Clementine
When I entered the house, I went straight down the hallway and into the tiny bathroom for a shower. I needed to wash the sweat off me and the disgusting, skin-crawling sensation of what almost happened.
What kind of person threatens sexual violence against another? And what kind of person just stands by and watches? No, not only watches, but eggs it on. What the hell was wrong with those people?
Then there was the wolf. I had never seen a wolf before. I grew up in central Vancouver, and wolves didn’t tend to come into the city. In fact, I was probably one of the only Canadians who could say that the largest and scariest animal they had ever seen had been a deer. The only other animals I had interacted with had been squirrels and chipmunks. I even avoided my friend’s cats and dogs thanks to allergies. And one time, when there was a bear on campus, I walked the opposite way than the crowd. I had an adverse fear reaction to anything that could eat me.
Seeing that wolf had thrilled me as much as it had terrified me. It was a huge culture shock, and a reality check. I wasn’t in the city anymore. I’d seen a wolf! A real-life wolf who jumped out of the thicket to save me.
No! Don’t be stupid, Clem. Wolves don’t act like that. We probably stumbled onto its territory, and it was giving us a warning or something.
It had all been very bizarre.I scrubbed myself with fragrance-free hypoallergenic soap and rinsed myself off before stepping out of the shower, wrapping myself in a towel. I picked up my dirty clothes and walked into my bedroom, quickly moisturised, then dressed in a fresh pair of denim shorts, a white camisole, and a cream-coloured lace cardigan. I studied myself in the mirror. My hair was still in its perfect braid, and my eyes seemed to pop vividly behind my glasses. I took my mother’s medallion necklace from the dirty clothes pile and returned it to my neck.
After disposing of my dirty laundry in the hamper, I went in search for something to drink.
“Vinny get off to school, okay?” Dad asked as I entered the clean kitchen.
Surprisingly, all the boxes had been unpacked, dismantled, and stacked neatly by the mudroom door. Dad was up on a ladder repairing the kitchen light fixture.
I gently moved around his ladder and toolbox, making my way toward the fridge to get a cold glass of much-needed water.
“School? I thought you told me to drop him off at a biker bar. When I left, he was getting a skull and crossbones tattoo on his back. Those bikers seemed like such nice guys! They weren’t even going to charge him.” I smirked.
Dad shook his head and threw me a grin that twinkled in his eyes.
“Speaking of bars. How did you get on at the bar and grill place?” he asked.
I placed the cold glass against my cheek, trying to get some relief from the blistering heat.
“I never got there. I got lost.”
“You got lost,” my father repeated slowly. “In Blackfern Valley?”
“Dad, there are barely any street signs, house numbers, or navigational tools around here. It’s like they want people to get lost.” I gave him a small smile and watched him as he fiddled with an exposed wire.
“But you obviously found your way back, okay.”
I nodded, then reluctantly told him the next part. “Yeah. I ran into a little bit of trouble though.”
“What kind of trouble?” His voice sounded deeper than usual.
I looked into his green eyes encased with silver and instantly regretted saying anything. He didn’t need the added stress. “Nothing really. Some guy gave me a hard time.”
“What guy?”
“I don’t know, Dad, some idiot and his Barbie girlfriends,” I said exasperatedly.
Not only did I not want to give my dad the added stress of knowing someone had bullied me, but I also didn’t want to tell my dad what had almost happened. My mom was the one I could talk to about personal stuff. My dad was a little more challenging to have those conversations with. It’s not that he didn’t try. He just wasn’t Mom.
“What happened, Clemmy?” he asked again, climbing down from the ladder.
“Nothing, Dad.” He stared at me and waited. “Honestly.” I started to twitch under his scrutiny. “Okay, fine! I think the guy was about to attack me, and his two bimbo friends were egging him on. I think they were going to let him…” I shivered at the thought. “Anyway, this big fucking wolf scared him off. It was enormous. I didn’t know wolves could get that big. I thought it was going to eat me, Dad. But it disappeared back into the bush straight after it scared off this Lincoln guy.”
My father was furious.
I thought he would start asking questions about the wolf. Surely the fact that his daughter was next to a dangerous wild animal would bring out a red-riding-hood style lecture, but he didn’t seem to give it another thought. Instead, he seemed more worried about the guy who had almost attacked me.
“Lincoln. As in Lincoln James?”
“How would I know?”
“That guy is trouble. Stay away from him.” His voice reverberated against the kitchen walls, and I could feel the anger rolling off him in waves.
“Trust me, Dad, I don’t plan on going anywhere near him.”
Dad closed his eyes and started to take deep breaths through his mouth. My father wasn’t a violent man, but he appeared to be trying hard to keep his anger in check.
I knew he didn’t need this extra stress.
When he opened his eyes, he suddenly pulled me into a fierce hug. If he squeezed any tighter, bones would start snapping. I felt him sniff at my hair. He pulled back, gave me a bizarre look, and then sniffed again.
