In the Alpha’s Arms

Bonus Chapter- Where's Cole?

Ligh, this is so stupid! Lita thought to herself, holding up yet another bodycon dress over her damp towel, hoping

she'd see herself in a different light. Confidence was tricky like that, one minute she felt amazing, the next, her

head was an ocean of self-doubt.

It was something g she and Elise had been working hard on but sdays were better than others. For example,

when they'd all arrived at the showcase earlier that day, Lita had been feeling strong and proud. The fancy

dresses and five-star accomodations hadn't made her nervous. Being in her hcity hadn't made her stomach

sour. But now, imposter syndrmade her a nervous wreck. She couldn't stop thinking about everything going

terribly

Lita stretched the material in different directions, trying to find a silver lining for her new body. Muscles gave her

a new shape, banishing the

the thin, undernourished girl she'd been. She normally loved her body. And Cole had absolutely no problem

reminding her how beautiful she was whenever she forgot. But he wasn’t with her, and she was having a hard

tseeing her own worth. When Lita looked in the mirror, she saw none of the improvements her body had

made, only imagining herself as the bruised, sleep-deprived person that begged Alex for a chance to train. Or

even, as the haunted. bandaged one that left Maxim’s compound with blood on her hands,

She hopelessly cast the dress aside and brushed her hands over her wet hair until it hugged her neck. She

needed to calm down. Elise had taught her breathing exercises to control these spirals but sometimes, even that

wasn’t enough. The bath had been so luxurious she’d hardly noticed anything outside of lavender scented

bubbles and her relaxed muscles. What she wouldn't give to go back to when she felt good.

But somewhere in that hot water, she started thinking of her parents and Brian. She started thinking of being

back in her hcity and how she might run into any of them. All of them. How many of the people downstairs

knew her? How many had secretly laughed behind her back or called her wolf- less? How many had thought she

deserved whatever Brian gave her?

Brian had buddies, she knew that, even though she’d only met them in passing, and never for long enough to

talk. Were they Alpha wolves, too? Were they fighters? Would they be downstairs waiting to embarass her? Her

chest grew tight as lightheadedness took over until she was forced from the warm water. The entire tshe

dried off, her mind whirled. What would they see when they looked at her? How could she show them how much

she'd changed?

On slevel, Lita knew this was a battle against herself and her own insecurities but it felt real. It felt like the

minute she stepped out of the hotel room, everyone would know she had been Brian's punching bag. A

downtrodden wolf-less girl who had her life shattered so completely that the pieces still hadn't cback

together yet. A dead brother she'd only recently begun to moum. A biological father she didn’t know, A mother

she couldn't face, not yet, anyway. Rafi, who hadn't done nearly enough to be forgiven for trying to use her. A

wolf that had only been let out of her cage for a few months and still seemed hell bent on biting first, asking

questions later.

Not fair, Nyx gruffed, | don’t try to bite people who have good energy. Only the ones that smell rotten

Not really much difference from the outside, Nuff Lita shook her head, trying to keep her smile in check.

Don’t calloff, you hairless human

That was uncalled for, Lita gasped, Only you could make the lack of fur sound like an insult. Mine was a cute

aknasse, ours was meant to be mean you overgrow dag.

Nyx made a sound somewhere between a chuff and a growl, If | could bite you...

| would muzzle you. You no self-control having, drooling...

I'm chewing your shoes the next tI'm free. I'll show you a damn dog

Lita mulled her eyes and dug through the tightly-packed layers of clothes for the fifth time, searching for

something appropriate. She ignored the stream of discarded shirts and jeans leading from the bathroom mirror

to the bed. Lita grupned, throwing yet another basic outfit over her shoulder. She had packed based on the

tournament they'd attended; the one full of casual, if not underdressed, attendees and good energy. But this

place was nothing like that... all this money... she hadn't expected to feel like a small girl left alone at her

mother’s banquet table again. She hadn't expected to feel the way she had when Brian wooed her.

