Cutthroat City Wolves Volume 1: BBW Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance Page 8

  After

  The smell of cooking meat woke her. Phoebe put a hand to her throbbing temples. She felt like she awoke with the worst hangover of the century. Still, the cooking made her mouth water.

  She squinted open her eyes and found Gabriel kneeling over some camping contraption. The griddle was balanced delicately over the flames of the campfire.

  “Good, you’re awake,” he said cheerfully. “I figured you’d want to eat something after a long night of running through the woods."

  Gabriel rose from his crouch by the fire, and she nearly gaped with the fluidity of his movement. She didn’t expect such a fine specimen to make even standing up look graceful, but he managed. She couldn’t even be annoyed at his cheerfulness.

  She gulped down the water he offered, and the throbbing of her head faded a little. “Did I shift? I don't remember anything.” She pressed her hand harder against her temple.

  “You are a very beautiful wolf, Phoebe. Cream colored, with a hint of darker coloring on your back and chest. You even keep your green eyes when you change. You'll start to better remember your experiences as the wolf with time.”

  He lounged out next to her, and immediately she caught an overwhelming noseful of his scent. Flashes of running through the woods came back to her, but she lost them as soon as she tried focusing on the individual memories. His scent was all the remained: spicy cinnamon mulled into a wintery drink. Or was that a breath of cold air on a fresh snow? She couldn’t decide.

  “How do I smell?” she croaked.

  Gabriel took her chin in his hand and gently forced her to turn her head. He stuck his nose behind her ear and sniffed deeply. She shivered as his breath released down her neck. He turned her head again and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

  “You smell like a rainy day, but warm. Like sitting next to a fire. And a little like me.” He grinned at her.

  “That couldn’t possibly have anything to do with you being a furnace to the touch.”

  “Hey, baby, I can’t help it. Shifters run hot."

  She rolled her eyes and swatted playfully at him. He dodged her by slipping away to check on the food.

  A crackle in the woods made Gabriel sit up suddenly. He sniffed at the air, and waved a hand at Phoebe to keep still. At another snap, he swung his head in the direction of the sound. Crunches of leaves and creaks of snapping twigs sounded loud in the otherwise quiet woods.

  Two people emerged from between the trunks, and Gabriel stood between Phoebe and them. She admired his protective nature. She clutched a blanket to her chest and sat up to watch them approach.

  Phoebe thought of the first as a girl until she looked a second time. Her skin was flawless, but her chubby cheeks and slightly upturned nose made her appear young. Her eyes flashed green and gold, like Gabriel’s. Wide hips and curves definitely belonged to a woman, not a girl. Her dark brown hair had been parted down the side and perfectly curled, though show she maintained it while tramping through the woods was beyond Phoebe.

  The other was all man. He scowled at everything: Gabriel, Phoebe, the campfire. He raked his dark hair back with a hand, and scowled harder at Gabriel.

  “Take me to your leader.” The woman giggled behind her hand. “Sorry, I’ve always wanted to say that. But please, do take me to Cameron Ross. He’s to be my mate."

  Promised to Another

  Cutthroat City Wolves #3

  Lyra Valentine

  When curvy Marie du Lac’s cousin unexpectedly offers her a chance to save her dwindling werewolf pack by being mated to an alpha, she jumps at the opportunity. But when she arrives, she and her chaperone brother find no such arrangement exists.

  Assigned to watch the siblings while their story is verified, Isaac Upton finds himself drawn to the lively Marie. Knowing she was promised to another doesn’t stop the chemistry growing between them, and Marie can’t resist the strong and dark Isaac.

  When Marie and her brother are confronted with the truth that they - and their pack - were pawns to advance their cousin’s ambition, she is dragged back to the small mountain pack and into the middle of a fight she didn’t know existed.

