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Stolen Kisses
Copyright 2016 by Merryn Dexter
ISBN: 978-1-68361-131-8
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
Chapter Ten
Black Hills Conversations
A Mate’s Forgiving Touch by Merryn Dexter
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
Salvaged Souls
Virgin Infiltrator
Winter Fairy Tale
Stolen Kisses
Winter Awakening
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
Winter Solstice Run 2016
Winter Fairy Tale
Stolen Kisses
Winter Awakening
Coming Soon
The Wolf’s Choice
Also by Merryn Dexter
A Mate’s Healing Touch
A Mate’s Redeeming Touch
Soul of Flame
Mating Dance
Silver Moon
Hunger Moon
Renewed Spirits
A Mate’s Forgiving Touch
Dear Readers,
I am so pleased to be working again with the amazing Decadent Publishing team – dreams really do come true! When I first started writing for the Black Hills Wolves series, I envisioned my contribution at three books – the sibling trilogy A Mate’s Healing Touch, A Mate’s Redeeming Touch and A Mate’s Forgiving Touch
But then the Matchmakers were on the prowl and the Burrows family grew to include Sander (Mating Dance) and now here I am with another strand of the clan for Stolen Kisses.
It was a joy to write Sadie and Easton’s story, not least for the chance to catch up with Caleb, Caitlyn, Connor and the rest to see how their lives are progressing. That’s the joy of a good story – the characters live on in you and continue to grow.
I would be thrilled to hear from you about this or any other book in the Black Hills Wolves series. You can also check out my titles in the Wiccan Haus, and Hot Moon Rising shared worlds also from Decadent Publishing.
I’m a military spouse currently resident in Belgium and working from home so always happy for a distraction!
You can email me at [email protected] or find me on Facebook or Twitter @MerrynDexter. I also have a website www.merryndexter.com and a blog www.merryndexter.blogspot.be
Best Wishes
Merryn x
Dedication
This one is for Merryn’s Merry Makers. Thank you for support over the past twelve months. You are all amazing xoxo
Stolen Kisses
A woman looking for a connection
Following her grandmother’s death, Sadie Burrows-King leaves the only pack she’s ever known in search of family ties. Crashing into Los Lobos, literally, she finds herself face-to-face with a man who calls to the lonely wolf inside her.
A man on the fringes of society
Orphaned wolf, Easton Quaid, survived the cruel years of Magnum’s reign by the skin of his teeth and the kindness of others, of the pack, but not really part of it. His world turns upside down when a new wolf blows into town. It will take every ounce of patience to claim her as his mate.
Stolen kisses
Set a task in the scavenger hunt, Sadie and Easton must work together. Proximity and attraction lead to stolen kisses and more between the pair. The mating call is strong, but is it too much for her to handle?
Secrets and celebrations
A new family, a new pack, and the temptation of a new mate. Sadie had everything she ever dreamed of, right? As the Winter Solstice celebrations get into full swing, old secrets are revealed. Sadie faces the decision of her life. Is she a solid, reliable Burrows, or a flighty, untrustworthy King? It’s not only her heart at risk if she makes the wrong choice.
Stolen Kisses
Black Hills Wolves
Winter Solstice Run
By
Merryn Dexter
Chapter One
The drag of the wipers on the windscreen set Sadie’s teeth on edge, and her wolf didn’t fare much better. Her animal half whined every time the perished rubber juddered against the glass. Mostly useless against the driving snow, yet she didn’t dare turn them off. Or stop the car long enough to try and adjust them. Her hands ached from too many hours clutching the steering wheel, and her head itched beneath the thick woolen hat pulled low over her brow. Neither of which were good reasons for her to stop either. What had started out as a few pretty flakes of snow had worsened steadily, and the wind howled around the car as though it longed to tear her from the road.
Should’ve stayed in Cedar Crossing.
For what, though? The weather wouldn’t be any better, and the way Luka had set his sights on her, she would have been mated before spring and even more miserable than sh
e was now. The hole left in her heart by Margarete’s passing seemed to widen every day, and her dreams were filled with her grandmother’s final words, “Everything you need is east.”
