by Lexie Davis
A Total-E-Bound Publication
www.total-e-bound.com
Bound by Moonlight
ISBN # 978-0-85715-132-2
©Copyright Lexie Davis 2010
Cover Art by Lyn Taylor ©Copyright May 2010
Edited by Jess Bimberg
Total-E-Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2010 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom
.
Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has been rated Total-e-burning.
Exotic Wolves
BOUND BY MOONLIGHT
Lexie Davis
Dedication
To Paul
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmark mentioned in this work of fiction:
Barbie: Mattel
Chapter One
It felt good to be free. Sasha sat at the bar and put in her order for a drink before she glanced around the smoky room. With Max now mated to Chloe, she decided she had to get out of that house. The lustful looks, the intense kisses, the hours spent in their room—it all made her physically sick. How could he not see how much Sasha loved him?
Before he’d left to service the newbie, Sasha told him she’d wait for him. She wanted him to know she would be there after he cleared his head and came back to his pack. Janie’s death had taken a huge toll on him. He’d only been helping her during her first change and she turned on him, wanting his blood. Sasha had wanted to help him and he had run away.
The bartender brought her the drink and she sipped it. When Max had come back, he’d been different. Immediately, Quinn had thrown him into another case of helping a new wolf through her transition—Chloe. And Max had fallen in love with her. Tears filled Sasha’s eyes as she nursed her broken heart. She couldn’t stand to be around them any longer.
“Vodka tonic,” a guy said to her right. She glanced over at him and he smiled. “You new here?”
She’d travelled nearly fifty miles from the Grey Wolves’ land with the hopes of never spotting one of her pack mates out and about.
“Just passing through.” She sipped her drink. Where she planned on going was still up for debate.
He pulled up the seat next to her and sat. “Where are you headed?”
She sniffed at the air. In a bar full of humans, the scent of one lone wolf seeped through the room. A male wolf who definitely called to her inner female. She turned, glancing over her shoulder at room. There was nobody she knew, and the scent was definitely one she didn’t recognise. Who was he? What did he want?
The man beside Sasha kept talking and she tuned him out, nodding occasionally. She considered herself a lone wolf now, a stray, and knew the dangers of being one. Which was why she decided to head to humanland. It was on rare occasions wolves associated with humans. She thought she’d be safe. But with a male lurking around, her fear spiked up a notch.
“Uh, I do hate to interrupt you,” Sasha handed the bartender money and grabbed her jacket, “but I need to go.”
She moved away from the bar, casually glancing around for someone out of place. She found nothing. Maybe her senses were messed up. Maybe she was used to being around males and she missed it. Dreamt it. Maybe she was losing her fucking mind. The possibility of the last one was probable. And it definitely explained why she was jittery.
Taking a deep breath and forcing herself to calm down, she opened the door and stumbled into someone on the other side. Arms wrapped around her and held her in place while the wolf scent grew stronger.
“Are you okay, miss?”
She inhaled and pushed away from him. His eyes were a deep blue, capturing her and holding her immobile. She swallowed hard as her heart sped up. He had long black hair and tan skin. Stay calm. She glanced at his six-foot-two frame and took in the black leathers he wore. There was no doubt in her mind that the man standing before her was the wolf she’d sensed.
He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. “Hello? Can you hear me?”
“Yes.” Her voice sounded raspy. She cleared her throat. “I’m fine. Sorry for running into you.”
“That’s okay.” His gaze didn’t waver. “You need to be more careful though. A woman like you shouldn’t be around here at night, alone.”
She nodded and backed away from him. “I’m going home.”
Sasha moved past him and headed towards the nearby woods. She needed to go somewhere else. Somewhere even farther. Home wasn’t an option anymore.
* * * *
Diego nursed a beer with his friends, thinking about the woman who’d run into him on his way into the bar. There were nearly fifty Black Wolves in the area, all quite deadly when it came to females. He knew they wouldn’t care if she was wolf or human, as long as they got their rocks off. And they liked to share their latest conquests, which usually resulted in death—or the female wishing she was dead. They were a brutal pack, and well, he was fortunate enough to be considered an ex-member.
He glanced out the window, half listening to his human friends. He wasn’t like his former pack mates. He’d had his fair share of pack fun until he’d met Alison. A pang of hurt shot into his chest at the memory. They’d been chosen for each other and her parents had taken her away before the needing phase. After she left, he hadn’t returned to his pack.
“What’s wrong with you?” Micah asked. “You look like you lost your best friend.”
Diego straightened and drank the last of his beer. “Just thinking. So, what was this night out about?”
“What else,” Jaden asked. “Rematch.”
Diego chuckled. None of his friends could stand to lose, and every time they played pool, Diego beat them. “Why the rematch? I’ll just make you look foolish all over again.”
