Dalton: NAC & The Holly Group (Alpha Team Book 2) Read online

  Dalton

  Alpha Team

  NAC & The Holly Group

  Author: Chelsea Handcock

  www.chelseahandcock.com

  Copyright © 2017, Chelsea Handcock

  First electronic publication: January 2017

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted works is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.

  Note from the Author:

  This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to person, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third party websites or their content.

  Published in the United States of America.

  **Content Warning: If you are opposed to former sailors that swear like they are supposed to along the women they are with then this is not the book for you. If you don’t like hot and steamy sex scenes, then I suggest you move on by. But if you are willing to take a chance the world of the NAC & Holly Group might surprise and delight you. This book does contain explicit love scenes, naughty language, and lots of sexy secrets. Intended for mature audiences.

  Dalton Hayes, Enforcer for The Alpha Team, doesn’t like change. Any part of it, he is happy with the status quo. His focus is clear that way, protect the Team at all costs as well as his people. But that isn’t how life works and when the fates decide to throw a few wrenches in his path he has no choice but to accept them. For the first time in his life his loyalty is questioned. Does he go with his heart or with his head?

  Emma Connors has never had an easy life. She was placed in foster care as an infant and had to fight for everything she ever had. When an opportunity for a better life came her way, she jumped at the chance choosing to ignore any signs it might not be exactly what it was supposed to be. That was her first mistake. Her second mistake? Well that might just be the big burly bear shifter that seems too good to be true. Can she really let herself trust a man she just met and what his Team is trying to tell her? Does she really what to believe that what goes bump in the night isn’t just her imagination but fact? Shifters exists and she has been thrown right in the deep end. Now the question is does she sink or swim?

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note:

  Chapter 1

  Dalton Hayes, member of the elite Alpha team, stood in the kitchen of his team’s home base and fumed. He hated change and changes were happening all around him. The long-believed idea that their race remained secret was proved untrue. There were people out in the world that wished to do them harm. But the biggest change was that fated mates were real. His Alpha had mated, claimed, and been blessed by the Gods; something all of them thought was just folklore. He hated thinking about all the changes happening around him, but that was exactly what was going on. Standing in the kitchen, he was caught up in everything that had his hackles up. Those changes made memories that he didn’t want to surface come to light, and that pissed him off more than the changes. He hated remembering his childhood.

  Discovering that a human group, specifically The Pandora Group, had known about Shifters for a very long time was messed up. Shifters had thought that the secret of their existence was safe from the general public. But that theory got blown to hell when just a few months ago, information surfaced. It showed that not only did Pandora know about Shifters, but also, they had been actively trying to manipulate DNA collected from unknowing Shifters almost 30 years ago, in order to create their own Shifters. Well, he didn’t know if that statement was exactly true. So far, none of the people that Pandora had engineered could Shift. Well, none of the ones that were located; those that were discovered were found to be incapable. However, they did hold Shifter DNA. No one knew the whole scope of the problem just yet, which had his team as well as the other teams in NAC scrambling. This information was frustrating.

  Dalton turned and braced himself. Bracketing his arms on the sink, he looked out the window above the sink. This particular window faced the lake and just like most would think, looks were deceiving. The lake was calm and placid, even in the early afternoon sunshine. He loved Lake Michigan. The sandy beach and blue waters could rival any ocean beach. He preferred the non-salted waters to the itchy oceans that he had spent so much time in during his time in the Navy. Looking out at the water he realized that he never put much thought into the therapeutic nature it provided him. This was home; the one place he could think without feeling threated. But looking out at the water provided him with perspective; he was just a small part of a bigger thing. His well-being and sense of home was all entangled within this place. The sparkling blue water and white sand had become crucial to his mental state. He could spend hours just admiring its beauty; seemingly endless to the eye of the beholder. He had spent a lot of time just staring out into the distance, listening to the waves crash upon the shore and a sense of calm would always envelop him. He hated that the beautiful water couldn’t take away the thoughts that were now bombarding him. This place was supposed to be their sanctuary. This home was meant to be safe. Sighing, he realized, just as he had many times before, safety was always an illusion just like the lakes beauty because if you looked deep enough, there was always turmoil just below the surface.

  The beauty out the window couldn’t stop his thoughts this time like it had in the past; too much was happening. He wondered how long it would have been before this information had been handed down to the teams. If Cassie Larson, a kidnapped teenage girl with Shifter DNA, had remained safe with her parents, would the teams still be left in the dark? Would they even know as much as they did now? He doubted it.

