When a Pack Dies

by Gwen Campbell

  She glanced out the back window. Not far from the barn was a neat line of greenhouses.

  An infant started to cry.

  “This kid stinks,” Ryan snorted from down the hall. “You know, you’ll be a lot more fun to hang out with when you can run around and stuff.” When he entered the kitchen, his face was screwed up and he was holding a chunky ten-month old, carrying the crying baby well away from himself. “I don’t do poopy diapers,” he declared righteously. By his eighth birthday Ryan had passed the five-foot mark. Now, at nine, he was tall, gangly and had enormous hands and feet.

  Cutler scooped the baby out of Ryan’s arms. “That’s my son,” he proclaimed proudly. “Anything worth doing is worth doing loud and proud.” The aqua-eyed child cooed up at him, slapped Cutler’s cheek with a meaty hand and drooled. Cutler’s nose wrinkled. “I guess you do need your bum changed after all.” He ruffled Ryan’s hair and grinned down at him. “How was school today, buddy?”

  “Speaking of school,” Nath interrupted. He dropped his fists onto his hips and faced Fina. “You got an email from college. That post-graduate course you’re taking on tax law? You only got a B-plus.” Both he and Cutler frowned down at her.

  Fina cleared her throat nervously but they didn’t say anything else.

  “I also checked my bookings for this summer,” Nath continued after a moment. His tone softened as he let the subject of her grade drop. “It looks good. This should be my best year ever. Of course that means I won’t be around this summer to help you in the nursery although I should be able to step back in come October or so.” He crossed over to Fina and hugged her gently. “If you can handle the phones for me the next couple of months, we’ll be even.” He kissed her forehead, gave her another gentle squeeze then stepped back to lay his hands on the slight mound of her belly. He grinned and rubbed it through her bib overalls like it was the most precious thing he’d ever held. “Now, how are all three of my girls doing?”

  “The twins are sleeping right now,” Fina said. “I could use a foot rub.”

  “Ah ah,” Mary scolded. She waved a wooden spoon menacingly. “Please. At least wait until I’ve left for the day.”

  Nath looked disappointed but he kissed Fina and leaned in to her to whisper, “After the kids are in bed, your wish is my command, sweetheart.”

  Cutler kissed her cheek then carried his son away to change his diaper. “Count me in, honey. Two feet. Two mates. No waiting.”

  End

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  About the Author

  Gwen Campbell got her start in the magazine industry, writing everything from news stories to children’s fiction to obituaries. When the company she worked for succumbed to economic turndown, she looked at her bank book and gave herself one year to pursue writing full time. The deal was if she made money, she didn’t have to look for a real job. It’s worked out pretty good so far and she still doesn’t have a real job. A life-long believer in romance, she now writes romantic fiction. Gwen is married and she and her husband contribute the success of their relationship to making a point of saying “I love you,” at least once a day, sometimes saying, “Yes, dear,” just because, and making sure the toilet paper always comes over the top of the roll. She says her best sticky-plot resolutions come to her while dog walking.

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  Book Excerpts

  Following are some excerpts of other hot erotic titles from Shadowfire Press.

  If you enjoyed the werewolf paranormal Wyoming Wild 1: Death of a Pack by Gwen Campbell you might also like Gwen Campbell’s As My Warrior Commands, a scifi themed Frontiers of Love title.

  When a kingdom crashes down around her, will his love be enough to save her?

  Sibyls are old crones. Everybody knows that. So what’s a warrior supposed to think when a beautiful young woman turns up in the middle of a siege, says she’s a sibyl, predicts the downfall of a kingdom and tells him he’s going there with her to prevent it? He does what any hot-blooded warrior would do. He follows the woman. She’s intelligent, brave, can see the future, has an ass he can’t stop staring at and she knows how to make him laugh. What he doesn’t know is that the sibyls have predicted the downfall of the Kingdom of Jareb-Phar if a young sibyl enters their throne room. What they don’t know is if her arrival will be coincidental or cause the kingdom’s fall. The only thing the warrior does know for sure is that beneath his beautiful, young sibyl’s discipline is a woman as lusty and wanton as he is.

  Here is a short excerpt from Frontiers of Love 2: As My Warrior Commands.

  Touching her arm, Thain encouraged Jessica to take another bite of hard bread. They’d eaten the last of the soft two days ago. He had a sense she dipped it into her tea, bit off a piece and chewed only to make him happy. They’d left the flood waters behind that morning.

  For the most part they kept to their own, dark thoughts. Because a full bath was impossible, both Jessica and Thain stripped down in the failing light and dragged wet cloths over their bodies. Again, Thain had to discipline himself to look away. The beautiful Sibyl stirred him more with each passing day. As a Warrior, he was trained to ignore the distraction of women—when necessary. His discipline had never been so thin. Jessica had laid her leathers out to air and sat wrapped up in one of his drying cloths. It provided adequate coverage but Thain couldn’t stop looking at her smooth shoulders, the curve of her knee. He adjusted his seat and wished his damned hard-on would go away. His balls had ached for days.

