Patrick's Heart

by Stacey Espino

  Wolves of Climax 6

  Patrick’s Heart

  Cassidy Lyons is forced to face a world where fantasy and reality collide. After witnessing Patrick shift into her red wolf, she’s scared and confused. But his raw sexuality and dominant aura keep luring her back. Can she accept that her lover is one of the forest’s deadliest predators?

  Patrick’s not impressed that the rest of his pack refuses to come clean with Cassidy. He’s the odd man out after volunteering to reveal his wolf. It wasn’t the magical experience he’d hoped for, only acting to tear them apart. After spending a lifetime carrying a deep-seated hatred of humans, he’s ready to do anything to win his little human back.

  When a threat comes to Climax, the pack must work together to protect Cassidy. But as soon as they get a chance to complete the mating bond, Garret discovers there is much more to Cassidy and her family drama than any of them could have imagined.

  NOTE! You are purchasing Siren's newest serialized imprint, the LoveXtreme Forever Series. This is Book 6 of 7 in the Wolves of Climax collection. These books are not stand-alone. Each is a continuation of the previous book and must be read in the numbered order. Each book may end on a cliffhanger but usually with a happy-for-now for the heroine and one or more men. The final book contains a happily forever after for the heroine and all her men.

  Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves

  Length: 25,186 words

  PATRICK’S HEART

  Wolves of Climax 6

  Stacey Espino

  LOVEXTREME FOREVER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: LoveXtreme Forever

  PATRICK’S HEART

  Copyright © 2012 by Stacey Espino

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-720-9

  First E-book Publication: November 2012

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Patrick’s Heart by Stacey Espino from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Stacey Espino’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Espino’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  Dedicated to Robin Womack and Megan Schall. Two readers who help make all the effort worth it.

  PATRICK’S HEART

  Wolves of Climax 6

  STACEY ESPINO

  Copyright © 2012

  Chapter One

  Cassidy tried to convince herself she was watching a horror movie, only there was no screen. She wasn’t dreaming, either. That would be too easy. Acres of darkened forest surrounded her, the sinister-looking branches reaching out from every direction, adding to her unease. The cool evening temperatures made her moist skin break out in gooseflesh.

  The red wolf continued to stare at her. She remembered the beast the moment she saw its glowing eyes. It had visited her at the small river behind Garret’s cottage. She’d touched it, run her hands along its thick coat of fur. Not once had she felt afraid, but now she didn’t know what to feel. She couldn’t digest the connection between the wolf and Patrick. It was all impossible, too far fetched for her mind to process. She began to wobble, her reality so shattered that her mind began shutting down.

  “Get her out of here,” shouted Garret.

  Evan tried to lead her away, but her feet felt like lead. She kept staring at those eyes, a mix of shock and awe holding her attention. “How?” she murmured.

  “I’ll take care of you, Cassidy. Don’t worry,” said Evan.

  She felt safe in his arms. More than anything, she needed him to be her rock until she could come to grips with what was happening. Dozens of questions flashed in her mind, but she was too disoriented to articulate a sentence. The cold, the remoteness of their location, and the pack of vicious wolves were only afterthoughts. What really plagued her mind was Patrick. What had become of him? How had he transformed? She was reminded of all the crazy late-night specials about Big Foot and Loch Ness. Cassidy never believed in tall tales, but hadn’t she just witnessed something paranormal with her own eyes?

  “Where we going?” she asked, as Evan whisked her away through the forest. There was a sense of urgency snapping in the air. She could scarcely see, but he ushered her through the maze of underbrush with ease. “What about the others?” She dared not say “What about Patrick?” Cassidy was terrified of the answer. Part of her was in love with her Viking miner. His red hair was usually covered with his tuque, his heavy jacket hiding plenty of inked muscle. He may have been rough around the edges, but she’d connected with him on numerous occasions. Now she didn’t know if he even existed at all.

  “They’ll be fine. I promise,” he said.

  Her mind wandered. She’d had sex with Patrick. The things she’d let him do to her body… Was he even a human being? He turned into a wolf, so did that make him a werewolf? The word alone terrified her.

  She couldn’t tell how much time passed. When they finally stopped, they were at the edge of a lonely roadway, the moonlight casting a faint reflection off the asphalt. “We’ll get a ride out of here,” said Evan.

