TYSON
"Good night?" Blake smirked at me, as he caught me entering the packhouse after I'd gone for a run, his eyes crinkled in an amused expression.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"I saw that girl you had here last night doing the walk of shame this morning. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." He chuckled. "I see you're enjoying everything my pack has to offer."
"You saw her?" I asked.
"Yeah, her family was worried about her so we put out a search. Like the pack security? Make sure you report that back to your family."
"Do you know who she was?"
"You dog!" Blake pushed on my shoulder with an amused smile. "You didn't even get her name? I always at least got the name."
"Well, what's her name?" I kept my expression neutral, not sure whether it was better for Blake to think I'd banged her or not. I still needed to find out what she was hiding from her parents. As much as she infuriated me, I didn't want to blow whatever cover she had for whatever the fuck she was doing—which I also wanted to know.
"Gigi."
"Gigi? Is that a nickname?"
"Not sure. Only met her once. But that's what Jasmine and her sister call her."
"Jasmine knows her?"
"She's friends with her twin sister." She has a twin? Well, damn, I'd always fantasized about sleeping with twins.
"Are they identical?" I asked, my mind instantly going into the gutter. Damn, two curvaceous miracles existed. And maybe her twin wasn't so prickly. Maybe her twin actually liked men.
Blake laughed heartily. "They look alike, but not sure they're identical."
"Hmm," I responded, trying to decide if this was a good or bad thing.
"Oh, by the way, Jasmine was looking for you earlier. Her parents wanted to invite you over for dinner before the service tonight."
"Oh, I'll text her and let her know I'll be there," I replied, turning to go upstairs. Now that my mind was in the gutter, I couldn't get it out. Just like last night, I was quickly becoming hornier and hornier, my cock hardening in my pants. Goddess, that girl had me so worked up. And now that I knew she was a twin, all my twin fantasies started playing out in my head.
I fell into my bed that still smelled like her perfume, only putting me more on edge. I pulled off my shorts and angrily stroked my cock. Goddess, the way she wouldn't leave my mind was pissing me off, but damnit, I wanted to fuck her so badly. Her and her twin.
***
GINGER
By the time we were on our way to the Sunday temple service, I'd had a chance to get cleaned up, and collect my phone, shoes, and crystals from the place where I'd left them. I was feeling much better at this point, having finally recovered from the terrible hangover the herbs had caused. Thankfully Heidi had gone home so I didn't have to deal with her. I was still angry about what she'd done. Although, she'd definitely be at the service that night, being just as religious as the rest of our family.
We took our normal seats, by my parents' other temple friends. I relaxed into my seat, thinking the day would soon be over. The service started as normal, with a sermon from our priest, Bernard, and him leading us through different prayers, chants, and meditations. Having attended my whole life, I could basically do everything in my sleep.
As the service was wrapping up, I was surprised when Bernard called Blake to the podium for an announcement. I sat up and was further shocked to see that someone else was following him to the front of the congregation—someone just as tall and muscular as him, someone with intense amber eyes. It was him—the guy from the fortune-telling shop. The guy who I thought I'd dreamed about the prior night.
"Good evening, Midnight Maple Pack!" Blake's voice boomed as everyone quietly listened. "As many of you already know, we have a very special guest in our pack, visiting us for the summer. Luna Jasmine's cousin, Alpha Tyce, has come all this way from the Jade Moon Pack in Alaska so that we can build our alliance. This is very important to me and an honor for our pack as this alliance was built not due to politics but blood. I hope all of you will treat Alpha Tyce with the utmost respect as if he is your own alpha while he is here with us. He will be leading in many of our pack activities such as training and patrol duty. So, please, everyone, give Alpha Tyce a warm welcome."
