Hunger of the Heart (Wolves of Ravenwillow Book 1)

by Magenta Phoenix

  Eric’s teeth gritted together, his eyes flashing with dangerous rage. How much more of this was he expected to sit back and listen to? If it were possible he would gut every elder before him and he’d do it with a smile. Releasing a slow breath, he leaned back in his chair. “With all due respect—” he began; but was cut off as Peter shook his head and held up a staying hand.

  Did he just shush me?! Eric raged silently. He didn’t know how much more disrespect he could take before his beast exploded.

  Rising from his chair, Peter smoothed a hand down the front of his silk tie with an unhurried motion. “With all due respect, Alpha.” He practically sneered. “This isn’t up for discussion. As elders of this pack we believe that you’re no longer the best option for this pack.”

  “I don’t like threats, Elder Peter.” Eric growled out.

  Peter simply smirked at him. Turning to nod at the other elders, he motioned for them to rise as though he’d just called the meeting to an end with the simple action. Without a word the other elders rose from their seats and left the room without a backward glance. Turning his attention back to Eric, Peter stepped as close to his Alpha as Chris’s shielding body would allow.

  “My suggestion to you, Alpha,” Peter began. “Find yourself a replacement mate and show the pack that we have two strong leaders. A lone leader; no matter his strength is still an easy target. You have not met a challenge in some time and that can change very quickly with your recent disregards to the elder council.”

  “I rule this pack, not you or any of the other elders.” Eric hissed out, rising from his chair to hover menacingly over the thin man.

  Smirking, Peter shook his head; unafraid. “Regardless; give our words some thought. Otherwise, when you are challenged for your title, you will not have the support of the pack behind you.” With those words uttered gently, Peter turned and left the room with slow strides.

  The moment the door closed, Eric paced away from the table with a murderous expression falling over his face. His wolf rose to the surface. Fighting to break free and destroy any that opposed him. The elders had no right to tell him to get married or else loose the loyalty of his own pack. They were advisors for God’s sake! They held no power over him!

  “Eric?” Chris’s voice cut through the murderous fog that shrouded his mind.

  Drawing in a deep breath, Eric forced his wolf back into the cage of his mind before turning to face his beta. Releasing a deep sigh, he rubbing a tired hand over his stubble dusted jaw before returned to his chair.

  As much as he hated agreeing with the elders, he knew they had a point. Without a mate, he was vulnerable. He’d been Alpha of the Ravenwillow wolf pack for twenty years, upon taking that title, he’d taken a mate. His wolf went still at the memory of Emma and Travis’s mother. Rage boiled in his stomach like lava. Pursing his lips in anger, he pushed the memory of his mate-by-choice aside.

  Pack law dictated that there must be an Alpha pair; if he waited much longer the elders would push the issue further. He needed the support of the elder council to have the loyalty of his pack. As much as the thought turned his stomach to think about it, he would have to consider finding a woman to fill the leader position beside him. He would either have to choose a mate from one of the available females of his pack or a neighboring one. Or he would face challenges daily for his position as Alpha and if defeated, his pups and he; if he wasn’t killed, would be driven from the pack. But could he bear to enter into another loveless and despondent mating?

  A light knocking at the door caused Eric to growl low in the back of his throat. “WHAT!” He snarled out.

  Slowly meeting room door opened, a tall muscle bound man stepped through. His body encased in a black and blue, pinstriped suit. The top three buttons of his silk, navy shirt undone. His short golden hair glowed against his rough olive skin.

  “What type of greeting is that? Should I feel insulted?” A crooked smirk formed across his firm lips. “Jason told me I would find you here.”

  Pushing his present worries aside, Eric forced a friendly smile on his face. “Damon, I see you were able to pry yourself away from your current bedmate and your mirror for our meeting.”

  Chuckling Damon ran a hand through his hair with a mocking look. “Who am I to deny the desires of a beautiful woman when she looks my way?”

  Rolling his eyes, Eric shook his head at his old friend’s teasing. Damon was beta of one of the many packs of wolf shifters that Eric had formed treaties with. In all the years Eric had known Damon, he found him to be a playful lover of many and a strong wolf like no other.

