Janine Read online

  Janine: His True Alpha

  Wolves of West Texas

  Chencia C. Higgins

  Copyright Chencia C. Higgins © 2018

  www.therealchencia.com

  Cover: James, GoOnWrite.com

  Editing: Little Pear Editing

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writers’ imagination, or have been used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locations or organizations is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles or reviews. All rights reserved.

  Contents

  Also by Chencia C. Higgins

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Want More Wolves?

  About the Author

  Also by Chencia C. Higgins

  JustOneNight.com Novella Series:

  No Strings Allowed - Book 1

  No Love Allowed - Book 2

  The Week Before Forever – Book 2.5

  No Games Allowed - Book 3

  Holiday Honey – Book 4

  The Vow Series:

  To Buy a Vow – Book 1

  To Build a Vow – Book 2

  To Break a Vow – Book 3

  Things Hoped For – Book 4

  Wolves of West Texas Series:

  Janine: His True Alpha – Book 1

  Lenora: His Omega Mate – Book 2

  Alicia: His Troublesome Fate – Book 3

  The Color Spectrum Duet:

  The Color Spectrum: Ebony

  Black Family Saga:

  Glasses

  Fast Breaker

  The Luminous Cruse Chronicles:

  Love On The Luminous

  Boos & Booze

  Costume Cutty

  Standalones:

  Her & Them

  Remember Our Love

  Loud & Lew’d

  Benefriends

  An Illicit Seduction

  Consolation Gifts

  Chapter One

  For the entire nine-hour drive, I was terrified. I kept expecting to see a vehicle I recognized from the only home I’d ever known—the home I had chosen to flee in the middle of the night—pop up in my rearview mirror and attempt to run me off the road. The possibility felt palpable and my fingers were curled in a death grip around my steering wheel. When I stopped for a bathroom break and to top off the gas tank after hour five, I had my head on a swivel, sure that at any moment, a nondescript van would pull up beside me and I would be snatched inside, never to see the light of day again. It didn’t happen, but my guard stayed up until I passed the roadside sign welcoming me to Madow, TX. Seeing the dark, silhouetted image of two wolves howling below the name of the town on the broad, aluminum sign helped to settle my nerves, if only marginally.

  It was just after eleven in the morning when I pulled my Jeep and attached cargo trailer into the wide, gravel lot of the building labeled the Welcome Center. I parked under an oak tree near the back of the lot, easily taking up two spaces. Shutting off the engine, I took a deep breath and inhaled triumph while exhaling all thoughts of the situation I had left behind. Already, the tension in my shoulders had begun to loosen, and I flexed my fingers to allow the blood to flow through and reheat them.

  I’d done it. I’d made it to Madow. This was a big step, one I hoped—no, one I knew I wouldn’t regret.

  More than two weeks had passed since I’d first stepped foot into the well-known, albeit small, community for a short visit on one of my rare weekends off from work. For that trip, I had flown into Abilene then made the two-hour drive down to Madow. I rented a room in Abilene, expecting it to be an explorative day trip, but once I arrived, it became clear that wouldn’t be the case. I didn’t want to leave. My secret research of other packs and communities had led me here once, and now, I was back for good.

  As I sat parked in front of one of the many business cabins, with everything of value I owned crammed into a rented 4x8 trailer, a sense of rightness wisped over me. Even without all I was leaving behind, this was where I was meant to be, and that feeling had me bubbling with excitement as I stepped out of my Jeep and walked across the lot toward the building.

  At this time of the day, the cabin was bustling with activity. People were entering and leaving the two-story, log building that was surrounded by a wide deck spanning the entire front and wrapping around the sides. A group of women stood in one corner of the deck to the right of the door, holding mugs and laughing. There was a thump in my chest at the sight of one of the many reasons I was here. There was the camaraderie I was looking for, the inclusion I desired. The joy I had yet to grasp a hold of. All of it was attainable here.

  I gave myself a mental shake and climbed the steps of the deck, inhaling the sweet oak scent of the trees that surrounded the cabin. The group of women waved and called out greetings as I passed them, and I smiled and responded in kind as I pulled open the glass door and entered the building. And just like the first time I had entered this particular building almost a month ago, I instantly felt peace. There was something in the atmosphere, something I couldn’t name and had never experienced before that soothed the perpetually anxious animal inside of me.

  The building was comprised of one large, open space covered in dark wood flooring. On my left was a short line of people waiting for their turn at a table filled with trays of assorted cookies, pitchers of different colored beverages, and several stacks of mugs, saucers, and napkins. To my right was an opening that led to a hallway sat smack dab in the middle of the wall. Each side of the doorway was covered with racks of paraphernalia detailing all of Madow’s offerings. Opposite the entrance was a wall of windows that looked out to a beautiful park and lush forest that was bisected by trails and pathways. Plush, high-backed chairs dotted the room in pairs, accompanied by small, round tables that were each adorned with a vase of fresh, colorful wildflowers.