  There were no vehicles in sight, and she doubted one would come along, especially at this hour.

  “What about Garret, Travis, and Matthew? We can’t just leave them here.”

  “A car’s coming,” he said, ignoring her question. She didn’t hear it or see the cones of light until several minutes later. />
  “You’re naked, Evan. It won’t stop for you.” She suddenly recalled her own nudity. Her clothes were likely strewn across the forest or ripped to shreds by Wolf-Patrick. She felt an emptiness grow inside her, a loss for the man she expected to spend the rest of her life with.

  “Oh, it’ll stop.” As the car veered around the bend in the road, Evan leapt out into the road, his arms outstretched. He had the perfect male form, but any driver would probably be terrified. The car came to a screeching halt, swerving to the side to stop in time. Evan moved so fast she could hardly keep up with his actions. She fought to see through the darkness, wishing the moon’s energy was stronger.

  A car door opened and a brief scuffle ensued. Everything was a blur of action. Then the passenger side door opened. “Get in.”

  Cassidy peered into the open door. Evan was in the driver’s seat, and a large man was unconscious in the backseat. “What did you do?”

  “We have to get out of here, Cassidy. I’ll explain everything later, but right now you need to listen.”

  She settled in the passenger seat only to feel the strength of the acceleration a moment later. Her back hit the seat as they sped along the narrow back roads that cut through the dense northern forest.

  “This isn’t our land, Cassidy. I’ll feel better once I have you on Gregor land.”

  “Why? Are you going to explain this to me? And please don’t tell me I’m crazy and didn’t see the things I did.”

  “I knew this day was coming, but I hoped Garret would have transitioned you better.”

  “Are you talking about Patrick?”

  He looked to the side as he drove, his beautiful eyes trained on her with such intensity her breath caught.

  “Are you?” she repeated.

  The Gregor miners were all best friends and coworkers, sharing the same small cabin. Surely they’d know if one of their ranks was actually a fucking werewolf. All the stories she’d heard since coming to Climax filtered through her mind. Was Patrick the crazy wolf killer everyone was so terrified of?

  “We’re almost there. Be patient, Cassidy.”

  Be patient? Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She was sitting in a strange car, completely naked, with an unconscious stranger in the backseat, and she’d just seen one of her lovers turn into an animal. Cassidy was completed lost and needed to be grounded in a hurry.

  If Evan knew about Patrick, he must be okay with the fact. He’d seen him transform with his own eyes the same as her. Maybe being a werewolf wasn’t as sinister as Hollywood made it out to be. Oh my God, I had sex with a wolf. Too many thoughts flitted in her head. She was going into shock.

  “Calm down,” he said, his voice soothing. She realized she was leaning over the dashboard, her chest heaving. The car felt like it was closing in on her. Her reality was fractured, and she just wanted to wake up from a bad dream.

  She turned to look at Evan. Were his eyes glowing, too? She was nervous and suspicious of everything. Then the horrible possibility entered her mind—what if Evan was a wolf? What if Garret’s entire crew were wolves? How far did this secret spread? She started to fit the pieces together. Talk of packs and territory came to memory.

  Cassidy swallowed hard. Should she be afraid of Evan? They’d made love not long ago, had a monumental breakthrough in their relationship. Or was he just protecting Patrick?

  “You’re afraid,” he said.

  “How would you know that? I thought only animals could sense fear—like dogs…and wolves.”

  He chuckled, bringing down her hackles slightly. “You’ve got a death grip on the chair and you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. Evan seemed as normal as ever, not scary or threatening. It was Patrick who was the issue, and he’d always been more aloof than the others. She had to believe that to save her sanity. Otherwise, she’d be truly on her own in Climax, nowhere to turn.

  They pulled into an alcove where Evan cut the engine. He got out of the car, slamming the door shut, and came to retrieve her. He held her by the hand, leading her away into the darkness. Was Evan going to eat her? Was the man in the back alive and well?

  “Where are we going now?” she asked as he tugged her along. “What about that man?”

  “He’ll wake up as good as new. But I don’t want him associating my little stunt with Garret or Gregor Mining, so we’ll go the rest of the way by foot.”

  “Rest of the way where?”

  “We’re going to the cottage until things settle down.”

  She always preferred their cabin as it was larger and more comfortable. Garret’s hideaway in the woods was four walls and a woodstove, nothing more. It was also the place where she’d first seen the red wolf. Or was it actually Patrick all along?