  “Whose bed did you slink from this time? You must have known her well if risk being late today.”

  Taking the seat near Eric’s chair at the head of the table, Damon grinned with amusement. “I knew all I needed to know at the time. She has the largest—” He paused, holding his hands out in front of his chest as if he were cupping a bountiful pair of breasts. Damon shot a playful grin at Eric as he finished, “Heart.”

  “Right,” Eric acknowledged disbelievingly. “Enough talk of women’s hearts. Let’s get Jason and get this meeting over with. I want to head over to the building site before it gets late.”

  “My friend you need to get out more and treat yourself.” Damon stated with his usual teasing grin. Standing, he pushed away from the table. Walking around the opposite side of the long table, Damon’s eyes flickered around the room. “I noticed the beautiful Myra has graced us with her presence today.” His eyes searching Eric’s for a reaction of some sort.

  “Feel free to take her with you.” Eric whispered with an unfeeling tone.

  Shaking his head, Damon clicked his tongue mockingly at Eric. “Thank you for the offer, my friend. But my Alpha would have my head if I ever thought of taking another male’s mate.”

  “She’s not my mate!” he snarled, growling low beneath his words, causing him to sound more animal than man. His wolf snarled at the very idea. Myra…his mate; not a chance in hell!

  “You say that as if you already know who it is.” Damon stated, no doubt fishing for information in hopes that Eric would give him something to gossip about.

  Rising to his feet as well, Eric’s gaze shot to the watchful gaze of his first beta. Chris watched him with a cool silence that he was known for. Turning away from Chris’s watchful eyes, Eric ignored the amusement that danced within Damon’s expression. Pacing along the opposite side of the table, Eric shook his head in denial. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Damon shrugged his shoulders carelessly. “Makes no difference to me, I was just hoping to hear that you had finally found your true mate. I’ve been dying to see the great Eric Daniels brought down a peg by a slip of a woman.”

  From behind him, Chris began to laugh only to cover it the sound with a round of fake coughing as Eric turned to look at him. His true mate? The fates weren’t that kind to him. When he’d visited Darkwood Springs to meet Doyle face to face, he hadn’t been able to push aside the feeling of jealously that surged through him at seeing Doyle with his own true mate. The bond between Doyle and his mate; Aria was evident to any that saw them together. It was as though they were linked together by thousands of ropes, with no way to separate one from the other.

  He craved that; or at least he had at one point in his life. It was far past the time that he should have found his one true mate, if he was worthy enough to have one. After all this time, he seriously doubted that there was still any hope of finding her; the one meant for only him.

  In his youth, he’d enjoyed many females of his pack and many not of his pack. When he’d searched for his true mate with no luck, he’d settled for a simple mating among his own pack and he’d chosen Beth.

  He’d known that Beth; the mother of his children, wasn’t his true mate. At the time; it hadn’t seemed to matter much. As Alpha, it was expected that he would mate a strong she-wolf that would stand by his side and give him strong pups. Beth had been his best friend and it had made sense a
t the time. Even though she hadn’t stirred his wolf, he’d hoped that they would have found some happiness in their mating. He’d been wrong.

  Not soon after Emma and Travis’s birth, it became obvious to him and others around him that Beth had found her happiness in someone else’s arms. He hadn’t expected love from her, but he had expected loyalty. Before he could confront her about it, she’d disappeared without a trace and her lover with her. For years he’d endured the sympathy filled looks from his family and pack.

  He had long given up hope that Beth would return and be a mother to her children. He'd let go of the dream of waking up every morning with his unknown and unfound true mate, the dream of utter happiness and the feel of a true mates love. Hearing from many mated males, the overwhelming and powerful feeling of finding your one true mate, and the over rush of powerful emotions. No words could have been found described to him the intensity of emotions that he would never experience.

  Shaking the thoughts away, Eric forced his mind to a more productive subject. There would be time to worry about his mating status; but now wasn’t the time. Turning to look at Damon, Eric gestured toward the open doorway with his hand.

