First Bite - Shifter Romance Box Set: Anthology of First in Serials and Series

by Vaughn, V.

  “I have a plan. Kalena has connections to Silex, the same organization that is behind the system that got us thrown in here. I have little time left to bring her up to speed on what her employer is doing behind the scenes. None of my connections at that company have been able to break through the firewall. Something tells me she knows how.”

  “How do you plan on gettin’ her outta here?”

  Thane grabbed his bag and pulled out a box. He opened the lid and David looked inside.

  David shrugged. “It’s empty.”

  “It looks like an empty box, but it’s not. One of my connections on the outside slipped the box inside of the cargo bins a few months ago. I just had to find the human with the orange drawstring bag and offer him something he needed badly in exchange. There’s a mechanism built inside. If it was scanned before the drop, the device would have looked like an old penny to the naked eye.”

  “What is it really?”

  “It’s almost like a panic button. Once activated, it’ll only stay powered up long enough for my exact location to be determined.”

  “And then?”

  “There’s only one shot to escape this place by helicopter,” Thane said.

  “Man, you’re really insane. Why the fuck haven’t you pushed the button before? You’re waitin’ like a sittin’ duck.”

  Thane exhaled. “The people who put me in here are holding something over my head. They have someone I care about. If I ever leave this place, I’ll be putting her life in danger. But if I stay here, she lives.”

  “Somethin’ tells me you plan on pushin’ that button and lettin’ a woman you just met get away.”

  “I need to be certain that I can take down this operation without fail. Kalena’s link to the company and free access to the files will get me or one of my Pack brothers inside. Things need to happen in a certain order. I can’t be in two places at once. I need to make sure my niece is safe before I release the evidence on Silex.”

  “Your niece?”

  “Gavril threatened to have her killed if I ever left here,” Thane replied. “The moment I step foot outside of these barricades, the device will go off. I fear I won’t be able to reach my niece in time to explain everything and keep her out of harm’s way.”

  “This is some fucked up shit, but I’m with you one hundred percent.”

  Thane hung his head and chewed the side of his mouth. “The one obstacle I have before me is to gain Kalena’s trust. She’ll want to escape, probably now more than ever after I told her what I’ve been convicted of and just how corrupt Silex Pharmaceuticals has become.”

  The ex-SEAL narrowed his gaze. “You’ve got more than one obstacle, wolf. Are you sure about this plan?”

  “I can only push that button once and I’m going to push it for Kalena. My pack mates will take it from there and work with her to generate access codes. We’ll gather the evidence that will halt production of D996 and shut Area S2 down.”

  David started pacing back and forth again. “You wolves take too many goddamn risks,” he commented.

  “And you humans dance around too much.”

  ***

  After his talk with David, it took Thane no more than five minutes to maneuver the rocky terrain in wolf form to get back to Kalena. He felt guilty for keeping her in his hut, but if she moved around on the grounds too much, there was a chance that Nolan and his runners would pick up her scent. And there was no telling what Nolan would do with her. He wouldn’t put it past the leader to renege on the deal and come for Kalena earlier than they had agreed. It was a good thing that he’d gotten Kalena when he had. The right information in the wrong hands could be detrimental to the plans Thane had set in motion. Kalena’s connection to Silex had thrown him for a loop, but was it just sheer luck?

  Thane needed to buy all the time he could until she was safe. The longer Nolan and his runners took to track her scent, the more time he had to make sure she was all right. If the helicopters didn’t arrive before the expiration of the deal he’d made, he would have to stall the leader.

  Just before reaching the shelter, he shifted and quickly pulled on his jeans. He paused with his palm on the boulder and inhaled deeply. Her lavender scent was ingrained in his memory even though he couldn’t smell her standing on the outside. His heart rate returned to some form of normalcy, but his pulse quickened when he thought about how soft her skin had felt against his lips. She’d made him feel whole again, something he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Not even when he was marked as an Alpha had he felt as complete as he did whenever he heard Kalena’s voice.