Each of the men stood and grabbed their cue sticks. Jaden was the first to grab the chalk and made everyone else wait while he fixed the tip of his cue stick. Diego rolled his eyes as he set up the balls, deciding to give Jaden the first shot to break. Before he even poised his cue in the correct position, a man ran inside the bar screaming for help.
“There’s a girl outside.” He huffed a breath. “She has bite marks all over her… She looks like she’s been attacked by wolves.”
Diego stopped chalking his pool stick and lifted his head. He sniffed at the air and smelled fresh blood. He set the stick on the table and rushed outside along with a few others to see the woman, clothes ripped, bleeding on the ground outside. She’d definitely been mauled. Diego knelt beside her and felt for a pulse. His first thought was the body belonged to the woman who’d stumbled into him earlier. He studied the corpse and determined he was wrong. It was a different woman and an obvious sign from the pack.
“She’s dead.” Diego glanced up at the bar owner, Evan. “Call the
proper authorities. I’m going into the woods to see if there are any wolves around.”
Evan glanced towards the woods. “Are you sure that’s safe? Maybe you should leave that up to animal control?”
Evan had some cause for concern, Diego realised, but he brushed the bar owner’s questions off. Diego wanted to talk to Deacon, the pack’s Alpha. He walked into the woods, listening to the sounds of the night. Many wolves had travelled this way, he knew, and their scents lingered in the air. They’d have had to travel through here to deliver the body in front of the bar. He glanced back and made sure he was alone before he took off his clothes and shifted.
Each time it felt the same. His skin turning to fur made him itch all over. He resisted the urge to howl as his bones morphed into that of a wolf’s skeleton. The pain of muscles stretching was something he’d rather do without but ultimately lived with. He didn’t shift often, didn’t have the need. Ever since he’d left his pack and became a stray, he mingled with the humans. Humans and wolves didn’t mix.
He sniffed the air and followed the trail. He loved this part of the country—perfect temperature, complete peace. The night air was cool with a slight breeze blowing his fur. He sniffed the air and found the scent of a female mingling with at least ten male scents. He moved forward, picking out the female’s scent and following it.
Why is a female roaming around with the males? Is she still alive? He moved on, deeper into the woods. Of all the nights for him to go on a hunt for Deacon, it had to be tonight. His friends knew he was in the woods. They’d start looking for him if he didn’t return soon.
A noise to his left caught his attention. He stopped and sniffed the air. The female was still in the woods. He ran towards the smell and found her ahead of him with wide eyes. She wasn’t a black wolf, but a grey one. He approached cautiously. She didn’t move, keeping her eyes on him. Though it was stupid for him to do so, he decided to shift back to human form. He needed to speak with her, find out more about her.
“You shouldn’t be out here alone.” He inhaled and caught a whiff of her scent. The full moon wasn’t for another week. Diego thought back to Alison. It’d been a long time since he’d had a true female wolf in his bed. “The Black Wolves just killed a woman and left her body outside for us to find. I’d hate for them to find you too.”
She glanced to the side where a pile of clothes laid. How could she possibly be modest with him standing in front of her in the buff? He rolled his eyes and turned, giving her his back.
“You’re not one of them?” she asked almost immediately. He stared into the night, listening to the crickets chirp.
“I used to be.” The scents of the males were fading. “It was a long time ago.”He turned around, figuring she’d had enough time to dress. “Why are you here?”
She struggled to put her boots on. “Look, I know now that this is your turf. I’m leaving in the morning.”
He clutched her arm and forced her to look at him. “It’s dangerous for you to be here. Do you understand that?”
She licked her lips and met his gaze. It was the same girl from before, the one who’d bumped into him. “I get it, okay. Let me go.”
“Who’s your pack alpha?”
“I’m a stray.”
“You don’t look like one. Besides, strays don’t wander into other pack’s territory and expect to live. I’m also pretty sure every stray within the northern hemisphere knows where the Black Wolves are at every second of every day.” His grip tightened on her arm. “Who is your pack alpha?”
“Quinn, of the Grey Wolves.” She cringed and struggled to get away from him. “I’m not going back.”
“I don’t pity your leader for having to deal with a lippy little wolf that thinks she knows everything.” He led her towards the edge of the woods, stopping briefly to pull on his clothes.
Unlike what he did for her in the woods, she stared boldly at him while he changed. Diego snorted and changed quickly. He planned on taking her back to her alpha and letting him deal with her. She didn’t belong here. She didn’t belong with him.
“I’m going to go tell my friends that I didn’t find anything. Get in the red truck and stay.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I don’t even know you and you’re a Black Wolf. That would be completely stupid on my part.”
