Wolf Mated

by Tamsin Baker

  Wolf Mated

  By Amelia Shaw

  Book 1 in the ‘Blood World’ trilogy.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  WOLF MATED

  First edition. May 16, 2020.

  Copyright © 2020 Tamsin Baker.

  Written by Tamsin Baker.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1.

  Chapter 2.

  Chapter 3.

  Chapter 4.

  Chapter 5.

  Chapter 6.

  Chapter 7.

  Chapter 8.

  Chapter 9.

  Chapter 10.

  Chapter 11.

  Chapter 12.

  Chapter 13.

  Chapter 14.

  Chapter 15.

  Chapter 16.

  Chapter 17.

  Chapter 18.

  Chapter 19.

  Chapter 20.

  THE END of part 1.

  Chapter 1.

  Being a corporate lawyer was fast paced, high stress and pretty intense. That was until I compared myself to my father’s fine of work. He was a bounty hunter. Feared by all.

  The metallic sound of a new knife being sharpened reached my ears as I walked into the kitchen, briefcase in hand.

  I grinned. “Morning, Dad.”

  “Mornin’ Sadie.” He glanced up at me, his gaze running over my work attire, and sighed. “All that talent with a knife, and you’d rather go to court and defend the bad guys, huh? Wouldn’t you rather be the one to catch ’em?”

  I rolled my eyes. My father had never been one to hold back on telling his truth, but he hated my job with an unusual amount of gusto this morning.

  My suit jacket was lying over the back of one of the dining room table chairs. I reached for it and pulled it on. Then I picked up my brief case again. “I’m good at my job, Dad. And I like it.”

  The clanging slide of the large knife being sharpened echoed around the room.

  Slice. Slice. Slice.

  “Yeah... but you’re even better at my job,” he said with a grin.

  I glanced at my watch and grimaced. “I’m late.”

  I strode over to where he sat at our kitchen counter, sharpening a beautiful new bowie. I couldn’t help but stop and admire it. “Oh, that’s nice.”

  He held the weapon up in the air and turned it from side to side so I could see it at its best advantage. The silver blade glistened in the light of the bright kitchen making me ache to reach out and touch it.

  “It’s new,” he said.

  I shook myself, pulling on my professional cap and pushing away the personality my father had cultivated since my infancy.

  I kissed the only man in my life, on top of his bald head. “Love you, Dad.”

  “Love you too, sweetie. See you tonight?”

  “Yeah... I have a pretty intense day, but if things go better at court than I expect, I’ll swing by and take you out for dinner.”

  His eyebrows flicked up. “Any occasion?”

  I shook my head. I never needed a reason to spend time with my dad. He was the funniest, most hard-working, awesome person I knew. And the fact that he happened to know how to kill a person in a thousand different ways just made him even cooler.

  “Nope. But there’s a new Italian place I want to try that opened up.”

  His frowned. “Is that the one on main street? It’s owned by vampires.”

  I shrugged as I grabbed my coffee off the counter, checking the lid was tight and sealed.

  I glanced at the large modern silver clock on the wall. I’m late.

  I slid my keys into my pants pocket and headed towards the door.

  “The vampires own everything, Dad.”

  If you wanted to eat at a place that wasn’t owned by the vamps, then you’d never eat. Not out at a restaurant, and not food from a supermarket.

  You wouldn’t work, either.

  Even my corporate law firm was owned by the vampires. They were immortal, super intelligent, and had mastered the art of day-walking decades ago.

  “Not my shop they don’t,” Dad threw back at me, pride in his tone.

  Unlike practically everyone else we knew, Dad owned everything he had. His business, the freehold of the business, and the apartment we lived in.

  I moved to the door and opened it, smiling back at my dad. “I’ll ring if I’m going to be late but otherwise see you for dinner!”

  “Okay, sweetie,” he called back and I couldn’t stop myself from taking one final look at my dad before I left.

  He was quite an unusual man to behold. His bald head shined beneath the fluorescent lights. He was wearing a tight leather vest and his muscles flexed with each movement.

  A greying beard.

  His shoulders and arms were covered in full sleeve tattoos and he looked like a man you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley at night.

  And in truth... he wasn’t. Not if you were a bad guy.

  But if you were a good guy, or a good girl, this was a man you could trust. You could rely on. And I was the luckiest girl in the world to have him as my dad.

  “Bye!” I waved and left.

  Really late now.

  Time to use the brain I’d inherited from both my parents, and use my powers for good instead of evil.

  AFTER SECURING A MULTI-billion dollar deal for my bosses, much quicker than I’d expected to, there was no question what I was doing tonight. I was definitely going out for dinner with my dad and doing a massive carb overload.

  “You going home already, Sarah?” Nikki asked from her desk across the aisle from mine.

  “Yeah, why not?” I asked as I packed up my briefcase.

  I’d barely had lunch today, and I never ate breakfast. And with all the extra work I’d put in to pull this deal off, I’d earned myself a huge serving of lasagna, garlic bread, and a glass of red wine.

  “Ah... because you never leave early,” she said, throwing her hands up in the air like I was an idiot.