  But he had to let her go. This was no place for a woman like Kalena. Even now, he doubted whether he wanted her to return to the company and be in the same building with a man he hated so much.

  In a matter of hours, he’d have to make that decision.

  Thane gathered up his composure and then pushed the boulder aside to enter the hut. He was immediately overcome by her allure, but the euphoric feeling vanished quickly when he realized the temperature in the hut was cold and the interior was nearly pitch black. The eerie silence inside was not a good sign.

  His pupils expanded as he used his wolf vision to search the area. Panic set in the instant he caught sight of her small frame laying on the floor nearly two feet away from the bed. It made no sense that she’d be resting on the dusty floor and not on the bed.

  He rushed over to her, turning her over so that she was face up. Her eyes were closed and her lips were parted. It was as if she were asleep, in a deep sleep.

  “Kalena.” Thane shook her lightly.

  There was no movement and her body felt like dead weight on his lap.

  “No,” he growled. “Goddamn, what did they do to you?”

  Anxiety crept up in his throat and he tried to gulp it down. He rose with her in his arms and laid her out on the cot. Her pulse danced quickly against his finger when he tested it. That was a relief, but she was still unresponsive. A palm to her forehead yielded a temperature that seemed higher than usual for a human.

  Thane’s mind ran rampant for ways to help her. A damp towel to her forehead, water to her lips, calling her name. Nothing seemed to wake her.

  Finally, he sunk to his knees on the cot beside her, fully processing exactly what ailed her. She’d been drugged. It all made sense now. She’d fallen into a coma.

  They’d given her that fucking drug! D996.

  She’d even confirmed it earlier herself without realizing it. She couldn’t remember anything after being caught in the labs and before she woke up on the truck.

  How much of it had they injected her with? When? And why?

  “Fuck,” he exclaimed, his canines shooting past his gum line.

  He picked up Kalena’s hand and pressed his lips to the delicate skin over her knuckles. There was only one way to help her now. He’d have to do it before it was too late.

  Thane Silex would have to make a decision—a life altering one—sooner rather than later.

  More Wolf in Exile

  You've just read CAPTURED, part one of the Wolf in Exile serial, a paranormal romantic suspense novella. The adventure and suspense continue in the second installment....

  UNCHAINED (Wolf in Exile Part II) ~ Click Here (http://smarturl.it/Unchained-AZN) and start reading now.

  WOLF IN EXILE SERIAL READING ORDER:

  Part I: CAPTURED http://smarturl.it/captured-AZN

  Part II: UNCHAINED http://smarturl.it/Unchained-AZN

  Part III: ASCEND http://smarturl.it/wolfinexileAscend

  Part IV: (Coming Soon)

  About Amber Ella Monroe

  Amber Ella Monroe loves weaving tales where undying love is the main element. When she's not writing, she's plotting. When she's not writing or plotting, she's reading. She's a thirty-something year old wife, mother, book hoarder, 90s music fan, earl grey tea drinker, dark roast coffee fiend, platform and stiletto shoe collector, Keurig lover, and martial arts/action movie fanatic.

  She als
o writes romance as National Bestselling author Ambrielle Kirk.

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  Beast - Norsetown Wolves 1 - Holley Trent

  Christina Stilton has waited all her life to become a wolf’s bride. Becoming mate to a stranger in a faraway pack is the only chance she has to escape her Appalachian life of poverty and abuse. She wants safety, but trusts The Fates to steer her toward love, too.

  Love is the last thing on Anton Denis’s mind. He doesn’t want to saddle some hopeful woman to him. A brutal fight left him scarred and half blind. He’s a mercenary who can’t drive, can’t shoot straight, and on most days, can’t even crack a smile. He fully intends to send his bride away—to give her a chance at being matched to some stronger wolf—but stubborn Christina is intent on staying.

