Real Love
Page 1

Reality 5
Real Love
[Siren Classic ManLove: Erotic Romance, Alternative, Paranormal, Shape-shifter, Werewolves/Vampires, MM, HEA
Jack Robinson survived the hell of captivity and has the nightmares to prove it. When a new student approaches him for help, he is prepared to help the kid as a pack alpha’s advisor. He does not expect to meet the boy’s father and fall in love.
Lucas Cartwright is a widower with two teenage kids who believe their mother was a witch. Between moving to a new house and dealing with the kids he has enough on his plate. Then he encounters Jack.
As the two men work on building a relationship some difficult truths are revealed and a magical foe pays a surprise visit to Cartwrights’ house.
Jack will have to work on defeating his demons if he wants a future with Lucas. Lucas will need to come to terms with his new reality if he wants Jack to accept a relationship with him. But when real love grows between them nothing will stand in their way.
Length: 50,000 words
REAL LOVE
Reality 5
Sophie Martin

Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
Real Love
Copyright © 2020 by Sophie Martin
ISBN: 978-1-64637-186-0
First Publication: June 2020
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2020 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
DEDICATION
For Nathan. Thank you for being there for me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When she was a child Sophie’s parents complained that she was spending too much time reading. She couldn’t stop herself, however, and by the time she grew up her reading habit turned into a full-blown addiction. Combine it with unending curiosity making her always wonder “what if”, and that’s how she started writing her own books.
Now Sophie tries to mediate between all the characters fighting in her head as to whose story should be written first in between juggling work, personal life, and paying attention to her cat.
For all titles by Sophie Martin, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/sophie-martin
TABLE OF CONTENTS
REAL LOVE
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
REAL LOVE
Reality 5
SOPHIE MARTIN
Copyright © 2020
Prologue
The witch looked around with narrowed eyes. She did her best to hide her disgust behind a neutral mask, but one corner of her lips curled against her will. The room she sat in was spacious and nicely furnished. Any pleasant experience from how the room was decorated disappeared, however, when you took a breath. It smelled here. Stunk if she were to be honest. A haze of cigarette and weed smoke hung in the air like an immovable curtain. Cigarette butts overflowed multiple ashtrays set about the room, the ash spilling to the floor and being ground into a once nice carpet. Beer cans and empty shot glasses sat abandoned on various surfaces. Lines of coke were splayed on the only clear surface in the room, what should be a gleaming wooden tabletop.
Animals, she thought. It wasn’t a species slur. She rarely mingled with shifters when she didn’t have to, but she had nothing against them as a whole. It was the particular ones in this room that she disliked. Filthy, disgusting animals. She would have felt the same about them had they been witches, or humans for that matter. They were simply pathetic excuses of sentient beings, every last one of them.
The alpha snorted a line and leaned backwards, closing his eyes for a second, trying to absorb the high. It took a lot to get a paranormal high. They were normally resistant to drugs and alcohol. The ones in this room, though, they’d been doing drugs regularly and for a long time from what she gathered. Even paranormal blood couldn’t shield a person from constant substance abuse. The alpha’s eyes opened, shining with the rush of his high. He focused on her and beckoned. She smiled enigmatically as she got to her feet. Grabbing her wineglass, she approached him.
“Azure,” he said, using the nickname she’d given them when they first approached to hire her. “We need to do something about these bastards.” It was a simple statement, but she knew he meant it as an order. The people he mentioned, some other pack from what she gathered, had been a thorn in his side for a while. Feeling this was going to be a longer conversation, she nodded and pulled one of the heavy, padded wooden chairs to perch on. She sat down daintily, shooting off a quick spell to clean the upholstery first. She didn’t need anything disgusting transferring from it to her skirt.
“What do you propose?” she asked, twirling the red liquid in her glass. It was a nice wine, full-bodied and not too dry. The alpha liked nice things even if he did not appreciate what he had.
“Those sons of bitches have been in my business for too long. They’re messing up my trade, and they really angered the boss.” An almost imperceptible shiver of fear ran through the man. If her senses weren’t on high alert around these men, she would have missed it. Just who was this boss to strike such fear into these hardened criminals? The witch watched the older shifter pull himself together. She kept her expression calm. “We need to get back at them,” he spat out. “We’ve sent men after them once and they vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. I don’t know how they’re doing this.” The man thumped his fist on the table in a show of rage. His eyes were bloodshot, his greying hair mussed. “That pack didn’t even exist not too long ago. Then they pop out of thin air, grow their territory exponentially, and mess up all our plans in the process. I want them gone!” Spittle flew from his mouth as he raged, and the woman had to put her all into not reacting. What a buffoon! Taking one more sip of wine, she leaned back in her chair. She measured the man before her with a cold gaze.
