Tales of the Winter Wolf, Vol. 1

by R. J. Blain

  Contents

  Copyright

  Hunted

  The Scent of Guilt

  Firecracker

  Glitter

  Index

  Titles by RJ Blain

  Dedication

  Winter Wolf

  Tales of the Winter Wolf

  by RJ Blain

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher or author

  excluding the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  © 2015 RJ Blain

  ISBN: 978-1-928148-04-3

  For more information or to contact the author, please visit rjblain.com

  Special thanks to Brooke Johnson (http://brooke-johnson.com)

  Hunted

  Nicolina Desmond should have known that her twin’s intimate behavior with the eligible Fenerec males would land her in trouble, but she no idea how far young, single werewolves would go to secure a mate.

  Winter was the season of love, romance, and bonding for Fenerec, and I wanted nothing to do with it. In my gamble to escape, leaving my twin to fend off the wolves, I had graduated high school three years early, won early admittance into Stanford, and spent the vast majority of my time in California, far away from my Seattle home.

  I had exams in a week, but that hadn’t been enough to deter my father.

  It was bad enough having Fenerec parents, but for the next few days, all I had to look forward to was being toted around, put on display, and courted by every single werewolf looking to take advantage of my father’s influence and wealth. The werewolves couldn’t even handle the truth; calling them werewolves was a good way to stir their ire, and an angry werewolf had a tendency to hurt people, property, or, as the case often was, both. When they were hunting a mate, their volatile tendencies were doubly worse.

  My sister, however, loved every moment of it. Lisa loved Seattle in the winter, with its heavy rain and occasional snowfall. She spent the rest of the year mourning her lost opportunities and lusting for the attention and thrill of being chased by testosterone-poisoned males hoping to win her affections and our father’s good graces.

  I, on the other hand, knew better. I was the older sister; I should have been the one with a grip on things, but no. In the eyes of my family, I was the flake, the unreliable one, and the one too stubborn to give in and play the game their way. Attending Stanford at fifteen meant nothing to them, neither did my perfect GPA. I could be a doctor, a lawyer, or anything else I wanted, but that wasn’t good enough.

  They wanted me to be the bride of a werewolf, and I wasn’t having it.

  While Lisa dressed up when she knew they were coming, I dressed down. Before I had gone off to college, when ratty clothes and a surly temper didn’t work, I left for the city to spend the winter whenever possible, hopping from friend’s house to friend’s house until the werewolves left.

  This year, things would be different. I put aside the ratty jeans and bulky sweater in favor of a black skirt and blazer with a pristine white shirt. I wore a silver charm bracelet with a single moonstone pendant, both an acknowledgment of my heritage and a mockery of it. The silver was old enough that even my father flinched away from it.

  If a werewolf did decide to get frisky with me, I’d be more than happy to burn him. The bracelet wasn’t the only silver I had on me, either. The thin blade I slipped in my boot was older than my jewelry, and if my father discovered I had it, he’d skin me alive.

  By the time I was finished, I’d teach the Fenerec that I wasn’t going to be cowed by them. I wasn’t prey. In a way, I was grateful my father had called me home under the pretense of a family emergency. I enjoyed our games of wolf and rabbit. There was something delightful about outwitting a predator, and when my father was so enthralled with chasing me, not only did I have his undivided attention, I proved I wasn’t someone to set aside, control, and manipulate like some pawn on a chessboard.

  It never stopped him from trying, but that too was part of our game.

  This year would be different. I’d win from the very beginning. When I was finished, all I would leave for him was a cold trail. All I had to do was get through the introduction without one of the werewolves sinking their teeth into my throat.

  The crunch of gravel in the driveway and the slamming of a car door warned me of trouble. I waited for the sounds of the vehicle departing, but it remained quiet. Curious, I headed to my window, peeking through the curtain.

  Most of the Fenerec my father brought home for us were young: either our age, a little older, or a little younger. Their Alphas would bring them in minivans or SUVs, dropping them off before making a run for it.