  “Let’s head to my office and I’ll show you the blue prints that we’ve drawn up for your house before we head out.”

  Damon nodded. “I hope you made the bedroom extra large.” He teased. “I need my space.”

  “For what? You’re large ego and blow up dolls?” Chris commented from behind as they headed down the sunlight filled hall.

  Scoffing, Damon turned to look at Chris as he continued walking. “I’ll have you know I graduated from blow up dolls a long time ago.”

  The combined teasing words and friendly laughter echoed behind Eric as he made his way to his office. He couldn’t help the returning feel of a strange restlessness within his wolf all of a sudden. His beast was on edge. As one would feel as if they were being hunted or watched, neither of which Eric cared for.

  Cautiously, Eric allowed his gaze to wonder around the wide open lobby area of the lodge as they moved toward his work office. Sitting with a lazy posture was his second beta; Jason. His eyes briefly lifted once Eric exited out of the long hallway, only to drift away and back at the motorcycle magazine he was glancing through. On the far side of the room was Myra; he dismissed her seeking gaze within the second he’d spotted her.

  Something had put his wolf on edge and had left his skin crawling to the point of madness. But what was it?

  3

  “That’s stupid.” Travis grumbled, lifting his eyes from his game boy for the first time in the past hour.

  Letting her head lull against the back of the soft chair she sat in, Rebecca closed the thick story book around her thumb, effectively holding her place within the many pages. For the past half an hour she’d done what she did every night, after getting the energetic twin in their separate beds one of the twins chose a book for their nightly bedtime story.

  Emma shot a glare across from her side of the room to her disagreeable twin. “Shut up, Travis.”

  Turning her attention back to Rebecca, Emma clutched her stuffed orange and black striped tiger closer to the soft material of her purple Barbie nightgown. “What happened next, Becca?” her voice filled with innocent wonder.

  “Maybe that’s enough for tonight.” Rebecca began to extract her thumb from the book, but was stopped by the sound of Emma’s cry of denial.

  “No! I wanna hear more! Come on, Becca; you promised.” She cried out with a pout.

  Rebecca winced when her gaze collided with Emma’s beseeching dark brown eyes. The same big eyed, pleading look a small puppy gave. Emma always knew how to guilt her into anything. Glancing down at her wrist watch, she affirmed it was well past eight-thirty, within the time the twins should already be asleep.

  “It’s time for you to go to bed, Emma. We’ll read some more on Tuesday.”

  Closing the book, Rebecca rose from her comfortable seat, replacing the book on the tall white bookshelf beside bedroom door. Tonight had been Emma’s turn to choose which book would be read; unsurprisingly she’d chosen “Beauty and the Beast, The Madame Le Prince de Beaumont version”. The very same book that Rebecca had given Emma as a gift, when she’d made the highest grade in her kindergarten class.

  Turning around she made her way to Emma’s bed, where she still sat up clutching at her stuffed tiger, idly rubbing one of the orange ears. Sitting down on the edge of Emma’s flowered comforter, Rebecca reached for the small lamp that set in the large space between Emma and Travis’s twin beds. Turning the small switch and with a small click the bedroom smothering the bedroom in moonlit darkness. Almost immediately a small crescent moon shaped nightlight on the bookshelf began to glow in the shadowy room.

  “Why can’t we read more tomorrow?” Emma asked grudgingly, when Rebecca stood, pulling aside the thick comforter, Emma obediently crawled under it.

  “Because tomorrow you guys are going to your Grandma’s and Monday night it’s Travis’s turn to pick the book we’ll read.”

  Emma crunched up her face in disagreement. “He only likes video games.”

  Smiling gently, Rebecca nodded her head in agreement. “That reminds me.” Walking across the room, Rebecca could clearly see Travis in the dimly lit room, the lit up screen of his game boy illuminated his small face. He still sat on top of his navy colored comforter; his blue eyes flickered back and forth across the screen of his black game boy. Coming to stop near his bed, her hands closed over the game boy, pulling it out of his two small clutching hands.

