The Wolf's Choice (The Wolf's Peak Saga Book 4)

by Patricia Blackmoor

  In a flash, Adam rushed down the stairs. He scooped me in his arms and his lips met mine, warm in the cold of the rain. My arms wrapped around his neck as he held me tight, peppering my lips with kisses. My hands slipped to his face, palms against his wet stubble. Adam rested his forehead against mine, looking into my eyes.

  “Hazel Marie,” he said. “I have loved you since I was a child. You are my entire world, and without you, I am nothing. You’ve enchanted me completely, and I could never love another like I love you.”

  This time, I wiped away the tears mixed with rain under my eyes.

  “But what about Lillian?” I whispered.

  “Lillian? She’s a madwoman.”

  “I saw you together, kissing her.”

  “Hazel,” he said, his voice gentle. “She kissed me, and it took me by complete surprise. Had you seen us a moment earlier you would have seen an argument, and had you seen us a moment later you would have seen me disentangling myself from her grasp.”

  “You don’t want her?”

  “My love, I’ve never wanted anyone but you.”

  I pulled him close, ignoring the pain in my ribs.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  “Hazel, the only one who needs to apologize is Lillian for the harm she’s caused, and me, for not being honest with myself and with you about how I feel about you. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “My dear, you’re shaking,” he told me. “Let’s get you inside.”

  He put his arms around me and guided me into the house. Once we made it inside, despite my clothes dripping, I pulled him in for another kiss.

  “Hazel,” he murmured, “you’re soaked. If we don’t get you dry soon, you’ll get sick on top of your injuries.”

  “Let’s get these clothes off of me then,” I said.

  “Come on.” Adam swung me up in his arms and carried me up the wide staircase. In his bedroom, he sat me down on the bed. His hands slid up my legs, finding the hem of my nightgown. It was soaked, clinging to me, my nipples hard against the cold, wet fabric. He pulled the nightgown over my head and tossed it on the rug by the fire. His kissed down my neck until he sucked one of my nipples into his mouth, the warm sensation radiating through my cold body. He gently lowered me back onto the bed, his lips returning to mine. He kissed down my sternum before peppering kisses over the bandages binding my ribs.

  “I’ll need to be gentle this time,” he said.

  “I have an idea,” I told him. I reached over and undid the buttons on his shirt. When he had tossed it on the floor with my nightgown, I unhooked his trousers and he kicked them off. We’d scarcely been kissing, but his member was erect and ready for me to take.

  I leaned over and kissed him again, one of his hands resting on my neck.

  “Sit here,” I murmured, directing him. He sat, and carefully I straddled him, not yet sliding him inside me.

  “Will this hurt you?” he asked.

  “Just be gentle with me.”

  Carefully, I spread my legs and sunk lower, letting him stretch and fill me. He moaned into the crook of my neck, his breath hot against my skin. One of his arms wrapped around my lower back on the opposite side of my injuries, while his other hand toyed with my nipples.

  As I began to move my body, sliding up and down on his cock, I reached my hands up and cradled his face. Our lips never separated as we found a rhythm and moved together in synchronicity. I gasped as he hit the right spot inside me, his pace picking up ever so slightly. His hands caressed me gently, almost featherlight, the sensations causing my back to arch. Each thrust sent him deeper inside me, and the pleasure began to build in my abdomen.

  “Oh God, Adam,” I moaned as he brought me closer and closer to ecstasy. The pain was still there, but it only served to heighten my arousal and make me hyper–aware of every sensation. “God, Adam, Adam—”

  The pleasure overwhelmed me, radiating through my entire body, forming stars in my vision and tingling in my toes. Adam followed not long after, crying out my name as his body contracted.

  Utterly spent, we curled up together on Adam’s bed. He kissed me gently on my naked shoulder, running his fingers gently over my broken ribs. It had been a nightmare, but after it all, I was still here with the love of my life. I didn’t know what the future had in store for us, but together, we could face it.

