Werewolf Wedding
by Raven Blakewood
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2019 by Raven Blakewood
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. E-mail [email protected] to obtain permission for other uses, or download her media packet with approved excerpts, covers, and teasers from www.ravenblakewood.com.
First e-book edition June 2019
Cover design by GlassCrocodile Designs
Book design by Raven Blakewood
Table of contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About Reviews
Dedication
To my first supporters of this series: Britt & Emmi. You give me the desire to keep writing, and you're the best readers an author could hope for.
Chapter 1
Maybe, I’m Afraid
Warm, static air rustled crisp, thin trees and dried leaves. Hairs prickled Dove’s skin. She took cover in her used Honda, ignored storm-brought memories of her long-dead grandmother and adoptive parents. A fallen branch slid across the hood, stripping red paint.
Dove traveled gravel and dirt roads to her blue house in the woods.
The backyard clothesline slung clothes to the swamplands. A fitted sheet broke free, suffocated a wall of shaking maple trees. She clutched her fists and ran after it.
Her heart thudded. Helicopter seeds, leaves, and broken limbs battered her body.
After grabbing clothes, she retreated to the house.
Back to a lavender wall, she sunk to the floor.
Her ivory skin stung. She wanted a tan to hide the marks and pretend she were less delicate, a person who didn’t cling to her boyfriend every time it stormed.
Even after surviving an abusive childhood, Dove denied her strength. She resented the fear that made her hands tremble as she plucked debris from her dark-brown hair.
Lightning struck in the distance, causing wolves to howl. Real wolves didn’t live in Dewhurst, Mississippi. Werewolves did. Hunter did.
She pictured the Dewhurst Wolf Preserve. The grand gates opened wide. Hunter urging humans to leave so the werewolves could shift. Hunter and their roommate Kai traversing muddy roads.
Dove wanted a distraction.
∞∞∞
Hunter leaned on the concrete wall in front of Wulf’s office, urging Kai to hurry along his conversation. Wulf didn’t call people to his office for no reason, but Hunter needed to go. Dove had taken their car, leaving him no choice but to wait for Kai.
Why had Wulf chosen this moment to chat? Didn’t he realize a storm was coming? They’d sent guests home half an hour ago. This meeting was testing Hunter’s patients. Dove needed him.
He pushed himself away from the wall and rung his hands through his straight hair. His fingers caught at the base of his neck. He hadn’t cut it since his father’s death because his hair was the last thing Gabe had touched before collapsing to the ground—heart attack—and because Hunter wanted to know if he’d ever look like him.
Hunter saw his mom when he looked in the mirror. Soft black hair, dark-fawn skin, high cheekbones.
Gabe was light-skinned with long, blonde hair—hair Hunter loved because it meant Gabe would no longer leave for war—and moon-colored eyes.
The only features they had in common were their medium build and large feet.
Hunter heard a can dispense from the vending machine and thought of Dove and her caffeine addiction. He didn’t want to distract her if she was driving, but the image of her alone at home ebbed and prodded.
∞∞∞
Dove named Dewhurst plant species in alphabetical order, taking deep breaths and registering the coolness of the hardwood floor. She could be strong.
Her pocket vibrated, startling her reserve. Who was she kidding? She answered her flip phone.
“Hunter?”
His brows rose. “Don’t you have caller ID?”
Dove pressed the phone closer. “Please, tell me you’re on your way home.”
“I’m waiting for Kai.”
“Oh.”
“Their meeting won’t take long.”
A branch hit the living room window.
Dove bit her nails. “Should you stay there?”
Hunter caressed the phone’s edge. “I’d rather be with you.” He straightened his stance and looked again at Wulf’s office door. “If Kai doesn’t walk out soon, I’m coming on foot.”
Her voice trembled. “Please don’t.”
“Dove, you sound…stricken.”
Dove could no longer contain her emotions. “Clothes were flying, I’m covered in cuts, and I lost my good bra to the swamp.”
That’s it. “Stay inside. I’ll be there soon.”
Hunter ended the call and knocked on Wulf’s door.
∞∞∞
Dove took her time folding.
When she finished, she tried the TV.
The channel crackled, white and colored dots clouding the screen. She fooled with the rabbit ears to no avail. Reception sucked during storms. She needed a crunched piece of aluminum foil and knew just where to get it.
She clutched the doorknob.
“God, if you’re there, give me strength.”
∞∞∞
Claudia folded her arms. “Control the lightning. Harness its energy.”
Fifteen-year-old Dove shivered on the porch in a white nightgown. “I’m not a real witch.”
“We plucked you from that wretched foster home to be our daughter.”
They thought the cross she’d worn around her neck meant nothing, and over the years she’d proven them right through her obedience. But church with the werewolves taught her that honoring her parents didn’t include performing acts that God abhorred.
Claudia forced her into the yard with a hand gesture. God would never steal her freewill.