  Chapter One

  Marie du Lac held out a hand to stop her brother, Alfred, from stalking over another large branch. They seemed strategically placed to make the most noise while tramping through the woods. She was not one to stroll through nature in human form. Her wolf cried to run through the trees, but she didn’t want to startle any unsuspecting humans they may come across. Even though these were now Ross lands, a stray human could try to camp out.

  After being dropped off late in the evening by their cousin Claude, they had checked the big house that stank of the local pack, and found no one in or nearby. They stayed the night in the pack house to familiarize themselves with the scents of their new pack. When first light colored the sky, they had set out into the woods. Someone was in the woods, judging from the howls they had heard the previous night.

  Marie raised her little nose to the sky and breathed deeply. She could smell meat cooking over an open fire. She nodded in the direction to Alfred, and he set off in front of her. She ground her teeth. She understood her brother’s need to protect her, but she was the better of the two at tracking. His every step crunched the woods into the ground. She delicately stepped around the branches broken under his step. She didn’t need to cause even more noise.

  Two unique scents became stronger the closer she and Alfred honed in on the cooking meat. She smiled. A romantic interlude, she imagined. At least one was awake, and cooking breakfast.

  Alfred growled in the back of his throat, and Marie placed a hand on his arm. They didn’t need to maul anyone. Not yet, anyway. They were the interlopers here. There was no telling how the others would react, but she wouldn’t start a fight unless it was needed.

  When they picked their way into a clear, Alfred crunching on every single thing that would crunch, Marie saw two people crouched by a small fire. She thought she heard the woman mumble something about “so much for needing clothes.”

  The man was pretty. She liked the way his olive skin rippled with muscle, and his dark hair fell in his face when he turned to growl in their direction. He held a hand back to signal his woman to stay behind him. The woman, clutching a blanket to her body, smelled too much like a human to be born as a shifter. Marie guessed her first transformation had been the night before.

  It made her giggle to find a mated couple, when she was seeking out her own mate. “Take me to your leader.” She brought her hand to her mouth to try hiding her giggles. “Sorry, I’ve always wanted to say that. But please, do take me to Cameron Ross. He’s to be my mate.”

  She kept the command to a minimum, but enough to put the two in their place. She wouldn’t introduce herself to her new pack by begging for directions. They needed a firm hand, but she didn’t want to start off on a tyrannical paw. She walked a fine line.

  The car ride into the city was uncomfortably quiet. Marie wouldn’t let it put her off her goal. She pasted a slight smile on her lips and stared out the window. The woman fidgeted in the passenger seat in front of her, and she wanted to reach a hand over to comfort her. The man, Gabriel, had nearly caused a fight when she tried, and she hadn’t tried again. A fine line, indeed. They would both learn she was not to be feared unless they made her angry.

  Alfred was another story. He glared holes in the back of Gabriel’s head. He was unmated, and if her suspicions of the couple were correct, it was no wonder why Gabriel was so on edge about her brother. Newly mated couples were notorious for showing wild jealousy. And Alfred had always been a sensitive boy. He responded to the rejection with anger. Marie sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Such a boy.

  When they entered a parking garage under the Ross Building, as Claude told her would happen, Alfred tensed. He would protect her at all costs, but he didn’t like being locked in tight spaces. His wolf craved the open air, even if he had no wolfish grace. Even the underground parking g
arage irritated him.

  Gabriel parked near an elevator, and hustled to open the door for his mate. Alfred cursed and thrashed in his seat belt. He reached across the car to throw an arm over Marie, should her door be opened without her permission.

  “Calm, Alfie. He just wants to check on his mate.” Marie put her hand on his arm again. The other woman’s heart was racing, she could hear. She didn’t hold the fear against her. She smelled new, and then to have someone interrupt a secluded camp? No wonder her heart raced as wild as a startled rabbit’s.

  She opened the car door and stepped into the garage. A wave of gas and oil smells hit her nose, and a surprising amount of wolf scent. Of course, the law firm tried to find employment for each pack member. She was walking into the wolf den.

