The Alpha's Mail Order Bride by Jasmine White

treasure hunt had seemed genuinely intrigued by the way Haley had set it up for them, and Akala could have sworn that Nashoba had been just as caught off guard by a few of the old memories he’d revisited. If that was him hiding his true self and putting on some false character to lure Akala into his confidences, then she’d fallen into the hands of a dangerous psychopath.
    And that was where things fell apart. Akala stood up and went to the window, peering out to see that Nashoba’s truck was still parked where he’d left it. She saw the door hanging open from when he’d rushed to their aid, and she questioned her assessment of Nashoba’s role in all of this. Everything about him seemed warm and caring once she punched through the awkward outer layer. He spoke plainly and directly, valued the feelings of those around him, and seemed to be held in high regard by the town folk whom they’d spoken with .
    Then there was the wolf thing. It was a thing from bad horror movies and silly teen dramas. Easy to accept between the pages of a paranormal romance novel, but something that actually existed in real life. Hell, Akala had even written a few werewolf stories of her own back when that had been a popular thing. She’d researched the various myths and legends surrounding their existence, and she’d never once imagined them to be anything as normal as Nashoba. All of the werewolf characters Akala had written were brooding and sullen men who took what they wanted and didn’t do things like antiquing or star gazing. They fought and bled for their tribe.
    “Like Nashoba just fought and bled for me,” she said aloud.
    Akala picked up a pillow, held it to her face, and screamed her frustration out into it. Dropping the pillow back to the bed, she looked at her packed bag and then to the door of her room. She had no way of getting back to the airport except through Nashoba, and he hadn’t come up here to tear her throat out or anything, so she could at least go down and talk to him to find out the real story, couldn’t see?
    Akala opened the door and crept down the stairs. She didn’t know why she was sneaking, but it hadn’t done anything anyway. There, at the bottom of the stairs, was Nashoba sitting on a chair positioned so that she wouldn’t be able to leave without walking right into him. He must have kept some spare clothes at the B&B or in his truck, because he was blessedly fully clothed again.
    He stood as soon as he noticed her turn the corner. “Akala, please let me explain.”
    “Honestly, I don’t know what you can say that will make up for what happened just now.” Akala held her ground on the stairs, not wanting to go any further lest she have to use physical force to get  past Nashoba. “I mean, fuck. You turned into a damn wolf, Nashoba!”
    “ It’s not what you think!” He seemed to catch his frustration and forced himself to calm down. “Well, I mean, it probably is exactly what you think, but—”
    “ How about you two don’t have this conversation with poor Akala trapped on the landing,” said Haley, appearing at Nashoba’s side. “No one is going to come to any sort of harm, or start any kind of fight, so what do you say we all move over to the breakfast table? I’ve just put a pot of tea on to steep and there’s cakes and cookies for anyone who wants one.”
    “ I don’t think food is the answer right now,” growled Nashoba.
    One scathing look from Haley put him in his place and he raised his hands in mock surrender while backing away towards the kitchen.
    Akala followed hesitantly, wanting to believe that she could trust these two people, but reminding herself that she’d met them after answering a marriage ad on the internet. It wasn’t like she’d even been contacted through a proper dating site, but rather through Craigslist; the same site where people sold off old couches and broken down cars.
    “ So you’re a werewolf,” Akala said after she’d sat and accepted a