The whole congregation applauded loudly and my mouth fell open. My face burned as I realized that all those things I'd said in the fortune-telling shop had been directed at an alpha. No wonder he asked me if I knew who I was speaking to. Oh Goddess, I couldn't believe I'd done that. And not only that, but he was from an ally pack, a pack that we were aligned with due to familial relations. He was the cousin of our very own Luna! I'd totally put my foot in my mouth.
"Very good-looking young man," my mom winked at my sisters and me. She had always had a thing for alphas. When he was still alive, my mom had had a schoolgirl crush on the late Alpha James, Blake's father. She cried all day when she found out he'd passed in battle over a year ago.
After the service, everyone fell into conversation with their friends. My parents instantly went over to greet their own group of friends. Paige pulled my hand, heading toward the front. "C'mon, Gigi, let's go get introduced to the new alpha! Jasmine will introduce us!" I didn't know what to do, horrified by the idea as if I were witnessing an oncoming trainwreck.
"Hey, Paige!" Jasmine pulled her in for a hug as soon as we approached. "And nice to see you again, Gigi," she said, wrapping her arms around me. I just let her hug me, frozen in place.
"So, any chance to meet the new alpha?" Paige elbowed Jasmine.
"Of course!" Jasmine brightened. "Hey, Tyce!" she called out to him, and he turned to look at her, distracted from whoever he was talking to, excusing himself.
"Hey," Tyce approached our group, glancing at Jasmine first and then turning to look at us, his amber eyes locking with mine, and then I realized exactly whose eyes his reminded me of. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten Jasmine had the same eyes, recalling how distinct I'd thought they were when I first met her.
"This is my friend, Paige," Jasmine introduced my sister to him first.
"Nice to meet you, Paige," he smiled, shaking her hand.
"Pleasure's all mine, Alpha!" she squeaked out. Don't tell me that she was getting a crush on him now! She did always take much more after Mom than me.
"And this is her twin sister, Gigi," Jasmine introduced me next. My heart was beating so loudly in my chest I was sure everyone could hear.
He reached out his hand as if this was totally normal, grasping my small hand in his huge one, gripping it tightly, practically crushing it. "Nice to meet you, Gigi. I heard you have a lot of opinions about chipmunks." His eyes twinkled with amusement as he smirked at me.
"Chipmunks, what?" Jasmine laughed. "What does that mean? You've heard things about Gigi?"
"Yes, I have." His smile widened. "I've heard she has many opinions—besides chipmunks, also about magnifying glasses, predators, and receding hairlines. Maybe you should share them with the group, Gigi." My face burned. Goddess, what had I done?
"What!" Paige was joining in with Jasmine's laughter. "Is this some sort of joke? Gigi, what is he talking about? Have you two met already or something?" Then something flashed across her face and she was glancing down at his feet.
Fuck!
"What size shoes do you wear? Your feet are really big," Paige remarked innocently, leaning closer to him, nostrils flared. Paige wasn't stupid.
"You like them big?" His eyes were really twinkling with amusement now as he showed off his shoes. Locking eyes with mine again, he said, "If you're wondering, the answer is yes. They are proportional to everything else. I'm definitely not chipmunk size." His eyes never left mine. I wanted to die. Goddess, why hadn't those herbs just killed me yesterday?
"Why do you keep talking about chipmunks?" Jasmine giggled. "I feel like you have some inside joke with Gigi that we're not privy to."
"Oh, Gigi and I have shared many jokes, mostly at my expense. And I haven't forgotten. Now, if you'll excuse me, ladies, I have an entire pack to meet tonight." I let out a deep breath as soon as he left, relieved he was gone. But the way he said he hadn't forgotten, it was chilling. He clearly wasn't someone I should have fucked with. Not knowing what he had planned completely terrified me.
"So, spill, Gigi! How do you know Tyce?" Jasmine asked brightly. She did seem much livelier than when I'd met her five months earlier.
"I don't," I replied. "I just met him once. I don't know what he was going on about," I laughed nervously.