  Epilogue

  The sun shone brightly, but a cool wind blew. Autumn had arrived in Weylyn, and it showed in the trees, the usual green replaced with reds and oranges and yellows. In the spirit of tradition, the annual autumn fest was in full swing, leaves strung around the town, shopkeepers with booths to sell food and trinkets, and on the far side of town, a hayride and corn maze. The whole town of Weylyn came out for the festival, and my family was no exception. This year was different, though; I didn’t stay at my mother’s side, I mingled with the others from Wolf’s Peak.

  Adam took my hand as we meandered down the sidewalk. My mother and father had melded into the crowd, and my brother was most likely flirting with a shopgirl. Adam and I were following the others from Wolf’s Peak: Jasper and Christine, whose pregnancy was beginning to show, and Annabelle and Stephen, the latter of which had Daniel riding on his shoulders. Over the past few months, the end of summer and beginning of autumn, I had spent more and more time at Wolf’s Peak, strengthening my friendships with both Christine and Annabelle, and people continued to tease that Adam and I were inseparable.

  Perhaps we were, but I was all right with that. As much as I adored my friendship with Christine and Annabelle, Adam was my closest confidant. I’d known him longer than I’d known the girls, and he was naturally the person I wanted to spend time with. Our hands swung between us as we continued down the sidewalk.

  We took a break, the walk a little tedious for Christine’s feet. We sat in the park and the men fetched us caramel–covered apples, and we snacked as we talked and laughed. Once Christine felt she could continue on, we climbed to our feet.

  “How about a hayride?” Jasper asked us.

  Adam looked down at me. “Could be fun,” he said.

  “We ride in carriages every day,” I pointed out.

  “But not ones full of hay.”

  I rolled my eyes, but the rest of the group seemed excited, and I think Stephen was just ready to put Daniel down somewhere we couldn’t run off, and Christine wanted to do something fun that didn’t make her feet swell.

  “The hayride takes us to the corn maze,” Jasper said. “It will be worth it.”

  “All right, let’s go,” I said. I wasn’t going to ruin everyone else’s fun.

  We started back down the sidewalk toward where the wagons were parked. It was impossible to ignore the stares that followed our group as we walked through the streets. It wasn’t hard to figure out why. After Cecilia had passed, Jasper had rarely gone out. Now that he and Christine were together, he was making more and more appearances. Christine was still an enigma to most of the town, not having grown up here, and her pregnancy was of particular excitement for the villagers. She wasn’t due for a few months yet, but her growing belly was unmistakable under her flowing gown.

  Then there was the subject of Adam and me. In a small town like Weylyn, word traveled fast. Everyone knew what had happened with Lillian, no matter how we had tried to contain it. The entire town was completely aware that Lillian was a wolf and had tried to murder me over her infatuation with Adam.

  No one seemed to know how Lillian had been turned. Lycanthropy could be passed genetically, but only the men displayed the characteristics of a werewolf. Women could turn if they were bitten, but turning someone who wasn’t a werewolf was forbidden except in extreme circumstances. All of those decisions had to be run by the duke, and Jasper was adamant that no one had informed him that Lillian had been bitten. Lord and Lady Hilton weren’t offering up any answers either, and that only made the townspeople talk more. Some suspected that it was a family member, perhaps her father or brot
her or uncle who had turned her, while others cast suspicion on local villagers.

  Amidst the whispers and rumors, Lord and Lady Hilton had fled town. They hadn’t told anyone where they had run off to, but most suspected they were living in Ervine to be closer to their asylum–bound daughter. They had left in the middle of the night, with no word to anyone. One morning we had woken up, and the family was gone, an empty house on the water the only thing left behind.

  Even Hattie had stayed out of sight. The two were a close pair, and every time Hattie showed her face, the whispers began all over again. I almost felt sorry for her; she had broken her bond with Lillian to protect me. But every time my sympathy emerged, I remembered her treatment of me, and how she had allowed and encouraged Lillian’s escalating behavior, and my sympathy vanished.

