Read The Alpha's Quest Collection Online
Authors: Jessica Ryan
The Alpha's Quest Collection
| The Alpha's Quest Collection |
| Jessica Ryan |
| Jessica Ryan Books (2014) |
Ciara is a party girl with a sordid past. Now she finds herself on a court-mandated "spiritual journey" by herself in the middle of the woods. Unfortunately her journey has turned into an escape for her life as a naked, obviously drugged, stranger pursues her through the forest.
Hawk is the lone, celibate alpha of the Skyvale pack. He's taken it upon himself to enter the massive Cedarpoint forest and hopefully find Leena, the mate to Satan's Angels leader. Unfortunately there's a very strong evil presence in the forest that's preventing him from finding the girl and saving Bucklin from certain doom.
When their paths converge deep in the forest Ciara thinks she's found her guardian angel while Hawk just sees someone that needs his protection. But, something begins growing between the two of them that will change their outlook forever.
The Alpha's Quest Collection is all three serialized parts collected into one mega-entry. It is the second part of The Bucklin Wolves series and is not intended to be read out of order.
This book is for mature audience's only.
By Jessica Ryan
Copyright © 2014 Jessica Ryan
All Rights Reserved
.
Published by Jessica Ryan Books
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
CONTENT WARNING
: This short story contains adult material with explicit sexual situations and language. All sexually active characters in this work are 19 years of age or older.
PLEASE NOTE:
This book is for sale to ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains sexually explicit scenes, graphic language and may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
"You want a camping permit?" the park ranger asked. "Seriously? To camp in these woods?"
"That's what I asked for," Ciara said, growing impatient. "Why else would I be here?"
"Maybe to hike?" he asked. "Most people don't stay overnight in these woods."
"Is this the part where you tell me the big local legend about the old woman who lives in the forest and cooks your brains? Or about the hillbilly zombie fuck crew that's going to make me squeal like a pig?"
The park ranger tilted his head back in revulsion and curled his upper lip. "Well, no, I wasn't going to tell you any of that."
"Then why don't people camp here?" she asked.
"The woods are haunted," he said, his expression switched back to deadpan.
"That's just wonderful," she said. "Listen, Dudley Do-Right, if this wasn't court ordered then I wouldn't be here, so give me the damn permit."
His expression changed to one of anger as he started furiously stamping forms. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you, little girl. I'm going to be mighty pissed if I have to lead a missing persons search for your short ass. It's already bad enough with the missing girl on the other side of the forest."
Ciara's stopped and looked up at the ranger, whose jaw was clenched tight as he held out the permit for her. "What do you mean, missing girl?"
He lowered the permit as a devilish smile appeared on his face. "I guess Ms. Smart Ass here didn't hear, did she?"
"Hear what?" she asked.
"There was a girl that got kidnapped from the parking lot of a bar in Cedarville. They found a dead biker beside her blood. Looks like he was torn to shreds by a large animal. The local police think she might be missing in the forest. Hell, it extends all the way from here, past Bucklin and through almost to Cedarville. It's the largest in the state."
"Of course there's going to be wild animals," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's a forest."
"Wild animals that drag people away?" he asked.
"Wait a minute," she said, slamming her hand down on the counter. "I heard about this story. You're just trying to scare me. The police think it's a man with a trained dog who kidnapped the girl! You're an asshole."
"Well, I guess you know everything?" he said, pointing towards the door. "Go enjoy yourself. The man with a dog theory is one the news came up with. Remember I'm in law enforcement around here. I know what's going on."
Ciara shuddered as he winked at her and continued to point. This guy was kind of a creep.
"Fine," she said. "And don't stare at my ass on the way out. God knows you couldn't keep your eyes from travelling down my shirt the whole time I've been standing here."
She smiled wickedly as his face turned beet red and she turned to leave. That should make him feel like a real ass.
Ciara was used to men looking down her shirt. She was only five feet tall and she had pretty large breasts. She was at just the right height for most men to look straight down her shirt. When she was younger she had loved the attention. In high school she played field hockey and had a pretty tight body. But as she grew older and her life spiraled out of control she had replaced more and more meals with alcohol to the point that her rock-hard body had completely left her. Now she was just self-conscious if any man checked her out, even if he was an asshole park ranger.
What the hell am I doing?
she wondered as she stood at her car.
Is this really what my life has become?
She'd never been camping in her life, not with her parents, her friends or a boyfriend. Now she was thrust into the wilderness alone because Doctor Haley thought it was the best course of action for her to overcome her alcohol addiction.
