Alpha Wolf

Alpha Force #1

by Linda O. Johnston

When evil hunts by moonlight, desire can be fatal…

When Melanie comes to rural Maryland to open a vet clinic, she has no intention of buying into the area’s absurd werewolf legends. Until she rescues an ordinary dog shot with a silver bullet and meets his sexy owner, Major Drew Connell.

A powerful werewolf himself, Drew has developed an elixir that helps shape-shifters control their abilities. He’s always tried to keep his distance from the civilian population, but Melanie soon wears down his defences. With the attacks on locals mounting, can their fiery attraction withstand their toughest challenge?

Genres: Paranormal Romance, Shapeshifters, Romance, Werewolves, Paranormal, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Linda O. Johnston's first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. Since then, Linda has had more short stories and novellas published, plus, by the end of 2018, she will have had fifty novels published, including mysteries and romance.

Linda currently writes the Barkery and Biscuits Mysteries cozy mystery series for Midnight Ink, and also wrote the Superstition Mysteries for them, both featuring dogs. She has also written the Pet Rescue Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime, which was a spinoff from her Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series. And yes, they involved dogs, too.

Linda also writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, including a new miniseries about a K-9 ranch where dogs are trained. Linda additionally writes paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne including the Alpha Force miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters--and all the werewolves also have cover dogs.

Linda, a currently inactive transactional attorney, now writes fiction full-time. She is a member of the Los Angeles chapters of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America, including the Los Angeles, Orange County and Santa Clarita chapters.

Reviews

[Somia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is framed around Major Drew Connell and veterinarian, Dr. Melanie Harding. Melanie has recently moved into a small town that is entrenched with legends of werewolves. She thinks it's all nonsense, a good way of drawing in tourists and nothing more, that is until she finds an injured dog who was shot with a silver bullet - she then comes across a ton of locals who she feels are taking the legends a tad too seriously.

I was really looking forward to this, but I never truly found myself that engaged with the story or plot, and I spent most of the time reading this waiting for something to draw me in.

99p on amazon 21st December 2019

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this was a movie - it wouldn't be a summer blockbuster - more of a movie-of-the-week...

[Lindsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

gag me with a silver bullet.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of a book club challenge. In this case, the challenge was to read ten books from a genre where you have not read more than 10 books in your lifetime. The genre I chose was a combination of romance and fantasy, something I have avoided for most of my life. While I don’t want a steady diet of this, I did enjoy the book and some of the trails of thought it helped me travel. The author does a great job creating characters that seem real, interesting, and worth getting to know in other stories.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute little werewolf romance. It's got a low spice level but a lot of story. I didn't see the twist at the end and the character reveal really surprised me (though thinking about it, it did make sense).

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the ...

Characters and the intrigue even though I was not in the mood for it when I started the story. I'm looking forward to more by this author.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Ending wrapped up a bit quickly, but that tends to happen in most books. Great job keeping the culprit hidden.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Setting: town of Mary Glen, Maryland’s Eastern Shore – Veterinarian’s office, house next door, town diner, town meeting hall; Ft Lukman – major’s room, laboratory; surrounding forest (for wolves to run around in)

Theme: trust; falling in love; protection; exploitation;

Characters:
Dr. Melanie Harding: from LA, bought vet business from Worley (his parents killed with silver bullets); she is a wonderful vet, full of compassion; vet she worked for in LA – also her fiancé – cheated on her, and she has sworn off men;

Major Drew Connell: leads Alpha Force; genetically a were (as are all weres – no biting and making weres); family of doctors, studied the phenomena, developed a formula to allow shifts when not a full moon; he works for the armed forces to further develop formula, to give greater human cognizance when in were form, and easier/longer shifts between times; idea to develop a shifting team that can go in when regular operatives can’t to protect our country; working with big cat and hawk and wolf shifters; each keep/adopt an animal of their animal likeness, to show to public, to cover when it’s them… and each has a full human who supports their efforts;

Grunge: Drew’s dog – kinda looks like his were self; in beginning, shot in shoulder – and wolf Drew dragged him a mile to the vet’s office… next day, Drew meets the vet to claim his dog;

