Wedding the Wolf: A wolf shifter paranormal romance

by Steffanie Holmes

  We’d run this drill a hundred times. Protect the pack at all costs. The gamekeeper had seen Pa transform. He ken our secret.

  I reached the top of the ridge and leapt into the air, hitting the gamekeeper square in the stomach.

  He toppled back into the snow. The rifle flew from his hands as he cowered beneath me. His hands shook as he tried to protect his face. My veins buzzed with hot, violent rage.

  His eyes were wide with fear but I didn’t see it. All I saw was the man who’d killed my father. All I saw was my duty.

  I sank my teeth into the gamekeeper’s neck and tore out his throat.

  “Dad, no!” the boy cried, leaping toward us.

  As soon as the acrid taste of the gamekeeper’s blood hit my tongue, a wave of shame rolled over me. I spat out the chunk of flesh, and forced my shift, until I was kneeling naked over the thrashing gamekeeper. His hands frantically clawed at his throat, as though he might somehow be able to push all the blood back inside. His mouth hung open, blood bubbling between his lips.

  His son wrapped his arms around his father’s neck, trying to pull him to his feet. This only made his blood flow faster, staining the son’s scarves crimson. The son looked up and saw me, and he clasped his father’s head to his chest. “Please …” he begged. “Please help us.”

  The fire of my rage still burned within me, and I dug my feet into the snow, knowing it was only moments before I attacked the son, too. “Go!” I screamed at him. “He’s dead, and you’ll be too if you don’t get out of here! If you say a word of this to anyone, I’ll be back to finish you.”

  The boy didn’t hesitate. He whirled around and raced into the trees.

  And now, that same boy stared back at me, his face hard with hate. Hate that I deserved, for murdering his father while he watched.

  I’m the monster.

  The boy switched off the safety.

  My whole body itched to leap at him and knock that gun right out of his hands. My blood boiled in my veins, incensed that he dared to threaten me. But through the drive of my instinct, I managed to hold myself steady. I stared down my death with what little sense of honour I had left.

  Blood pounded in my ears. In slow motion, I watched the boy’s finger squeeze the trigger.

  Willow, I’m so sorry. I love you. I wish things were different, but this is what I deserve—

  Just as the gun went off, a shape leapt out of the trees and crashed into the boy. The bullet whizzed past my face and embedded itself into a tree behind me. Caleb pinned the boy’s shoulders to the rock, his teeth bared, his ears flattened.

  I tore myself from my trance and darted forward. Don’t hurt him, I cried at Caleb through the call.

  He’s trying to kill you, Caleb growled, his teeth scraping the boy’s throat.

  It’s his right. It’s the only way there’ll be justice.

  Caleb’s shoulders sagged, and he dropped the boy and sat back on his haunches. The boy trembled as he reached for his rifle, but Caleb knocked it across the rocks with a paw.

  What’s going on here, Irvine? he growled inside my head. Why didn’t you fight back? This is the guy who’s been stalking Willow. He was going to shoot you.

  He wasn’t stalking Willow. He was stalking me, because I murdered his father—

  The kid lunged for the gun. Luke leapt from behind Caleb, landing between the boy and the weapon. He knocked the boy down, grabbed his collar and dragged him further up the bank. Who’s this punk?

  Let him go, Luke, I pleaded. He’s terrified.

  Luke looked from me to Caleb, who gave a nod. Luke dropped the guy’s collar, and he crumpled against the rocks. He cupped his hands over his head and glanced up at me, his eyes wide and his face white with fear.

  With his paw, Caleb shoved his rifle off the rocks. It landed in the river with a plop.

  What are we doing here, Irvine? Caleb asked.

  We’re letting him go.

  Caleb nodded, and stepped back. Luke and I followed suit, backing toward the forest to give the boy the signal that he was free to go. The boy stared between us, and his face crumpled with relief as he realised what we were doing. He shot me one final hateful stare, and scampered into the forest, leaving me to face Caleb and Luke.

  My two allies stared at me, their teeth bared, their eyes narrowed with concern.

