Captive Wolf
Unchained Hearts
Alexis Calder
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue 1
Epilogue 2
Thanks For Reading!
About the Author
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters and events in this book are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2020 by Alexis Calder
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Artwork by Emcat Designs
Created with Vellum
1
Carter
My phone buzzes and I glance at the glowing screen, surprised to see a text from Catalina, the vampire who owns most of the bars in town. What the hell does she want? It’s nearly the solstice and I know the vamps do their own thing just as we wolves do ours.
I want to ignore it, but I have a feeling it’s not good news if she’s texting me. We don’t cross paths a lot but we’re both business owners and well-known members of the supernatural community in Coventon.
I open the message and growl at the screen. Seems there was a run in at her bar with some out of town wolves. And she’s pissed.
Quickly, I text thanks for the heads up, then I send a message to my guys. Last time a pack from out of town sniffed around things went south quick. And tonight is the one night I can’t have any mistakes.
Any wolf that crosses into our territory will be dealt with. Harshly. I’m not going to have a pack war while I’m alpha. Especially not on the solstice.
Our magic is stronger tonight, making shifting a necessity for many of our members. Especially the younger shifters. The longest night of the year calls to us, no matter what the moon’s position.
I frown, knowing that if shit goes down, I’ll be stuck dealing with it instead of running in the woods.
Those wolves better be gone.
I’m not going play nice if I catch them.
“Carter, you heading out?”
I turn to see Mikey, the head trainer at my gym, standing in my office doorway. He’s changed out of his gym clothes and into a pair of jeans and a black tee shirt. His dark hair is in gelled spikes on his head as if he got cleaned up to impress someone.
I grin. “Picking up Jen tonight?”
“Don’t tell me you’re spending the solstice run solo?” he asks.
I don’t answer.
“At least come get a drink with us before sunset,” he says.
“With you and your date? Yeah, I think I’ll pass,” I say.
He laughs. “Alright, see you later.”
After he walks out of my office, I quickly file away everything I was working on and head out.
This is my first solstice run alone in years. I try not to think of the woman who broke my heart. It was better to be alone.
The whole gym smells of old sweat mixed with bleach. It’s odd how such a strange combination calms me now. This place was my dad’s dream and now it was mine. It’s zero frills. No fancy equipment. No towel service. Just a place to come in, sweat, and get out.
Most of my clients are shifters, but the occasional human or other supernatural joined. Everyone knows that while in the gym, there are no sides, no quarrels, no drama. If you want to work out here, you check your baggage at the door.
I flip off the light switch and tap the sign next to the door that says, Harold’s Gym. After my dad died, I changed the name from Iron Gym to his name in memory of him.
The sign is showing wear from where the long-time members tap it on their way in and out. It’s our connection to him and I’m glad I could do something small to keep his memory alive.
I lock the door and walk toward my car then walk past it. There are still a few hours until the pack meet up. And I could use a drink.
The Dizzy Dragon is busy today. People getting an early start on the festivities of the day.
I grab a seat at the bar and flag down Roman Mounts, the bar’s manager. He’s pouring drinks tonight as they seem to be down a few bartenders. He’s in an outfit today that can only be described as his Tarzan look. A loin cloth covers most of his lower areas but it’s leaving very little to the imagination. His chest is bare and his long hair is loose around his face.
“What’s the occasion, Roman?” I ask.
“Does there need to be an occasion for me to get dressed up?” he asks.
“Aren’t you freezing?” a female voice calls.
I turn to see a woman a few seats away, taking a sip from a bottle of beer.
“Don’t you know, darling,” he says. “I’m always hot.”
She laughs and holds up her bottle in salute. “That you are, Roman.”
I grin and look back at the bartender. He’s now flexing his pecs one at a time, obviously trying to impress the girl.
“Hey, Roman. I’ll have what she’s having, and another for her if she wants one.”
“You got it, sir,” he says, dipping below the counter to grab beer bottles from the fridge. He pops back up and sets the bottles on the counter then opens them before passing one to me and one to the woman.
I glance at her and lift the bottle. “Cheers.”
“Salute,” she says.
I catch her eyes and I’m instantly pulled in. They’re a deep blue, nearly gray and from here, I can see the flecks of gold in them. I’ve never seen eyes like that.
Long dark hair is swept away from her face in a messy bun and she’s got a light dusting of freckles on her nose. Then there’s her lips.
My heart is racing as if I just finished running a mile. Those lips are the embodiment of sin.
I want to taste her.
I want to throw her on the bar top right now and make her beg for more.
She cocks an eyebrow. “You do know staring is rude.”
“Yeah, sorry, zoned out,” I lie. Cause all I want to do is stare at her. She’s stunning.
