Digging the Wolf: a paranormal romance (Werewolves of Crookshollow Book 1)

by Steffanie Holmes

  “Indeed.” I wanted to believe this guy. If what he said was true, it meant I had family – a cousin, an aunt. It was a tenuous connection to the past, to the kind of life my father had always wanted but could never hope to attain. But every fibre of my body screamed danger. I couldn’t afford to trust Caleb, not with Anna in the picture.

  “Maria made sure to tell me of my history, my birthright. I’ve visited these caves several times over the years, but I knew I needed a mate before I came back to establish my pack. No one else seemed to want Crookshollow, so I let it be. But when I saw the archaeological excavation in the paper, I came here as fast as I could. I intended to stop the team digging up all that shit about our family again. And luckily, a perfectly serviceable mate happened to be right here. It couldn’t be more perfect.”

  “We are cousins, Caleb.” I gritted my teeth. “We both have an equal right to this place. And Anna has already been claimed, by me.”

  Caleb gave me a sad grin. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Luke. It’s nice to know that I have some family left in the world. But I’m still going to have to ask you to step aside. As the son of the elder brother, I am the alpha here.”

  I laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Oh, but I am. I want this territory. My whole life I’ve wanted to establish a new Lowe pack, my own pack, as a fitting legacy for my father. And it has to be here, to reclaim the territories lost. With few wolves left in England, I’m sure to quickly dominate this region, maybe one day even challenge the Scottish pack. And with a strong mate like Anna by my side—”

  “Excuse me,” His words made my skin crawl. “You want my mate? That’s not the way this works, and you know it. Anna is mine. You cannot simply take her.”

  “Of course I know the way it works. Each of us has one mate who is ours alone, whose DNA is compatible and whose companionship completes us. But that doesn’t mean she can’t be of use in my pack. Wolves have shared mates for many centuries, when the needs of the pack required it. Anna is a powerful vessel, and she will make strong cubs. I have searching the length of this country and have not found my own mate, nor another girl as suitable as her. So I will have her. If you wish to keep her as well, then you may join my pack as the beta. Together we will be stronger. But if you do not give her to me, I will fight you for her. And I will win.”

  “Excuse me,” Anna’s voice cut through our conversation. “It’s rude to talk about people behind their backs.”

  I whirled around. Anna stepped out from behind a tree, coming to stand in the middle of the clearing, directly between Caleb and me. She stared at us both defiantly.

  “You’re alive!” My heart soared. I took a step towards her. She held up her hand.

  “Of course I am.”

  “How did you get here?” I demanded, taking another step. Anna shot me a furious look.

  “Don’t come any closer just yet. I’m not sure I want either of you anywhere near me. As for how I got here, I followed Luke’s tire tracks in the road. There aren’t that many paths in this part of the forest. It was easy enough to find.” Anna jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. “I’m parked a hundred metres down the road there. You two are so busy pissing at each other, you didn’t even hear me pull up.”

  “You came all this way just to tell me you want me, princess.” Caleb smirked. “I’m very humbled.”

  “Talk to Anna like that again, and I’ll wipe that smirk off your face.” I warned.

  “Stop it, both of you!” Anna yelled. I winced as her voice echoed through the trees. “There are more important things we need to discuss.”

  “Is that why you’re here? Did something happen?” The black wolf’s warning pulsed in my mind. More will die. More will die...

  “I read in the paper that the full moon was officially over, and Frances didn’t need me on site, so I came here to surprise you with what I discovered. Only I’m the one who got the surprise.”

  “Anna, I—”

  “I don’t even want to hear it. This whole conversation has been disgusting. I’m not just some breeding factory you can trade like businessmen arguing over stock options. I have my own needs and desires.” Anna glared at me with such venom, the hair on my neck stood on end. I could feel my cock shrink back up into my body. She turned her gaze to Caleb. “You’ve just discovered you have a real living relative, and the first thing you do is challenge him to a fight? Hardly the protective, family-first alpha I’d expect.”

