Wild Craving
Marisa Chenery
Edited by Marisa Chenery
Cover design by April Martinez
Copyright 2014 Marisa Chenery. Published by Forever More Publishing, 31 Wycliffe Place, Kitchener, Ontario, N2M 5J6, Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.
ISBN: 978-1-92785-929-2
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
Blurb
Born a wolf able to take on human form, Kiel loves the freedom of the mountainous forests on his family’s lands. But his life is about to change as the mate brand appears on his skin, which sets off a countdown. He has a short time to find and claim his mate before he loses his humanity for good. Expecting her to be a wolf shifter like him, a chance encounter with a human woman shows she’s the one meant for him.
As a model, Neha had seen a lot of good-looking men, but Kiel took her breath away at first sight, while his intoxicating scent had her body going into overdrive. Only passing through, circumstances happen that have her staying longer than she intended, and gives her the chance to let nature take its course.
With time ticking away, Kiel takes steps to bind Neha to him, and gives in to his wild craving. Once claimed, he must keep his mate at his side or face a lifetime of loneliness.
Chapter One
In his wolf form, Kiel ran through the forest that was part of his family’s one hundred acres in Canyon Creek, Montana. He slowly worked his way toward his log cabin. His immediate family, his parents and five brothers, who were the members of his wolf pack, all had built homes of their own as well.
Kiel stretched out into a loping run, sniffing the air and picking up the scents around him. Born a wolf and able to shift into human form, he felt more at ease in the skin of his animal self.
He was just about at his cabin when a surge of need, the urge and craving to mate, slammed into him, almost taking his paws out from under him. Kiel whined and came to a sudden stop, his sides heaving as he tried to breathe through the almost crippling sensation.
He shifted to his human form, willing clothes onto his body at the same time, and hissed at the burning sensation on his neck where it and his shoulder met on the left side. Kiel covered the spot with his hand and panted through the pain. Once it eased, he hurried toward home. The burning had ended, but arousal still rode him.
It seemed to take a lot longer than it should have to reach his cabin. Kiel threw the door open and stalked across the room to the bathroom. He went to stand in front of the mirror that hung on the wall above the sink, then tugged the collar of his dark gray t-shirt aside. What he saw caused him to suck in a sharp breath.
Where shoulder and neck joined, the mate brand had appeared. All in black, intricate Celtic-styled knot work in a circular design surrounded a pair of wolves that stood and faced each other with their heads thrown back on a howl.
Kiel traced the brand with his gaze. He was thirty years old. The males of his kind were marked around his age when it was time for them to find their mates. They had no control over it, and once it happened, the urge to claim the ones meant for them would ride them, causing them to become solely focused on seeking out their other halves.
He took a deep breath as another wave of intense arousal surged through him. Even though Kiel had the urge to mate, his body was another story. Until he found the woman meant for him, his cock wouldn’t harden, no matter how turned-on he became. It was nature’s way of “pointing” him in the right direction, almost like a damn dousing rod.
He stared at the brand again. Once he claimed his mate, the black knot work would change color, taking on the jewel tones of reds, blues and greens. And the same marking would appear on his woman in the exact same place on her body.
Kiel turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water onto his face. He would have to go in search of his other half, the sooner the better. With the appearance of the mate brand, it started a countdown. He had three weeks to find his mate and claim her. If he failed to do that before time ran out, he’d lose his human half, become all wolf. He’d be no different than the wild gray wolves that roamed free in this part of Montana.
As he stepped out of the bathroom a loud knock sounded on his door. It was then followed by it being opened. Kiel’s five brothers came walking in as if they owned the place. Not that he minded. That was the way they always were with each other. All born from the same litter, they’d grown up doing everything together. They weren’t identical, but shared enough of the same features to show they were siblings. They had inherited their father’s black hair and their mother’s light green eyes. They also were well over six feet tall, again thanks to their father.
Memphis, who’d been born fourth, sniffed the air, then made a show of waving his hand in front of his face. “Man, it stinks in here. What were you doing? Jerking off?”
That earned Memphis a slap to the back of the head from Talon, the youngest. “We all can smell it, idiot. Unlike you, we aren’t making a big deal out of it. If Kiel wants to jerk off inside his own cabin, that’s none of our business. It’s not as if you don’t do it too.”
Cyrus, the second eldest, laughed. “Yeah, knowing Memphis, he does it every chance he gets.”
That caused Rhett, brother number five, to elbow Gage, brother number three, and nod in agreement before the two of them, Talon and Cyrus burst out laughing. Memphis, on the other hand, looked none too impressed.
Kiel let loose with a loud growl that had the others falling silent. As the eldest, the others tended to listen to him more than they did each other, at least some of the time.