“It seems to me, Alpha, that what you need right now is information.” She spoke calmly, not showing any emotions. “At the moment there are too many unknowns. You don’t know the exact number of members of this pack or their strengths. You don’t know what happened to your men or how they’ve been defeated. You don’t know where or whom to attack and which weaknesses to exploit.” She sipped her wine, watching in satisfaction how focused the alpha was on her. “What you really need is someone to do reconnaissance, gather all the possible info. Then, when you know all you can, you strike!” She made a slashing motion. The alpha gave her a sleazy grin and she knew she had him right where she wanted him. Fool.
Picking up her wineglass, she stood up and left the room. Only in the corridor she allowed a self-satisfied smirk to show on her face. Oh, yes. Let the games begin!
Chapter One
Waking up from yet another nightmare, Jack clenched his teeth, making sure not a single sound escaped him. While still in captivity, it had become second nature to him to keep it quiet. In that horrible, horrible place, screaming because of a nightmare would have gotten you beaten. Jack had trained himself not to cry out, not to whimper. There had been no point getting the guards’ attention. He had already been abused by the so-called customers enough. He hadn’t needed further abuse from the guards. The habit stayed with Jack even after he was free. He suspected his friends and housemates, Jason, Toby, and Tyler, had no idea he still suffered from nightmares.
Jack turned his head and looked at the clock on his nightstand. 4.48 AM. It was good. It meant he’d managed more than five hours of sleep, his record. Months after being rescued by Jason and the others, Jack still had trouble sleeping. Nightmares would wake him several times during the night, so five hours of uninterrupted sleep were really good.
Jack had been kidnapped by a human and paranormal trafficking gang soon after having been banished by his previous alpha. As a cuberow shifter, an Abyssinian or Ethiopian Wolf, Jack’s shifted form resembled that of a fox. He wasn’t as big and strong as grey wolves and had no real way of protecting himself. Also, Jack was a non-violent person. He was a teacher, interested in history and shifter customs. Neither his human nor animal part was dominant. Jack never considered himself a true submissive, but he had more submissive than dominant traits. Because of that he had no real defence against the paranormals who had captured him and sold him to a brothel specializing in paranormal clientele. The horrors he’d been through in that place would stay with Jack forever.
Fairly sure he wasn’t going to get any more sleep, Jack got up and started getting dressed. He thought back of the latest weirdness – —the Halloween. An incident during the holiday made Jack wonder how many paranormals out there had no idea about certain laws ruling their kind. Some of them, when broken, could have serious magical consequences. It made him worry. Suddenly his friends’ jokes that Jack should write a Paranormal 101 textbook became more than just jokes.
Sitting down at his desk to check on his lesson plans, Jack started to seriously consider writing down everything he had ever learned about paranormals. He was known to be the alpha’s right-hand man. If anything ever happened to him, Jason and their friends would be seriously lost. Jack looked back at the clock. He had about two hours to spare before he had to get ready for work. Jack opened his laptop and started a new document. Biting his lip, he thought on how to start.
* * * *
“I don’t want to go to this stupid school!” the boy shouted, and Lucas fought to stifle a sigh.
“We’ve already discussed it, Brian. I’ve been offered a job here, and the change of scenery will do you and your sister good. You’ll meet new friends, and we can build a new life here. You’ll see.”
“It’s not like I ever had any friends before, so I don’t care if I get new ones or not. I should be helping you find out what’s wrong with Ruby instead of going to this stupid school!”
“Ruby and I are going to another doctor’s appointment today. You don’t have to worry about it.” Lucas came closer to his son, who was nearly as tall as him now, and put a hand on his shoulder. “I know you miss your mother, son, but it is time to move on. The move should help us all with it.” Brian shrugged off Lucas’s hand and took a step back. He scowled at his father as his hands balled into fists.
“I do not miss that woman!” Brian said with vehemence. “She was an evil witch, and we’re better off without her!”
“Brian, that’s enough!” Lucas snapped. He looked at the boy and let go of the sigh he had been holding back. There was so much rage in the kid. Lucas had no idea how to deal with it.
