Wolf Mated (Beta Wolf Academy Book 1)

by JJ King

  I screamed as his weight bore down on my legs, taking away my escape and swamping me in agony. I balled my hands into fists and pummeled him, but he was stronger, and bigger, and crazier than me. His fist struck my chin and drove me to the ground, dazed.

  He hovered above me, lips thinned and curved slightly at the edges. "This will hurt more if you struggle."

  He grabbed the shears from where they lay beside me and shifted his weight to pin the remainder of my body so I couldn't fight back.

  This was it, I thought somewhere in the back of my mind as panic and pain mingled, too dark and dangerous to distinguish separately.

  No, I fought back against the defeatist thought. This wasn't it; this wasn't the end for me. He would take my finger, but I would survive, and I would find a way to escape with my life.

  I would get back to my guys, one way or another.

  Randall's hand curved around my wrist, pulling back my fingers to expose my pinky. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away, not wanting to see. I felt the metal shear move around my finger and let my mind escape into memory.

  I didn’t have far to go. The best moments of my life had occurred so recently that they popped back into my mind with such clarity it brought tears to my eyes.

  Lucian pulling me behind a tree at the swimming hole for a lingering kiss that set my blood on fire, then holding my hand as we joined the others for a dip.

  Chase grabbing me around the waist and pulling me in for a hug as water lapped at our skin. His skin had smelled of summer.

  Dimitri snagging my hand as we headed back to campus, wet and happy, and still arguing over where the best ice cream could be found. He’d laced his fingers through mine and rubbed his thumb over my skin. It was simple but had made my soul soar.

  All four of us in the forest as wolves, running beneath the full moon.

  I would see them again; I swore to myself. I would do anything to get back to them.

  A howl split the countryside air. Randall jerked upright and turned, and my heart leapt. I knew that howl. It was as much a part of me as my own wolf.

  Two other howls joined the first, low, throaty, pulsing with fury, and very nearby.

  Relief, mingled with fear, filled me, flooding my system with fresh adrenaline. I bucked my hips and shoved upwards, dislodging Randall from his place above me and sending the shears flying. He stumbled to the ground besides me but was back up and on me in an instant.

  “Bitch!” he ground out. “What did you do? Who are they? Your little boyfriends?”

  He backhanded me as I opened my mouth to scream, then wrapped his hands around my throat and began to squeeze.

  Brilliant light flashed behind my eyes as my lungs gasped for oxygen. I scrambled to loosen his hold, clawing at his hands, raking my nails over his skin but he just laughed and kept squeezing. The rising sun and the golden light it had been spreading across the land dimmed and my guys’ howls seemed to grow more and more distant.

  In the darkness, at the edge of unconsciousness, I heard Randall whisper as if it were a million miles away. “They’ll die because of you.”

  The sound of metal striking metal as he cocked the gun I hadn’t realized he still carried echoed through the sudden silence.

  My mind jerked to a halt at the precipice and turned and leaped with a ferocity that burned through me like fire. I pulled my head back as sharply as I could and smashed it into Randall’s face.

  Hot blood rained down on me, scenting the air with his vulnerability. It made something inside me snap, unleashed something wild and feral that I couldn’t and didn’t want to restrain.

  He held onto my neck with one hand while the other lifted the gun—

  The pressure on my neck released and I gasped, drawing in enough oxygen to restart my system. I threw my hands up, knocking the gun from his grasp. It landed close, within reach. If he got his hands on it again—

  Knowing this was my chance, I threw every ounce of strength I had and bucked, lifting him off my hips onto my chest.

  For a moment, his weight stole my breath.

  I threw my legs high, praying the maneuver I’d practiced in class would work, and grunted in satisfaction when they hooked around his chest and pulled him off me.

  He rolled, going with the momentum, and came up snarling.

  I scrambled to my feet, keeping low, never taking my gaze off him for even an instant. The air around us practically vibrated with the desperate howls of my guys; they were almost on top of us.

  “When they get their teeth on you—” I grinned and snapped my canines.

  His gaze darted from my face to the gun on the ground and back. Without a single thought, I threw myself forward, landing on top of the handgun a split second before he crashed onto me.