  I stepped further into the room so that I was no longer blocking the entrance and closed my eyes. As I inhaled the sounds and aromas around me, I felt a small piece click into place in the puzzle of my scattered heart. Before my eyes could flutter open, I sensed a shift in the energy in the room. Swimming above the hustle and bustle around me, a familiar scent assaulted my oversensitive nostrils, and a feeling of contentment washed over me just as I was enveloped in a tight hug.

  “You came back.”

  Those three words were dripping with relief.

  I squeezed my assailant tightly while chuckling. “Why, Lenny, I’m a little offended that you doubted me.”

  Lenora Hurst stepped back, a wide grin on her oval-shaped face. “Liar.”

  Unable and unwilling to suppress my own smile, I shrugged.

  “Come on back.” Lenny motioned for me to follow her, and the two of us traveled through the great room and down the hallway where we passed a handful of occupied offices. We stepped inside of one, and Lenny waited for me to have a seat before she pushed the door closed. Instead of walking around the desk and claiming the seat behind it as I expected, Lenny dropped down into the matching chair next to me and grabbed my hand while questioning me excitedly.

  “So, is it official?”

  I nodded. “Yep. All of my things are in the parking lot right now.”

  With a gentle shake of her head, Lenny’s grin widened. “I can’t believe how quickly you we
re able to pack up your life and relocate. This has to be a world record. Was your family fine with you leaving?”

  The corners of my smile dropped a centimeter as I thought about my “family”. I never knew my father, and my mother had handed me over to the Elders as soon as I’d turned sixteen. I hadn’t known “family” in ten years. Still, I nodded and spoke confidently.

  “My family believes in the greater good.”

  Lenny would hear nothing but the truth in my words even though they didn’t exactly answer the question that she had asked. My mother had believed in the greater good. Unfortunately, that only referred to the greater good according to the Elders. I don’t think my mother knew of anything other than what the Elders told her. She, along with so many others in our pack, was brainwashed by those five men who refused to give up their power even as they aged beyond the normal generation of rule. I held my breath as a second passed before Lenny launched forward and pulled me into my second hug in less than ten minutes.

  “That’s fantastic! You are going to love it here.”

  “I have no doubt. What I saw when I was last here was amazing. Not to mention, the website makes it seem like paradise.”

  Chuckling, Lenny said, “I don’t know about paradise, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

  It didn’t take any stretch of my imagination for me to believe that. When I had first stumbled upon the information about a secluded werewolf colony in the middle of Nowhere, Texas, I instantly became curious. I had scoured the internet, fascinated by the story of Bani Dowd, an enslaved woman whose master had fallen in love with her. Upon his death and to the dismay of his wife, Bani learned that the man who had owned her in every way had willed her nearly two thousand acres of land in west Texas, along with freedom for her and all eleven of her children, seven of which were sired by him. Bani traveled for weeks from the Louisiana plantation she was born on to the land she had inherited, determined to start a new life for her blended family of humans and something she didn’t quite understand.

  Bani had somewhat of a magic touch, and was able to pull life out of the hard, dry earth to grow enough crops to feed her family, while the children forced into her by the man who owned her used their unexplainable ability to transform into a terrifying creature of the night to hunt for meat. After a year, as more formerly enslaved people, and even more werewolves arrived onto Bani’s land, she began to realize that the wolf gene only existed in those who were born of their master. She instructed one of her children to make a record of everyone living on their land and whether they were human or not.

  Within five years, more than 300 people had arrived on the land that Bani had decided to call Madow, in honor of an older woman whom she grew to care for on the plantation in Louisiana. Madow would always help care for Bani after her presence was “requested” by the plantation owner, and was by her side each and every time Bani gave birth to one of his larger than usual children. Madow represented what Bani imagined her mother would have been, and even though she hadn’t been able to bring the woman with her when she was kicked off the plantation after the plantation owner’s death, Bani still held Madow in her heart.

  I had been amazed to learn how two of Bani’s fairer-skinned sons had used their pale skin and racial ambiguity to attend college in Austin and brought back their knowledge to help usher Madow into an age of technology and infrastructure. It was during their time in the state capital that the two men were surprised to learn that there was a name for what they were. They were called werewolf shifters, and they were two of many, not including those they knew of back in Madow. Even more shocking was that they were a protected species, regardless of race, because when in wolf form, race was undetectable. Less than two hundred years later, although not as freely discussed as in the late 1800s and early 1900s, werewolves were still a legally and highly protected species, and Madow had grown to a population of over 3,000 people.

  With tired, yet curious eyes, I watched as Lenny moved to the plush seat behind the desk and started typing on the computer. The adrenaline of leaving everything I knew behind and starting over somewhere new was starting to wear off, and the exhaustion from being awake for over twenty-four hours had started to set in. As Lenny studied something on the screen in front of her, I felt my eyes begin to droop, but I couldn’t do anything to stop them. The cool room in addition to Lenny’s steady humming was like a lullaby.

