Outlaw Alpha Read online

  Table of Contents

  Excerpt

  Outlaw Alpha

  Blurb

  ~ Part 1: Bound ~

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  ~ Part 2: Undone ~

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  ~ Part 3: Fugitives ~

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  ~ Part 4: The Ultimatum ~

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  ~ Part 5: Justified ~

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Preview another book by this author

  Note from Dakota

  eBooks by Dakota Cassidy

  Dakota recommends … Lexxie Couper

  Excerpt

  Freya’s mind reeled. Ethan Dempsey was dead and they thought she’d killed him? Horror washed over her in cold wave after wave. “Me?” she squeaked out. “They think I killed Ethan? That’s insane!”

  Claire grabbed her by the shoulders, her fingers digging into the soft flesh of her upper arms. “Your scarf and jacket were there, Freya—in the woods, covered in blood! The same scarf and jacket you always wear. Of course they think it was you. The entire town’s in an uproar over it. Now get your ass in gear and get the hell out of here!”

  Then realization hit her, hard, in her gut like a cannonball.

  She’d gone somewhere tonight. Somewhere she couldn’t remember. She’d had blood all over her hands when she’d returned.

  Oh, God. Oh, God no.

  Freya’s eyes met Liam’s over Claire’s head, and she saw it. She saw his doubt. Saw he was remembering exactly what she was remembering.

  Had she killed Ethan? In one of these uncontrollable bursts of emotion Liam talked about?

  Never in a million years would she have believed she had it in her to kill someone until late yesterday afternoon, when Courtland had come calling. The image in her mind of her fist ramming into his face had been vivid. And she’d wanted it. She’d wanted him dead for claiming her as his mate, for daring to show up at her door as though he owned her.

  Her mouth fell open as her legs began to tremble, making Claire grip her upper arms harder. “Freya? Don’t say anything else. Stop putting this all together in your head. Now isn’t the time to think things through. Get your ass out of here and we’ll figure the rest out later!”

  The rise of Claire’s voice, the panicked urgency of it, and the vigilante-style pounding on her front door made everything else secondary.

  The screams of “burn the bitch” weren’t helping matters either.

  Liam called Clarence to his side and hurriedly scooped up the bloody clothes he’d just peeled off her.

  Claire threw Freya’s purse and phone at her and grabbed a tote, lobbing it at Liam.

  He shoved Freya’s bloodied clothes in the bag and hoisted it over his shoulder then headed for her bedroom window.

  Claire motioned to Freya to move it, giving her a shove. “Hurry! Go with Liam. I’ll stall them and keep their attention on the front door. You go out the back and through the woods,” she directed.

  Liam nodded, throwing her bedroom window open and pointing to it. “Go, Clarence!”

  Clarence did exactly as he was told, his brown eyes never once leaving Liam’s face until he jumped through the window and out of sight.

  Liam hesitated only for a moment, his eyes locking with Claire’s in question.

  “Just go!” she ordered again with a hiss and a flash of her fangs.

  Liam pushed Freya to the edge of the window and ordered her to jump, following right behind her, taking the small leap to the ground with the grace of a cat.

  The crunch of snow beneath her feet snapped Freya out of the crazy, sluggish haze that kept settling over her brain. She looked up at Liam’s chiseled features, shadowed by the play of light from the waning moon. “It’s going to be daylight soon. Where to?”

  He held out his hand as the voices from the front of her house grew louder, angrier. “You’re gonna have to trust me.”

  Outlaw Alpha

  Fangs of Anarchy, Book 2

  Dakota Cassidy

  Published 2016 by Book Boutiques.

  ISBN: 978-1-62517-993-7

  Copyright © 2016, Dakota Cassidy.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Book Boutiques.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, locales, or events is wholly coincidental. The names, characters, dialogue, and events in this book are from the author’s imagination and should not to be construed as real.

  Manufactured in the USA.

  Email [email protected] with questions, or inquiries about Book Boutiques.

  Blurb

  Forced into a paranormal settlement and dealing with arcane sexist mate calls, werewolf Freya Ashe—ex-attorney, current quilter—thought life couldn’t suck more. Unless she factored in her hunger for the sinfully luscious Liam McConnell—which she didn’t. Nope. Uh-uh. Not at all. When you want someone you can’t have, denial is the best policy.

  And on top of all that suck, the inconceivable has happened—Freya was chosen at the latest mate call. By the greasiest, smelliest, dumbest werewolf every to rub two brain cells together—Courtland Dodd. She’d rather chug battery acid than mate with the vile pack alpha, but in Freya’s world, it’s either surrender or suffer.

  Surly vampire Liam McConnell thought he’d lost everything when the government segregated paranormals. He was wrong. In recent months, he’s been kicked out of his biker club, Fangs of Anarchy, and shunned by his very family. He’ll be damned if he’s going to lose the one woman he lusts for above all others—even if she is forbidden.

