Alec isn’t looking at me. The bond digs into my heart like claws.“Alec?” I swear the voice isn’t mine, but it comes from my bone-dry mouth, my cracked lips.He was starting to shift, to follow Leith and the others, but he pauses and glances over his shoulder. Like he’d forgotten about me.“Come over when the heat kicks all the way in,” he says. “I’ll let you ride my cock. Wash it real good first, though, if you’ve been passing it around to dirty bastards like that.”He sneers at Bram, and then he turns his back to me and his spine lengthens, skin sprouting fur. He’s going to leave me here.The blood roaring in my ears is deafening. The scene unfolding around me becomes a pantomime—Greer, Rhona, and their crew laugh soundlessly with their heads thrown back, fingers pointing, clutching their guts, every expression exaggerated.The lower-ranking females shrink back, huddle together, averting their eyes in case my humiliation ricochets and hits them. The males lope off on four legs for t
I left Miss Nola’s dinner back at the gathering place. She doesn’t leave our cabin. She’ll have gone to bed hungry.I left everyone’s clothes on the ground, too. I’m going to get in trouble for that.Alec will probably be back to the village soon.Inside my wolf, my hands ball into fists. I won’t care. I drag his cold, distant face up in my mind and force myself to remember how he wouldn’t meet my eyes, not even for a second, not even with this thing lodged in our chests, harnessing us together.Like I’m a stranger, and we haven’t been sneaking off together for years. Like we haven’t known each other our whole lives.Like I’m not even a person.The urge to keep running comes over me again, to just leave it all behind, erase him like he erased me, but there’s another voice inside me now. Not my wolf, and not quite me, either.Miss Nola needs to eat, the voice says.And if you’re going to leave, be smart. Get your clothes.If you leave, don’t leave them a damn thing.OceanofPDF.com2FL
If she does, she doesn’t show it. She hops right over and presses her quivering pink nose through the wire. I pluck a piece of timothy hay from her feeder and offer it to her. She takes it, munching, her fluffy cheeks wobbling.“I’ll bring you some fresh greens later,” I promise. I grow parsley and cilantro for her in a makeshift windowsill greenhouse I made out of plastic and old Lincoln Logs. She’s crazy for them.I unlatch the door and reach in to stroke her soft side while she finishes her nibble. She’s a little plump, too. I overfeed her. I know I do. I try not to, but I love her, and greens make her happy. I harden my heart enough to cut her off every now and then, but she gives me sad looks and won’t come out of the box I made her out of wood and carpet scraps.No one’s overfeeding me. I don’t know why I am the way I am. Shifters have hyperactive metabolisms. We learned that in biology at Moon Lake Academy. For some reason, I just don’t. I’ve always been this way. In my baby pi
“Flora?” Miss Nola calls, her thin voice wavering.“It’s just me.” I step out of the parlor so she can see me. She can scent me, but if she can’t see me, her anxiety tends to get the best of her.“Oh, there you are.” She pauses. She’s still wearing her worn flannel nightgown. She gets up and ready early, but not at the crack of dawn. “Tea?”“Yes, ma’am.” I kick off my shoes and follow her into the kitchen.“No one’s with you?” she asks, squinting past me.“No.”“I heard a male.”“It was just Alec Cameron. He’s gone now,” I tell her. “No one’s outside except Harriet.”She makes her way to the stove, her trembling fingers skimming the baker’s rack and the table like she does, as if she’s reassuring herself that everything’s where it’s supposed to be. She fills the kettle and puts it on.I get the milk from the fridge. “I’m sorry if you were scared.”She waves me away. “I was up anyway.” It’s not an answer to what I said, but that’s how she does. She steps over things she’d rather not ac
“I didn’t do what I wanted.” She exhales, her gaze surveying the clean but cluttered kitchen. “I stayed in here.”“What did you want to do?”The question seems to throw her for a moment, but then her eyes find mine, and she says, crystal clear, “Decide for myself.”Others would probably say well, why didn’t you? If your house and electric is paid for, and your food is free, what’s holding you back? What are you complaining about?I know Miss Nola better than anyone, though. If she could’ve gone after Rhona and Greer back when they were messing with me, nothing would’ve stopped her. She’s not free, and she didn’t choose this.I reach across the table and rest my hand near hers, palm flat to the table. She smiles at me. Tears gather along her lower lashes, but they don’t fall. Neither of us are criers.“What do you want to do, Flora?”For a second, I think she means right now, like do I want breakfast, or do I want to go to bed.“If you could decide for yourself, what would you want?”I
I bend over, brace my hands on my thighs, and breathe. What I don’t do is lose it. I’m not an animal.I stand up straight, pull it together, and walk calmly around to the front of the house. I trip up the steps like I’m not a stray spark away from combusting, and stride into the common room. The pipe tobacco’s as thick in the air as the smell of bacon. The Cameron males sprawled around the table fall silent, but there’s still a lot of hacking coughs and forks clacking against plates.Uncle Fraser pushes back from the table, his chair screeching as it scrapes the linoleum. At the sudden noise, Granddad sputters in his chair in the corner, but he doesn’t wake up. At least someone’s covered his knees with a quilt. Probably Trevor, the exile from Moon Lake who showed up a few years back and didn’t leave after Aunt Shona made the mistake of feeding him.“Where you been?” Fraser barks.“What? I report to you?” I puff my chest. Since that shit with Flora went down, I’ve been swelling. The cu