"Hey, Jasmine, can you come over here for a second?" Alpha Blake called his mate over. "Sorry to interrupt," he apologized to Paige and me.
"No problem!" Paige replied, instantly grabbing my shoulders after they were gone from our vicinity. She looked at me fiercely and whispered loudly, "Did you sleep with Alpha Tyce?"
"No!" I instantly responded.
"Don’t lie to me. You smelled just like him this morning. It was him. Those were his slides you were wearing."
"It's not how it looks."
"What was all that stuff about chipmunks?"
I groaned.
"Well?" She looked at me eagerly.
"Okay, I may have said some stuff to him that wasn't very nice," I admitted. "But I didn't know he was an alpha! How was I supposed to know?"
"Oh, Goddess! What did you say to him?"
I groaned again. "Please, can we not talk about this right now?"
"Okay, but you better tell me later." And that was when I prayed silently to Artemis that later would never come. I prayed that she'd just kill and burn me.
---
Thanks for reading the preview of the next book in the series, Wolfborn! If you'd like to keep reading, please search for 'Wolfborn', now complete on Goodnovel. While this book does introduce some new characters, it also continues the story of Jasmine & Blake. Happy reading!
TALIA Dead. Killed in cold blood. The only person in the world I loved was taken from me, her heart ripped from her chest, leaving a gaping hole behind. The red splatter staining the wall of the bedroom indicated it had subsequently been thrown as if it were nothing more than a rotten fruit. Even through the acrid smell of blood, I could still smell him. He was the one who did it. He came almost every week, sometimes several times a week, going back years. In fact, I could not recall a time when he did not exist in my consciousness. He had always been obsessed with my mother. Now his smell invaded her bedroom; he couldn’t have left long ago as his rancid stench lingered, burning my nostrils and poisoning my stomach. I crawled over to my mom, tears pouring from my eyes, blurring my vision. I clutched her cold, soft hand in mine, unable to let go. Maybe if I held it long enough, she would just wake from this nightmare, her vibrant brown eyes showing themselves again. Even as I thought
TALIA The following day, Madam Coco summoned me to her office. As soon as I entered, I was met with the familiar scent of old lady perfume and cigarettes, the smell now more nauseating than it ever had been in the past. I tried not to breathe it in too much, becoming enraged with each breath. I forced myself to stay calm, digging my nails into my palms, barely able to look at her. She was a tiny woman, petite and always sporing a tan—her skin taking on a leathery appearance from spending so much time in tanning beds over the years. I wasn't sure of her exact age. If I had to guess—I'd say late fifties or early sixties. She gestured to a chair in front of her desk, barely looking up at me, flipping her long, platinum blonde hair behind her shoulders as I entered. I took a seat. She casually played with thick rings on her fingers. She loved jewelry and was always draped in it. Bought using my mom’s body and desperation. After dragging the silence out for far too long, she said, “Tali
TALIA Upon finally succeeding in taking every last penny from me, Madam Coco came through and handed me a box with four darts inside. I’d deliberated on it for a while but eventually concluded that the darts were a much more efficient tool for infiltration and worth the extra cost. I didn’t even bother thanking her or saying goodbye, relieved that I’d never have to smell the disgusting mix of old lady perfume and cigarettes, or hear her raspy smoker’s voice, again. A few days later, on a warm Thursday in mid-August, Hugo drove me to his pack. We stopped at the entrance and exited the car, then we were brought to a small room. The werewolves who escorted us there wrinkled their noses at the sight of me, and I realized it must be my rogue smell. I let out a deep sigh. When we were waiting alone, I asked Hugo, “Is the smell really that bad?” He rubbed the back of his neck and said, “No, they’re exaggerating. It’s just a little unpleasant.” I nodded and wondered if he was just being po