  Right, Caleb’s voice, stern and strong, fell into my head. I guess we know who he was after, now.

  29

  Willow

  While the wolves took their full moon shift in the forest, Elinor and I hunkered down in Marshell House, watching out the windows for my stalker. Before he left, Irvine told everyone in the pack that I’d been attacked by a werewolf as a child, and that the attack had cost me my leg and also given me this weird ability to sense werewolves. I wasn’t there when he did it, because I couldn’t handle their pitying stares when they realised that Willow Summers was a broken person.

  Strangely, it hadn’t been as bad as I expected. It was actually a relief to have my knowledge of them out in the open. They were good people, and I hated deceiving them. I expected them to cast me out of their social circle when they found out, but instead, they’d embraced me like one of their own pack.

  And that made me feel even worse. Because they only knew half the truth. And the other half … it would hurt them all, especially Irvine.

  Irvine hadn’t left my side in the last few days, and perhaps because of that, we hadn’t seen the stalker again. He was hiding in the woods behind Marshell House, taking shifts with Robbie, Caleb, Luke, and Rolf, and I caught fleeting glimpses of them patrolling the gardens. Just seeing them out there made my stomach sink with dread.

  They were worried my stalker might be trying to sabotage whatever they’re planning. If only they knew about the true devil in their midst.

  I missed Irvine. I missed his touch and his sexy Scottish accent and the way he couldn’t say “couldn’t” properly. I missed sitting by the stove in his cabin. I missed the comfort of being near him. He was the first person who knew that I was broken, and who treated me like … a normal person. In fact, he treated me like a goddess.

  This fated mates thing still made me nervous, but he’d proven time and time again that he would put my safety and my feelings before even his own. The way I thought about him … I wasn’t sure what we had could be described as “casual” anymore – at least not to me.

  As the hours and days went on, my desire to see him only intensified. But I had to wait until the full moon waned.

  Waiting sucks.

  Okay, it didn’t completely suck. Elinor and I ate a lot of takeaways, drank several bottles of wine (I can’t believe I’d been avoiding wine for so long – it tasted so sweet and delicious, and I trusted that Elinor wouldn’t take advantage of me), and talked until the early hours. We had more in common than I ever realised. She too had fled London to follow her heart in Crookshollow. She too had overbearing parents who’d practically disowned her when she gave up her law career to become a tattoo artist. We both loved extra-spicy food and Midsomer Murders.

  On the third day, I was cooking eggs for brunch, while Elinor thumbed through the local paper. “Hey look,” she said, pointing to the moon diagram above the astrology section. “The full moon is over. It looks like your man will be back today.”

  I nodded. I had the moon’s phases memorised. I’d been awake since 4 a.m., waiting for Irvine to knock on the door or clamber up to my window. He’d done neither of those things, and my stomach was in knots.

  At 5 a.m. this morning, I’d caved and sent Irvine a text, telling him that I missed him and suggested some naughty things we might do together when we were alone. I hoped he’d see it as soon as he shifted back and come racing over here, but so far, nothing.

  Elinor must’ve seen something in my face, because she dropped the paper and ran around the counter to embrace me. “Don’t worry. He’ll come back for you. He probably just hasn’t come out of his shift yet. He’s out there pr
otecting you, isn’t he? Trust me, guys like Irvine get off on being the strong silent protectors.”

  “Yeah.” I twisted a tea towel in my hands. “I just wish he were here now, so I could say all the things I wanted to say. How do you stand having Eric away so much?”

  “Hey, when your fiancé used to be a ghost, you kind of trust the universe is going to look after you—hang on a sec.” Elinor’s phone started buzzing. She picked it up from the counter.

  Elinor had explained to me the extraordinary story of how she and Eric had met, when she’d come to Marshell House as a probate lawyer to settle his dead mother’s affairs and discovered his ghost haunting the house. After solving Eric’s mysterious murder and battling some drug dealers who were trying to kill her, Elinor, Bianca and Clara had managed to bring Eric back from the dead. If I didn't already have all the evidence I’d ever needed that werewolves existed, I’d never have believed it.