Rain pelted Dove’s thin body. “I’ve made potions.” They loved her back then when she didn’t see their deeds as evil.
“It’s not enough. Control the lightning.”
Dove thought of Damon holding her hand. He loved her as the human she was. God loved her too. “No.”
The ground buried her bare feet.
Claudia pulled the rain cloud toward them.
Dove pressed a hand to her chest. Bumps rose on her damp skin. Her body tingled with static. The cloud crackled.
“Hold out your hands. When I set it loose, redirect it to that tree.”
“No!” Dove kicked, but the ground did not budge.
“Three. Two. One.”
BOOM.
Dove thrusted her hands toward the tree. The bolt split the wood in half as urine trickled down her legs.
Claudia clapped. “You are my daughter. I will make you more powerful than every learned witch. You need only obey my instructions.”
Dove looked to the sky. “Where are you, God?”
“He is no God,” Claudia said. “We are gods. Power runs through our veins.”
∞∞∞
Kai opened the office door, his small eyes now wide. “Yes, person who so rudely interrupted my most important of meetings?”
“We need to go.”
“Well by all means, if
I must escort you to the bathroom—”
“Home.”
“Pity. I do so love communal bathroom breaks. It’s so nice to let it go. Let it go. Just pee and sing a song. Here I stand at the toilet bowl—”
Wulf cleared his throat, not wanting to hear Kai’s bathroom version of “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen.
Kai turned to his dad. “Yes, yes, I suppose I should bid you ado, dear father. Unless you have something else you’d like to discuss. after all, the wind is howling like—”
Hunter shoved him.
Wulf straightened his tie. Kai and Wulf looked alike—if Kai never smiled.
Beige skin, dark hair, short and broad frame. He shared his mom’s freckled cheeks that dimpled when he smiled—which was most of the time—light-blue eyes and lips the shade of rose quarts.
Kai was approachable. Wulf was not.
When Hunter met Wulf’s hard-set brown eyes, he stepped back and bowed his head. No one dare interrupt the pack Beta’s meetings, even if that person was Kai’s, the Prince of Wolves’, best friend, nor did they push the prince without repercussion.
Wulf watched lightning strike and counted the seconds before the next roll of thunder.
“You may go.”
Hunter dipped his head in a show of gratitude before tucking Kai under his arm and dragging him outside.
∞∞∞
Tears dripped as Dove crinkled aluminum foil onto the rabbit ears and adjusted them for a decent picture. She raised the volume.
“Weather officials have issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Warren County. Expect winds over 45 mph and a torrential downpour into evening. Power outages may occur. Be advised to stay indoors.”
She peered through the fixed living room windows at dark clouds.
Dove lit every candle she had.
∞∞∞
Hunter kept blowing hot air.
“Stop doing that. You’re making me anxious.”
“Drive faster.”
“And endanger Rover, not to mention our lives?”
Hunter huffed. “You’re too careful.”
The black Chevy never went above 55mph, even on the interstate. Unlike Hunter who’d become relaxed behind the wheel after a few weeks, Kai never did. He drove like a grandma, leaned forward with his hands at 10 and 2. Kai wouldn’t even listen to the radio or drink water while driving. Always so careful.
“As Werewolf Prince, it’s my job to be cautious.”
Hunter rolled his eyes. “Driving the speed limit won’t kill you.”
“Limit, mister. You’re supposed to drive below it, especially in harsh weather.”
“If you wanna get runover. The speed limit is more of a minimum requirement.”
“And that, my friend, is why I get to spend money on things other than speeding tickets.”
∞∞∞
Dove’s stomach growled. Lunch had long passed, but she had yet to eat.
She added noodles to boiling water and thought of the strange customer she’d had earlier in the day—his long fingers with pointed nails. She’d seen a similar hand, though she couldn’t place it until the noodles softened.
∞∞∞
Hair floated in the caldron, sinking as a thirteen-year-old Dove added a goblin hand.
Claudia stirred. “It’s dead; no need to be so careful.”
Rueben sniffed the potion. “This will please the fairies.”
“Yes, they’ll want her as a wife.”
Rueben played with her braid. “Indeed.”
Dove sprinkled crusted snot. “What if I wanna marry a vampire?”
The Riddles gasped. Pictures shook on the walls. “You must never mention those filthy vermin unless you’re plotting their death.”
“But why? They seem so nice at school.”
“Vampires blend with humans,” Claudia said. “They do not reveal their true nature.”
Rueben fixed the picture frames. “There’s a history of bad blood between the witches and vampires.”
October had told Dove the gruesome tales. Vamps so greedy for power they raped and drank from witches and werewolves. Witches cursed unwilling sacrifices to be poisonous. The werewolves massacred the vampires, many who were innocent. Outraged by the disorder, other Magics intervened. Generation Wars began.
“It happened centuries ago. Have they not changed?” Dove had a wicked crush on Damon. He couldn’t be evil.
