by Deena Remiel
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Salvaged Souls
Copyright 2016 by Deena Remiel
ISBN: 978-1-68361-121-9
Cover art by Fiona Jayde
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC
Look for us online at:
www.decadentpublishing.com
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Disquieted Souls by Deena Remiel
Black Hills Wolves Stories
Wolf’s Return
What a Wolf Wants
Black Hills Desperado
Wolf’s Song
Claiming His Mate
When Hell Freezes
Portrait of a Lone Wolf
Alpha in Disguise
A Wolf’s Promise
Reluctant Mate
Diamond Moon
Wolf on a Leash
Tempting the Wolf
Naming His Mate
A Wolf Awakens
The Wolf and the Butterfly
Infiltrating Her Pack
Omega’s Heart
Rebel’s Claw
Claiming the She-Wolf
Worth Fighting For
Dangerous
Uncaged
Promiscuous Wolf
Disquieted Souls
A Cougar Among Wolves
Long Road Home
A Mate’s Healing Touch
Another Chance
Broken Silence
A Wolf’s Contract
A Mate’s Redeeming Touch
A Cougar Among Wolves
Pleasure Me
Craving His Love
Jasmine Moon
Mating Dance
Amber’s Ace
Wedding Moon
Bringing Down Romeo
Winter Solstice Run
Wolf’s Holiday
Winter Magic
Winter Secrets
Winter Solstice Ménage
Wolf in Winter Clothing
Murder in Los Lobos
Scent of Murder
Scent of the Hunt
Scent of His Woman
Scent of Madness
Coming Soon
Secrets of the Hunt
Salvaged Souls
Also by Deena Remiel
Elixxir
Ghost of a Chance
Disquieted Souls
Salvaged Souls
When a new woman comes to Los Lobos, looking for a fresh start and a helping hand, she turns dominant black wolf, Parker’s world upside down. Struck by her beauty and vulnerability, he’s immediately consumed by her voice. One with which he’s all too familiar. The seductive, tremulous voice of his red wolf, his dream lover who he’d give anything to rescue from a torturous life. His mind is slammed by the impossible implications, and he can’t let her out of his sight until he finds out who she really is.
Shiloh has endured endless days and nights as a captured, forced mate of an alpha, chained to a cast iron stove, a vessel for all manner of unspeakable abuses. The only thing keeping her alive? Her black wolf, her mate, who comes every night in her dreams, soothing away the anguish, offering exquisite love and hope that one day an opportunity will come for her to break away. With her mate away on a trip, she just might have that chance.
Shiloh and Parker are two bruised souls, salvaged from the wreckage of their tragic pasts, who find that love might finally set them free.
Dedication
To all the salvaged souls, SURVIVORS, of abuse
Dear Readers,
Welcome, readers! I’ve always been drawn to stories where people, whose spirits and souls have been broken, find a way to heal through their love of one another. It’s so satisfying to watch characters learn to trust again, to believe again, and to let go for the first time so that a forever love may enter their lives. I believe Salvaged Souls is just such a story. I hope you enjoy all the highs and lows of this emotional story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Deena Remiel
www.deenaremiel.com
Salvaged Souls
Black Hills Wolves Book
By
Deena Remiel
Chapter One
How long had the beast been gone? With a tremulous finger, Shiloh traced along the crude etchings on the pine floor as she counted. Ten grooves. Ten blessed days of silence, of peace, of tranquility. Ten glorious days with no one kicking her in the gut, punching her face, or tromping on her as if she were a throw rug because they couldn’t be bothered to step around her.
Enough days had come and gone for fresh wounds to heal while older ones scarred over. Enough time had passed for her skin to become sensitized once again, and she quivered with the agonizing anticipation of being reintroduced to her mate’s brutal treatment when he finally came back.
Shiloh leaned against the wood-burning stove she’d been chained to, watching with morbid fascination as a squadron of flies buzzed like tiny vultures around her empty plate. Considering she’d licked it clean over a dozen times, the buggers would have to look elsewhere for a meal of their own. Her iron collar chafed the tender skin underneath as she lowered her weakened body to the floor.
She dreaded Josiah’s return with every fiber of her being.
Couldn’t he just die from drinking tainted water on the journey to finding his oldest brother, long thought dead? If not, then, maybe on his return he could be killed by some rabid porcupine. She held the same sentiment for his three brothers. Never, in her wildest imaginings, had she thought when she’d run away from her own pack, she’d wind up kidnapped, turned into a battered sex slave, and suffer indescribable indignities as a forced mate to the worst monster who ever lived on earth.
All she’d wanted, all she’d thought of, when she ran off that fateful evening was the freedom she’d gain from her clueless, cantankerous parents. They’d never been pleased with her, thanks to her wily siblings always setting her up to take the blame for their missteps. To stay with her family, her pack, meant a life doomed to repetitive failure and the misguided scrutiny of others. All of which would be well orchestrated by her sisters just to advance their own position and stake in their parents’ favor and the pack.