  I laughed. I’d graduated from college a few years ago and worked my ass off pretty much ever since. Going home early was not my normal. She was right there.

  “I’m starving and I told my dad I’d take him out for dinner.”

  Nikki shivered, though I knew she didn’t mean to. I giggled to myself as I locked my briefcase and walked over to her desk, cell phone in hand.

  Nikki was half human, half wolf shifter, just like my dad. They had an unusual connection, like most of their breed. I knew she was attracted to him. I barely mentioned his name and she was already a shivery hormonal mess.

  But he was my dad and twice her age and her constant blushes and defensive behavior indicated that she didn’t want to be so affected by him.

  I couldn’t stop grinning. It was hilarious.

  “What’s wrong, Nik? Wanna come?” I grinned at her. “You hungry too?”

  For more than dinner I’m sure!

  She turned back to her computer, her cheeks burning with a red blush. “You know I can’t help it.”

  “Yeah... because my dad’s so hot,” I teased.

  Nikki flipped me the bird, her long manicured fingernail capturing my attention. I’d always wanted pretty nails like that, but the way I trained with my dad five days a week, they were beyond impractical. They were impossible.

  I waved at my gorgeous friend and headed out the door. Most women with any wolf shifter blood lusted after him, and he could have pretty much anyone he wanted. Even I could see how a woman could find all that strength in him hot. Even if it turned my stomach.

  But after Mom had died, he hadn’t dated anyone. Not openly anyway. Which I was grateful for. If he was sleeping w
ith someone, I didn’t want to know about it.

  He was still a man... I just ignored that part.

  What daughter didn’t?

  I stepped through the double doors of my office building and walked along the footpath. It wasn’t dark yet, as the sun was only now dropping out of the sky.

  I glanced down the road and assessed my choices. Taxi... or walk? I glanced at my watch. Dad would still be doing paperwork. I had time to get some fresh air. The workshop was only six blocks away, and I rarely had a moment to relax like this. Where I wasn’t jumping from my office, to a meeting, to another taxi, back to the office.

  Why not take advantage and take a stroll?

  I began to walk towards my dad’s business, enjoying the loud noises of the bustling traffic and the people around me. I loved this city, even with its lack of pretty parks, and overly clogged smokey air.

  It was home. Always had been. Always would be.

  I walked all the way to Dad’s workshop, or that was what he called it. Like it was some tiny garage where he tinkered with toys.

  In reality, it was a huge business, housed in an impressive building, with over fifty employees and raking in millions of dollars a month.

  I glanced up at the sign over the doorway. Hunters.

  Or more aptly, Bounty Hunters. My dad trained killers. Hunters. Thrill seekers. Perfectly legal... of course.

  They hunted bad guys.

  Bag guys who had a very expensive price tag on them. In this city and in many others.

  He trained his guys, he booked their jobs, he ran the whole show. He was a one-man juggernaut.

  I glanced up at the building, admiring the beauty of the heritage listed architecture. So much prettier than the brand-new offices I worked in.

  I put my hand on the glass door, noticing the closed sign had already been put up, and pushed.

  I inhaled sharply, my wolf shifter senses delighting in the change of scents from outside to inside the building. Outside there was smog, and gas, and a strange artificial sort of smell.

  Inside Dad’s workshop there was a feast for the senses. The smell of the hard wood floors, the heady mix of colognes, sweat, and leather punching bags recently oiled.

  The scent of my youth. After all, I’d grown up in this place.

  Unfortunately, once I turned sixteen I hadn’t spent much time here. I’d been too obsessed with going out with my friends, meeting boys, and trying to exert my independence. But I’d missed it.

  I should come by more often.

  I headed up the stairs to where my dad’s office was, a nostalgic smile on my face.

  All the other guys had gone home now from the looks of it. The lights were mostly off, and all was quiet.

  “Dad? You upstairs?” I called out into the silence.

  Usually, when he was closing up for the day, he played some old classic songs that floated around the hallway.

  “Dad?” I called out again as I hit the landing and kept walking past his receptionist’s empty desk and pushed open the door to his large office.

  He wasn’t there.

  Huh. Weird.

  I checked my cell phone. No message. No missed call.

  He knew that I was coming to pick him up for dinner. He wouldn’t usually leave me hanging like this.

  But then again, the front door had been open. He had to be here.

  Was he doing inventory, or something in the gym?

  “Dad?”

  There was a sudden noise downstairs. A squeak, then a heavy bang.

  I turned to the door, a shiver coursing over my neck.

  What the hell was that?

  It sounded like something very heavy had been dropped to the floor. A punching bag maybe?

  “Dad? Is that you?”

  The sound of a door swinging open followed, the metallic creak weird and a bit freaky in the otherwise wooden building.

  That’s the back door.

  I went to take a step forward, then thought better of it. Instead I stepped around my dad’s desk, opened the top drawer, and pulled out his bowie knife.

  It was cold and heavy in my hand and I gripped it hard. I’d grown up throwing these knifes and could use one with deadly efficiency if I needed to.

