by Camryn Rhys
He turned back to the window. Outside, the whole landscape of the VonBrandt ranch was awash in the bright white glow of the moon. “You’re going to shift?”
A smile crept over her features. “Well, we need to get out of the house.”
Adam laughed and nodded. “Right. I get it. Can’t have sex in a house full of strangers.”
Deirdre curled her tongue inside her mouth. “You’re not wrong.”
He gestured to the window. “You should go, then. Don’t keep William waiting.”
With a long pause, she watched him. “You’re sure we’re okay? I mean, you and me? Are we good?”
“We’re good.” Adam hooked one thumb into his belt loop. “I’m gonna head home and get some shuteye. Big run tomorrow.”
Dee approached him, careful. “Let me just…” She slipped her arms around him and hugged, hard.
He kept waiting for the lust to set in, to distract him, but there was nothing. The presence of those tattoos had cut off whatever had been tethering him to her. Adam hugged her back.
“It was good to know you,” he said. “In the very biblical sense, too.”
She laughed, fuller and louder this time. It was almost like her comfort had returned, and Dee had let her guard down.
Adam stepped away.
“You, too.” She clipped across the wood floor to the door and turned. “And watch out for Fate. She might have something in store for you, yet.”
He smiled and waved her off. It was certainly possible that Fate had plans for him, and he would be on the lookout for it.
After all, he had a house full of visiting wolves. At least half of them were female, and more than two-thirds of those were un-mated.
All he had to do was get within orbit of every single one of them and see what happened.
If Dee was right, he wouldn’t be able to keep it from happening, and since he had the benefit of singleness, with a side of solitude, he planned on doing everything he could, while the house was full of wolves, to find his mate.
Beeeeep! Beeeeep! Beeeeep!
Paige slapped the off button on her nightstand alarm clock and yawned. The bright red numbers glowed at her through squinted eyes. 6am.
She had the day off from the bakery today, so she could enjoy her sunrise ritual on the big rock out in the back pasture before heading in to work anyway.
She flipped the switch on her lamp, bathing her dark bedroom in a warm yellow glow. The outfit she’d picked out the night before stared back at her from the armchair across her room—jeans, a fitted moss green t-shirt that really made her hazel eyes pop and complemented her bronzy-red hair. She always put a little more thought into her clothing choice on Fridays.
Paige shuffled across the room and climbed into her clothes. Then slid her feet into waiting sneakers and shuffled through her house. A half-eaten bowl of popcorn and a mound of cried-on tissues littered her coffee table.
Hillary.
She pulled her cellphone out of her back pocket and called her best friend —possibly only friend. Typically, they watched reruns of Dr. Who or Star Trek together, but Hillary had just broken up with her boyfriend George and had shown up on her doorstep yesterday afternoon with every Nicholas Sparks movie on the planet.
So she’d sat through hours of tortured-weepy characters and listened as her friend recounted each reason she should beg George to come back.
“Paige?” Hillary’s voice came through the speaker. “Why aren’t you at the bakery? Isn’t this your day to see Adam?”
A smile curved her lips. Hillary was the only one that she ever talked to about her crush on Adam VonBrandt.
She’d followed Meg from Baltimore to Somewhere six years ago to learn the skills she needed to open her own bakery.
“Somebody goofed and scheduled me off today. I’m going in after I watch the sunrise. I just wanted to check on you and make sure you hadn’t caved.”
Her friend sighed. “Nope. No caving. George is not the right man for me, and I deserve better.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Go watch your sunset and then drool over your obsession. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye, girl.” Paige tapped the red button on the bottom of her phone screen and shoved the cell back into her pocket.
She wasn’t supposed to ever have Friday’s off. Meg and Berg both knew this, but every once in a while it did happen.
Since she didn’t have to show up for prep-time, she could enjoy her favorite spot out by the creek on the back of her property and watch the sun rise over the pines.
When her Granny Lewis passed away years ago, the sweet old woman left a huge chunk of change for all five of her granddaughters. Paige had used hers to buy part of what she’d always wanted—a farm. The rest of the inheritance was safely tucked away in a bank until she was ready to start her own bakery. But since seeing Adam VonBrandt had become the highlight of her week, she’d had no motivation to push forward to the next bullet point of her life plan.