  He hated to admit it, but it ticked him off that his team was only now finding out this information. He understood the chain of command. He also understood that sometimes information trickled down the ranks, but this wasn’t the military. Every Shifter in existence had a right to know this info. They along with the other teams should have been informed immediately. The information affecte
d Shifters and everything they had come to believe. The women of The Holly Group were also affected, but damn, things should not have gone down the way they did in his mind, and it only proved to fuel his fire. Rubbing his hand down his wary face in frustration, he continued to remember all that he had learned up to this point.

  From what he learned, again second or third in line of many, Cassie Larson held one strand of Shifter DNA and Pandora was going to breed her. The disgust he felt for that made his stomach turn. All the DNA and genetics stuff was above Dalton’s head. But from what he was able to piece together, Pandora started the breeding program about 30 years ago, but failed to create children, specifically girls, with multiple strands of Shifter DNA. The group considered these woman failures, but a Doctor, Dr. Abernathy Franklin, continued the project on his own; going rogue, continuing what Pandora wasn’t able to do. He created females with only one strand of Shifter DNA, like Cassie Larson. Until recently, Shifter births were random and only produced males; a Shifter male could have four children and only one would become a Shifter. There was no rhythm or reason to it. Now they were finding out that Dr. Franklin did what Mother Nature couldn’t. The bastard was able to produce females with Shifter DNA; something Mother Nature failed at for over a hundred years. Specifically giving these ladies the distinct possibility of having Shifter children as long as they were bred to Shifter males. Of course, with human nature, Pandora picked up that information and decided to try the breeding programs again. The whole thing was fucking creepy to Dalton. Grabbing the dishcloth, Dalton decided that he needed to do something instead of dwelling on all the crap that had happened but his frustration was too much. Wadding the material, he forcefully threw it into the sink. He turned and leaned back against the sink, staring into the kitchen instead out into the lake. The answer he sought wouldn’t be found there this time. He needed to do this on his own.

  His mind was still wandering and he wondered if others had suffered the same fate as Cassie. Knowing that the answer was affirmative sickened him. Declan “Senior” Quinn, the CO and founder of NAC, along with his daughter Ryleigh presented this information to all the team leaders in a closed-door meeting. It pissed Dalton off that he and the rest of the guys only received the information second-hand. He knew how the chain of command worked having been in the military, but it didn’t help his disposition on the matter. All Shifters had the right to this information because with the creation of females carrying Shifter DNA also brought about the possibility of true or fated mates. Why should there only be a privileged few with the information?

  The teams of NAC often rescued girls in the same situation as Cassie Larson found herself in, but add in the genetic implication and all the guys knew this case was different. When Jacks, his Alpha, brought Ryleigh Quinn with him on a mission to retrieve Dr. Franklin’s data, that clash of personalities developed in Technicolor. Ryleigh was the founder of The Holly Group, a well-respected recovery agency very similar to NAC. She was also the adoptive daughter of Declan Quinn. Shit, no one even knew the big guy had a daughter. Like all the others in NAC, its leader and owner was no exception. He was also a Shifter, although a very rare one. He was a dragon and Declan “Senior” Quinn was a badass to the tenth degree.

  Having served his time in the military, Senior was a force to be reckoned with. He had gained the respect and allegiance of many of his kind. When he started NAC many of his former charges clamored for a chance to work with the man once again, including Dalton. The mission of NAC was simple: help as many women and children as they could before the inevitable happened and their lives needed to be ended. He never doubted Senior’s loyalty until now. He wondered if the old man was more worried about his daughter than the lives and futures of his people and it frustrated Dalton to no end.

  Ryleigh’s team had stumbled upon the DNA information and investigated it, finding out that most of the members of her agency had been affected by Dr. Franklin’s manipulation, including herself. Feelings and such developed between Ryleigh and Jacks, and after the mission Jacks claimed her as his mate. The only other person he knew of to have had the same type of connection with a female was Cash, his Second in command. Unfortunately, it didn’t end as well for him. His mate was kidnapped and taken from him at a young age. Dalton didn’t know if Cash and Jessie had a true mating bond, but even he had to admit that they had something more than anything he had seen before. Even as a kid he knew their relationship was special. A true mating hadn’t happened in over a hundred years. None of the guys had even considered that the possibility of what Cash had experienced as a teen was the real thing. It was pathetic undoubtedly, but the truth just the same.

  If Dalton were an optimist, who he was not, he would have been thinking that at least now Shifters had a chance of having true or fated mates. It was a chance at that elusive happy ending, at least for the rest of the guys in the group or his other clansman. But he wasn’t an optimist, but rather a pessimist to the hilt. He couldn’t deny the connection he saw with Cash or Jessie or currently with Jacks and Ryleigh. He just didn’t know if it was legendary or wishful thinking.

