The Alpha’s Mate: Book 3

By Bella Lore

As an Omega, 17-year-old Sarah is used to being at the bottom of the pecking order, even in her new pack and new high school. But her usually-boring life changes when she turns 18. She expects to shift—and nothing happens.

Now, as if being an Omega isn’t bad enough, Sarah is also human.

But Sarah, to her surprise, soon finds her mate: in the pack’s handsome and compassionate Alpha. And the lowly Omega finds herself rocketing to the top of her pack’s status as the new Luna.

Just as it seems that life is finally going her way, Sarah learns of a terrible betrayal that results in tragic death, exile, and upheaval of what should have been her storybook ending…

Or does it?

In Book 3, Sarah joins forces with her trusted and true friend, Ayala. Together, they search for Ayala’s true mate, attempt to unlock her shifter powers, and fend off threats from the deadly Coello.

Can they escape his mercenaries, Isaac and Regan?

Or will Sarah and Ayala fall prey before they can find their true mates?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bella Lore
• Release date: Jan 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781094393735

Book preview

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T H E   A L P H A’ S   M A T E

(Book 3)

B e l l a   L o r e

Bella Lore

Debut author Bella Lore is the paranormal romance author of the MY TRUE MATE series, comprising four books, and THE ALPHA’S MATE series, comprising four books.

Bella loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit bellaloreauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2022 by Bella Lore. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. 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 recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Subbotina Anna, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY BELLA LORE

MY TRUE MATE

MY TRUE MATE (Book #1)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #2)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #3)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #4)

THE ALPHA’S MATE

THE ALPHA’S MATE (Book #1)

THE ALPHA’S MATE (Book #2)

THE ALPHA’S MATE (Book #3)

THE ALPHA’S MATE (Book #4)

CONTENTS

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

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY ONE

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY SIX

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

CHAPTER FORTY NINE

CHAPTER FIFTY

CHAPTER ONE

I wake up early these days, as soon as the first rays of sunlight start to come through the curtains of my new room. Today is no different. When my eyes open, it’s only dawn, and the rest of the place is completely silent.

So I stay in bed, knowing there’s no way I’ll be able to go back to sleep, but letting my body rest as my thoughts run wild.

The reason I can’t stay asleep as soon as the sun comes up is probably because my eyes still aren’t used to sunlight. Not the way it looks here on earth, at least.

I’ve spent the last few centuries living in the celestial realm, a strange, magical place that only barely overlaps with the earthly realm. And before that, I only spent a few years on earth, having arrived as a seventeen year old when my Star Twin conjured me forth as part of a rare, powerful spell.

So in all, I’ve only lived on earth for a few years. Which would explain why my eyes aren’t used to sunlight, and why I’m always the first one awake.

I put my feet on the floor, sliding them into fluffy pink slippers that my friend, and now my Luna, got for me. Her name is Sarah, and she’s the one whose powers were strong enough to rescue me from the celestial realm. Since I’ve arrived, she’s been looking out for me, trying to make sure I have everything I need.

Which is why she got me the slippers. I’m not used to wearing shoes - in the celestial realm, I only wore a simple white dress, my hair long, my feet bare.

I don’t remember much about my time in the celestial realm, but I do remember always being barefoot. The ground would be cold and hard against my feet, but I never got hurt. My earthly body didn’t age, didn’t suffer any sickness, while I was there.

Which is why, even though my Star Twin, Layla, is an old woman, with creases around her eyes and her hair gone completely gray, I still look the same as I did when I was a young woman.

I brush through my blonde hair and pull on a soft dress with flowers embroidered around the neck and sleeves. Layla found it buried in some closet for me, and it’s been the most comfortable thing I’ve worn so far.

Still, Sarah tells me that the style is completely out dated. I know that if I want to fit in with this modern day pack and start my life on earth, I’ll need to figure out how to live like them. So she’s taking me to the shopping mall today to pick up new clothes.