“That fat idiot claimed you in the middle of a pack gathering,” Fraser sputters. “She made it everyone’s business.”My chest rumbles, but it’s not my wolf. He’s given up on freedom, so he’s lounging on his haunches, licking the spot where his leg meets his crotch. In general, my wolf has no time for the family. He can outrun, outfight, and outhunt them all, so he basically sees them as dumb animals too slow and weak to bother with. He’s not far off base.I flex my pecs and bear down until the rumbling fades.“It’s not anyone’s concern,” I say. Maybe if I repeat myself using different words it’ll sink in.“You think any Blackburn or Munroe would accept that pig as alpha female?” Fraser asks.“If she’s not lowest ranked in the whole damn pack, she’s got to be next in line,” Hamish adds his two cents.“That Boyle female who cleans the Blackburn place has got something wrong with her face,” my cousin Wallace pipes up.“Yeah, but she’s not fat,” my cousin Lyle points out, his mouth full of
The rushing in my head is clearing shit up. I’m in the wrong place.“You don’t see a problem?” Fraser points in the direction of the alpha’s compound, arm straight out like a scarecrow. “They’re laughing at you. This is a joke.”I don’t bare my fangs. I let them dig into the inside of my lower lip.“You know this is a non-starter.” Fraser swings his arm to point his finger at me. “Wallace told us what you said to her. You told that dirty bitch to wash herself, and maybe you’d let her ride your cock.”Everyone around the table snickers, except for Trevor, who won’t look up from his empty plate. A stone forms in the pit of my stomach.I did say that. Everything was veiled in a haze of red, and with the one brain cell I still had working, I was counting the Blackburns, and how they outnumbered us two to one. Even if the McKays and Sinclairs threw in with us, they wouldn’t be worth much after a day of drinking.Everyone was crowded around Flora, and she can’t fight. When we were pups, the
The humans know about shifters, of course, but there’s no need to draw more attention to us than we already do, as strangers in such a small town. Folks already gawk as Annie leads us to the village commons even though the streets are busy. It’s market day.As soon as we reach the grassy expanse filled with tables and tents, Alroy and Diantha peel off, heading in opposite directions. Griff seems torn, but when he sees that Diantha is making a beeline for a booth with racks of female clothing, he hurries to follow Alroy.Annie leads us down the makeshift walkways, smiling when she’s greeted by name. My mate is still shy, but there’s no trace of fear in her scent. I breathe her happiness and excitement in, letting it flush my lungs clean of the oily town air.She sees her friends before I do and lets go of my hand to run toward them.My mate. My Annie. Running with a smile lighting her face.This is a good, good day.Two females rush around their table, the third making her way more slo
JUSTUSMy perfect, beautiful mate does not like surprises, so she knows exactly where we’re going as we trot through the woods that run along the human highway. At first, I was sad that I couldn’t spring this visit on her, but I love watching her wolf get more and more excited the closer we get to Chapel Bell. Her short little legs are moving so fast, I almost don’t have to slow my pace.Alroy, Griff, and Diantha don’t have my patience, so they’re several yards ahead of us. Poor Griff has to be the buffer between them, and he keeps getting caught in the crossfire when their wolves decide to break the monotony by sniping at each other.I was worried that Annie would be too nervous to venture this far from camp, but she gets more confident every day. I’m pretty sure that’s because when we were out for a walk two months ago, she saw me take out two ferals that were encroaching on our territory to the north, so even though Killian and I pretty much fought to a draw, she knows I can handle
He bares his fangs, yanks the needle from his neck, and blinks at it, bemused.“Did you stab me with a fucking knitting needle?” He holds it up. Blood oozes from the wound, dripping down his bare chest. I didn’t even hit an artery.Justus snarls, squaring his shoulders and bending his knees, readying himself to attack. Every inch of his body is covered in mud and blood, gashes and purpling bruises. White bone shows through a jagged slash on his forearm.A male coughs, clearing his throat. “Can we just take a beat?” Killian raises his hands, raw flesh where his nails should be.I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but he’s as battered as Justus, and he seems to be favoring his left leg, like his right can’t hold weight. Our males spar constantly. I’ve seen all of them beat up at some point, but I’ve never seen any of them mangled this bad. I can’t believe either he or Justus are still upright.“That bitch stabbed me.” Leith points at me with the knitting needle.Justus howls and steps