  His fists pummeled my shoulders, my ribs, the back of my head. I curled around the gun, refusing to unfurl, even as I felt the searing pain of my ribs breaking beneath his blows.

  It was hard to breathe, hard to think, to focus on keeping the gun beneath me when my entire body begged for the pain to stop. I gritted my teeth and screamed into the earth beneath me, praying for salvation.

  Something big hit Randall, hard. His body flew off me and landed with a thud on the ground a few feet away. I stayed curled in a ball, protecting the gun from his evil intentions, and barely registered the sounds of flesh rending teeth snapping.

  A wet nose pressed against the back of my head. My eyes flew open, and I twisted my head to see a mass of black fur looking at me with wide-eyed relief.

  “Lucian,” I whispered, recognizing one of the wolved I desperately loved. I sucked in a deep breath and forced my muscles to release so I could roll to my side. The small movement hurt like hell and drew a sob from me.

  Lucian pushed his face into my neck and lapped gently at a cut that stung but didn’t compare to my other wounds. I brought my arms up around his neck and held on while a fight raged several feet away.

  “It’s okay,” I murmured into his thick fur. “I have the gun.”

  My eyes widened as I remembered the shears. I turned, wrenching my broken ribs, stealing the breath from my lungs, and watched as Chase leaped forward, intent on taking Randall down. He didn’t notice the rusted metal Randall hid behind his back.

  A glint of sunlight reflected off the shears as Randall swung them around and up.

  “No!” The scream ripped from my throat, but it was too late.

  Chase’s howl of pain tore at my heart. Dimitri and Lucian snarled as their brother fell to the ground with dark red blood staining his beautiful white fur.

  Randall grunted and shoved Chase off him, then rose to his knees and lifted the shears above his head.

  “Take one step and I’ll fucking kill him!” he screamed, spraying pink saliva from his mouth.

  I believed him. Besides me, Lucian tensed. He believed Randall, too. I tore my gaze off Chase, whose chest was still rising and falling, and looked at Dimitri, whose endlessly dark eyes were trained on Randall.

  Before I could scream or bargain for Chase’s life, Dimitri launched forward. He barreled into Randall, driving him to the ground, and clamped his teeth over Randall’s wrist.

  The shears fell from useless fingers to the ground, followed by splatters of blood. Randall’s roar of rage shifted to sharp screams of pain as Dimitri tore his teeth from the nearly amputated appendage. It hung limp and useless, in shreds of torn muscle and blood. A tattoo I hadn’t noticed before was barely recognizable as a snake.

  The bloodthirsty part of me relished his pain. The human in me knew he’d never had a chance at sanity and mourned for another life ruined by Raphael.

  I held up a hand to stop Dimitri, to tell him to let Randall live with the repercussions of his actions.

  Randall’s eyes gleamed as he called to his wolf.

  Dimitri leaped forward, shoving Randall back down onto the ground as he screamed in fury, and closed his teeth around Randall’s throat. The screams faded and were replaced by gur
gling and gasps.

  Dimitri lifted his head and turned to look at me, his muzzle wet with blood. I opened my arms to him and wept into the mass of fur that moved to me.

  “Chase,” Lucian said. He’d shifted while Dimitri was ending a life. “I know it hurts, but you need to shift. It’ll help heal the wound.”

  I pulled back from Dimitri and inched closer to where Chase lay panting on the ground. I stroked his fur.

  “Hey, gorgeous. Listen to Lucian. You need to shift to heal.” I smiled wearily. “I do, too, so we can do it together, okay?”

  He nodded and closed his eyes.

  My wolf was there the moment I turned to her, eager and ready to leap forward. Agony pulsed hot in my thigh as my bones began to rearrange, my muscles to shift and change. The magic that made us both wolves and human raced through me, remaking me, knitting my lacerated muscles back together and pushing the bullet free. It fell silently to the bloodied ground beneath me as I stood on unsteady feet, furry and still in pain, but already much better.