  When they finished eating, he reached for her metal plate. Leftover food slid off hers and landed on her leg.

  Thain had noticed she trimmed the fat off her meat. He found it odd but didn’t mind. It meant more for him and he’d taken to cleaning off her plate for her. Without thinking, he knelt in front of Jessica and licked her thigh, picking up the perfectly good piece of fat while he cleaned her skin.

  Jessica gasped—then moaned.

  Damned Warrior. He’d got right past her defenses. Thain’s warm breath, the rasp of his tongue sent shivers up Jessica’s leg, straight to her pussy. It spasmed and she couldn’t stop her response.

  Thain grinned wolfishly. He’d thought this Sibyl incapable of lust...or a master of it. He touched his tongue to her skin and watched her reaction.

  “Stop,” Jessica breathed. She gripped his hair but pulled as much as she pushed.

  Setting the plates aside, Thain wrapped his fingers around her thighs and licked her skin. Jessica was the sweetest, softest thing he’d ever touched. He inhaled her scent, the heat of her body, the spiciness of her arousal. She wove her fingers into his hair and this time made an effort to push him away. Thain resisted her easily and dragged his tongue along the primly shut line of her legs. He pulled gently and Jessica allowed him to ease her knees apart.

  There was no more need to resist her. She clearly wanted him and he’d wanted her from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. Six days of riding with her soft body pressed into his...nights lying beside her had taken their toll. Thain’s cock was rock hard and ready to make this beautiful Sibyl his.

  Or you might enjoy reading In Heaven’s Arms, a Finding Love: Memorial Day themed contemporary story by Persephone Jones.

  Two wounded souls find healing over the Memorial Day weekend.

  Hawaiian tattoo artist Koal Kalani is a man making peace with death. Having lost his daughter and ex-girlfriend in a car accident, he is no stranger to heartache. So much so that when he encounters an unnamed woman in the cemetery, he is drawn to her for reasons known only to those in the midst of sorrow. Though their exchange is brief, it leaves him wishing the angelic stranger will take him up on his offer to visit him at his shop in town.

  School teacher Madalyn Maris is still looking for the strength to move on after the death of Matthew, her beloved Marine Corps fiancé. A year after her devastating loss the unexpected happens. She meets a man in the cemetery, one with bottomless dark eyes, a leather jacket, a warm embrace…and a
business card for a tattoo parlor.

  With a lifelong fear of needles, Maris can hardly believe it when she stretches out beneath Koal’s masterful hands. But something about the tall, dark, and handsome Hawaiian puts her fear at ease and her libido in overdrive...

  Here is a short excerpt from In Heaven’s Arms.

  “So, how much do I...”

  He took a step toward her and took her by the hand, his black coffee eyes simmering with intensity. In a second, she knew his intentions. Without saying a word, his eyes roamed the features of her face, down her chest, her body, all the way to her feet and back up again.

  Her heart started beating double-time. He led her into the back of the shop to what appeared to be a dimly lit break room of some sort, equipped with a table, a black leather couch, a few chairs and a kitchenette. The most important thing she noticed however was they were completely alone.

  Koal placed her hand on his chest and took hold of her at the waist. “C’m here.”

  “I shouldn’t b—”

  This was wrong on so many levels. What was she doing? First hugging a stranger in the cemetery, stripping down to her underwear for the same stranger, letting him give her a tattoo. Never mind what went on inside her head...

  She watched his head tilt slightly to the side as his face descended toward hers. Upon feeling the soft strength of his mouth, she closed her eyes and let his kiss take her over. This was the kind man from the cemetery. The man who’d held her while she fell apart. Koal. When she opened her heavy eyelids he was looking at her, searching for a reaction. A reaction she couldn’t decide on. Truly, she didn’t know whether to slap him, cry or both. All she did know was that she wanted him to kiss her again.

  Miraculously her lips gravitated to his as if pulled in by some unseen magnetic force. They kissed again, this time when their lips met it was deeper and more wanton, their tongues lashing at each other as if in combat.

  She resisted under the force of his desire and pulled ever so slightly away from him to catch her breath, planting the heels of her hands squarely on his shoulders. “You called me a name while I was in the chair.”

  Heavy-lidded, he swallowed visibly. “Mm—’anela. It means angel.”

  Painting her jawbone and neck with kisses, he hooked his fingers under the thin waistband of her red lace panties and eased them down her legs, gentle as a feather. She met his gaze and watched him pause for telltale signs of objection that she had neither the strength nor the will power to give.

  She didn’t stop him because she couldn’t.

  You might also enjoy Secret Fantasy a contemporary BDSM title by Kitty Cahill.

  Good girl Sara doesn’t stand a chance against charming bad boy, Chris.

  Sara Donovan is a good girl. That is until the day her best friend gives her a gift certificate for thirty minutes with a phone sex operator. “Joel” unlocks forbidden desires in Sara, needs she’d kept hidden from the world, for fear of reprimand from her domineering preacher father. Once unlocked her desire to be dominated in the bedroom threaten to overwhelm her.