  Caleb started to say something, but Anna held up her hand for silence.

  “I’m not anybody’s mate to be traded.” She said firmly. “Let’s clear that up right now. And that goes for both of you.” She glared at me. Shame burned my face. “I haven’t agreed to be anybody’s mate, despite what may have happened in the heat of the moment. Now, can you two stop this ridiculous macho competitive thing for a minute. We need to work together.”

  “Who put you in charge?” Caleb sneered at her. I knew that he did not intend to stop, not at all. “And why do we have to work together?”

  “I put myself in charge, because I’m clearly the only one mature enough to handle the responsibility. And we’re working together because I’ve discovered something about your family, from the paintings your grandmother left behind in the cave. A wolf didn’t kill that child. It was a priest, and my suspicion is, it was one of the men in the Peyton family.”

  “You mean, the Lowe are innocent all along?” I demanded. I couldn’t believe it. My mind whirled with emotions. My family was innocent of the crime. My father had carried the guilt of his family shame for nothing. He had suffered greatly, wondering which of his brothers had attacked the child. He’d gone to his grave believing his family carried a dark secret. But it wasn’t true, and I could never tell him that. A lump rose in my throat, but I pushed it back down. My veins hummed with anger, with a wild sense of injustice.

  All that guilt my father had carried around for so many years. The shame of bearing the Lowe name…it had all been for nothing.

  Anna nodded. “I told you this last night, but from your expression, I realise you’d fallen asleep.”

  “This is true?” Caleb demanded. “You’re not making this up?”

  “I’m an archaeologist, not a storyteller. I’m sure I’m right, I need to try and prove it.”

  “Why?” Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “What’s in it for you?”

  “You mean besides helping you two clear your family name?” Anna looked at him, and then to me, her face confused for a moment. “I realise you wolves aren’t inclined to believe that humans can have altruistic motives. But there is something—” she paused.

  “A-hah,” Caleb stepped forward. “I knew there was a but.”

  “Those paintings aren’t tens of thousands of years old, like my professor and her dippy graduate think. And I intend to prove it, without revealing your secret to the world. But in order to do that, I need to figure out exactly what’s going on. Now,” Anna walked over to Caleb and held out her hand. “Keys.”

  “Don’t you touch her,” I growled. Caleb shook me a filthy look, but he dropped my keys into Anna’s hand. She walked over and handed them to me.

  “Much as I like you like this,” she grinned, running her hand over my bare shoulder. “It’s time to get dressed.”

  “I love it when you get bossy.” I growled. I pressed my mouth to hers, pulling her body against mine. My cock stiffened as she kissed me back, her hands gripping my shoulders. As her tongue slid over mine, all my desire for her welled up inside of me. It had been two long, agonizing days without her skin next to mine. I needed to remedy that, as soon as possible.

  I spun Anna around, pressing her back against the side of my truck. My hands skimmed her body, rubbing her stiffening nipples through the thick fabric of her shirt and thermal vest. I gripped the bottom of her shirt, preparing to tear her clothes off and take her right there—

  “Luke, no.” Anna protested, her hands clamping down over mine. “As much as I
want this, we can’t do it here.”

  “Why not?”

  “For one thing, I might be very tempted to join in.” Caleb piped up from behind me. My body shook with fury. Why couldn’t he just go away?

  “And we each have a little trip to make.” Anna held up the keys. I took them from her and unlocked the door, hunting around the back seat until I found my clothes and boots. I pulled on my jeans, stuffing my very insistent cock down the waistband. Anna patted my arm.

  “Later tonight,” she said, her smile inviting. “Maybe.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll last that long,” I growled back.

  “I’ll make it worth your while,” Anna’s touch lingered on my arm. The familiar sparks of our connection fired off between us.

  “You two make me sick.” Caleb grabbed the driver’s side door, and climbed in. “Where are we going?”