“Knock it off,” Kiel said.
“That’s what I thought you were already doing,” Memphis said, obviously more than willing to turn the attention back on to Kiel.
Kiel growled once more. “Enough, Memphis. I’m not in the mood. And to shut you the hell up, I wasn’t jerking off.”
He bit back a groan as his arousal surged once more. It would even out by the next day, but until then he’d have to put up with the surges. And any wolf shifter would be able to smell it as his brothers had.
Gage stepped closer to Kiel with a thoughtful expression. “The scent just got stronger.” He reached out and tugged the collar of Kiel’s t-shirt down, revealing the mate brand.
“Holy shit,” Rhett said. “You’ve been marked.”
The rest of his brothers crowded around Kiel, each taking their turn to peer at his neck. He wondered how long it would take it for them to connect his being marked and what it would mean to them. They were all the same age.
Cyrus was the first one to clue in on it. “Crap. That means the brand will appear on us in the not too distant future.”
The expressions his brothers wore ranged from surprise, shock and dread. The latter one was Talon’s. His sibling was known for his wandering eye. Out of the three other wolf shifter packs that were in the same general area as theirs, and which were larger since they didn’t just consist of family members, Talon had gone through quite a few of the available fema
les. Some of them were no longer on good terms with him because of his playboy ways. His brother’s mate could very well be one of those ladies and Talon would be screwed as he tried to get her to forget their past. That thought had a smile tugging at Kiel’s lips.
“I guess you’ll be visiting the other packs very soon,” Gage said.
Kiel nodded. “Yeah. I’ll go tomorrow and see what happens.”
“Are you going to tell the pack leaders?” Rhett asked.
“Shit, no.”
There was no way in hell Kiel would do that. If he did, the pack leaders would round up all their unmated females and get them to stand in a row. He’d be expected to walk past each one, smelling her scent, and see which one caused his dick to harden. Then he’d have to take her to the first available private place and claim her then and there. There was no question she wouldn’t be unwilling, because if she was his mate she would have the same kind of reaction he had to her. He still thought that whole process was demeaning to a woman, and about as romantic as a caveman knocking his female over the head and dragging her away.
With their pack only consisting of his parents, himself and his brothers, it wasn’t necessary to hold to such an old tradition. His whole family felt the same way Kiel did about it. Their mother had drilled it into his and his brothers’ heads as they grew up, over and over again, that they would find their mates without having her put on display. That was part of the reason why his mom and dad had left their packs and decided to form their own. His mom had been the one to find their father. She hadn’t wanted to be forced to stand out in public and wait for her mate to signal she was the one because she caused him to have an erection. When she’d felt ready to have a mate, she’d gone to each unclaimed male once their mate brand had appeared on their necks and let him get a good sniff of her. She had this freaky intuition that gave her the ability to know exactly when a male was marked and where to find him. And luckily for her, their father had been the second male she’d confronted.
Kiel mulled over his mother’s special intuition. She had to now know he’d been branded. As if his thoughts caused her to appear, she walked through the still open door. His mom met his gaze and smiled as she crossed the room to where he stood. Selina didn’t look her fifty-eight years. Her long, dark blonde hair fell around her shoulders, her body was slim and she appeared no older than the twenty-eight she’d been when she became mated to their father. All wolf shifters aged slower than humans. Their lifespans lasted to a hundred and fifty.
His mom gently worked her way around her sons to Kiel. She pulled the collar of his t-shirt aside and looked at his brand, then cupped his face and kissed him. “It’s started,” she said. “I’m going to lose my babies to their mates.”
Kiel groaned. “We’re hardly babies anymore, Mom.”
“I’ll still think of all of you that way no matter what age you are. The six of you are the only children I have.”
After having them, their mom hadn’t been able to conceive again. Most wolf shifter females only had two to three pups per litter. It was very rare that one bore six. His parents figured it’d been too much of a strain on their mother’s body and made it so she no longer could get pregnant. Not that Selina minded. She always said she’d just had all the children she was meant to have at once rather than over time.
“With Kiel soon to be mated,” Talon said, “you’ll have grandchildren to look forward to, Mom.”
“That’s right,” she answered with a nod. “More babies to love.”
Kiel groaned to himself. He was ready to become mated, had actually thought about it since his last birthday six months before, but the idea of being a father was an entirely different matter. He wanted to have some time with his mate without kids thrown into the mix. The chances were more than likely he wouldn’t know her all that well or at all. He wanted at least a year to have her to himself before the next generation came.
Another surge went through Kiel and he had to bite back a moan. The rest of the day wasn’t going to be fun. And it wasn’t as if he could jerk off, as Memphis had accused him of doing, to get some relief. His cock remained limp without so much as a twitch, but his blood ran hot and the urge to have sex was hard to ignore.