  The convertible Porsche Boxster was painted a dusty metallic pink, and I wanted it with every fiber of my being. In the hopes it was one of my father’s Normal business associates visiting, I grabbed my cell and texted my mother to ask if the Fenerec had arrived.

  Her affirmative came shortly after, along with an order to fetch Lisa and come downstairs.

  The game had begun, but this time, someone interesting had come to our door, and I wasn’t sure what I thought about that.

  The Porsche was a beauty, but the Fenerec who owned it was in a class all of his own. His brown hair was tousled from driving with the top down despite the cold weather. When I came down the stairs, he was shaking my father’s hand. It was odd watching two good looking young men shake hands, knowing one of them was my father. Neither looked a day over thirty, and I had no doubts my father was far older.

  In the family safe, there was a photo of him and my mother together, which was dated just before the start of World War II.

  My father, either in a show of solidarity with me or in a complete lapse of judgment, wore a stained t-shirt and a pair of jeans with holes in the knees. The Fenerec wore a black suit, white shirt, and a tie that matched his car.

  My fingers itched to grab his tie and give it a yank, both to find out if it felt as luxurious as it looked and to wipe the smug, satisfied expression off his face.

  Lisa beat me down the stairs and stopped to watch the newcomer with wide eyes. Her sleek silk dress in forest green clung to her thin, athletic frame, accessorized with heels and enough jewelry to sink a ship. Unlike me, she had taken the time to brush out her shoulder-length hair. Mine, which fell to my waist when I let it down, was piled on top of my head in a messy bun so it wouldn’t get in the way. The Fenerec glanced my way, his brown eyes narrowing as he took me in. His gaze shifted to my sister and stayed there.

  “I’m impressed, Mr. Desmond. From all of the scandalous things you’ve told me, I was certain I’d only meet one of your daughters,” he said, and his voice was deep and rich, reminding me of crushed velvet. Freeing his hand from my father’s grip, he strode to Lisa, took her hand, and kissed the back of it. “You must be Miss Lisa.”

  Lisa knew what to do; my father had brainwashed her well. She dipped into a curtsy and lowered her eyes. She was good at playing by the rules. She never stared at a Fenerec for too long, our parents included. She knew when to bow her head and act submissive.

  Me? I tested my luck, met his gaze, and waited for signs of aggression.

  There was a wolf-yellow gleam in the Fenerec’s eyes.

  “Girls, this is Mr. Murphy, the Alpha of Yellowknife’s pack. He’ll be staying with us for the next few weeks,” my father announced.

  “Mr. Murphy,” my sister murmured as she rose.

  They were a perfect match for each other, which only served to make me angrier. Lisa’s sophisticated dress and his dark suit made them look like a couple.

  Fo
r once, I couldn’t fault my sister’s choice to take her chances with the Fenerec. I wanted to howl at the injustice of it all. Why couldn’t I, just for a moment, be more like her? He was the dream of every teen girl. Anyone who drove a Porsche like the one parked in our driveway had money. Money meant comfort, so if she chose to be caged, it’d be in one made of satin, silk, and finery. As the bride of a pack’s Alpha, she’d want for nothing, and no one would dare touch her.

  Mr. Murphy released my sister, flashed her a million-dollar smile, and judging from the way her eyes widened and her lips parted without her saying a word, he had already won her over.

  I scowled, narrowing my eyes as he approached me. Instead of letting him pull the same old-fashioned stunt on me, I held out my hand—the one with the silver bracelet—to shake with him. “Nicolina,” I said, hoping my tone came across cold and fringing on impolite. If my sister wanted the rich werewolf, she was welcome to him.

  I’d just make it my life’s mission to make him as miserable as possible for preying on my twin.

  His hand engulfed mine, his grip firm. If the silver bothered him, he showed no signs of it. “Richard. You’re not what I was expecting.”

