Alpha Meets Beta (Alpha Meets Omega Book 4) Read online

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  Alpha Meets Beta:

  Alpha Meets Omega Dating App Series

  By: Sky Winters

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  Table of Contents

  Alpha Meets Beta: Alpha Meets Omega Dating App

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Other Books by Sky Winters

  About The Author

  Alpha Meets Beta: Alpha Meets Omega Dating App

  CHAPTER ONE

  Adriana

  “You’ve ruined me, you bitch!”

  “That’s enough, Parquo. Let’s go,” the security guard told him.

  “I’m not going anywhere without a piece of her,” he spat.

  Adriana stood her ground. It wasn’t the first time someone had been unhappy about one of her articles. Since she’d come to work at Transformation Magazine three years ago, she’d exposed dozens of shifters for their dark deeds. Alexander Parquo was as corrupt as they came, a fact she had not expected when she signed up to do an expose on his multi-national security firm. Of course, she’d expected just some shady dealings, just not outright unlawful activities.

  She could have ignored what she’d discovered during her investigation, but what was the point of being an investigative journalist if you hid the things you uncovered as a matter of convenience to yourself or others? After several discussions with her editor, they’d printed a story about a man who was widely viewed as a philanthropist but was secretly laundering money and running sweatshops in an overseas hell that she had personally visited.

  They had been prepared for his backlash, but her heart stopped as she saw him begin to shift. He was beyond just being a bit angry; he intended to do actual harm to her. He was an Alpha, and a powerful one from what she knew of him. She was a Beta and no match for his might, but she wasn’t about to stand there and be ripped apart by him. She grimaced as her clothes shredded and her bones broke apart, reforming in their wolf configuration, her brown eyes fading into a bright yellow glare as she watched him do the same.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw the security guard shifting too, but he was late. He hadn’t reacted quickly enough. Parquo would be fully wolf in seconds, as was she, but the guard would lag behind, unable to help until it was perhaps too late. She squared off against Parquo right there in the middle of the conference room in which he had cornered her after forcing his way past the receptionist.

  The sound of her heart beating in her chest felt like a drum—a cadence of fear. She lowered her head in determination. He was easily twice her size and all muscle, spittle dripping off his snout as he growled at her. It wasn’t a warning, as he fully intended to come at her. It was a war cry. As he began charging toward her, she felt her fear dissipate into anger. He saw her as weak, easily dispatched for exposing him, but it was he who was the coward.

  All thoughts fell aside, pure survival mode taking over as she lunged forward, meeting him in the middle of the room. He went for her throat, but she flattened herself, sliding across the cool tile floor beneath him and sinking her teeth into one of his back legs, forcing him off-center so that he lost his balance and thudded heavily against the floor. He let out an involuntary howl of pain but was quickly back on his feet, turning toward her with a snarl.

  She prepared for his attack, knowing he wouldn’t be short-sided enough to let her attack him again. She’d hurt him. She could see the blood dripping down his hind leg and onto the white tiles below, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. He pounced, shoving her backward, sending her leg over tail against the back wall. He wouldn’t kill her. That’s not what wolves like him did. He would hurt her in a way that would do far more lasting damage. She would become an example of why you don’t fuck with Alexander Parquo.

  Still, she would fight it. She would fight him. Adriana Guerrero might be a woman. She might be a Beta. What she wasn’t was a victim. No matter what he did to her. She was no one’s victim.

  Fuck that.

  She gathered herself, rising to her feet and squaring off against him again. His eyes were a dark green, an unnatural color for the wolves in their area. It told her one more thing she hadn’t known about him: he was a liar about his heritage. Wherever he was from, it wasn’t any of the local packs. Another mystery, but one she might never be able to solve after this was over.

  He twisted his mouth into a snarl and began walking toward her, not eager to give her another opportunity to take advantage of her diminutive stature. She met his gaze, weighing her options, but it was wasted energy. Suddenly, he was flying backward, grabbed by the tail, and slung toward the opposite wall by a black and silver wolf. The room filled with growls and the snapping of bones as they fought, and she had to resist the urge to jump in and demand her pound of flesh.

  “Adriana!” a voice called to her from outside the second door to the conference room. It had been closed and was now just barely cracked, a woman’s hand holding it for her.

  Adriana jumped up and slipped out of the opening, past her boss, and into the hallway. She noted three more wolves, all black with silver streaks, more of the security force that had been sent in to help the one who’d come to her rescue, albeit a tad late. She could smell them, their Alpha rage filling her nostrils as she trotted off in the opposite direction ahead of her boss.