Running away and being on her own had been a great achievement up until a couple of years ago, when she’d inadvertently passed into poorly marked territory of an unknown pack. Seeking a place to bed down for the night, she’d stumbled upon four large, mangy wolves. They’d never given her a chance to apologize, to run back to where she’d come from, or to find shelter elsewhere. Instead, they’d surrounded her, shifting into a motley crew of men. They’d punched her snout and ribs as they threatened death unless she shifted into her female form. She’d seriously considered death as a better alternative, but cowardice forced her wolf to submit, letting her human take over.
The teeth belonging to the one called Josiah had glistened with drool as he verbally claimed her for his own in front of the other men. With bound feet and hands, she was brought to the saddest excuse for a villag
e she’d ever seen. The few houses still standing had seen better days. An acrid stench of rotting waste assaulted her nasal passages.
From that day on, no one questioned Shiloh as Josiah’s property. The pack was so small, so ill-managed, they didn’t even have a name. They came and went as they pleased. There was no organization or anyone who gave a damn. Josiah, the group-appointed alpha, had one main rule: there are no rules except don’t piss me off.
When he’d introduced her to the pack, he’d let everyone know, in no uncertain terms, she was hands-off. First, he soldered the collar around her neck then pulled up the hem of her shirt for all to bear witness he’d marked her just above her right hip. As a last bit of degradation, he’d paraded her around like a dog. After her initiation into the pack, she became virtually invisible. Nobody in the godforsaken group gave a rat’s ass about her or spoke a single word to her on the few occasions she was allowed outside. Only Josiah. He had many words for her. None of them nice.
She spent her days and nights in her female form, wearing a collar chained to the leg of a wood-burning stove with only enough run to make it to the main rooms on the first floor. She couldn’t even reach the front door to answer it if someone knocked—not that anyone would. They’d just barge right in if they needed Josiah. They’d see her chained up but turn a blind eye. The chain-link collar squeezed her neck. So tight, if she shifted, she’d choke to death. She struggled daily to keep her raging wolf from taking over.
How much longer until the brutes returned? Her stomach growled its personal offense at not having an adequate food supply in the cupboards. Had he meant to come back sooner? Did something happen to spoil his plans? What if he never returned? She touched the collar, her mind returning to repeated daydreams about breaking free and where she’d run to so she could settle down.
“Go on. I dare you to try again,” she whispered. Her heart lurched as she wrapped bony fingers around the chafing shackle about her neck. A small tug yielded nothing. A stronger pull pinched at the already-tender skin. Yanking harder still produced no results, so she gave up.
“Sucker. Try pushing the stove over a bit. Maybe the chain can be freed.” It wouldn’t budge. She dropped her hands to her lap, defeated, then curled up in a tight little ball.
“I’m gonna die right here on this floor, in this shithole of a house, and no one is going to know or care.” Giving in to the hopelessness, she closed her eyes, prepared to say good-bye to the only good thing in her life—the mysterious black wolf who’d been showing up in her dreams ever since her capture.
***
Shards of glass shelving crunched like cornflakes under Parker’s feet as he wandered through Bread & Butter, his grocery store in Los Lobos. Had a tornado hit it? An earthquake? No. A group of stealthy thugs had decimated his store, cleaned him out of his stock, basically wrecking the place.
When bad things happened, the true mettle of a person shone through. Some folks handled the stress better than others. Survival of the fittest. He’d been pissed as hell when he’d learned of the break-in, when he’d seen the destruction, but he realized it served him little to stew about it. He had a town that relied on his goods. That needed to be his focus. Ryker’s team had found and dispatched the assholes rather quickly, which gave Parker a small measure of satisfaction.
His father had taught him right. Take care of the people around you, son, because you never know when you’re going to need help yourself. Wise words from a father well loved for many years. It’d been just the two of them, helping each other grow up and taking care of each other as dominant wolves were instinctively wont to do. Father. Son. Buddies for life. Partners in crime and all things fun. He’d missed him terribly since that cruel day when a rogue wolf, a Magnum sympathizer, viciously killed him right before his young eyes during a father-son hunting trip. But, hearing his voice, even if simply from his memory, comforted him to this day.
Parker ground more glass into the wooden floor as he trudged to his phone book, the tedious process of ordering food, goods, and sundries next on his list. Cleanup could wait. His pack’s needs couldn’t.
“Hey, Bry. How are you?” His dairy supplier had been a longtime friend of his father’s, so when Parker decided to open up a grocery store in Los Lobos, Bryan was the first person he’d called.
“Hey, man, what’s up?”
