by Becca Van
Sugar Creek 4: Prim’s Silver Wolves
Primrose Costa is being terrorized in her own home but doesn’t know who is trying to scare her. She stops calling the police when they begin to think she’s crazy but when she hears from her old work colleague and friend, Melissa, and is invited to spend the summer on her friend’s family land, Prim jumps at the chance.
Just before she arrives at her friend’s house she has a fortuitous encounter with a silver-coated wolf and thinks it must be fate when she escapes unharmed.
When she meets Palmer, Edison, and Barrett Vargas, she is attracted to their good looks, silver hair, handsome faces, and muscular bodies. And even though she tries to resist them it’s really hard when they smell so damn good.
The Vargas brothers know that Primrose is their mate, but can they convince her to accept them as her men, animal side and all?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 48,110 words
SUGAR CREEK 4: PRIM’S SILVER WOLVES
Becca Van
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
SUGAR CREEK 4: PRIM’S SILVER WOLVES
Copyright © 2014 by Becca Van
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-132-7
First E-book Publication: August 2014
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
About the Author
SUGAR CREEK 4: PRIM’S SILVER WOLVES
BECCA VAN
Copyright © 2014
Prologue
Primrose Costa gasped with fright and slammed her foot down onto the brake pedal when a wolf ran out from the trees, alongside the road, and then directly into the path of her car. She chanted, “Please, please, please,” as her car tires squealed on the bitumen and her vehicle came to a screeching halt.
She drew in ragged breaths and finally sagged in her seat when she realized that she hadn’t hit the wolf. The animal streaked across the road and she saw it glance over its shoulder before it disappeared into the forest on the other side. The wolf had been so damn big and the silver coat had looked magnificently shiny in the light of the late afternoon sun. She’d never seen anything so amazing in her life. She could still see its translucent, golden glowing eyes in her mind and wondered if that was an anomaly of birth or something special.
A shiver wracked her spine when she remembered those eyes connecting with hers, and how intelligent they’d looked, almost like a human’s. Prim shuddered and pushed her silliness aside. When she realized she was still sitting in the middle of the road, she glanced in her rearview mirror and sighed with relief when she saw no other cars coming up behind her.
She unwound her window and inhaled the wonderful scents of the trees and tried to calm her racing heart. The sage-and-pine scent surrounded her and she started to relax. It was only as she put the gear stick back in first that she noticed her car motor wasn’t running. She turned the ignition key and muttered under her breath when all she heard was a click, and tried three more times before giving up.
Prim slammed her hand down on the steering wheel and then yelped when pain radiated through her palm. She was on her way to see her friend Melissa Aerth, and now she had no idea what to do. She was looking forward to seeing Mel, since she hadn’t seen her best friend for six months. She missed her so much and was looking forward to meeting her husband, but at the moment, she was frustrated beyond words.
She was considered an enigma by her work colleagues since she hated technology, and even though she had a cell phone and a laptop, she had trouble understanding the concept of how everything worked. Not that it really mattered. As long as she knew how to use the programs she needed to, she didn’t care about all the other stuff. She was considered an anomaly because of her technophobia, but she wasn’t worried about what other people thought of her.
With a sigh of resignation, she realized that she was going to have to try and push her car to the side of the road. That was going to be damned hard since she had no one to help her, but there was nothing for it.
She released and removed her seat belt, opened her car door, and stood just outside the driver’s door, thinking she was most likely going to put her back out or pull some muscles doing this, but she needed to get her car out of the road. After making sure the gear stick was in neutral, she half bent and held onto the steering wheel with one hand so she could steer her car, and began pushing. The op
en car doorframe bit into her shoulder as she used her legs and body weight to get her vehicle rolling, and she was pleasantly surprised when it began to move. By the time she got her vehicle onto the shoulder of the road, she was panting and sweating and her muscles were shaking with fatigue, but she was also triumphant because she had managed to move her car by herself, without help from anyone.