Chief Ellenbogen: Mary Glen’s police chief… doing his best to police crazies in town and visiting who believe in weres;

Lt Patrick Worley: Alpha team; wolf; father the town vet – parents killed by silver bullet (obviously were scare related); sells vet business to Melanie;

General Greg Yarrow: commanding officer of Ft. Lukman;

Capt Jonas Truro/human in charge of monitoring/aiding were Drew;

Nolan Smith / Angie: town were expert with blog – being manipulated by Ripkey; Angie is Melanie’s office person (inherited with business); Angie wants to believe in weres.

Mike Ripkey: ex marine; his uncle a Mary Glen were fanatic – who killed the vet’s wife… then killed self in accident – leaving lots of documentation for his nephew Mike; Mike comes – kills the vet… figures out weres are at the Fort… starts a national Were Scare campaign… goes to some of the countries he was in as Marine and sells the idea that he can bring them a live were, and a formula that allows shifting any time… he dresses as a were, has a tooth jaw contraption, and is causing uproar – manipulating Nolan into fervor…

Summary:
Relationship between Melanie and Drew… attraction, distrust… walls up; but he is shot as were – he goes to her for help – changes to human at dawn in front of her… she is threatened… she demands the whole truth… he decides to try to incorporate her on the team (as the vet for their dogs, and their were forms); and he feels need to protect her… and they make love… and move back and forth in mistrust/fear and trust/love;

Ripkey makes his move… Melanie follows him, becomes his hostage… Drew comes to the rescue, and between them they defeat Ripkey (after finding out about his motivation and about plan)…

And when there isn’t so much of a need to protect her… and both are afraid the other is going to say goodby – they both grab for the other… kiss… confess their love… ahhhh

[Brigitte Alouqua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lorsqu’elle a acheté le cabinet où elle va pouvoir exercer son métier de vétérinaire, Mélanie connaissait les légendes entourant la ville. Des légendes de loups-garous. Mais elle pensait juste que les habitants avaient une imagination fertile et que rien de tout cela n’était réel.

Jusqu’au jour où …

À la fin de sa journée, Mélanie qui rentre chez elle, va trouver un chien blessé, un grand chien qui apparemment c’est fait tirer dessus avec une balle en argent. En tant que vétérinaire, elle va opérer et veiller sur lui durant toute la nuit.

Un grand chien, une balle en argent, des légendes, …

Elle s’attend presque à ne pas le voir sous cette forme le matin venu. Et pourtant, c’est bien un chien qui se trouve face à elle. Grunge, c’est son nom, est en fait le chien de Drew, un militaire de la base toute proche. Drew est un homme séduisant, elle ne peux le nier, et si c’était le cas, sa libido se chargerait de lui faire comprendre.

Mais à partir de là, certains événements vont se produire. Drew va lui aussi se faire tirer dessus avec une balle en argent, son cabinet et son domicile vont être la cible d’actes mais intentionnés. Si à tout cela on ajoute des évènements qui précèdent sa venue dans cette ville ainsi que l’attaque dont a été victime une des habitantes, cela fait beaucoup de choses à encaisser.

Elle va être forcée de croire en l’existence des loups-garous lorsqu’elle verra la phénomène devant elle. Les légendes sont donc vraies.

Je vais surveiller les militaires qui sillonnent les rues d’un peu plus près, on ne sait jamais des fois que je tomberais sur un cas spécial

[Amelia in PDX · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of three books that I know of, I don't know if there will be more or not.

Melanie Harding, DVM, has just bought her practice in Maryland. The former vet and his wife had been killed with silver bullets and their murders are still unsolved. As she's finishing up in the clinic one night she hears a gun shot, and in going across the yard to her home, discovers a dog that has been shot. She saves the dog and the next day Major Drew Connell comes to claim his dog. Major Connell is a part of a special squad called the Alpha Force and to know about them takes very high security clearance. And of course, unintentionally, Melanie is drawn into that knowledge. Together can they find answers to what is happening in the town and who is doing the shootings? Read & find out.