“I need to place a huge order with you. I’m cleaned out completely.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope. There is no rotating of inventory, my friend. I don’t even have an egg or a tub of butter left. I wish I could say it was due to amazing sales, but the store was broken into and trashed. So, get ready.”
“Shit, man. I’m sorry. Just hope I have enough supply for your demand.” He laughed lightly on the other end of the phone.
“Me, too.” Parker ran down his list of products: fifty dozen eggs, fifty gallons of whole milk, twenty gallons of low-fat milk, and fifty tubs of butter. “Oh, and give me five large blocks each of American, Cheddar, and Swiss cheese, too.”
“You weren’t kidding! All right. Let me see what I can do for you. It’s Monday. I’ve nearly run dry myself from the weekend haul. Give me about half an hour to get back to you. If I can’t complete this list on my own, I’ll find others who can help fill in my holes.”
“My goal is to pick up the goods tomorrow or Wednesday. I’m hoping that’s all right.”
“I’ll do my best. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
He called the meat purveyor next then the organic farmer for produce, and his distributor for the sundries. With everyone pitching in, he might be fully stocked by week’s end. His ancient delivery truck was going to get a good workout. He brought it over to the garage for an oil change and returned to the store to start the massive cleanup.
Raking his hands through his long braids, he took a deep breath, shrugged his shoulders, and grabbed a broom. “This place may be an empty shell right now, but not for long.”
He turned the radio on for some motivating music then shoveled every last crumb into a garbage can. His heart lightened while he mopped and grooved to the familiar tunes. The refrigerators still worked fine, as did the freezers.
Parker turned the negative into a positive, letting renovation ideas flood his mind. He could rearrange a bit. Maybe create a better floor plan. He’d thought about doing so a dozen times since he opened, but never had the opportunity to really evaluate in order to make any changes.
As more pack members returned, they’d need more goods. His store was the only full-service market in town, and expanding wasn’t too far in the distance. Hiring someone to help would take the increasing load off of him. He added one more thing to his list of chores—put a sign up in the window asking for help. For now, though, he was a one-man army.
Chapter Two
A commotion outside her front door roused Shiloh from her lethargy. She stretched her chain to its limit to see what was going on. People had gathered on the front stoop. Had someone called a meeting? Josiah, as leader, had never bothered.
Frissons of fear coursed through her veins while prickles ignited across her skin. Had he finally returned? An unfamiliar male voice barked over the buzzing group. She strained to see, to hear what he had to say.
“Good evening, everyone. My name is Greyson. This is my mate, Willow. You’ve probably already figured out why I’m here. Your alpha is dead. I’m not going to lie. I’m the reason for the unfortunate circumstance.”
Grumbles reverberated through the pack.
Josiah’s dead? Had she heard right? He’s not coming back? Dizzy from the implications, she swooned.
“I can’t stand before you and say I’m particularly happy to be here. I’m here solely because Josiah and his family—my biological family—hunted me down. They tried to kill me. I protected myself. In the course of doing so, I had to kill them. When I learned of this pack, I was curious t
o see what I’d lost when my mother left me for dead in the wilderness. I thought I could come home to be of important service to you. So I stand here now as the new alpha of this pack. The alpha who should have been here all along. I stand here ready to help you, to lift you up and make this pack a thriving community for all.”
Silence.
Inside Shiloh’s jail of a house, she’d heard everything. Those words were like angels heralding her freedom.
“I guess you’ll need a bit of time to let it all sink in. I can respect that. Just imagine, though, all you see here renovated. Imagine opening small shops to make this town self-sustaining. The sky’s the limit.”
Murmurs, grumbles, and laughter mixed into a powerful toxin against the proposed change.
“Check this out. He kills our alpha and thinks he’s entitled to mess with what’s not broke.”
“Sounds like way too much work.”
“Civilized living is for the civilized. Anybody here civilized?”
Hoots and howls of agreement from the crowd validated the various comments.
The stranger responded over the din. “Change is hard. It’s easy to keep on keeping on in the face of adversity. But, sometimes, change is good. Like now. I’m placing the opportunity of a lifetime in front of you. All you have to do is agree to it. Accept me as your new alpha. We can change for the better together.”
“We don’t need a new alpha,” a gruff voice from the group shouted. “We got a substitute right here. Ain’t I right, Silas? Ain’t you our alpha?”
Ugh. She cringed. Silas was just as bad as Josiah. Two peas in a pod. If Silas killed this guy in a battle for alpha, she could kiss her life good-bye. Silas would either leave her there to rot or force her to be his mate. The new guy sounded reasonable enough. Maybe a bit crazy for wanting to fix the hellhole of a village, but his heart was in the right place. What if she could find a way to get his attention and talk to him herself? Appeal to him as his brother’s mate, a new member of his family. She could get instant protection if he stayed. If he decided not to stay, then maybe he’d agree to take her with him. She could be dropped off somewhere as far away as possible.