Nick nodded, and Dan saw something tense loosen in his shoulders. He could only imagine how stressed his pack leader must be feeling right now. “Okay, that’s good to hear. Thank you, Lucy.”
He gazed over the rest of his pack. “I know it doesn’t sound ideal; trust me, it’s far from it. But it’s the hand we’ve been dealt. We’ve faced worse odds and came out on top. I have faith we’ll do that again.” A small hopeful smile tugged on his lips. “We’re stronger than we look, otherwise Lucas would have won a long time ago. Don’t forget that.”
He stood, stretching high as he wrapped things up. “So with that said, they’ll be packing up and heading our way before we know it. It’s our responsibility to keep them properly accommodated.” He turned to Lucy. “There’s an old dusty house in town that isn’t seeing much use these days. I was wondering if our official Interior Decorator would be willing to head a renovation attempt in preparation for our future guests?”
“You mean Lucas’s old place that I stayed in back then?” Savannah asked, nose wrinkling. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Tom shrugged. “It’s not like he’s going to call the constable and have us evicted. We’ll change the locks, reinforce the doors and windows, and add the house to our patrol route.” He grinned. “Call it a spoil of war.”
Lucy nodded. “If that’s what you need me to do to help out, I can do it. The office is pretty much finished up and I’ve been wondering about how to take on a new project anyway.”
Nick smiled. “Good to hear. You’ve only got about two weeks.”
“Dan, that means no more early morning anti-clumsy practice for you,” Tom quipped.
Dan groaned, but hearing Lucy’s chuckle, he couldn’t help but think that everything was going to be okay.
I hope you enjoyed books 1, 2 & 3 of my Alpha Bear series! Book 4 will be out soon! Turn the page to read the first 3 books of my Mountain Wolves Series!
Protected by the Mountain Wolf
Emilia Hartley
Chapter 1
Amara loved to walk at night, beneath the light of the full moon. Not that she was allowed to. She couldn’t count how many times her grandfather had forbade her to be out at night. Wolves, he said. Wolves were everywhere. And they were dangerous. Once, that might have been true. In fact, she knew it was, since just three years before, one had killed her father. But that had only spurred the hunters in town to action, killing off every wolf they could get their hands on in retaliation. Since then, the sleepy town of Strathford was nothing more than a boring mountain town just trying to survive until tourist season.
Still, it seemed like Grandfather hadn’t gotten the memo. She was still expected to be home before dark, still expected to listen to every little warning he had. It was like he thought the wolves could think like humans or something. She loved him more than she could say, but sometimes, she thought the old man was crazy.
What harm could it do to be out at night beneath the stars? He couldn’t hold her captive forever. As she gazed out at the surrounding houses, she thought she caught movement across the street. Was there someone up there? She blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes, before looking again. No, no one was there. She must have been imagining things.
“Amara, what do you think?” her friend Zoe asked, jarring her from her reverie. She and Becca were staring at her, their hands shoved into the pockets of their coats against the cold.
Amara stared at them, hastily pushing her thick, dark hair from her eyes and straightening her red wool coat. She had no idea what they’d been saying. “What do I think about what?”
Zoe gaped at her. “What do you mean about what?” she exclaimed, exasperated. “About Brad! Don’t you think he was into Becca? I mean, honestly, he couldn’t stop staring at her tonight.”
“Oh, right.” Amara forced a smile, trying to ignore her friends’ incredulous stares. “I’m sure Zoe’s right, Becs. Brad’s totally into you. I mean, the diner is pretty small, so I doubt he was staring at anyone else, right?” Truthfully, she hadn’t been paying attention to Brad at all. She’s just happy she had managed to sneak out and enjoy her freedom tonight. Whether Brad was into Becca or not just didn’t matter all the much to her at the moment.
Her friends, on the other hand, didn’t appear to approve. Zoe put her hands on her hips and glared at Amara, as if accusing her of not being a good friend. Becca looked more hurt than anything else.