  Dalton thought he was okay with his life as it was now. He questioned the need for a mate and had already resigned himself to a death by his brothers’ hands. At least that was what he was trying to believe. Mates seemed to make men weak. He had noticed that Jacks didn’t want to leave on the mission because of Ryleigh. His loyalty to Alpha Team and NAC were waning, and Dalton didn’t like it. Their life's mission was affected by his actions. Jacks was Alpha. He wondered if Ryleigh made Jacks less of the formable leader. She also created dissension. That should not be tolerated.

  His job as an enforcer was to make sure his team was taken care of and safe. But he was not doing his job, he was babysitting, and that bothered him. Before he even realized what, he was doing, Dalton was pacing the kitchen. His frustration was amplified with every step. The Alpha Team worked and stayed a team at all times; building and pulling from each other’s talents. Breaking that dynamic caused problems, especially with him. His job was to protect his brothers.

  Slapping the wall did nothing for his mood. Laying his forehead against the cold surface seemed to help gather his thoughts a bit. Turning from the wall and placing his back against it, he let his body slide to the floor, placing his hands on his raised knees and bowing his head. He had to admit even to himself that he never was happy with the status quo. It was just all that he knew. Change had always been needed, but again, it was never easy. Without mates, they would die. Without change they would never grow.

  Most of the guys, including him, had already convinced themselves that their animals would never be bonded and whole. Dalton thought he was okay with that and until proven otherwise he wasn’t going to do anything to change his thinking. Life had taught him that things didn’t always work out the way they should. After all, weren’t kids supposed to be loved and cherished by their parents? Not in his experience.

  Jacks and Ryleigh married, mated, and now she was living with the Alpha Team, searching the data that they had recovered from Dr. Franklin’s home. Dalton had never seen a more obsessed person. Ryleigh worked day and night trying to discover the full scope of Dr. Franklin’s program. She found things here and there but nothing concrete, until earlier today. She had uncovered a list of known Pandora facilities. Other teams in NAC mixed with agents from The Holly were actively looking for Cassie Larson. Kayden Walker of Bravo Team called to inform the team that Cassie had been found and recovered, but four of their own had been taken in the process. Zoey Clark, an operative from The Holly Group, Milo Stern, Alpha of NAC's Echo Team, and two of his men had been taken from the scene. They also found evidence of a tranquilizer that rendered Shifters immobile; something until then had never been discovered before. Shifter genetics allowed the men to metabolize drugs and other substances faster than a human, often not affecting the Shifter at all. If Pandora had a drug that could immobilize them and stifle their ability to shift, the shit had just hit
the fan with the force of a hurricane.

  The rest of the Alpha Team left their sanctuary to assist in the situation. Well, all except for Dalton. He was left behind to watch over his Alpha’s mate. To say that wasn’t sitting well with him was an understatement. He had to laugh at himself not sitting, right? Shit, he was currently hiding in the kitchen and sitting on the floor like some pansy assed fucker because he didn’t like how everything had played out so far. What did that make him exactly?

  He was the team’s enforcer. He should be there protecting them, not pulling babysitting duty. Dalton liked Ryleigh, respected her, but his skills were much better put to use in the field. He needed the action from a mission to get his mind off of things better left in the past. The possibility of mates and Shifters being exposed brought of memories of his childhood. If his Dad had been able to find his true mate would his life have been different? Would he have a single good memory of the man that created him? Would his mother have stuck around long enough so Dalton would have had the opportunity to know her? To remember how she looked, smelled, and sounded like was something he yearned. However, he couldn’t remember anything about the woman? So many would ifs, and they were all fucking with his head.

  Getting up from his station on the floor, Dalton walked over to the sink once again. Trying to regain some calm he looked out to the water. It was still quiet, still placid, and still not helping keep his thoughts at bay. He would go for a run or even a shift, but he couldn’t leave Ryleigh. So, he was stuck right where he was for the foreseeable future. Stuck replaying all that happened and all the possibilities that would happen over and over in his mind.

  Yeah, he hated change, but even he had to admit that he didn’t begrudge his Alpha and his mate’s happiness. Dalton even kind of envied it, but he learned at an early age that change always leads to bad things. He was always waiting for the other shoe to drop and it always did. His Dad was a mess; couldn’t hold down a job and drank like a fish. Dalton didn’t know his mom because she had been gone before he was able to remember if she was ever around at all. When his Dad would get hammered he liked to tell Dalton that she never wanted him; she had just shown up one day and dropped him off like garbage and never looked back. As a kid, Dalton, didn’t want to believe that, but as time went on and his Dad’s drinking got worse, he realized that some of what the bastard was saying had to be true.