Paige opened the back door and took a deep breath of the nippy November air.
There was enough light to see by, so she left the flashlight on the table next to the door and stepped out into the cold. She zipped up her coat and headed down the path she’d worn into the ground from her back door to the big rock next to the creek. It was about a ten-minute walk.
Paige slowed her pace as she came to the edge of the clearing where she liked to spend her mornings off.
The sound to two people moaning floated in the air and Paige’s eyes widened.
She ducked behind a tree and held her breath. Her rock was already occupied this morning —by a very naked couple. Holy crap!
A few moments passed. The moaning had stopped.
She peeked around the pine tree trunk and froze. The people were…changing into—? That couldn’t be right. The air shimmered around them, like the shine on a soap bubble.
Paige blinked and rubbed her eyes. When she looked again, there were no people. The bubble had popped and only two silvery gray wolves stood where the people had been. It couldn’t be real… She held her breath and waited.
The wolves hadn’t seen her, and she watched them trot off away from her. She waited until they were long out of sight and hopefully out of hearing, then turned around and walked straight back to her house.
That pot of soup she’d made for dinner last night was going into the trash. Someone at the market had to have given her some bad mushrooms or something, because she’d just hallucinated for the first time in her life. What a trip.
Paige turned toward the barn. Casper needed breakfast before she dumped out her leftover veggie soup. Then she could head in to town a little early. Some time in the kitchen would help clear her head.
Other Moonbound Books
Book 1: The Werewolf Cowboy
Book 2: The Werewolf Bodyguard
Book 3: The Werewolf Ranger
Book 4: Chasing a Wolf
Book 5: Seducing a Wolf
Book 6: Saving a Wolf
Book 7: Broken Wolf
Book 8: Hunted Wolf
* * *
COMING IN APRIL
Somewhere, TX Series: TO FIND A MATE
If you enjoyed Hunted Wolf, please consider leaving a review on your favorite reading platform. You can also join us in the MOONBOUND PACK Fan Group on Facebook for insider information, paperback giveaways, and special parties.
Who’s Your Alpha?
The Moonbound books introduce the alpha council, as they search for the origins of the mysterious un-bonded wolf now mated to Jared VonBrandt of Somewhere, TX.
We would like to introduce the Alpha Council trading cards. Join the Moonbound pack to see who trading card #1 is…
If you would like to receive one of our special, numbered Alpha Council trading cards, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope, to:
KS Publishing
PO Box 171512
Arlington, TX 76003
Camryn Rhys
&nb
sp; Author of hot historical romance with paranormal elements and co-author of the Moonbound series--a spinoff of the VonBrandt Werewolves from Somewhere, TX.
Loves Florentines and lightbulbs. Writes about cowboys who cook and demons who captain airships and werewolves who save the world. Once met Queen Elizabeth. Can swallow a sword. Eats jalepenos by the handful. Former chef, turned writer. Currently living in Canada. Owns a falcon. Not all parts of this bio are equally true.
Find Camryn Online:
@camrynrhys
camryn.rhys9
camrynrhys.com
Krystal Shannan
Krystal Shannan, also known as Emma Roman, lives in a sprawling ranch style home with her husband, daughter, and a pack of rescue Basset Hounds. She is an advocate for the American Society of Autism and shares the experiences and adventures she’s been through with her daughter whenever she can.
Needless to say, life is never boring when you have an elementary-aged special needs child and half a dozen 4-legged friends roaming the house. They keep her and her husband busy, smiling, and laughing.
Krystal writes magick and Emma doesn’t. If you are looking for leisurely-paced sweet romance, her books are probably not for you. However, for those looking for a story filled with adventure, passion, and just enough humor to make you laugh out loud. Welcome home!
Get a set of free books to start reading more Krystal Shannan!
Find Krystal Online:
@krystalshannan
krystal.shannan
krystalshannan.com
Copyright ©2016 by Camryn Rhys & Krystal Shannan. All Rights Reserved. Published by Moonbound Books.
No part or parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, in any language, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental.
Edited by C.A. Szarek
Cover and Logo Design by Erin Dameron-Hill
Digital Format by Moonbound Books
Somewhere, TX town, concept, and characters created by Chick Tales, LLC and used with permission.