Since it’s only just dawn, though, Sarah won’t show up for another few hours. I pad out of my small bedroom and into the rest of Layla’s house, a cluttered but gorgeous apartment above her veterinary clinic and spa. I’ve been living with her and her mate, Arnold, ever since I’ve been back. I’ve only been here for a few weeks, and so far, it’s been a pretty big adjustment after living in the celestial realm with all the lunar beings, and now showing back up in the modern world surrounded by other shifters.

Layla studies all sorts of powerful magic, and she wants to help me now that I’m back. Both of us want to figure out how to shift, and how to protect me from Coello, the Moon Rabbit, who seems to want to recapture me and bring me back to his lair in the celestial realm.

The only problem is that I don’t really remember the specifics of my time in the celestial realm. Things work differently there, and since coming back to earth, it’s all fuzzy in my mind. I know that I was a servant there, under the command of the Moon Rabbit. I remember how I felt sometimes - lonely, trapped, missing my Star Twin and my life on earth, longing and waiting for the Crescent Child to come and retrieve me.

But I don’t remember much more. I don’t know what sorts of things the Moon Rabbit made me do, or how I filled my time in captivity with him. Layla thinks there might be some sort of secret hidden within those lost memories, something we can use to help me and to finally defeat Coello.

So I’m trying to remember. Layla keeps finding these ancient or obscure books about Star Twins, and lunar beings, and deals with the Moon Rabbit. She wants me to read them, to see if anything sparks a memory inside me. So far nothing has, but I’m doing my best.

I sit down on the plush, worn velvet sofa in the living room. There’s a scroll open on the coffee table, with weird geometric diagrams and star charts all over it. I pick it up and scan over it, trying to force myself to remember something.

Nope. Nothing. Unless you could boredom and frustration, which I already knew were major features of my time in the celestial realm.

I spend the next few hours poking through the things Layla has left out for me. There’s even a shiny flat disc that’s supposed to make music for me to listen to, but I can’t figure it out, and I doubt it would matter much if I did.

I hate to disappoint my beloved Star Twin, but I just don’t think this is going to work.

Finally, Sarah is here to pick me up. It’s just her - her mate, Nash, is watching her baby so that we can hang out together. I climb into her little blue car, and she laughs good naturedly at my outfit.

It’s a good thing we’re taking you shopping today, Sarah says as she starts the car, its loud motorized noise still a marvel to me. You look like someone’s grandma. Even Layla doesn’t dress so old fashioned!

I smile, tracing the embroidered flowers on the sleeve of my dress with one finger.

CHAPTER TWO

The mall is a wild maze of loud sounds and bright lights. Sarah brings me first to a little shop that sells tiny electronics.

We’ll get you a phone, she tells me, and that way you can stay in touch with everyone, and do whatever you want online. If you want to learn about the modern world, this is the best way to do it.

Okay, I say. Sarah buys me one of the devices, a rectangle that fits perfectly in my hand. It lights up with words and images from all over the world, and I get lost in it, a wide grin breaking over my face as I see pictures of far off locations and incredible animals.

¶Earth is a wonderful place. I’m so glad I get to explore it.

It’s a good thing I feel this way, too - because I’m going to need to get out there and start exploring, sooner rather than later. I need to find my mate. That’s the only way I’ll be free of the Moon Rabbit, who has vowed to take me as his mate and keep me forever under his spell in the celestial realm.

Plus, based on Layla’s research, it looks like finding a mate is the only way I’ll ever be able to shift. Layla, too, is locked away from her inner wolf until i can complete this quest.

So there’s a lot riding on me being able to find my made. Which is one reason Sarah is so insistent on getting me cool, modern clothes.

I’m sure whoever your mate ends up being, he’ll love you just as you are, Sarah says, chattering away as we wander the mall in search of her favorite clothing store. Still, it’ll be a lot easier to meet people out here if you fit in a bit better.

I certainly hope she’s right - on both counts. I hope that I can meet a mate who loves me even though I’m something strange, a Star Twin, someone from a different century who has been frozen in time, a former prisoner of the Moon Rabbit.