His mom took one look at him and then made shooing motions toward his brothers. “All right, boys. Time to leave Kiel alone. He doesn’t need all of you crowding around and bugging him. Your time will come. He’ll be up to having company tomorrow.”
His siblings left, arguing over who would be next to be branded, even though it was known to go by birth order in siblings. Once they were all outside, Kiel felt as if he could breathe a little easier. He loved his brothers dearly, but there were times when they could be huge pains in the butt.
Kiel turned to his mom. “Thanks.”
She smiled. “No problem. You take it easy today. Tomorrow you can try to do something about it. And remember when you visit the other packs, don’t announce why you’re there and hide your brand.”
“I know. I already planned on doing those things.”
“Good boy.”
His mom gave him a kiss, then headed out the door. Once she reached the porch, her body blurred and she took on her wolf form. She bounded away, more than likely going to meet up with his father, who would be out somewhere on their expansive property. All his family lived off the land by hunting for their food, growing what vegetables they needed and trapping in the winter to sell the furs for what they had no choice but to buy in Helena, the closest city.
Kiel shut the door, then sat on the couch. He didn’t have a television to watch since there was no electricity in his cabin. Not that he missed those things. He’d never had them. He looked around his home, thinking what his future mate would think of it. For wolf shifter standards, it was very rustic. Depending on where her pack was located, he might have to modernize. There was one located inside Helena where they lived more human than wolf. If his mate came from there, she definitely would balk at living in his cabin the way it was now.
He blew out a breath and relaxed with his head leaning against the top of the back of the couch cushions. He’d worry about all that when the time came. There was always a chance the one meant for him would be from one of the packs that was almost as secluded as his. Tomorrow would hopefully end the way he wanted it.
* * * *
By the following morning the surges of arousal had stopped. Kiel’s libido was still working overtime, but he could tolerate it. Once he found his mate it would only start up again until he’d claimed her as his. To her, his scent would become like an aphrodisiac and would have her more than willing to sleep with him. It was nature’s way of guaranteeing the mating would progress as it should.
After a quick breakfast, Kiel headed outside to the outbuilding he kept his older-model pickup truck. Modern transportation was one thing that wasn’t smart to do without in the environment they lived in. His parents and brothers all owned vehicles that were suited to the roads in this mountains area.
Once on his way, Kiel drove to the wolf shifter pack that was closest to his. It wasn’t a very large one, and all the members lived on one big section of land, their homes near one another’s. Unlike his family’s cabins, which were spread out with five acres between each of them.
Luckily it was the pack’s day to hold their weekly farmer’s type market. Even though their homes were close together, they all worked a community field and sold or traded some of the produce they grew. They also had items such as handmade furniture for sale. Kiel had come on several occasions to buy different pieces for his cabin.
He wandered around the market, pretending to be interested in what was displayed on the tables at each stall, even though he discreetly checked out the scent of each wolf shifter female there. He wasn’t the only outsider. There were a few humans browsing as well, locals who lived close by. The pack didn’t keep their market a secret.
Kiel had scented every female there and not one of them brought his cock to life.
He figured this pack was a bust. He drove to the next, and much to his disappointment, met with the same result. That left the one situated in the city.
Helena had a population of approximately twenty-eight thousand, and was the capital city of Montana. Humans first settled there when gold had been found in the mid-1800s in a gulch off the Prickly Pear valley. The original camp had been called Last Chance, which resulted in the city’s main street being named Last Chance Gulch.
To Kiel, it was a place he would never feel comfortable living in. There were too many people and the land too built up for his liking. He was a wolf who needed the forests in Canyon Creek to run through and the wildlife to hunt. He couldn’t understand how the Helena pack could have adapted to this very human way of life.
He hoped like hell he wouldn’t find his mate there. If he didn’t, he’d have to travel to other packs farther away, which Kiel was more than willing to make the trip. At least they kept to their wolf heritage and he wouldn’t have to make the choice of having to give up his way of life to keep his mate happy.
Kiel arrived in Helena, but decided to go to a coffee shop to get something to eat before he started the lengthy task of seeking out the pack who called the city home. For one thing, he had to come up with some kind of excuse to go knocking door-to-door. He couldn’t exactly blurt out what his real reason was. One of the pack members would call their leader and Kiel would find himself in a situation he wanted to avoid.
He pulled into the parking lot of a coffee shop just off the main street and parked. Since it was close to noon, the place was half full. Kiel took a seat at the counter and looked over the menu. The place offered soups and sandwiches, along with a wide range of doughnuts and muffins, as well as coffee and tea. Once a waitress came to ask what he wanted, he ordered a sandwich and coffee.
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