Lost Boy & The Alpha Prince

The dream is always the same.

I’m standing alone in total darkness, which swirls around me like a living, breathing thing.

My senses are tingling. Every bone in my body is telling me to run. To hide.

But where should I go? I don’t even know where I am.

The muscles in my throat constrict. I can’t breathe.

My body is shaking like a leaf. I’m going to die. I know I’m going to die.

And then I see a shape moving in the darkness ahead of me.

They’re coming for me! But wait... Who’s after me?

Before I can piece it together, the shape solidifies and my breath catches in my throat.

It is a man. But no... not a man. A god.

His t-shirt hugs his bulging muscles as if it was poured onto him.

He’s as big as a mountain, and looks like he could lift one single-handedly.

His unruly black hair glistens with sweat.

I feel the need to run my fingers through it. To grab hold of that hair and never let go.

A tattoo of a dragon is etched in gold ink across his neck. I desperately want to feel it against my tongue. I want to give this man everything I am.

And then my gaze drifts up to his eyes and my heart stops.

***

The blast of a train horn jerks me awake and I sit up, sleep rolling off me.

I can’t help but feel a twang of annoyance that the horn had to go off at just that moment.

It’s always the same...

I sigh and look around, trying to get my bearings.

I’m seated in the dingy cabin of a late night commuter train. The seal of the Wanderlust Pack is stenciled on the door at the front of the cabin.

I silently curse the stupid dear or drunken couple crossing the tracks that made the conductor blast his horn. But I guess it’s not really their fault.

I’ve had the same dream every night since I first met my wolf. And every night is exactly the same.

The fear. The beautiful man. The delicious hair.

An unstoppable feeling pulling me towards him.

And then, just when I’m about to see his eyes, I wake up.

Sometimes it’s my alarm. Sometimes it’s my mom hammering on my door. Sometimes it’s Zed.

I scowl. I promised myself I wouldn’t think about that asshole anymore.

I had been doing so well. I hadn’t thought about him in...

I peer down at my Apple watch. I’ve been asleep for six hours.

Soooo, I haven’t thought about Zed in six whole hours. That’s a new record.

Way to ruin it, Arlo.

To take my mind off he-who-must-not-be-named, I look around the train compartment.

It’s still dark outside the windows. There’s only three other passengers in the cabin with me.

I guess not many people felt like taking the twelve-hour red eye train all the way from Delta City to the Briney Coast. Who knew?

My only partners are a young straight couple, who are in the midst of a passionate make out session, and a homeless man in a puffy winter coat hunched over in the back of the cabin.

I watch the straights go at it for a few minutes.

I know, gross Arlo. Peeping Tom and all that.

But with the last couple of days I’ve had, I can’t help it. I give myself a free pass to be creepy.

The man is hot. He’s got coral-green eyes and just the right amount of stubble on his chin.

He runs a hand lovingly through his buxom mate’s hair. Then his fingers constrict.

He pulls her head back and she lets out a soft moan.

Green Eyes lowers his head with a soft gowl and licks at the mating mark on her neck.

It’s still fresh. They must be eloping.

Good for them, I think to myself, trying (and failing) not to sound bitter.

As I gaze at Green Eyes, I picture myself there on his lap, as he claims what’s his.

But when I open my eyes to look at him, I don’t see the young eloping man, but the mysterious, sexy stranger from my dream.

He winds his hand around the back of my neck.

My hands reach up to play with his gorgeous dark locks.

He licks at the mating mark on my neck, which sends jolts of delicious pain through my body.

I lift my eyes up to stare into his.

Only to see nothing but blank gray marbles. Fuck.

I’m pulled out of the fantasy as quickly as it started. I tug at my gym shorts, adjusting myself as best I can without anybody seeing.

I wish I knew who he was. I wish I could see his eyes.

I tear my eyes away from the straights. The male is now grinding the female’s ass against his lap.

I’m not sure why I’m feeling this way. My mystery God should be the last thing on my mind right now after everything that’s happened this week.

After everything that Zed did to me.

***

“Ticket and ID,” I jump as the scowling conductor appears out of nowhere next to me.

His hand rests on the seat in front of me, blocking my exit as if he thinks I’ll try to run.

I don’t blame him. I’m sure I look like shit, exactly the kind of wolf who would skirt a ticket.

I’m nineteen, and quite skinny for a werewolf. If you look under my shirt, you can see the thin outline of a 6-pack, but it’s laughable compared to the other boys back in Delta City.

My blond hair is long on top, short on the sides. But it’s been a while since I’ve cut it and it’s getting quite unruly.

The only thing I like about my appearance are my eyes. They’re ice-blue. So blue they’re almost white. It’s the only thing unique about me. Too bad it didn’t get any hot guys to look at me back in school.

I fumble in my pocket and hand the conductor my Delta Pack ID.

“You need a ticket to ride,” he says rudely.

I bite back my retort. What an asshole!

“I have it. One sec,” I reply in as polite a tone as I can muster.

The conductor raises an eyebrow. He probably sees the clothes I hastily grabbed from a dumpster behind the train station and thinks I’m homeless.

I guess he’s kinda right.

I search around in my pocket and slowly realize my ticket isn’t there. Where is it?