  Travis made a hopeless grab for the game boy. “Hey! Give it back!”

  Turning the game boy off, she folded the screen down. “Go to sleep.”

  “I was almost to level twelve!”

  “Well, Zeda can wait until tomorrow.”

  “It’s Zelda.” Travis grumbled with a pout.

  Her unflinching gaze settled over his stubborn one. A look no doubt he inherited from his even more stubborn father. “Go to sleep Travis.”

  Giving her a pouting look, like his twin he crawled beneath his comforter and settled against the soft matching pillow. Laying the game boy down on top of the bookshelf, her eyes slowly swept over the twins bed one last time. Somehow both of Eric’s children always seemed to fall asleep the second their heads hit the pillow. Travis had lain down with his back toward her, no doubt put out with the confiscation of his video game. Emma snuggled on her side; in her sleep she continually rubbed the side of her face against her pillow in effort to get comfortable. Her stuffed tiger still clutched to her small body.

  Deep in her heart, she knew that she wouldn’t always be needed for Emma and Travis. But in the past few months they both had found a way to weasel through her armor and into her heart. How would she walk away from them afterwards? No doubt Emma and Travis could tell she wasn’t a shifter like them, but they had done nothing but treat her like a member of the family.

  Quietly closing the door behind her as she left, Rebecca slowly made her way down the short hall way and down the maroon carpeted stairs. Her eyes drifted over the collection of framed baby photos and other pictures that documented Emma and Travis’s memories. She spotted several photos of the twins with Sarah, their grandmother. But there was only one picture with Eric. It was her favorite picture out of them all, because it was the only photo of them that she’d taken.

  Taken last month at the park, the photo showed Eric lounging on a blanket with Emma and Travis crawling over him in a mock of a wrestling match. Eric’s handsome face glowed with happiness as his large arms wrapped around the two wiggling children. They really made a happy family. A family, Rebecca knew she’d never be a part of.

  With her family gone, Rebecca found herself constantly marveling at the beauty of many family photos wherever she worked. But never had she stared at a picture of her employer the way she did now. She didn’t understand the strange pull she felt towards him. It wasn’t as if Eric even liked her. Several times
she’d caught Eric looking at her, but it wasn’t soon after meeting her gaze that he found an excuse to leave the room. No doubt; he found humans to be unattractive and beneath him. Maybe if she’d been a shifter…

  Rebecca immediately shook off the thought before her idle brain could complete it. Eric was her boss and he would remain so if she valued her job and life. He would never see past her weak human form and she couldn’t look past the vicious beast that she knew lurked beneath the surface.

  After straightening up the slightly cluttered living room, she found herself near the end of her nightly chore list. Standing in front of the double sink, her hands moved quickly across the soiled dishes. When one dish was spotless, she deposited it in the other sink, filled with clear, rinse water. From there she plucked it out and laid it gently on the wooden dish rack beside the sink.

  Finally finished, she grabbed a dish towel and dried her hands. Turning to the dish rack, she began putting the newly cleaned dishes where they belonged. Setting the last of the dishes away, her ears picked up the sound of several male voices coming from the porch.

  Giving the clean kitchen one final look over, she headed to the laundry room located by the staircase. Taking the last load out of the dryer, she focused on ignoring the conversation that became louder as Eric and his visitors entered through the kitchen. Not wanting to interrupt or be introduced to anyone in her rumpled appearance, Rebecca stayed in the laundry room as she sorted and folded the last load of the night.

  The sound of heavy footsteps nearing the dimly lit room made her heart begin to race. She prayed they were just heading into the living room to watch some TV and had no intention of coming near her. When the footsteps seemed to draw closer, she felt her heart race more.

  Looking down at the polished red washier, Rebecca winced at her blurry reflection. Her high ponytail was crooked and many strands of her hair fell tangled around her face and her blue t-shirt was dirty and damp from dish water. She didn’t want to meet Eric’s colleges like this! Her only hope was that she could finish folding the clothes and put them away quickly, then slip out before being seen.