A Fae’s Two Alphas

A FAE’S TWO ALPHAS JEM ZERO Copyright © 2023 by jem zero All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. CONTENTS About This Book Content Notes 1. Innate Magic 2. Stay For Tea 3. If Dandelions Were Wishes 4. Dramatically-Timed Rain 5. Buckle Up 6. Desire by the Water 7. Look It Up 8. Firefly Moon 9. The First Notes of Birdsong 10. Embarrassment Over Scrambled Eggs 11. Always Time For a Misunderstanding 12. Poorly Placed Confessions 13. Problem-Solving is an Art 14. An Afternoon Exposition 15. Try Everything Once 16. Middle Cushion 17. Unexpected Tension 18. Over the Edge 19. Betwixt 20. Looking Out For You 21. When One Wants to Disappear 22. Because He Always Does 23. Unpleasantly Wet Pajama Pants 24. Emotions Bruise Too 25. Dirtiness is Okay 26. Prove It 27. In Which Two Alphas 28. Drink More Water 29. Making Demands 30. One Big Tangle 31. A Tether to Whom 32. Flames of the Unexpected 33. Dumpster Conflict 34. The Lost Dandelion Chronicles 35. Enthusiastic Homecoming 36. The Most Magical Solution 37. Possessed and Possessing Acknowledgments About the Author ABOUT THIS BOOK Bennett Chiston is fed up. After eight years with his fae father in Faerie, being trapped in a small Northern Michigan town with his controlling human mother is pure agony. Magic defined Bennett—it affirmed his identity as a trans man and allowed him true freedom. Too bad Bennett’s father stole his magic and kicked him out of Faerie with zero explanation. Desperate to return, Bennett hunts down Callum Truett, a reclusive magewolf alpha who may be able to restore Bennett’s magic. He doesn’t expect his long-lost childhood best friend Jesse Chen, another alpha wolf shifter, to barge in during the meeting. The tension between the two alphas is impossible to ignore, but it works in Bennett’s favor when Jesse needles Callum into accepting the job. As each magical experiment fails, taciturn Callum keeps Bennett grounded, while cheerful Jesse lifts his spirits. The developing three-way connection turns into powerful attraction, even forcing Jesse and Callum to confront the mutual feelings they’d denied until Bennett arrived. Together, they all fit. Yet Bennett still can’t let go of his desire to leave the mundane realm behind. Everything about it makes him miserable. Everything except Callum and Jesse. When an opportunity to return to Faerie finally appears, Bennett is forced to choose: give up his two gorgeous alphas, or change his definition of home. CONTENT NOTES Tropes: Sunshine one/Grumpy one/Sunshine one Hurt/Comfort Rival love interests Best friends-to-lovers Size difference (twink + two hunky alphas) Potentially triggering content: Controlling/manipulative parent(s) Transphobia/dysphoria discussion Mild conflict & violence Bodily functions (including vomiting & bleeding) Depression & panic attacks Shifter kinks: Explicit sexual activity Knotting Marking Double penetration 1 INNATE MAGIC I roll the stem of a fluffy dandelion between my fingers, watching it bob and dip with each step I take. Long grasses bend beneath my boots—the ones I had donned with some reluctance, not thrilled by the prospect of wearing them in the mid-June heat. I don’t often leave the college town I’ve begrudgingly made my home for the past year and a half, but desperation has pushed me past my usual boundaries. After confirming our appointment, the magewolf told me how to find his cottage. It’s located within the territory of the area’s dominant shifter pack, the Harrises. A spelled marker at the boundary of the road and a wide field indicates the only place one can enter without being pounced upon by pack enforcers. I appreciate the option to approach without being growled at by wolf shifters, but it’d be even more considerate if the magewolf had beaten a path through the field. I’m sweaty in my long pants, but it’s tick season, and even fae aren’t invulnerable to the bloody parasites. Not a half-fae without access to his magic, anyway. Hopefully, with the help of this mage, a solution to the ‘no magic’ thing is incoming. At last I reach the end of the field and greet the forest floor, pebbles and pine needles scattering the ground surrounding the cottage. It’s a classic affair, rustic beams of dark wood crawling with vines and large, round stones that have been smoothed by time. Exactly the kind of place one would find a powerful wolf shifter capable of fixing magical problems. I march up to the front door and knock with false confidence. The door swings inward before my fist can hit a third time, and my mouth rounds into a surprised O. I did my best to not make assumptions about what this encounter would look like, but the broad, silver-haired man filling the doorway is still wildly unexpected. My grip on the dandelion slackens until it drops to the rough mat under my feet. “Hi,” I say, when he doesn’t speak. “I’m Bennett Chiston. We set up an appointment?” All the man does is nod. “Callum Truett. Come inside.” I don’t get any farther than the doorway before Callum rumbles, “Shoes off.” I oblige, happy to rid myself of the sweaty hiking boots. As I untie the laces I cast a covert look around the cottage interior. It’s all one room, unpolished but organized. Bookshelves hug the walls to my left, wedged against more shelves containing various jars, boxes, bones, and twists of dried herbs. To the right, a kitchenette, hardwood table, and sitting area. When I’m done stuffing my socks inside the discarded footwear, I find Callum sitting at the table, tapping at the keyboard on a laptop that matches the setting only because it looks like a relic from the past. I pad lightly cross the room to sit opposite the magewolf, then take advantage of the momentary silence to study him. Despite the silver hair, short and