  With Lillian forced to be locked away, and Hattie willingly locked away, I finally felt safe. Now that my friendship with Christine and Annabelle was growing, and my relationship with Adam was stronger, I finally felt like I was living a more exciting and not provincial life. Even my mother had backed off a bit now that I was staying out of the house more.

  We slowed as we reached the wagons full of hay. Jasper stepped up first and held his hand out to help each of us up, taking Christine’s hand first. Annabelle passed him Daniel, who settled on Christine’s lap, then Annabelle took her step up. I was third, and as Jasper took my hand, Adam grasped my hips and helped push me up onto the wagon. I sat down on one of the itchy bales of hay but didn’t complain; I knew the others were going to have fun, and I was looking forward to arriving at the corn maze.

  Adam sat down next to me as Stephen climbed onto the wagon behind him. Adam grasped my hand, and I squeezed him before noticing that his knee was jiggling up and down.

  “You all right?” I asked him.

  He nearly flinched. “What?”

  “Are you all right? You’re a bit...twitchy.”

  “No I’m not.”

  “Adam, your knee hasn’t stopped bouncing since we climbed up here.”

  His knee came to a stop. “Sorry.”

  “You don’t need to apologize, just tell me what’s going on. Are you worried about something?”

  He put a hand on my arm, and I could feel his heart beating fast. “I’m fine.”

  I knew he wasn’t, but before I could ask again the wagon started off down the street and toward the edge of town and the cornfields.

  The ride lasted about fifteen minutes, and we were deposited outside the corn maze. We all climbed off of the wagon, and Annabelle scooped up Daniel and propped him on her hip.

  “Oh, look!” she said. Across the entrance to the maze was another grouping of food stands and vendors. “They have a stand for children’s clothing. Let’s go look, Christine! You too, Hazel.”

  “I don’t have any children,” I pointed out.

  “Right next to it is a flower stand, you can look at those,” she said. Before I had a chance to protest she grabbed my arm with her free hand and dragged me over.

  The children’s clothes at the stand were adorable, but aren’t all clothes in miniature sizes? Still, I helped Christine and Annabelle choose a few outfits, and I had to admit, as my fingers lingered over the lace on one of the tiny pink dresses, I let myself daydream a bit about when I might have a little one in the future. With Adam, I hoped.

  Speaking of…

  “Where have the men wandered off to?” I asked as Christine handed money to the cashier.

  “Did they go in without us?” Annabelle said, looking around the entrance to the maze.

  “That’s rude,” I sighed.

  “They were probably bored waiting for us,” Christine said, sliding the bag over her wrist. “Shall we?”

  We crossed to the corn maze, and those posted at the entrance confirmed that the men had headed in before us.

  “Do you have a map?” Annabelle asked.

  “That would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?” the man asked.

  “All right, ladies, let’s figure this out,” Annabelle said. We headed into the maze, the corn far taller than I was.

  “Anybody tall enough to see to the other side?” asked Christine. Annabelle was the tallest of the three of us, but even she couldn’t see over the stalks.

  “If we keep to one side of the corridor, we should eventually get out,” I said.

  As it turned out, the maze wasn’t nearly as intricate as I worried it might be. We hit a few dead ends, but after twenty or so minutes we finally came within sight of the exit.

  “There we go,” Annabelle said, shifting Daniel to her other hip. As we drew closer, I saw a large group of people crowding around, waiting for us.

  “Mum? Dad?” I asked as I stepped out into the clearing. “Harry?”

  Harry cocked his head, and I looked over to see Adam breaking from the crowd and coming toward us. I glanced back at Christine and Annabelle, but they had melded in with the others.

  “What—” I started, but once he met with me, kneeling down on the dirt ground, it all began to come together.

