Cry Wolf (Pack Heat Book 2)

by Sam Hall

  He got to his feet, walking down the length of the table and dropping to his knees beside me, his eyes wide with pain. He took my hand gingerly, and when I didn’t pull away, he laid his head on my lap.

  I stroked his hair, because he was my friend, because he was in pain, because the scent of him was still all over my skin, because I loved him, and because he was pack. I clung desperately to what I knew of Brandon, that nowhere in the funny, geeky guy I’d come to love was there a naturally deceptive bone in his body. But nonetheless, he had been playing a long game, one way more complex than who was fucking who and how. This was too big to process, this truth, so I just focussed on the silky slip of his hair between my fingers.

  “When do we go?” I asked no one in particular.

  “You have two days,” Ophelia replied.

  28

  We stood in front of the blue swirling light that made up the trans-dimensional gate, laden heavy with supplies.

  “Everyone ready?” Aaron said. He hadn’t stopped frowning since we woke up this morning. I stroked his wide shoulders, spent extra time washing him in the shower, but the tension did not lessen. Along with us, he had eight of his men at his back, each carrying a small arsenal of weapons. It wasn’t enough for him, I could tell. We hadn’t planned long enough, hadn’t coordinated the group enough, hadn’t analysed everyone’s skillset sufficiently for him to relax. He must have felt like he was leading us into certain doom, and I knew how that felt.

  I looked over my pack, because that’s what they were now. I wasn’t sure if I was in love with all of them. I was still getting to know some, enjoying that ride, but one thing I was sure of—I wanted to be with them. Would there be casualties? The men from our vision and Shaun’s face immediately sprung to mind. I didn’t, couldn’t know. But just thinking of any harm coming to them had my fists tightening, a growl in my throat.

  “You OK, Jules?” Finn said. He looked so much better now that we were doing something. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Crying like a little girl right as we attempted to strike at the Volken was not going to help anyone’s morale. He seemed to see it anyway, reaching over and brushing a thumb over the top of my cheek. “We’ll be alright. I won’t let anything happen to anyone. We’ll get the guys out, and be back home before you know it.”

  For a second, I clung to his hand, just needing that strong, warm contact before nodding. I looked at the blue light we were about to step through, staring at the void as it stared back. Fucking Jack, he was right. This was a suicide mission. We were stones being cast against the whirlwind, but if I was going to die trying to achieve the impossible, there was no one else I wanted to do it with.

  “Come,” Sylvan said, drawing up beside us. “It’s time.”

  I took Finn’s hand and then Brandon’s, feeling the bond come to life as everyone linked up. I looked down the line and nodded, then over my shoulder to where Ophelia had Buddy on a lead as he pulled with all his might against it. When we moved, we did so as one, stepping up and through the gate. Interdimensional travel felt a bit like being turned inside out through your belly button. It was all dizzying blue lights and frantic motion, and then, our feet landed on solid soil. I took a massive breath in, my lungs burning from lack of oxygen, and looked around. Finn nodded, then moved forward.

  “We’re here.”

  Epilogue

  A knock at her office door had Ophelia’s head jerking upwards. She glanced at the clock on her desk. This was a little earlier than she’d expected, but it was well past due. “Come in,” she said and the door opened to reveal the power base of Sanctuary. Ophelia leaned back in her chair, hands steepling in front of her as the women filed in. Her daughter was at the head, her green eyes burning just as her father’s had, though now with considerably less good will. Ophelia watched the women take their place, some coming to stand at either side of her desk, some by the door with her daughter and some hovering in the space between. She gauged the numbers and was pleased to see considerably more stood with her.

  “We’ve come to talk about the visions,” Kelly said. “You’ve sent Jules and her pack through the gate. To what end? You always assured us that the scattering was coming to an end, that the Volken would be overturned.”

  “And they will be.”

  “How? How can one girl and six men hope to achieve that?”

  “Well,” Ophelia said with a smile, “they have taken an additional nine soldiers.”

  “Don’t quibble with me, mother. This was not what was discussed. We all knew the newcomers were going to play a role, but not like this.”

  “Like what? Just what did you have in mind, my daughter when I handed down ‘my’ visions? From memory, you told me they were ‘maddeningly devoid of detail.’ Well, you have the detail now. Jules and her pack are but one phase of the process, but without their success…” She blinked for a moment, hearing the echoes of a childish Brandon, reciting the terrible account of what he’d seen through hitching breaths. “If they do not succeed, then we will all need to scatter. Not that I think it will do any good, but it’ll be our only choice.”

  At her words the curious calm that had made the office seem like an intimate space, where mother and daughter hashed out their difference was gone. Instead, Ophelia tuned into the ragged symphony of anxiety, frustration, fear that played behind the other women’s words as they discussed her statement rapidly. Ophelia took one breath, then another, staring at the slight shake of her fingers as they clawed at her desk. Kelly would see this as yet another maternal betrayal, something that stabbed at Ophelia’s chest, made her wish for the hundredth time that this was not the path she had to take.