  Gabriel swiped a card on a reader near the elevator. The machinery opened on the summoned cart a moment later, and the party bundled in, Marie stood in the back next to the new shifter woman. She turned green eyes to Marie’s face and hitched her blanket wrap closer to her body. Marie smiled what she hoped was consolation while the men continued to glare at each other.

  The doors opened on the appropriate floor, and Gabriel stepped out with Marie and Alfred. He turned to his mate, and stopped her from exiting.

  “I’m sending you upstairs. Tiana will look after you.” His tone said there was no room for negotiation. He pressed another button, and let the elevator close on his mate.

  “New clients?” a deep voice asked, forcing Gabriel to turn. The voice sent a pleasant shiver down Marie’s spine. She felt her knees weaken and snapped herself straight.

  “No. I need to see Cameron.” Gabriel answered tersely.

  The man nodded, and crossed his arms over his chest. “You know the way. Want me to come?”

  Gabriel nodded and started off down the wide hall. The man nodded, this time as a direction. Marie smiled at him, and followed after Gabriel. Alfred, of course, followed her, and they were trailed by the new man.

  Chapter Two

  Marie sat with her hands folded, and listened carefully to the muffled voices on the other side of the door. Alfred, scowled into the open air, trying his best to ignore their guard across the room. She didn’t know what else to call him since he helped Gabriel escort them to Cameron’s waiting area.

  She admired Alfie’s will. She found it hard not to look at the large man across from them. His dark skin glistened under the harsh lights of the room. His skull was clean-shaven, and shined like the rest of his perfectly toned skin. Muscles bulged in his arms anytime he moved.

  “I understand you want to get back to your mate, Gabriel, but I need you here.”

  The hard voice of Cameron Ross made Marie sit up straight. She thought he was pacing on the other side of the door. His voice sounded far away, then near, then far again. She wanted to comfort him. He was to be her mate, after all.

  After she and Alfred came upon the two wolves in the woods, they were taken directly to the Ross Building. Cameron lived on the upper floors, and the law firm offices were located below. She wouldn’t want to live here permanently once they were mated, oh no, but she respected a pack leader who would put his business close to his home. She and their pups would need a little more space between home and business. His dedication was something her cousin Claude hadn’t mentioned.

  “I understand you want to be with her--”

  “She’s not even a day into this new life, Cam. I need to be with her.”

  “I can send Isaac, or one of the others.”

  A growl rumbled from the other one. Gabriel, she had heard. He confirmed what she suspected when she startled the couple in the woods; his mate was a newly transformed werewolf. She would need to apologize to them both for her intrusion. They would understand, being mated and all. She was just trying to get to her own mate.

  He spat out words between clenched teeth. “I won’t have her near an unmated male.”

  Cameron made an effort to soothe his beta. “Tiana will stay with her, then. No threats to you, and it keeps her from mauling our guests. Phoebe should be properly introduced to her alphas, don’t you think?”

  Marie’s stomach sank. Cameron said alphas, plural. Claude hadn’t mentioned another woman was already in the picture. She looked sideways at Alfred. His eyes had narrowed. He was listening to the conversation now, too, and he didn’t like what he heard. She’d regret the heartbreak of the other woman, but she was fated to be the mate of Cameron Ross.

  Marie straightened her shoulders and tossed back her hair. The dark brown curls had an annoying habit of trying to take over her face, and she was constantly pushing the locks back. Her eyes touched on the large man again, and she noticed he was watching her. She shyly tucked another stray lock behind her ear.

  The door to the office yanked open, and Gabriel appeared. “Come in,” he told them. Marie and Alfred stood, but she was surprised when the other man followed them inside. He closed the door and leaned against it.

  Cameron was seated at a rich desk. He was busy as the head of the law firm, but the papers on his desk had an organized look to them. His office was set for function, rather than style. He gestured to comfortable looking seats across from him as Gabriel took a position to his left.

  “My beta tells me you surprised him and his new mate, and had some incredible need to speak with me.” He steepled his hands and looked over his fingers at Marie and Alfred.

