by Renee Rose
“So what did your dad say when he met Deke?” Charlie asks, stuffing a fry in her mouth.
“He didn't say anything,” I respond. “I didn't introduce them. He’s not currently part of my life.”
“That’s good. Make him grovel.” Tabitha nods approvingly.
“He doesn't need to grovel. He just needs to respect me and my choices. And if he doesn't, well, I'm not going to waste any more time on him.”
“Here, here,” Tabitha and Charlie cheer, raising their beers.
“I’ll drink to that,” says a deep voice behind me. I turn even though my skin is tingling, already alerting me a predator is near. My predator.
Deke stands beside our table, gazing down at me. He must have been in Werewolf Stealth Mode. I didn’t even hear him approach.
“Deke,” I say and fly out of the seat into his arms. He lifts me for a kiss that leaves me breathless. The room’s spinning a little when he sets me down. He hugs me to him, and I hang on like I’ve had too much whiskey.
“What are you doing here?” Adele snipes, and I realize that three huge shadows have coalesced out of the back of the restaurant—the whole pack is here.
“We're here to celebrate Whine Wednesday,” Lance says, dragging a chair over and dropping into it right next to Adele. She looks down on her nose at him which is funny because she's a head shorter.
“We own this place,” says Rafe, copying his brother and seating himself at Adele’s right.
“We need a chef, actually,” Rafe leans back in his wooden chair and looks right at Adele. “Someone who knows how to run a business.”
I go still. Adele’s been telling us of her troubles running the chocolate shop. Her business partner is acting strangely, disappearing for weeks and taking personal loans from their business bank accounts without warning and vague promises to “pay the business back.” Last week, Adele had to pay the shop’s rent out of her own savings.
She’s even taking private catering jobs to make ends meet. This job might be a godsend. My eyes dart between the two of them: Adele posh and pretty in her vintage dress—Rafe casual and dangerous in his fatigue pants and a faded Army green t-shirt that makes love to each of his abs. The pack alpha balances on the back two chair legs, somehow managing to look relaxed even as his muscles are taut.
“I'll let you know if I think of someone,” Adele says coolly.
Rafe holds her gaze a moment then lifts his chin. He murmurs in his deep voice, “You do that.”
Adele sniffs and turns her back to the Alpha.
“We were just toasting Sadie,” Tabitha explains to Lance and Channing. Lance keeps shooting looks at Charlie, but she seems to be ignoring him. Which is interesting.
“Why?” Channing asks. “Is she preggers already?” He raises his eyebrows and pretends to inspect my stomach.
Adele chokes on her wine.
“No,” I answer. “You goof.” I know Channing’s just joking, but the thought of a baby with Deke makes me so happy. My ovaries are ready. I snuggle closer to Deke, who squeezes my shoulders. “We were celebrating me finally growing a backbone and standing up to my father.”
“You always had a backbone. Your dad and Scott just never respected it,” Adele says.
A growl rumbles in Deke’s chest at the mention of Scott’s name. I lay a hand on his pec.
“Yeah, whatever happened to Scott?” Charlie asks.
Tabitha shrugs. “He’s gone. Last I heard, he moved to Florida. Probably to put up beachfront condos.”
“Good riddance,” Adele mutters.
“Let’s get out of here,” Deke murmurs to me. His tongue touches the edge of my ear, followed by a tiny nip of his teeth. I jump.
“Deke and I are just going to...uh...get some air,” I say and steer him to the door to the large deck outside.
“You kids have fun,” Tabitha calls.
Behind me, I hear Adele growl under her breath, “If he isn’t good to her, I swear they will never find his body.”
“I’ll vouch for him,” Rafe’s voice rumbles in reply. I turn to see Adele narrow her eyes at Rafe before I duck outside with Deke.
“What's going on between those two?” I ask Deke as we head to the deck railing. Above the sky is midnight blue, the Milky Way spilling starlight in a glistening veil over the dark shapes of the mountains.
“Which two?” Deke asks.
I frown, rubbing my hands together in the cold. “Adele and Rafe. Who did you think?” The sight of Charlie carefully ignoring Lance flashes through my head.