BLAKE One afternoon, well into September, a mindlink for Luke and me came in while we were in the office together. “I smell a rogue in my patrol area.” Jack’s voice said in our minds. Luke and I both looked up at each other and instantly got to our feet. “Be right there,” I mindlinked Jack back. We both rushed outside, quickly shifted into our wolf forms, and sprinted over. When we got to him, Jack led the group in tracking the scent, inhaling the unpleasant aroma that had clung to the dirt and ferns just outside our territory. Rogues usually weren’t a big problem. It was just a matter of making it clear to them that this was pack land and that they should move away from the area. Every once in a while, we’d encounter a problematic rogue, one that had spent so much time in its wolf form that it became feral and refused to shift, occasionally attacking us. Those rogues were dealt with differently. But hopefully, this would just be the standard, run-of-the-mill, confused rogue. We fo
ALEXANDER Well, that was an interesting way to meet my mate, to say the least. It almost wasn’t surprising when it happened. Okay, it was very unexpected and shocking, but I’m also one of those people who attracts drama and crazy situations. Needless to say, it is never a dull day in my life, and I never run out of stories to tell at parties. So, it was almost expected that I wouldn’t meet my mate the normal way. Most people meet their mates at a party or a café, they lock eyes from across a room, they go to the same park one day. You get the picture—there are hundreds of normal ways to meet a mate. Of course, I’m the one that meets my mate at my father’s murder scene, my mate being the number one and only suspect. If it weren’t so disturbing, I’d laugh about it. The Moon Goddess clearly has a sick sense of humor. Granted, my father was not exactly in the running for father or, heck, person of the year. But I’m not quite sure what crime he committed that deserved murder. Okay, okay,
TALIA After feeling so hot and desperate, I woke up late the next morning and found myself back to normal again. I recalled in agonizing, anxiety-inducing shame to everything that had happened the day prior. What had come over me? Thinking back, I couldn’t lie. The man who approached me on that mountain was very hot. He was even better built than Hugo, and Hugo was very fit. He was the type of man you only ever saw on a fitness magazine cover, and half the time they were probably airbrushed anyway. But ugh, the shame. I’d totally come on to him and he completely rejected me. I’d never experienced something like that before. Most of the men I approached were more than willing to take me up on my offers. Then after he shoved me in the back of the car, I realized that the blond man who drove me here was actually quite attractive as well, being so tall and muscular. He rejected me too. He told me he was gay, so I suppose it made sense. He brought me into a bedroom, and I stayed there the
TALIA Blake looked at Tyler, shook his head, and sighed. “No, I can’t put this on you and Jack. I’ve already asked Jack for too many favors. Talia, why don’t you come stay at the packhouse for now? We have plenty of room. Do you know anything about babies? Maybe you can help my beta’s mate out with her pup. She’s having a hard time. The baby had colic for three months and she’s apparently still not sleeping through the entire night now.” “I don’t know anything about babies, but I can try to help,” I replied, unsure of the idea but also with no place to go. At least it seemed he’d left everything that happened the previous day in the past. I didn’t know if I’d ever stop feeling ashamed of what had happened. “Okay. Do you have anything that you need to take with you?” I shook my head. “Okay, well, let’s go then,” he said, getting up. I followed him out to his SUV. He opened the door for me and helped me into the car. He was very polite. We drove in silence. I looked around as we dr
JASMINE As soon as the bell signaled the end of training for the day, I caught the girls in my group snickering together. I looked up to catch them whispering with their heads turned toward the bleachers, where I spotted Blake sitting, waiting for me. “Daddy’s here,” I overheard one of the girls say. I rolled my eyes at the jab, telling myself how childish they were. But, in reality, it stung—my transition to warrior had not exactly been easy. It felt like high school all over again, maybe even worse. I mean, we all try to pretend we’re past that whole “need to fit in” thing once we become adults, but then when you don’t, it’s like you’re back there all over again. Even my old high school nickname, PJ, that my classmates would use to taunt me for being “Perfect Jasmine” had been resurrected. Salt in the wound. It all started because Blake wanted our training schedules to be identical, making the argument that I was going to be his luna and therefore I should train with the alpha. I