“What? Do I need to wash my hair?” I took the braid and brought it up to my nose to take a whiff. It smelt fine to me, with subtle tones of shampoo which indicated that it had been a day or two since it had last been washed.
“No, not at all.” He shook his head and looked like he wanted to say more, then changed his mind. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry, Clem.” He avoided looking at me and started digging around in his toolkit, deep in thought.
“Okay. I’m going to head back out and explore and maybe find that bar.”
Dad dropped his tools again. “I can finish this later. You and I can go out and explore together. Maybe head down to the university. It’s about an hour’s drive from here.”
“Dad!” I put as much warning into my voice as I could.
“Look, we can pop by the bar and get you a job application too.” He placed his palms up in a peace-keeping gesture.
“I’m pretty sure I can do that myself,” I scoffed.
“If you can find it,” he retorted.
I responded by flipping him the bird, but I knew this wasn’t about my lack of coordination here. This was still about Lincoln.
“Dad, I’ll be fine. If I start going out with my father as a chaperone, that Lincoln guy wins.”
***
I walked into Lupus’ Bar and Grill and flicked my braid over my shoulder.
“Can I help you?” I spotted a tall and willowy brunette. Her hair was in romantic curls, and her makeup was immaculately shaded and highlighted. She was wearing a black top with an outline of a wolf on her left breast and a name badge on her right breast. April. A bottle green apron was pinned around her tiny waist, which made her look almost naked from the waist down, but I could make out the outline of denim cut-offs poking out from underneath the hem of the apron. She had the longest brown legs I had ever seen.
I put on my best customer-service smile and tried to ignore the inferiority complex threatening to make an appearance. “Hi, April! I’m here for a job application. Is the manager in?”
She gave me a once over, and I felt dread solidify in my stomach. Her perfect little nostrils twitched, and she wrinkled her nose. “You…want to work…here?”
“Um. Yes?”
“There are no jobs available,” she snipped.
“Oh, but I saw a sign in the window–”
“Yeah, okay, so there is a job opening.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m just trying to save you the rejection.”
I bristled. “How do you know I will be rejected?”
“People like you always are.”
“People like me?” Something inside me shifted. “You know what, April, you’re probably right. But unless you’re the manager, I don’t actually give a fuck about your ideals or opinions. So how about you stop being rude to your clientele and fetch the manager.” Please, please don’t let her be the manager.
April glared at me and then spun on the heel of her sneakers, and I watched as she pressed her French tips into her palms. I scanned the room’s tasteful decor and wasn’t surprised that there were very few patrons. It was two o’clock, so the lunch rush was likely done, and the after-work drinks and dinner rush would not start until at least five.
A middle-aged woman with short, cropped blonde hair and hazel eyes approached me. “Hi, my name is Tina. April said that you were looking for a job?”
“Hi. I’m Clementine. And yes, I just moved here and am looking to find work.”
Tina took a deep breath through her nose and looked at me curiously. “I see. Do you have experience?”
“I used to bartend at the university bar back in Vancouver.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, this job will be both bartending and serving food from our kitchen.”
“Yes. There was a little bit of waitressing at the university bar too.”
“I see.” She looked me over again. “The truth is, Clementine, I don’t want any trouble. And with you here, I know it’s going to cause just that.”
“Why would she cause you trouble?” a smooth voice asked.
I spun around slowly and found the guy I had bumped into outside Vinny’s school.
What’s his name again?
“Liam!” Tina said, taking half a step back and lowering her eyes slightly.
“Tina.” He nodded. “Why would hiring Clementine cause you trouble?”
The woman looked at me, then back at him, then back at me again. Her eyes flashed to him, and a vacant expression washed over her face. After a few strange but quiet moments, she looked at me and sighed. “What size are you, honey?”
My brows furrowed in confusion. “Usually an eight or a ten,” I offered quietly, “why?”
“Well, I don’t have any female uniforms in that size.” She gave me a look over again. “All of my girls are a lot smaller.” I felt my hackles rise. I had no idea how to respond to that. “Maybe you will fit one of our men’s shirts?” She looked at me and nodded. “Wait here. I’ll go grab you a few samples.”
Tina disappeared, and I got my first decent look at Liam. I was so embarrassed this morning that I rushed away as fast as possible, hoping I would never see him again. But now that he stood before me, I was glad hope hadn’t come to fruition.
He was at least six feet tall, with a sculpted body that could have been made from marble. His eyes were a warm mocha, and his hair was cropped short at the back and sides. The hair on top of his head was longer and a caramel brown in colour. It looked like it had natural tones of dark blond mixed in, but it could have been a trick of the light. His jaw was strong, chiselled, and covered in a well-groomed scruff, which emphasized his elegantly straight nose, full lips, and perfect cupid’s bow.
Wow!
“If you’re going to keep staring at me like that, you could at least buy me a drink,” Liam commented.
I felt my face grow hot. He smiled at me, flashing his perfect white teeth. This man didn’t have one flaw. He was beautiful. He was perfect. And he was still waiting for an answer. My mouth went dry.
Crap!