  “What would you like to do first? Get some lunch or head over to the career center?”

  My eyes popped open at the sound of Lenny’s voice, and I tried to muffle my yawn. “Well—”

  “Oh! What am I thinking? You just finished a long road trip. You’re probably exhausted!”

  I shrugged. “A little.”

  Lenny pursed her lips as she scribbled something onto a small square of paper. “A little? You didn’t even try to mask that lie.” She grinned and rushed over to pull me into a standing position. “Let’s get you set up in temporary housing and when you’re well rested, we can get you all settled. How does that sound?”

  Stifling a second yawn behind my fist, I said, “Just point me in the direction of a bed, and I’m in that thang.”

  Lenny bumped my shoulder as she led me out of the office and back down the hallway. “Ooh, you’re easy. I like it.”

  Tired laughter sputtered out of my mouth. “You are too much, Lenny.”

  Leading me back through the Welcome Center and out into the sunny parking lot, Lenny replied, “You don’t even know the half of it. Being the pack omega can be so draining that sometimes the only way to keep myself going is by being silly and telling jokes.”

  Her unfamiliar words gave me pause. I climbed behind the wheel of my Jeep and hastily swept the empty fast food containers—remnants of my road trip—that littered the passenger seat onto the floor. Once Lenny was inside and gave me directions to the nearby apartment building that I would be staying in for the night, I voiced my curiosity.

  “What’s a ‘pack omega’?”

  Lenny gave me a startled glance, and I regretted asking the question. “You don’t know?”

  With a solitary shake of my head, I marveled at the gorgeous foliage on either side of the road behind the Welcome Center. “No. We didn’t have one of those in my pack—my old pack…Oh crap!” I stopped and abruptly cut the steering wheel to my left before I drifted off the dirt road and onto a trail that was dotted with pedestrians.

  Lenny grasped the oh, shit bar above her head. “Oh, girl! I will tell you any and everything after you’ve gotten some sleep. You’re so tired, you’re about to run over people. Turn here.”

  I navigated my vehicle and the attached trailer in the direction of Lenny’s finger and pulled into a wide lot on my right, parking horizontally across four parking spots.

  “I’m sorry about that. I’m not usually such a reckless driver.”

  Lenny waved away my apology. “It’s my fault. I knew you were tired and should have insisted that I drive. No one was hurt, so don’t worry about it.” She jumped out of my Jeep and waited for me to grab a duffel bag from the backseat before leading me to my temporary housing.

  The apartment building was actually a group of ten buildings that each held four apartments. On the second floor of building eight, we stopped in front of a door marked 8C that had a numerical keypad where the keyhole would have been. Lenny glanced down at the paper from earlier and typed in six numbers on the keypad. A green light glowed around it, and the sound of locks disengaging filled the hallway. With the twist of the handle, Lenny pushed open the door then stood aside, allowing me to enter first.

  The first thing I noticed was the floral scent in the air. There were pots of plants in every corner of the room, which was perfect because I enjoyed being out in nature. The open floor plan of the apartment made the small space feel cozy and warm. It was tastefully decorated in earth tones and minimalist decor. Floor-to-ceiling blackout curtains covered one wall of the space. Lenny walked me through the studio
apartment on a brief tour that ended at a half wall, which hid an inviting bed from the rest of the space.

  “Alright, girlfriend. I’m going to get out of your hair and let you crash. Don’t worry about the time; just get all of the rest you need. There is food in the fridge, but if you don’t want a sandwich or a salad, there is also a diner about a mile down the road we were on.”

  I nodded, a large yawn preventing me from immediately verbalizing a response.

  “What about—”

  “Oh! If you need to shift, the woods surrounding the apartment are perfectly safe. I mean, all of Madow is safe, but I know that some loners don’t like to be seen when they shift so…” she trailed off, apparently losing her train of thought. “Yeah! You can shift in the woods if you were wondering. Well, I’m out of here.” She handed me the square of paper with the numbers on it.

  “Here is the code to your door. No one has it but you, and it changes automatically every time someone moves out of an apartment. I wrote my phone number on the back just in case you need anything.”

  Grinning, I took the sheet and folded it in half before sliding it into the front pocket of my jeans. “Aren’t there people whose job is to transition in newbies? I get the feeling you’re slumming it.”

  Lenny laughed and pulled me into a tight hug before releasing me and crossing the room to get to the door. “There are people for this, but it didn’t feel right to hand you over. Something tells me you’re a special case, and my wolf is never wrong.” And with those parting words and a playful wink, she left the apartment, pulling the door shut behind her.

  A special case, huh? I shook my head as I set my duffel on the floor and began to disrobe. More like a nut case. If Lenny knew the true circumstances behind my relocation, she wouldn’t be so keen on getting close to me. In fact, I suspected that Lenny would not only be offended, but she’d try to convince me to go back.