by Tara West
Table of Contents
Tempted by Her Wolves | Hungry for Her Wolves, Book Four | A Reverse-Harem Paranormal Romance | Tara West
Dedications
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
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Fighting for Her Wolves, Hungry for Her Wolves Book Five
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Books by Tara West
About Tara West
Tempted by Her Wolves
Hungry for Her Wolves, Book Four
A Reverse-Harem Paranormal Romance
Tara West
Copyright © 2019 by Tara West
Published by Shifting Sands Publishing
First edition, published April, 2019
All rights reserved.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
Edited by Theo Fenraven.
Artwork by Becky Frank.
Used to her independence, Dr. Eilea Johnson represses her sexual desires and avoids the four wolf shifters claiming she’s their mate. When a virus sweeps through the Alaska reservation, threatening to wipe out the entire shifter population, Eilea is their last hope for survival. As she races against time to find a cure, a demonic spirit threatening her life may force her to give in to the temptation she’s been resisting but secretly craving.
Dedications
TO THEO, GOD OF GRAMMAR, blessed by the Ancients, and tasked to save my ass with your red pen of shame. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
To Ginelle, thanks for always coming through with your solid feedback.
To Sheri, I appreciate your eye, especially catching those name oopsies.
Laura, your medical advice prevented me from looking like a complete idiot. Thank you!
Chapter One
EILEA READ HER LETTER of resignation for at least the tenth time. Swallowing a lump of sorrow, she finally folded and sealed it, addressing it to her uncle. Writing that letter had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done, but the Amaroki tribe didn’t need a medical doctor when they had Amara Thunderfoot. Eilea had seen the shifter cure her uncle’s stage-four cancer simply by laying hands on him. What use did the Amaroki have for a human doctor when one of their own could cure the sick in minutes?
Since opening her clinic over a year ago, she’d had fewer than a dozen patients, all feds who’d worked for her uncle. She also vaccinated and did physicals for the shifters used as trackers, a secret elite team of Army soldiers able to spy in wolf form. Other than the trackers, who were always healthy, none of the reservation shifters had set foot in her clinic asking for medical care. Before she came along, the trackers were seen at the military hospital, so they certainly didn’t need her.
She didn’t know why she’d stayed around this long, though somewhere deep in the recesses of her soul, she suspected it was because she’d been waiting on the four Romanian shifter brothers, who’d once tried to claim her as their mate. It had been over a year since she’d seen them. She wondered if they’d ever return to Alaska. Perhaps they were still mourning the loss of their first mate. Not that it mattered to her. She wasn’t going to mate with them, no matter how hot and bothered they made her.
She shoved the letter in her pocket when she heard the clinic door open. Most likely Uncle Joe was back to check on her. Over the past few weeks, his visits had become more frequent, as if he suspected she wasn’t going to renew her contract. Much to her surprise, it was the tribal chieftain, Tor Thunderfoot, along with his retired tracker brother, Van, and their pretty mate, Mihaela. Behind them was their twenty-year-old daughter, Tatiana, who had her mother’s pert nose and slender frame, and her Native fathers’ dark complexion and black hair.
It had taken Eilea a long time to get accustomed to Tor and other alpha shifters, like his sons Drasko and Hakon. Not only could they turn into wolves, they could also transform into ten-foot-tall, hulking ape-like beasts, able to uproot trees from the ground and flip over trucks. Though Tor had never been unkind to Eilea, he hadn’t been particularly friendly either. He always had such an imposing demeanor, reminding Eilea of the monster lurking inside him.
As always, Tatiana had this look, like a shadow cast a gloom over her soul.
Eilea stood and walked around her desk. “Chieftain Thunderfoot, Van, Mihaela, Tatiana... what an unexpected surprise.”
Mihaela lunged forward and grabbed Eilea’s hand. “We didn’t know where else to turn,” she said, her Romanian accent thicker than normal.
She squeezed Mihaela’s hand. “Would you like to come into my office?”
Tor and Van made noises that sounded like bears waking from hibernation.
Mihaela said to them with a scowl, “I think it’s best if you wait in the lobby.”
“She’s our daughter, too,” Tor grumbled.
When Mihaela’s expression darkened, he and Van looked away, all knees and elbows when they folded themselves into the hard chairs lining the wall. Tor was well over six feet tall, and his brother wasn’t much shorter, making the chairs look like kid furniture.
“Come on Tatiana,” Mihaela said, latching onto her daughter’s elbow and dragging her to the exam room at the end of the hall.
Eilea followed, feeling less like the doctor in charge, and shut the door behind her. Tatiana sat on the exam table, staring at her feet. Mihaela hovered beside her like a mother hen watching over an egg.
Maybe she should’ve pulled her file on Tatiana Thunderfoot. She had inherited medical records for all the shifters. What kind of doctor was she, going into an exam room empty-handed?
“How can I help you?” She hoped the she-wolves didn’t notice how nervous she was, but they were part animal and probably smelled her fear.