  “The two of you are going back to the site, to guard the cave against any other wolves who might show up there.” Anna slid out from under my arm and stalked off towards the road. “I am heading into Crookshollow. I have some research to do.”

  17

  Anna

  “Anna—” Luke rapped on my car window. I knew he’d followed me back to the Mini, but I was too pissed off to turn around and look at him. Pissed off at him, yes, but also pissed off at myself. I couldn’t believe how I’d acted before, falling into Luke’s arms as soon as he touched me. I wasn’t supposed to do that. I was supposed to yell at him until he understood that he couldn’t treat me like some chattel. But one look into his green eyes and I melted like an ice cream in the Brighton sun. Embarrassed, I stared down at my jeans and turned the key again. Damn car picked a fine time not to start.

  “Anna!” Luke growled. “Open this door so we can talk.”

  “Not now,” I kept my head down. I didn’t want him to see how red my face was. “Take Caleb back to the camp.”

  “And just parade him around in front of everyone? What do I tell Frances?”

  “Tell her he’s your long-lost werewolf cousin who tried to kill you last night and wants me to shag him even though I’ve never met him. I don’t know, Luke. Make something up.”

  “I’m not leaving you. There’s another wolf out there. He says he’s already killed—”

  Another wolf. This just kept getting better. I gripped the wheel. “That’s not my problem. I’m not in the mood to be near you right now.”

  “You’re mad.”

  “Damn right.” The engine turned over once, but puttered out again. I ground my teeth together. This is ridiculous.

  “Because Caleb and I were fighting over you?”

  I nodded furiously, still avoiding looking at him. Actually, it had been kind of flattering. I’d never had two guys that hot both wanting to sleep with me before. But that didn’t make what he’d been doing right. “And because you were standing there talking about my life, my future, as though I didn’t matter.”

  “But you were flirting before.” He sounded dejected. Good.

  “You were naked. And your cousin was there. It wasn’t appropriate for me to express just how angry I am.”

  “What we did in front of him wasn’t very appropriate, either. You’re very confusing.”

  “Haven’t you ever been with a woman before?” I turned the key again. The Mini spluttered to life.

  “Can’t we just talk?”

  “Nope.” I backed away, my head over my shoulder. I yanked the wheel hard around. Luke leapt back as the Mini bumped over the rutted road, veering dangerously close to the wide ditch. At the last second it righted itself, and I clattered off in the direction of Crookshollow, Luke’s forlorn face haunting me from the rearview mirror.

  Fuck him for acting like a caveman. I couldn’t believe the way they were carrying on, fighting over me like I was the last piece of steak on the BBQ. I figured the best way to solve their issue was to make them work together to guard their family legacy. Plus, it would be good to get some distance from Luke, now that he was a human again. My body still pulsed with desire for him. I wanted nothing more than to turn the car around and go back to him, and beg him to take me hard across the bonnet. But then I’d just be telling him that acting like that was completely OK, and it wasn’t.

  I was only just starting to gain control of my life after Dad and Ben. I wouldn’t let anyone take that away from me. Not even Luke. Not even if I secretly, deep down, desperately wanted to be his mate.

  I tried to force Luke out of my mind. I replaced his gorgeous face with Ruth’s stuck-up smirk. I drove back towards Crookshollow village, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel and imagining the look on her face when I revealed that the paintings weren’t neolithic.

  As soon as I exited the canopy of the forest and my phone beeped to inform me I had reception again, I pulled over and texted Derek. He texted back immediately, inviting me to come on over.

  For once, the weather was worse in Crookshollow village than it was in the forest. Rain pounded down in sheets. There was hardly anyone on the road, and the high street was practically deserted, many of the shops shut up for the day. I pulled into a car park in front of Derek’s flat, yanked my hood over my head, and ran for the door.

  “Anna!” Derek embraced me, his muscles straining. Derek was a total fitness addict. He was always at the gym or going for a run or participating in one of those bootcamps where you swung on ropes like Tarzan. That meant his hugs could be quite intense.