  The way he smiled at me stoked my fury. My options were limited; I could fight my way free and risk him pulling my arm off or play it cool and let him do what he wanted.

  Because it went against all of my father’s warnings, I squeezed Richard’s hand as hard as I could. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I lied, hoping his werewolf senses were keen enough to smell my deceit through the lilac perfume I wore.

  “The pleasure is all mine,” he replied, squeezing my hand in challenge and retaliation.

  When I met Richard’s gaze without flinching, his brown irises brightened to amber. I tightened my grip until he eased his hold on me. I pulled free of his grasp. “I hope you’ve had your shots, and I ask that you kindly do not give my sister fleas or mange. Just remember, Mr. Murphy, that she is underage and has school tomorrow. We both are, in case you weren’t certain.”

  Lisa’s face turned red. “Nicolina!”

  Instead of the angry scowl I expected, Richard Murphy smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind, Miss Desmond.”

  Before my spluttering father could say a word, I marched to the front door, grabbing my briefcase as I headed out. “I have exams I need to study for, and alas, none of my classes this quarter require the first-hand study of interspecies betrothal practices.”

  Trouble came in twos and threes, and I didn’t even make it to the end of the driveway before it came to find me. A white van blocked the way to the street, and four Fenerec I recognized from last year’s batch of potential suitors were waiting.

  None of them looked very happy.

  No matter how much I disliked my father’s attempts to marry us off, he wasn’t the type to allow Fenerec to loiter around without his leave. I slipped my hand into my pocket, pulled out my cell, and snapped a photograph of them, texting it to my father. When they saw me, they stood straighter, their wolf-yellow eyes focused on me.

  I pretended not to notice them, fiddling with my phone as I kept walking.

  “We heard one of the little bitches went to college and cleaned up nice,” one of them said, pushing away from the van. I came to a halt, jerking my head up as though surprised by his presence. Like Richard Murphy, the Fenerec had brown hair. There was something ugly about the Fenerec’s smile. “If you’re any indication, it seems there’s some truth to it after all. Long time no see, Miss Desmond.”

  I slid my phone into my pocket. After a moment of thought, I remembered the Fenerec’s name: David Serrens. He was a year older than me, and if memory served, he had the same intellectual capacity of a rock. “What brings you all the way out here, Mr. Serrens?”

  When he came to a halt in front of me, I shifted my gaze away from his eyes to the three Fenerec waiting at the van. It was one thing to stare down a Fenerec with my father standing there and another to try my luck when there were four of them and only one of me.

  If they tried anything, I wouldn’t have time to reach my knife.

  When he grabbed hold of my chin, I stiffened and sucked in a breath. He forced my head up so he could look me in the eyes. “If you think you can just get away with last year’s insults, Miss Desmond, you’re very mistaken.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, careful to keep my tone quiet and calm.

  “Don’t think you can play with me this time. You led us all on.”

  I sighed. I had warned Lisa about flirting with the Fenerec when she had no intentions of pursuing a relationship with any of them. “You’ve got the wrong sister, David. We’ve spoken twice. The conversations consisted of hello and goodbye. If you want to talk with Lisa, you’ll need to go to the house.”

  David scowled. Without releasing my chin, he ducked his face close to mine. He drew a deep breath. “So you’re the college girl—that Nicolina bitch.”

  “Let’s go, man. If she ain’t Lisa, she’s got nothing to do with this,” one of the other Fenerec whined.

  “Shut up,” David snarled, and his grip on my chin tightened hard enough my eyes watered. “Sure, she might not be Lisa, but if she isn’t, she’ll do. She’ll bring Lisa right to us, if they know what’s smart for them. We’ve got unfinished business. Come along, Miss Desmond. Let’s go for a ride. We have lots of things to talk about—in private.”

  The thought of spending any length of time with any of them—in private or otherwise—sickened me. I balled my hand into a fist and backhanded him across the face, making sure my silver bracelet dug into his cheek. He howled, thrusting me away.