“I have literally” nothing to wear to this, she whined. Two quick taps at the hotel door were the only warning

before someone cbarging in, oblivious to the barely wrapped towel Lita still wore.

“Hey, what the hell,” Lita yelped, rushing to tuck away as much as she could

“Calm down, it’s just me,” Stace laughed. “And that, as nice as it is-Stace made a tic gesture in the

direction of Lita’s body then froze on Lita’s hand, “Wait a damn minute, is that my dress?”

Bonus Chapter-Where’s Cole?

Quickly tossing the damned thing behind her, Lita arched a confused brow, “Is what your dress?”

“Wooow, a Luna who steals,” Stace clicked her tongue, hands on her hips, “Mice.”

Lita laughed, her frown breaking immediately, “Shut up. It was cute and you don’t wear half your clothes, Stacey

Ramos. Alex has been demanding you donate more of your stuff, so considerneedy.”

There was nothing remotely lady like about the laugh that burst out of them both, bringing them to tears. Lita

coughed, wiping her face, “Trustwhen | say, you don’t want it back now, anyway. | wore it for date night.”

Stace pretended to vomit and shivered, “For the love of the moon goddess will you please keep things like that

to yourself?”

Lita shrugged, tuming back to the suitcase of useless clothes. “Like | don’t have to hear about every new pack

member you test drive?”

“Not the same. He’s- | just don’t want to visualize my Alpha doing anything, okay? My poor mind can’t take it.

So, | never want you to remindof you and Cole again, thank you very much.” Lita snorted as Stace walked

around to point at the discarded dress. “You can keep it. Or burn it so | never have to think about it ever again.”

“My newest decree as Luna is that you are no longer allowed to tease me. Lita faked a serious face and stomped

her foot. And if you're not here to help, kindly get lost so | can figure out my life.”

“Butch” Stace was about to offer her two cents before she looked around the room, “Why does it look like a

tornado in here? We've only been here for two hours.”

Lita shifted awkwardly and looked at the floce, “Because this place is really fancy and | didn’t expect-I mean

what do | look like as the new Luna in a t- shirt and jeans? Even if it is one of my nice t shirts?” She managed a

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disparaging laugh as she held up a shirt that said Punch him, is before tossing it to the floor. She sighed as Stace

picked up one of the other shirts Lita had tossed.

“No, don't say it Stacey, | already know I'm being ridiculous. | know I'm just letting my nerves get the best of me

but I used to live this life you know? | used to dress up and look like a rich beat but | was miserable. | was, god, |

was so broken. And | didn’t think coming back would bother me. | don’t know, | just want to make a good

impression. | want our pack to look successful and... and | want- Lita took a breath, brushing sof her damp

strands out of her face,-If my parents were there, I'd want them to know that they didn’t win. | want to dress the

part so they know I'm better than | was with them. I'm happy and successful and a Land all on my own and |

didn’t need their love or their respect and 1-

fingers curled around the towel hard enough to scratch

Lita could feel her throat closing up, analety quickly barreling from mild to full bowl panic. Her fingers her chest

Stace grabbed Lita’s shoulders and shook forcefully, “Lita, LUNA, Tm going to tell you exactly why you're going

to put on one of these fancy t-shirts and your favorite ripped jeans to meet these entitled fuckers downstairs.

First, because you don’t compromise what makes you happy for anyone. Not even Cole. | still remember the girl

running around calling him an asshole to anyone who would listen. Our Alpha. And believe it or not, Alex went to

bat for you and so did 1. Because you were right. You convinced us all you weren't willing to compromise

yourself for your own Alpha and mate. That's major, Lita. You disrupted our whole pack and made it better. Don’t

take that away from yourself.”

