Excerpt and Giveaway: Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply by Terry Spear (@TerrySpear, @SourcebooksCasa)

               “Jonathan, Leroy, glad you could have dinner with us,” Pepper said. As if the kids had a choice.

               “Why?” Jonathan asked.

               Pepper knew from the start the kid wasn’t going to be easy to win over. “We’re going to talk. And have a nice dinner.” She turned to Richard. “Why don’t you take the boys and Eric outside? You can prepare the ribs on the grill.”

               “Sure thing,” Richard said.

               Eric smiled a little at her as if he’d just been relegated to being one of the troublesome boys. She hadn’t meant it that way, but she smiled back.

               When they went outside, she and Susan began preparing everything else for the meal while the guys were out on the back patio, talking about life in general. She figured it was a good start for the teens to learn what the males in her pack loved to do during social gatherings—which wasn’t plotting to take over another pack or whatever else Waldron was scheming to do. Did Waldron ever have fun social times for his pack? Did he include the teens in adult activities, or only have them do his dirty work? Someday, she figured she’d learn the truth.

               “What do you think will happen with the boys?” Susan asked, sounding apprehensive as she shucked corn on the cob.

               “They’ll be fine. Oh sure, we might have some trouble with them because of the way they’ve been raised, but I’m certain they’ll find their place with the pack before long. Richard said he was showing them which trees were diseased and too far gone to save today. They cut down a number of trees and have the blisters to show for it. Good hard work never hurt anyone. They’ll be tired tonight for certain. And that’s how we’ll handle this. The more work they do to show they’re eager to be good citizens in the pack, the more privileges they’ll earn.”

               “Richard and I believe Waldron gave them up so willingly because he figures they’ll spy on us. Did you confiscate their cell phones?” Susan grabbed another ear of corn.

               “No. It’s true they might be keeping him informed, but if they want to keep in touch with their parents, I want them to have every opportunity to do so. I want them to be here of their own free will. They can leave anytime. But I want to make sure they understand what the consequences will be if they leave us and continue stalking me or do anything else to create trouble for either of our packs. And that they’ll still need to pay for the damage to the buildings in Silver Town no matter what, if they were the ones who set fire to them. Even though they might inform on us for a while, I truly believe they’ll come to realize we’re the good guys and have great things to offer them.”

               “Richard’s been great with them all afternoon. I took lunch to them and we all ate together. They seem like they could be good kids if given half a chance. We’ll have to see how they are with the rest of the pack.” Susan broke the corn cob in half and began shucking another.

               “We just have to let them know that being with us is not a punishment, but a way to learn a job skill and be able to get along with others in a working pack.”

               “What about Eric?”

               “What about him?” Pepper asked, turning on the heat under the pot of water for the corn.

               “Why is he here?”

               “No reason other than that I wanted to discuss the arson. Since Eric’s home and two other buildings were burned in the Silver territory, I figured he could represent his pack and…” Pepper shrugged. “We’ll see what happens from there.”

               Susan sighed. “You really need to get with the program with him.”

               Pepper frowned at her. Susan gave her a bright smile back.

               Half an hour later when they all sat down to eat, Pepper asked what the boys liked to do best of all. They both loved hiking and fishing, but when Eric reminded them about the skiing near Silver Town and how he and his brothers and cousins could show them how to do it this winter, both boys listened quietly and nodded.

               Pepper thought that they were afraid to try it out—which she really didn’t think was the case—that they were afraid of the Silver pack, or that they had no intention of staying around that long if their short-term goal was just to spy on her pack. The worst-case scenario was that they were certain they would be part of her pack by then with Waldron as the leader, so they knew they wouldn’t have anything to do with the Silver pack.