The Beta's Spitfire

By Gale Stanley

Samson: Levi and I have always been best friends. Now he’s the pack Alpha and I’m his beta, a.k.a. the man who cleans up after his shit storms. This one is a doozy. He dumped his intended bride, and now it’s my job to take care of her while he goes off to find his soulmate. Delilah is beautiful, a real spitfire, and completely off limits. But she ignites a fire that makes my wolf sit up and howl.

Delilah: I was meant to be the mate of an Alpha, so l accepted an arranged marriage with Levi. But the arrogant jerk dumped me right before the wedding. I’m no damsel in distress, so I took off for New York to live a life of independence. Along the way, I was kidnapped and my situation became desperate. When Samson came to my rescue, I never expected him to claim me for himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Changeling Press
• Release date: May 8, 2020

Book preview

himself.

Chapter One

Delilah

After Levi dumped me, my father called wanting to know our wedding date. When I told him there’d be no wedding, he went ballistic. Arranged marriages between wolf-shifters don’t fall apart at the last minute. What did you do to make Levi call it off?

Of course daddy dearest would blame me. It was the story of my life. My father and I never got along. He blamed our arguments on the F word -- feminism. According to him, equality of the sexes ruined the mating game. Any wolf-shifter worth his salt wants a submissive wife to take care of his needs. If he can keep her barefoot and pregnant, so much the better. If I’d heard it once, I’d heard it a hundred times. Maybe a thousand.

Levi was just like my father. I guessed that’s why Daddy picked him for me. He thought once we were married, Levi would keep me in line. Well, the joke was on Daddy. Levi didn’t even try to tame me. I asserted my independence and Levi balked. He gave me that tired old line, It’s not you, it’s me.

Bullshit! I was sure there was more to it. I wasn’t that naive. More than once, I smelled cheap perfume on him. I wasn’t exactly blindsided, and I wasn’t heartbroken, but I was miffed. After all, I’m a catch -- the daughter of an Alpha, I come from the Chicago Shifters, an old and very wealthy pack.

But, like I said, there was more than meets the eye here. My spunky spirit was just a convenient excuse for Levi to break our engagement. Yes, he hated the fact that I wanted to be an equal partner in our relationship. Levi would have preferred a doormat, but under normal circumstances, he would have gone along with the arrangement for the sake of tradition.

I was convinced Levi dumped me for another woman. I’d been in New York for weeks, living with his parents and getting to know the pack, but Levi had been gone most of the time. He might be the Alpha, but nobody has that much business out of town, especially when they’re supposed to be getting ready for their wedding.

One thing I had learned was to trust my intuition. If I got a feeling that something was wrong, I didn’t chalk it up to being paranoid. I meditated on it and looked for signs. Levi had all the signs. He was moody, uncommunicative, critical, and he never showed any interest in sex.

She-wolves are supposed to stay pure until the wedding, but rules are meant to be broken. My girlfriends back home all had arranged marriages, but they all fucked their grooms before they said I do. I had expected I would, too, but Levi had no interest in fucking me. He had to be getting it somewhere else. No surprise there. Men cheat. But I expected him to at least show some interest in me. I wasn’t exactly an ugly duckling. Even Levi’s beta had eye-fucked me more than once. Samson thought I didn’t notice, but I had seen him checking me out. I knew he was undressing me in his head and wishing he could really fuck me. It was hot as hell, but neither of us ever took it any further.

Delilah. Are you still there? Answer me.

Yes, Daddy. I took a deep breath. It’s probably for the best. Levi is arrogant and a cheater.

He’s a strong Alpha, an admirable man.

Oh, please. I couldn’t help thinking of my mother. As a kid, I would run to her and complain about my father. She would say, He’s an Alpha, that’s how they are. Respect him. Bullshit! Where was the respect for us? For all she-wolves? My mother knew he cheated, but she turned a blind eye. She was old school. I was the new generation.

I had no love for the human race, but I liked the way their women fought for equality. That’s what I wanted for myself. I was sick of being considered a second-class citizen, when in reality, I was Alpha material. It was time for me to take charge of my life and make it happen.

Well? Father shouted, so loud it sounded as if he were there with me. You’ve ruined everything. What do you have to say for yourself?

As a child, I had to obey my father, but now I was a grown ass woman, and I refused to answer to him. Not a damn thing.

My father started cursing. Don’t come home. I’ll talk to Levi and his parents. We can fix this and --

I slammed the phone down. No need to listen to him rant. I didn’t intend to go back to Chicago anyway. I wouldn’t tolerate his beastly behavior anymore. I liked it in New York, and Levi’s parents were very sympathetic. They had told me I could stay with them as long as I wanted. I was sure they expect us to patch things up, but that wouldn’t happen, even if Levi got down on his knees. Screw him. I wanted better for myself.

As far as I was concerned, there was no advantage to being married. The elders say marriage gives you status in the pack and having purebred pups perpetuates our race. I say it’s a sexist fabrication to give men control. I didn’t want to be tied down, a servant to my husband. What kind of happily ever after was that?

Not my kind. I wanted a career in Manhattan. I could blend in with the humans and start