Cohen

by Emilia Hartley

  Finally, their scuffle ended. Nova landed on top of Kal, his claws digging into his chest. Both of them were breathing hard, but only Kal had fear shining in his eyes.

  At that moment, Nova wanted nothing more than to rip out Kal’s throat, but his brother’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.

  “Don’t,” Nemoy said, shaking his head warily. “This is a matter for the Council now. We will call a Clan Tribunal to decide his fate. Don’t be like them, Nova. We must follow the Law.”

  Nova hesitated for a moment, before sighing in defeat. As much as he hated to admit it, Nemoy was right. Perhaps they could use this opportunity to end the war between the Valley Clan. Had Nemoy not have been there, Nova would have destroyed Kal for all he’s done to Amara, her family, and Strathford. Who knows what the Valley Clan Alpha would do knowing his son had been killed.

  “That’s it?” Kal called out after him. “The great Mountain Clan Alpha is just going to, what? Let me live? Because of some law?” His laughter filled the air around them, and it was coated with a touch of insanity. “Please. You’re the Beta, Lowery, and you’re dating a human. This isn’t about the law. It’s about being weak! You’re both weak! You should kill me. If you don’t, I will come for you. I will seek revenge. My father will…”

  But before they found out what his father would do, Nova punched him again, this time leaving him splayed out over the grass on his back. He was out cold.

  Nova glanced over his shoulder at Amara. “You alright?” She nodded.

  “Is she…” Amara looked fearfully at her sister. “Is she alive?”

  “Yes, she’s alive. But just barely. You should go flag down the ambulance.” He could already hear the sirens. “I’m sure they’ll have their hands busy tonight, and she needs attention, quick.”

  “Okay. Nova?” They stared at one another. Amara swallowed what he knew were tears. “Thank you.”

  Chuckling, Nova just shrugged. “If I couldn’t protect your sister, you’d have killed me,” he said, pleased to see the grin spread across her face. She was alive. And for now, that was all that mattered. The rest of it could wait.

  Chapter 19

  Amara sat in the armchair in the corner of Sadie’s hospital room, listening to the steady beep of the machine. She’d lost a lot of blood, and suffered from a concussion, but luckily, Kal had managed to miss anything vital when he tore into Sadie’s throat.

  Amara couldn’t express how relieved she was. If it hadn’t been for Nova, she didn’t even want to think about what would have happened to her. What would have happened to them all?

  Suddenly, Sadie began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open and she fought to focus. Amara immediately leaned forward. “Hey, sleepy head,” she said softly, running her fingers through her sister’s hair. “Thanks for coming back to us.”

  Sadie’s lips curved in a small smile and she pushed herself up on her elbows. “Amara,” she gasped, her voice husky and raw, “you were right…about Kal.”

  “I know. Don’t worry about that now. It’s over.”

  But Sadie shook her head, as if searching for the right words. “Kal, he…and Nova. They were all wolves…but how?”

  Dread filled Amara’s heart. She knew. Sadie knew about the wolves. There was no way to keep it a secret anymore. “Grandfather’s stories were all true, Sadie. He wasn’t as crazy as we thought, after all. I really wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t.”

  Sadie looked as if she wanted to say something, but the drugs seemed to be impeding her rational thought. “At least now we’ll have matching scars,” she rasped, her eyes beginning to droop again.

  Amara laughed. “Yes, we will.”

  “Amara?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry.” Though Sadie was out of it, Amara could feel the emotion in her voice. This must have been hard for her, she really did like Kal. If only the situations were different, Amara would have cheered her sister on. “Don’t ever let me date a psychopath again. Kidnap me next time, if you have to.”

  Grinning, Amara squeezed her sister’s hand as she drifted back off to sleep. “That’s a deal.”

  A few minutes later, the door to the room creaked open, and Nova walked in. Amara smiled and went to meet him, pressing her lips against his in a soft kiss. She looked down. “Oh, how sweet. Are those for Sadie?”

  “What?” He glanced at the roses he held in his hands. “Oh, no. For you. I found them on your porch again.”

  “Oh. Strange. I guess they weren’t from Kal after all.”