She hadn't had a drink in six weeks, a fact she was very proud of, but Doctor Hippie Quack was fearful of relapse. He told her she would never be completely free of her demons until she conquered herself, whatever the hell that meant.
Doctor Haley was one of the most annoying men she'd ever met, and she was pretty sure he was a hypocrite. The first time she had met him, in his faded slacks and brightly-colored cabana shirt, she had thought,
You know this guy gets high at night.
His long gray hippie hair and beatnik goatee didn't help his image either.
Yet somehow he'd decided she was fighting an inner fight with a powerful demon called alcoholism and she needed to go on a vision quest to find her inner Ciara or some bullshit like that. She didn't know what was more offensive: the fact that he insisted she do this or the fact that he insisted it was an old Native American trick for defeating their inner demons.
Was it 1890? Were they still under the impression that the red man was one with the Earth and spirits? That fool was probably ignorant enough to call them red men too.
But since her visits with Doctor Haley were court-ordered, she couldn't get out of doing what he asked. One unfavorable report and she was off to jail for the next few years. A weekend alone in the wilderness was a much better alternative to daily beatings because she hadn't joined the right gang.
She got behind the wheel of her beat-up old Toyota Corolla and pulled out of the ranger station, heading for the parking lot that led to the hiking trails.
She looked around at the trees as she drove. It certainly was beautiful in this area and it definitely had a calming effect on her. Unfortunately she didn't know how calm she would stay when it was time to sleep.
That asshole was joking, right? There wasn't some mountain lion or large wolf that wanted to eat her for dinner, was there? She'd packed a gun just in case, but she didn't know how much good it'd do her if she was being dragged away in her sleep.
After a short drive she pulled into a heavily wooded parking lot. If she went missing, nobody would know her car was here unless they came looking. This plan just kept getting better. Doctor Haley had insisted she camp where nobody else would be, where she could be completely alone. Did he not see the danger in any of this? She was going to see about getting this guy's license revoked. How could a doctor be so reckless?
Luckily it was early October, so things weren't sweltering hot in Oklahoma, just mildly hot. It stayed warm in this state well into November before the biting winter hit. Ciara was used to it; she'd lived in this state her entire life. It only had two seasons: summer and winter.
She walked around to the back of her car and pulled out her large hiking pack. She'd packed plenty of food, toiletries and even a pup tent to get her through. She'd spent hours on YouTube learning how to build a fire while also eating up anything she could find for first time campers. Unfortunately most websites said the same thing: you're in trouble if you go out on your own with no idea what the fuck you're doing.
"Fuck Doctor Haley. He's probably the killer," she said out loud as she slipped her backpack on. "He's out there waiting for me. I've seen him looking at my tits. He's going to drag me into the forest and kill me."
She stood there for a minute after she closed the trunk lid, staring into space.
"Wow, I took that to a dark place," she said. "Maybe I really do need some help."
She sighed and began to walk towards the entrance to the hiking trail. She would hike up into the forest and find a clearing to camp in. Hopefully nobody would come along and bother her. Doctor Haley had required she go for at least two nights, so it wasn't going to end anytime soon.
He claimed when she was alone with the stars and her thoughts she would retreat within herself and find the source of all her anger and frustration. She would find what had led her to become an alcoholic in the first place.
She'd told the nutcase she knew what had caused it: college. She'd been a good girl in high school, never stepping out of line and always doing what she was told. But when she got to college, something snapped and she went wild. It was a miracle she was still in good standing with the school, even taking this semester off. Unfortunately it was a forced semester off.
Don't think about that,
she told herself.
You're supposed to be thinking happy thoughts this weekend, all happy thoughts.
She stopped and looked up at the hiking trail which wound into the trees and out of sight from the parking lot.
Although a drink would make this a lot easier,
she thought.
The only thing she had was some special cactus juice Doctor Haley had given her. He had told her it would help her through her journey when she was ready, but he had cautioned her not to drink it until she was completely ready to begin her spiritual journey.
Surely the nutcase wouldn't send an addict alone into the forest with a hallucinogenic drink—that would get his license revoked! It had to be a placebo, one to help her along with this journey.
Ciara took the lid off the cap and smiled. "I guess this is all I have. Bottoms up, Doctor Haley."
She finished off all twenty ounces of the cactus juice, which was really sweet and tangy. She stood in place for several minutes, waiting for some familiar feeling. Hopefully the cactus juice would cascade through her entire body, giving her that warm feeling she got anytime she drank or did drugs. She shook her head and smiled, feeling absolutely nothing.
"Nope. Nothing. I could still use that drink."