Clementine The full moon had come around again, but this time, it was different because I was a bundle of nerves. Okay, so I might have been a bundle of nerves the first time too, but at least I had Circe. My wolf still hadn’t shown up, and although I was wearing a brave face, the idea of being mated without a wolf made me nervous. Liam kept reassuring me that she would come back eventually, but as we got closer to the full moon, I became more agitated because I believed I couldn’t be with Liam without a wolf. Not if he remained alpha. I tried to convince him to hold off the mating ritual until we knew if she was coming back. I was trying to be pragmatic and develop a strategy in case I was left wolfless, as a human couldn’t be luna. Liam had simply shaken his head, dropped a drugging kiss to my lips, and inhaled along my neck. “Your scent is the same; that intoxicating honeysuckle and pear with the underlying scent of canine and human. Your eyes haven’t changed back to the pure tu
Liam The full moon was approaching, and the entire pack could feel it. Everyone was on edge. There were several ex-pack members still missing. Everyone seemed convinced it would lead to another battle and more pack members would die. Our pack had lost fourteen members in our quest to rescue my mate. Fourteen families had received visits where Clem and I delivered our heartfelt condolences to personally. I was unsure how many the rogue army had lost, but there were a lot of deceased wolves when we started to clean up and sort through the bodies. I had left Clementine the next morning, tucked safe and sound in our bed. I knew she would be pissed about it, but I needed to go and help identify the bodies. Twenty of us marched out to the battle site and started to sift through the woods, pulling wolves out of debris and resting them together in a small area where their loved ones could collect them. Usually, we would just burn the rogues, but as much as I kept saying it, these rogues we
Clementine I watched as Liam sprinted away and felt my heart fall into my stomach. My feet moved on their own, and Milo cut me off before I foolishly ran into the middle of a wolf fight. He growled, and I knew he was telling me we needed to get the fuck out of Dodge. “Sorry, I’m not exactly light,” I apologized as I clambered onto his back. He huffed and spun on his paws so fast I felt myself buckle. I grabbed fistfuls of fur and tugged. He grumbled. Oops! I tried to loosen my hold, but there was no good place to hold onto. I had no experience riding a horse, let alone a wolf. If I wrapped my arms around his neck, would I choke him? I felt awkward and clumsy on top of him. “Milo, you need to stop and let me down.” I got a grunt as a response, and, not surprisingly, he didn’t slow as he whipped around the trees. “Milo, I’m going to fall.” Another grunt. Vinny grumbled at me too. His eyes darted around the forest and back to me, watching me fumble as I tried to balance on the bac
Liam The sound of battle was emitted from deep within the forest. I was still a fair distance away, but the echoes and vibrations pushed my paws harder into the forest floor. The smell of Clem’s scent caught on the wind, and Lucian barked, scaring a small frog off a rock and back into the nearby creek. I followed the scent and the sounds of fighting in the distance, running past wolves in a combination of different fighting forms. Most of them were fully shifted, but those who had their level-three training swapped between wolf and human forms with the grace of deadly dancers. Clementine was cornered against a dirt wall. Her hands were bound, and even though she looked calm, I could sense the fear rolling from her. There were four wolves with her, encasing her in a semi-circle—standing sentry. Her brother was closest, as if the others had pushed him back to protect him too. Two large werewolves the colour of molten chocolate guarded the middle front from attack—Milo and his broth
ClementineThe lower side of my face was swollen. My throat felt like I’d swallowed razorblades, and my lip was split. “Put some ice on your face,” an unknown voice snarled. I opened my eyes and winced. I assumed I was still in the cabin, lying on a very uncomfortable cot in a small room. I met the brown eyes of someone I had seen around town and flinched back from the ice in his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He rolled his chocolate eyes and offered me the ice again. I gingerly took it, looked up at him again and took in his chiselled jaw and brown wavy hair. “I don’t understand. Why are you helping me?” My voice was rough and scratchy. “Because you’re injured.” “You were part of Lincoln’s pack,” I stated. “I was.” His eyes travelled down my torso as I sat myself up and placed the ice onto my jaw. “And you know I’m a half-breed,” I whispered timidly. “I know. Are you hurt anywhere else?” he asked. “No. I don’t think so,” I mumbled. “Good. I just came in to give you s
Liam Half an hour later and the meeting had disbanded. Ryan and Stacey had taken off with a couple of trackers from the warrior squad. Patrick went to inform Vinny about what had happened, and Jerome and Dad helped me organize an urgent meet with the entire pack for this afternoon. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, it was getting cooler now in the fall air. The mountains and thick forest made it almost impossible for the sun to warm up the valley. The sun tried desperately to shine through the trees, but it was met with an invisible frosty wall that couldn’t be penetrated. The chill in the air was almost foreboding, making me feel like I would never be warm again. Patio heaters and gas barbecues were lit up throughout the grounds. I smiled at the pack members as they filed in, wearing their summery clothes as if they were oblivious to the changes in the temperature. I smiled at the five hundred odd people who had turned up. Five hundred wolves would be enough to start