So here she was, heading for a place she hadn’t known existed, her final hope of finding a connection resting in the hands of a pack Margarete had abandoned for the promise shining in a pair of pretty eyes. “The Black Hills of Dakota”—Sadie shook her head. Margarete had sung her to sleep with that damn song for years, and it had never occurred to Sadie she was anything more than a Doris Day fan. Hadn’t caught the sad lament for home in her grandmother’s voice.
A sharp gust caught the little compact, rocking it from side to side, and it took all of her wolf strength to keep four wheels on the slick pavement beneath her. The plastic creaked ominously, and she uncurled her fingers one at a time to loosen her death grip before she did the wind’s job and wrecked the car herself. The Cedar Crossing alpha had been reluctant to let her go, to the point of confiscating most of her belongings. All he’d left her with was a suitcase of clothes, Margarete’s box of trinkets, and the crappy old runaround they’d used for their few forays into town. Her share of pack finances, the King family savings, were withheld on the spurious excuse her deadbeat dad might return one day to collect them. Right. Arthur King took after his father, Edmund—buckets of charm and wanderlust in his veins.
Something rattled in the central console, and the heating fan ground to a sputtering halt, filling the car with the bitter scent of burned wiring. Shit! Being a wolf, she wouldn’t freeze, but if she didn’t find shelter soon, she would be in for an uncomfortable night. She checked the odometer and tried to calculate how much farther she had left based on the last reading the GPS in her phone had given her right before the battery died. Like everything else in the car, the cigarette lighter was broken, the charger-adaptor for the phone nothing more than a decoration.
Another half hour, maybe more.
The road twisted to the left, and Sadie heaved a sigh of relief at the respite the thick trees on either side of the narrowing highway offered from the wind. It was short-lived. A deep pothole caught the front tire, causing the car to lurch alarmingly. Easing her foot off the gas, she peered through the driving snow. It was hard to focus on the white track ahead and not be mesmerized by the flakes flying toward her in the beams of her headlights, like one of those old-fashioned screensavers. Fresh snow coated the road, crunching softly beneath the tires as she plowed a virgin trail through the soft powder. No one else had been along here in a couple of hours by the look of it, certainly not since the storm had picked up. I must be close now.
Her back ached, a fierce knot of muscle between her shoulder blades, and Sadie hoped to hell there was a hot shower at the end of her journey. Or a bath. A hot drink at least. Memories of steaming mugs of hot chocolate assailed her, and a sob burned in her throat. Who would know the correct number of marshmallows to put in her cocoa with Margarete gone? Eyes welling with tears, she missed the slight indentation in the road ahead.
The car tipped to the left as she bumped in and out of another pothole. Something crunched, and the wheel juddered in her hand. She turned the wheel, letting out a shriek of fear when the compact continued to slide sideways. Stamping on the brake did little more than lock the tires. Time slowed, enough for her to wonder how deep the approaching ditch was, and to spare a thought of apology for the poor soul who would come across her frozen body, before the front tire tipped off the side of the road and her world became a wall of white.
Whump! Sadie blinked. Her first car wreck, and she couldn’t even make a decent job of that. The hood of the compact and half her driver’s door were embedded in the snow, and from the slight pressure of her body against the seat belt, the vehicle might have tilted forward enough for one of the rear tires to leave the ground. But she was okay. Trying not to give in to the quake building in her stomach, Sadie ran a quick inventory, but other than the jolt her arms had taken, she was unhurt.
We need to move, little sister. Fur rubbed just beneath her skin, and her wolf sent another mental push. Get us out of the box, and we can run. The desire to shift ached deep in her bones, sending her scrabbling for the release mechanism on her belt. She caught her knee on the handbrake in her frantic efforts to escape from the car. The jolt of pain cleared her mind, and she paused long enough to take a deep breath. Panic could get her killed. Get out. Shift. Run.
Sadie popped the passenger door and held it open a fraction. She strained her ears over the howl of the wind and the susurration of the trees, only pushing the door wide once she was sure there were no other vehicles approaching. Unlikely on this back road, but methodical steps were needed to keep calm. Making sure her feet were secure beneath her, she climbed from the car and peered into the darkness.