  Previously Published

  (2014/2015) Dakota Cassidy-The Fangs of Anarchy 2 | Outlaw Alpha Serial. Part 1-Bound | Part 2-Undone | Part 3-Fugitives | Part 4-The Ultimatum | Part 5-Justified

  Acknowledgements

  Huge thanks to Adrienne Simpson-Trent who was my rock on Twitter when I binge-watched Sons of Anarchy (people! That show makes a girl need some hand holdin’!). I joked I should write vampire bikers, and she came up with this amazing title, and here we are!

  Also, to my BFF Renee. Really, who would I share this ledge with if not for you, darling? Who else can I count on to call me up at night and soothe my frazzled nerves while we yak for eight hours straight about trying something new just because we can? I love you, punkin’.

  And always, to my husband Rob. You are awesome at plotting a happily ever after, which is what must make you so good at a real life one. I love you more than I love my spleen.

  Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs, Tibbs Design

  ~ Part 1: Bound ~

  ~ ~ ~

  Prologue

  In the beginning…

  In the year 2004, paranormals were forced from hiding after an unfortunate public mishap involving a vampire by the name of Martin Lawler, who accidentally outed the existence of various supernatural races to the human population.

  In a word, Martin screwed every paranormal working and living peacefully among the humans without their knowledge.

  Mass hysteria ensued amongst human citizens, who raised questions about the safety of paranormals in living, social, and working environments. There were protests to rival the Vietnam marches. Humans demonstratin
g against the paranormal weighed down with garlic wrapped around their bodies and holy water in flasks, carrying signs that read “Down With Team Twilight!” and “Who Let The Dogs Out?”

  The human governments decided it was unconstitutional, and likely unwise, to attempt to round up the paranormal and kill them all. (Which had been the original plan, until the otherworldly revolted with the threat of a blood-sucking, entrails-eating uprising the likes of which humans had never seen.)

  Still, the widespread panic forced the governments, sires and councils of both paranormal and human persuasions to convene a summit in order to contain fear and create newer, stricter laws for all concerned.

  Some laws suckier than others…

  As a result, humans and paranormal alike were relocated to newly created territories and banned from each other in a global form of segregation. Many of the paranormal were threatened with mass extermination unless they uprooted and left their old lives behind, agreeing to resettle in new homes with small monthly supplemental funds from the government as consolation for the upheaval.

  As part of the new wave of laws, and in an effort to keep clans, packs, covens, and the like strong and pure, governing councils issued a warning to all races. While they must share living space, and in some cases, govern their newly appointed towns together without outside influence, no paranormal could engage in any form of cohabitation with another paranormal outside their race, unless already engaged in a multi-race relationship at the time of said edict.

  Meaning: No more vampire/werewolf or any other kind of mixed-species wookie-wook.

  Older, less-utilized laws were also reinstituted, such as pack mating rituals and the quest for clan purity, creating dissention and the cry for equal rights.

  Empowered paranormal women especially were none too pleased at being herded like cattle at a county fair during full-moon mate calls and essentially given no choice in mating matters. Several full-moon bloodbaths led by said empowered women occurred as a result before a major crackdown was instituted.

  Though, even after the peace treaties and summits between human and supernatural leaders, the paranormal were still at the government’s mercy just by virtue of their minority in numbers. The government used that against them, subtly, while trying to take them out by withholding vital necessities.

  Blood, on which humans had placed a sky-high tax, became a black-market item for vampires. Lower-middle-class vampires were starving, even dying painful deaths by the dozens without it, forcing some clans to seek out an illegal synthetic supplement.

  An uprising called The Opposition sprouted across the country in various forms, protesting the discrimination paranormals now face, with members living their lives in hiding for the greater good. Though considered wanted criminals, they remain steadfast to the cause.

  Think Doomsday Preppers times ten.

  In other cases, some paranormals chose to move to their new towns and become leaders in their communities, rallying for peaceful coexistence despite the hardships placed upon them.

  This is the story of one such town, and how some hot biker vampires formed a gang called Fangs of Anarchy. Made up of one-time corporate and medical professionals who aren’t afraid to open up a can of whoop-ass to protect not just the town they now call home, but the women they love…

  Chapter 1

  “If it isn’t Freya Ashe. Cranky, single werewolf,” a gravelly voice, rich with mischief and doused with sarcasm, murmured in her ear.

  “If it isn’t Liam McConnell. Traitorous, equally single vampire,” she shot back, refusing to acknowledge the shiver his silken lips so near her ear created.

  “Here to watch the mating game?” he asked, his deep tone resonating in the cold air.

  “Here because I’m forced by pack law to be here, and you damn well know it, McConnell.”

  “Right. Pack rules say all single female werewolves must attend. Males aren’t mandatory. Got it.” He made a check mark in the air with his finger then grinned at her.

  She turned to face him fully, almost angry that even under the purple gloom of the coming night sky, and as pale as he was, he was fucking magnificent to look at.

  His presence always riled her; always set her on the edge of something she didn’t understand, other than to rationalize it as raw physical attraction, so she looked away again.

  Freya burrowed her runny nose deeper into her scarf and watched her pack leader and the Road Dogs biker crew president, Courtland Dodd, strut across the wide planks of the town’s gazebo as he prepared to name his mate like some bloated black sheep from the ugly side of the peacock family. Pinky, Courtland’s right hand, scurried behind him in a ridiculous caricature of a cartoon sidekick.