“And Second, you're going to wear what makes you happy because you're going to show all those pretentious

people that you don’t owe them a thing. okay? Not a fancy outfit, not a fake smile. Marking Stace stared Lita

down until she sair a small nod, “Yes, we're here for the showcase to build our pack members and to show our

strength. Obviously that’s our focus, but we wouldn't even want the types of wolves that would flock to fake

behavior. That would look for fancy clothes and wasted money. That's not us.”

Lita sniffled, feeling incredibly silly and reassured at the stime.

now. Not on

Stace playfully shoved her shoulder, “My best friend hasn't needed anyone else’s approval in a long ass time

and she’s not going to start no my watch. We love you. We are proud of you as our Luna. You can’t embarrass

the pack here, it’s impossible. We're simple wolves. We like fighting and barbeque chicken, lake parties and

brown tequila. We're comfortable in our own skin whether we dress up or not. Nothing would represent our pack

better than if you went downstairs being your most authentic sell”

“Okay, yea...” Lita said, fighting back the grateful tears that welled in her eyes. “So which one do | wear? Forget

guns, get buns or Deadit this! Personally, I think the arrow pointed down is the best part of the shirt ta and Stace

shared a look for all of two seconds before they were crying laughing. Lita could feel real relief working its way

down her shoulders and over her back. She took a deeper breath.

“At this point, I'm going to assCole’s never seen any of these shirts. Stace squealed. “Please letbe there

the first the reads the deadlift

shirt

Litated, “Someone wise once toldthat make up sex was worth the fight.”

Bonus Chapter Where's Colp?

“Whoever told you that was nasty as hell and gives terrible advice.”

“You mean, you?” Lita grinned. “And Jaz agreed with your advice?

“Oh, well if | said it, it's golden advice, baby, Just don’t tell Cole | gave you the idea,” Stace winked, reaching

down to scoop up sof Lita’s mess. She dropped it on the bed and went back for more. “You're not going to

give this any more energy okay? Let's make them grovel at our feet in our t-shirts and jeans. Cole will be issuing

challenges all night for you, and then that'll really show ‘em who's boss.”

“Speaking of my mate, where is Cole? | haven't seen him in... hours?” Lita suddenly realized Cole never met her

in the bath like he insinuated. And she hadn't even heard his voice through the door. If he had been here to help

her... no, she couldn't put her emotional baggage on him. It wasn't his job to coddle her every tshe felt

badly,

“Uh, last | heard he had sAlpha shiff to handle.” Stace shrugged too quickly, looking at the door, “I can go

ask Alex if you want?”

Lita quirked a brow, not believing a word of that lie, “Sure. Thanks.”

Stacey did an awkward shuffle to the door and slipped back out without a word. Strange. Lita dusted off one of

the team shirts that she’d cut into a half tank and a pair of panties. She didn’t trust anything Stace would come

back to tell her. The woman was good at a lot, but lying wasn’t one of those things. She had a twitch under her

right eye that gave her away immediately. And her voice went too high. So something was definitely up.

As soon as she finished getting herself together, Lita would take the matters into her own hands and figure out

exactly where her mate had gone.

Chanter C

Bonus Chapter- There Aren't Enough Words

The elevator was too quiet on the way down to the lobby. Even the music did little to ease her irritation. If

anything the gentle music only served to remind her of the hulking body a few inches away. He made her feel

anything but gentle. Lita didn’t have to face him to know he was still wearing his tearing gain and that she

wanted to punch it off his perfect face.

“Are we having our first fight?” Ace asked playfully from the other side of the elevator car, arms crossed and

brows raised in mock disbelief. He'd been just outside the bedroom door when Lita emerged. One look between

them, and he'd already known she planned to sneak out without telling anyone. There was no getting rid of him

after that.

“I thought our first fight was when you lied to getto go to dinner.”

“Okay, our second fight then. We've got to mark the occasion,” he teased.

“I don’t know, it depends,” Lita growled, “Are you still refusing to tellwhere Cole is?”

