The She-Wolf Alpha (Book 1 She-Wolf Series)

“Lukey! T minus five minutes!” I called from the kitchen sink.

I heard his return groan from his bedroom. “Mom, please just call me Luke. I’m 15, not five.”

I smirked as he walked in and dramatically rolled his eyes.

I rolled mine back and said, “You and I both know, you will always be five to me.”

He kissed my cheek before grabbing the eggs and toast I set out for him. As he settled into his seat at the kitchen island, I gathered my things for my day at the office.

“Do you have practice after school?” I asked.

“Yeah. Matt is giving me a ride,” he hesitated and I turned. “The guys want us all to meet up for burgers afterwards.”

There it was. It was not that I didn’t trust my son. I did. He was responsible beyond his years, kind to a fault, and always honest with me. The problem was he had just started his sophomore year and been named the starting quarterback of the football team. He was thrown into a circle of friends much older than him, and I worried he felt like he had something to prove.

“Luke…”

“Mom, I have to hang out with these guys. They are my teammates and I need them to see me as an equal. Not some kid who took a position I don’t deserve.”

He was right, of course. I looked at my son and saw his father. His blue eyes stared back into mine. His stubborn jaw was set with determination.

He stood over six feet tall and was still growing. He made the team because his determination was unmatched, but so were his strength and athleticism.

Not for the first time, I wished his dad, Travis, was here to navigate these situations. He had died five years ago in a car accident, and a piece of me had gone with him.

“I know, Luke. I know,” I took a deep breath. “Go, but please make good decisions. Keep me updated on where you are, and be home by nine.”

“Thanks Mom,” he said with a smile.

Then he cleared his plate and gave me a hug on the way to grab his backpack.

I heard the front door open, and my dad walked in. He was approaching 60 but the joke in my family was that he stopped aging around 35 or 40. He was in great shape. Even though he complained of aches and pains, he kept up a strict gym routine and was extremely active.

“Luke, time to go,” he said without preamble.

All business as usual. He had been giving Luke a ride to school for years and filled the shoes left by Travis’s passing as best he could. Both my parents had. I wouldn’t have been able to continue on without their support.

“Okay, Pops,” Luke said, moving toward the door.

“Good morning to you, too, Dad,” I teased.

“Good morning, sweetheart. Busy schedule today?”

“Just showing a few houses and then I’ll finish up my day at the office,” I shrugged.

“Okay. Well, your mom and I are making dinner if you want to stop by after you grab Luke from practice,” he offered.

“I’ll be there. Luke is going out with the team,” I tried to sound nonchalant.

I watched out the front window as my son got in the passenger seat of Dad’s truck and started messing with the radio.

“Hmm,” Dad murmured, giving me a pointed look. I had confided in my mom about my reservations with Luke’s new teammates, so I assumed she had passed that information along. “That’ll be good for him. He’s a good kid, Sam. Trust him to make the right choices until he gives you a reason not to.”

“I know, Dad. Thanks,” I said, walking him to the door.

As I shut it behind him, I took a breath and leaned back against the frame.

It wasn’t a big deal, I told myself.

Burgers with friends was normal- good for him even - but I was always the worrier. Travis had been the more trusting and permitting of the two of us. The Yin to my Yang. I knew he would have helped me navigate the teenage years and draw the line between too much freedom and not enough.

I sighed. But he wasn’t here, so I was left to figure it out on my own.

Travis and I met in high school. He was captain of the football team, tall and good looking, with strong shoulders and deep blue eyes. I fell hard and fast. We enrolled at the same university when we graduated and planned a whole life together.

Then, I found out I was pregnant at 18. Scared would not have even begun to describe what I felt telling him, but without hesitation he got on one knee and started making plans for how we were going to build our family. His parents had died when he was young and left him an inheritance when he turned 18. With it, we were able to buy a small home and I dropped out of college to take care of Luke. Travis continued with his degree. When he graduated, he started a construction company that took off.

We had done well. The beautiful home around me was testament to that. When his business was established, we bought a plot of land and built our dream home. Travis had encouraged me to be as involved with the design process as I wanted. In that, I found my passion for interior design and real estate. Once Luke started school, I launched a career as a real estate agent. At first it was supplemental income to Travis’s, but after he passed, I was thankful I had started

I was now one of the top brokers in the state. A fact I was of proud. My colleagues told me I had an uncanny ability to figure out what a client was looking for. While that was true, it was hard to explain that it was more about picking out who was in charge. I had an intuition about who was calling the shots, who would cave, and who would stand their ground to get what they wanted. It made me successful.

I pushed away from the door frame and went to grab my bag. A wave of fatigue hit me. It had been happening over the last few days, and I thought maybe I was coming down with something.

Just as I reached for my laptop, a knock sounded at the door.