Alpha's Last Fight: A Paranormal Shapeshifter BBW Romance by Aubrey Rose, Molly Prince Read Free Book Online Page A

Easter.”
    I pulled out the hair tie and shook my hair out. A little better. Definitely more date-like.
    Did I want to be date-like? There was definitely a part of me that still liked Tommy, sure, but I don’t think I could look at him now without feeling horribly guilty. In my head, Tommy had gone on and grown up. He had his own business now. He’d probably dated around. My own attempts at dating hadn’t gone well. It wasn’t really the dates themselves that were the problem. It was what came next. What if he wanted to kiss me? What if he wanted to do more? My heart pounded.
    “Don’t worry about it,” I told myself. I took a shaky breath and let it out. “If you like him, you like him. If you don’t, no hard feelings.”
    The noise of a car engine outside propelled me out of my room. My dad was yelling at the television screen, where one of the guys was trying to run through some other guys... or something.
    “Bye, Pops. See you later,” I said, heading to the door.
    “Wait, let me look at you first.” My dad examined my dress, shaking his head slowly.
    “Too darn pretty,” he said. “No man deserves you.”
    “We’ll see about that,” I said, smiling nervously. “Love you.”
    I kissed him quickly on the cheek as a knock rang out at the door.
    “Don’t keep your Prince Charming waiting,” my dad said. “Do you want me to escort you out, princess?”
    “Don’t bother getting up,” I said, eyeing the TV. “After all, you might miss the linebacker scoring a touchdown field goal in the end zone basket, or whatever happens in football games.”
    “There’s no such thing as a bask—”
    “Whatever! Love you!”
    “Love you!”
    I opened the door and swallowed hard. Tommy stood on the front porch, and the first thing I saw was his cane, black and silver, with an ebony handle that curved like antlers. Then Tommy himself, his shirt a crisp clean gray against his dark pants. A silver watch shone at his wrist. His hair was slicked back, and as I came forward to give him a hug I could smell the mix of soap and aftershave on his skin.
    “Natalie, you’re stunning.” He embraced me with both arms, and I could tell he was a bit unsteady on his feet. I waited until he pulled back and leaned on his cane to let him go fully.
    “Looking good yourself,” I said. I didn’t lie—he looked handsome, and his clothes were tailored perfectly, as always. But the attraction that I’d carried around during my high school years was nowhere to be found. “Where are we going?”
    “It’s a surprise,” he said, a bright spark in his eye. He opened the car door for me and I slid into his world, a world that smelled like leather and cologne, a world full of things that I couldn’t afford. I determined to smile my way through the evening and scoot away at the end of the night.
    Maybe it was coming home to someplace that felt not-quite-home. Maybe it was that Tommy seemed so eager to see me. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but I really didn’t want to get involved in a relationship right now. Especially with the guy I’d already hurt so badly to begin with. He didn’t notice my reluctance, or if he did, he didn’t care. Smiling like it was our first date, he revved the engine and we pulled away into the night.
    I thought that he might be taking me downtown, to one of the fancy new restaurants that my dad had told me had been popping up all over the place. But Tommy took the exit onto the road that headed out, away from downtown. We drove out of town, and then kept driving. Warehouses lined the roads in this part of town, tall hangars with walls of sheet metal and high fences surrounding train yards.
    “Where are we going?” I asked again.
    “You’ll see,” he said. He patted my knee, and I shrunk back into the seat. The dress stretched tight over my thighs, and I tugged the hem down a bit, avoiding his hand. My eyes tracked the streetlights as they passed by outside of the window.
    “It’s