Wedding the Wolf: A wolf shifter paranormal romance

by Steffanie Holmes

  I nodded. “Of course. I only hope that when you do tell Elinor and Alex, you make sure to give them the most explicit details. I’m tired of hearing about Ryan’s enormous cock or Eric’s dextrous musician fingers. It’s time they discovered they’re missing out on the love of a true Scotsman.”

  Willow smiled as she leaned in to kiss me again. “I promise to leave nothing out.”

  “Are you sure you’re gonnae be okay? That stalker of yours might still be hanging around your flat.”

  Willow shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine. It’s weird, but he doesn’t scare me so much any more.” She gave me a thin smile, and I felt a burst of pride in her. She grabbed her prosthesis from the end of the bed. Her face reddened as she rolled on the sleeve over her liner, sealed the vacuum and swung herself off the bed, rocking unsteadily as she tugged on her jeans. I noticed that she didn’t ask me not to look.

  “Until we meet again.” Willow leaned over as I held the door open, and her lips grazed my cheek. The gentle touch burned against my skin.

  “Aye, Willow Summers, until then.” I loved the taste of her name on my lips. I leaned against the cabin door, watching Willow disappear into the forest. In the daylight, the slight limp caused by her prosthesis was even more obvious.

  As soon as she disappeared from view, I shut the door behind me and sank into my chair. The heat of our connection still surged in my veins, battling with my wolf, who was already desperate to be free. I rubbed the stubble on my chin.

  I ken this was a bad idea. I should have told her to stay away from me. She’s already been hurt enough.

  Willow had no idea she was my fated mate, and that her destiny was to be part of the world that had already taken so much from her. She didn’t know that very soon werewolves and other shifters were going to be visible in the world. And I ken from our visit to the cemetery yesterday that she definitely wasn’t open to the idea.

  I sighed. If I told Willow about the pack’s plan, not only would I be betraying Caleb’s trust, but I’d ensure she never came within a foot of me ever again. I’d lose my one chance at being with her. But if I didn’t tell her, I’d be deliberately keeping it from her just so we could keep going on with our affair. Both options were shite.

  She’s going to find out anyway, I reminded myself.

  But there’s no telling how long it will take Robbie to find the ring. It could be months. By then, I might have convinced her to feel differently about werewolves. After all, she came to the pub with the others, and she was here in my cabin, shagging my brains out instead of running in terror, so given time she could come around to it.

  The longer you hide it, the worse it will be when she finds out.

  My head throbbed. I rubbed my temples as conflicting thoughts swirled around my brain. Willow Summers, what in God’s name am I going to do about you?

  17

  Willow

  There’s so much I still want to do to your body, if you’ll let me.

  Irvine’s words from the previous night replayed over and over as I waited on the porch of Marshell House. Warm sunlight poured down upon me, as if the weather itself had realised a miracle had taken place last night.

  I, Willow Summers, was no longer a virgin.

  At the thought of it, I grinned wider. I couldn’t seem to wipe that grin off my face. Every time I pictured his hands on my body, his broad shoulders hovering over me, the feeling of his cock buried deep inside me …

  Even though I’d had a full day to process the event on my own, while Irvine wandered around the forest as a wolf, the thrill still hadn’t worn off. I wanted to skip around the front lawn. I wanted to shout to the whole world to rejoice in this miracle. Instead, I shifted the box of wedding magazines and my planning folder into my other hand and rung the ancient bell again.

  “Coming!” Elinor cried from deep in the house. A moment later, she threw the door open.

  As usual, her beauty stopped me short. Elinor had one of those stunning heart-shaped faces, and enormous brown eyes framed by dark-rimmed glasses. Her body was all luscious curves accentuated by tailored clothing. Elinor would be marrying rock violinist Eric Marshell in a massive wedding in the back garden of Marshell House. Eric’s band would be performing for two hundred guests, including close friends and family and a whole swathe of important record executives. Unlike Bianca’s crazy art bash faux-wedding, Elinor and Eric’s was going to be pure gothic romantic, complete with a six-tier cake finished with blood-red roses and a banner saying, “Til death do us part.”