  “I thought it would be all of Sanctuary, the returned and the established families, fighting together to try and maintain what our foremothers had built. I thought we’d stand together, side by side, digging in, never surrendering in the face of a common enemy.”

  Ophelia watched the fervent shine of her daughter’s eyes and felt a massive wrench of pride. She would be such a good leader, of Sanctuary, of her own pack, Brandon had never been sure of that, his visions myopically focussed on Julie. She allowed herself the luxury of just appreciating her daughter, of the woman she’d become during quite difficult circumstances, of feeling a stab of guilt at what she had done and still had to do.

  “And that may still be required, but that will always be minor compared to what Julie and the others must do. She and her seer have the ear of the Great Wolves themselves. You have to see that that is more important.”

  “Seer? That jumped up black wolf we kept caged? Never saw the reason for keeping him locked up. Should have been put down like a dog when we first caught him,” one woman spluttered.

  “Great wolves?” said others. “Isn’t there only the one?”

  But while the other women twittered away, those that counted were silent. Janice remained where she was, in the no man’s land between the two camps, silent as the grave. Nancy, Asher and Rhoda all came to stand directly beside the reigning alpha, staring the girl down. Only Ophelia felt the tremor in Asher, she’d never liked this plan, any of Brandon’s visions or the fact it was a male having them, but her traditionalist perspective meant she stood by her alpha no matter what.

  “You knew, about all of this.”

  There was a world of pain in Kelly’s words, saying so much more than the mere sounds. Ophelia’s knuckles grew whiter as she gripped the desk but she nodded.

  She couldn’t have hurt Kelly more than if she’d gotten up and stabbed her in the chest with a silver letter opener. She’d laid in bed at night cursing the Great Wolf, the female one at least, for the burden she had placed on Ophelia’s shoulders many times over the years, but Brandon’s visions always remained the same. Her child, her only remaining child. Ophelia had been so proud of her baby girl when she’d brought her into the world, seen Kelly take her first faltering steps, one after another until she became the confident woman before her.

  “Brandon, so
n of Janice is our seer. He has been since he was old enough to vocalise his visions. I was alpha because of what he said, I stepped down as well in response to his visions. It is his way forward that we follow, towards survival, towards unity. You’re right, he saw all of this, all of this and more and there is so much more to come.”

  Ophelia watched the shifting of the women, eyes darting around the room, then Grace, her beloved daughter-in-law stepped forward.

  “OK, let's assume what you say is true. I think now is the time to share the nature of these visions.”

  Ophelia nodded, regal as a queen. “Let's go into the conference room. I’ll have some coffee sent up. We’re in for a long night.”

  So, Book 3?

  Yup, we’re here again. I apologise again, its just this is a big story and I just can’t contain it in one or two volumes. I was powering away on the keyboard for weeks, just wanting it done and then realised, it needs to be three books.

  It’s on its way! May 1st at the absolute latest, though I hope to get it out sooner.

  Buy it here

  Go through a portal into another realm, work with your pack to overthrow a despotic regime itching to take your people over and beat a gigantic wolf god. That’s on Jules’ to do list. Easy, right??

  Except after the bombshell Brandon dropped, trust is at an all-time low and Jules’ newly formed pack isn’t quite the peaceful, loving, kick arse group she’d hoped for. In between everyone working through their emotional issues there’s also some unruly alien wildlife that seem determined to derail the pack’s mission at every turn.

  But beating back purple people eaters will be child’s play compared to dealing with the Volken. A violently patriarchal society, backed by a god in the form of a massive wolf, they are determined to regain their dominance by removing all trace of the women of Sanctuary, right as Jules and her boys are trying to sneak into their compound to retrieve their exiles that have ended up in their clutches. And then there’s Sylvan, the Volken’s seer. He seems to be on their side, but can the mysterious black wolf be trusted?

  Join Jules on her final adventure and see her fight for love, freedom and the town she now calls her own.

  Thrown to the Wolf is not a stand-alone. You will need to read the previous books for this to make sense. It contains 18+ very steamy scenes that make it not suitable for kids.

  Stalk me!

  Stalk me!

  Facebook author group: Sam’s Hall of Heroines

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2356697491274667/

  Come and see teasers and me explain what the hell was going on in my head when I was writing that.

  Instagram:

  https://www.instagram.com/samhallauthor/

  Teasers, WIPs and pictures of my animals here!

  Acknowledgments

  As always, love and appreciation to my partner, Matt. He had to back away from this one, especially when I was writing M/M and multiple partner scenes, but as always, he wholeheartedly supports my creative endeavours, encouraging me to get this out earlier rather than later and asks no questions about why I’m writing pervy stuff.

  Editing was done by the lovely Meghan Leigh Daigle. She was able to wrangle my bloody tense shifting habit into a much more readable, grammatically correct form.

  https://www.facebook.com/Bookish-Dreams-Editing-105567517555119/

  Cover was created by the amazing team at Mibl Art

  https://miblart.com/

  Thanks to Katie, Leah, Robin and Andrea for doing the alpha reads of what was a kinda crazy, OTT book. I powered this one out and you kept pace with me, despite all your other commitments, so thank you!