TYSON "Good night?" Blake smirked at me, as he caught me entering the packhouse after I'd gone for a run, his eyes crinkled in an amused expression. "What?" I asked, confused. "I saw that girl you had here last night doing the walk of shame this morning. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." He chuckled. "I see you're enjoying everything my pack has to offer." "You saw her?" I asked. "Yeah, her family was worried about her so we put out a search. Like the pack security? Make sure you report that back to your family." "Do you know who she was?" "You dog!" Blake pushed on my shoulder with an amused smile. "You didn't even get her name? I always at least got the name." "Well, what's her name?" I kept my expression neutral, not sure whether it was better for Blake to think I'd banged her or not. I still needed to find out what she was hiding from her parents. As much as she infuriated me, I didn't want to blow whatever cover she had for whatever the fuck she was doing—which I a
GINGER Oh Goddess, fucking Artemis. My head hurt, my stomach burned, my chest wheezed. The sun was so bright. I kept trying to open my eyes, but the light streaming in through the window made it very difficult. I moaned, in terrible pain, my whole body sore. This was worse than my worst hangovers. Even when I blacked out it was never this bad. I really did need to go to the pack clinic. I'd cry out for Paige to carry me there. She was a full-time warrior—her muscles were definitely strong enough by now. I finally forced my eyes open and was instantly confused by my surroundings. This wasn't my bedroom. I'd never been in this room before at all. Had I hooked up with someone the prior night? I tried to think back. What had happened? The full moon! It all hit me at once. I had taken the double batch of the potion and then everything got blurry. And, oh my Goddess, was that a dream, or had that douchebag from the fortune-telling shop really appeared? It had to have been a dream, right?
TYSON If I were being completely honest, it was nice being away from my pack for once. That place could be so suffocating most of the time. I mean, my grandfather was a complete dick, and my dad wasn't much better. It's like they say, alphas always have to be in charge, and more than one alpha is volatile—an explosion just waiting to go off. In the case of my pack, there were three of us, which made the whole thing pretty combustible. I'm actually surprised we hadn't battled it to the death yet. Granted, things weren’t exactly smooth sailing coming to Alpha Blake's pack either. We were still two alphas with competing personalities, but it was better than dealing with my father and grandfather. Blake was pretty reasonable and wasn't hell-bent on making my life miserable. Although, I'm pretty sure Blake wanted nothing to do with me coming to his pack to "check things out". But he was desperate to make his mate's family happy, so he agreed to the arrangement for the summer. That worked
GINGER "Gigi!" my sister Paige wrapped her arms tightly around me as soon as I entered the house. I hugged her back, so appreciative to be reunited with her again, returning to my pack in Vermont after finishing up the school year. Being twins, we had a special connection. It had been much stronger when we were younger, a lot of my own resentment toward her pulling us apart over the years. It wasn't her fault, but I couldn't help but feel envious that she was able to accomplish all my dreams. An unsettling feeling that someone else was living my life constantly choked me, salt rubbed into the wound. The thing is, becoming a warrior was always my dream. Our dad was a warrior, and I was always way more into it than Paige. I'd love to go with Mom to watch him spar on nice days out. I loved when he spent time training me to fight and defend myself in the backyard. Yes, I was a daddy's girl through and through. And the way I hung onto my dad was the way Paige hung onto me. Even though she
