Tainted Romance

by Simone Elise

  Tainted Romance

  Simone Elise

  Copyright © 2017 by Simone Elise.

  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 except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book is published by Inkitt – Join now to read and discover free upcoming bestsellers!

  This book was discovered through Inkitt.com by…

  Heather Askew

  Lana Terentjeva

  Alkira Joan

  I could not put this book down. The author sends the reader on a journey with the main characters and keeps readers rooting for them. I have always loved shapeshifting stories and this book did not disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat at all times. Sadly, I wish for there to be a sequel but the ending was most appropriate. – Kerry

  Simone Elise is the absolute best when it comes to romance, tests of love and development of character! Wow! Amazing author and amazing book!!! I loved how everything progressed and how it ended! It can be a book all to itself or be open to a sequel. I can’t wait to read more by Simone! Very very very good book! – Renee

  Table Of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Chapter Forty-five

  Chapter Forty-six

  Chapter Forty-seven

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-one

  Chapter Fifty-two

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Chapter Fifty-four

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-one

  Chapter Sixty-two

  Chapter Sixty-three

  Chapter Sixty-four

  Chapter Sixty-five

  Chapter Sixty-six

  Chapter Sixty-seven

  Chapter Sixty-eight

  Chapter Sixty-nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-one

  Chapter Seventy-two

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  ALLIE

  I slumped in the chair, looking up at the stage with a withdrawn feeling I just couldn't explain. I hated pack meetings; no, correction, I loathed them.

  My mom was hanging onto every word Alpha Harris was saying. Pack meetings always reminded me of school assemblies. They were just as boring, and they were both held in a massive hall.

  Falling In Reverse was blasting in my ear. Mom had given up telling me to take my earbuds out. My eyes flickered to Zane Harris. He was sitting on the side of the stage next to his mother. Like always, he was on his phone, not paying any attention. For an Alpha-to-be, you would think he would.

  At least I have an excuse. I was getting out of here as soon as I was twenty-one and free from any commitment to this pack. Pity, it was still four years away. My eighteenth birthday was this weekend, and one year closer to my freedom.

  I watched Zane crack a smirk, reading something on his phone. He had midnight black hair, which sort of did its own thing, spiking in every direction. His arms were heavily tattooed, much to his parents’ disappointment I bet.

  "Mom, I need to go to the toilet" I hissed in her ear.

  "Make it quick, Allie," she shot back, giving me her famous annoyed smile.

  This was why I insisted on sitting at the end of the row - it gave me a quick getaway. I walked quickly and quietly out of the hall.

  Instead of heading to the toilet, I headed for the back door. This was the pack house, massive and overly impressive.

  I slid the glass doors open and the night air was welcoming. Mom and I both knew I wasn't planning on going back in. I would make an excuse like I got lost or something to her later.

  I sat down on the first step and fished around in my handbag looking for something to eat. I was always hungry. I personally think mom starved me as a child and now I was making up for it in my later years.

  Just because I ate like a horse, didn't mean I looked like one. I took pride in my slim figure, hell, I worked hard enough at it. I ran every morning in human form and then every night I ran in wolf form.

  "How about we make it ten?"

  My head snapped up to see Zane talking on his phone and closing the door softly. Looks like I’m not the only one skipping the meeting.

  "I know, babe, but I can't get away from the parents till then." He sounded disappointed and then chuckled. "Well, I will keep that in mind." He turned around, and his eyes widened slightly when they landed on me.

  I smirked smugly and turned around to look out at the gardens.

  "Look, I have to go," Zane muttered into the phone, and I heard it snap closed soon after. "What are you doing out here?" He sounded genuinely annoyed. God forbid someone hears his conversation.

  "Nothing." I took a bite off the bar I had found in my bag.

  "You should be in the meeting." He was now standing behind me.

  I got to my feet, knowing I was going to have to find somewhere else to get some privacy. "So should you," I challenged back at him.

  "I know you, don't I?" He frowned, trying to place me.

  We had been part of the same pack since the day we were born. I had been in all his grades during primary school, and we both go to the same high school and have had numerous classes together. Yet, he still couldn't place me.

  He was most likely trying to work out if we had slept together or not. I dry retched at that thought.

  "We go to the same school," I informed him, which eased the confused look on his face.

  "Oh, so you know me," he said, with that cocky smugness that caused my blood to run with disgust.

  "Just because we go to the same school and are in the same pack does not mean I know you. I simply have the awful pleasure of being in the same place as you." I gave him a dry smirk before leaving him standing there, gobsmacked.