My wolf skids to a halt several feet away and then slinks forward, keeping the fire between her and the Salt Mountain wolf, letting the smoke block her scent. When she’s too close to dare creep closer, she huddles close to the ground, staring up and up at his tremendous mud-caked haunches. She’s a miniature in comparison. All the females are, and we all stare, powerless, as the wolf’s bones crack and a strapping man rises from the hulk of his beast.His blond hair shines through the dirt. I’ve seen him. Leith Munroe. The new Salt Mountain alpha.He rests his hands on his hips as if there isn’t chaos all around him as his wolves play a game of distraction, breaking after our slower, smaller, or older males and mauling them until our strong males are forced to turn back, away from us, to rescue them.Leith takes no notice of our wolves, even when they get close, or me, skulking behind the fire. Why would he? I’m no threat—skinny and small and stinking of fear.Instead, he’s intent on so
ANNIERun! Run! Run!I squat as low as I can in the wildflowers and tear off my clothes.A few yards away, Killian and Justus are murdering each other. Tye, Ivo, and the rest are just watching, and no matter how much I scream, no matter what I say, their wolves don’t listen.And the Salt Mountain wolves are up to something. They’re edging away from the fight toward the trail to camp. Quarry Pack is so intent on the fight, they either don’t notice or don’t care.I have to get to Khalil, and my wolf is faster.Run into the woods! The woods!I huddle in the tall grass and summon my wolf. For the first time in my life, she’s ahead of me, bursting through our skin before I’m ready, assuming form like she’s surfacing from water rather than tearing herself free from bone and muscle.She runs away from the woods, toward the trail. The Salt Mountain wolves have gotten ahead of her, so she hangs back, keeping low and downwind.Turn around! Now!What are they doing? They can’t think to attack La
“Lavender is light green this time of year. It doesn’t bloom until June or July.”“What are you going to do with it now then?”“Make a sachet. The scent mostly comes from the oils in its leaves.”“Make a sachet for who?”I wade through the tall grass to stand close to her and inhale her sweet rainy scent.“For the den,” she says, glancing bashfully up at me from under her thick brown lashes. She’s wearing my old sweater and another pair of my drawstring pants. Her pulse flutters at the base of her throat. She’s excited, too.Maybe we should cut this trip short and head back to the den.Or take a detour into the woods.She probably wouldn’t do that, but I think she’d agree to return to camp. I draw in another deep breath. Her arousal teases my nose.My wolf snarls.Annie startles.It takes my brain three seconds too long to catch up.Underlying the rain and slick, there is another scent. Earthy, yes, but not the right earth. It doesn’t belong. I’ve smelled it before. A long time ago.I
My grip on the pot handle tightens. Water sloshes over the sides. My jaw clenches, my guts knot, and my dry eyes burn.I can’t do this.I have to.“Justus?” Annie appears in the den entrance. She’s wrapped herself in a light pink sheet, and she’s holding a cup. “You brought water.” She smiles, padding toward me on bare feet.And then she stops. Her smile falls aways.She blinks in the sunshine, the bleariness of sleep disappearing as she takes in my grim face and desperate hold on the pot. If I had dignity, I’d find a way to smile back. Say good morning. Act like everything is fine.Her chest falls as she lets out a long, silent breath. She looks me straight in the eye. Her fear and doubt are clear as day.She’s going to ask me to take her home now.She takes a step closer to me, and then another, until we’re toe to toe. She gazes up at me, and for a second, all I can see is her beauty—her graceful neck, her delicate pointy chin, her soft, curving lips—and then I notice the expression
“Trust me,” he shushes, the hot head of his cock already notching at my entrance. He flexes his hips and sinks into me, a groan of pure relief torn from his throat. He fills me so completely that I ache where I take him, but I love it.I pant through the strain, and he gathers me close as he thrusts, cradling me to his chest, kissing my lips, my brow, my cheeks, the tip of my nose. I start to rock my hips in time.“You’re so beautiful, Annie,” he rumbles in my ear. “So perfect for me. My Annie. Mine.”I sigh and ride his bucking hips, his cock stretching me until I feel like a glove made for him.“Come for me, now,” he growls. “Now, Annie.”Hot cum floods my womb, and his knot catches and swells, tearing a raw shout from my throat. His fingers find my clit while his fangs sink into my shoulder.I scream, bucking against him, but I’m caught, so he moves with me, hushing me.I hover another second on the edge, somehow above myself, watching his strong arms tremble as they wrap around me
I let my hand fall and turn my head away.He snarls. He doesn’t like that.I drop back so I’m sitting on the pallet, lift my chin, and fold my arms. His wolf rumbles unhappily. He shouldn’t have let his man mess with my nest.He dips his head and looks up at me from his lowered eyes, a wolf playing at a lamb. “I’m sorry, Annie. Here it is.”He holds the pillow out.It’s a trap.Of course it’s a trap. I reach for it anyway. As soon as I grab the pillow, he yanks and falls to his back, dragging me with him. I tumble on top of him. He quickly nips the pillow from my grasp, tucks it behind his head, and grins up at me.I push up on his chest, struggling upright until I’m straddling his waist. He crosses his arms behind his head.I lean forward and try to pull the pillow free, but his head is too heavy.“Just ask nicely, Annie.” There’s a new note in his voice, a gravelly depth that has nothing to do with his wolf.I prop myself on his folded biceps. They’re hard and velvet and flexing und