  She pushed into her own office and made her way into the private bathroom to shift. There were bruises down her arms and a large scratch she’d not even felt running down her arm. They would all heal quickly enough, so no permanent damage. She put a bandage over the scratch and retrieved a clean change of clothes from the spares she kept in the linen closet, getting dressed and pulling her long red hair up into a ponytail.

  “Don’t fuck with a redhead,” she said to her reflection in the mirror before leaving to find her boss and see what security had done with Parquo.

  She had a good idea of what, but she’d need to confirm and discuss the plans for how to minimize this with the human press. Shifters understood that bad wolves must sometimes be put down, but it was a bit harder to explain to outsiders who could only see it from their fragile frame of reference. Alexander had put himself in a precarious position, and he’d lost.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Dane

  “Morning, Dane. You see the news?” Garrett asked as he stepped off the elevator and into the penthouse apartment that served as both Dane’s living quarters and personal office.

  “Nah. I just got in from my run. What’s going on?�
�� Dane replied, stripping off his soaked shirt to reveal an eight pack and the large dragon tattoo that started on his chest and wrapped around his side to extend down his back. “I was just about to grab a shower when you buzzed to come up.”

  This was one of several homes Dane owned, but it was the most convenient during the week when he preferred to be in town for meetings. Garrett was his second-in-command at the large real estate development company he owned and saw to the day to day operations, but Dane liked to keep his head in the game. He trusted no one completely, though Garrett was as close as it came to be a confidante. They were clan brothers first, businessmen second.

  “Someone took out Parquo.”

  “Took him out?”

  “Yeah. Details are sketchy. You know how shifters hide the facts from human news. They found him over in Salem Park, the victim of an animal attack, according to the news.”

  “Well, I can’t say he didn’t deserve it. I told you never to trust a wolf with a shady backstory.”

  “You were right. We dodged a bullet with that one.”

  “I wonder who ended him?”

  “No idea, but there’s another report. An article that came out this week in Transformation about how he’s been laundering money and running sweatshops in a few third world countries. He was ruined anyway. Most likely, someone looking at going down with him took care of him before he could talk, cut a deal.”

  “Sounds right. Anyway, did you come up here just to tell me about a man who I didn’t really know anyway?” Dane asked. His eyes narrowed as another thought occurred to him, “We don’t have any business dealings with him, right? I mean, we talked about him at one point, and I said no. We didn’t go ahead and sign off on anything with him, I trust.”

  “We did not. I know that your decisions are final.”

  “Good. What’s up then?”

  “I just need to get your signature on some paperwork and Carol in marketing wanted me to remind you about the community outreach shindig next month. She said you have to be there.”

  “I don’t have to be anywhere I don’t want to be.”

  “Okay. Sure, but it will look bad if the owner of the company can’t be bothered to turn up. Maybe you could bring a date, a proper one. Make it look like you are a family man.”

  “My personal life has nothing to do with the company.”

  “It does when we are trying to sweet-talk the mayor into selling off the old factory district to us for redevelopment. We need for him to believe we are the sort of people who intend to build quality housing at a fair price for the local people.”

  “Aren’t we?”

  “No. We’re the kind of people who will lead him to believe that and then build high-income apartments that only a certain kind of people can afford.”

  “In other words, we’re assholes.”

  “Yes.”

  What Garrett didn’t know, but would when the time came, was that Dane was actively involved in a homeless housing project that had just started up. He might be building high-end accommodations through his company, but he was planning on clearing some sidewalks on his personal dime. It felt good to give something back.

  “Tell Carol I’ll be there, and I’ll do what I can about a date.”

  “An Omega.”

  “What?”

  “You always bring some ball-busting Beta or Alpha with you to these things. It would look better if you brought someone who looks more like a schoolteacher than a runway model.”

  “Have you seen how teachers look these days?” Dane teased.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I do, and I’ll consider it, but don’t hold your breath.”

  “Hey, who am I to tell you what to do? You pay my salary, not the other way around. I’m just trying to help you look more like Ward Cleaver and less like Charlie Sheen.”

  “Sheen has tiger blood. I’m all dragon, baby,” Dane quipped. Garrett was one of the few shifters he employed, trying to mostly blend into the human world where the majority of their interactions were based.

  “Right. I’ve done all I can for Carol’s cause. I’ll leave you to do as you want, as usual. Just sign these, and I’ll get out of here.”

  Dane signed the papers he had brought and said his goodbyes, watching for a moment as Garrett got back on the elevator to leave. Once the doors closed, he finished stripping and went over to look out one of the large glass windows that made up the southern wall of his penthouse. The view of the city below was magnificent, though it was better at night when it was all it up. Today would be the last day he’d see it for a while, as he intended to spend the next few weeks at his property outside the city.