“Long day already?” she asks.
“It’s going to be a longer night,” Roman cuts in. He leans over the bar, right next to her. “In case you’re afraid of the dark, I can keep you company.”
A rush of jealousy roars through me, my wolf rising to the surface so fast I’m startled by the reaction. I take a deep breath and force the reaction down. I haven’t felt that much of a push from my wolf without my direction since I was a new shifter.
But then again, I don’t think I’d ever seen a woman this sexy. I take another swig of my beer. It must be the solstice. It has to be the wolf inside me ready to run.
Roman blows her an air kiss. “What do you say, love?”
She shakes her head. “Keep trying, Roman. Maybe one of these days I’ll say yes.”
He blows another air kiss at her and walks away to check on other customers.
I want to rip his head off.
“Thanks for the beer,” she says.
I turn away from Roman and look at her. Her eyes pull me in right away. I feel the heat rise in my body and my wolf once again, begs for release. I maintain control as I manage to nod at her.
She pulls on her coat and walks away. I force myself not to watch her leave the bar.
Now that sh
e’s gone, this place feels empty. And depressing. And I realize I’m drinking alone in a bar in the middle of the afternoon.
I abandon the rest of my beer and pull on my own coat.
It’s going to be a long night.
As I drive through town, I notice there are a lot of out of towners on the streets tonight. I’m on the lookout after the heads up about the wolves but didn’t think they’d be stupid enough to stick around.
Yet, the city seems to be crawling with unfamiliar faces.
2
Lucy
The wind blows cold and cuts through my scarf like ice. The sun is already setting even though it’s early. Stupid solstice and it’s stupid short day.
I have to be the only member of the pack who wasn’t looking forward to tonight. They’ll run all night in their wolf form, and I’ll sit at home, feeling the call but not shifting.
Life sucks for a half breed like me.
My mom was human, my dad was the alpha of the pack. He always assumed his superior genetics would result in a shifter like him. Instead, it turns out I got the human side and I never shift.
He died when I was thirteen and I’m glad he never had to witness the disappointment of a daughter who couldn’t shift. Instead, I’d been passed off to my godfather, Lucas, who got to be disappointed.
Each full moon, though, I feel a wild streak. A part of me that gets reckless and rash. When I was younger, my dad and my godfather were convinced it was the wolf trying to get out. But now that I’m an adult, I’ve had to accept that it’s just never going to happen.
I walk toward the garage apartment where I live. Yeah, I live with my godfather. Sort of. I have my own key, and I avoid the main house whenever possible. It’ll officially be my house when I’m twenty-five and my inheritance gets passed on to me.
I keep telling myself it’s a short-term solution while I save for grad school. Plus, it was where I’d lived with my dad.
“Luce?”
I sigh at the sound of my godfather’s voice as I slowly turn to face him. I just don’t want to deal with him again. It’s always something with him.
“Anything?” he asks.
I blink, trying to mask my annoyance. “You asked me four times this morning.”
“I just thought, maybe,” he says. “It is the solstice.”
“Lucas, if I shifted, you’d be the first to know.”
He grunts, his lips twisting into a familiar look of disgust. He never tries to hide his disappointment. “Well, I have some good news, at least.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Jack’s asked about you,” he says.
Jack is Lucas’s number two. A strong, handsome asshole with a reputation for treating women like shit. He comes from money and owns the huge property where the wolves run on nights like tonight.
“So?” I say. I wanted exactly zero to do with him.
“He wants you to be his mate,” Lucas says.
My brow furrows and I search his expression. Is he seriously saying that with a straight face? “You’re kidding, right?”
“I think it’s a good match,” he says.
“He’s abusive,” I say, recalling the stories I’ve heard.
“Those were all lies to make him look bad,” Lucas says with practiced mechanics.
My eyes widen and I scoff. “You’d send your goddaughter off to be with a man who has rumors of beating women?”
“I told you, it’s not true,” he says. “You think I’d let him near you if I believed it?”
Yes. I don’t say it out loud. Lucas has a good streak but only when it serves him. He’d taught me how to fix old cars and took me shopping for a prom dress. He took me fishing and told me the stories about my dad.
Each year after my fifteenth birthday, the year most shifters had their first shift, he grew more distant.
Now, at twenty-two, he can hardly look at me. I’m not useful to him anymore. I’m just an obligation.
I’d left at eighteen, did the whole college thing, and graduated. But there are few jobs for a girl with a degree in history and my only skill was fixing cars. Plus, this was my home and as long as I didn’t walk away from it fully, it would be mine when I was old enough.
“Look, Jasmine is moving in and it’s going to get crowded around here,” he says.
