by C. D. Gorri
“Oh you really think you’re a wiseass don’t you?” Declan snarled at Maddox.
“Does a wiseass wear a size thirteen boot? If so then you’re looking at Cinderella,” Maddox laughed. “Look there are usually two sides to everything, the story and then the truth. Maybe you should see which one your girl is going with and then support her if you think it’s the truth. If not,” Maddox shrugged with nonchalance, “Then pick a prison with conjugal visits.”
“Oh you’re a regular Jimmy Fallon,” Declan scrunched his nose and curled his lip at his best friend, who was evidently looking for a career change.
“In all seriousness, I’d be more than happy to sit in on the grilling. Just let me know am I good cop or bad cop?”
“I’ve had a headache since receiving the message about my mate but your bullshit has efficiently turned it into a migraine.” Declan stared at him with a deadpan look on his face.
“Mission impossible accomplished,” Maddox grinned, knowing that Declan was only taking the piss. “Should I run around with my t-shirt over my head like the soccer players do when they win The World Cup?”
“Only if you want me to knock you out cold, wrap you up in the rug and toss you in the river with some handmade concrete boots on. I can start interviewing for a new Beta tomorrow.”
“Ouch!” Maddox placed his hand on his heart as though injured by Declan’s words. “My mum always said you didn’t play fair.”
“Yeah and mine always said you were as sly as a jackal,” Declan smiled.
“Hey now, that’s too far. You know jackals have that out of proportion thing going on. Their heads are too small for their ears and their body’s. Besides I’m better looking,” Maddox winked.
“You realize we are all from the same family of canines don’t you?”
“Yeah but I’d rather be a wolf any day than a jackal.”
There was a brief knock at the office door before it opened, “Hey did you see this stuff?” Colin raced in with his new computer under one arm and an iPhone in the other hand.
“How good are you with research?” Declan looked at Colin with the belief that Maddox was right. He wanted all the information about Jennifer, and then he wanted to hear what she had to say in her defense.
“Hey kid, while you’re at it can you look up what the things on the ends of shoelaces are called?” Maddox put his own request for information in amongst the mix.
Colin glanced over at Maddox, then replied with a single word, “Aglet.”
Maddox blinked as though someone had just throat punched him, and Declan, the motherfucker laughed as if it had been him who’d thrown the blow.
“Seriously kid? What kind of a word is that?” Maddox asked in disgust with the naming process.
“We can hash that shit out until it’s dead and dust after I speak to Jennifer and get some clarity on the current situation we find ourselves in. I want things cleared up before the next council meeting in three days,” Declan announced as he headed for the front door. “Maddox fill Colin in while I go and ask Jennifer to join us over here, will you?”
“Sure,” Maddox did as the alpha instructed and provided a brief outline of what was happening.
*.*.*.*
Jennifer felt another wave of nausea flip it and reverse it as she walked to answer the front door. She felt as if the saliva building in her mouth was getting harder to swallow, and she threw the door open to race outside. She fell to her knees and heaved so hard she suspected her socks were over the edge of the veranda in a patch of dirt behind the bushes. No, she wiped away the tears straining so hard had created and thought they’re overgrown weeds, right before a set of strong arms picked her up and started to carry her inside. “Not done,” she somehow managed to say.
Declan spun around and returned her to her previous position as it seemed to work fine for the first barrage. He walked inside to fill a glass of water and quickly returned to where he’d left his mate so she could rinse her mouth out.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and called Maddox, “Change of plan, I’ll need the both of you to come over here. Jennifer isn’t well and I can’t leave her while she’s like this.”
He hung up the phone and then took a second go at getting Jennifer inside and comfortable.
Within a matter of five minutes, Colin and Maddox could be heard walking up the steps complaining of the sour smell coming up from the garden.
“Keep it down guys, she’s just fallen asleep.” Declan advised the pair of them as they walked through the open front door.
He placed a wet washcloth on her forehead and moved into the kitchen. “I haven’t been able to speak to her yet. Colin can you go zero to a hundred on researching everything in the article?”
He nodded, then opened his laptop and went at it hard.
“Maddox contact everyone and let them know we have a high priority case that means we may call on others for help, otherwise we can’t afford to be disturbed.”
Jennifer suddenly jumped up and raced for the toilet, once again emptying the contents of her stomach. When she returned, she sat down and commenced shivering as if she were a wet dog.
Things began to click into place, and Declan asked, “Jennifer did you eat any chocolate?”
“Yeah,” Jenn responded through her chattering teeth. She looked at him in a dazed and confused manner. “I’ve always been able to eat chocolate.”
“How much did you eat this time?”