  Their wedding wasn’t for several months yet – they needed to plan it for when Eric wasn’t away touring – but we needed to get a start on it now if I wanted the marquee booked and the other preparations made. I was pretty excited about the project, which we’d started discussing at the pub the other night, especially since I thought Elinor and I might be … maybe … possibly … becoming friends, but it did mean yet another connection to Caleb's pack and whatever they were planning.

  Don’t think about it. It’s none of your business. As far as Elinor knows, you are completely oblivious to shifters, and the existence of Irvine’s cock. You’re just Willow Summers, wedding planner and totally normal, not-sleeping-with-a-werewolf, two-legged lass … I mean, girl.

  Elinor threw her arms around me. “It’s great to see you, in a much less dramatic setting. Come on in.”

  I followed Elinor through the house, noting the drab Victorian wallpaper and dark-wood furnishings that dominated the home her fiancé had inherited. She was starting to put her own touches everywhere, recovering the chairs with sumptuous velvet and replacing the stuffy frowning portraits with modern art. I recognised her own hand on a large painting beside the coatrack, of a girl in a diaphanous gown swimming in a pool under the moonlight, with a wolf watching from the shore beyond. I started to comment on it, then changed my mind, in case it started a discussion about wolves that I didn’t want to have.

  Elinor boiled the kettle and invited me out into the conservatory on the back of the house, overlooking the expansive lawn where her wedding marquee would be set up. Various fruit and deciduous trees were scattered around the perimeter of the lawn, and in the far corner of the garden, a small stone mausoleum provided a suitably gothic backdrop. I buttoned my coat against the crisp breeze, and Elinor handed me a blanket to place over my legs as she settled herself in the chair opposite me.

  “I love sitting out here in the evenings,” she said, pouring the tea and opening a Bewitching Bites bakery box to reveal a selection of cheesecakes and lemon tarts. “It feels so peaceful, especially after all the noise of the shop.”

  “Any news about Resurrection Ink?”

  “The insurance company are giving me the runaround, of course. And the police are completely baffled, but at least no one was there when it happened.” She studied my face as she sipped her tea. “You seem a little … distracted today. Even worse than yesterday.”

  “No, I …” I always got so tongue-tied around Elinor. She was so elegant and beautiful. Her and Bianca and all of their friends – they were like the cool kids back at my high school. The girls I so desperately wanted to be.

  “Did you see anything else?”

  I shook my head.

  “Don’t make me guess here, Willow.” Elinor set down her tea. “It’s Irvine, isn’t it?”

  My face flared with heat, giving me away. Elinor grinned. “I knew it. You guys are shagging. It’s so obvious.”

  The heat spread down my neck. I stared at the cup in my hands, unable to meet Elinor’s eyes. “I shouldn’t talk about it.”

  “No way. You’re not getting away with that nonsense. Tell me everything. How is he in the sack? I always imagined he’s intense, Mr Grumpy-Scottish-Git.”

  I nodded, aware that my face must’ve been as red as a beetroot. So much for keeping it secret. “He was pretty spectacular.”

  “Spectacular, aye?” Elinor pushed the box toward me. “That deserves a second cheesecake. How did you
even meet him? I can’t believe you didn’t say anything to me earlier.”

  “I met him at Bianca’s wedding,” I mumbled. “And we wanted to keep it secret. That is, Irvine did. He thought it would reflect badly on his dedication to Caleb's pack. So if you could—”

  “Well, that was a silly idea, seeing as you two couldn’t keep your hands off each other the other day at the shop.”

  “That’s not true.” At the thought of Irvine’s naked body pressed against mine, he heat in my skin flared into red hot torture.

  “Come on, Willow. The two of you tried to pretend you arrived at separate times, and that you’d stayed the night with some nameless girlfriend, but you were wearing the same clothes you had on at the pub. I may have been distracted, but I can still see what’s right in front of me.”

  My whole body burned. Elinor laughed and hit my knee. I jumped in fright. If her hand had been an inch further down, she would have felt my prosthesis.