She sank down into the driver’s seat and got her breath back. After a few moments, she rummaged in her purse for her cell phone and stared at the display with incredulousness. Why the hell were there still shitty reception areas where cell phones were concerned? With the way technology was progressing at such a fast rate—and leaving her way behind since most of it bamboozled her—how could there still be dead zones where reception was concerned? There wasn’t one single bar on her phone and Prim wondered what the hell she was supposed to do now.
There were only a couple of hours of light left and if she couldn’t contact Mel and get some help, she was going to have to spend the night in her car. She could just imagine how cold and uncomfortable that would be, since she wasn’t into camping or roughing it. Prim liked her creature comforts and didn’t even want to think about relieving herself behind a tree. She wasn’t a snob—kindergarten teacher wages wouldn’t let her be, not that she wanted to be anyway—but she liked being able to use the modern conveniences even if she didn’t understand them all.
Now that her muscles weren’t quivering with fatigue and aching so much and she had her breath back, she decided the only course of action was to start walking. She loved going for walks, but only if she knew her destination or was familiar with the area, but she couldn’t see another way around it. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to walk too far before she could use her phone and call Mel for help, but she definitely wasn’t going to hold her breath.
Prim sighed and got out, and then locked the door of her vehicle after closing it and set off in the direction she had been driving. She kept her cell phone in her hand and glanced at the screen periodically, and hoped that she would soon have at least one bar on her phone so she could call her friend. Deciding that an hour of walking was her limit and that she would turn back to her car if she wasn’t able to make a call and pass the night hours locked within it safe away from wolves and any other animal she may encounter, she picked up her pace.
She was only about a hundred yards from her car when she heard rustling in the trees and fallen foliage just beyond the side of the road. Prim stopped walking and looked around, but she couldn’t see anything or anyone. She put it down to small animals scurrying in the undergrowth and started walking again. When she heard more crunching and crackling, which sounded like it was being made by a larger animal or maybe a human, she stopped once more and stared hard in between the trees. She gasped when she saw golden eyes shining at her and her heart flipped in her chest, and then raced hard as the flight-or-fight sensations took over.
Prim spun on her heels and hurried back toward her car. She kept her eyes on whatever was watching her and started panting for breath when she realized that it, whatever it was, was keeping pace with her. She wanted to run, but if it was a large animal—and from the height of its eyes it would stand chest height to her—she didn’t want to encourage whatever it was to chase her and then pounce. She was already moving faster than normal. Not quite a jog, but more than a power walker’s pace. As she moved closer and closer to her car, she pulled her keys from her shorts pocket and started pressing the central locking button. At first, it didn’t work and she started to get frantic, but she nearly cried out in relief when she saw her indicator lights flash as her vehicle unlocked. Now all she had to do was get in there before she became dinner to something.
She was too scared to look at the animal now, so she kept her gaze on the door handle to her car and when she heard the sound of claws clacking on the road behind her, she put on a burst of speed. But she didn’t quite make it.
Prim whimpered and shook with fear when she felt the hot, moist breath on the back of her arm and closed her eyes, all the while praying that the animal wouldn’t eat her, but she still braced her body in anticipation of the pain.
When she felt a hot, wet tongue on the back of her upper leg, she couldn’t contain the hysterical giggle that bubbled up in her chest and escaped her mouth. She wanted to turn around and face her nemesis, however she was too scared to move, but she gained her courage and forced her body to obey her brain. With a slowness she didn’t know she had in her, Prim slowly turned her head as she opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder.
The eyes of the wolf were changing from a light blue to a golden, glowing yellow as it stared at her. A shiver worked its way up her spine and she trembled as goose bumps rose up all over her skin. The hair on her nape and her entire body stood on end and she closed her eyes again as she tried to control her rapid breathing. She was panting so fast and hard she could hear the air rushing in and out of her mouth and from between her teeth.
