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  A True Alpha Christmas

  Copyright © 2014 by Alisa Woods

  December 2014 Edition

  All rights reserved.

  Sworn Secrets Publishing

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author. For information visit:

  Alisa Woods

  Cover by Steven Novak

  A True Alpha Christmas - New Adult Paranormal Romance

  STAND-ALONE NOVELLA - best enjoyed after reading the True Alpha Box Set (Vol 1-6)

  Shifters live in the shadows of Seattle, just under the skin of the alpha male, dot-com entrepreneurs who are building a new Silicon Valley in the Emerald City. Mia is your everyday college girl, trying to earn her business degree—and a shifter who’s long hidden her identity from everyone, including her mother, who believes shifter is synonymous with criminal. Six months ago, sexy and powerful alpha-male Lucas rescued her in an alley and claimed her for his mate. Now Mia’s heart belongs to Lucas, and everyone in the world of shifters understands the magic of their mating has bonded them for life. But in the human world, there’s no wedding ring on her finger to show for it. With Christmas looming, Mia’s mother wants to finally meet Mia’s mysterious and high-powered live-in lover. With her human and shifter lives about to irrevocably collide, Mia fears there will be nothing but broken hearts in the end.

  A True Alpha Christmas is 80 pages or 20,000 words. This novella can be read as a standalone, but readers will enjoy it more if they read the True Alpha serial (Vol 1-6) first.

  Mia’s little black dress seemed to barely exist—the hem stopped mid-thigh, the silk was so light-weight it left absolutely nothing to the imagination, and the straps on her shoulders were invisible threads of satin. The heaviest parts of her outfit were the accessories—the dangling faux-diamond earrings, the miniscule black-satin purse, and the teetering six-inch heels. They added enough glamour for a red-carpet debut, but she still felt naked and overdressed all at the same time.

  She wondered if it would feel any different with a wedding ring.

  She shoved that thought aside—she could deal with that later, after the party. Mia stepped out of the elevator onto the 100th floor of a downtown Seattle high-rise with her ex-roommate and current best-friend, Jupiter. While Jupiter fluffed her mass of wild red curls in the reflection of the polished steel door, Mia eyed the festively decorated glass-door entrance to the White Elephant, the trendy bar that SparkTech had chosen for their holiday party. She was mated to Lucas Sparks—hot tech entrepreneur and secret shifter—but as far as the outside world was concerned, Mia was just a lowly intern, working part-time during school. Normally, she spent her time in the office running analyses and reading reports, not rubbing elbows at an exclusive invite-only party for clients, current and future. Of course, everyone at SparkTech knew she and Lucas were mated for life, but tonight, she would be no more than arm candy for him.

  If he even acknowledged they were together.

  Her barely-there dress seemed like an increasingly bad idea. For the tenth time in the last half hour, she considered running home and changing. Or at least putting her trench coat back on.

  “Are you sure this isn’t too much?” she asked her ex-roomie.

  “Lucas is going to love that dress, trust me.” Jupiter scowled at Mia in the mirror of the door. It was a ridiculous question to ask, given that Jeeter was wearing a Marilyn-Monroe-worthy dress even more revealing than Mia’s silk number. Jupiter had picked them both out, of course. And she was right—Lucas certainly wouldn’t object. It just made her look like his hot date and not his… wife. She blushed for even thinking the word. When she was mated for life with an unbreakable magic bond, what did it matter if she had a ring on her finger?

  “What if one of Lucas’s clients thinks it’s, you know, inappropriate?” Mia asked. “This is a business party after all.”

  Jupiter threw up her hands and turned to Mia. “The invite said black-tie, which means women can wear anything as long as it’s amazing. And girl, you’re going to have all the shifters hot for you with that.”

  Mia frowned. “There’s only one alpha for me.”

  Jupiter smirked. “More for the rest of us.” She twirled in her Marilyn dress and peered through the glass doors, scouting for the gorgeous shifter men of SparkTech in between the pine boughs and twinkling lights. Jupiter wasn’t a shifter, but that didn’t slow her down in lusting after all of Mia’s unattached co-workers. And there certainly weren’t enough female shifters to go around, so male shifters definitely hooked up with female non-shifters. Some more often than others. Mia was a product of just such a union, although she had never met her deadbeat shifter dad. He just knocked up her mom and left.

  Jupiter dug through her blue peacock-feather purse for lipstick. She never went anywhere without that thing, and it reminded Mia of all they had been through together—good shifters and bad, but most of all, Jeeter was still her friend, even after she discovered Mia’s secret identity. Mia’s own mother didn’t know her daughter was one of those people. Given that shifters were enforcers in the crack gangs in downtown Seattle, especially around the dump on Jackson street where her mom still lived, it wasn’t hard to understand the bias. For years, Mia had kept her secret locked tightly away. Truth was, even she had believed all shifters were vicious thugs—right up until she met Lucas.