  “You don’t have to jump out of your skin. I’ll keep my mouth shut, but don’t be surprised if everyone else hasn’t already figured it out.” Elinor smiled. She must’ve thought my jump was about her figuring out that Irvine and I had been together. “I think it’s awesome. No offence, but you look like you could do with a bit of fun.”

  “Yeah.” My face flushed even darker. “I could.”

  “I wish I could have a little fun.” Elinor slumped down on the sofa. “Eric’s spending the week at the studio in London, working on the band’s new album, and it’s been nothing but drama ever since the shop got trashed. Honestly, I’ve barely had a chance to go through the samples you sent over. Bianca and Robbie broke up.”

  “What?” Irvine hadn’t mentioned that. As far as I knew, they were suddenly madly in love.

  “Well, I guess they didn’t break up, since technically they weren’t actually together. But it looks like Robbie was the one who trashed our shop. He’s been jealous of this other guy, Rolf, who’s been staying at The Prim, and he tried to pin the crime on him. But Eric saw Robbie hanging around the shop when he came home last night. Caleb thinks the guy you saw was Robbie, as well. He was going to come talk to you when he had a chance but he’s uuh, tied up at the moment.”

  You mean he’s roaming the forest with Irvine.

  Elinor leaned forward. “Do, do you think it could have been Robbie you saw?”

  “Maybe … I don’t know …” The guy had similar build, and the same buzzed haircut as Robbie. But even in the dark, surely I would have recognised Robbie’s face?

  “So anyway, Bianca tossed him out, but now she’s in a total state. And as well as dealing with the insurance company, I’m cleaning her snot and tears out of my favourite clothes and holding her head over the toilet while she throws up all the whisky she’s drank.”

  “Sounds rough. Do you want me to leave? I can come back another time.”

  “No way. I need the distraction—hang on a sec. I’d better get this.” Elinor’s phone buzzed across the table. She grabbed it and lifted it to her ear.

  “Hey Ryan, what’s up? … What?” she cried, her voice rising several octaves. ”When did this happen? … Which hospital? … Thanks. I’ll get there as soon as I can.” She flung down the phone and grabbed for her purse. “I have to go. Bianca’s in the hospital. There was some kind of attack.”

  “Attack?” A werewolf attack? My stomach tightened, and a jab of phantom pain arced through my foot.

  Elinor pressed her lips together. “Ryan didn’t say much, just that she’s unconscious and that I should get—oh, shit! Eric has our car in London. I’ll have to grab a taxi.” She grabbed her phone again. “Shit, shit, what’s the taxi number?”

  “I didn’t even know there was a taxi in Crookshollow.”

  “It’s slow and terrible.” Elinor frantically jabbed at her phone. “Why is the wifi not working?” Her eyes flashed, and her usually perfect hair had fallen in disarray.

  “Don’t worry about that,” I said. “I’ll give you a ride.”

  My heart pounded against my chest. If I let Elinor into my car, she’d see my lever. She’d know I wasn’t normal. But looking at her panicked face, I couldn’t let her sit here and wait for the taxi when her best friend was in the hospital.

  “You would?” Elinor’s brown eyes grew even wider.

  “Yeah, sure.” I shrugged, like it was no big deal, even though my chest was tight with fear. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Elinor clambered into the Fiat’s passenger seat. Taking a deep breath, I turned the ignition and pushed the lever forward to ease down the drive. Elinor didn’t even glance my way. She stared at her blank phone screen, speaking a steady monotone of reassurances to herself.

  “She has to be okay. She’s Bianca. She’s so tough. She saved my life once, you know? Some drug dealers broke into the house, and she hit one over the head with a cricket bat.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty crazy,” I said, pulling out of Marshell House’s long drive and onto the street. A few moments later, we sped past Resurrection Ink. Elinor let out a strangled sob as the damaged window came into view. My chest tightened again.

  Elinor said that Robbie had been responsible for the attack, which meant that it hadn’t been my stalker. But I was so sure I hadn’t recognised that man that had come running toward me. I thought back to the last time I’d seen Robbie, just before he’d transformed into a wolf at his fake-wedding. He’d called out Bianca’s name in his deep Scottish accent. The guy I’d seen also had a Scottish accent, but his was lighter, younger. Maybe I was so scared, I couldn’t trust what I’d seen and heard.