  When she began to complain about her feet hurting, Evan whisked her effortlessly into his arms and carried her the rest of the way. She couldn’t understand how he could traipse through the forest in his bare feet without getting jabbed or poked at least once. Perhaps he was just too man enough to complain.

  Cassidy couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face. She wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. Please be human, she thought. All her life she’d sought a place to call her own. Cassidy thought she’d found her happily ever after in Climax with her five miners. It seemed too good to be true…maybe it was. But right now she felt safe in his arms.

  “I’ll get a fire going,” Evan said after setting her on her feet. She reached out and felt the rough wooden planks of the little cottage. At least she was somewhere familiar, not on Corbin’s land with the pack of bloodthirsty wolves. Her chest tightened as she thought of the other three men. If they really were just flesh-and-blood men, how could they ever survive when up against wolves? But they’d done the same thing before, hadn’t they? Her men had saved her when Corbin led her into the forest behind the diner. There were wolves present then, giving her time to get away from her captors.

  She sat on the cold, wooden floorboards, her back against the corner of the cabin. When the fire flickered to life, she was thankful for her returned sight. Evan was crouched low, adding logs to the growing flames. She watched the muscles in his back flex as he moved, such a perfect specimen of a man.

  “Are you a wolf, too?” she asked, daring to break the silence. Her voice echoed slightly, startling her.

  He closed the whiny iron door to the fireplace and rose to his feet. Evan was the tallest and most heavily muscled of all the men. He would be intimidating if she didn’t love him so much.

  Evan took the few steps to where she’d folded herself into the corner. He sat down next to her, resting a hand on her bent knee. “Do I look like a wolf?”

  “Not now. But Patrick didn’t look like one either.”

  “I’m a man. What you see is me, Cassidy. I’m not an illusion or trick.” He reached out and ran his fingers through her hair. “And I love you.”

  She briefly closed her eyes, savoring the words, and wishing they were enough. “What about Patrick?”

  “I think Garret should tell you.”

  Cassidy pushed his hand away, perturbed with his unwillingness to explain things to her. She needed answers, deserved answers. “I thought we’d been through this. You don’t need to get Garret’s permission for everything you do. You have a mind of your own, Evan.”

  “What exactly do you want to know?”

  “Everything! I feel like there’s this whole world around me that I don’t even know exists. I’m like this freak show walking around blindfolded while everyone can see with perfect clarity.” She recalled how she never felt fully in the loop, always questioning their actions. “What are you?”

  “The same man you fell in love with.” He leaned over her, nuzzling her neck. The scent of his skin was like an aphrodisiac. She wasn’t sure how she could think about sex under such dire circumstances, but she managed.

  “Stop it. If you really care so much, you’ll be hon
est with me. Patrick, he…he turned into a…into a wolf.”

  He took a deep breath and exhaled as he pulled away from her. The single word appeared to dampen his spirit. Evan ran a heavy hand through his blond hair. The shadows created by the dancing flames highlighted the sharp planes of his face. He was devastatingly handsome, no less now that she questioned his humanity.

  “What you saw was real.”

  She froze. To actually hear him confirm what she witnessed was real was both gratifying and terrifying. “Patrick’s a wolf-man?” she whispered.

  He choked on his words, the hint of a laugh disguised in his cough. “Well, not exactly.”

  “Can he change back or is he stuck like that…as the red wolf?”

  “Come here.” Evan coaxed her over until she was between his legs, her back to his chest. He soothed her, running his fingers up and down her arm. “Have you never heard of Native legends?”

  “I suppose.”

  He stroked her hair. “You know there are many Native reservations around Climax. They tell stories of Skinwalkers, men who can change into animal form.”

  “Those are stories,” she said, fighting to avoid what she knew was the truth. It would be so much easier to live in blissful denial.

  “Most stories and legends are based in fact—”

  The door to the cabin burst open like a hurricane had blown through, the loud crack of wood startling her. Patrick stood in the doorway wearing a pair of worn blue jeans. His face was stoic, his eyes trained on her alone. Her breath caught in her throat. Her mind still had difficulty processing what she’d seen earlier. Standing in front of her was the Patrick she’d always known. Her natural reaction was to run to him, to throw herself in his arms and seek his affection. Now she didn’t know what the future held.