  If someone had broken into my dad’s business, they’d regret it.

  A grim smile quirked my lips. I didn’t think there’d be a person in the city stupid enough to do that. No human, shifter, or vamp.

  My father had a reputation, and it wasn’t one that made him appear soft and fluffy.

  I crept down the stairs, listening for any sign of movement. But there was nothing.

  I made my way through the massive hall my dad used to train his bounty hunters and headed for the back door. It was the only metal door in the whole building.

  I stopped dead in my tracks as my stomach dropped through the floor.

  “Dad!”

  Adrenaline pumped into my legs and I raced forward, kneeling down on the wooden floors next to my father’s body.

  He was face down, cold and not moving.

  “No. No. No.” I dropped the knife beside me and tried to get him to roll over, pushing on his heavy shoulders. “Dad! Wake up. Please.”

  Tears began to stream down my face, hot and persistent.

  This couldn’t be happening.

  I pushed and pushed, but he was too heavy. I had no chance of moving him. He weighed almost three hundred pounds. And he was a dead weight.

  I put my fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse.

  There was nothing... but wetness.

  I brought my hand away so I could stare at my trembling fingers.

  Dark red blood.

  My stomach retched. Oh, god... it was a vampire.

  The front door swung opened, the characteristic squeak of the hinges making me jump to grab the knife.

  “Jimmy! You still here?” a man called out from the front of the building.

  Someone was looking for my dad. Probably one of his workers. Cold relief washed over me as I began to shake.

  “Please! Come quickly! We’re at the back door! Dad’s hurt!”

  Footsteps pounded through the building and two huge men burst into the back room, looking around wildly.

  I was still gripping the knife, and the men ground to a halt in front of me, eyeing me suspiciously. I’d never seen either of them before, and they didn’t know me. Ever since reaching ‘breeding age’, Dad had tried to keep me out of his business.

  “What’s happened?” the smaller one asked, dark curls falling over his eyes.

  “I came to pick him up for dinner.... He’s... not breathing. There’s no pulse. I can’t.... turn him over.”

  The two men looked at one another, then bent down, grabbing my father’s arms and shoulders, and flipped him over. I skittered back out of the way.

  I gasped at the morbid sight of my father’s dead, pained face, and turned away so I couldn’t see. Breathe. Breathe. I had to swallow the urge to scream, tears clogging my throat.

  Oh, my God.

  “It was a vamp. Definitely,” one of the guys said from behind me.

  I shook my hands out, over and over as I gulped at the air. I had to calm down, I had to think.

  Fuck!

  Fuck!

  What the hell was I going to do?

  I turned back around to face them. If two virtual strangers could help my father in these moments of need, then I could too.

  I looked down at my father’s once handsome face. Bile rose in my throat, but I forced it down. His face was contorted in pain, his eyes still open but not seeing.

  “Is he...?” I swallowed.

  The other guy, a large blond man, looked up at me from his crouched position next to my father. He had piercing green eyes. Definitely some sort of shifter.

  “Yes. I’m sorry. He’s dead.”

  I nodded. I’d known that when I’d seen him, but I had to be sure.

  And I had to be sure there was no bringing him back.
/>   “Is he... drained?”

  There was little to no blood around him, which indicated this was more than a random feeding. A man my father’s size had more than enough blood to survive a normal vampire drink. Two of them even.

  The dark-haired man stood up. “We’ll have to wait for the autopsy, but yes, I think so.”

  I inhaled sharply. “Okay.”

  The blond one moved to his feet and I was suddenly dwarfed by two huge men.

  Shifters. Both of them.

  Beneath all my grief, anger, and shock, my attraction for them simmered.

  The dark haired one was a wolf shifter, and the little bit of wolf shifter from my father, hidden in my genetics, could feel it. But there was something stronger than that... I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

  Not now.

  I took a deep breath, a strange calm falling over me as I took charge.

  “We need to call the cops,” I said. “Can you stay with him while I find my phone?”

  The men nodded at me and I walked off, not feeling my legs as I made my way up to my dad’s office to call the police.

  Unfortunately, I knew what they’d find when they arrived to investigate.

  No evidence of a break in. No struggle. Just my father’s dead body and two puncture wounds from the animal who’d killed him.

  Chapter 2.

  The police came quickly and interviewed all three of us.

  It was all a complete blur. I just wanted their questions to end, but they kept asking one more. My brain ached...

  But after what felt like hours and hours, the police left, and someone was handing me a hot mug, steam rising off the top.

  “It’s a hot chocolate, in case you don’t drink coffee.”

  I glanced up and reached for the mug being offered to me. It was the wolf shifter... I didn’t know his name.

  I sat in my dad’s chair, in his office, trying to piece together what was left of my life.

  I huffed out a strained laugh. “Ah... I’m a lawyer, so I usually take coffee via IV drip, but you made the right call considering the time.” I sighed. “Not that I’m going to get any sleep tonight.” I put the mug to my lips, vaguely remembering that I’d been hungry before I’d arrived. But food was the last thing on my mind now. “Thanks.”