“I just want to take this tto say, that it’s fucking adorable you can’t go a few hours without a man who has

the personality of an elbow With a goofy grin, Ace shrank further back against the wall like he'd gotten the last

laugh.

“That's not true-wait, an elbow? | don’t even know what to do with that.” The ding of the elevator preceded the

opening doors and Lita instinctually moved in front of Ace to make more room.

“Oh con,” he said a little too loudly as people shuffled in, “You can’t tellyou don’t get it. They dig into

your ribs and in general, I've never cinto contact with an elbow | enjoyed.”

Lita turned around and scowled. “He’s your best friend. I'm one hundred percent going to tell him you said that.”

“And it’s still a body part | can’t remove, so what's your point? Is comparing him to a kneecap better? It's a little

less accurate because there are sknees I've enjoyed.” His voice barely held all the self-satisfied hamor.

“And please tell him. In fact, I'll help you tell him so | can laugh at his reaction. He's going to reach a god-level

scowl. Do you think it'll be steam or smoke that shoots from his ears?” Ace chuckled to himself and Lita fought

her own grin.

“Steam and smoke are the sthings.”

“Debatable.”

“Just stop talking, please,” Lita sighed, ignoring the breathy laughter of the others in the car. Of course, they

were women who thought Ace probably hung the stars. She'd seen their thirsty eyes well enough as they'd filed

in Normally, she would stay above such pettiness but these women were human, unaware of the secret world

existing alongside their own. So Ace wouldn't be able to say much if she teased him. Lita gave him a devilish

smirk over her shoulder and Ace squinted at her.

“You know, if you feel inadequate alongside my spouse, you could just say that.” Ace opened his mouth to refute

but she cut him off, “Don’t getwrong, | totally get it.” Lita raised her hands, subtly drawing the eyes of the

other women in the elevator. “When you see a fit fighter who isn’t using steroids to boost himself, you probably

feel exposed. I've heard horror stories of what that stuff does to your most notable parts. She heard the quiet

snorts as the women averted their eyes.

a an

Ace radiated heat. Lita's back was

practically sweating under the force

of his glare. She could imagine his

jaw flexing, his hands balled to fists.

us ” :

Lita..” he growled af fe) back Ltd

[E

hed to fighto keep her face straight

. . “pr

as if she were speaking the truth. “I'm

just saying, what do elbows and knee

0 )

caps have in common? They're both

hard... firm parts of the body. Envy is

I q

totally norm-“The elevator dinged and

the women filed hack out on one of

the lower floors. The doors had

barely closed before Lita could hear

them burst out into laughter. The

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She jumped to the other side.

e of the car before Ace could snatch her up.

“And I'm the childish one?” Ace said, looking like fire was liable to burst out of his eyes. “Now they're going to go

tell people what you just said.”

“Oops,” Lita gave a mock frown.“l hadn't thought about that. At least now | don’t have to tell Jaz you've been

flirting all weekend.” She played the world’s smallest violin and dared him to snap at her

“Give a girl a title and she just loses her fucking mind,” he grumbled. “You're pissed because | won't tell you. |

get that. But | don’t know what you want.to do about it. Take it up with your damn spouse.”

Lita grew serious, “Ten the Luna, 1 deserve to know what's going on, Ace. If it's something with another pack-

“It's not pack business,” he said exasperatedly, throwing his hands up. “If it were, | would be inclined to share

because you're right, that’s your business

Bonus Chapter- There Aren't Enough Words

too. But it's not. What Cole's doing... where he is... It's personal, so no, | won't be telling you. If that means

you're going to scream about my pretend erectile dysfunction from the rooftop, then so be it.”

Lita blew a breath as the doors opened to reveal the lobby. It was almost impossible to be angry at Ace. He was

the most loyal person she'd ever met. He never lied. Did he ignore social protocols? Sure. Did he often refuse to

call Cole Alpha while agreeing to call Lita Lima, just to piss Cole off? Absolutely. And did he stir up trouble just to

watch the unfold? Yes. But he didn't lie.