  “Oh my God,” I said, gasping, my hands over my mouth. Adam reached in his pocket and pulled out a small box. He flipped it open, revealing an emerald and diamond ring set in a silver band.

  “Hazel Marie Ackerman,” he said, his green eyes connecting with mine, “I have known you since childhood, and since then I have never wanted to know a life without you. Perhaps our relationship has been complicated at times, but you have completely entranced me. I would walk through hell for you. You have been my best friend—”

  I saw Harry frown out of the corner of my eye.

  “Now, Hazel, will you be my bride?”

  “Of course,” I said. This time, it was me who was shaking as he slid the glimmering ring on my finger. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close as our friends and family cheered us on.

  For the time being, I had everything I could ever want.

  THE END

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  Enjoy this sneak peak of The Wolf’s Betrothed, coming May 2017!.

  Chapter One

  I winced as the pin poked through the fabric and pierced my skin.

  “Smile, Hazel, this is exciting,” my mother scolded me.

  “Sorry, mum,” I said, glancing down to the waistline where the pin had stuck me. A few drops of blood leaked through onto the muslin. Thank god this wasn’t the real thing.

  “Almost done,” said Rachel, the seamstress, as she slid a few more pins into place. I kept my posture straight and my breathing shallow, praying I wouldn’t get stuck again. Needles always made me tense.

  “Go ahead and turn around,” Rachel said, turning me by my hips toward the mirror.

  This was just the form, the outline; the actual dress would be constructed in London. The muslin was just the base, but I could already tell the gown was going to be stunning. We had chosen a soft lace. The dress wouldn’t be too full since it was designed to flow from the cinched waist. The lace sleeves weren’t constructed from the muslin, but I knew they’d stretch to my wrist.

  In the mirror, I could see the reflections of the three sitting in the store with me, my mother, flanked by two blondes, my friend Annabelle and my cousin Lisbeth. They all were smiling.

  “Oh, Hazel, it’s beautiful,” said Lisbeth. “You could practically wear that down the aisle.”

  “She could not,” my mother said, and Lisbeth cocked her head at her, unsure if my mother realized that Lisbeth wasn’t being serious.

  “It’s beautiful,” I told Rachel, my hands smoothing out the rough muslin.

  “I’m glad you like it. Is there an
ything you’d like to change?”

  “Could we make the neckline higher?” my mother asked.

  My hands flew to my collar bones, where the neckline hit. “No. I love it just the way it is.”

  My mother and I stared at each other in the mirror for a moment before her shoulders fell. “Fine. It’s fine the way it is.”

  Rachel smiled. “Wonderful. Come on into the fitting room with me and I’ll help you out of it.”

  Holding the back of the dress off the ground, Rachel and I ducked into the fitting room where she shimmied me out of the muslin.

  “Oh! I didn’t realize I’d stuck you,” she said.

  I bent my head to look at the poke. “It’s not a problem. I’m all right.”

  “Darling, you’re bleeding,” she said. “Let me grab a bandage so you don’t get blood on your gown.”

  I waited for her, skin prickling into goosebumps in the chilly dress shop. Rachel must have had a stash of bandages nearby for such emergencies, because she returned immediately with the bandage. She taped it to my skin and helped me into my corsets before helping me into my yellow gown.

  When I returned to the sitting area, my mother turned to the saleswoman, Anna. “We ordered some winter gowns, have they arrived yet?”

  “I believe so, ma’am, let me check,” Anna said.

  I lingered looking at wedding accessories while we waited.

  “Have you decided on flowers yet?” Lisbeth asked me.

  “You said greens, right?” Annabelle asked.

  “I’m hoping so, but I’ll have to work it in with the orange blossoms.”

  “I can do that,” Annabelle said. I didn’t even like the color orange much, but it was traditional and my mother would insist. I wasn’t even going to attempt to protest.

  The bell over the shop door tinkled, and out of habit we looked over to see who was entering. My body tensed as I caught sight of the red hair of Hattie Thorn. My fists clenched at my sides.