  Bad boy Chris Masterson wants Sara Donovan for himself. But his reputation as a player keeps the one woman he truly desires from trusting him. When his usual tricks fail to entice the cautious beauty, he comes up with a plan. To become her secret fantasy…in the flesh.

  Here is a short excerpt of Secret Fantasy.

  Chris shook his head. “Nope, too late. You just tossed down a gauntlet. I’m obligated by men everywhere to pick it up.”

  “Listen to me. I’m not interested in the type of sex games you play with your flavor of the month. Okay? I want more than a one night stand and a promise to call.”

  “Jealousy?” He tilted his head slightly and stared at her. “You know, I never would’ve thought you’d have that emotion where I’m concerned.”

  “I am not jealous,” she retorted lamely.

  “You want to know what I think?”

  “Not really,” she said through gritted teeth.

  He pushed away from the car, invading her space. His mouth dropped to speak softly next to her ear, hovering close enough his hot breath fluttered over her neck. “I think you’re more than interested. More than just intrigued by it. You want—no—need it.

  Sara pushed him back a pace. Of course, she knew he allowed her to do so. The man was as solid as a brick wall. “Let me repeat this so you get it. I am not some little...airhead you can push around. Got it? Not. Interested.”

  “Why do you lie to yourself? You and I both know the truth. Why not just admit it? Then we can begin this.”

  Sara scoffed. Yeah, sure begin it and end it in one sweet, hot, but most importantly brief night of conquest. “There’s nothing to begin. I’ll never be one of your little...what do you call them? Subs?”

  “Sub? What the fuck?”

  “What? Is that the wrong term? You’ll have to forgive me. I’m not well versed in the whole BDSM thing and...” Her stomach clenched at the sight of his nostrils flaring, like a wild animal scenting the air. Everything about him screamed dominant male. Sara guessed that’s why it was so easy to believe he’d be a Dom.

  “Don’t tell me that you actually believe all the bullshit people pass around this town?”

  “What else am I supposed to believe Chris? You’re a womanizing Dom who struts around with every woman who’s dumb enough to fall for your tricks.” She crossed her arms and glared. “You prove the rumors true with the way you act.”

  “I’m not a Dom,” he stated plainly, running his hand through his hair. “I’m just confident and like things to go my own way. And if that means I have to take charge to achieve that, I do.” His gaze didn’t waver for a second. Sara shivered under that concentrated stare.

  “Whatever. The point remains that I don’t want anything to do with you or your wild life style. I won’t join in with you and your buddy. You will not have me tied to anything, with any part of yours or anyone else’s body inside any part of me. Is that clear enough? Never going to happen.”

  Again, he leaned in close, and her senses were filled with the spicy, manly scent of him. “Never say never to a man who can make you scream with nothing more than the tip of his tongue.”

  Before Sara could retort he brushed her lips with his, then strode away. Confidence riding every step of his long hard body. Against her will, her eyes dropped to the tight butt beneath his Old Navy carpenter pants. Why, oh, why couldn’t he have been ugly? That would’ve made telling him no a helluva lot easier.

  Or you might also like Apocalypse Dance a paranormal erotic romance by Michael Barnette.

  For Nikki salvation is just a Dragon away.

  With the world population decimated by a mutated strain of Ebola civilization as we know it has gone down in ruin. Warlords rampage across what was once the United States of America, killing, raping and adding to the misery and horror that has swept the once proud nation.

  Nikki, once on her way to becoming a brilliant doctor, is being sought as a concubine by Roderik, self-styled King of the Lone Star Empire.

  Here is a short excerpt from Apocalypse Dance by Michael Barnette

  Her breath caught, and she shuddered under the onslaught of sensation. Her nipples peaked so tightly it looked like it should hurt. He drew the tip of his tongue around the areola, one hand pressed at the small of her back, holding her still for his exploration.

  She tensed slightly and he eased his hold, sensitive to her reactions, both positive and negative, learning what she liked and what sent a dampening of desire through her on the wings of fear. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him. He wanted her to know nothing but pleasure from his every touch, his every whispered breath across the silken expanse of her flawless skin.

  “Bells....” She almost screamed his name as he closed his mouth around the stiffened nub, sucking, teasing it with the edges of his teeth. His cock throbbed with want for her, his own desire heightened by her cry. She wanted him, and even if it came down to nothing but
the heat of the moment, her need for comfort, he didn’t care. He’d take this, savor it, use it as a balm to the nightmare memories that haunted him in the small hours of the night.

  Pulling away, he met her gaze. Awakened passion warmed her sable eyes. “Do you want this from me?”

  “Yes!” There was no reservation or hesitation in her reply, nor in the way she kissed him afterward, her entire being seeking what he offered with the same intensity he had sought her. Her answer was as immediate as her need, and just as heated as his own.

  You can buy Frontiers of Love 2: As My Warrior Commands by Gwen Campbell, Finding Love-Memorial Day: In Heaven’s Arms by Persephone Jones or Secret fantasy by Kitty Cahill and Apocalypse Dance by Michael Barnette along with other fine erotic romance and erotica titles from:

  Shadowfire Press

  Enter the Shadows...

  Set your imagination on Fire