“That’s a question you never ask a woman. It’s right up there on the list, next to her age or weight,”
“You’re going to think you’re crazy or that I am, but I don’t know of any other way to tell you.” Declan looked at Maddox, who shrugged and made a noise that resembled a mumble, ‘I don’t know.’ He looked at Colin, who was already standing with his hands in the air as if someone was pointing a loaded gun at him.
“Great! Just great!” Declan stared at the ceiling as if there might be some sort of blueprint on how to tell your mate that she’s a wolf shifter. Oh, and that you’re mated to the leader of the pack. In the end, it just kept coming back around in a circle. He was going to have to be blunt and to the point. That was something he was good at. Him being the alpha and all. He took a deep breath and just opened his mouth and let the words flow unfiltered, “You’re a wolf shifter and some of us can’t eat chocolate.”
Jennifer started with a soft giggle, and it just kept growing, stronger and louder. Not unlike one of those snowballs in cartoons that chase things downhill and collect debris along the way. She even threw in a couple of snorts for good measure. Finally, she noticed that she was the only one practically pissing herself laughing. At which time it eased off to a couple of ‘Ohhh’s’ as she struggled to regain her ability to breathe.
She wiped under her eyes to get rid of the tears of laughter, and it simmered further down to a giggle. “Oh,” she looked from Declan to Maddox, then to Colin and back to Declan. “You’re actually serious?”
Declan clicked his fingers and pointed his finger to the ground beside him. “Man, come on?” Maddox attempted to protest but shifted anyway and walked across the living room to sit beside the pack’s alpha. He tilted his to the side as if to ask Jennifer if that was good enough.
“What the actual fuck!” Jennifer asked, scrunching herself up onto the couch. Then as if things weren’t strange enough, she tried to focus on Declan, but he was moving toward her, and there was a wolf growling, only there was no wolf in the room now as Maddox was Maddox again but without clothes on. The sound echoed inside her head, and she whined at the same time the wolf winced from the pain.
The memory of the dream surfaced, and Jennifer closed her eyes as the images flashed through her mind as if watching a movie. Even though she thought it was a dream, deep down, she knew there was something different about it.
“No! it’s not possible,” Jennifer put fragments of memories together from when she was a child along with things she’d found in the attic. “Pleas
e tell me this is really happening and that I’m not certifiably crazy?”
“There’s some other things I need to tell you,” Declan crouched near her. “There’s a warrant out for your arrest in relation to stolen paintings.”
“Don’t forget to tell her that you two are mated,” Maddox grinned.
Jennifer’s expression told Declan she was going into shock. Not sure if she would accept him in her human form, he knew that as a wolf, she would recognize him not only as her alpha but also as her mate. Declan gently took hold of Jenn’s face, and he stared into her eyes. When his eyes flashed ice blue, she tried to pull her head away. “Come to me my little wolf,” Declan called for the mate to his wolf.
Again Jennifer heard a wolf howl, and suddenly she felt something brush up against her from the inside. Without warning, her body morphed into that of a wolf, and she yelped.
“Easy little wolf,” Declan still held her, and she struggled with him to release her. “We can take things as slow as you want my little shewolf, but at the end of the day, we are mated.” Declan’s own wolf wanted to make an appearance so he could reassure her that everything was how it was meant to be, but Declan wanted to keep that just for themselves, and at the moment, they had more pressing matters to deal with.
“Jenn can you change back for me?” Declan hoped that now Jennifer’s wolf was out that she would go back into the box. He didn’t want to force her to shift as that could be painful at the best of times.
Luckily Jennifer’s wolf wasn’t experienced enough to hold the shift for very long, and she was once again in her own skin. “Turn around,” Declan barked at the other two males in the room. He leaned closer towards Jennifer and whispered, “Don’t ever feel you need to hide from me. I think you’re beautiful.”
Jennifer blushed and moved so that she could meet his eyes. The sincerity in them told her he was speaking the truth, and she hesitantly brushed her lips against his, then began to get her clothes back on. Declan stood and turned his back to give her the privacy she would be used to, unlike the pack who had no issue with nudity as it is the most natural way to shift and not ruin your favorite pair of jeans.
She was amazed that she managed to accomplish the simplest of tasks, given that less than five minutes ago, she was a freaking wolf. The emotions racing through her covered at the very least the six basic ones - happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust. If anyone asked her to describe any of them, she would say they resembled that brown sludge in the bottom of the coffee pods from an espresso machine.
None of it mattered because she would become some science experiment for the government if she shifted after being arrested for something she didn’t do. She couldn’t help but think, “Wow! Her life had become so incredibly complicated and she hoped it would settle down soon.”
