Wolf Games: Granite Lake Wolves, Book 3

by Vivian Arend

  Maggie laughed. “You really okay with us inviting her to the wedding? It’s going to make things awkward, since no one will be able to shift while she’s around.”

  He shrugged. “We’ll have two ceremonies. The second after she leaves will be the one with naked wolves roaming the halls of the pack house. In the meantime…” He squeezed her tight for a second, adjusted little Jamie in his arms, and led them off in search of Tad. “We have someone to deliver to his daddy, and then you and I, little wolf, have a date.”

  She tugged his hand until he bent over far enough for her to press a kiss on his cheek. “I love you. I’m so glad I was brave enough to come north again.”

  “I love you too. You’re brave enough to face a whole pack of wolves. Even one as big as me.”

  About the Author

  Vivian Arend has hiked, biked, skied and paddled her way around most of North America and parts of Europe. Throughout all the wandering in the wilderness, stories have been planted and they are bursting out in vivid colour. Paranormal, twisted fairytales, red-hot contemporaries—the genres are all over.

  Between times of living with no running water, she home schools her teenaged children and tries to keep up with her husband—the instigator of most of the wilderness adventures.

  She loves to hear from readers: vivarend@gmail.com. You can also drop by http://vivianarend.com for more information on what is coming next.

  Look for these titles

  Now Available

  Granite Lake Wolves

  Wolf Signs

  Wolf Flight

  Tidal Wave

  Turn It On

  Coming Soon

  Stormchild

  An untriggered werewolf. A runaway Omega. It’s not easy fighting destiny.

  Wolf Flight

  © 2009 Vivian Arend

  Granite Lake Wolves, Book 2

  Tad Maxwell’s workaholism serves to keep his bush-pilot company in the air, and his inner werewolf in check. In the two years since he discovered his heritage, he’s resisted the longing to test the power of his wolf side. It would mean compromising his human principles.

  Then Missy Leason re-enters his life. Ten years ago, their teenage attraction never went beyond hand-holding. Now their chemistry is off the charts, pushing him closer to the step he’s not sure it’s safe to take, especially with a human.

  But Missy is more like Tad than he realizes. She’s wolf too, and a wolf pack is a dangerous place to have secrets. Missy’s Alpha has sniffed out her carefully hidden Omega powers. Her first response: run from the corrupt Alpha’s plan to make her his mate. Step two: get to Tad, and hope like hell his untapped powers are strong enough to negate her own.

  Every touch with Missy is hot, hot, hot, but even finding out she’s pure wolf doesn’t solve Tad’s dilemma. Is she using him, or are they truly destined mates? Only one thing is certain. He will defend her to his last breath—on his terms. Even if it means losing his life.

  Warning: Contains nasty Alphas, secret Omegas and werewolves acting raunchy on the dance floor. Sarcasm, wilderness cabins and hot nookie back by popular demand.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Wolf Flight:

  By the time they pulled into the parking lot Missy was half out of her mind restraining herself from jumping Tad. She popped open her door and leapt into the blowing snow as soon as the truck shimmied to a stop.

  Long deep breaths of icy cold air helped until Tad stepped around the cab with a concerned expression on his face.

  “You okay, Missy?”

  Oh, please don’t look concerned. Concern was one step away from affection, and tonight her body could jump from affection to full sex with no trouble at all.

  “I’m fine. Just needed some fresh air. Shall we go?” Missy forced herself to sound bright and cheerful. She hoped the place would be loud, dark and smoke-filled to dull her senses enough to get through the evening with Tad’s virtue intact.

  She wondered if he would appreciate the effort she was making. She had every intention of making love with him, but until she could visit the closest wolf pack and arrange for someone to tell Tad about his heritage she couldn’t act.

  Tad held the door open for her, and as she stepped past his arms, she knew she was done for. There was music, quiet and jazzy. The only smoke was from BBQ ribs. And the lighting was perfect to see Tad’s eyes widen as he helped remove her coat.