  But Mia still hadn’t found a way to tell her mother that shifters weren’t just criminals. They were high-powered tech entrepreneurs and college students and generally nice people. Including her mate who was also her… boyfriend? Live-in lover? Her mom had kept her mouth shut tight when Mia moved out of her dorm at the University of Washington and into Lucas’s glamorous downtown apartment… but Mia knew she didn’t approve. And now her mom insisted on meeting Lucas. Tomorrow. How would Mia even introduce the man who was her alpha?

  Hey, Mom, guess what? This hot billionaire tech investor wanted me to move in because he claimed me with his bite during hot sex and now we’re mated, and by the way we’re both shifters?

  That would not end well.

  Mia took a breath for courage. First she had to survive SparkTech’s black-tie Christmas party.

  Jupiter finished reapplying lipstick that was perfect to begin with. “Show time!” she said brightly, then hooked her arm around Mia’s and dragged her through the glass doors of the White Elephant. Just inside, a young man took their coats and tucked them away in a walk-in closet filled with furs and upscale men’s overcoats. Mia’s plain trench and Jupiter’s blue faux-fur looked like party crashers next to them.

  The room itself was absolutely gorgeous—tiny, white lights wound around the circular dark-wood bar, twirled up a broad spiral staircase at the heart of the room, and danced along the ceiling beams. A legion of candles were tucked in fresh evergreens, and the city’s light
s sparkled from the broad expanse of windows. The glamour of the décor was rivaled only by the beautiful people in attendance: men in elegant black suits, women with more bared flesh than covered. Mia’s dress was far from the most revealing one, which made her sigh in relief.

  There were over a hundred people milling about, and Mia had dragged her feet long enough that the party had clearly begun without them. The holiday scents—a wash of upscale martinis, candles, and fresh pine boughs—deluged her shifter-heightened sense of smell. But she would take those any day over the stench of spilt party drinks and eau de dorm room at the university. Plus it gave a soothing sense of the Olympic mountains, which calmed her inner wolf, who was already anxiously scanning the crowds for her alpha. Her human side wanted to find Lucas, too, not least to warn him about the impending meetup with her mother.

  Jupiter tugged on her arm. “Hey, is that Colin over there in the killer suit?”

  Mia peered in the direction Jupiter had subtly gestured with her chin. A trio of wolves Mia knew well stood together: Llyr, the eldest of Mr. Sparks’s sons and an alpha like Lucas; Colin, Llyr’s beta and the wolf Mia had turned down for a mate; and Sampson, another of Llyr’s pack who worked in the office on mergers and acquisitions.

  “Yeah, that’s him,” Mia said. Colin’s tall, commanding figure seemed made for filling out formalwear. Something about the shifter gene made all the males hulky, good-looking, and dominating: Mia could easily attest to how difficult that was to resist.

  “He’s the one you threw back, right?” She licked her lips.

  “Jeeter,” Mia chastised. “Don’t—”

  Jupiter turned toward her in a mock-fury, her drama school training in high gear. “And why ever not? Do you have eyes, woman? That man’s 100% delicious packed in a tux and tails.”

  “He’s not a man, he’s a shifter,” Mia said, keeping her voice low, so the couple drifting nearby wouldn’t overhear. SparkTech employees were primarily shifters, but their clients were decidedly not—and advertising that fact wasn’t good for business.

  “All the better.” Jeeter was back to raking her gaze over Colin. “He hasn’t claimed a mate yet, right?”

  “No, not yet.” Mia felt a little bad about that, only because Colin clearly wanted a mate so badly. “There’s a new female shifter in the office, just started, but she’s really a beta. I don’t think he’s even interested in her.” Mia scanned the party, but she didn’t see the new intern, Rebecca. “But he’s not looking for a human girlfriend, Jeeter.” Shifters were notoriously hot in bed, but Mia knew better than anyone that they only took shifters for mates.

  “What makes you think I’m looking for a boyfriend?” Jupiter adjusted her dress to show a little more cleavage. Mia rolled her eyes and gave up—her friend was amazing and awesome, but she was clearly focused on one thing.

  “Just be safe.” Mia didn’t want Jeeter coming home with scars.

  She wrinkled up her face in horror. “Oh my god, you’ve turned into my mother.”

  Mia smirked. “I’m just saying. Shifters can be a little… intense. Especially in bed.”

  But that just made Jeeter’s eyes light up more. “You’re going to be okay here without me, right?” she asked, flicking hungry looks in Colin’s direction.

  “Go,” Mia said, shaking her head. “I’ll find Lucas, and everything will be fine.” Which was the truth. Whenever she was with her alpha, the world could be on fire, and she wouldn’t feel it—being with him, especially since they mated, created this incredible sense of safety. Belonging. And the amazing thing was that it grew stronger every day. Her wolf was completely satisfied—only her human side wished for something a little more public to show for their love.

  Jupiter scampered away. As she approached the trio, Colin’s gaze immediately swept up and down Jeeter’s revealing dress. He took her hand and brought her into their tight little conversation cluster. The look on Llyr’s face was classic—the disapproval could be seen across the room—but somehow Colin was able to ignore it, which Mia found intriguing. Going against your alpha’s wishes was something that was hard on any wolf, male or female. But Mia had heard the rumors—Colin was on a wild streak that even his alpha couldn’t stop, sleeping his way through the human female population of Seattle after Mia had turned him down. Lucas had done something similar after he lost his mate and before he met Mia—maybe that paved the way. Llyr and Sampson soon drifted away, leaving Colin to his wolfish looks for Jeeter.

