled down the windows as my jeep crested the hill just outside of town. The air was sweet with the last wildflowers of summer as the sun beat down on them, drenching the hillsides in gold. For hours I’d been driving down what seemed like a never-ending stretch of road, wondering if I’d ever get anywhere. In all that time I’d made two lefts and a right, covering over a hundred miles of deep forest, sprawling farmlands, swamps, and more lakeshore than you could ever imagine. It was serene, I’ll admit, but a little more desolate than I’d anticipated. Still climbing the hill, I glanced at my phone mounted to the dash. My music had stopped playing over a half hour ago.
“No signal, of course… I should have downloaded my playlist…” I sighed, tapping the screen as if that would make any difference. “I hope this cabin has Wi-Fi at least.”
The lack of cell signal did have one upside, I was away from my mother and her constant nagging. If I had to sit through one more lecture about how I should just go find some nice she-wolf to marry and how that would magically solve all my problems, I would have imploded. It was hard enough being a werewolf and trying to date, but being gay at the same time definitely made things more difficult. Mates were almost always the opposite sex, so of course, my mother thought that must be the source of all my problems. But none of that mattered to me and I definitely wasn’t afraid of rejecting convention. I’d made a point of doing that as often as possible. However, that didn’t stop my mother from parading me around every wolf pack she knew about during high school, hoping I’d sniff enough butts to find the right girl. I had to chuckle to myself. What she didn’t understand was how bad hormones are for werewolf teenagers, especially guys. Half the time, they were a stiff breeze away from dry humping a tree. I found my fair share of fun on those trips, but never anything I would have deemed irresistible. At least not in the way the wolves talked about fate when it came to their mates. They were just passing flings, a way to burn time before I was carted off to another place like an Edwardian woman being presented at court.
I shook my head, trying to push the memories away. Mom meant well, or at least that’s what I told myself, but she was annoyingly persistent. And that was a very minor part of the reason I just drove twelve hours into the middle of midwestern nowhere. I had to get out, there was no other choice. In the last three days I’d sold off what I could quit my job, not that they were sad to see me go after all the sick time I’d been taking, and ran off to the first free cabin an old friend offered me.
“That’s enough of that,” I muttered to myself, relaxing my grip on the steering wheel. There was a boiling rage deep in my belly and I didn’t want to deal with it at the moment. “Don’t lose control again…”
I turned my attention back to the road in front of me just as my jeep crested the top of the giant hill and I had to stifle a gasp as the scenery unfolded in front of me. To my left was rolling hills and forest for as far as the eye could see. The late afternoon light danced over the boughs, giving the landscape the look of a romantic era painting. In front of me a forested mountain rose up and tucked at the base was a small town in my eyes, but one of the largest in the area according to my friend. At the center was nestled the college that kept the town afloat year round, the dorms and sports complexes wrapped around it with perfect green lawns. Beyond that was a sprawling downtown with their old fashioned brick facades and large store windows full of ice cream, memorabilia, and probably three too many coffee shops. However, the biggest feature lay to my right.
My eyes grew wide as I beheld the largest body of water I’d ever seen; Lake Superior. I’d spent my life living in the Midwest, but I’d never been to the Great Lakes. On maps it just looked like a boring blue splotch, but in person it was almost terrifying how large it was. Like an inland ocean, it stretched to the horizon without a sign of land on the other side. The water was dark blue, almost black, and churning near the shore where it crashed on the rocks. Leo, my old friend, had been right, it really was breathtaking.
According to him, the lake was the lifeblood of the town, bringing in tourists from all over, which now included myself. He’d taken a trip there with his parents during high school and fell in love. The moment he graduated he was gone, drawn back to the lake by some mysterious force and for college, although I think that was just an excuse to leave. I’d been nearly heartbroken to see him go, he’d been my best friend since kindergarten, and my only werewolf companion at my school. But that was almost eight years ago now and since then I’d been kept plenty busy with my own life falling to pieces. I didn’t have time to worry about him and for a long time I forgot to even text. It wasn’t until he reached out after my Dad’s funeral that we reconnected. In fact, he was the one that offered me the cabin after I told him I left home.
My phone buzzed a couple of times as a handful of texts came through. At least the town had enough signal for that.
Pulling off at the first empty parking lot I saw, I stopped for a moment to look them over.

Mom: Did you make it there alright?
Mom: Please answer me, I’m getting worried…
Mom: Are you still alive? I’m going to call the pack Alpha to make sure you made it!
Mom: WHERE ARE YOU???

“Good god,” I muttered to myself. “I literally told her, to the minute, how long this was going to take.”

Me: I just made it into town. Everything is fine. No need to call the Alpha. I’m heading out to the cabin now.

I clicked away from her messages, looking at the others.

Leo: Hey Kael, let me know when you get into town so we can catch up! I left a key under the welcome mat at the cabin, so just let yourself in. I already turned the water and stuff on, so you should be all set.

A useful text, how refreshing. For once it wasn’t my mother trying to nag me to death. I started typing a response when another came through, cutting me off.