  “Fuck. Oops, sorry, but holy cow, you look good. I don’t think I’ve ever…” Tad swallowed hard, his gaze tracing up the length of her legs to where her skirt ended high above her knees.

  Fine. It wouldn’t have met the Catholic Girls School Uniform Requirements but Missy was short and she need help to make her legs look longer. At least that was her excuse and she was sticking to it.

  If she’d thought it through more she would have known this evening was going to be a bundle of dynamite waiting to detonate. Then she would have worn her baggy one-piece fleece hoodie that hung past her knees and a sloppy pair of sweat pants.

  Liar.

  She wouldn’t have. She wanted Tad to drool over her. It made something deep inside very satisfied to see the admiration and the fire in his eyes.

  She took a quick glance around. They would be safer sitting at the tall stools in front of the bar itself. Instead, Tad held her elbow and led her back toward a small booth tucked to one side of the bar. It was too late to protest, so she slid onto the soft leather upholstery behind the tiny table, her knees brushing Tad’s as he followed her.

  “What are you drinking tonight?” One of the servers stood waiting beside their table. Tad slipped his arm behind Missy, resting it along the back of the seat cushion, caressing her shoulders.

  She was going to die. She really was. “Do they have—?”

  “Sweetheart, first I’m gonna need to see some proof you’re of legal age,” the waitress interrupted.

  Tad chortled as Missy dug into her purse cussing under her breath. She handed over her photo ID and poked Tad in the ribs to get him to stop. It really wasn’t funny anymore.

  The waitress handed it back with a wink. “Our bartender can mix you any drink without looking it up. You name a drink he can’t produce and it’s on the house.”

  Missy glanced at the ceiling. She shouldn’t do this. Not with needing to keep control over her body around Tad.

  “What are you up to?” Tad teased with a squeeze to her shoulder.

  Electrical lust shot through her and her mouth went dry. To hell with it. A challenge was a challenge and she could use a stiff drink. She smiled at the waitress.

  “I’d like a Skip and Go Naked please.”

  Tad choked.

  The waitress winked at her. “No problem, sweetheart. Tad, what’ll it be for you tonight?”

  “Rum and Coke, please.”

  The waitress left and Missy watched as she made her way back to the bar. She put in their orders and the bartender’s head flicked in their direction. He lifted a hand and pointed at her, shaking his finger.

  “What’s a Skip and Go Naked, other than something that causes my heart to do double time?” Tad slipped his fingers over hers and Missy’s mind drifted. She was supposed to concentrate on…something. Tad’s beautiful brown eyes stared at her like she was the main dish at an all-you-can-eat dessert bar. Time slowed as she fell into the depths of his gaze. She leaned closer, his mouth inches away. If he’d ease a little more in her direction she be able to—

  “You tried to trick me with that one.” The bartender stood in front of them, a pale pink concoction in his hand. Missy made herself smile instead of baring her teeth at the man.

  Her hormones were becoming a serious issue tonight.

  “You thought if you missed the ‘Hop’ I wouldn’t know it. Hmmm? Well, you’ve got yourself one Skip and Go Naked. I left out the grenadine ’cause I figured that must be the hop.”

  Missy forced a laugh as she accepted the glass. “Actually, I’ve never heard of the Hop part. I’m glad you kne
w how to make one. It’s been a long time. Thank you.”

  He kissed her hand and strutted back to his bar, king of all he surveyed. Missy took a short sip of the sweet drink before glancing at Tad. His eyes were dark, his face intense as he glared after the bartender. Missy frowned. “Tad? You okay?”

  Tad shook his head like he was in a daze. “Sorry about that. I don’t like how that fellow leers and touches everyone.” He threw back half his drink and stood. “Come on, let’s dance.” He pulled her into his arms and Missy’s vocal cords seized up. Tad folded her into him like a pillow into a slip. Every part of him nestled warm and smooth around her, solid and strong in all the right places. Warmth radiated from his core, and Missy concentrated on breathing in a slow, even rhythm. Hyperventilating on the dance floor. Wonder if anyone ever called the ambulance for that one?