The words sink in, hitting harder than I expect. “You can’t kick me out.”
“No, I can’t, and I don’t want to,” he says. “But you’re old enough to be on your own and we both know your heart isn’t in running an auto shop.”
“You can stay if you want,” he says. “But the baby is going to take a lot of time.”
“She’s pregnant?” They’d only been dating a few months.
“Yes,” he says. “We’ll have a cub soon and the extra space will help.”
I don’t want to leave but I really don’t want to be around him and a pregnant wolf shifter. “When does she move in?”
“Her lease ends tomorrow so she’ll start bringing her stuff then,” he says.
My heart sinks. As much as I tried to close myself off against his lack of concern about me over the last few years, he was still the closest thing I have to family. And it still hurt.
“Jack will treat you well,” he says. “You’ll have everything you need and you’ll be respected. And when you two have kids, they should be wolves. You’ll be accepted and welcomed into the pack.”
I swallow hard but my throat is dry. He’s never said it out loud, but I’ve never been fully pack. I was pack adjacent. Like the human wives some of the guys took. Protected by the pack, but never fully in.
It stings more than I thought it would. This pack was my dad’s. It should be my birthright to join. Yet, here I am. A human playing at being in a pack of wolves.
“So you want me to mate with a potential abuser and have his babies, so I’ll be what - acceptable to the pack?” Up until now, I knew how much of a disappointment I was, but I guess I underestimated his feelings.
He’s going to send me away so I can breed a new generation of wolves?
I don’t fucking think so.
“I’ll be out of here tomorrow,” I say.
“Jack can bring his truck,” he says. “He’ll help you take your things to his place.”
I lift an eyebrow. “You think I’m going to go be Jack’s little wife just like that?”
“It’s a good offer,” he says. “What else are you going to do? Go work at the gas station? You have a degree in history. You have no skills.”
He knows I’m saving for grad school. He knows I graduated with honors. He just doesn’t believe in me and I think he never has.
Heat rises to my face and I feel the wild part of me clawing to break free. I want to grab him and shake him. Scream at him. All that’ll do is unleash his wolf and then I’m fucked.
I take a deep breath. “I have helped you repair cars for the last decade. I have skills.”
“Nobody is going to hire you,” he says.
I shake my head. He’s cutting me off. I’ve worked in his auto shop since I was a teenager. He paid me just like he paid the other guys. I worked just as hard and knew just as much as the rest of them. “So I’m fired is what you’re saying? You do realize I’ll own the shop in three years.”
“In three years, you might not want it anymore,” he says.
I never wanted the shop. I think I always figured I’d let him keep it, but I didn’t want to let it go. It was my connection to my dad. “It’s my shop.”
“Not yet. This is for your own good,” he says. “I think a mate is what you need to calm that wild streak.”
“And if I refuse?” I ask.
His expression is that of concern but I know better. This whole time, he’s been concerned about his reputation. Not my well-being.
“I’ll be out tomorrow,” I say.
“You should consider Jack’s offer,” he says. “He won’t rush you. You can stay with him a while and see if you’re
a good fit.”
“Yeah, I’ll think about it,” I say, just to end the conversation.
Cause there is no way in hell I’m going to some archaic arranged marriage so I could make little baby wolf shifters. Fuck that noise.
Tonight, the whole pack will be running on Jack’s property outside the city limits. It was expected I’d stay here, indoors, alone, away from the chaos and danger of the Solstice.
No more. I stayed because I worried I couldn’t make it on my own until I figured out a way to tame the wild streak. But it was clear I couldn’t stay here.
While the wolves ran tonight, I’d skip town. Three years in the city, then I can come back and take back everything.
I should have done it years ago. No more letting fear hold me back.
3
Lucy
I don’t have to wait long for Lucas to leave. He’s out the door before the sun sets.
The sky is a dusky blue with streaks of gold, the sun nearly swallowed by the night. In the glow of the cold winter sky, I load up my car, an ancient Camaro I’d rebuilt with Lucas’s help when I was a teenager.
There’s not much to take. Clothes, a few personal items. My whole life crammed into two duffel bags and a laundry basket.
I wish things were different. Maybe they would be if my mom had taken me with her when she left. But she’d made it clear she didn’t want to raise a wolf. Joke’s on both of us, then. Cause the wolf never showed. I got the temper and reckless streak of a wolf with the fragility of a human. Basically, the short end of the stick from both gene pools.
My car purrs to life as I take off from my childhood home. Exhilarated, I feel more alive than I have in years. I should never have come back. The auto shop paid so much better than any shit entry level job I could get in the city. Plus, rent was free so I could save all my pennies for school. But everything comes with a price.
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