Amara scuffed the ground with her shoe, feeling slightly ashamed. She knew Becca had been crushing on Brad Hendricks since like, eighth grade. And if he really did like her back, then this was huge, and she was a horrible friend not to notice.
“I’m sorry, Becs,” Amara murmured, reaching out to rub Becca’s arm in apology. “I wasn’t really paying attention, but I did notice him watching you all through dance practice yesterday. Besides,” she threaded her arm through the other girl’s and the three of them began to walk again, “you’re awesome. He’d be stupid not to like you.”
Becca’s face lit up with hope. “You really think so?”
“Of course I do.” Amara caught Zoe’s gaze. From the look in her eyes, all was forgiven. “Although, he is a guy. It may take him a lot longer to get over himself and figure it out, but once he does, he’ll realize he should have started talking to you years ago.” All three girls began to laugh.
From somewhere in the dark, Amara thought she heard a growl. Fear gripped her, and suddenly, Grandfather’s voice was in her head again, warning her about the danger of wolves. She shook herself. She was being silly. There were no wolves in Strathford anymore. But a howl in the distance made her freeze. “Did you guys hear that?” she whispered, but her friends took no notice. It must’ve been a coyote or something, she reassured herself. Nothing more. Still, she caught herself glancing over her shoulder, almost as if she were expecting to see a wolf standing in the street.
“Are you okay, Amara?” Becca asked, concern written all over her face. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Amara took a deep breath and shook her head. She was being ridiculous. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel as if she were being watched.
Chapter 2
Up on the roof of a nearby house, Nova crouched by the chimney and watched the girls as they walked down the street. Two of them were cute enough, but it was the dark haired one in the red coat that really caught his eye. There was something in the way she moved, the way she smiled, that intrigued him. And out of the three, she was the only one that had heard the wolf’s howl. He wondered what she looked like up close, what she smelled like. How soft her skin was, and what it would feel like to hold her hand.
Stupid, Nova thought, cursing himself under his breath. He shouldn’t even be thinking about a human girl, much less fantasizing about her. His job was to protect his clan’s territory. Strathford and all its humans were included in that protection, as they had been for the last sixty-five years.
He had only been allowed on watch the last couple of months. Nova grinned to himself. He had finally been allowed to join the Protectors of the Mountain Wolf Clan, the elite group within his pack. He wasn’t about to let some stupid infatuation with a human girl mess it up.
Keep your distance, his brother, Nemoy, had always said. Don’t get too close—just close enough to keep them safe—and definitely don’t get to know them. You can’t protect the humans if you can’t stay objective. Besides, it was forbidden to get involved with a human. And he’d be damned if he was going to break one of his pack’s rules.
Turning at the sound of footsteps on the roof, Nova watched Nemoy’s nearly silent approach. Although the two brothers were two years apart in age, they looked almost identical. They both had long, jet-black hair, tanned skin, dark almond-shaped eyes, and a lanky, muscular build. Nemoy, at nineteen, was starting to fill out and his frame had stopped looking so boyish, and more like a man; something Nova, at seventeen, secretly envied.
Nemoy crouched beside h
im, gazing stoically down at the girls walking across the street. “Seems pretty quiet tonight, doesn’t it?” Nemoy asked, his deep voice a harsh whisper.
Nova nodded. “Not a lot going on. There was a howl a little while ago.” He tried not to let the worry show in his voice. “Think we should check it out?”
Considering, Nemoy shook his head. “Nah. Probably just one of the younger pups, out running around.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Still, Nova found himself probing the darkness for danger. “Any word on the Valley Clan recently? Have they come into our territory again?”
Nemoy’s features turned grave and serious. “The was a breach on the East border last night. They think it was teenagers, maybe not even of age. We sent an envoy to their Alpha, hoping he would re-enforce the territory restrictions, but it doesn’t look promising. The Valley Alpha only took over six months ago, and from what we can tell, he has a thirst for violence. His son seems to be just as bad, unfortunately. Personally, I think we need to do something about them.”