  Suddenly, the meeting didn’t sound that bad.

  ***

  Z
ANE

  I hated, no, correct that, loathed school. For one, I hated spending time around humans and two, I hated classes. Sitting still and listening were two of my weaknesses.

  "So, I heard you scored the rose over the weekend." Taylor grinned, looking impressed.

  "Yeah, and she was fine," I shot back, leaning in my chair at the back of the classroom. Like always, we had pulled the desks together to form a long line. The teacher never cared.

  Emma Lawson was the first virgin I had done in a while and man, did I have to put in some legwork for that one, but she gave it up on Saturday night in my room. I wasn't just proud, I was smug about it.

  "Like they say, nothing like a fresh rose." Taylor winked.

  Taylor and I were best buds, and the one thing that consumed most of our conversations was girls.

  "You know you boys are disgusting," Ebony piped in, leaning around Taylor to look at me. "The poor girl will be waiting for your call."

  "I don't call." I shrugged it off. Hey, she knew I was a bad boy, and she knew I was a player. If she was stupid enough to fall for my charm so be it.

  "They get clingy." Taylor scrunched his nose up disgusted. "Has she been leaving messages?"

  "Wouldn't know, gave her a wrong number." I wasn't ashamed to admit it.

  I scanned the room, and for the second time in the last hour, my eyes landed on the brunette’s head. She was drawing something on the back of her notebook, listening to her iPhone. She was paying less attention to the class than we were.

  "Hey, who is that chick?" I asked Taylor, pointing to the brunette. She had told me off at the meeting on Saturday night. When she said she went to the same school as me, I thought she was lying, but sure enough, she did. We even had classes together.

  "Oh, that's Allie. I think that's her name." He frowned, trying to recall something. "She, um, hangs around with the Falcon twins."

  Chase and Blake Falcon - both nobodies with bad attitudes.

  "I've never seen her before." I watched her still scribbling in her book.

  "She's not nice," Ebony spoke up. "Like, she is really nasty."

  That I could believe, as she didn't even think twice about ripping into me.

  "Not to mention screwed up. Her dad left her and her mom here; they are like the pack's pity case," Taylor informed me.

  "What, her dad just left?"

  "No, he took his own life." Ebony seemed to know all about it. "He killed himself, ran off a cliff."

  "Why do I not know any of this?" Seriously, I was the future Alpha. Surely, I should be aware of something like this.

  "Because, and I quote, 'I don't care about pack families’ personal problems,”” Taylor said.

  "What, I'm not old, wrinkly, and in charge yet?" I crossed my arms, watching her. What was she drawing?

  "That's why you don't know anything," Ebony pointed out.

  "Why are you asking anyway? Are you into her or something?" Taylor was right on the pulse, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.

  "No, she just gave me a stray at the meeting the other night. I just wondered who she was."

  "She's someone you don't want to get involved with. I swear she has more attitude than the Falcon boys combined."

  "Don't worry, Taylor, you know I don't like drama." I sat back, pulling my eyes away from her and looking up at the board.

  "So, there are no parties this weekend." Ebony sighed. "I really need a new guy, and how can I find one if there are no parties on?" She sounded genuinely disappointed.

  Ebony was looking for any guy to take her mind off not having a mate. She had a plan in her little head - turn eighteen, find her mate, and settle down. When that didn't happen at the beginning of the year, she got bored of waiting and started sleeping her way through the ranks. She was as much of a player as Taylor and me, but nobody dared call her a slut because they would have us to answer to.

  The classroom door opened abruptly, and in walked King Dick, also known as Blake Falcon. He was half an hour late and didn't seem bothered by the teacher’s glares.

  "Winters," he grumbled, slumping into the chair next to Allie. He looked at whatever she was drawing and chuckled.

  That spiked my interest in her picture.

  "Where you been, Blake? Making me suffer English by myself is mean you know." She shot him a small smile.

  They were positioned in the middle row, but I could hear every word crystal clear. Advanced hearing did have some benefits.

  "Chase blew a tire on the car, and we didn't have a spare." He pointed to her drawing. "That eye is bigger than the other."

  She cursed under her breath and started to erase something. "So, you walked. You must have hated that."

  "You don't know how much." He put his arm over the back of her chair and leaned back getting comfortable.

  "You sure they are just friends?" I asked Taylor, not taking my eyes off her. "They look a bit more than that."

  "Well, if they are, they are the perfect couple, both as nasty and mean as the other," Ebony piped up.

  Allie Winters, you interest me, but I don't do drama. I shrugged my shoulders, sighed, and let it go. I was wasting my time thinking about her.