  She might have been treated as a useless female back in Virginia, but her role in Anton’s small pack is clear. He needs to be loved and loved hard, and she’s just the woman for the job. She just needs to convince him to get out of her way and let her do it.

  Copyright

  Copyright 2015 Holley Trent

  Chapter 1

  Christina Stilton had been trained her whole life to keep her gaze on the Alpha when he was speaking, but her pack’s alpha had been nothing like Adam Carbone. In fact, now that she’d encountered Adam, she wasn’t certain her alpha had been a true alpha at all.

  She cringed reflexively as Adam approached her, and her heart pounded when his howling laughter echoed through the desert expanse.

  He nudged her chin up and turned her face this way and that. “I’m not going to hurt you, girl,” he said. “Don’t know what it’s like where you come from, but we don’t do that here. I’m just figuring out who I’m going to match you with.” He drew in a long, deep breath and closed his eyes, holding in her scent. When he let it out, he dropped his hand. “Hmm.” He didn’t qualify that hmm, just moved on down the line. She didn’t like the sound of it, though—had heard too many like it in her twenty-four years, and they were always followed up with some slight or abuse.

  Christina and three other young wolf women had been flown into this place in—well, she wasn’t quite sure where they were, but it was somewhere in New Mexico. It’d been a long day for her. When her alpha had begrudgingly posted the mate call on the bulletin board in the gathering place, she hadn’t had time to ask questions. She wanted to be one of those four mates, and if she’d given Alpha too much time to think, he might not have let her go. He’d make her stay in that hollow, just ’cause he was mean and didn’t want anyone happy if he wasn’t.

  She’d left her home in the Virginia mountains the evening before to be ready at the airport for a very early flight—her first ever—and had spent most of the day either in the air, in an airport terminal waiting for the rest of the wolf mates to arrive, or in that van getting to this far-flung place. The van had smelled of gun oil and sweat, and with her rough, stoic new alpha at the wheel, she should have worried about what kind of trouble she’d signed up for. Answering a mate call was truly a form of gambling. A girl could hit the jackpot and improve her situation by leaving her pack, if it was a bad one. Or—she could end up somewhere even worse. But, Christina hadn’t fretted. She’d slept, because what could be worse than her pack? They were good wolves; no one could debate that fact. But being wily in their animal forms didn’t excuse them from being despicable men.

  She twined and untwined her nervous fingers, willing her leg to stop bobbing. As long as he’s kind—please just let him be kind.

  She’d never tried to bend the ear of the goddess before, but now she hoped that the wolf lady was listening, even just a little. Christina had never asked for anything. Had never dared to. But after twenty-four years of silence, was hers such a big request?

  The hard-packed orange earth seemed to spin beneath her. Pressing her palms to the edge of the rustic wooden bench she shared with the three other mates, she closed her eyes tight and concentrated on her breathing until the dizziness ebbed.

  Get it together. They’re gonna send you back.

  They were probably watching her now from the shadows, wondering what the heck was wrong with her. Probably thought she was simpleminded, in addition to being uselessly small. She forced her eyes open and dared to glance over her shoulder.

  The bench had been installed in a sort of courtyard at the intersection of six concrete walkways. Five stopped at small, square adobe houses—one of which she’d be living in with her mate, ostensibly. From where she sat, she couldn’t tell where the sixth walkway ended, as a house was in the way.

  Her gaze tracked to the doorway of one of the houses, and there she found someone’s would-be prize.

  Sit up, you idiot. She straightened her spine and looked over her other shoulder, too. There were two more males behind her.

  One, two, three handsome wolves…

  Only three. What does that mean? The mate call had stated that four mates were needed for this unnamed pack. If she’d known the numbers was just a darned estimate, she might not have come. In a competitive scenario, there was no way she’d beat out the other three women. No way, no how. She wrung her hands, only to stop when realizing how still the others were. Bored, even.