  Missy laid her head against Tad’s chest and listened to his heartbeat. She was short enough that even with her high heels, his chin rested on top of her head, his arms reaching down to support her. She draped her hands around him, twining her fingers into the hair at his neckline. Tad hummed with pleasure.

  As they swayed together to the bluesy music, Missy wondered if what she felt was possible. An untriggered male and a runaway Omega wolf, there was a strange combination. She closed her eyes and relaxed the tight reins she’d been keeping on herself. Tad dropped his hands and ran them over her back, down her hips, snuggling her tighter against his body, a rock-hard ridge pressing into her belly. The scent of his arousal wafted by on the air and she gasped back a groan. She wanted to taste so badly.

  It was too much to continue to resist. Every nerve in her body screamed for him and she lost control. One flavour denied, she took the pleasure she could reach. Missy locked her fingers together, drew his mouth down and suckled his tongue. No gentle introduction, no soft finesse or enticement. Simple and hard desire drove her, his taste not even taking the edge off her need.

  She slipped one leg on either side of his, pressed her heated core into his thigh with the thought that some release would be better than none. Tad seemed to read her mind. He feasted on her mouth like a starving man while he danced them into the shadows at the edge of the floor, away from any curious onlookers.

  Tad dragged his lips from hers, his dark eyes snapping with need as he cupped her face in his hand. “You’re playing with wildfire. Is this what you want? In public? Because we can go back to your hotel.”

  He’s the last man she should ever want. She’s the last woman he can ever have.

  Crossroads

  © 2010 Moira Rogers

  Southern Arcana, Book 2

  Coming from a family with psychic gifts, Derek Gabriel was aware of but separate from the dangers of the supernatural world, until a rogue wolf shifter stripped away his humanity. The change he barely survived didn’t drive him insane, but the cultural bias against him as an inferior transformed wolf might. And it doesn’t help that he’s fallen for the daughter of the most powerful wolf in the country.

  Almost from the moment she was born, Nicole Peyton started planning her escape from the strict confines of elite shapeshifter society, an old-fashioned world where women are valued only for their bloodlines and bank accounts. In New Orleans she has a bar she loves, friends in decidedly low places, and a smoldering sensual tension with an incredibly attractive and deliciously unsuitable man.

  Their forbidden longing erupts into unbridled need—until Nick’s sister burns into town with a strike team hard on her heels. Saving her means Nick has to play by the Conclave’s rules…and give up the man she is growing to love.

  Unless Derek does something completely crazy—issue a challenge that could shake the foundations of their world.

  Warning: This book contains forbidden lust, strip poker, instinct-driven sex in odd places, devious shapeshifters, and love and loss in a world of paranormal politics and supernatural schemes.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Crossroads:

  Color flamed high in her cheeks as she growled and covered the space between them with quick steps. “I’m angry. I’m angry because it’s easier.”

  He reached out and caught her shoulders in a gentle grip. “Easier than what?”

  She looked up at him and laughed almost hysterically. “Easier than completely and utterly losing my shit.”

  “Oh, Nicky.” She felt so tiny as he slid his arms around her, delicate and fragile. Even knowing that seeming weakness was deceptive, every urge in his body clamored to find someplace safe to hide her away from the world and the misery in it.

  But it was her world. He didn’t know the first damn thing about protecting her from it.

  Her teeth scraped his arm through his sleeve, and she stumbled out of the circle of his arms. “I’m sorry. I just—I’m losing it.” Her eyes had gone wild, and she dragged her shirt over her head as she kicked off her sandals.

  Too late he realized what the power gathering around her meant. “Are you going to run?”

  “I have to, Derek.” Her skirt billowed to the ground, and she tore at her underwear. “Come with me. Please.”

  “Of course.” His instincts wouldn’t let him stay there while she ran off by herself. Derek tugged his T-shirt over his head, anticipation prickling along his skin. The heat that preceded a change stole through him, something hot and heavy and tinged with a lust fueled by Nick’s naked body.

