Wedding the Wolf: A wolf shifter paranormal romance

by Steffanie Holmes

  Stop thinking about her. You’re getting distracted. This is exactly why you cannot have her, even if she wanted you.

  I trailed behind Caleb as he approached each group of huddled guests and informed them in his affable manner that what they’d just seen was another of Bianca’s stunts. I marvelled as one by one, the guests all bought the story. They laughed and slapped each other’s backs and held up their phones so we could see the pictures and videos they’d caught.

  Caleb grinned and shook their hands and admired their social media posts. He could spin a good tale when he needed to. The last time I’d had to cover up a shifter sighing, it had been much less amicable.

  At the thought of it, a sharp pain twisted in my gut. The edges of my vision blurred, and the familiar darkness started to settle over my heart.

  No, not now. You can’t afford to think about it now. There’s nothing you can do to change what happened. You need to focus on what you’re doing in the here and now to change the future.

  But it was no good. I was so unnerved and horny from meeting Willow that I couldn’t guard my own mind. The memory crept back and pressed against my skull. I shoved it back, but I couldn’t completely rid myself of the rage it induced.

  I managed to drive the blackness away, but my chest tightened, forcing out the heat of Willow’s bond. The party raged on, with every last drunken guest easily convinced they’d just seen an impressive performance art piece. Eric’s band started playing again, blasting out a raging guitar-and-violin riff, and people gathered around the stage, gyrating to the pounding music. Not one of them had any idea of the secret world of shifters that lived amongst them, suffering and dying so they could party on in ignorance.

  Enjoy it now, you lucky bastards, because it’s all about to change.

  The walls leaned in, the dark wood suddenly oppressive, like a cage crashing down around me. Laughing faces leered at me. Sticky alcohol splashed my clothes. The rage drew up my inner wolf, who clawed against my skin, desperate for freedom. I realised I was only moments away from losing control and repeating Robbie’s performance.

  Gritting my teeth as I forced the wolf back down, I backed out of the ballroom and pushed my way to the front door. Willow’s face flashed before my eyes, and once again I faced that terrified look she’d given me just before she’d fled.

  I know what you are, she’d said. Perhaps she truly did. Perhaps she was the only one who did.

  I raced down the front steps and darted into the trees. My wolf took over as soon as I crashed through the hedge and into the woods, my bones cracking and grey fur poking through my skin. I pitched forward, my knees hitting the hard dirt. My fingers dug into the earth, transforming into paws with long, curved claws.

  Claws that would never be clean. Claws that had drawn the blood of an innocent man.

  When Willow had looked at me in the trees, she saw the monster. She was reminded of the creature that took her leg. She didn’t realise that he had nothing on me.

  I threw back my head, soaking in the cold glow of the waxing moon, and howled.

  You made the right choice, Willow. You should run as far as you can from me. I am exactly the monster you fear.

  3

  Willow

  Bbbbbbbrrrrrrrzzzzzzzz. Bbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrzzzzzzzz.

  A frantic buzzing dragged me from sleep. Is there a bee loose in my flat? I lifted my head, squinting into the bright light streaming through the window beside the bed, hunting for the offending insect.

  Since Bianca had moved into The Prim, she’d talked me into subletting her flat above the tattoo parlour. She left me her enormous bed, a leather sofa her cat had clawed to shreds, and some creepy skull artwork she’d drawn directly onto the walls. The space was tiny, draughty, reeked of cat piss and pot smoke, and the noise from the shops below could be pretty annoying, but it was mine and I adored it, bees and all.

  It was the first time I’d ever been truly and completely on my own. Mum hadn’t even let me live in student housing when I was at university. I thought I might be able to convince her to let me flat with friends in my second year, but I didn’t make any friends and then Curtis happened, so she got her way and I dropped out. But here, in this dingy flat, I was finally my own woman.

  All it took was a daring escape and a new hair colour and an assumed name. That’s totally normal, right?