“No one,” Deke answers so blandly I know he’s noticed something between Charlie and Lance too. “But Adele came to the lodge and confronted Rafe. She told him if he didn’t get me and the rest of the guys into therapy, she would personally slit our throats.”
“Oh.” That sounds like Adele, actually. Momma bear. “I didn’t tell her about… you know.” The werewolf thing. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“I know, baby. I don't think you’ll have to keep it a secret from her much longer.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He pops my collar, tucking it tighter around my face before wrapping me in his arms, his heat. “Rafe’s been sniffing around Adele. And not just because something’s up with her business.”
My forehead creases. I want to ask what’s going on with her business, but it’s really none of mine. I make a mental note to ask Adele myself. “Do you think she’s his mate?”
“Don’t know. Rafe doesn’t think he deserves a mate. None of us did. You were unexpected. A gift.”
“Deke,” I whisper. My heart is so full right now, it’s as big as the moon, spilling its light over the world.
Deke lifts me onto the railing, holding me close as he dips his head near to mine. “I'll have to warn him about the worst thing about dating a human.”
“What's that?” My head is swimming with his scent.
“Shapewear,” he says against my mouth, and I giggle as we kiss and keep each other warm under the frosty sky.
Epilogue
Sadie
No one gives head like a werewolf. My throat is hoarse from screaming when I roll over to answer my buzzing phone. My mate keeps me more satisfied than I could have ever imagined. He put a ring on my finger, too. Even though the mating bite is all that matters to wolves, he understands that humans have their own traditions. I told him it didn’t matter to me, but Deke insisted I get everything I dreamed of.
He reaches past me to snatch up my phone, immediately alert.
“It’s Charlie.” He hands it to me.
“Hello?” I rasp, swallowing a few times.
“Sadie?”
I climb out of bed. “Charlie—how have you been, girl? I haven’t seen you around.”
“I’ve been...busy. But—”
“Are you crying?”
“What? No. Of course not.”
“You don’t sound okay.”
“Yeah, I need to talk,” Charlie chokes.
“Okay.”
“I have a teeny tiny problem. You know Deke’s friend—the hot blond one?”
“You mean Lance?” I wrinkle my nose. I suppose Lance is hot, but I don’t think of him that way.
“The one who looks like he could front a boy band,” Charlie says drily.
“He’s a bit more buff than that.”
“Okay, then, a Baywatch remake.”
“I’ll give you that. Lance does have a surfer-dude vibe going on. What about him?”
“We might have hooked up.”
“Oh. Oh my. You and him?”
“Yeah. I know. It was on a whim.”
“Good for you. I mean, it was good right?”
“Better than good.”
“I’m glad. So what’s the problem?”
Charlie heaves a sigh, which sounds like a gale wind over the phone. “It was supposed to be a one-time thing.”
“Okay.”
“Even though we really were great together.”
“Okay…”
“And now I have a problem.” She pauses, and I bite my tongue before I demand her to just spit it out.
“I’m pregnant.”
Thank you for reading Alpha’s Moon! For the bonus epilogue with Sadie and Deke’s wedding ceremony, click here: https://BookHip.com/MPMAPDL. If you enjoyed the book, we would so appreciate your review, as they make a huge difference for indie authors. Be sure to sign up for Renee and Lee’s newsletters for news about the release of Alpha’s Vow and Alpha’s Revenge!
