Her Wolf
Fiona Davenport
Copyright © 2020 by Fiona Davenport
Cover designed by Elle Christensen
Edited by Editing4Indies
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Her Wolf
1. Allegra
2. Zeke
3. Allegra
4. Allegra
5. Zeke
6. Allegra
7. Allegra
8. Zeke
9. Allegra
10. Allegra
Epilogue
Epilogue
About the Author
Her Wolf
Allegra Hale had no idea shifters existed when she headed off to college with her two best friends. Let alone that her campus was near a shifter town. But that all changed when she got into a crash and was rescued by Zeke Blakesley—the wolf shifter who insisted they belonged together.
Zeke knew Allegra was his fated mate the moment he caught her scent. Now that he has found the woman who was born to be his, he’ll never let her go.
1
Allegra
“I can’t believe we’re finally back at the dorm after what felt like the longest five-day weekend ever.” Larissa spun around in a circle with a big grin, her arms spread wide. Calliope and I glanced at each other and rolled our eyes. Neither of us had big plans for after high school, other than wanting to get out of our hometown and from underneath our parents’ thumbs. When Larissa suggested we all apply to the same college, Calliope and I had gone along with the plan. Then again, it wasn’t much of a surprise. We’d been following her lead since kindergarten.
Some of her ideas hadn’t turned out well—like the time we’d gone skinny dipping at Calliope’s parents’ lake house and almost got caught by a group of boys a few houses down—but all of us living together at school had been a stroke of genius. Getting my degree wasn’t super important to me, but I was doing better than I’d expected in my classes. Over the past few months, I’d loved living with my best friends and enjoyed being away from my mom’s watchful eye.
The drive back to my dorm felt almost as long as the entire weekend at home. My poor dad. Even while sitting next to me and talking to me the whole time, Mom managed to be a back-seat driver. “I almost can’t believe they actually left instead of my mom insisting they should spend the night here in town before heading back,” I grumbled, flopping down face-first on to my bed. Being home over Thanksgiving break had been a huge adjustment. My mom had practically been latched to my hip the whole time, without giving me a minute to myself.
“For a little bit there, I thought your mom was going to pull a blow-up mattress out of the back of their SUV and announce she was moving into the dorm with us.” Calliope sat down beside me and patted my back. “It’s a good thing your dad wasn’t on board with that plan or else we would’ve ended up with a fourth roommate.”
“Can you imagine?” I buried my face in a pillow, my shoulders shaking with laughter.
“Too easily.” Larissa dropped down on Calliope’s other side. The three of us barely fit together on the twin-sized mattress, but we’d squeezed into tighter spaces before—like the bench seats on the middle school bus that had been meant for two but we insisted on sharing anyway. “She’s always brought helicopter momming to a whole new level.”
“She really has,” I sighed, scooting up into a sitting position. I looped my arms around my shins and rested my chin on my knees. “And she took it to whole new levels over the break.”
“Yeah, but I bet you’ll miss her cooking.” Larissa grinned as she slid off the mattress to pad across the room and grab the container of chocolate chip cookies my mom had baked for us. Popping open the lid, she took a big bite out of one of them before bringing the cookies over to share with us.
“Maybe she’ll send more in her next care package,” Calliope mumbled around the cookie she was chewing on.
Larissa snagged another one and nodded. “I’m sure she will if Allegra lets her know how awesome they were.”
“Definitely,” I agreed with a grin. “She was already going on and on about all the things she forgot to get me, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I get a box in the mail next week. I’ll send her a text in the morning to let her know we already polished off this batch.”
Calliope grabbed another cookie. “I’d be shocked if you didn’t get three or four care packages from her before Christmas break even though it’s less than a month away.”
“Totally.” Larissa handed me the container before crossing the room to grab her purse off her bed. Digging inside, she pulled out a rubber banded wad of cash and wiggled it from side to side. “Meanwhile, my dad planned ahead so he wouldn’t need to send me anything for the next semester.”
“I like how your dad thinks.” I jumped up and grabbed the cash. Yanking the rubber band off, I fanned out the bills to count how much he’d given her. When I hit five thousand, my jaw dropped. “Dude. He realizes your books, dorm room, and meal plan are already all paid for, right?”
“Yeah.” She took the wad of money back and shoved it into her desk drawer. “But you guys know how he is, always worrying that I’ll miss out on stuff and trying to make sure I have anything I need.”
Larissa’s dad was as protective as our parents, but most people missed it. Not Calliope and me, though. Growing up with her, we understood that his gruff exterior masked his big heart. Even though he was kind of clueless about girls, he still rocked the whole single dad thing. “I know what you need right now.”
My friends laughed and started putting their shoes back on because they knew exactly what I was going to suggest. When we first moved into the dorm, our parents took us to a diner in town for lunch before they hit the road to head back home. They had the best strawberry milkshakes I’d ever tasted, and anytime we went off campus, I wanted to grab one. Luckily, Larissa and Calliope liked them—and loved me—enough that they were willing to stop there whenever I asked.
Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting at our regular booth in the back corner. It was a good thing the hostess knew our orders by heart because our waitress didn’t bother to stop by our table until we were halfway finished with our shakes.
“What can I get you?” she asked without bothering to look up from her notepad.
Larissa rolled her eyes before answering, “Nothing. We’re good with the shakes.”
Her head jerked up, and she glared at us. “Seriously, you don’t want anything else?”
“Nope.” I let the P pop and grinned when she huffed in frustration and stomped away.
“I wonder when she started here,” Calliope grumbled before slurping on her vanilla malt. I always got strawberry, and Larissa got chocolate, but she rotated through the flavors. I suspected that sometimes she picked based on what she was wearing. The cream cable-knit sweater she was wearing today was almost a perfect match for her shake.
“She’s got to be new, or else we would’ve seen her here before,” Larissa suggested as she scooped off the last bit of whipped cream from the top of her shake.
“Maybe she replaced Candi since she usually does the Sunday evening shift, and I don’t see her anywhere,” I added.
Larissa and Calliope leaned against each other and giggled, shaking their heads.
“What?” I asked, not getting how I’d made them crack up.
Larissa pulled her straw out of her shake, sucked the shake out of it, and pointed it at me. “Only you would know the waitresses’ schedule
s by heart. You’re obsessed with this place.”
“You might be right.” I shrugged and grinned. “Even though my mom made all of my favorites over break, I legit dreamed about these strawberry shakes a few times while I was home.”
“You do realize your mom would’ve made you as many milkshakes as you wanted, right?” Calliope asked. “You should’ve saved your fantasies for something good, like hot guys.”
“She would’ve tried, but they just wouldn’t be the same.” I sucked down the rest of my shake and pushed my empty glass to the end of the table. “And you know I haven’t found a guy worth dreaming about yet. I thought when we got to college it would be different, but the boys here are just as immature as the ones in high school. All they care about is getting into your panties before moving on to the next girl.”
“Yeah, it would be nice to meet someone who was ready for a relationship for a change,” Calliope agreed with a nod after finishing her shake and nudging her glass next to mine.
“Just so long as we remember we’re worth way more than the boys on campus are willing to give, we’ll find the right guys eventually.” Larissa reached out and lifted her pinkie in the air. Calliope and I followed suit, and we wrapped them together as a reminder of the pact we’d made to wait to give up our V-cards until we met guys who we could truly see ourselves spending the rest of our lives with.
She was done with her shake less than a minute later, but the glasses sat there for another fifteen before our waitress stopped by and picked them up. We asked for our check, but she didn’t come back with it for another ten minutes. When she disappeared in the back again, I’d had enough.
“You guys go ahead.” I held out my hand for Larissa to fork over some of the cash her dad had given her. “I’ll pay the check and meet you back in the dorm.”
The waitress was slow as heck, and another half hour passed before she brought my change back. I’d been tempted to just let her keep it so I could finally leave, but there was no way I was going to leave her that big of a tip after the crap service she’d given us. I dug a few singles out of my purse and dropped them on the table after pocketing the bills she’d given me—because of course she didn’t bother to give me anything smaller than a ten. I heard her huff behind me as I stalked outside to wait for my rideshare. It was cold and snowy, but the car was only a few minutes away, and I was beyond ready to get out of the diner.
When the driver pulled up to the curb, I yanked the rear door open and jumped inside. “Thanks,” I murmured, rubbing my arms in an attempt to warm up more quickly.
“No worries.” After a quick glance in the rearview mirror, he turned up the heat, and said, “It’s cold out there.”
“Yup.” I nodded as I buckled my seat belt. “I’m lucky you were available. Walking back to campus in this would’ve been awful.”
“Yeah, I think you’re going to be my last trip tonight since it’s starting to really come down, and the plows haven’t done a pass yet.”
2
Zeke
Kicking back in my leather recliner, I grabbed the remote to turn on the football game. With a plate full of chicken wings, a bag of chips, and a cold bottle of beer waiting for me on the table at my side, I was looking forward to a night all to myself without any responsibilities. My week had been jam-packed, and my plans for a chill weekend had been blown out of the water yesterday morning when my mom had called to ask me to come over and help move her living room furniture. It’d turned into a full day of rearranging almost every room in her house, followed by the feast she’d made to thank me for all my help. While we were eating, she’d mentioned that she wanted to go to the farmers’ market one town over this morning, so I offered to take her and ended up spending almost five hours running errands.
Now that I was finally back home and nobody needed me for anything, I was ready for some alone time. I normally preferred to spend most of my time surrounded by family and friends, but every once in a while, I needed to recharge on my own. Unfortunately, my solitude only lasted for about five minutes before Kace flung open my front door, stomped through my living room, and dropped down on my couch.
