by Jenny Frame
Soul of the Pack
Wolf expert Maddox “Ripp” Rippington knows nothing about her past and has only ever felt at home among her wolves at Willow Creek Wolf Sanctuary. When the Sanctuary is shut down, she’s lost. The only clue to her past is a birth certificate with the name Ansel Wolfgang on it, but she has never been brave enough to track her father down. Until now.
Kindergarten teacher Kyra Wolfgang is more than attracted to the mysterious human who arrives in Wolfgang County, a human as dominant and confident as any wolf she has ever met. For the first time in her life, Kyra knows the passion she has always longed for. But with the Wolfgang Alpha and Second distrustful of Ripp’s sudden appearance and her claim of a connection to the pack, does Kyra and Ripp’s love stand a chance?
What Reviewers Say About Jenny Frame’s Work
Unexpected
“[Jenny Frame] has this beautiful way of writing a phenomenally hot scene while incorporating the love and tenderness between the couple.”—Les Rêveur
“If you enjoy contemporary romances, Unexpected is a great choice. The character work is excellent, the plotting and pacing are well done, and it’s a just a sweet, warm read....Definitely pick this book up when you’re looking for your next comfort read, because it’s sure to put a smile on your face by the time you get to that happy ending.”—Curve
“Unexpected by Jenny Frame is a charming butch/femme romance that is perfect for anyone who wants to feel the magic of overcoming adversity and finding true love. I love the way Jenny Frame writes. I have yet to discover an author who writes like her. Her voice is strong and unique and gives a freshness to the lesbian fiction sector.”—Lesbian Review
Royal Rebel
“Frame’s stories are easy to follow and really engaging. She stands head and shoulders above a number of the romance authors and it’s easy to see why she is quickly making a name for herself in lesfic romance.”—The Lesbian Review
Courting the Countess
“I loved loved loved this book. I didn’t expect to get so involved in the story but I couldn’t help but fall in love with Annie and Harry....The love scenes were beautifully written and very sexy. I found the whole book romantic and ultimately joyful and I had a lump in my throat on more than one occasion. A wonderful book that certainly stirred my emotions...”—KittyKat Book Reviews
“Courting The Countess has an historical feel in a present day world, a thought provoking tale filled with raw emotions throughout. [Frame] has a magical way of pulling you in, making you feel every emotion her characters experience.”—Lunar Rainbow Reviewz
“I didn't want to put the book down and I didn't. Harry and Annie are two amazingly written characters that bring life to the pages as they find love and adventures in Harry's home. This is a great read, and you will enjoy it immensely if you give it a try!”—Fantastic Book Reviews
A Royal Romance
“A Royal Romance was a guilty pleasure read for me. It was just fun to see the relationship develop between George and Bea, to see George’s life as queen and Bea’s as a commoner. It was also refreshing to see that both of their families were encouraging, even when Bea doubted that things could work between them because of their class differences.... A Royal Romance left me wanting a sequel, and romances don’t usually do that to me.”—Mostly a Book Blog
Charming the Vicar
“The sex scenes were some of the sexiest, most intimate and quite frankly, sensual I have read in a while. Jenny Frame had me hooked and I reread a few scenes because I felt like I needed to experience the intense intimacy between Finn and Bridget again. The devotion they showed to one another during these sex scenes but also in the intimate moments was gripping and for lack of a better word, carnal.”—Les Rêveur
The sexual chemistry between [Finn and Bridge] is unbelievably hot. It is sexy, lustful and with more than a hint of kink. Bridge has an overpowering effect on Finn as her long-hidden sexuality comes to the fore. The scenes between them are highly erotic–and not just the sex scenes. The tension is ramped up so well that I felt the characters would explode if they did not get relief!...An excellent book set in the most wonderful village–a place I hope to return to very soon!”—Kitty Kat's Book Review Blog
Heart of the Pack
“A really well written love story that incidentally involves changers as well as humans.”—Inked Rainbow Reads
Hunger for You
“[Byron and Amelia] are guaranteed to get the reader all hot and bothered. Jenny Frame writes brilliant love scenes in all of her books and makes me believe the characters crave each other.”—Kitty Kat's Book Review Blog
“I loved this book. Paranormal stuff like vampires and werewolves are my go-to sins. This book had literally everything I needed: chemistry between the leads, hot love scenes (phew), drama, angst, romance (oh my, the romance) and strong supporting characters.”—The Reading Doc
Soul of the Pack
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Soul of the Pack
© 2018 By Jenny Frame. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-63555-184-6
This Electronic Book is published by
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, NY 12185
First Edition: August 2018
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editor: Ruth Sternglantz
Production Design: Bold Strokes Graphics
Cover Design By Melody Pond
By the Author
A Royal Romance
Heart Of The Pack
Courting The Countess
Dapper
Royal Rebel
Unexpected
Charming The Vicar
Hunger For You
Soul of the Pack
Dedication
To Lou And Barney—My own Little loving Wolf Pack. xx
Prologue
The gold and orange hues of the late summer forest marked one of Maddox Rippington’s favorite times of year. The trees and plants were slowing down, readying themselves for a long winter slumber.