When she felt another lick, but this time to the back of her knee, her giggle was because the wolf had tickled her and also because she’d never been so scared in her whole life. Not even when one of the other teachers at the school she worked at had cornered her in a large walk-in cupboard and made a pass at her. He’d been so angry when she told him to go to hell that she had been scared he was going to hit her. The only other time she been close to being this scared was when she started finding the threatening notes under the windshield wiper of her car, or when she heard someone outside her house tapping on her windows and making scraping noises as if they were trying to break in.
None of that compared to how scared she was now right now, staring her own mortality in the face—or should that be the wolf’s face? If that wolf decided she was going to be dinner, she didn’t think she’d be able to fight it off. It was freaking huge and just one bite from the pointy teeth and powerful jaws, and she knew she would be done for. There would be no way in hell she would be able to escape from its clutches.
But the bite never came and Prim’s breathing began to slow, as did her pounding heart. She opened her eyes again and looked back over her shoulder. She was surprised, yet jubilantly relieved to see it sitting on the road behind her and watching her avidly. With slow, sure movements, she turned around until her back was to her car—she leaned against it so she wouldn’t fall into a scared puddle on the ground—and locked her knees, hoping that her legs would stop trembling soon as she watched the wolf. She was mesmerized as the animal’s eyes continued to change color and hoped she wasn’t challenging it by staring into its eyes.
Hadn’t she heard somewhere that looking into an animal of prey’s eyes was like waving a red flag in front of a bull?
When the wolf tilted its head and studied her and his tongue fell out of the side of its mouth, she could almost believe it was smiling at her. But when it stood up on all fours again and took a step toward her, she started trembling again. His breath was hot against the skin of her belly where her T-shirt didn’t quite meet the waistband of her shorts, and she reached back, gripping the door handle to her car in preparation. If he pounced, she hoped she would have enough time to sidestep, slam the door into his head, and dive inside. She didn’t want to hurt it, but she didn’t want to die out here in the middle of nowhere and all alone.
Melissa would wonder what had happened to her, and if the wolf decided to make a meal out of her, she may never be found.
He bent his head down, nuzzled the tip of his nose against her leg, and then inhaled noisily. Prim couldn’t help jumping with fear when he made a chuffing sound in the back of his throat. His tongue flopped out of his mouth again and then he started licking her leg. She just hoped that she tasted terrible and he didn’t sink those sharp teeth into her. He looked up at her as he continued to lick her and then he took a step back. She held her breath and stayed still, hoping that he would now leave since it seemed his curiosity was appeased. At least, she hoped it was.
He shifted to
the side and slowly trotted toward the trees, but kept his gaze on her until he disappeared. Prim sagged against her car with liberation. She felt so weak she didn’t think she could move without falling flat on her face, but when she heard a loud howl she jumped, gasped, and spun around all at once, and frantically pulled at the door handle. She dove into her car, heedless of the fact that her leg crashed up against the hand brake, causing her pain and probably leaving a bruise, and then slammed the door closed behind her.
Prim moaned and wiped the sweat from her forehead, and then gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles were white and they started to ache. And then she burst out laughing. She laughed with joy that she was still alive after her freak encounter with the silver-coated wolf and tears rolled down her cheeks.
When she had herself back under control, she put the key in the ignition with trembling fingers and then tried to start her car again. The engine ticked over and started without a hitch, and more tears of elation coursed down her cheeks. If she told anyone about her encounter with the animal, she didn’t think that they would believe her. She knew that if anyone told her such a story, she wouldn’t have believed it. And then she began to wonder if fate had played a part in her car conking out at the right spot at the right moment, just so she could have an encounter of the wolf-kind.
Prim chuckled at the ludicrousness of that thought as she put on her seat belt, her gear into first, and then she checked her mirrors before pulling back onto the road.
Boy, was she going to have a story to tell Mel when she finally got to her destination. Prim just hoped that she wouldn’t laugh at her or think she was crazy, or think that she was on something and had hallucinated the whole wolf thing.