So if he said that Cole's business was private, then she believed him. Obviously, the others agreed with that

sentiment because when Lita had left the room, she found the suite completely empty. There was no way it had

been a happy coincidence that everyone left at once. No, those wolves had run off so they wouldn't have to tell

her where Cole was either. And they left Ace behind, an Alpha who couldn't be bullied by another Alpha.

If it was happening to anyone else, she would have called it a smart play, but as it was her own situation, Lita

just wanted to scream. She groaned her frustration, rubbing her temple. She was going to have Cole's ass when

he finally showed back up. He would spend a very long night making it up to her.

“So I'll take your shameful silence to mean you're sorry and we have a truce?” Ace asked, slipping out of the

elevator beside her. “Or is that glazed look a sign that | should make myself scarce tonight?” His smirk made her

mad all over.

“Don’t push it,” Lita rolled her eyes, then turned her focus to the lobby. “You've been here before?” She

reacclimated herself to the posh furnishings and tried her best to surmise where all the fighters were. Much like

the tournament, she assumed the action was downstairs in the basement. There's no way they'd keep all this

crystal in one piece otherwise.

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“Once before, but it was mostly a blur. | think Cole and | snuck in right after we'd decided to do this fighting thing

for real.” Ace laughed, brushing his cropped hair like an old habit. “You should have seen the looks we got. Two

scruffy wolves from rural Kansas, barely out of our first shifts, scuttling back and forth from the flea motel a few

miles away.”

“Really? | didn’t realize you two call the way here after escaping that hell hole.”

“Hell, it wasn’t our first stop, that’s for sure. We holed up at a lot of dead-end places between there and here just

to get our minds right. Cole had his inheritance but neither of us knew what to do in the real world. We couldn't

even think about goals. All we thought about was fighting.”

50

Ace grew quiet, walking over to the

: “ . .

glassed in pool area, “Growing up in a

place like that made everything

backward. Up was down. Left was

q q ,

right. We didn’t even kpgwhay to!

le athen DESI without repeating

0 ,

all'the foul shit we'd learned. And we

” 3

were” Ace ran a hand over his mouth,

damn angry. At the world. At our

fathers. At everything. | know you

grew up in the skind of luxury as

)

Cole and yea, there's probably shady

o q Ql

shit going on here too but Maxim's

compound... growing up there was

3 D L1g q 2

like-" His voice trailed off, eyes

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“Yea,” Lita said, putting a hand on his forearm. She wasn’t even sure he realized he was shaking. She tightened

her grip, pulling him back from whatever he was remembering.

)

Ace's face went drawn and then he

« P

shuddered, “It wasn't all bad though,

we met James here. And he was

: »

looking for a fresh start sas us.

His voice took on a wistful quality,

« H

pls Cole stacted dreaming

up their fd plans, a pack unlike

q , a

anything they'd ever had. Talking

) q q

about what they'd do with their

money. What they could build for

q )

other wolves like us. That's how they

decided to hit the west coast. Get

away from everything any of us ever

grew up around. | was listening, ya

know. And yea, | was excited. But |

p

wasn't cut from the scloth as

q , 3

the rest of you. | didn’t dream big and

» .

blow money.” The content is on

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chapter there!

“You didn’t cfrom money back in Maxim's pack?”

Ace smiled something unfriendly and cruel, “Nope.” He brushed her hand away, forceful but careful, effectively

ending the conversation where it stood.

“Con,” he forced a smile, putting on his playful persona even as Lita knew it was faked. “You've got to see

downstairs. If you thought the tournament was large, you've no idea how big this showcase gets,”

Lita wanted to say something but much like how she felt when someone offered condolences about James, she

knew there weren't really words for it. Instead, she let him redirect the conversation, following him to the «

basement stairs.