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
JASMINE When my parents and I finally arrived at the packhouse, everyone else was already there. Blake greeted us at the door, shaking both my parents’ hands and leading them inside. He then turned to me and kissed me on the cheek. “You look stunning tonight, Miss Alpha. I can tell you’ve been working out.” He winked at me. It was true—I had become much more toned than I ever was before from all of the training. He asked my parents what he could get them to drink, leading them over to where a drink station was set up. I grinned to myself at how adorable he looked showcasing all the soft drinks available. I had no idea how he did it, but Blake had completely charmed my parents, and they had actually lightened up a lot since Blake and I started seriously dating. I mean, they weren’t exactly at the same level of relaxed as Lucy’s parents, but they had come a long way from how they’d been a year earlier. “Hey, Jaz.” Tyler came over and pulled me in for a hug. “Nice to see you,” Jack sa
JASMINE When we were well into dinner, Blake’s mom came in wearing her scrubs. She waved hello to everyone and walked over to Blake, kissing him on his head. She then looked up, locking eyes with Talia. Our side of the table went quiet as she began to lose color from her face. “Bianca,” she gasped. “Mom!” Blake got up pushing his chair back. “Shit, I should have told you.” “You didn’t tell your mom?” Beta Alfred, who was normally calm, suddenly stood, puffing his chest and glaring at Blake. The entire table was now quiet, staring at the scene unfolding. He got up and took Luna Sienna’s arm, leading her out of the room. “That was really stupid, Blake,” Robin snapped at him, getting up to follow. Lucy’s baby started crying. This set off Luke’s sister, Lauren’s, baby as well. They both got up, trying to comfort them and walking into the living room. “Fuck,” Blake said and followed Robin. The rest of the table was left in shock, not saying anything. Breaking the silence, Peyton’s mat
TALIA Well, that was really awkward. Scratch that—the whole day was really awkward and uncomfortable. I should make a list of all of the uncomfortable things that happened since I got to this place: 1. I tried to sleep with my brother. 2. I tried to sleep with a gay man. 3. I found out my father is dead. Still not sure how he died, but maybe I can find out. 4. I found out that my mom was a nanny mistress at only eighteen years old. 5. I found out why my mom got banished from the pack—and it was because of me. 6. The two men who witnessed me seducing my brother, who I now know are named Luke and Jack, know that I tried to seduce my brother. Will they tell other people? How many people know now? 7. Oh, right, my brother has a girlfriend. Does she know? What does she think? 8. This blonde girl who lives here, Lucy, is a bitch. She keeps calling me the rogue. Blake forced her to give me a dress to wear for tonight. I really didn’t want to wear it, but I didn’t have much of a choic
TALIA After we finished eating breakfast, Blake took me to his mom’s house. It was a pretty short walk from the packhouse. When we arrived, his mom smiled at me in greeting. She had a very warm smile that extended to her whole face. I could instantly tell she was a good person. Her eyes, on the other hand, looked sad. I wasn’t even sure how exactly I could tell they were sad. And then, after a few moments, it clicked. They reminded me of my own mother’s eyes—a haunted look of something gripping her that she couldn’t shake off. “Hello, Talia.” She put her hand out to shake mine. I extended my own hand and she had a surprisingly firm handshake. “Thanks for coming by. Why don’t you come sit in the kitchen, and I’ll bring over some tea?” “That’d be great, Mom.” Blake wrapped his arms around her as she patted his back and kissed his cheek, and I instantly understood they had a close relationship. After Blake’s mom laid everything out, she took a seat at the table with us. We all made sm
TALIA Once Lucy was ready to go, we headed outside to Jasmine’s blue Jeep Wrangler Sport. I pulled my seat forward so that Lucy could climb into the back seat. When we were all buckled in, Jasmine pulled out of the lot and sped out of the pack territory. We drove about an hour to Burlington, Vermont to go to a shopping mall that was located there. Lucy dragged us to Victoria’s Secret first. I was relieved since I did need bras and underwear big time! I looked around and decided to settle for the cotton panties since they were the best deal at five for thirty dollars. It was pretty pricey, and much more than I normally spent on underwear, but I wasn’t sure if I’d end up anywhere else that sold underwear. I quickly grabbed five pairs. “You should get something sexier than that.” Lucy came up behind me. “They have some really cute lacey thongs over there.” She pointed over to a display. “These are fine,” I replied. It’s not like I’d be wearing these for anyone anyway. I’d already emba
TALIA Once we got into H&M, I began picking out some basic clothing such as leggings and T-shirts. Then I checked the sales rack to see what they had. There usually wasn’t much good on the sale rack but I found a few things to try on. When I looked up, I spotted Lucy holding a bodycon dress against Jasmine. Jasmine looked very irritated, rolling her eyes dramatically. I chuckled to myself because it was actually pretty entertaining. The two of them had a very interesting dynamic. I couldn’t tell if they were best friends or enemies. It could really go either way. I pulled everything that fit together after going into the fitting room. I was relieved that the prices at H&M were much more reasonable, especially for their basics and sale items. Maybe if I kept a note of how much everything cost, I could eventually pay Blake back. I could also pay Hugo back for the wolfsbane. Once I figured out how to make money of course. I wished I had my cell phone because I desperately wanted to text
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