  “Derek…I can’t breathe.” I flailed my arms uselessly as he squeezed the air from my lungs.

  Derek released me. “You smell awful.” He said, grinning as he ran his fingers through his short, wavy black hair.

  “I really wish everyone would stop pointing that out.”

  “It’s hard to miss. Do you want a shower?”

  I flopped down on his overstuffed sofa, glancing up at the giant print of Zeus in his war chariot that hung over Derek’s bookcase. Derek’s whole flat was covered with prints of famous mythological figures and celestial bodies. My room was covered with postcards and magazine cutouts of places I wanted to travel to, ruins I wanted to explore, and science fiction movies I loved. We were quite similar, in many ways. I guess it wasn’t a big surprise that he’d liked me. “No thanks. I’ll do it back at my flat. I will take a cup of tea, though.”

  “Or a glass of wine?”

  “What about both?”

  Derek laughed, and headed for the kitchen. I heard the kettle start to boil and the clink of wine glasses.

  I stretched out on the sofa and kicked my shoes off, the way I’d always done when visiting Derek’s cramped bachelor flat. Living with three other guys, no one would ever notice the stench wafting from my thick wool socks. “I just wondered if you could help me with some research?”

  “Sure thing.” Derek called back. “Is this about the cave paintings?”

  “How do you know about those?”

  “They’ve been all over the news. It’s quite an exciting discovery. I bet Ruth must be thrilled.”

  “Ruth?”

  “You know, being the first person to discover the paintings.” Derek cleared a space on the table and set down a steaming cup of tea and a wine glass filled to the brim. “I bet she’ll get her name in all kinds of archaeology textbooks now.”

  “I was the one who found them!” I screamed, beating my head against Derek’s sofa in frustration. Derek laughed, and pushed the glass of wine towards me.

  “I can see you need this more than you need the tea. Not that you’re bitter or anything.” He slumped down next to me, placing his arm casually around my shoulders. “All I can say is, welcome to the world of academia. But don’t worry, you got your name in at least one article.”

  “Huh?”

  “Check the front page of the Daily Post website.”

  A terrible sinking feeling grew in my stomach as I clicked on my phone and navigated to the tabloid website.

  WIDOW OF DEAD HIKER KEEPING HIS RECKLESS LEGACY A
LIVE

  Article by Misty Sharpe

  Anna Sinclair, 22, girlfriend of hiker Ben Brownstone who died horrifically when he fell down a waterfall in Crookshollow Forest five months ago, hasn’t wasted any time getting back into the devil-may-care lifestyle. We interviewed Sinclair from a remote site in that same forest, where she is working with a team on a dangerous treasure-hunting expedition in a cave. When asked if the caves were dangerous, Sinclair exclaimed excitedly that there were slips and falling hazards, and expressed her regret that an onsite forest ranger was making them adhere to safety guidelines.

  Adrenaline-junkie Sinclair took us down to view the recently-uncovered cave paintings, despite the fact neither this reporter, nor her photographer were wearing appropriate shoes. She dismissed our concerns about the safety of the caves, saying she wouldn’t let a little thing like the death of her boyfriend stop her living her life. She then asked us not to print that particular statement...

  No. My throat closed over. This can’t be happening.

  I scanned the rest of the article, horrified that they had turned what was supposed to be a report about the find into a piece about how I was dishonouring Ben’s memory by committing the same foolhardy mistakes as he had. Oh, she had dug up some of the local history on the caves, and a note at the end told readers to stay tuned for the second half of the article, where she’d tell us all about the mad priest with his crazy ideas about werewolves in the forest. But the majority of her words were reserved for a character assassination against me.

  “I can’t believe it,” I slammed my phone down on the table. “They twisted around everything I said. And some of it they just plain made up!”

  “It’s the Daily Post, what do you expect?”

  “My professors are going to read it. I’ll never be allowed on another archaeological site again.” I buried my face in my hands.