  I rubbed my eyes and flailed at the window. Where’s that damn bee?

  It took me a few moments to realise the sound was coming from my mobile phone, and only because it was vibrating so hard it tipped off the packing box I was using as a bedside table and clattered on the floor.

  I grabbed the phone and raised it to my ear. “Hello?” I mumbled into the mouthpiece. My mouth tasted like soap.

  “Darling Carol, I’m so glad to hear your voice!”

  Shit. Speak of the devil.

  “You won’t believe how frantic I’ve been.” My mother’s voice was breathless with panic. My stomach tightened. I could believe it. When Mum worked herself up, she was wired for days. Dammit, why hadn’t I checked who was calling before I answered?

  “Hi, Mum.” I poured every ounce of fake happiness I could summon up into my greeting, which considering I was currently pre-coffee, wasn’t much. “I’m about to head into a client meeting, so—”

  “There’s been another attack! It was at a wedding in this little Loamshire village. A werewolf appeared in the middle of the reception and terrified the guests. They’re saying it was some sort of a publicity stunt but of course we know the truth. I’m talking to the Daily Post today about it. Tell me you’re not there.”

  “No, I was at a wedding last night, but there weren’t any werewolves.” I hated lying to her, but what could I say? Yes, Mum, I was at that wedding. That werewolf shifted right in front of me because I was snogging his wife, and then I told another hot Scottish werewolf I knew what he was and I walked with him alone into the forest and he kissed me and it was the most amazing thing ever.

  The memory of Irvine’s lips burning against mine flashed in my mind. His cold eyes drew me in, raw and primal, promising something I’d spent years trying to pretend I didn’t want.

  Did I dream it all?

  I rubbed my lips, where a faint taste of Irvine still lingered. The blue corset and cocktail dress I’d worn for the party hung over a chair in the corner of the room. No, it wasn’t a dream. I really had been kissed. I, the newly re-invented Willow Summers, a 23-year-old virgin amputee who couldn’t even string a sentence together around a guy, had been kissed by the hottest werewolf at the hottest party in town. And then, like an idiot, I’d run away.

  No, not like an idiot. Like a woman who’d spent her whole life believing that werewolves were evil. Given the circumstances, it's a wonder I didn’t run sooner.

  Why didn’t I?

  Mum was screeching into my ear. I took the phone away and checked the time. 6:49 a.m. It wasn’t even seven in the morning on a Sunday. I cursed myself again for not thinking to turn my phone off.

  Damn that Irvine. I’d tossed and turned for hours after I’d got back last night, his scent lingering on my lips and that weird tingling fire still coursing through my body. That damn kiss had distracted me from the whole reason I’d been upset – Robbie’s shift. A werewolf revealing himself in public like that didn’t happen very often, and I would know, because Mum had documented and commented upon every single real werewolf sighting, and quite a few that weren’t real at all. If Irvine and his pack hadn’t been able to cover it up with the performance art story, the world of werewolves might’ve been revealed for real.

  Just the thought of werewolves being out in the open made my whole body shake, and a shiver of phantom pain shoot down my non-existent leg. If that happened, every ounce of independence I’d managed to claw away for myself would be gone forever.

  I’d been so busy replaying the kiss over and over in my mind last night that I’d forgotten that Helen Winters would jump on this story lik
e a wolf in the sheep pen. There were journalists and bloggers and photographers all over that party. Of course she would have seen the news about Robbie’s shift as soon as it hit the web. I was just lucky she hadn’t noticed me lurking in any of the photographs.

  “—we’re going to be issuing a statement to the Daily Post this afternoon. You must come back to London for it. We need you to be here for the photographer.”

  My chest tightened. “I’ve told you a hundred times, Mum, I’m not doing any more interviews or photoshoots or appearances. I’m done. I don’t want to be involved with your crusade any longer.”