  Nova shook his head. “No. He’s back at the Compound under twenty-four hour guard. Nemoy hopes to use him as leverage to make peace with the Valley Clan.”

  “Do you think it will work?”

  “Honestly? I don’t know. We might be too far past the point of a treaty now. War might come either way.” Then he smiled, and she couldn’t help but wonder why on earth he was so happy. “But that’s not what we came here to talk to you about.”

  Her brow furrowed in confusion. “We?”

  Nemoy and Neveah stepped through the open door. Nemoy, she understood, but his mother’s presence surprised her.

  “Um, hi.” Amara didn’t know what else to say.

  Nemoy smiled. “We came to check on you. And,” his smile widened, “to offer our congratulations.”

  Amara looked from one of them to the other. “What?”

  Nova grinned. “We’re getting married. I mean, without breaking the Laws of the Pack.”

  Joy filled her. “We are?” Uncertain, she looked to Neveah, who to her surprise, was also smiling.

  “It seems I was wrong about you,” she said, taking Amara’s hand. “And when I’m wrong, I admit that I’m wrong. Welcome to the family, my dear.”

  After everything that had happened, Amara couldn’t hold back. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but they were happy tears. She let Nova wrap her up in his embrace. “We get to get married?” she asked, still thinking she must be dreaming.

  Beaming, he kissed her again and spun her around. “Can you believe it?” he asked, and their laughter filled the room. “Now we don’t have to run away.” Setting her down, he took a small box from his mother. Opening it, he revealed a beautiful diamond on a white gold band. “This ring has been passed down through my mother’s family. Now it’s yours.” He slipped it on her left ring finger.

  Amara gazed at it adoringly. “It’s everything I ever wanted.” She kissed him again, then stared at the ring over his shoulder, ready to start her new life.

  Mated to the Mountain Wolf

  Emilia Hartley

  Chapter 1

  “So, you’re really going to marry a wolf? As in, furry, down on all fours, howls at the moon, wolf?” Sadie asked, holding up the turquoise bridesmaid’s dress. In the chair, Amara chuckled and rolled her eyes. Her little sister definitely had a unique way of stating things.

  Sadie studied herself in the mirror, tucking one long, dark chunk of hair behind her ear. “So, what would that make you? In regards to the pack, I mean. You’re human, right? And they’re, like, shifters or whatever. It’s not like they’re real werewolves that just bite you and turn you into one of them.”

  Amara furrowed her brow and took a sip of her champagne. “Why are you worried about werewolves?”

  “Well, that’s kind of what Nova is, isn’t it? A werewolf?”

  “No, he’s a shifter. They’re born, not bitten.”

  “But they’re still wolves, right?”

  “Well, yeah.” Amara cocked a brow. “But it’s not like they’re just running around causing havoc. Well, okay. The Valley Clan was, but that was really Kal’s fault. The Mountain Clan—Nova’s pack—has dedicated themselves to protecting their territory, which thankfully includes Strathford.”

  “And, since you’re one of Strathford’s finest now,” Sadie said, holding out her champagne flute for Amara to fill, “you have a direct in with the Police Chief and the Pack
Alpha. Do you ever dress up in your uniform, and like, role play with Nova? Do you arrest him and tell him he’s a naughty boy?”

  Amara snorted into her drink. “No!” she replied, laughing. “God, Sadie, we’re in public.” But she couldn’t help thinking that maybe the uniform deal was a good idea.

  Sadie just waggled her eyebrows. “What? I would. He’s yummy. Now, are you going to try on that dress or what?”

  Still smirking to herself, Amara picked up the garment bag and hauled it into the dressing room. Hanging it up on the hook, she slowly unzipped the zipper. Amara’s wedding dress was nestled inside. It was floor-length and off-white, with a scalloped neckline and a beaded bodice. The skirt, she knew, would flow out around her hips in a full hoop of satin and chiffon, ending in a train that was three feet long.

  She couldn’t believe it. She was getting married. She never would have believed that Nova Lowery would be her soul mate, but here she was, trying on her dress for her final fitting. And she couldn’t wait to walk down that aisle.