  Of course they were. This might have even been a step down for them. So many packs had left their rural hunting grounds behind for the convenience of cities. The women Christina shared that bench with looked worldly in a way she wasn’t—experienced. Their stylish jeans clung just right. Their makeup might have worn off, but their pore-free skin and manicured eyebrows suggested that they knew how to use it. They wore their hair shorter than all the girls back home did, but then again, they were probably allowed to. Christina would bet good money—if she’d had any, besides the two hundred dollars wadded up in her sock—that they were women used to having some freedom. They’d probably put up a good fight to keep it, whereas Christina was struggling to just get a taste of it. Desperate, needy, pathetic wolf.

  If these wolves only needed three brides, she’d surely be the one left out. That was common sense.

  “Where the hell is Anton?” Adam, now at the other end of the bench, called back to the wolves in the shadows.

  “Beast didn’t want to come outside to play,” one said.

  So, there were four. That didn’t make her odds sound any better, though. She’d end up with that “beast,” knowing her luck.

  Adam swore a blue streak under his breath before walking back to Christina’s end of the bench. He fixed his dark, wise stare on her for so long, she’d feared the Earth had stood still, but she couldn’t pull away from his gaze. Wouldn’t dare look away from her alpha. He could ruin her life, or change it for the better, all with the snap of his fingers. She still held out a little hope that he’d have some mercy on her, and that the goddess was with them on that day, guiding his decisions.

  “Hmm.”

  He moved on yet again to the woman beside her, and having had his second look, Christina buried her face in her hands, blocking out all of the noise around her.

  She got skipped. Wasn’t even good enough for the one they called “Beast.”

  She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there, covering her face in shame. But when she looked up again, the other three women were gone. Turning slowly, she observed that the three men were, too. And where had Adam gone?

  She sighed. “Probably to get my suitcase.”

  He was bound to throw her back.

  Well, she wasn’t going to go. There had to be someone else who’d take her—maybe some bottom-rung wolf, too weak to be a threat to his pack. She’d have to ask Adam if there were other calls.

  Resolved, she nodded. That’s what she’d do.

  * * *

 
Anton Denis rooted through the canvas duffel bag on the desk in his spare bedroom in search of his hunting knife. Where did the damned thing go? He’d last seen it during that short-term contract security gig they’d taken in Vegas. He needed the knife now, but seemed to remember that the thing needed cleaning, and badly.

  “Where the hell is it?”

  He overturned the bag and exposed all of the weapons inside it to the light.

  The front door slammed as he pawed over them, and he rolled his one good eye preemptively. There was only one asshole that would enter Anton’s house without permission. Then again, Adam didn’t need it. He could do what he wanted—alpha’s prerogative.

  “What the fuck are you doing, hiding out in here?” Adam barked.

  “Not hiding.” Anton grabbed the trashcan from beneath the desk and tossed some wadded fast food wrappers that one of his packmates must have stowed in the weapon bag. Goddamned slobs.

  “What do you call it, then?” Adam asked.

  “Working. What’s it look like?”

  “Looks like hiding to me.”

  Anton dropped the trashcan into its former position and gave the alpha a sidelong look from his right eye. His eyes always tried to cross when he looked straight on for too long. According to the doc, the good right eye was still trying to compensate for his blind left one. It’d take a while to settle, he’d said. “I’ve got five rifles full of salt and desert sand to clean before my next shift. I’m working.”

  “I gave you an order,” the other man said. He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “You were supposed to be outside so I could do the matching.”

  Anton didn’t bother suppressing his scoff. Adam had to know how Anton felt about the situation. A year ago, maybe he could have been paired up with a real fine wolf, but he hadn’t been ready a year ago. None of them had. Wolves didn’t take mates until they had homes. Until now, they’d been nomads. The moment they’d gotten settled in good in their new homes in the community of Norseton, New Mexico, Adam had put out a call for female wolves. Sight unseen, apparently, they’d come to the place.