  “But Carol, this is war. Our work is vital to the survival of the human race. We’re revealing the truth about the werewolf evil lurking in the shadows. The truth is more important than your ridiculous teenage rebellion.”

  I gritted my teeth. I wanted to scream at her that my “ridiculous teenage rebellion” had come about because she’d spent my entire life forcing me to appear in every kooky periodical or conspiracy theory TV show with my stump on full display while she told the story over and over of how my own father had bitten my leg off. Or because the kids at school and university, and my clients, had found those articles, and they’d made my life such a living hell that I’d finally decided to change my name and run away somewhere where no one knew about crazy Helen Winters and her pathetic crippled daughter.

  I balled up the bedspread into my fists. Yelling never did any good. Mum yelled much louder than I did. Instead, I sighed. “I’m not coming back. You’re on your own this time, Mum.”

  I could have avoided this whole thing if I’d been in my right mind. But that kiss addled my head. Damn werewolves, even when you try to escape them, they’re just waiting there to fuck up your life.

  “After everything I’ve done for you, looking after you on my own when your father left, trying to get you the justice you deserve, giving you a cause to believe in, this is how you repay me—”

  “I really have to go now, Mum.”

  “Fine,” she huffed. “I really do wish you’d tell me where you are, Carol. I’m going to give myself a heart attack every time I watch the news.”

  “Just don’t watch the news, Mum. It’s not hard.”

  “How can I not watch when those creatures are still out there, running free without remorse or consequences? How many more people are they going to hurt before the government stands up and takes action? I have to make sure that my legacy is to protect innocent children from their heinous violence, but I can’t do it alone. You should have stayed here, Carol. I need you. The computer is doing that blinking thing again.“

  I sighed. Despite the fact that she was completely computer illiterate, my mother ran a website called Werewolf Watch, where she exposed werewolf activity around the world, as well as a dozen other wacky conspiracy theories she believed in. Most people considered it a harmless nutty fake news site, but she did have her fair share of devoted fans, and had at various times in our life meant that werewolves had threatened us. In addition to my jobs as her maid, personal shopper, and werewolf-violence poster-child, I was also her IT support desk and webmaster – all jobs I’d happily given up when I’d left London and changed my name.

  “I wrote the instructions down for you. They’re on the legal pad in the left-hand drawer.”

  “Come home, Carol, please. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. You had a perfectly wonderful career here in London. I don’t understand why you gave it all up to—”

  I gave it up because I was a 23-year-old virgin amputee who still lived with her mother. I gave it up because clients were finding your crazy videos online and were hiring me out of curiosity instead of because I’m a brilliant wedding planner. I gave it up because if I looked into the eyes of one more person and saw that horrible, soul-crushing pity for the poor defenceless cripple girl, I was going to go on a murderous rampage. No, Mum, you’re wrong. I have everything to prove to everyone. “Oh, Mum, I’ve got to go, I’m in the car and a cop is behind me. You don’t want me to get a ticket, do you?”

  “You’re driving a car? Oh, Carol, that’s so dangerous. You’ve never even had a lesson. What if your foot slips and—”

  “Bye!” I clicked the phone off and tossed it on the bed. Fire raged in my veins, but it wasn’t the residual lust for Irvine. This time, it was anger.

  I thought parents were supposed to want their kids to grow up, become independent, get out in the world. But nooooo. I got the mother who wants to coddle me for the rest of my life, and force me to dance like a monkey for her own anti-werewolf campaign. I never got to fall down, make my own mistakes, have friends, go to parties, get drunk, drive a car, fall in love. Hell, I never even got to have sex.

  Maybe it’s time to take care of that.

  As soon as the thought entered my head, my whole body started to shake. Curtis’ face flashed in front of my eyes. Again, I watched that wild blond hair I’d always loved flop over his face as he bent over the bed to kiss me. Again, his hands stroked my skin as he removed my clothing. Once more, his carefree smile dropped into a frown, and his eyes looked away as he fought the urge to throw up.

