Alpha Dominated (The Dixon Brothers 3)

The scenery is spectacular with the large mountains, winding rivers, and gorgeous lakes all around, but I’m not paying attention to any of it. I’m in full-blown panic mode.

I grab onto the string and pull it.

Shit! Nothing happens.

I nearly have a heart attack until I realize I was pulling on a loose strap.

“See!” I shout at the top of my lungs. “That’s why we’re supposed to be strapped to motherfucking instructors!!”

I grab the ripcord and yank it.

My chute pours out. Please. Please… I get yanked up as it opens.

“Oh, thank you so much,” I mutter to the parachute gods.

I start falling slower and the panic starts to ease a bit. It’s actually kind of nice up here with the chute open. There’s forest below me and a nice…

Wait a minute. Where’s the freaking drop zone?

My legs flail as I jerk around, desperately looking for it. I think I spot it, but it must be miles away. The only thing around me is forest and I’m heading right into it.

“No! No!” I scream at the trees.

They get larger and closer as I try to steer this parachute that won’t freaking budge.

I hate everything about this.

I’m hoping the stupid pilot’s girlfriend dumps his ass, breaks his cruel heart, and gives him herpes as the earth gets closer and closer.

I spot where I have to land. There’s an opening in the forest next to the river. If I can just steer over there, I’ll be able to land safely. If I can just get over this—

“No! Noooo!!”

The wind takes me away from the spot and toward the thickest part of the forest. It’s coming up fast now…

I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my butt cheeks as I cut through the branches. They snap and whip my face as I plummet.

When my chute hits the treetops, my fall jerks to a stop.

“This is not good,” I whisper as I peek down. I’m dangling in midair over a hundred feet above the ground.

I look up at my chute to see if there’s something I can do, but it’s completely wrapped around several thick branches. I’m stuck.

I can’t slip out of this jumpsuit and even if I could, it would be a hundred-foot drop to the hard ground below.

“This is just great,” I say as I pull out my cell phone. “This is why I didn’t want to jump, but did anyone listen? No!”

I’m terrified my battery might be empty, but I remember fully recharging it just in case of an emergency like this.

“I bet Kindrie’s phone is on its last five percent,” I mutter as I turn it on.

I dial nine, then one, and just as I’m about to hit the last one, I jerk down another foot and the phone slips from my hands.

“NO!!!” I scream as it tumbles out of my fingers and plummets to the ground. I watch in horror as it free falls for what feels like forever and then crashes into a large rock, shattering to pieces.

My heart stops.

I’m so screwed.

Chapter Two

Easton

“They’re not so bad,” Bailey says as everyone shakes their heads. “They’re bear shifters, like you guys.”

“They’re nothing like us,” Cameron says with a sharp tone. “All they do is cause trouble wherever they go.”

“That does sound like us,” I say with a laugh.

Bailey’s brother is named Enzo and he works at the fire department in town. There are four of them, all grizzly bear shifters, and we can’t seem to cross each other’s path without breaking a few tables, chairs, windows, and bones.

She’s my cousin Roman’s mate and she’s been trying to get us to bury the hatchet with the firefighters ever since they hooked up a few weeks ago.

I wouldn’t mind. It would be nice to go into town to get a beer without having to wrestle that monster Bree in the middle of a huge brawl, but my brothers are much more hotheaded than I am.

“Not going to happen,” Jacob roars as he jumps to his feet. We’re all having a nice afternoon around the pool with music and beers, enjoying the last few nice days before fall comes. “I’ll never be friends with that firecunt, Quinton.”

He crushes his empty beer can and storms off in a heated rage. We all watch in shock as he rips off his clothes and explodes into his bear.

“What’s gotten into him?” Roman asks as he watches Jacob’s Kodiak bear charge into the forest.

I think I know.

Roman has his arm around Bailey on the patio furniture and Cameron is holding his mate Mary in the pool. She has her legs wrapped around him and they keep kissing.

I know what he’s going through, because I’m going through the same thing. It’s been tough lately after their mates showed up.

When it was just the four of us, tramping around as bachelors, it was easier to ignore the gnawing feeling of something missing inside. The desperate feeling of a mateless shifter.