Ripp could feel the slowing down in her blood and in her bones. She walked into a clearing and took a long breath of air. Every season had its own feel, its own peculiarities, and Ripp was in tune with them all. Sometimes summer was longer and hotter, sometimes a hard winter could test the survival instincts of the animals to their limits, but nature would always win out. The animals always found a way.
As much as the forest of Willow Creek Wolf Sanctuary always gave her a feeling of peace, today was different. Today she would have to say good-bye to her family of the last seven years, the Willow Creek pack. The land on which the sanctuary stood was being sold off to developers, and the wolves sent to a new home, a new sanctuary, across the country.
The staff had spent all day sedating and crating the wolves to be transported, but one wolf managed to slip out of their grasp, the Alpha. Ripp knew instinctively that she had to be the one to find him.
She heard a noise in the bushes and dropped to her knees. Ripp listened keenly to the sounds of the forest on the breeze. She could sense him—he was there. Rip
p threw her head back and gave a long howl, then waited.
Ripp waited patiently until she heard the crack of twigs under an animal’s paw, and the Alpha wolf named Apollo stepped out into the clearing. She held her position until she saw his ears prick back. It was safe to move.
Although Apollo was the wolves’ Alpha, Ripp had worked here since before he was born, and he grew up with her taking care of the pack, so he deferred to Ripp’s dominance. She approached him slowly, head down and on all fours, to give Apollo the respect he deserved, and to keep him calm. He had seen his pack and his beloved mate darted and crated. He was confused and scared, and that was not a good combination in a wild animal.
Ripp stopped in front of him and raised her head but kept her gaze to the side. She held out her hand, the back of which had an elaborate black ink tattoo of a wolf paw.
Again she waited and was rewarded with Apollo lifting his paw to touch hers. Ripp’s heart was breaking at what she had to do. These wolves were her pack. She’d spent countless nights out in the open, bedding down with them, studying their behavior, symbolically sharing their kill, and making sure they were healthy.
She looked up and started to explain why this was happening. Even though a wolf couldn’t understand words, in her experience she could convey the spirit of the words to the wolves, if she was patient.
“Apollo, I know you don’t understand what’s happening, but your pack is safe, and you will be safe. I promise. We have to send you to a new territory.” Ripp’s voice broke with emotion, and Apollo took a step forward to lick her cheek, his own wolfie way of making her feel better.
Ripp stroked his head and ruff, trying to bring calm to him. “You’ll be happy, I promise. I won’t be there, so you have to look after the pack, okay?”
Tears started to roll down Ripp’s cheeks. She was losing just as much as the wolves—her home, her job, her pack, her reason for getting up every morning. But unlike the wolves, Ripp didn’t have a home to go to, a new place to find sanctuary. She would be alone with no idea where to go for the first time since she was eighteen.
Apollo gave her one last lick and looked her in the eyes. Ripp felt in her heart that he knew he had to give in, to be with his pack. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I love you, Apollo. Look after the pack for me.”
Ripp looked across the clearing and nodded. There was a whoosh, and then Apollo jerked in pain, but he didn’t struggle. As the sedative from the dart coursed its way through his body, he just slumped against Ripp and put his trust in her. She laid him on her lap and gently stroked his muzzle as he drifted to sleep.
When he closed his eyes, Ripp truly felt alone for the first time since she’d arrived at Willow Creek as an eighteen-year-old kid. Her pack was leaving her, and she had no hope of being accepted in another.
A couple of the other workers came into the clearing to help take him to his crate and the truck.
“Ripp, he’s out now. Let’s get him moved,” the man who had shot the gun said.
“No,” she replied angrily, trying to hold back the fresh tears that threatened to spill over. “I’ll take him. He’s my responsibility.”
“He’s too heavy, Ripp,” he replied.
Ripp stood up, carrying Apollo with her, surprising the two men with her strength. “I’ll take him, I said.”
Holding the large wolf in her arms, she walked out of the clearing and headed back to the sanctuary buildings.
Apart from her dog Storm, Ripp was now truly alone.
Chapter One
Kyra Wolfgang walked downstairs and stopped when she heard a big crash, then laughed when her sister Ava’s voice boomed, “Xander, if that’s my vase, you and Nix will be sleeping in the river tonight.”