“What’s Father say?” Nova asked. Their father was the Alpha of the Mountain Clan, and a known pacifist. Yes, there had been peace between the clans for some time now, but lately, conflicts were heating up all along the borders, most of which from the Valley Clan, and still, his father hadn’t done anything more than increase border patrols.
Nemoy just rolled his eyes. “You know Father. Always the peace keeper. He thinks if we just keep them clear of our borders, it will all settle down.”
Nova glanced sideways at him. “You don’t agree?”
“I think this new Alpha is looking to make a name for himself.” Nemoy shook his head angrily. “You know how the Valley Clan has always wanted to acquire our territory. The treaty Father struck with their old Alpha kept things quiet enough, but now…I just don’t believe the new Alpha is adhering to the guidelines.”
Nova pursed his lips, taking it all in. His entire life, the most exciting thing that had happened within the territory was a few border skirmishes from some rogue wolves setting out on their own. Now, however, things were finally starting to get exciting.
From the corner of his eye, he caught something moving in the darkness. “Nemoy, did you see that?”
“See what?”
Nova narrowed his eyes, trying to spot what had moved. There. A flick of a tail around the corner. “Nemoy,” he said sharply, starting to stand, “there’s a wolf down there.”
Suddenly, his brother was on high alert. “A wolf? Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Nova nodded, glancing up at the girls to make sure they were still okay. They’d made it a few blocks down the street, but he could still see them. “It disappeared right around that corner.”
“And you’re sure it wasn’t one of ours?”
Frowning, Nova kept watching the darkness. The girls had turned a corner and slipped out of sight. “Well, no, I’m not sure. I really only saw its tail.”
Nemoy’s shoulders relaxed, and he slipped back into a crouch, pulling Nova down with him. “Relax, little bro. Like I said, it’s probably just one of the pups.”
“I don’t know, Nemoy,” Nova replied skeptically. Something told him it was more than that. “No one’s scheduled to watch this end of Strathford tonight, right?”
“Just us.”
“Then why would they be skulking around when they know we’re on patrol?”
Despite calm outer demeanor, Nemoy frowned, and a vein at his temple began to pulse. It was a sure sign that his adrenaline was pumping, and he was preparing for battle, Nova knew.
Suddenly, an earsplitting scream split the darkness, followed by the unmistakable growl of a wolf. Nova glared at his brother. “That was not a pup, Nemoy.”
“No, it wasn’t. Come on.” Getting to his feet, Nemoy hastily loped along the roof until he got to the edge, where he dropped lithely to the ground. Nova followed, his movements just as agile.
Once he hit the ground, Nova began to change. His bones creaked and groaned as they grew and shrunk, turning him from boy to wolf. The pain of the transformation was sharp and familiar, and after all these years, he was almost numb to it. He felt his legs crack and snap as they elongated and morphed to form the hind legs of a canine. He fell to all fours, his hands scraping at the dirt as his fingers fused to form paws, his nails growing thicker and elongating to become claws. Fur sprouted all over his skin, thick black and silver, replacing the clothes that shredded and fell to the dirt. His face thinned and his nose grew outward, forming his snout. The tingling sensation along his gums told him that his teeth were growing into the sharp weapon of the wolf.
All around him, the night came to life as his senses sharpened. He could smell everything from the grass to the rotting food permeating the dumpster of the restaurant three blocks over. He could smell the enemy wolves that had invaded their town, and they were definitely not part of the Mountain Clan. Running his long tongue over his jowls, he could taste, rather than smell, the scent of blood on the air. They needed to move. Now.
Turning to look at his brother, he found Nemoy already in wolf form, his jet-black fur difficult to see in the darkness, even with his heightened vision. Throwing his head back, Nova howled up at the moon, the sound was as much a warning to his enemies as it was a battle cry.
Chapter 3
Amara turned as the wolf stepped from the shadows. She froze, her blood turning to ice. “Guys,” she whispered, stopping and trying to step between the wolf and her friends. Neither Becca nor Zoe paid her any attention. “Guys,” she said again, this time with enough snap in her voice to get them to stop talking.