[Pam Masters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first werewolf novel, and I hope it won't be my last. The heroine, Dr. Melanie Harding, was pretty good, but part of me was wondering if she really was as smart as you would expect a vet to be. I mean, honestly, who doesn't call the police when they hear a gunshot in the middle of the night? I know I would, especially if I was new to an area, and lived near the woods in a town with the history of the town she just moved to.

I also find it hard to believe that the US military would have security as lax as they had on Ft. Lukman. I've been around enough military bases to know that they are super-secured, especially in the past 10 years.

Overall, a great read! I enjoyed it.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alpha Wolf was...just okay. It's a short book, only 200 pages, and it only took me a couple of hours to read but I just didn't love it. Neither of the main characters, Melanie and Drew, were great and the werewolf/shapeshifter part of the story wasn't particularly interesting. If you're looking for a great werewolf/shapeshifter story I'd recommend Rebecca York's Killing Moon. However, if you're just looking for an easy read that'll fill a couple of hours, Alpha Wolf might be just what you're looking for.

[Ladysatel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story about an Army Colonel who is a werewolf and a female Veterinarian, who meet when his dog is shot. The Vet lives on the fringes of a town whose residents believe that some of the people are werewolves. The Colonel who is an M.D. is instantly attracted to the lovely Vet.

Added into this is a group of out-of-towners who are hunting for werewolves and shooting anything they see with silver bullets.

How the Colonel and the Vet find out who is doing all the shootings and establish their relationship makes for a nice light read.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars ~ Again, I read this book some time ago and, while I remember the story and that I really liked it.. a lot of the individual points are lost.

But I do remember that this was a sexy romance ~ gotta love a werewolf in uniform... and an alpha male at that! ~ as well as a great shifter story with an excellent helping of suspense and thrills.

Linda O. Johnston can really write 'em.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the easiest book to read, but the story line is OK. A vet from LA buys a practice in a small town in Maryland. The tourist attraction there is all about the Werewolf Legends, and there are upsets, injuries, deaths, and mayhem galore surrounding those who seek to prove their existence, those who want all the trouble to go away, and a military project that is way too secret. Not a bad book, but the story seems awkward at times.

[Stacie]

A quick, enjoyable read about a vet who lives in a small town that has a big werewolf legend that the locals believe. One night she is working and hears a gun shot. She finds a dog outside her door and gives medical aid. The next day his handsome owner comes to get him but she does not realise that he is a shapeshifter.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. This was actually pretty good. Nice solid storyline, my only complaints (and the reason why I didn't give a 4 star) was that there wasn't enough love scenes, and I would have like to see more of the shifters in their animal forms. But other than that it was good.

[Feriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, what to write about this book? It was so banal that this review will be banal, too! It wasn't boring and it wasn't intresting, neither. I mean, I read the book, And that's all. No feelings, no emotions, no "omg" moments. I gave 2 stars because the writing's style wasn't boring.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd almost given up on this author after reading 'Alaskan Wolf', but this was a much better book. The characters were more engaging, the plot was less repetitive, and the motivation for the antagonist's behaviour was a tad more believable. Overall this was an ok/average read so I rated it 3 stars.

[SheLove2Read · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring. Didn't finish it.

[Grace]

The Nocturnes are kinda sorta okay. Intriguing storyline.

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. Not a great read, but not a waste of time, either.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, Good story, Good Characters. Really enjoyed this book, it just wasnt one of my favourites

[Candice · Rating 1 out of 5]

So bored!! Half way through and it's awful. What a waist of $$ :( don't think I can finish it !

[Dana Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

uneventful and drawn out storyline...not a great read.

[Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very unusual story. I loved the fact that the group is military.
Well developed plot and characters. Very well written.

[lynne preston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really couldn't get in to the book. I read a couple of chapters..... I just lost interest in it.

[Khai Terwillegar · Rating 5 out of 5]

quick paced, kept on target, no spots of thinking something is missing

[Tracy's Place]

DNF