“She’s been like this over a year, doctor.” Mihaela glanced at her daughter. “Fourteen months.” Her voice cracked like splintered glass. “She refuses to open up to anyone, even her mates. I’m afraid she’ll never complete the bond with them.”
“You’ve said enough, Mom.” Tatiana groaned.
Mihaela’s eyes watered. “I-I’m just worried about you, fiică.”
“Mom,” Tatiana pleaded, “can you wait in the lobby?”
Mihaela flinched, as if she’d been splashed with a bucket of cold water. “But I’m your mamă.”
Tatiana pulled back her shoulders, remarkably cool and calm. “Please go.”
“Fine,” Mihaela spat, storming out of the room with all the finesse of a bull trampling a field of daisies.
Eilea looked from Mihaela’s retreating backside to Tatiana, who instantly deflated. Eilea rolled her stool over to Tatiana, dropping her voice to a soothing whisper. “What’s going on, Tatia
na?”
Eilea’s breath hitched when she saw the look of despair in the younger woman’s eyes. She knew the girl had been dealing with depression, and she inwardly chided herself for not checking on her. It was no secret Tatiana blamed herself for the death of her future mother-in-law, Katarina Lupescu. From what Eilea had heard, it hadn’t been her fault. Katarina had chosen to run off after she and Tatiana had a fight, even though the tribe was on lockdown after a corrupt federal agent started hunting them.
“Do you have anything that will help me sleep?” Tatiana asked.
“You’re not sleeping enough?” Eilea chewed on the end of her pencil, warily eyeing the girl. Something told her she’d have a difficult time getting an honest answer.
Tatiana vehemently shook her head. “I want to sleep more.”
The warning sirens in Eilea’s head went off when Tatiana averted her eyes. She was hiding something, and Eilea suspected the sleeping pills masked a more serious problem. Was the girl suicidal? Did she plan on misusing the prescription? Eilea didn’t recall any mention of suicidal shifters when reading their history, except in cases where the rest of the pack had perished.
“How long are you sleeping at night?”
Tatiana frowned. “Not enough.”
She leaned into the girl, not surprised when she scooted back. “Is it sleeping meds you need or depression medicine?”
Tatiana wrapped her arms around herself. “Something to knock me out cold so I don’t have nightmares.”
Awww, fuck. This kid was definitely messed up. “What kind of nightmares are you having?”
“I can’t talk about them.” She hugged herself tighter. “I just need the medication.”
“Please tell me what’s wrong.” Eilea took a chance and rested a hand on her arm, pleased when she didn’t pull away. “Let me help you.”
“Nobody can help me.”
Eilea summoned the courage to find the right words. “Katarina’s death wasn’t your fault.”
“Yes it was!” Tatiana said, burying her face in her hands, “and now I’m paying for it.”
Paying for it? Had Tatiana’s mates rejected her because of their mother’s death? She didn’t understand the intricacies of wolf culture. She wanted to help the girl, but this was beyond her expertise. “What do you mean?”
Tatiana dropped her hands, focusing on something in the corner and reminding Eilea of an alley cat preparing to lash out.
“I’ve said enough,” she snapped. “Are you going to give me the medication or not?”
Eilea stood, folding her arms, doing her best to sound stern but not threatening. “I need more from you before I can give you drugs.”
Tatiana turned away, but not before Eilea saw the tears in her eyes. “I can’t give you more.”
Eilea did her best to ignore her constricting heart. Something was seriously wrong with the girl, something that Eilea feared required the intervention of someone more qualified. “Let me examine you.”
Tatiana shrugged. “Okay.”
Eilea took Tatiana’s vitals. None of the readings were good. “Your blood pressure is really high.” She wrote down the readings on a notepad, cursing herself again for not grabbing Tatiana’s chart. “Are you drinking lots of caffeine?”
“No,” Tatiana huffed. “I already told you I’m not sleeping.”
Tatiana needed serious help. “I can give you something for anxiety, something to help calm you down.”
Tatiana clasped her hands together. “Will it help me sleep?”
“Probably.” She reached into the medicine chest and pulled out a small box, handing it to Tatiana. “Here’s a sample to get you through until you can fill your prescription in town.”
Tatiana turned over the box. “Thank you.”
“I’m also going to recommend you go into psychiatric care.” She wasn’t sure a shrink could help a shifter with anxiety and depression but couldn’t think of a better option.
Tatiana’s features hardened. “You’re going to send me to a shrink in Fairbanks, so they can lock me up when I tell them I’m a shifter?”
Releasing a slow, shaky breath, Eilea did her best to keep her cool. “You have to speak to someone.”
“I can speak to you.”
Yet Tatiana had been tight-lipped since walking into the clinic. Besides, Eilea wasn’t a licensed therapist. She’d graduated top of her surgical residency and excelled in medical school before that. She’d had several successful years as a surgeon in one of the nation’s most prestigious hospitals. But at this moment, she felt like a fraud—an imposter with a medical degree. She was totally out of her element and had no idea what to do for a depressed and anxious she-wolf.
“Actually.” She bit her bottom lip. “I was about to turn in my resignation.”