And I hope these new clothes will help me find him.

I know you prefer dresses and skirts, Sarah says, taking me by the hand and leading me into one of the stores. So we’ll stick with that, for the time being.

She starts pulling things off the racks, soft pink and powder blue fabrics. They’re soft, and easy to look at. I have a hard time putting them on at first, not used to the new zipper fasteners that modern clothes use, but Sarah helps me into the first one, a long pink dress with gold stitching around the chest.

You look awesome! Sarah claps her hands together, and I twirl slightly, making the dress flare out a bit.

It’s shorter than the dress I’m used to, and my ankles feel oddly bare, exposed. Still, my reflection in the mirror looks lovely. You can see my long legs, and my blonde hair falls like corn silk over my shoulders.

Okay, yeah, we’re definitely getting you that one, Sarah says. Now let’s try on some more!

We spend hours shopping for clothes. Although I was nervous at first, I genuinely enjoy spending time with Sarah. She gives me advice on navigating the modern world, and she makes me laugh with her jokes. I was worried about spending the entire day with the Luna of the pack, but Sarah isn’t haughty or full of her own power.

I guess that makes sense, given what I know about her past. She’s used to being an outsider, and she knows what it’s like to not fit in. I’m lucky to have her as my friend and Luna.

Sarah buys me a bunch of new clothes, plus some ribbons to tie my hair back if I want to, and some comfortable sandals. Then we get ourselves some snacks, sausages on buns with all sorts of toppings on them, and wander toward the exit.

But as we’re leaving the mall, something catches my eye. There’s an old human woman sitting behind a small table covered in black gauzy fabric. There are tarot cards and tiny crystals spread out on the table.

Come, young ladies, and have your fortune read! She beckons to me with a long, bony finger.

After all the high tech, modern stuff in the mall, this finally feels familiar. She reminds me of Layla, and the time she and I used to spend together, with crystals and cards and herbs and spells, trying to find our inner wolves, trying to enhance our powers.

I start walking over.

No, Ayala, come on, Sarah mumbles, tugging on my arm. They’re just scammers.

But I don’t listen. I sit down beside the woman and tap the deck of cards three times.

With a twinkle in her eyes, she stars to shuffle.

Sarah stands beside me, looking down at the table with a slightly curious, mostly bored expression. I know she doesn’t think this is a good use of time or money, but my life has been imbued with strange magic, and I could really use something familiar right about now.

The human woman starts chattering, laying out cards and pointing to various images. She tells me that I am a girl on an important journey, and that there are depths to me that I have yet to discover.

So far, all of that is true, although it’s probably true of nearly everyone in this mall. Maybe Sarah was right, and this was a waste.

But then, the old fortune teller flips over a card that makes her let out a small gasp, then go quiet.

I lean over to look. The card is upside down, but it depicts a rabbit, skinny and tall and white, standing under a full moon. Its eyes are red, and its teeth are long.

This is an unusual card, the old woman murmurs. And especially rare to see inverted.

What does it mean? Sarah asks, shifting from one foot to another.

The woman looks at me, peering directly into my eyes with an intensity that makes me want to squirm.

It means that you, my dear, face some grave danger in your future.

CHAPTER THREE

My heart pounds in my chest. I know exactly what that grave danger might be.

Coello, the Moon Rabbit, is coming for me.

He said he would, and his threat has been hanging over my head ever since. Now, this human fortune teller has shown me a card with a white rabbit under a full moon, and told me that I’m in danger.

I can hardly breathe. Sarah, too, seems to be as freaked out as I am. She grabs my hand, pays the fortune teller, and yanks me out of there.

I hardly remember the car ride back. The next thing I know, I’m back at Layla’s, in the downstairs part, the spa, with candles burning and bubbling hot tubs. None of it relaxes me, though. It feels like my lungs are collapsing, and my mouth is full of the tangy taste of fear.

¶What happened? Layla asks,