  Her wolf must have been close the surface, because she’d barely hit the ground when the air around her shimmered and then pulsed with energy that washed over him in a hot wave. She stood before him, a small gray wolf who shook and pawed impatiently at the grass under them. Derek yanked at his belt and kicked off his boots, itching with the need to join her.

  The change was usually easy, but he’d never done it in front of Nick before. He was far too aware of his body’s reaction, of the fact that he was hard and aroused and shaking under the force of the magic. Closing his eyes, he sucked in a breath and reached for that flickering bit of power inside him, the animal waiting just below the surface.

  It felt like magic because it was. Pleasure pounded through him and his skin tingled, and he crouched down and gave in to it. The most natural feeling in the world, because now he was free…

  Instinct lifted his face, and the wolf howled pleasure at being let loose. When his exultant howl faded, he found Nick watching him. After a moment, she yipped and took off toward the woods.

  Her scent enflamed him. Her challenge entranced him. Human concerns bled away as he launched himself after her, wanting nothing more in the world than to run at her side.

  Nick’s muscles burned. She had to focus on breathing, on drawing in one gulp of muggy night air after another. That was exactly what she wanted, to occupy her mind with something other than the fact that, one way or another, her sister might die.

  Even if she hadn’t heard him, she would have sensed Derek behind her, a warm zing of magic that dovetailed perfectly with her own. He felt solid, right, with his trampling steps echoing hers.

  She knew he’d follow her until exhaustion claimed him, if it didn’t take her first. But it was too hot to run for long, and Nick stumbled over a fallen log and tumbled to the ground under an ancient oak tree.

  Letting go of the wolf was easier with fatigue quelling her nervousness. Twigs snapped under hands and feet instead of paws, and she collapsed onto a bed of moss, her chest heaving.

  Fire. If it had only been the pull of exertion, she could have ignored it. But the change burned through her and scraped her nerve endings into a vicious flurry of arousal. “Derek,” she rasped.

  It took him longer to regain human form, but soon enough he crouched at her feet, his muscular chest straining under his panting breaths. He looked massive in the moonlight filtering through the trees, a hulking giant of tanned skin stretched over hard muscles. When he lifted his head, she caught a glimpse of eyes still glinting yellow.

  His gaze caught hers and drifted down her body, the stare so blatantly
sexual it stole her breath. One hand dropped to her ankle, and his large fingers encircled it easily. “Tell me to stop.”

  She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. “No.”

  Derek dragged her ankles apart and dropped to his knees between her legs. He tickled his fingers up her calves as he jerked his gaze to hers again. “Put your hands over your head.”

  Sheer primal instinct drove her to obey. She licked her lips and exhaled a shuddering breath. “I need you.”

  “Not as much as I need you.” His thumb traced along the inside of her knee, a small teasing caress that vanished when he moved his hands to the ground on either side of her hips. He loomed over her, his wide shoulders blocking out the light filtering through the trees.

  His expression was wild. Feral. His gaze locked with hers, and he shuddered. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.” The answer would have been the same even if she hadn’t been aching to feel his skin against hers, even if they hadn’t spent the last few days learning about each other. “With my life.”

  A rumbling noise of approval started deep in his chest and escaped his lips as he lowered them to her breast. His tongue circled the tip in a teasing flick, and he drew her nipple into his mouth with another low noise.

  Nick tried to stifle the cry that accompanied the sharp rush of pleasure, but it rolled out of her between clenched teeth. Her back arched off the ground, toward his mouth, and she barely remembered not to move her hands.

  She felt the scrape of teeth, then the heat of his mouth disappeared. A low, masculine laugh rose as he nuzzled her stomach and dropped tiny kisses on her damp skin. “I can smell how hot you are for me.”

  Something witty should have popped to mind, the perfect rejoinder to his soft, sexy words. “I want you so bad it hurts. I always have.”