  “Caleb, welcome back to the land of the unfurry … omigod, no way, that’s awesome! ” Elinor slumped into a stool, her face radiant with happiness. “I knew Robbie would come through for us … Of course I want to be there. A little grave robbing is right up my alley … okay, I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

  Elinor flipped her phone shut and did a merry little dance right there in the kitchen. “He found it! He found it.”

  “You seem awfully happy for a phone conversation that just contained the word ‘grave robbing,’” I said, grinning. “Who found what?”

  “Robbie found the Benedict Ring, of course. We’re going to go dig it up today. You’re welcome to come along, but I figure you and your man will be otherwise occupied.” Elinor winked.

  “I’m sorry, the what?”

  “Geez, you and Irvine really don’t do much talking, do you? The Benedict Ring is only the whole reason he’s here in Crookshollow. It’s an ancient ring infused with powerful magic that’s been entrusted to Caleb’s family for centuries. It was lost around a hundred years ago. And now Robbie’s figured out exactly where it is.”

  “Which is?”

  “In the grave of a maid, Hattie, who used to live in the attic room at Bianca’s house. Apparently Hattie was having an affair with Bianca’s young ancestor, Silvia, and when an accident killed Hattie, Silvia buried the ring with her as a symbol of their love. We knew that a few months ago, but we had to find the grave, which wasn’t easy because it's so old. A lot of graves get moved or destroyed. But he found it! This is awesome. Don’t you think it’s awesome?”

  “Forgive me, but I don’t think grave digging is quite as exciting as you do.”

  Elinor wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, that part’s not so great, but it’s necessary. The ring is an integral part of Caleb and Irvine’s plan.”

  The plan. The secret project that Irvine and I had danced around the edges of. He didn’t want to tell me, and I didn’t want to know. But that was before I knew about this ring. What could a shifter pack possibly be planning that required the use of an ancient, magical ring? A niggling feeling at the back of my mind urged me to ask the question I swore I’d never ask.

  “About this plan.” I tried to keep my voice casual, as if I discussed such things every day. “What is it in a nutshell? Irvine was always a bit terse when it came to explaining what they’re doing.”

  “You mean you don’t know?” Elinor’s eyes gleamed with pride. “They’re working to lift the veil of secrecy that surrounds shifters. Soon, humans and shifters will exist side by side, on an equal footing.”

  What?

  Elinor continued. “None of our friends will have to live in secret or fear any longer. Caleb needs the ring’s power to help unite the shifter packs across the world and make it easier for humans to accept them into society.”

  The room span. Sickness welled up in my stomach, and red welts danced in front of my ears. A shot of searing phantom pain jolted through my leg. They’re using this ring to reveal the existence of shifters.

  If that happened, Willow Summers would be no more. The press would hunt me down and drag my story up for everyone to devour. Only this time, it wouldn’t just be a tiny article on the fourth page of some shitty tabloid. I’d be splashed across the front page of every major daily in the world. My mum’s videos would go viral. I’d be ‘peg-leg’ again.

  Irvine knew about this. He knew all along. He let me believe he was looking out for me … and all this time …

  My stomach turned. Bile rose in my throat. I rushed from the room, cupping my hands over my mouth in an attempt to stop myself from throwing up.

  Shifters will be free. They’ll be out in public. And all the freedom I’ve worked so hard to find for myself will come crashing down.

  30

  Willow

  I stayed behind at Marshell House while Elinor went to help dig up the evil ring. I was pleased she was happy, but there was no way I was going to celebrate this so-called “victory”. If I had to face seeing Irvine or any of the shifters there, I couldn’t be held responsible for my actions.

  They’re going to use this dark, unholy ancient magic to brainwash humans into accepting them. It’s horrific. How could I ever have thought Irvine was a good guy? How could I have ever thought he might have been my … mate?

  My phone beeped. It was Irvine, replying to my text. I’m back, baby. I got your text, and I missed you, too. Meet me at the cabin and I’ll show you just how much.

  His words sickened me. All this time, he’d known this was happening, and he’d just kept piling lies on top of lies. He’d even tried to get me used to the idea with all his questions. He knew how I felt, but it didn’t matter to him.