Zoe turned to her, clearly annoyed, hands on her hips. She didn’t even get the question out before the wolf lunged for her. It was huge, it’s thick fur a red, russet color, a vicious growl issuing from its throat. It landed on Zoe’s back, pushing her down into the dirt. Becca’s scream ripped through the night, right before a second wolf went for her, its teeth aiming for her throat.
Helpless, Amara started to reach for her friends when a third wolf charged at her. She ran, her footsteps pounding against the pavement, her heart feeling as if it was about to burst in her chest. Fear coursed through her veins, and she pushed herself harder, hoping she hadn’t just left Zoe and Becca to die. Hoping she wasn’t about to die herself.
She could hear the wolf running behind her, his paws scraping the street. He was gaining on her. Amara glanced over her shoulder. The wolf was tan, his tongue lolling out of his mouth in what looked like a sloppy grin. The wolf was enjoying the chase.
Amara’s toe caught on the sidewalk and she went down, landing hard on her hands and knees. She could feel the blood running down her leg beneath her jeans, feel the deep gash on her palm. She tried to move, to crawl away from him, but she didn’t get far before she felt his teeth dig into her leg, ripping the denim and slicing open her skin. She screamed, loud and long, kicking at him with her other foot. She felt her shoe connect with his skull and his grip loosened, but it didn’t stop him. He lunged again, and another wolf joined him; the russet one that had attacked Zoe. Blood dripped from his muzzle, and he bared his fangs with a deadly growl.
Amara held up her hands, trying to block her face, but it didn’t stop the russet wolf from attacking her throat. She felt his teeth sink into her shoulder, felt her muscles rip away from her clavicle. The salty, copper scent of blood filled the air.
Darkness began to invade the edges of her vision, and she felt consciousness begin to slip away.
Just then, a third wolf jumped into the fray, knocking the other two off of her. Reflexively, she pressed her gloved hands to her shoulder, attempting to stop the bleeding. The black and silver wolf growled menacingly at the other two, lunging and biting, fending them off. She heard one of the wolves yelp in pain, watched as the tan one was thrown against the wall and fell limply to the ground. The remaining two were growling and biting at one another. She tried to stay conscious as the black and silv
er wolf ripped into the russet wolf’s flank and drove him off.
Her vision began to fade, and then everything went black.
Nova waited until the enemy had run for cover before transforming back into himself. He felt the familiar pain and the tingling feeling as his bones became human once more, and his fur retracted back into his skin. The only thing he wore were his black spandex shorts that clung so tight they were like a second skin.
The girl lay on the ground, completely passed out. Her clothes were ripped, and she was covered in blood. Her shoulder was torn so bad he could see bone beneath. Crouching down, he lifted her into his arms and began to trudge back toward her friends.
Nemoy was waiting for him, standing over the other two girls. One of them was badly hurt, but at least she was breathing. The other one looked like she’d gotten by relatively unscathed. Guilt washed over him as he stared down at them, and he saw the same resigned expression on his brother’s face. They should have stopped this from happening. Yes, they had been outnumbered, but it was their job to protect the humans in their territory, and they had failed. If only they’d gotten there sooner.
“Is she alive?” Nemoy asked, his voice rough. He was bruised and dirty, a long gash bleeding down his arm, but otherwise he looked okay. He was looking at the girl Nova carried in his arms.
Nova nodded. “Barely.” Glancing down at her still face, a sense of duty gripped him, and he suddenly felt as if he didn’t want to let her out of his sight.
“Yeah,” Nemoy said gravely, “this one, too. But the other one…I don’t know if she’ll make it.” His voice was strained. “Set her down. I’ve already called the cops. We have to get out of here, let Father and the Council know we’ve been attacked.”
Obliging, Nova set the girl down on the ground, gently laying her head against the cement. He could faintly hear the sirens in the distance.
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