  Tears spilled down my cheeks as his words pounded against my skull. You’re disgusting … disgusting …

  I stared down at the stump below my knee that was all that was left of my right lower leg. I wasn’t whole. I didn’t look like a woman in a magazine. I was a misshapen monster. How would I ever find a guy who’d find me attractive enough to sleep with me, who’d look at my body and see something desirable, instead of an aberration—

  Irvine. He called me a beautiful woman. He said that after I’d shown him my leg.

  With trembling hands, I lifted the edge of my t-shirt, revealing my abdomen. The rose tattoo I’d had done only a month ago stood out against my pale skin. Elinor had designed it for me based on my own idea – a blooming red rose, symbolising my new beginning. Three droplets of blood dripped from one of its thorns – the blood that had been spilled when I lost my leg, and for all the pain that had bled my life away ever since. They were the thorns that stuck in my soul.

  I dropped the shirt, wringing my hands together. They still trembled.

  You have to stop thinking about him, because it’s not going to happen. That kiss was a freak occurrence. Shove it to the back of your mind and try to forget about it. You have a new life to get on with.

  4

  Irvine

  Irvine Baird, you’ve found yourself a mate.

  Rolf Wulfric regarded me from across the clearing, his canine smile revealing a row of sharp white teeth. The air between us crackled with tension. We were meeting to discuss the terms of our alliance, and in true Wulfric fashion, Rolf insisted on us both being in our wolf forms. I stepped into the clearing and sat down on my haunches, straightening my back and greeting Rolf as an equal.

  His statement didn’t surprise me. Wolves had a sharp sense of smell, and even though the kiss happened two days ago, Willow’s scent still lingered on my skin. If Rolf’s nose was particularly keen, he might even be able to sense the connection between Willow and I, the connection that still sizzled in my veins.

  If Caleb had noticed it, he hadn’t mentioned anything, but he was so absorbed in preparations for “the big reveal” that I doubt he even noticed if he was wearing pants. The only reason he remembered to eat was because his fiancée, Rosa, brought him food twice a day.

  His distraction was a good thing. I still hadn’t told Caleb about how Willow ken I was a shifter. It was my duty to give him this information, but I held it back. I didn’t ken why.

  No, that was a lie. I kept Willow’s secret because her touch still burned in my veins. The memory of her body tight against mine. Her lips wet and hungry. Her dark eyes fierce with desire.

  I wanted more of her. Even though she ran away, I hoped there was a chance for us … but there wouldn’t be if Caleb started hounding her. She was clearly terrified of shifters already.

  Which was why I didn
’t want Rolf to make a big deal about her smell.

  It is complicated, I growled at him through the call – the psychic connection that allowed us to talk with each other inside our heads. And I’d appreciate if you kept this news to yourself.

  Anything for an old friend. But don’t come crying to me if your pack figures it out on their own. You’re not exactly being discreet. You reek of her, whoever she is. He sniffed again. She might even be your fated mate.

  Urgh. I really didn’t need that coming out. Enough about my love life. We need to move to business. Let’s nail this thing out.

  Rolf pawed the ground in front of him. I never thought I’d be doing business with Irvine Baird again. Rolf was here in Crookshollow to nail out an alliance with the Lowe pack. Caleb had asked me to deal with it since Rolf and I had a longstanding relationship. Before I’d gotten out of the business, our two packs had controlled much of the drug trade flowing between England and Germany. Now, the few members of the Baird pack who could work had jobs in forestry – we weren’t as rich and powerful as we’d once been, but at least we were no longer responsible for putting more drugs on the streets.

  Things are changing, I replied. This is just the beginning. When we go public with this, things will nae be the same again.

  You’re telling me. If we decide to publicly stand with you, we’re going to have to clean up our act, or the minute this breaks, they’ll just toss us all in das Gefängnis.