“I need you to head over to Stewart and talk to the owner of the liquor distributor we use for Howler’s.” He tossed a sheet of paper in my direction, and I reached out to snag it from the air. Glancing down, I wrinkled my brow when I scanned the list of alcohol bottles with check marks next to way too few of the items.
“They fucked up almost half of our order yesterday, and I’m tired of this shit. A phone call isn’t going to cut it this time. They need to understand there are repercussions beyond losing our business for pulling this kind of shit.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. What Kace was asking should’ve been an easy yes for me. Stewart was only two towns over, and I was always up for knocking some heads together when warranted—plus, there was the fact that I was a wolf shifter, and he was my alpha. But I’d been looking forward to my low-key night, and I had the worst luck whenever I had to run an errand there. “Can’t Tane do it instead?”
“You got a problem with the shit I tell you to do?” he rumbled, his dark eyes flashing with more than a hint of his power.
“Dude. You know me better than that.” I tilted my head to the side, just enough to show him my throat as a gesture of submission. “I’m a part of your pack not just because I was born into it. You’re my alpha because I respect you and can’t see myself willingly following anyone else’s lead.”
He sighed and dropped his head to stare at his lap for a minute. After he took a few deep breaths, he met my gaze again as the tension between us disappeared. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I do know you better than that, which is why you’re my second in command.”
Many alphas didn’t bother to apologize, and Kace’s choice to admit when he was wrong was one of the reasons he had my respect. But I’d noticed he’d been doing it more often than usual over the past few months. “Is there a reason you’ve been so damn grouchy lately?”
“I’m not sure what’s causing it, but my wolf has been on a shorter leash. I noticed it in September, but I think it started before then,” he admitted, shaking his head. “I haven’t been able to figure out why he’s so damn edgy.”
“Maybe you should go for a run,” I suggested. Sometimes the wolf side of our nature needed to work off his excess energy just as much as the human did, especially for those of us who hadn’t found our mates. The female fate intended for us was the only thing that could truly soothe the beast inside our skin, but neither of us had found ours yet.
Kace considered my advice before he nodded. “That’s a good idea. Things have been crazy around here lately, and I haven’t had the chance to go on a run since the last full moon.”
I crumpled up the paper and tossed it back at him. “Since I just solved your grouchiness issue, how about you get someone else to head over to Stewart to fix the liquor issue.” I pointed at the half-eaten plate of wings and added, “My plans for tonight didn’t include dealing with anything other than a full stomach.”
“Sometimes we’ve got to do shit we don’t want to do.” Kace shrugged but didn’t look too worried about ruining my night as he grabbed a couple of my wings for himself. “Sending Tane won’t send a strong enough message. It’s got to be you since you’re my beta.”
“Damn,” I groaned, flipping the handle on the side of my recliner to send my leg rest down. “Fucking Stewart.”
Kace chuckled and tossed his chicken wing bones onto the side of my plate. “I don’t get it. Why do you sound like I’m sending you to your death?”
I wasn’t the kind of guy who got embarrassed, but I felt heat fill my cheeks as I remembered what had happened when I was in Stewart a few days ago. “My mom wanted a pecan pie from the diner over there to go with the pumpkin one she baked for Thanksgiving. I ran into an issue picking it up for her.”
“It couldn’t have been that bad if you didn’t tell me about it.�
� He leaned back, stretching his legs out to prop his feet on my coffee table. “What kind of trouble did you manage to get into in a college town full of humans?”
“The new waitress could’ve passed for an octopus shifter with how handsy she tried to get with me.” I shuddered just thinking about it.
Kace cringed at the analogy. “Hopefully, you can duck into their place without her spotting you.”
“It’s not just her, man. I swear, all the girls who go to that school are boy crazy,” I grumbled as I got to my feet. “Whenever I’m in Stewart, at least one of them tries to throw herself at me. If she were my mate, I’d be all over that shit, but none of them have been, and they don’t take no for an answer. Then when I finally manage to untangle myself, their fucking scent clings to my skin, and it’s all wrong. My wolf gets pissed, and the drive feels as though it takes for-fucking-ever before I’m back home and can wash it off me.”
Kace grabbed the last few chicken wings before standing, too. “Maybe you’ll get lucky this time around, and the girl throwing herself at you will turn out to be your mate.”
“It’s not gonna happen. I’m just not that lucky, as proven by you barging in here and interrupting my night,” I denied with a shake of my head. “That’s not taking into account how I’m headed to a town full of humans who don’t even know shifters or fated mates exist.”
“I wouldn’t care if my mate was human as long as I found her.” Kace flashed me a chiding look, and I felt like shit since I shouldn’t have needed the reminder. My irritation over my change in plans had me saying shit I didn’t even mean. “It won’t matter if yours is a wolf shifter, human, or can turn into a fucking goldfish. She’ll be the best thing that’s ever happened to you because she’s your mate.”
Her Wolf Page 1