  I decided to change the subject. "So, this weekend, how about we head to the coast seeing as nothing is happening here?" Taylor nodded in agreement and, well, Ebony was bouncing with excitement.

  Just like that I stopped thinking about Allie Winters and started thinking about the trouble the three of us could get up to this weekend.

  ***

  She was bathing in lust. Her sexual drive was high, and it was setting me on fire. My wolf wanted to have some fun, nearly as much as I did. She continued to run her hands down my back, under my t-shirt. Her nails just leaving a mark, it was turning me on to no end.

  "Excuse me," a snappy voice followed by a pound on the locker caused me to break our kiss.

  "What?" I sneered, clearly annoyed. Rachel was breathless and pushed up against the locker - just how I wanted her. I was more than ready to take her, and here was Allie Winters standing with a glare on her face.

  "You are in my way," she spat. Her eyes flickered to Rachel, who was still struggling to get her breath back. "You know it’s third period, Barbie? You are missing the gossip session in the toilets."

  Suddenly, Rachel pulled her hands away from me, looking startled. "Sorry, Zane, I have to go." She pushed me slightly away from her, and I watched in horror as she walked away.

  Rachel never pushed me away. Slowly and painfully I glared back at Allie. Her emerald eyes were narrowed, and she was not afraid to glare back just as hard.

  "What the hell is your problem?" I snapped. She had just cost me an easy score!

  "You and her being against my locker is my problem!" she snapped back, and forcefully pushed me out of her way.

  I watched her twirl her combination around before unlocking her locker. "Seriously, you couldn't just move the show up a few lockers?" she grunted.

  "You better be careful, Allie, or I might think you are getting jealous." I watched smugly as she quickly spun around to look at me disgusted.

  "Jealous, are you mad, Zane?"

  I noticed the pictures of her and the Falcon boys glued to her locker door.

  "Mad no, but I know a jealous woman when I see her."

  I was just trying to stir her up. She had annoyed me after all, and I just wanted to annoy her back. Seeing the disgusted look on her face made this idea even better.

  "Oh, go die in an STD pool, would you?" She slammed her locker door shut, having already dumped her school books in it.

  "Well, if you are offering?"

  "Oh, you are disgusting," she shouted over her shoulder before storming off down the hall.

  I knew I had possibly pissed her off for the rest of the day and she would probably be walking around with that nasty glare on her face. For some reason that made me feel better about losing my possible score with Rach
el.

  She ruined my afternoon, and I had ruined hers in return.

  Chapter Two

  My head was still spinning from the weekend. We hadn’t got home until early this morning, and I think we got perhaps four hours sleep. The weekend was mental. Ebony had got a guy just like she wanted, while Taylor and I made it our mission to screw our way through the bikini models.

  I dropped my head in my hands, sitting on the school steps. Why was everyone so loud today? I had a free period, and I was taking full advantage of it. I was sitting out in the fresh air, still trying to sober up with a water bottle in my hand.

  "ZANE!" Taylor came sprinting around the corner. "FUCK, MAN, YOU NEED TO COME WITH ME!"

  He was slightly out of breath with worry lines on his forehead.

  "Why? What is going on?" I got up and broke out into a slow jog following him.

  "Two chicks are going at it on the oval. Apparently, one is close to changing in front of everyone."

  Great, just what I needed. I bloody hated Mondays. I got my ass moving, breaking out into a sprint. If dad found out someone shifted in front of humans, they would have their heads ripped off, and mine would come off after theirs.

  Dad made it clear, at school, I was in charge of student behavior. We never really had any problems, so I rarely had to step in.

  I spotted a group of people gathered on the oval.

  "Who is it?" I asked Taylor, as we pushed our way through the people. When we got to the front - that was when it happened.

  Everything slipped away. My wolf was alert and aware. My heart rate spiked then dropped. My eyes zoned in on her; everything around her blurred.

  Mate.

  That one word whispered through my body, and I knew I had found her. I watched dreamily as Allie laid into Ebony.

  Punch after punch.

  No one was breaking them up.

  But I was frozen watching her. She moved with such grace, her eyes zoned onto her prey.

  "ZANE MATE, SNAP OUT OF IT." Taylor slapped my chest hard, pulling me from my thoughts.

  I launched in between the girls. I pushed Ebony back while dodging one of Allie's left hooks. She was mad with uncontrollable rage. Her eyes weren't their usual emerald color, they were ash black. She wanted blood, her wolf was taking control of her, and she was letting it happen.