“Being here, period, is completely stupid on your part. If I was a true Black Wolf, like the ones that killed that girl, I would have fucked you in the woods before I ever allowed you to put your clothes on.” He narrowed his eyes. “You’d better be here when I get back. You do not want me to come find you if you’re gone.”
He left her there and headed into the bar.
“Did you find anything?” Evan asked.
“Nah. Wolves are around but they usually don’t come this close to people. Do you think someone found her elsewhere and dumped the body?” Diego knew what happened, but it was for their own protection that the humans remained clueless.
“Well, I got me a shotgun back here if they plan on coming around anymore.” Evan held up his weapon and Diego nodded.
“I have an early day tomorrow. I should be getting home.”
“We haven’t finished our match,” Jaden piped up. “Does that mean you forfeit?”
“That’d be the only way you’d win.” Diego chuckled and headed back outside to his truck. If his friends only knew what he truly was.
Chapter Two
“Good to see you’re still here.”
Sasha narrowed her eyes. “Where else am I going to go?”
He shrugged and stuck the key in the ignition. “I’m sure a rebellious little thing like you’d find somewhere better, you know, since I scare you and all.”
He was arrogant. A cocky, arrogant bastard. She sighed and glanced out the window as he pulled out of the parking lot. Too bad he was hot. All that perfect male physique was wasted on this guy. She glanced over and watched him drive. He was a Black Wolf too.
Something about the danger of the scenario spiked her desire. For years, Quinn and his no-good brother preached on how little fledglings like her should stay away from the big, bad Black Wolves. And here she was in a vehicle with one, riding to God knows where. Not very smart on her part but intelligence had gone out the window the day she left home. She was tired of being the smart one and living a boring life. She wanted the danger, wanted the fun and surprises.
Max would shoot her when he saw her. She knew it without a doubt. He was protective of his pack, but he didn’t give a shit about her romantically. No, he mated Chloe.
“What’s on your mind?”
She shook her head and turned towards the window. She didn’t need to tell a Black Wolf all her secrets. Her own pack didn’t know some of them… Well maybe Roni, but that was it. Roni was the Grey Wolves alpha female and Sasha’s twin sister. It was her job to know everything that went on.
“Now you’re giving me the silent treatment?” He shifted in his seat. “That’s fine. But I do suggest you stop grinding your teeth. Makes it hard to rip through raw meat when you find a kill.”
She snorted. “Why should I tell a Black Wolf my secrets? You’d just tell Deacon and my entire pack would be threatened.”
He cleared his throat. “I told you I don’t belong with the Black Wolves. I left that lifestyle a long time ago.”
“Oh, really? Why’s that? Sudden occurrence of morals?”
He kept his eyes on the road. “Sort of, if you must know.”
Sasha shook her head. “I don’t believe you. You will always be a Black Wolf. It runs through your veins.”
“Not after I overheard my pack members planning to take my mate from me.” He turned onto the highway, heading towards the Grey Wolf sanctuary. “I was twenty-three. Young and rough around the edges. I lived the lifestyle because that’s all I was taught to do. Then Deacon planned on the entire pack helping Alison through her first change and the needing phase. I didn’t like it.
We butted heads. Her parents took her away from the pack and joined a rescue sanctuary somewhere up north, far away from the Black Wolves. I don’t even know if she survived, but I knew I couldn’t stay with them.”
Sasha listened to him talk, debating whether or not he spoke the truth. She wanted to believe his heartfelt story. He sounded sincere, but didn’t most men when telling lies? She wasn’t sure she trusted him enough to believe him. Black Wolves were conniving and manipulative. And from what she’d seen with the dead girl, very, very charming and persuasive.
“I saw them attack the girl.” Sasha didn’t know why she admitted it aloud but she did. “One walked up to her and persuaded her to follow him into the woods. I don’t know what they did after that but the smell of blood scented the air.”
“How did you keep them from coming after you?”
Sasha went back to looking out the window. “I’m pretty good at being invisible.”
They drove for a while without speaking. She didn’t want to go back to her pack’s house and she sure as hell didn’t want to face Max or, worse yet, Chloe.
“The guy I wanted to mate fell in love with another wolf and decided to mate her before moving her into my pack’s house.”
“Ouch,” Diego replied. “Is that why you ran away?”
She nodded. “I couldn’t handle it anymore. They would hug and kiss and call each other those stupid endearments that make normal people want to gag. And he barely even noticed me. He was nice and caring when he needed to be, but he barely acknowledged my existence. It pissed me off.”
“Why didn’t you mate him before the other girl?”
“He left. He was the Grey Wolves alpha, but after the change of one of our members, he freaked out a bit. He went to Alaska and roamed around for a couple years as a wolf before coming back. Almost immediately, Quinn sent him on another assignment to assist a new fledgling with the change and needing, and that’s where Barbie came along. He fell in love and they mated. The end.”