Up until a few months ago, it had been Lucas’s wife, Ariana, who oversaw the kids. While Lucas loved both of his children, he had never had much free time to spend with Brian and Ruby Rose. When Ariana died in a car crash, Lucas was left to deal with two grieving children he barely knew. He had thought that moving to the house he’d inherited from his great-uncle was a good idea. Both he and the kids could use a change and leave the memories behind. Lucas was fortunate enough to have been offered a job straight away, and the house was in good enough condition to move in immediately. So, soon after the funeral he had packed them all into a car with a moving van following closely behind, and they’d moved into this place.
The children were attending regular therapy meeting, but Lucas refrained from doing so. He knew, deep down, that his reaction to his wife’s death wasn’t entirely normal either. He hadn’t felt a thing. Ever since Ariana died, Lucas hadn’t felt grief or anger, or anything else for that matter, for the loss of his wife. He thought maybe he was still in the denial stage of grief. Mostly, he tried to push away any thoughts about his reaction. He had more important things to deal with, like forcing his rebellious teenage son to go to a new school.
“Listen, son,” Lucas said, seeing Brian watch him suspiciously. "I have no time to deal with this right now. You will go to school unless you want to explain to child protective services why you didn’t. I need to take Ruby to her appointment, but I’ll be by later to pick you up. Understood?" Lucas realized his voice betrayed his annoyance and tiredness, but he couldn’t help it. Brian narrowed his eyes and snorted but swirled on his heel and grabbed his carrier bag.
“Understood. But you’ll be sorry when I find out which of mother’s spells made Ruby sick. That witch was always jealous of Ruby’s talent,” Brian said, leaving the house and shutting the door loudly. Lucas opened his mouth to say something but then only shook his head. There was no sense telling Brian once again that there were no witches. The kid was too stubborn. With yet another sigh Lucas gathered his keys and wallet and went upstairs to Ruby’s room. He had to get his daughter ready for the doctor’s appointment before they were late.
* * * *
Jack sat at his desk in the classroom waiting for the kids to calm down. His first class this day was with fourteen-year-olds. They were good kids, mostly, wanting to learn what he had to teach them. There were a few troublemakers in the class, but he had a way of dealing with them.
It took him minutes to calm the kids down and start the lesson. Anytime Jack was deep into the lecture, pulling the kids with him into fascinating, long-gone times, it was as if nothing outside existed. He had a gift of teaching, he had been told more than once. He could pull the kids with him into a world of intrigue, politics, and forgotten customs.
It came as a near-shock to him when the classroom door opened, startling Jack from the lecture, as a teenage boy walked in.
“Um, I’m sorry for being late,” the mocha-skinned boy said. “I’m new here and couldn’t find the classroom.”
“That’s quite all right,” Jack said and gestured to the empty desk in the back of the classroom. “Please take a seat.”
Jack didn’t like interruptions when he was teaching, but the kid honestly did look sorry. Just to verify it, Jack took a deep sniff when the boy was passi
ng him. Then he nearly bowled over from shock. The boy smelled of smoke and incense. The unmistakable scent of a witch. Jack grimaced.
The kid was new, but Jack had heard from the headmistress about him. Brian and his family moved into town a few weeks back. The kid only started school now, having been in counseling after his mother’s death. The headmistress warned her teachers that it was possible the kid was going to cause trouble. The woman wanted all the teachers aware of the boy’s loss, so they weren’t too hard on him. That was all nice and fine, but with the kid being a witch Jack predicted a whole other bucketful of problems.
Last Halloween Jack and his packmates discovered something called a territory clause. It had to do with paranormals living in a territory claimed by an alpha. Because Jason was an incredibly powerful demigod, his territory as an alpha stretched far. Most of the paranormals in it had pledged their loyalty to the new alpha as soon as Jason had accidentally claimed it. Unfortunately, not every paranormal knew about the consequences and side effects of not pledging their loyalty and staying in the alpha’s territory. They discovered it after meeting Ross’s – the owlcat’s – brother who was suffering from recurring migraines, mood changes, and overall exhaustion. The man had had no idea that it was caused by not being accepted by the alpha.
Brian’s family hadn’t yet visited Jason to swear their allegiance to the alpha. They were going to be experiencing some of the side effects soon.
Jason cleared his throat and went back to the lecture, dismissing all other thoughts. It could all wait until the lesson was over. Now he had a class to teach.