Thank you for reading Wolfblood. This now begins book 3 of the series, Wolfborn, which introduces some new characters and also continues Jasmine and Blake's story. Happy reading!*** GINGER Secrets. Everyone has at least one, right? Mine was that I lost my wolf. It happened a long time ago—it was an accident. It was one of those moments in life that changed everything. You know what I mean. One day, everything was normal, great even, and the next thing you know, your life is destroyed over one bad decision. Yep, all it took was one stupid decision and my wolf was gone. I kept crossing my fingers that there was a chance she might come back—that she was still somewhere deep within me, stagnant, in a coma, just needing a little shove to wake up. That's why I went to see a witch on a regular basis. That was my other secret. My parents were suspicious of witches—us werewolves and witches didn't exactly have the best relationship. Lots of old wives' tales, I think—that whole 'be carefu
*** 2 weeks later *** TALIA “Good morning, beautiful.” Alex placed a mug of coffee onto the bedside table early one morning and then instantly slid into the bed next to me. The connection between us was much stronger now that we had marked each other. It was almost as if we had become one, our emotions connected when we were near each other, his running beside my own. At that moment, Alex felt both content and worried. I was sure that the worry was for his mother. “Is your mom okay today?” I asked, brushing my hand through his hair. “She seems okay today. I brought her her morning tea and toast, and she seemed happy with the small gesture.” “You’re such a good son.” I kissed him on the forehead. He grabbed me, pulling me tight against his body, kissing me deeply. “Ow!” I pulled away. “What’s wrong?” he asked, furrowing his brows. “My boobs are just really sore.” I rubbed one of them. “Does that happen often?” he asked. “No, not really. Sometimes when I get my period, but I do
JASMINE “All set, our flight’s been rebooked for tomorrow night.” Blake smiled as he plopped down on the hotel room bed—the one we were supposed to have slept in the previous night until, well, things didn’t exactly go as planned. He stared into my eyes. “Your face is looking much better now. My only regret is that I didn’t get a chance to torture that motherfucker for what he did to you.” “It’s okay. It’s over now,” I whispered to Blake, wanting to forget what happened. “You were amazing today, a true luna.” He brushed his hand through my hair. “I can’t believe you ever even doubted yourself.” I sighed. “I’ve actually realized a lot of things in the past week,” I replied. “Really? Like what?” “Like I’m excited that I’ll be able to use my influence as luna to make changes in the pack.” “What kind of changes?” “Like Tyler and Jack took me to a secret pack LGBTQ+ meeting. And everyone came up with great ideas for how they could feel more welcomed in our pack. I want to help them.
TALIA After I completed my portion of the mission, I went back into Alex’s car, and Jack and Kyle followed me inside while some of Alex’s men stood guard outside of it. I couldn’t lie, my heat was unbearable. The longer I went without petting my cat, the more painful it became. Tears were brimming my eyes as I squirmed in my seat. “Blake owes me big time,” Jack said from the back. “Goddess, this is awkward,” Kyle replied. “I can’t help it,” I cried out. “Can’t you just go outside?” “Can’t, we have two alphas on our asses now,” Kyle replied. I whimpered in response. I glanced in the rearview mirror as he turned to Jack and said, “I mean, maybe we should, Jack. Let her have some privacy.” “The last thing we need is to give her some privacy and then someone from Bois Sombre sweeps in when none of us are looking. Bad idea, Kyle.” “Just a thought, bro.” He frowned. “Consider yourself lucky. I had to go through over four hours of this before.” I grumbled, reminded of the last time,
JASMINE Not even an hour after I killed Charlie, a man in either his later thirties or early forties with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, tattoos covering his forearms, approached my cell. His distinct gray eyes scanned the entirety of the small room I was in. I could instantly sense this man was evil, a shiver traveling up my spine. My instincts were in full overdrive, my inner wolf howling with fear. I stood up, panicked. “Hmm, not such a weak mate, I see.” The man spoke with a French accent, scanning the room, smiling evilly at me. I stared at him, wondering what he was planning to do to me. After some time, he said, “I can’t decide if I should cut you up or fuck you. Why not both?” He pulled out a switchblade, exposing the knife to me. I began hyperventilating and the world was spinning around me as fur sprouted up my arms and legs. I was having a panic attack. As my body tried to force me to shift, agonizing pain shot up my arms. I cried in agony from the metal cutting into