There was silence, then the sound of laughter. Xander, her sister’s mate, always had a nose for trouble, and that was worrying considering she was Wolfgang County’s fire chief. When their daughter Nix—short for Phoenix—was born fifteen years ago, she’d gained a partner in crime.
Kyra walked past the family room and smiled at the sight of her sister-in-law and her niece wrestling on the floor. The noise and chatter of family life was something she enjoyed being a part of at her sister’s home. She walked into the kitchen and found her sister preparing dinner, her one-year-old niece, Hannah, sitting in her high chair at the table.
“Kya!” Her niece always struggled with her name.
Kyra went over and gave Hannah lots of kisses. “Hi, sweetie.”
Ava turned to her and smiled. “Hey, Ky, how was school?”
Kyra loved her job as a teacher at Wolfgang Academy, but sometimes the noise and chaos on days like today, when they were planning a science fair, got too much for her brain. She sighed and rubbed her temples.
“My head’s just a bit overloaded. It was crazy today at school, and my wolf is restless.”
Ava walked over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the head. “Why don’t you go for your evening run a bit early. Dinner is all under control.”
A run was exactly what she needed, but she felt guilty about leaving the dinner preparations to her sister. Since returning from college out of state, Kyra had been staying with her sister and her family. She used to live with her parents, but now they spent part of the year with the Scottish Wulver pack, to be close to their extended family overseas.
Kyra looked around the large kitchen, with its two industrial sized ovens roasting the meat for dinner. It took a lot to feed a werewolf family.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave it all to you.”
“It’s fine,” Ava said. “I got ahead early. Iris babysat Hannah today, with some of the rest of the cubs, so I’m prepared.”
Iris, the Alpha’s mother, was not only grandmother to her own grandchildren, but to all of the pack. She delighted in that role, and the pack all very much appreciated her.
They heard loud shrieks and shouts from the family room, and Ava growled, “Is it bad that sometimes I want to kill them?”
Kyra chuckled. “I think it’s normal.”
“Well, get going on your run before they tumble into the kitchen demanding food before dinner. It won’t be pretty.”
“Okay, thanks—I will.”
Kyra left the kitchen and walked into the adjoining mudroom, where the family left their clothes before shifting and running into the forest, by the way of their backyard.
As Kyra undressed she heard more shouts and crashes coming from the house. She smiled but felt that ever-familiar hint of sadness she always had being around such a loving, happy family unit. She worried that she would never find the same. The one destined to be her mate.
Once she was undressed, she headed for the back door. She caught sight of herself in the mirror as she passed and saw her eyes glowing yellow. Her wolf was close to the surface, desperate to run.
Once outside, she shifted. Her teeth burst through her gums, her claws lengthened, and then her bones began to crack and reshape themselves. Before long she had shifted to pelt and was sprinting toward the forest. Her head started to clear immediately. She ran through the trees with great speed, the rush of wind blowing through her fur, blowing the cobwebs from her mind, and the scents of the forest heightening all her senses.
After a mile or so she slowed as she approached a sacred tree, one picked out generations ago by her family. Beside it were piles of stones—the oathing stone used in a wolf couple’s mating ceremony was traditionally set by the sacred tree, to honor their ancestors and their link to the forest.
Kyra always ended up here on her nightly runs. She came to ask her ancestors to help her find her mate. Most wolves were mated by her age, but she had never found her wolf, and this caused her great sadness.
Kyra stood in front of the tree, lowered her head in respect, and said with her inner wolf voice, I pray to the Great Mother and my ancestors to help me find the one I love. I’m alone, and my wolf yearns for its mate. Please tell me I’m not meant to be alone…
* * *
Ripp drove past the sign Welcome to Wolfgang County and had the feeling she was entering a different world. The trees and forest were more lush and beautiful than any she had seen before. She looked over to Storm and said, “What do you think, buddy?”
Storm barked and panted excitedly. He was a wolf hybrid who had been left tied to the gates of the sanctuary one night, and Ripp had welcomed him into the pack. He’d become her best friend and companion.
The farther she drove into Wolfgang County, the deeper her need to get into the forest. Something inside was pulling her to run through the trees. She stopped at the side of the road, while Storm continued to whine and bark excitedly.
She ruffled the gray fur on his head. “Hang on. We’ll get out in a second. Let me grab my backpack.”
Ripp got out of her beat-up vehicle and walked around to the flatbed of her truck. Under what was meant to be a waterproof tarp lay all her worldly goods, which wasn’t much, mostly the camping supplies she had picked up over the years. She grabbed her backpack and water bottle. She stopped for a second and inhaled the scents in the air. A warmth spread though her body, right to her fingertips. The air smelled fresh, woody, exciting, and comforting somehow.
Ripp had an intense feeling of déjà vu. “This place…” She looked all around herself. It was like she knew it or had been here before.