  Her ex-roomie was eating it up with a spoon.

  “Well, aren’t they the charming couple?”

  Mia was startled by the voice at her side, but only momentarily: it was Lev, Lucas’s younger brother and his beta, as well as one of her favorite people on the planet.

  She smiled wide. “Charming isn’t the word I would use. Disastrous, maybe.”

  Lev turned his big brown eyes on her, full puppy dog mode. “Oh, please, please, New Girl, tell me to go rescue your roommate. You have no idea how much I’d like to sink my teeth into Colin’s throat.”

  Mia chuckled. “I don’t think that’s the kind of entertainment your father had in mind for the party tonight.”

  Lev’s shoulders slumped, but he turned a heated glare on Colin. Lev still hadn’t forgiven him for coming between her and Lucas, but he really wasn’t the fighting kind. Lev himself told her once: there were two kinds of betas, alphas-in-waiting like Colin and sweet, adorable ones like Lev. And as hot as Colin could be, Lev was the one Mia would protect with her life. And the one who truly deserved to find an amazing female shifter for a mate.

  “You know I’m not the New Girl anymore, right?” Mia flicked her gaze around the room. “Where’s Rebecca, and why are you wasting time with me? You should be charming her into an after-party date.”

  “Yeah, well, Rebecca’s not my type.” Lev looked away and sipped at his drink.

  Mia gave him a skeptical look. “She’s gorgeous, smart, and here explicitly to find a mate. And she’s a beta. In what way is that not your type?”

  Lev just shook his head. “Let me get you a drink, and you’ll see what I mean.”

  He took her by the elbow and steered her to where a black-tie bartender waited to take orders. Their new position in the room allowed her a view of the five male shifters surrounding Rebecca, each puffing his chest out more than the last. Mia could scent the pheromone surge from the bar, at least thirty feet away.

  “A lemon martini for the lady and another double scotch for me,” Lev said to the bartender. He gestured with his nearly-empty glass to the cluster around Rebecca. “See what I mean? She’s a little busy.”

  Mia peered more closely at the group. She knew most of the wolves at SparkTech—many had laid down their lives to rescue her. “Those guys are no competition for you, Lev. You’re way funnier than Steven, Blake is too old, and you’re smarter than any of them. And you’re the son of a pack leader.”

  Lev gave her a mock-affronted look that made her grin. “Well yeah, obviously, I’m a much better catch than any of those guys. She’s just not my type.” He shrugged and traded his old drink for the new one, handing Mia hers as well.

  She sipped at it, but she wasn’t buying Lev’s act. Rebecca had arrived at SparkTech only a few weeks ago, and Mia had liked her right away. She had a bubbly way about her—just the kind of girl that would be right for Lev.

  “She seems smart,” Mia offered. “I mean, she helped me out with the Blue Wave report last week, and she totally rocked it. Plus she’s cute.”

  Lev gave a small snort-laugh, then leaned against the bar, finally giving Rebecca a good look. “She’s not cute, Mia Fiore. She’s super hot.” He pointed with his drink at the wolves surrounding her. “Those guys are all hoping she’ll at least give them a try before she moves on.”

  Mia frowned. Sleeping with all the Sparks pack wolves would be the hallmark of someone having fun, not seriously looking for a mate. Maybe. Mia wasn’t pack-raised, so she still didn’t understand all the inne
r workings of pack social rules.

  “Is that how it works?” she asked Lev. “I mean, normally. I’m assuming most people don’t find their mate by rescuing them in an alley.” Which was how she and Lucas met, but that was a completely different story.

  “Sometimes.” Lev settled into a grumpy look, refusing to look at either her or Rebecca.

  Mia whacked him with her miniature purse, which sloshed the ice cubes in his drink.

  “Hey!” he protested. “Watch the suit.”

  “Since when are you the moody and grumpy brother? If I want that, I’ll hang out with Llyr.”

  That drew a smirk from Lev, which soothed her heart. She hated seeing him this way. “Now, tell me how this works. I need some education on wolfy ways if I’m going to find you a mate.”

  Lev lifted his eyebrows. “Since when are you on the Committee To Get Lev A Mate? I’m quite capable of handling that myself.”

  “Clearly not.” Mia took another sip of her drink then gestured to Rebecca with it. “Now tell me why a female shifter like Rebecca would leave her own pack and come here? Why not find a mate in Redmond?” Rebecca had come from the small high-tech town near Seattle. “Is she just looking for a change of pace with a big city pack?”

  He shrugged again. “Maybe. But it’s not uncommon for shifters to leave their pack to find a mate. Otherwise, it’s a little like marrying your cousin. There’s not that many of us, so we have to be somewhat careful to keep the gene pool from getting too shallow. But more likely, a hot shifter like Rebecca will simply have the pick of whoever she wants, wherever she goes.”

  “And she wanted to come here?” Mia asked.