The headlight not buried in the drift shone down onto the road, illuminating a small circle of ground. She looked away, letting her eyes accustom to the dark and calling on her enhanced wolf senses. Sharp evergreen and pine filled her nose, and she drew a deeper breath, testing the air. A gust of wind tugged at the scarf around her neck, sending one end flapping, and she grabbed for it. The trees around her shivered, revealing a faint glow in the distance. After arranging the errant section of her scarf to cover the lower part of her face, Sadie straightened her hat and fished a pair of gloves from the deep pockets of her down jacket.
Her feet sank in the snow, soaking the bottom of her jeans. It wouldn’t be long before the cold and wet penetrated the boots she wore. Balancing between the need to stay upright and her urgency to reach the source of the light, Sadie set off in a stumbling run. Shifting would make things easier; the wolf would trip across the snow much more gracefully than the woman, but caution kept her on two legs. A strange wolf barreling onto pack lands unannounced could be fatal.
The glow resolved itself into a series of bright spotlights shining over the forecourt of a small gas station. A warmer light showed beneath the spots, and her step quickened at the realization there was someone moving around inside the illuminated station. It surprised her somewhere so remote would be open at this late hour, but she sent up a prayer of thanks to whoever it was. Someone had cleared the worst of the snow from the forecourt, and she dashed across the open space to the promised warmth of the small building.
A bell above the door rang, announcing her entrance, and Sadie stopped dead as the scents of wolves hit her. A strong thread of amber coated the air with undertones of something sweeter, like vanilla. She tugged her hat off with a sigh and loosened the now-wet scarf from around her face. The snow had left a thick layer of white on the wool, and she dropped them both on the thick dust mat covering the floor beneath her.
A broad-shouldered man appeared from a space behind the counter, a deep frown etched between his black brows. The amber deepened, as did the fierce expression on his chiseled features as the Native American man strode toward her. Not naturally submissive, Sadie nonetheless ducked her head against the waves of dominance pouring from the man.
He stopped at the edge of the mat and drew a deep breath. “Who the fuck are you?” he barked then sucked in another lungful of air. “And why do you smell like my mate?”
Mate? Oh, hell no! Her wolf shrank back, and she was inclined to agree. Having just jumped out of that particular frying pan, there was no way she wanted to leap into another fire. She risked a glance up at the intimidating wolf. His arresting looks would turn many a woman’s head, but Sadie was not in the market for a bully.
The glowering wolf folded his arms across his barrel of a chest. “I asked you a question.”
“Hey, Ven. I’m going to take the plow out— Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize we had a customer.”
Grateful for a distraction from the fierce wolf, Sadie turned to the lifeline offered by the interruption. She forced her dropped jaw shut, but couldn’t stop a little whine from escaping. The angry man in front of her might not be her type, but the newcomer most certainly was fr
om the way her heart started pounding.
Tall and lean but with a good layer of muscle showing through the long-sleeved T-shirt clinging to his upper body. Sandy hair growing out of a shorter cut to curl at his nape and light eyes, blue or green, she couldn’t quite tell. But it was the smile etching two deep dimples into his cheeks that really caught her. Warm and friendly, it lit his whole face.
Sadie stepped forward, drawn by her wolf’s need to get closer, to move clear of the amber swirling around her head and catch the scent of the newcomer. Her foot squelched, and she looked down at her soggy, ruined boots. A pool of melting snow soaked the mat beneath her feet, and, just like that, all the tension of her long drive and the accident overwhelmed her. She began to shake, enough to set her teeth chattering, and she clenched her jaw in an effort to stop. Her calves and feet ached from her wet jeans and socks, cold even beyond the raised body temperature her increased metabolism generated.
“Shit, you’re freezing,” Ven snarled.
“I c-c-crashed my c-c-car.” Sadie forced the words past her trembling lips. She was really cold now.
“Are you hurt? My god, you’re half-soaked.” The sandy wolf hurried to her side, draping the heavy checkered jacket he’d been carrying over her shoulders. She turned her face into the fleece collar brushing her cheek. His clean, crisp scent filled her senses and something inside clicked into place. He dropped to his knees beside her, tugging first one then the other of her boots free. Her wet socks followed, and he lifted her bare foot onto his thigh, chafing the skin gently to encourage circulation back into the numb appendage.
He smiled up at her, and Sadie buried her nose deeper into the collar of his jacket, hoping to disguise the flush of warmth glowing in her cheeks. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”
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