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Other Titles by Renee Rose
Paranormal
Bad Boy Alphas Series
Alpha’s Temptation
Alpha’s Danger
Alpha’s Prize
Alpha’s Challenge
Alpha’s Obsession
Alpha’s Desire
Alpha’s War
Alpha’s Mission
Alpha’s Bane
Alpha’s Secret
Alpha’s Prey
Alpha’s Sun
Shifter Ops
Alpha’s Moon
Alpha’s Vow
Alpha’s Revenge
Wolf Ranch Series
Rough
Wild
Feral
Savage
Fierce
Ruthless
Untamed
Wolf Ridge High Series
Alpha Bully
Alpha Knight
Midnight Doms
Alpha’s Blood
His Captive Mortal
Alpha Doms Series
The Alpha’s Hunger
The Alpha’s Promise
The Alpha’s Punishment
Other Paranormal
The Winter Storm: An Ever After Chronicle
Contemporary
Chicago Bratva
“Prelude” in Black Light: Roulette War
The Director
The Fixer
“Owned” in Black Light: Roulette Rematch
The Enforcer
Vegas Underground Mafia Romance
King of Diamonds
Mafia Daddy
Jack of Spades
Ace of Hearts
Joker’s Wild
His Queen of Clubs
Dead Man’s Hand
Wild Card
Daddy Rules Series
Fire Daddy
Hollywood Daddy
Stepbrother Daddy
Master Me Series
Her Royal Master
Her Russian Master
Her Marine Master
Yes, Doctor
Double Doms Series
Theirs to Punish
Theirs to Protect
Holiday Feel-Good
Scoring with Santa
Saved
Other Contemporary
Black Light: Valentine Roulette
Black Light: Roulette Redux
Black Light: Celebrity Roulette
Black Light: Roulette War
Black Light: Roulette Rematch
Punishing Portia (written as Darling Adams)
The Professor’s Girl
Safe in his Arms
Sci-Fi
Zandian Masters Series
His Human Slave
His Human Prisoner
Training His Human
His Human Rebel
His Human Vessel
His Mate and Master
Zandian Pet
Their Zandian Mate
His Human Possession
Zandian Brides
Night of the Zandians
Bought by the Zandians
Mastered by the Zandians
Zandian Lights
Kept by the Zandian
Claimed by the Zandian
Stolen by the Zandian
Other Sci-Fi
The Hand of Vengeance
Her Alien Masters
Regency
The Darlington Incident
Humbled
The Reddington Scandal
The Westerfield Affair
Pleasing the Colonel
Western
His Little Lapis
The Devil of Whiskey Row
The Outlaw’s Bride
Medieval
Mercenary
Medieval Discipline
Lords and Ladies
The Knight’s Prisoner
Betrothed
The Knight’s Seduction
The Conquered Brides (5 book box set)
Held for Ransom (out of print)
Renaissance
Renaissance Discipline
Also by Lee Savino
Paranormal romance
The Berserker Saga and Berserker Brides (menage werewolves)
These fierce warriors will stop at nothing to claim their mates.
Draekons (Dragons in Exile) with Lili Zander (menage alien dragons)
Crashed spaceship. Prison planet. Two big, hulking, bronzed aliens who turn into dragons. The best part? The dragons insist I’m their mate.
Bad Boy Alphas with Renee Rose (bad boy werewolves)
Never ever date a werewolf.
Tsenturion Masters with Golden Angel
Who knew my e-reader was a portal to another galaxy? Now I’m stuck with a fierce alien commander who wants to claim me as his own.
Contemporary Romance
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Royally Fake Fiancé
The Duke of New Arcadia has an image problem only a fiancé can fix. And I’m the lucky lady he’s chosen to play Cinderella.
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My hot Marine hero wants me to call him daddy…
Her Dueling Daddies
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I’m the king of the criminal underworld. I always get what I want. And she is my obsession.
Beauty’s Beast: a dark romance with Stasia Black
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About Renee Rose
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR RENEE ROSE loves a dominant, dirty-talking alpha hero! She's sold over a million copies of steamy romance with varying levels of kink. Her books have been featured in USA Today's Happily Ever After and Popsugar. Named Eroticon USA's Next Top Erotic Author in 2013, she has also won Spunky and Sassy's Favorite Sci-Fi and Anthology author, The Romance Reviews Best Historical Romance, and has hit the USA Today list seven times with her Wolf Ranch series and various anthologies.
Please follow her on:
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Renee loves to connect with readers!
www.reneeroseromance.com
[email protected]
About Lee Savino
Lee Savino is a USA today bestselling author, mom and chocoholic.
Warning: Do not read her Berserker series, or you will be addicted to the huge, dominant warriors who will stop at nothing to claim their mates.
I repeat: Do. Not. Read. The Berserker Saga. Particularly not the thrilling excerpt below.
Download a free book from www.leesavino.com (don’t read that either. Too much hot, sexy lovin’).
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