I look up at him and his eyes are icy cold. I won’t be getting any sympathy from him.

“I don’t have-”

“-He’s with me,” says a buttery smooth voice from behind the conductor.

Fuck. I know that voice all too well.

The conductor turns around to reveal the man whose face is etched into my brain.

The man who destroyed my life. He’s now holding out my ticket to the conductor, a toothy grin on his sharp, angular face.

He throws off the puffy winter jacket he was wearing. I recognize that jacket.

He was in the back of the cabin, pretending to be homeless.

But now that it’s gone, I see that beautiful, horrible smirk playing across his face.

His sleek reddish-brown hair is slicked back and styled to perfection.

Those monstrous silver eyes are dancing with mischief.

He turns to look at me and his smile grows wider. I’m trapped, and he knows it.

“Hey babe,” says Zed silkily.

I’m shaking with anger. Literally shaking.

The conductor takes my ticket from Zed and checks it against my ID, then hands it back to him and moves on.

Grinning like he thinks this is the funniest thing in the world, Zed slides into the seat next to me.

I turn to stare straight ahead, hoping he can’t feel my body trembling in fury.

At one time, I would have done anything for the beautiful man sitting next to me.

He had me in the palm of his hand and he could play me like a fucking fiddle.

But not anymore. He ruined all of that when he outed me to my own parents and forced me to leave my home.

“Are you gonna say anything?”

At one time, that silky sweet voice would have sent my brain into a tailspin and forced me to adjust my pants.

But now, all it does is make me burn with fury.

I keep my mouth resolutely shut.

I feel his sparkling silver eyes on me and fight to stop myself from looking at him.

“Babe,” he says, and his rough fingers hook under my chin and turn me to look at him.

“How long have you been following me?” I fight hard to keep my voice from shaking with rage.

“I knew you wanted me to.”

I scoff and turn resolutely to the window, turning my back to him.

Wrong move. I feel his fingers on my back and suppress a shudder of disgust.

“You’re not going to stay mad at me, babe. You never do.”

His hands latch onto my hips.

I know what’s about to happen. It isn’t the first time he’s done this.

I squirm in his grip, trying to pull away. But I’m no match for his strength, never have been.

“Come on baby, wouldn’t it feel better just to make up and...”

With one swift movement, he lifts me out of my seat and onto his lap.

I can feel him hard against my behind.

I want to vomit. I want to scream. To fight tooth and nail to get away.

But I know what Zed is like when he gets like this. I know the only thing to do is wait.

If I can never beat him in a physical fight, I have to wait for him to get sloppy.

And he always gets sloppy when he’s horny.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Zed is purring into my ear, his voice hardly louder than a whisper.

“I’m taking you back to the Delta Pack. Now that your parents know your little secret, you won’t have to hide.”

“But obviously that means you can’t stay with them. So good news: I’ve got a free room baby. Of course, I’ll charge you rent. I know you’re broke, but I can think of some other way you can pay me.”

I feel his hand slide underneath my underwear and grab hold of my ass. I can’t help but struggle at that.

He chuckles. “I like it when you squirm, cutie. It feels really nice against my cock.”

I force myself to remain still. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

I can feel the train starting to slow down as we pull into a small seaside town. I don’t think Zed’s noticed yet.

This could be my chance.

“It’ll be like you never left. You and me against the world, huh baby?”

His breath is hot against my neck. I feel my wolf Elias screaming at me.

He wants to shift right now and tear Zed limb from limb.

But getting arrested for shifting in public and ending up in prison is the last thing I need right now.

I force Elias to calm down, but he continues to pace around my mind, snarling.

Zed seems to sense him, and gives me a light slap on the cheek.

He pulls my head back by the hair so my neck is exposed.

“Maybe I should mark you and calm that bitchy wolf of yours down, eh?”

He brings his teeth towards my exposed neck and that’s the last straw.

Throughout our entire relationship, that was the one line he respected, at least somewhat.

I would never be marked by somebody who wasn’t my mate, and Zed certainly wasn’t my mate.

Sure, he’d give me the occasional nip on the neck, but that would only make me his for a day or two.

Now, I could sense he was eager to mark me fully, make me his forever.

That would mean I could never find my mate.

The beautiful man from my dream would be lost to me forever.

I’d be stuck with the disgusting creep who destroyed my life.

Thinking of the mate I’ve yet to know, I gather up my courage.

And I fight back.

“NO!” I shout, causing the straight couple, who had dozed off together, to jump in fright.

At that exact same moment, the train comes to a halt with a loud screech as we pull into the station of the small seaside town.

I feel Zed loosen his grip on my hips just slightly and stomp down hard on his feet.

Zed lets out a cry of surprise and I launch myself up into the aisle.

Unfortunately, I’m a world-class klutz and end up sprawled on the dirty floor of the train.

“You dirty little slut,” snarls Zed, jumping to his feet and ripping me up by the hair.

He pulls me towards him until I feel his body against me.

I yell out in fear, and manage to pull away from Zed.

I sprint the length of the cabin and dart through the train’s open doors just as they close.

Collapsing onto the platform, I whirl around to watch as Zed slams into the closed doors.

He stands there, glaring down at me, as the train pulls out of the station.

My he