TALIA I scrolled through his phone and found Alex’s number, dialing it, my heart beating loudly in my chest as the phone rang and I paced the room, unsure of what I’d say to him. “Wulfric?” he answered the phone. “It’s Talia,” I replied. “Oh.” “Hi.” “Hi,” he replied. This was feeling very awkward. “How are you?” I asked, knowing that I was doing a very bad job of getting to the point. “I mean, I’m completely shitty to be honest. But how are you?” “Alex,” I started, trying to decide how to continue. “The thing is, I’m worried about my friend, Hugo.” “Hugo!?” he shouted. “You banished him from his home. He’s the sole provider to his family. His father died, and his mom and brother both depend on him. I’m really worried.” “That’s who you’re worried about? Are you serious?” He sounded very irritated. “Is there someone else I should be worried about?” I asked. He sighed. “Talia, I feel like I’m on some bad trip. I’ve waited for weeks for you to call. And when you do, it’s to s
TALIA Just under a week later, I’d finally moved into my new apartment on my day off from work. Lucy had borrowed her uncle’s truck, so we could go buy and bring back a new mattress. At the moment, I didn’t have much. It was just the mattress on the floor with no bed frame and a kitchen table and chairs that I bought for cheap from the pack F******k group. Jasmine had gifted me a brand-new set of pans as a housewarming gift, which was very nice of her. And Blake had brought over a fancy coffee maker and a couple mugs. Lucy and Luke gifted me really nice towels and linens and a bunch of toiletries. Jack and Tyler came with them and gifted me a blender. I was completely in awe of everyone’s generosity and gave everyone big hugs in gratitude. Everyone was so welcoming. It was nice to have friends. It felt like I finally belonged somewhere. It was now Saturday, and Lucy had invited me to her brother’s birthday party that day. I wasn’t sure that I was up for socializing, especially with
TALIA The next day, I had to work the early shift. Around eight thirty in the morning, true to his word, Tom stopped by with a big smile on his face. “Good morning, Talia,” he said as he stepped toward my register. “It’s worth waking up a little earlier to see you at the start of my day. You are quite a sight for sore eyes.” “Hi, Tom. What can I get you?” I asked. “How about a large coffee with cream and sugar, and I can’t say no to those delicious cinnamon rolls they have here.” I slowly typed in his order, still in the process of learning the register system. “That will be six eighty-eight,” I said. “Would you like me to warm the roll up for you?” “Yes, that would be great.” He smiled. He was very smiley; he had a really nice smile, with bright white teeth. And really nice blue eyes. Yes, everything about him was nice, very nice. I pulled out a cinnamon roll from the case and put it into the small oven to warm it up. I then turned around and watched as he slid his card into th
TALIA Tom came in again the next day, and then again on Tuesday, when he convinced me to go on a date with him that night. After what Valerie had told me, I began to feel suspicious of his intentions. But I figured that one date wouldn’t kill me. We agreed for him to pick me up that night at six in front of my apartment. After work, I had my personal training session after two days off on Sunday and Monday. I began to understand that most of the pack shut down those two days. We started the session off with stretches and some warm-up exercises. Then we practiced some more meditation. After that, Xander had me do some weighted exercises. “You know, I’ve been keeping track, and you don’t seem to be progressing on the weights at all. I’m becoming concerned because werewolves normally progress fairly quickly, and it isn’t normal that you’d still be at the same level as you started almost a month ago, especially with us training together five days a week.” “What could cause that?” I ask
TALIA After the date, I asked him to drop me at the packhouse. I rang the doorbell and Blake answered, standing next to Jasmine. “Talia, what are you doing here?” he asked. “I came to see Lucy,” I replied. “Okay, I’ll go get her, one second,” he said, climbing the stairs. I then turned to Jasmine. “Jasmine, I have a question, and can you be honest?” “Sure,” she replied, raising her eyebrows and came closer to me. “Do you know of anyone that ever settled down with someone who wasn’t their mate, except obviously Lucy and Luke and you and Blake?” She crossed her arms and looked upward, appearing lost in thought. After a moment, she finally said, “The only other person I know is Tyler’s mom.” “Why did Tyler’s mom settle down with someone who wasn’t her mate?” “Her mate rejected her because she had Tyler. But it ended up being for the best because he was a really bad person.” “My mate might be a bad person too,” I said. “But what if I can’t find another mate to mark me after I rej
ALEXANDER My mom finally seemed to be feeling slightly better. The hospital prescribed her some strong antidepressants and tranquilizers, so strong that she was no longer able to shift into her wolf. “I don’t care. I have no reason to shift into my wolf anymore.” My mom sighed as I finally drove her home after being away for over a month. I’d hired nurses to keep watch over her when I couldn’t, and one of them would be starting the next day. I helped my mom to her bedroom and helped her lie down in her bed. It was so strange having our roles reversed after she’d always been the one taking care of me my whole life. But everything was strange in my life. This was normal compared to everything else. Yes, how sad, my mom barely able to function as an adult was “normal” to me. Fuck my life. I sat down on a chair next to her bed while she got settled. “Will you be okay, Mom, if I go work on some things?” I asked. “Alex”—she stared at me—“you seem unhappy.” “Of course I’m unhappy, Mom.
TALIA The day after my date, I woke up to my alarm shaking me out of the dead of sleep. After I'd gotten it shut off, I rolled over, feeling uncomfortably overheated, and threw the covers off me. The cold air felt like heaven against my damp, flushed skin. God, I was horny. And then I knew—I’d gone into heat again. Once again, my skin was sensitive to every touch. As I slid my hands along my legs and stomach, I couldn't help but let out a desperate groan. I ached with so much need to be touched, caressed, and filled. What a pity that I hadn’t invited Tom over after dinner. He could have been lying in bed next to me right now, relieving the desperate, swollen throb between my legs. I’d made a huge mistake acting so virtuous when that didn’t serve me at all. I began recalling my dream. Just like last time, it’d been so vivid. I recollected all the details of Alex’s amazing body. God, why had I ever wanted to reject him? He was so ripped, and the way he kissed me, so passionately, so
TALIA The next day, I returned to work feeling much better. I was working the late shift that day. When I came in, Valerie pulled me aside. “You were in heat yesterday?” she asked. “Does that mean you have a mate?” “Yes, I do,” I admitted, realizing there was no way around it now. “Then what was that whole thing with Tom? Why were you going on dates with Lucy’s cousin when you have a mate?” I sighed and said, “Because I want to reject my mate. I don’t want to be with him. Lucy was just trying to help by finding me a replacement mate.” She raised her eyebrows and said, “Well, there’s a story I’d like to hear.” “Maybe another time.” Lucy came in not too long after me, late as usual. Punctuality was clearly not one of her positive qualities. I mostly worked the front of the house while she helped Valerie put together pastries in the back. After we closed for the evening, I walked with Lucy toward the packhouse since I had to walk in that direction to get to my apartment anyway. “W
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