  “Have they let you set a date yet?” Sadie called through the fitting room door.

  Amara sighed. “No, not yet.” And she wasn’t sure when they would. Every marriage of a Mountain Clan wolf must be approved by the Council, and then, per Pack Law, if either the bride or the groom was from another Clan, the couple must then complete a series of Trials. However, because the Trials were required to be public, the date for when they would begin had not yet been set.

  “How many of them are there?” Sadie wanted to know.

  “Three. But I’m not sure when they’ll start. Apparently, there is a lot of organization that has to go into setting them up, and right now, the Pack is pretty busy concentrating on Kal and getting his father to sign the treaty with Valley Clan.”

  From the other side of the door, Sadie got real quiet. “Do they…do they know what they’re going to do with Kal yet?” It was the first time Sadie had mentioned her ex-boyfriend in the month since he had led an attack against the town and been captured by Nova and his brother, Nemoy—who also happened to be the Alpha of the Mountain Clan. She’d spent the following week recuperating from her injuries in a hospital bed.

  Sure, Kal abducting her had brought her into the circle of knowledge about the Shifters in town—secrets no human was supposed to know—but it had scared the hell out of her as well. Yet, Amara had to admit that a part of her was glad that it had happened; in a way, at least. Now she didn’t have to lie to Sadie about who and what Nova really was. And next time, she would be able to tell her sister she was dating a bloodthirsty psychopath instead of just declaring him a “bad guy” and asking Sadie to trust her.

  On the other hand, it was the perfect ‘I told you so.’ Sadie always did have horrible taste in men.

  “No, honey, I don’t. As far as I know, he’s still being held at the compound. Last I heard, he was under twenty-four-hour guard.” Opening the door, Amara stepped out of the fitting room and smoothed the skirts of her dress.

  Sadie took the glass she was about to drink away from her lips and stared. “Oh, my gosh, Mara. You look fantastic!”

  Heat rushed to Amara’s cheeks, and she gazed at herself in the mirror. It all seemed so surreal. She was wearing her wedding dress. She was getting married. All she had to do was pass a few supernatural tests. Fun.

  Setting her champagne flute on the table, Sadie moved to stand behind her sister. With quick fingers, she began lacing the back of the bodice, pulling the fabric tighter, and cinching it in at the waist. “Are you nervous?”

  Pursing her lips, Amara considered. “A little, I suppose. More for the Trials than anything else. Oh, hey!” She snapped her fingers together. “Did you see anybody leaving my house when you showed up this morning?”

  Sadie smirked. “Okay. Random. Um, no, I didn’t. Why do you ask?”

  Disappointment washed through her. “Oh. Well, I was hoping you might have seen whoever has been leaving me those roses.”

  “You’re still getting those?”

  “Yeah. But I’m pretty sure whoever it was showed up right before you did. There was nothing on my porch when I got back from my run, but I found them only about ten minutes before you got there.”

  “And you still have no idea who might have been leaving them for you? No one leaving you notes? Following you around? Stalking you at night?”

  Amara laughed. “No, none of those things.”

  “Anyone staring at you strangely?”

  “Well, now that you mention it, Mr. Caulman has been squinting at me a lot.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. But that’s probably just from his glaucoma.” Amara smirked at her sister’s disappointed expression. Sadie let out a sigh. “Anyway, I think this fits.” She glanced over her shoulder at the seamstress. “This is perfect, Marianne.” The old woman nodded. Amara wasn’t even convinced she understood, her hearing was so bad, but she didn’t really have the patience to keep trying. She would take that nod as confirmation. She turned back to her sister. “Get me out of this thing, will you? I have a few things to drop off at Mom’s before I go to the bar.”

  “Have you heard anything more about Zoe and Mitch yet?” Sadie asked, undoing the dress’s fastenings. “I talked to Becca the other day, and she says they’re fighting again.”

  Frowning, Amara held the bodice up to her chest and stepped back into the dressing room. “Really? Mitch hasn’t said anything. But don’t worry, I’ll ask him about it today.” Then she shut the fitting room door with a snap.

