TALIA I walked home, clutching a bag filled with different medications and a paper that explained how and when to take them. The cold air blew against my hot face. I felt light-headed and woozy as I walked home. I didn’t recall ever feeling this unwell in my life before. Once I got back inside my apartment, I fell into my mattress, only to hear my phone ringing loudly. I picked it up to see that a FaceTime call was coming in from Alex. “Hello, beautiful,” he sang out as soon as I answered the call. “Hi, Alex,” I said. A coughing fit followed. He stared into his screen, looking as if he was concentrating. “Was that your cough? You sound terrible! You look terrible!” He drew his eyebrows together. “Thanks,” I replied, sarcastically. “Talia, you’re always beautiful. But, are you—” He stared at me. “Are you sick?” he shouted. “Yes,” I replied. “I’m sick.” “Fucking Artemis! Did you go to the doctor? Fuck. Talia, we need to get you checked up right away. I’m leaving right now to come
ALEXANDER Fuck, fuck, fuck. I was worried. This was really bad. I’d never seen a full-grown werewolf get sick before. Adult werewolves didn’t get sick. At least not until they got past a certain age. I’d, of course, known of elderly werewolves who got sick, growing weak from the aging process. But not twenty-year-old ones! My legs were restless and my stomach churned, my heart incessantly beat in my chest, as if my inner wolf was clawing at me, needing to get to my mate. When I’d hit traffic during the ride, I’d grow impatient, throwing my palm against my car horn. I needed to be with Talia. As I drove, I also worried about my mom. She’d aged ten years since my father died and was a shell of who she’d been previously. Even when things were bad in her relationship with my father, she still always managed to have a smile on her face, humming different songs as she cooked and cleaned, always presenting herself immaculately. I’d never known my mother to have a hair out of place. Now sh
TALIA I awoke feeling well and relaxed—better than I’d felt in weeks, possibly months. My whole body was energized. Calming sparks flooded up and down my skin. I was lying against a warm body, my nipples hard against the thin fabric of my shirt, pressing into his torso. My thighs were warm and tingling. I instinctively threw one leg over his body, pushing myself further against him, his erection throbbing against me. Mmm. I was so aroused and so relaxed. It reminded me of how I often felt during midsummer afternoons, the sun’s rays warming my skin, a feeling of ease overtaking me. He moaned next to me, and my eyes darted open as I suddenly became conscious of where I was and what I was doing. I quickly separated from him, unsure about the situation. It had felt so good but . . . “How are you feeling?” he asked. Then I remembered. I’d been sick. I could barely get out of bed. It seemed so long ago, now that I was feeling so awake and energized, my cough completely gone. “I feel good
TALIA A flying deer??? It all happened in slow motion. Alex slammed on the breaks as the deer in the sky shattered the glass in front of us. Our car spun out, sending us in sporadic circles until we abruptly stopped with an earth-shaking thud. My whole body crashed against the seatbelt and my neck ached from whiplash. I instantly undid my seatbelt to turn in my seat to see what happened. We’d hit a tree, denting the whole car inward—luckily toward the back of the car rather than the front. I probably wouldn’t have died, but it would have been painful had the car landed against the tree a meter forward. Alex instantly jumped from the car, tearing his clothing as he shifted into his wolf form. And then I saw them—a group of three wolves dashing toward us. Was Alex going to fight them by himself? I watched in horror as they attacked him, swiping their sharp claws at him and biting into his fur. But he was good, really good. While the wolves got some good swipes and bites in, overall, A
TALIA Blake dropped me off in front of my apartment building, and I opened the car door to exit. “Let me walk you to your door,” Alex offered, opening his door as well. “Be right back,” he said to Blake, then climbed out, following me to the front of the apartment building. “Do you want to come in for a cup of tea?” I asked. “I thought you’d never ask.” Alex smiled. “Let me send Blake home then.” He turned to walk over to Blake’s car, and I watched as he spoke to him through the opened window. Blake looked over at me and I gave him a thumbs up. He nodded and drove away. As soon as we got into the apartment, I noticed that Alex’s shirt was wet with red stains. “You’re bleeding!” I exclaimed, walking over to him. He pulled the bloody shirt off and said, “It’ll heal quickly. But I should probably wash all the blood off. Do you mind if I take a shower?” “Sure, let me get you a clean towel,” I said, pulling one out of the linen closet and handing it to him. I couldn’t help but notice
TALIA The next morning, after Alex called a tow truck and secured a car rental, we loaded my few possessions into the back of the temporary vehicle. After he shut the trunk, he pulled me against him, staring into my eyes. “It feels too good to be true.” He smiled widely, his whole face glowing. He kissed me deeply and we got into the car, stopping at the packhouse to say goodbye to Blake and Jasmine. “If you need someone to walk you down the aisle at your wedding, just give me a buzz.” Blake hugged me. “And I hope you’re still planning to come to mine!” “I’ll be there,” I replied, hugging him back. Even though we hadn’t known each other long, I could feel that we had developed a close, familial relationship, and I hoped we’d be able to sustain it from a distance. “I’m so glad things worked out with your mate,” Jasmine said. “Stay in touch.” “I will. We’re friends, right?” “Right.” She gave me a huge smile, and I felt a warmth in the knowledge that I was finally making friends and
ALEXANDER It constantly felt like one step forward and two steps back. Okay, maybe it had improved. Previously it was about one step forward, ten steps back. Now it was just a shuffle, back and forth, back and forth. Talia and I had made progress as a couple; we seemed to be back on track. Until, of course, my sister had rained on our parade. And I was stumped. As much as I wanted Sara gone now, and I didn’t care if I ever looked at her face again, I also knew she was right. My mother was very fragile at the moment. One step in the wrong direction and I wasn’t sure she’d survive. Finding out about my mate had already edged her in that direction. “Alex!” my mom called out as soon as I entered her bedroom. I mindlinked the nurses to ask for privacy and closed the door as soon as they walked out. “Mom, how are you?” I sat down at her bedside, taking her hand and kissing her on the forehead. “Where have you been, honey?” she asked, searching my face. “I’ve been asking Sara and the nu
JASMINE It wasn’t long before word got around about what happened to Charlie. Additionally, his two friends that were involved were discharged from being warriors and given jail sentences, now stuck in the cells for the foreseeable future. Sam went from being a sub to a permanent trainer for our group. For strength training that day, Sam set up a circuit for us inside the gym. He went around and paired us off in partners for the different stations. I was, unfortunately, paired with Tina, who was not my favorite person. She’d been a year above me in high school, friends with Alyssa, and was never particularly nice to me. Fortunately, she wasn’t in a talking mood that day. I got through deadlifts, overhead presses, and walking lunges just fine. Then when we got to the plank station where we had to hold a plank for five minutes straight, Sam came by. “Nice form, Dale.” He nodded at me. Then he looked over at Tina and said, “Butt down, Mitchell.” “Are you sucking his cock too, PJ?” Ti
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