  Marie reached across the desk and offered her hand. “I’m Marie du Lac, and this is my brother Alfred.”

  She beamed a smile and withdrew her hand when Cameron didn’t move to take hers. “Our cousin sent us. He said you’d be expecting us, but there was no one at the pack house to greet us. So we went looking through the woods.” She looked up at Gabriel. “We didn’t mean to intrude, and deeply apologize.”

  “Who is this cousin?”

  “Claude van Lupe. He and a delegation of others from the Ross family have been staying with my family for a few months now. He said everything had been arranged, and you were finally ready to send for me to be your mate.”

  Cameron’s teeth ground together. He looked to Gabriel. “Even after cutting ties, they’re still trying to control me.”

  Gabriel shrugged. “We knew they were being too quiet. Something was bound to happen, especially after news of Tiana broke.”

  Marie smiled politely and waited. Tiana again. Who was this mysterious Tiana and what did she have to do with her mate? She expected she’d find out soon enough.

  “We could just send them back,” Gabriel suggested.

  “No!” Alfred nearly yelled.

  All eyes focused on him, and Marie put her hand on his arm. She hoped she calmed him enough. She could hear the man at the door shifting his considerable bulk. She didn’t want Alfred to get hurt.

  Alfie took a deep breath, and spoke again. His tone was calm, and Marie took away her hand. “No, please don’t send us back. We won’t be accepted back even if you do. Our pack is dying. Claude and the ones he brought with him aren’t enough to keep us going. We’re the youngest ones left, and Marie is supposed to bring you many pups to help our pack grow again.”

  Marie smiled sweetly at Cameron and bat her eyelashes for good measure. She threw every ounce of charm she possessed into her smile.

  Cameron frowned, first at Alfred, then at Marie. “You must know I already have chosen a mate. She’s pregnant with our first child now,” he told them slowly.

  Marie’s smile slipped. She couldn’t very well break up an expectant mother and father. Claude never mentioned any of this to them. How would she heal the divides between the packs if she wasn’t wanted? The shame of it made her flush. She’d arrived too late.

  “Claude promised it would put a stop to all the dying. I was to be your mate, the packs would come together, and we’d give new life into both sides of the family,” she mumbled. She lowered her head, and her hair swayed forward to cover her face.

  “Claude is no longer a member of this pack.
He was sent away for disobeying his alpha. I suspect he used your pack to try weaseling his way back in. It was cruel of him to suggest an arrangement like this,” Cameron said gently.

  Marie dashed away the hot tears at the corners of her eyes. “We cannot go back, not failing in our mission like this. Even if what you say is true, our pack is still dying. Claude will be upset with us for not securing the alliance, and our pack will be upset for not having babies.”

  “Then you stay.” Cameron waved a hand at Gabriel’s muffled sound. “At least until we can sort all of this out. We won’t have any trouble from you two. We will not be a mated pair. You will respect that, and you will respect my mate, Tiana. Understood?”

  Marie nodded immediately. Alfred looked between her and Cameron before he nodded once.

  “Good. Have you been introduced to Isaac?” Cameron motioned over the man from the door.

  Marie smiled shyly at him. His dark brown eyes looked like chocolate. “Hello,” she squeaked.

  “Hello, Marie. Alfred.”

  Marie pressed her hands to her stomach to calm the butterflies that started when Isaac’s voice rumbled deep in her belly. Alfred settled another of his scowls on his face.

  Cameron shared a look with Gabriel, but both held their tongues. He stood and gestured toward the door behind them. “Isaac will take you back to the pack house. You two can stay there until we contact your pack, and we’ll decide what to do from there.”

  Chapter Three

  Marie kept her eyes focused out the window. She wouldn’t let anyone know the hurt she felt over being unceremoniously bundled away from her mate. Or pack leader. Or whatever Cameron Ross should be called. She guessed mate wasn’t the correct word anymore, if he had already chosen and impregnated another.