  He was looking forward to it. Life was quite different without the interruptions of work. Sure, they still sent emails or called, but he could ignore those a lot easier than them buzzing up on the elevator. It had not been his smartest move to live at the top of the building that housed his vast empire. While it was convenient at times, it was mostly a pain in the ass. It afforded him a very nice life, though, so he couldn’t complain about the nominal interaction he had to endure to keep it afloat.

  Secretly, he loved it. If he didn’t, he’d step aside completely and just collect the profits as they rolled in. Still, it was nice to get away from it for a bit too. It was hard to stretch his wings in the city. He walked away from the window, stepping into the shower. Garrett’s comments about him bringing an Omega to the community outreach made him wonder if perhaps he should pursue that. He didn’t care for Omegas, as he preferred women with a bit more fire and drive, but it might be a good optic.

  Later, still in his towel, he picked up his phone and opened the Alpha Meets Omega app on his phone. He clicked over to the Omegas looking for a mate and began flipping through their bios, swiping left again and again before finally giving up and closing the app. Maybe he’d look some more later.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Adriana

  Adriana scowled down at her phone as she waited for the acceptance from Alpha Meets Omega to join their dating app. Setting the phone aside, she considered her conversation with her boss, Yvette.

  “You need to take a couple of weeks off,” Yvette had told her the day after the incident with Parquo.

  “Why? I’m fine.”

  “He was a bad man and bad men deal with other bad men. Security dealt with the situation the only way we could to keep the magazine out of it, but there will be questions from them. Human reports that he was the victim of an animal attack will only pique their interest. His demise coincides with your article. Even if they don’t make the connections, there is still a chance that the article itself will expose them. You know that pack as well as any of us. They’re a vindictive lot.”

  “I’m not worried about the Blue Snouts.”

  “I am. You aren’t the only one in danger here.”

  “So, they commit crimes, and I’m the one that pays? You can’t just sideline me, Yvette,” Adriana grumbled.

  Yvette sighed and looked down at her desk for a moment. She flipped through some papers there and pulled one out, offering it up to Adriana. Reaching out, Adriana took the paper from her and look at it, her brows growing tighter together as she studied it.

  “You’re putting me on a fluff piece?” she snapped angrily.

  “You either work that from home or take two weeks’ vacation. Either way, I don’t want to see you in this office for the rest of this month. It’s for your safety and ours. Keep a low profile and use a fake name. I’ll get you some credentials for the app. Oh, and you’ll have security assigned to your house.”

  “Security? I don’t need babysitters!”

  “I think you do, at least for the next few days. We’ll see what sort of fallout we might be looking at after that. The police are already investigating Parquo’s company. That could flush more of his crazed pack mates out and bring them to our door. Just do as I ask, for once,” she sighed.

  “Fine. Get me the details, and I’ll do
this silly dating app piece. Pretty shitty to come off some major investigative journalism to writing a sappy ‘looking for love’ article, though.”

  “That’s showbiz.”

  Adriana groaned and left, resisting the urge to crumble up the paper in her hand and toss it. She could just quit, but where would she go? Options for shifters were limited. Her only other option would be to move into the human world of reporting, and that sounded like a death sentence at the hand of utter boredom.

  Now, here she was, signed up on a meat market as an Omega. Her assignment was to do a piece with a positive spin on the benefits of Omegas seeking a mate online. Not only did she have no interest in finding a mate, but she had no respect for the Omegas of her species. They lacked ambition and drive; instead, they were perfectly happy to wait on some Alpha hand and foot and spit out large litters on demand. It was archaic and fueled by misogyny. Hiding her Beta tendencies to fool an Alpha was going to be a hard sell, but she loved a challenge. At least there was a little bit of intrigue to be had. Would an Alpha be able to see through her farce?

  She sat down at her kitchen table and began flipping through the bios of Alphas on the site, making notes about a few of them as she went, simply swiping left on others. She spoke aloud to herself as she examined what there was to offer, sometimes even laughing at the absurdity of certain profiles.

  “Too lazy to even finish their profile,” she muttered about a few.

  Looking for a real woman.

  “Cliché.”

  “Gym rat,” she observed about far too many who looked like they spent their every waking hour lifting weights. Yeah, they were buff, but where were their necks? Did they have zero other interests?

  “Incompatible,” she laughed, looking at profile after profile of men who were openly bitter about past relationships or overly misogynistic with their list of criteria for a mate.

  She had already perused some of the female profiles in an attempt to determine the best way to set hers up. How could a man in this day and age only be interested in a woman “looking for a mate who wants to start immediately on a family and care for the household.”