“What?” Tatiana jumped from the table and latched onto Eilea’s arm, a crazed look in her eyes as they shifted from dark brown to a brilliant gold. “Why?”
Eilea ran a shaky hand through her hair, trying not to be unnerved by Tatiana’s changing facial features. She was a shifter, after all. “Other than tracker vaccinations, you’re my only Amaroki patient since I started here. The Amaroki don’t need me.”
Tatiana tightened her hold on Eilea. “I need you.”
Eilea worked free of Tatiana’s grip. “I’m not a psychiatrist. You need someone more qualified to handle this.”
“You’re the only person I can talk to. Please don’t turn in your resignation yet,” Tatiana pleaded. “Not until I get better.”
Something about the ring of desperation in Tatiana’s voice made Eilea want to cave. She couldn’t walk away from a patient who needed her. If something happened to Tatiana after Eilea left, she’d never forgive herself. “All right. I’ll wait.”
Tatiana blew out a long breath. “Thank you.”
Eilea hitched a brow. “If you expect me to stay, the least you can do is meet me halfway. Tell me what’s wrong. Does it stem from guilt over Katarina’s death?”
Tatiana’s eyes widened as her gaze darted to the corner of the room again. “Don’t talk about her in my presence.”
“Who?” Eilea felt compelled to look over her shoulder. “Kat—”
Tatiana jumped up, wildly waving her arms. “Don’t say her name!”
Stunned, Eilea stumbled back. “Why?”
Tatiana shrunk into herself like a flower wilting under a heat lamp. “Because she’s watching.”
That caught Eilea by surprise. Had Tatiana’s depression been caused by an imagined ghost? “She’s dead.”
Tatiana gave her a look that made her goose flesh rise. “I know.”
TATIANA ATE IN SILENCE, trying to gauge her alpha father’s mood. He’d refused to talk about the prescription in the car, but she needed to fill it before the sample ran out. She loved her family and the Amaroki, but she loathed the patriarchal structure of their culture. She’d read enough human books, and seen enough of their movies, to know human women had far more freedom. How she envied Dr. Johnson, who got to live alone in a house behind the clinic, working independently as a doctor and not expected to meet a baby quota. Dr. Johnson could probably get a prescription whenever she wanted. There were times when Tatiana wished she’d been born human. How could she be expected to mate with the sons of the woman whose spirit had made her life a living nightmare? At this point in her miserable life, she had two options: end her life and break her family’s hearts or numb her misery with drugs. If Father wouldn’t let her have the drugs, she didn’t know how much longer she could stand this bleak existence.
Summoning the courage to face down her father, she cleared her throat, pleased when calmness washed over her. Could that one sample pill be working already? “Father, when can we get my prescription filled?”
Tor glared across the table at her and took a drink of his longneck beer. He’d been drinking more lately, and she suspected it had to do with her.
“Wolves don’t take drugs,” he declared. “I will take you to A
mara tomorrow.”
Her anxiety returned, and she clenched her fork in white-knuckled fingers. “I’ve already seen Amara. She can’t fix me.”
“Of course she can,” he said dismissively.
Her blood boiled and resentment welled in her chest. “Not unless she wants to follow me everywhere.”
“I told Johnson it was a bad idea, bringing his niece here.” He shook his head. “Human doctors don’t understand us.”
She glanced to her other fathers and mother for support, but they looked away. A blade of betrayal pierced her heart. “Eilea understands me. I’ve already taken one pill, and it feels like it’s working.”
Tor pounded the table so hard, she cringed and her mother gasped.
“Just because the Lupescus caught her scent, that doesn’t mean she understands us!” he roared. “Those pills are going in the garbage, and you’re not getting that prescription.”
She froze. Forget the prescription. She had bigger problems. Her father hadn’t spoken about the Lupescus scenting the doctor since the death of their first mate, Katarina. Tatiana had hoped everyone had forgotten.
She refused to turn around at the low wail behind her that reminded her of a dying animal. Her parents couldn’t hear Katarina’s cries. The spirit had only presented herself to Tatiana. The ghoul had been tormenting her since her death over a year ago.
When a glass shattered, Tor swore and Tatiana’s mother screamed.
Her gamma father, Arvid, jumped from his seat. “I’ll clean it up.”
She was afraid to turn around and see the unholy look in Katarina’s eyes. A chill swept over her, and her teeth chattered. Shivering, she stood, pushing back her chair.
Tor arched a brow. “Where are you going? Dinner isn’t over.”
“I’m not hungry,” she lied. Truthfully, she was famished, but she was too nauseous and frightened to eat.
Without waiting for his response, she ran, hurrying upstairs as if the hounds of hell were at her heels. Technically one of them was. For over a year she’d kept the secret that Katarina’s mates had scented another, a human. She didn’t fear what Katarina would do to her, for she’d already made her life a living hell. There wasn’t much more she could do, short of murdering her and her family. She feared what the ghost would do to Dr. Johnson. How would the human defend herself against an evil, vindictive ghost-shifter, whose long claws still had the ability to harm? Tatiana should know, as she bore several deep lacerations from Katarina’s numerous tantrums.