  I flung the phone against the wall, and it clattered to the floor in pieces. There was no way in hell Irvine Baird was ever touching me again.

  My leg throbbed with phantom pain, and shivers of horror wrenched at my body. I shuffled around the house, too agitated to sit down, too distracted to read or work. I hobbled up the stairs (seriously, why did the Victorians love stairs so much? Give me a sprawling American one-storey McMansion any day) and lay down on the bed in the guest bedroom, staring at the vines on the wallpaper until weariness overtook me and I drifted off to sleep.

  Dreams assailed me, my own mind betraying me as it brought me visions of Irvine’s face, his naked body wrapped around mine, of the surging in my chest whenever I was with him. I reached out to him, my whole body begging to touch him, to rejuvenate the bond.

  Willow, you dinnae believe I’m evil, do you?

  My fingers grazed his face, and the connection surged through my veins, dragging me from sleep. My eyes fluttered open to a soft feeling between my legs. The wallpaper blurred, and a wave of pleasure coursed through my body. Something shifted between my legs, and the warm feeling spread deeper into my core.

  Curious, I reached down, my fingers grazing the top of someone’s head. Someone is between my legs, their tongue licking the entire length of me. I knew I should be scared, but I was so close, right on the edge of orgasm. Part of me wasn’t sure if it was still part of a wonderful dream.

  I lifted the corner of the sheet up, just as the mysterious benefactor sucked my clit right into his mouth, and an orgasm tore through me.

  From under the blanket, Irvine’s eyes stared up at me, a wicked grin spread across his face as the pleasure rocked through my body. My blood grew cold, and as soon as my arms worked again, I scrambled up.

  “Shit!” I slammed my stump against the mattress in my frantic struggle to get away from him. Pain shot through my nerves. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to see you, of course. You didnae show up at the cabin, and I couldnae reach your mobile, so I thought I’d surprise you.” He frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Is that all you have to say to me?” I growled, trying to drive my heart rate back to normal. I dared a glance to the door. There was no way I’d be able to move fast enough to get around him. Keep him talking. Find a way to call for help.

 
“Nae. I want to talk about the stalker. We have some new information, and—” He frowned. “Are you okay? You look peeved.”

  “I am peeved. You know what? I’m sick of talking about the stalker. I’m sick of thinking about him. I want to discuss something else, like how you’re working with the Lowe pack to dig up some ancient magical ring that you’re going to use to brainwash the human race into accepting shifters.”

  Irvine’s face darkened. He sat up, flinging the blanket off his thick shoulders. “How do you ken?”

  “Why does it matter? Are you going to eat the person who told me? Are you going to tear them to pieces and leave them a cripple?” Tears burned in the corners of my eyes. “You know how I felt about shifters being public, but you don’t care. My life will be over, but it’s all the same to you. I thought you were different, but you’re just the same as my father. You storm through the world, tearing flesh and bone and heart, and you don’t care who you hurt.”

  “I care,” he whispered. “I care very much, Willow Summers.”

  “Don’t say that name! You don’t care. If you cared, you never would even consider going through with this plan, bringing shifters into the world to terrorise innocent people. More people are going to end up like me—” I choked as tears poured from my eyes.

  “Willow, no. You dinnae ken. It’s the exact opposite. Most humans die because shifters have to protect their secret. So many horrible, senseless deaths—” He voice choked on the words. “Caleb has no evil intent. He just wants to do right by our species.”

  “What about doing right by me? What about not giving rights to the person who took my leg? What about allowing me to keep the only good things that ever happened to me?”

  “What about it? I don’t understand what you’re problem with this is, because you won’t tell me. You’re keeping secrets, and I can’t protect you if I can’t understand. Your father escaped without being punished for his crimes because we have no ability to administer justice.” Irvine’s face darkened. “So many injustices are committed because shifters must remain secret. There are no options for our children – they have little choice but to become criminals to survive. Caleb wants to change that, and so do I. It was the most important thing to me in the world, until I met you.”