  Or maybe … maybe he was just some drunk asking for change, and it was just a coincidence that he happened to be near the shop and I happened to walk out. Maybe I was so afraid that Mum would find me that I read more into it than I should?

  And now Bianca had been attacked … we didn’t know anything yet, but I was willing to bet that a wolf was responsible. Was it Robbie? I had smelt his scent at the shop. Irvine had said none of the wolves in his pack were dangerous, but was he wrong? Had someone lost control? What the hell was this group up to, and how had I ended up in the middle of it?

  Phantom pain soared up my leg, and I had to grip the wheel harder to stop my hands shaking. My mother’s voice drummed inside my head. Never trust a werewolf. They may talk as smooth as any guy, but they can’t control their monstrous urges. You and I both know how it soon ends in blood.

  No. I can trust Irvine. I know I can.

  The hospital was in Crooks Crossing. While I drove out into the countryside, Elinor frantically texted on her phone, probably informing all the other members of the pack about what happened. Maybe we’d get all the way to the hospital without her even noticing—

  “What’s that lever for?”

  I gulped. So much for her not noticing my accelerating lever.

  “Um …” I whispered, my voice catching. “It’s an accessible adaptation for the pedals. You push it forward to accelerate, and pull back to brake.”

  “Why do you need it?” Elinor had leaned in closer to inspect the lever.

  Quick, I need a clever story to explain it.

  My heart pounded in my chest. I heard myself say, “I’m an amputee.”

  What clever story could possibly account for having a weird lever in my car?

  “You are? How did I not know this?”

  I shrugged. Heat flared on my face. I focused on the road, trying to stop my hands from shaking as they gripped the wheel. This isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want anyone to know. All I wanted was the chance to be normal.

  “Willow, I’m so sorry.” Elinor’s voice was sweet. It was such a dumb thing to say. All the reporters Mum stuck me in front of said the same thing. All the letters of support for Werewolf Watch poured waves of sympathy at me that made my throat close with rage.

  But her tone was so genuine, my protests dried on my lips. “It’s not your fault.” It was my standard answer.

&
nbsp; “How did it happen, do you mind if I ask? Was it a birth defect?”

  There’s no use hiding anymore, might as well get the whole story out in the open. If Elinor and I are going to be maybe hopefully friends, it might be good that she knows. Better to find out now if I have to stop seeing her … “My father attacked me. He caused so much damage, I lost my right leg below the knee.”

  “Shit. That’s horrible. I hope the bastard is in jail.”

  “He was never caught.” My knuckles were turning white.

  “Shit,” Elinor said again. An uncomfortable silence hung between us. I hoped like hell Elinor wouldn’t start with the other typical platitudes – I don’t know what I’d do if I had a missing leg, I think you’re just so brave …

  Thankfully, the hospital loomed ahead, dragging us back into the present. I pulled into the hospital parking lot. Elinor scrambled out of the car before I’d even come to a complete stop.

  After a tense conversation with the ward nurse, we managed to find the right room. Bianca lay in a hospital bed, her eyes staring straight ahead into nothing. Needles and drips stuck out of her, and machines beeped. Scratches and cuts marked her beautiful porcelain skin, and bandages around her thigh and shoulders showered the severity of her injuries.

  Bianca was always so full of life. To see such a strong woman lying completely helpless chilled me right to my bones. If a wolf could bring down Bianca, what chance did I have?

  I glanced up at the window, and leapt back in fright. Pressed against the glass was a wolf’s face, its eyes drooped and its mouth turned down, almost as if it was sad.

  “Willow, are you all right?” Elinor grabbed my arm, bracing me as I steadied myself.

  “A wolf …” I gasped. “There’s a wolf in the window.”

  “It’s just the trees making strange shapes,” Elinor said, although her eyes flashed with panic. “There aren’t any wolves left in England, and certainly not on the hospital grounds. Look, I can’t see a wolf there, can you?”