  I brushed past Dimitri, nuzzling Lucian for a moment, before nudging Chase with my wet nose. His naked human body shivered from blood loss, but the wound was closing and would be close to healed after a few more shifts. I butted my head against his shoulder and licked his cheek.

  He lifted his hand to smooth over the fur on my hind leg, which was still tender. His stroke was gentle and hesitant, as if he were afraid to hurt me, and his eyes— Old Ones, his eyes swam with emotion that nearly broke me. I leaned into his hand and licked him again.

  “Okay,” Chase said with a rough laugh. “Let’s go again. Won’t be so bad this time.”

  He shifted while I made the change from wolf to human then sat on the grass with Dimitri and Lucian pressed against me, their hearts still racing from fear and adrenaline. I moved my fingers through their thick fur and willed myself not to weep and confess my undying love for each of them. They needed time, and I would give it to them. They deserved whatever they needed.

  They’d saved my life, after all.

  They’d saved me in more ways than one, I thought as I watched Chase climb to his feet and turn towards us. They’d chased away the darkness that haunted my soul or accepted it and made me feel whole.

  Chase padded towards us and settled his considerable weight across my now healed thighs. He reached out his paws and touched Dimitri and Lucian, linking us in a perfect circle.

  My body vibrated and my chest seemed to stretch, filling until it was almost painful to breathe. I gasped and pressed a hand over my heart while each of my guys leaped to their feet and stared at me with looks of wonder lighting their faces.

  The sun broke the horizon and peeked across the countryside, casting her glowing rays on us. I moved my awed gaze from Lucian, to Chase, to Dimitri and recognized what filled me, near to bursting, in each of them.

  Hot tears of joy spilled from my eyes and washed away the pain and fear of the past few hours, of the past few days, weeks, months, my life. It all dulled in comparison to the realization that had passed through each of us the moment we’d linked as one.

  I had three soul mates.

  My soul had found her missing pieces, in three gorgeous, sexy, completely different guys.

  My wolf preened.

  A sob escaped my throat, and I shook my head, unable to put into words what I was feeling. So, instead, I opened my arms and they rushed forward, surrounding me with my destiny.

  NEXT IN BETA WOLF ACADEMY…

  Will Lexi’s newfound happiness last or will the darkness of her past rise again to threaten her life and the lives of those she loves?

  Find out in Wolf Chosen, the second book in the Beta Wolf Academy series!

  GET IT NOW!

  A defeated enemy, a new threat on the horizon, and three hot guys to drive her crazy.

  Lexi’s first semester at Beta Wolf Academy was anything but relaxing. She was plagued by her past, captured by an insane wolf, and discovered she has not one, but three soul mates.

  The threat to her life is gone now and, despite the challenges of having three soul mates, Lexi’s life is perfect, after a lifetime of fear and pain. But perfection doesn’t last long, or so she discovers.

  The past isn’t buried or left in peace. A new threat raises its ugly head, this time threatening not just her, but her sisters and her friends. Will Lexi find the strength to fight back for the future she’s building with Dimitri, Lucian, and Chase, or will the darkness devour her and those she loves?

  Follow Lexi and her gorgeous men in the second book in Beta Wolf Academy, Wolf Chosen.

  GRAB YOUR COPY HERE

  ALSO WRITTEN BY JJ KING

  THE GUARDIANS TRILOGY

  Blood of Eden

  My Brother’s Keeper

  Sins of the Father

  ALPHA WOLF ACADEMY

  New Moon

  Wolf Moon

  Blood Moon

  Bad Moon

  Full Moon

  BETA WOLF ACADEMY

  Wolf Mated

  Wolf Chosen

  Wolf Hunted (Coming July)

  Wolf Rising (Coming soon)

  Wolf Fated (Coming soon)

  USA Today bestselling author JJ King writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy featuring strong women and the men brave enough to love them. Obsessed with wolf shifters, sushi, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she creates worlds where fated mates are real and snarky young women find the strength they need to save the day. For all the latest releases and updates on exclusive readers, subscribe to JJ King's newsletter today!

  To find out more about JJ King and all her upcoming projects, check out her website at https://authorjjking.wordpress.com/