  To the amazing betas, Rebekah, Teresa, Robin and Charlotte. You picked up grammatical errors as well as damning plot holes with an eagle eye. I feel a whole lot more confident about the end product as a result. You’re amazing and couldn’t do it without you!

  Also by Sam Hall

  Book Lover 1: Not My Fantasy

  When Ash and her sister inherited their grandmother’s magic shop, they figured they’d be selling crystals and smudge sticks to ageing hippies. Instead, they find themselves dealing with a failing business and a revolving door of tinsel-haired elves and fairy-tale princes.

  And that’s not even the weird part.

  Cursed in some sort of freakish loop, Ash wakes up every morning next to her sister’s latest book boyfriend, or fangirl crush. Frazzled by her unwanted nocturnal visitors, Ash fights for the focus needed to save the shop from bankruptcy. Then, in walks Gabe. Looking like a biker wet dream, Ash immediately dismisses him as another of her sister’s lusty manifestations. But this hottie is real and may hold the key to saving their business.

  Things appear to be looking up, until an inter-dimensional gateway is discovered in the store that allows characters from every multiverse imaginable to cross over. Can the sisters learn how to control the portal before it destroys the line between fact and fiction?

  If you love paranormal romance and urban fantasy tropes, but want to have a bit of fun with them sometimes, this is your book. If you watched a lot of bad 80s fantasy with papier-mâché props, noticed all romance guys have massive wangs or checked the back of a wardrobe to see if there was a portal to another realm, this is your book. If you like snarky, sex-positive female characters, this is your book. If you still have a total soft spot for talking animals and really wish you could have one of your own, this is your book.

  Book Lover 2: As You Wish

  Tess is over being a sidekick.

  After experiencing life as a dragon rider, doing inventory at the shop is a mundane nightmare. Unfortunately, Ash continues to insist she live a normal life, staying safe on their side of the inter-dimensional portal.

  Of course, Flea could be a welcome distraction... if he would speak to her. They shared one truly amazing night and then dark-haired hottie popped through an inter-dimensional portal to save her, but now, he barely manages a hello when he comes into the shop.

  As if responding to her unspoken need for a little action, dragon riders suddenly appear and demand her presence before their court. What she thought was going to equate to a traffic fine for having an unregistered dragon quickly morphs into a life-or-death journey.

  Join Tess and the gang as they rampage through the land of Aravisia, on a quest to discover the truth behind Nan’s curse!

  Book Lover prequel: Read You Like a Book

  Everyone wants to wake up next to a hot book boyfriend, right? Well, not Ash.

  Her grandmother has just died and she knows the service tomorrow is going to be a hard one. She has to say goodbye to the one member of her family who always had her back and her mother’s perfumed steamroller tendencies seem to get out of control each time there’s some kind of family emergency.

  The last thing she expected was to wake her was the Big Bad Wolf, particularly one as hot as Fenrir Vanguard. Big, muscular and ready to eat her all up, it becomes very difficult for Ash to focus on the fact he thinks she’s his fated mate and a woman called Red. Oh, and the fact he’s the lead character in her sister’s favourite paranormal romance.

  What will Ash do with a sexy beast who’s ready to bond with her, promising an eternity of hot paranormal sex and his whole heart? How will Ash break it to those she loves that she has a fictional character who can’t bear to be more then two feet away from her in her life? How will she deal with her own fear of being hurt, by him and by the passing of someone she loved?

  In the Lap of the Gods 1: The Bottom Rung

  I may have been born in the Quarter, but I refuse to die here.

  I live in the Quarter, the societal cage where all of Cremorne’s paranormals have been locked up, but I’m neither vampire, werewolf nor witch. I’m the lowest of the low, doomed to be one of two things: junkie or vampire’s pet.

  Desperate to escape, I’ll do whatever it takes to get out, to get all of us out, even if that means shaking my country and the gods themselves to the core to restore the balance
. I’m collecting allies so I can start a revolution and finding power my kind would never dream of, but this game has been in play for a lot longer than I’ve been breathing and there’s a chance I’m just another pawn.

  That’s OK, because I am determined to win.

  Author’s note: This book is an RH tale, so the MC does not choose one partner, but the romance angle is definitely pretty low key in some instances and is a bit more complex than girl meets multiple boys and falls in love. It takes a lot of its inspiration from 80s urban decay films like The Warriors and Blade Runner, so is kind of dystopian in tone. Politics and how power is used to control is a big theme, though hopefully the reader isn’t bashed over the head by it!

  In the Lap of the Gods 2: Rise to the Bait

  I’ve got the powers of a goddess and I’m not afraid to use them.

  Being the avatar of Lyra should have made my life easier. Instead, it painted a target on my back. Thrust into a werewolf camp, I was forced to run in a brutal ritual, for the gods themselves to decide who my mate should be. Never one to take things lying down, I refused to let that decision be made for me.

  But my troubles didn’t end there.

  Hesse has set aside his casual brutalisation of the captive anomalous population. His focus has become far more personal when he realised exactly who has been stripping him of his assets. It wasn’t blood banks or wolves he wanted. It was me.