  Chapter 2

  When Amara entered Murphy’s Tavern, she weaved her way through the many round tables and upturned chairs, making a beeline for Mitchell. He had been her best friend for years, but lately, things seemed a little strained between them.

  To be honest, Amara couldn’t really blame him. For so long, it had been just the two of them. They had their own Sunday night ritual of Chinese food and a movie, along with their weekly, Monday morning hikes. And yet, since she had begun dating Nova, and Mitch had started seeing Zoe, they really hadn’t done any of that. She couldn’t even remember the last time they had hung out just the two of them. Maybe that’s what they needed to do to work some of the weirdness out. They needed to get back to doing things just the two of them. Well, at least sometimes.

  “Hey,” Amara said, setting her coat on the bar. Taking a box from the floor, she set it on the counter and started unloading bottles of vodka.

  Mitch looked over at her and instantly brightened. “Hey, Deputy,” he greeted her, his muscular arms straining under the weight of his own crate. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

  “Oh, hardy har, har. Very funny.” She rolled her eyes, but Amara couldn’t help but smile. “Last I checked, I worked here. Has that changed since I became a cop?” The look in her eyes was unmistakably a dare.

  Smirking, Mitch shook his head. “Hey, I warned you what would happen. Didn’t I tell you? Zoe took your place.” Laughing now, he came over and began setting bottles on shelves, the two of them working shoulder to shoulder.

  This is nice, Amara thought. This felt like old times. And if it was old times, she would be able to ask about his relationship, right? “So,” she started, feeling like she was about to dive into the abyss. “How are things with you and Zoe? Getting any better lately? I know you said a few weeks ago that things between the two of you were strained.” She waited a beat or two for him to answer. When he didn’t, she set the bottle down and turned to look at him. “So?”

  Silence. Then, finally, Mitch cleared his throat. “They’re good, Mara. Why do you ask? I like her a lot, but she’s, well, she’s still Zoe.”

  Amara chuckled. Zoe Hamilton was definitely a category in herself, that was for sure. Though she was beautiful, and actually fairly smart, she was known around town more for being a hot mess than anything else. She could frequently be found on a bar stool at Murphy’s, taking shots or drinking vodka tonics. It
wasn’t uncommon for Amara to load her drunken friend into a cab and take her home to tuck her safely into bed. Thankfully, that was Mitch’s job now, but still; better him than her.

  It was no secret that Zoe and Amara didn’t get along. The entire town knew they’d fallen out of sorts and become more frenemies than anything else over the years. She had no delusions about the reason either. When they were fifteen, Amara, Zoe, and their friend Becca, were walking down the street one night when they were attacked by a group of wolves. Shifters, actually, from the Valley Clan. Led by none other than the infamous Kal Vann.

  It had been Nova and Nemoy who had saved them. They had come racing down from whatever rooftop they had been keeping watch on, and fought off the shifters. Zoe had been knocked out from the start. One of the wolves was on top of her preparing to rip into her throat when Nemoy had shown up, though he’d almost been too late for Becca. She’d survived, thank God, but she now had to walk with a cane.

  Amara, on the other hand, had been chased down the street. Kal had targeted her specifically, and wasn’t about to let her go. She had a lump of scar tissue down the length of her collar bone to prove it. It was Nova that had come after them and forced Kal off her, saving her life. For years afterward, she thought the image of the boy standing over her had been a dream.

  That is, until he walked back into her life a decade later. She still couldn’t believe he had been taking care of her for almost half of her life.

  Zoe, however, hadn’t had someone looking out for her. No one except Amara, really. And for some reason, Zoe had always resented Amara’s protectiveness. She had started drinking and going after boys and, over time, the two girls had drifted apart. Becca was the only thing tying them together. Nothing had really changed since they were teenagers. The only difference was that now it was legal for Zoe to drink.

  “I saw Becca the other day,” Amara said to Mitch. “And she, uh, mentioned that things between you and Zoe were pretty difficult.” But hadn’t he just said things were going just fine? Maybe Becca was just imagining things. Zoe did tend to overreact about…well, everything.