  A black gash scored him from ear to lip, and smoke coiled from the wound.

  “You’re going to pay for that.”

  I didn’t have time to grab my knife before he was on me. I lifted my bracelet to ward him off, but he slapped my arm aside. His fingers curled around my throat and squeezed. Pulling me close to him, he breathed heavily in my face. The stench of burned flesh filled my nose.

  A buzz in my ears made way for a deeper tone. The Fenerec’s mouth moved as though he spoke, but I couldn’t hear what he said.

  Then his grip tightened until I couldn’t breathe at all. I grabbed hold of his wrist, digging my nails in as hard as I could. It didn’t faze him, although he bared his teeth as I kept clawing at him. The edges of my vision turned gray before fading to black. My numb, tingling fingers slipped from his wrist. The last thing I was aware of was slumping against him, my lungs and throat burning from the need for air.

  In their haste to get as far away from my father as possible, the Fenerec dumped me on the floorboard of the van. Their haphazard driving, turns taken too fast, and the complete disregard for the existence of potholes jostled me awake and kept me conscious. I kept my eyes closed, feigning sleep as I tried to figure out what was going on. The why of it seemed obvious enough to me; Fenerec were the jealous type, and they hadn’t been chosen, not by my sister nor me.

  Even if my sister had shown interest in them, my father likely hadn’t approved of them.

  “If you’ve killed her, we’re dead,” one of the Fenerec growled. I couldn’t tell by voice alone which one it was. Several whines answered him.

  “Does she look dead to you?” David snapped.

  “She’s not moving, she’s gray, and her throat’s turned black, man. If she’s not dead, you hurt her bad.”

  It took me longer than I liked to realize David was the driver. He growled, “Tough shit, she shouldn’t have hit me.”

  “Dude, you grabbed a girl’s face. Of course she hit you.”

  The van swerved and the tires squealed, followed by David snarling, “I didn’t mean to hurt her!”

  “You strangled her. Are you seriously trying to feed me that shit? If you hadn’t meant to hurt her, you would have grabbed her arm and just pulled her into the van. She’s a Normal, man.” I didn’t know which one of the Fenerec was talking back to David, b
ut under other circumstances, I might have liked him.

  “She pissed me off.”

  “That’s not going to save our asses when Mr. Desmond finds out.”

  “We’ll use her as a shield. He’ll be so busy worrying about his little bitch we’ll be able to get away,” David retorted.

  “Great. First you choke her, now you want to use her as a hostage? What the fuck is wrong with you? We were just supposed to grab Lisa and make her choose one of us.”

  “We have no proof she’s not Lisa.”

  Someone nudged me with their shoe, prodding my stomach. I wanted to jerk away, but I couldn’t move. Fear choked off my breath.

  Maybe the Fenerec was right, and David had done more than strangle me.

  I heard the thunk of something hitting the floor and the metal on metal click of someone opening my briefcase. “Unless they’re teaching Business Economics and Statistics 101 in high school, I’d say this is not Lisa’s bag.”

  “How about her phone?” David demanded.

  “I think it’s in her skirt pocket, man.”

  “So dig it out. She’s unconscious, so what’s the problem?”

  I could think of a hundred and one problems with David’s idea, and when I got my act together, I was going to dig my knife out of my boot and rearrange his organs with it.

  “Fine.” The touch at my hip was tentative. Moments later, a seeking hand grasped my phone and pulled it out of my pocket. “I got it. What do you want me to do with it?”

  “Find out if it’s Lisa’s or Nicolina’s,” David ordered. “They’re twins; she could be Lisa with Nicolina’s bag.”

  “Are you stupid?”

  “Fuck off, Oliver. Who owns the phone?”

  “Judging from the fifty plus text messages, I’m confident in saying this is Nicolina’s phone and that Mr. Desmond knows she’s been grabbed.”