Thanks for reading Allie Cats! I hope you are all enjoying Taryn and Reid's story so far. Just a quick heads up that I most likely won't be posting a weekend chapter this week so I can work on getting Pen Pal ready for it's big print release on October 1. Lots of love, Allie
TARYN POVMy alarm blares, pulling me out of a dead sleep. My body is heavy, nestled into my bed under my warm, down comforter. On a normal day, I would press snooze on my alarm and let it wake me up again in five minutes. And then another five minutes. And then another. On a normal day, I would hunker down into my cushiony bed and savor its warmth and comfort until the last second.But today isn’t just a normal day. Today is an important day. Today will set everything in motion for the future I have been working for, the future I deserve.I roll over onto my back and take several long, deep, focused breaths before I get up and start getting ready. I quickly change, pulling on leggings and a white top similar to the one I wore yesterday while training with Reid. I remove my pink satin bonnet, and since I just did my hair last night, I leave my twists alone and just pull a section of them up and out of my face, then slip on a head wrap — my favorite tie-dye pink one — for good luck.As
Hey Allie Cats! I just wanted to let you know there will most likely not be any updates this week. I severely misjudged the amount of time and energy needed to get The Alpha's Pen Pal ready for print. I spent over 30 hours this last weekend working on a final reread and formatting, and it still isn't quite finished. Needless to say, I didn't get much writing done on this book at all. I am unfortunately only one person trying to release my first book pretty much by myself, and after this weekend I am one tired writer. I will for sure be back with updates next Monday (October 2nd). If I can, I will post chapters later this week, but I don't want to make any promises I can't keep. But regular updates (MWF and occasionally Saturday) will start up again next Monday! Thank you for your support and your understanding while I get my feet back under me after this crazy busy weekend of editing and formatting!
TARYN POVThe silence that settles over the pack grounds after my declaration is heavy and pressing. Everyone on the training field freezes, their eyes locked on us, their breath held, their bodies frozen as they wait for him to react.“Excuse me?” Dominic asks, taking a step towards me again, blinking and shaking his head. “What did you say?”“You heard me,” I say.He scoffs and storms back over to me, his gray eyes flashing. “You can’t do that. You can’t just make demands like that.”“I can, actually. I am well within my rights to demand a warrior challenge.”“Says who?”“WL-176.59. Section B. As long as they have gone through a complete warrior training program, a pack transfer can compete in an official warrior challenge at their new pack to be granted warrior status. Once initiated, the challenge must be given within two weeks, or the werewolf will automatically be granted a position among the warriors of the pack.”“You’re lying,” he growls, staring down at me with a glare.“She’
REID POV For the second time this week, I pace the training grounds, waiting for Taryn to arrive. The last two days spent apart from her were even worse than the first two days I spent apart from her. My wolf was even more on edge, and I had to stop myself from snarling, growling, or snapping at more people than I care to admit. But I hadn’t heard one word from her. Not one. No text or phone call, nothing letting me know how everything went when she spoke to her alpha about the warrior challenge. I refrained from texting her — no news must mean good news, and I didn’t want to be too forward or come across as possessive and controlling — but I was dying to know. And my wolf wouldn’t calm down until we saw her again — until we could smell her again. Her scent had all but vanished from my mustang — my plan of not driving it at all was in vain, because her scent still dissipated into almost nothing. I couldn’t sleep. Not at home, or in any of the other places I had taken to crashing in
TARYN POV The icy wind whips around me, slicing through each layer of my clothing to my skin, sending a shiver down my spine and goosebumps up my arms. I hug my faux fur coat tighter to my body, covering my chest and the small slivers of my stomach exposed by the criss-crossed bodice of my bodycon dress, and take a steadying breath before I pull open the door to La Dolce Vita. Inside, the Italian restaurant is warm, both in temperature and atmosphere. The little square tables are lit with candles, and the scents of garlic and fresh baked bread floating on the air tickle my nose and tease my taste buds, making my stomach growl in anticipation. At least I’ll get a meal out of this sham of a meal. That’s the only positive I can find right now. My feet move me forward, the heels of my over the knee boots clicking on the stamped concrete floor, but my heart and my mind are filled with lead, pulling me back to my car and up the mountain. Not to Silver Ridge. But to Crescent Lake. Which
REID POVBuzz. Buzz. Buzz.My phone vibrates against my chest, laying where I dropped it as I finally drifted off to sleep last night. I’d stayed up well into the early morning hours, sleep evading me, my wolf pacing and whining in my mind. I searched the werewolf research database on my phone for a while, hunting for anything I could find on one sided mate bonds or small wolf forms.When my search was once again fruitless — as I should have known it would be — I switched to those paranormal romance stories I found that first night after I met Taryn. I needed something to distract me from the ache caused by our distance. I’d had to weed through a lot of terrible books, but I eventually found a few authors who seemed to know what they were writing about.Maybe those authors are supernaturals in disguise.I lift my phone and tap the button that snoozes my alarm, setting it back down on my chest all without even opening my eyes. But it buzzes again right away, tickling my bare chest.I bl
REID POV My fists clench, and I’m moving across the field, launching myself at him and clocking him square in the jaw as soon as the words are out of his mouth. It doesn’t matter that I know he’s lying. It doesn’t matter that Taryn already told me how awful her date was last night, or that I know nothing happened between them because I would have felt it if it had. All that matters is he’s talking about my girl. Mine. She. Is. Mine. His head snaps to the side with a satisfying crack, his feet stumbling beneath him, unprepared for an attack. I use his shock to my advantage and tackle him to the ground, both of us slamming into the frozen ground with a loud thud. Before he can even react or retaliate, I have him pinned on his back beneath me, my knees trapping his arms at his sides, my fists raining blows onto him with the speed of a roadrunner, a speed unlike any I’ve used before, fueled by my rage and my wolf’s. Fueled by the need to protect my mate. I don’t even see the male be
TARYN POV Reid waits for me on the front steps of Crescent Lake’s large log cabin packhouse, his hands in the pockets of his gray sweatpants and his knee bouncing. He tracks my every movement up the stairs, his eyes leaving behind a heat that brands not just my skin, but my soul. His body is tense, muscles rippling under his black t-shirt, and his fists clench in his pockets. “Hey,” I say as I reach him, stopping one step below where he stands. I stare up at him, hands on the backs of my hips, waiting. For what, I don’t know. Maybe for him to pull me in the rest of the way, to hug me like he did yesterday after I pinned him? Or for him to tell me he missed me as much as I missed him? He stares back at me, his eyes scanning my body, leaving that heated trail behind. It’s not like when Kent checked me out last night. That look sent my stomach roiling and my skin crawling. But Reid’s look — him checking to see if I’m all right — turns my insides to mush and fills my heart with warmth.