“No. They’re greedy and vile.” Claudia lifted her shirt to show a wide scar from under her breast to her hip. “I was in love with the last Werewolf Prince.”
“Alpha Alrik?”
“Yes.”
“But you call him weak.” Dove poured pig’s blood. The onion scented potion turned bright orange.
“The vampires couldn’t kill him without starting the war, so they weakened him by stabbing me.”
Rueben returned to a stool. “She almost died.”
“Rueben healed me.”
“I was twenty. I didn’t know how to prevent scarring or—”
Claudia touched his cheek. “You saved my life.”
Claudia brushed Dove’s hair with her fingers. “The wound made me barren.”
“And now you have me?”
“Yes, dear.” Claudia kissed Dove’s temple. “You may date above your station but never below. No vampires. No werewolves. We have our alliance with the wolves, but they are below us. Do you understand?”
Dove thought of the nervous boy she’d kissed at October’s twelfth birthday party, Kai, the Werewolf Prince. Her eyes stung. None of what they said made sense, but good daughters listened to their parents. “Yes. I may marry witches, elves, or fairies; never vampires or werewolves.”
“That’s right,” Rueben said. “Only the best suitors for our special girl.”
“And no trolls or goblins?”
Claudia flourished her hand. “Oh my, even slaves you think well of?”
“I was joking.” Dove served a spoonful to her father. “They are for service and parts.”
Her father sipped. “That’s right, dear. They aren’t intelligent beings like us.”
∞∞∞
The goblin Dove had met at her peanut stand spoke in poetry, showing his cleverness. Just lies from her adoptive parents.
Dove listened to the anchor woman while draining the noodles. “Warren County police are questioning new suspects in the Vicksburg murders.”
Clouds released rain. Thunder rolled.
The storm greeted her with a fist to the sliding glass doors.
Someone was in her backyard. Someone who wasn’t Hunter.
Chapter 2
Storm
Dove clutched her chest. Kai grinned at her, hair sopping wet.
Hunter grabbed him by the collar and hauled him through the carport door.
Dove pointed the strainer at Kai. “Bad dog.”
Kai sniffed.
“You want dinner?”
Rff.
Kai barreled to her on all fours, panting with his tongue out.
Dove tossed the strainer in the sink. “You’s a good dog, aren’t you, Kai Bear?”
She scratched behind his ears. He pawed her and howled.
Hunter removed his shoes. “Not this again.”
“What? You got a problem with improv?” Kai stood. “I’ll have you know, Dove and I won every competition in high school. Our drama club treated us like gods. You should feel lucky to see our performances for free.”
Hunter rolled his eyes. “I’d like to greet my girlfriend. As a man.”
Kai shrugged and crossed the kitchen to the hallway.
Dove muted the TV and cut off the eye to the browned meet. “Jealous of Kai Bear?”
Kai threw his shirt to the bathroom at the end of the house, right between his room and Dove’s.
Dove quirked an eyebrow. “Is that necessary?”
Hunter turned to see the disturbance.
He sighed.
Muscles comprised most of Kai�
�s body, even his hips. “Kai Bear has many reasons to be envied.”
Kai flexed his pecks one at a time.
Dove gagged. “Oh my gosh, put on a shirt.”
Hunter’s stomach flipped at Dove’s repulsion. He’d worried Dove living with him and Kai would be awkward if she developed an attraction for Kai. But moments like this reminded him she only had eyes for him, even though his muscles weren’t as big as Kai’s and his frame was quite narrower, more like a basketball player than a heavyweight champion. Granted Kai was the same height as Dove, making Hunter look tall at 6 foot.
“No can do. It’s shower time!”
Kai behind closed doors, Hunter brought Dove close. “How ya doing?”
“Fine now that you’re here.”
Hunter brushed her hair behind her ear. “Do I make you feel safe?”
She brought her hands to his chest. “Always.”
Hunter’s lips buzzed with anticipation. His fingers lingered on her jaw.
He felt the rise and fall of her chest against his torso. “You make me want to love you.”
“Don’t you already?”
“Yes.”
She played the back of his neck like a delicate piano. “Then what do you mean?”
“You make me want to show you how much I love you.”
“Mhmm.” She tilted her head back, exposing her collarbone.
When he kissed there, her skin was as soft as butterfly wings. She squirmed away. He loved how ticklish she was. It made her voice go higher and her cheeks blush.
“I have to finish dinner.”
It thundered.
Dove clung to him. “One kiss won’t hurt. To calm me?”
His pupils dilated. “If you insist.”
He kissed her.
The power hissed out.
∞∞∞
While Kai ignored the power outage and dressed, Dove and Hunter fixed their plates in candlelight.
“Did you sell enough for rent?”
Dove’s shoulders hunched. “I conned a few people into buying them, but the nuts are so spicy I’m losing customers with every sale.”
Werewolf Wedding (Generation Wars Book 1) Page 1