Chapter Eleven
Declan listened to his mate speak about the male that had put her in the position of being wanted by the law. Colin teamed up with Killyon, and in just under an hour, they’d tracked the guy Jennifer had known as Rick Aspley. He’d surfaced three more times after Jennifer had arrived at her grandmothers. The most recent being only two days ago. He’d used a stolen credit card to pay for his accommodation at the Nivaro and was presently awaiting arraignment. Declan contacted the Office of Public Prosecutions and advised that he knew a witness who could help his case, but Jennifer needed immunity. The District Attorney verified the information provided by Jennifer, and she walked out of the courthouse with her name intact and her record clean.
Four other women came forward to report they’d been swindled out of large sums of cash and expensive jewelry by the grifter. When the detectives spoke to Declan, they informed him Victor Crump, otherwise known as Rick Aspley to Jennifer, would be going away long enough to be a very old man by the time he was up for parole.
*.*.*.*
Declan stood at the front door of Jennifer’s house after they’d been out on their first official date together. He’d had all good intentions of letting her come to him at her own pace, but when it came to his mate, she wore his patience thin. Even though he wanted to go slow, it seemed much to his delight that his mate was more invested than she was letting on.
“Colin is old enough to take care of himself,” Jennifer argued.
“Yes but I’m not a fan of your less than king size bed,” Declan countered.
“Well I don’t want Colin to hear us,” Jennifer blushed.
“I know a place we can go,” Declan offered. “Do you like camping?”
“Ah… Hell no!” Jennifer responded, scrunching up her nose. “I don’t do dirt and spiders.”
“Luckily you have a big bad wolf to protect you,” he laughed.
Thanks for reading!
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Melissa Bell lives in Brisbane, Australia. At a point in her life where she felt she needed something just for herself, she discovered the pleasures of writing. Her most frequently used comment to herself is there’s not enough time in a day. She enjoys good food and good company, when she’s not trying to concentrate on her writing. She also loves to laugh and most of the time, she cracks herself up. She is hoping that this is the start of something amazing and one day aspires to be listed amongst those blessed with the title of being on the New York Times and USA Today Best Seller lists.
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His Treasure By Amanda Kimberley
His Treasure Amanda Kimberley
Copyright @Amanda Kimberley 2021
Edited by T.M. Payne of Book Nook Nuts
Dedication
For my family. You are a pack that gives me much pride.
His Treasure
Nothing’s fair in love and war.
Takoda, alpha of The Shoshone Tribe, knew the laws were clear when you came upon a lone pup during the rebellion. You either take the babe in as one of your own or banish them to a part of the country where they could do no harm.
She couldn’t have been more than 14 or 15, young enough to train in The Shoshone ways, but old enough to give the young Omegas in his pack reason to hate her. And because of that reason alone, he couldn’t take this girl called Treasure into his fold. So he did the next best thing. He entrusted her upbringing to his friend, Nayati, alpha of the Cheyenne tribe.
All was supposed to fall into place until the Cheyenne tribe had a falling out with his Shoshone one. He’d have to fight against the one person he wanted to save unless he made her his Treasure.
Prelude
It was the bloodiest battle he’d seen in all of his existence as a born shifter. They lost more pride members during this now deemed Civil Were War than they had in any other war, including the Were Rebellion in the 14th century. The war that every animal shifter was now involved with was started by the wolves, as usual, hence, they got to name the war. And that never rested well with the pride nations, nor Takoda.
Sure, he’d been in squabbles among the shifter
packs in the Americas before, and some of them were damned near close to being called an all-out war. But they were nothing compared to this. Nothing where thousands of shifters died at the hands of other shifters.
As he peered out into the dense forest, he couldn’t hear any signs of life. Not even a cricket was singing.
“So much death.” He found himself saying this out loud to the gods while he shook his head. Nayati nodded in agreement as the two of them continued their trek through the thickly dense forest.
Takoda and Nayati were appointed by the council to comb the territory for survivors now that the war was coming to an end. Sadly, most of their hunts lead to more of a recovery mission as they witnessed countless lifeless bodies in the mountains of Wyoming. It seemed almost everyone left chose to join one of their prides. There were just two small cougar prides living in their general area of Wyoming in this current day. Takoda’s Shoshone Pack grew by the numbers daily. Because he was the strongest and oldest alpha in Wyoming, the shifters that found themselves prideless joined him or Nayati’s pride. He was the alpha of the Cheyenne Pack and was the second largest in all the intermountain region.
“Do you think we got them all, Takoda?” Nayati asked him as he turned over some brush that was placed strangely around a cave entrance.
“We can’t be too sure. Lenox’s New England pack grew in strong numbers once he was able to reverse his son Gavin’s spell over him. It’s hard to believe that a werewitch could find such a spell to be able to shift again. I’m surprised at most of his pack, though. I was certain they’d remain loyal to Gavin and Fallon and stay up in the Northeast rather than follow Lenox here.”