A True Alpha Christmas by Alisa Woods

things were before—back when her mom was blissfully unaware that she and Lucas were shifters, and they could just have their hot nights in his apartment and happy days in the office, with none of this family business to worry about. Just the two of them, in their own private cocoon. Forget rings and public acceptability—being in Lucas’s arms was all she really wanted.
    She was about to pick up the phone and start reading the texts, when a soft tap came from the dorm-room door. Probably Colin coming back for one more attempt to get her to go. She debated pretending to be asleep, but when the second knock came, more insistent this time, she growled again and hauled herself up from the bed. When she opened the door, it wasn’t Colin at all… it was Lev.
    The steam went out of her. “Lev, why are you here?” She held the door halfway open, and she wasn’t planning on opening it any farther.
    Lev scanned her body quickly. “Well, good! Your leg’s not broken. Grab your jacket, New Girl, we have a party to go to.”
    Mia just shook her head. “Did Lucas send you?”
    Lev scowled at her. “No. Lucas is in a mood I can’t shake, and he’s making me a little nuts. But that’s not why I’m here. I need you to be my date.”
    That perked her attention. “Date? Wait… didn’t Rebecca come see you?”
    Lev squinted at her then wagged his finger. “You were behind that. I knew it!”
    Oh no. “What happened?”
    Lev gestured to the door. “Are you going to let me in? Because I’m not spilling the embarrassing stuff in a dorm hallway.”
    Mia scuttled backward, opening the door and biting her lip. Did she mess up things with Rebecca and Lev? It had seemed like such a sure thing. Lev strode in, and Mia closed the door.
    He checked out the rumpled blankets and the phone at the end of the bed but didn’t say anything. Lev had to know she’d been moping for the last day, with all the texting back and forth with Jeeter. Although honestly, Mia didn’t know what they had actually said.
    He ignored all that and spun back to her. “You tried to set Rebecca up with me, didn’t you, New Girl?” His voice was chastising, and Mia shrunk a little against the door where she still stood.
    “Did it work?” she asked tentatively.
    He gave a short snort-laugh. “Well, if your objective was to have her think I’m a complete jerk, then yeah. Although, to be fair, I did most of that on my own.”
    Mia grimaced and almost left her spot by the door to go over and give him a hug. She settled for a verbal apology. “I’m sorry, Lev, I thought—”
    He held up his hand. “It’s fine. No big deal. Like I said, that girl’s out of my league. Although I think it’s safe to say she’s not interested in Colin now.”
    Mia shook her head. “He’s not her type.”
    “Well, I don’t know about that.” Lev wiped a hand across his face, sucked in a breath, and started his story. “She came to see me, no doubt thanks to you, Miss Meddle Pants…”
    Mia cringed and was glad she stayed by the door.
    “Anyway, I thought she was trying to get me to hook her up with Colin. You know, I’m a beta, Colin is Llyr’s beta… I don’t know, maybe she thinks we all hang out in the Beta Club together.”
    This story was making her insides twist. “What did you say?”
    “I told her she didn’t want a guy like Colin, not in the phase he was going through, sleeping around Seattle like it’s about to run out of women. Besides…” He dropped his voice. “I knew he was bringing Jeeter to the party, and that was just going to be ugly. You know, dropping his human plaything of the week for the hot shifter girl. Only this time his plaything was your roommate.” He shook his head in a sad kind of way. “I started with a very long and well-considered list of Colin’s deep moral flaws, and… well, things with Rebecca just devolved from there. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what happened. One thing I’m sure of: she left angry. I think