  “Speaking of pack rules, shouldn’t you be home studying the werewolf laws and bylaws and stupider-than-stupid laws right now? Isn’t that what all good vampires who’ve betrayed their clans do when they jump ship and join a werewolf pack?”

  He moved to stand next to her, the bulk of his biceps just touching her shoulder, making her heart thump erratically in her ears. “Isn’t that what I’m doing as we speak? Studying a stupider-than-stupid werewolf law? What better way than to witness the stupid firsthand?”

  Point for the vampire. The gorgeous, delectable, traitorous vampire. This was a stupid law. Stupid and utterly archaic. “The mating ritual certainly falls under the stupider-than-stupid category.”

  He clucked his tongue, leaning into her, making her nose twitch with the scent of his spicy cologne. “I emphatically agree. Who, in their right mind, wants to mate for life?”

  “Said the traitorous vampire who plum out of nowhere wants to be a werewolf.”

  Liam rocked back on the heels of his worn boots as if he hadn’t a care in the world. The flames from the bonfire in the middle of the town square where the men gathered highlighted his chiseled features, kissing his just-below-chin-length, raven hair like a lover.

  That was Liam. Glib and smug, with a little aloof and bitter resentment on the side. “I never said I wanted to be a werewolf. You don’t see me asking anyone to bite me and turn me into one of you, do you?”

  He was taking a passive-aggressive stab at her best friend and former pack mate, Claire Montgomery, who’d done just that—had Liam’s brother Irish bite her so they could become eternal mates.

  But tonight wasn’t the night for Liam to poke at her friend. Freya despised the mating ritual. It rubbed raw every nerve in her defiantly feminist body. She didn’t need a mate, and she wasn’t especially interested in the longevity of her pack.

  “Really? Then why are you and Courtland suddenly BFFs? Because the last time I checked, you and the Fangs all hated Courtland Dodd. Yet, every day since you had that all-out brawl with your brother over Claire and he booted you from the club, I see you cozying up to Courtland at Ahab’s. Oh, wait!” She paused to sharpen her tongue. “I know what it is. You’re not a Fang anymore, so that made your dislike of Courtland evaporate like it never existed, right? Leave Claire out of this, Liam. She’s happy. That’s all I give a damn about.”

  Liam scoffed, his distaste for her best friend evident.

  Ah. There it was. Just a small piece of Liam’s bitter pie, rearing its ugly head. His fight with his brother over Claire.

  No one was more surprised than Freya when Liam and his brother Irish had engaged in a fistfight the likes of which no one in their small town of Rock Cove, Maine, had seen since their mutual races had been forced to cohabitate under the new human government laws.

  It began when her best friend Claire Montgomery, a werewolf and the local librarian, and Irish McConnell, president of the biker club Fangs of Anarchy, fell in love. A relationship Liam openly despised due to the tensions it brought between his vampire clan and Freya’s pack.

  But Claire had fixed that—by having Irish turn her into a vampire. An honest-to-God bloodsucker. He’d drained her almost dry and reanimated her just to make Claire his for eternity.

  When Liam found out what
his brother and Claire had done, he’d lost it. As a result of the ensuing fight, and the disrespect Liam displayed for Claire, Irish had booted his brother not just out of the Fangs, but of the McConnell clan—in front of everyone in the town square. Leaving Liam a lone wolf. No pun intended.

  Since then, Liam had been buddying up to Courtland, her pack’s new leader by default since his brother Gannon’s death, and everyone was speculating about it.

  Freya’s eyes narrowed as she sniffed the air at his disapproval. “Save your disapproval about Claire. She’s my best friend and your brother’s new mate whether you like it or not.”

  “I damn well know who Claire is, Freya,” Liam reminded tersely.

  Freya sighed, watching the puff of condensation leave her mouth. There was mostly no talking to Liam on any other level than the one labeled “resentful” these days.

  He wasn’t shy about his dislike for the new government or his anger for having to leave his pediatric practice back in New York. He also wasn’t shy about hating werewolves.

  But that didn’t make him any less sexy—which made Freya despise herself. Liam hated her kind with arrogance and visible distaste, but she still had the unmitigated gall to lust for him.

  She shoved her hands into the pockets of her down jacket and decided to taunt him. Because she liked seeing his hard, square jaw clench, deepening the dimple in his chin, and his brilliant smoky eyes flash.

  That always helped to alleviate her aching longing to find out what it would be like to have Liam thrust deep inside her, his enormous body covering every square inch of hers.

  She’d never admit it anywhere but in the solitude of her bedroom, but Liam made her insides a puddle of goo. His scent, his thick thighs, his bulky arms, that deep dimple in his chin. All of him left her a total glop of loose limbs.

  “So where is Claire tonight, anyway? Shouldn’t she be here holding your hand?”

  Freya hated the sneer in his voice when he said Claire’s name. “I’ll remind you again, she’s your sister-in-law now. Your family. My best friend. So if you can’t speak her name without a primal grunt, don’t speak it around me.”