James still stared at her father, seeming to not have heard Hannah at all. “When you told me you had a mate in mind for Hannah, it was me?”
“Yes.” Maxwell smiled at them and then turned to his wife.
“Honey,” Meredith began, “we watched you, both of you,” she looked pointedly at James before continuing, “when you were just kids. Of course you were only five. You had no idea why you gravitated toward a random boy. You just enjoyed his company. He played with you, laughed with you, chased you around. But James was ten. He was coming into his own, just shy of puberty. We saw how he looked at you, confusion warring in his eyes, wondering himself why he’d rather play with a little girl than his peers.
“We knew you were meant to be together. That’s how we also knew you didn’t belong to Gerald Hariger. Something was fishy about that man, and we didn’t want there to be any chance at all he could spoil your life or take you from James during the last sixteen years. So I took you and fled to the northeast. There were other packs in the area that helped us, protected us, without you ever realizing it.
“I would have preferred you had more time, a few more years to grow and mature before meeting James again, but when your father found out Gerald had men snooping around Boston, he had to act quickly.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me all this?” Frankly Hannah was a little hurt by her mother’s blatant omission.
“I’m sorry I never told you that you were lupine. I never quite thought the time was right, and I knew as long as you weren’t mated you could live blissfully in your ignorance. If we’d had more time, I would have explained the situation before your return to Seattle.
“As far as mating is concerned, it just wasn’t my or your father’s place to interfere with what nature had planned for you two. We were pretty sure, hoping really, we’d been right all those years ago and you two belonged together, but there was no guarantee.
“It was James’s place to claim you and his right to explain the process. Not ours.”
Hannah slumped against James and released a breath. She still wasn’t sure she shouldn’t be angry with her parents for making decisions on her behalf. She was an adult, for Christ’s sake. But somehow, her emotions were tangled up with her need for James and overshadowed any aggravation with her parents.
“So what happens now?”
Maxwell cleared his throat. “Now my women return home and I get to know the daughter I haven’t seen for sixteen years.”
“Where will I live?”
“With me, babe, with me.” James turned her to face him. “We’re going home to my place now so I can show you around, let you get accustomed to where I’ve been living, and we’ll stay there permanently as soon as this threat with Gerald has passed.”
“Actually,” her father added, “we haven’t had a single moment to bring you up to speed. Three of Gerald Hariger’s sons were captured last night by a friendly pack in Boston. Under great duress, they babbled that their father’s plan had always been to marry into our family and take over this pack, increasing his numbers and making it stronger.”
“God,” Hannah jolted.
“I always knew that man was…off. He’s a lunatic,” Maxwell continued. “His pack sent a letter of apology to me early this morning, informing us of their disgust with their leader and assuring me there would be no further trouble. I have their word. The fact that you two mated is proof that you never belonged to Gerald as he’d insisted. He’ll be forced to step down as Alpha.”
Moments passed. Suddenly James stood, dragging Hannah up with him. “I know you have a lot of catching up to do with your daughter, but…if you don’t mind, sir, could you start, say, next week? We really need to go now. Hannah needs to see her new home, get adjusted—”
Laughter stopped him mid-sentence. “Go. We’ll catch up later. Come for dinner on Sunday and we’ll talk all afternoon.” Hannah’s father covered his mouth, merriment dancing in his eyes.
James pulled her, not out the front door, but to the back of the house. He didn’t stop until he’d entered what appeared to be a large closet and closed the door.
“What are we doing in here?”
“Mud room. Strip.”
“James. You can’t mean to have sex right this moment in my father’s house.”
James laughed. “No, sweetheart, I mean for us to shift and run through the woods to get home.”
“Really?” Her shoulders relaxed, but part of her was actually disappointed they weren’t going to have sex yet. Instead they were going to frolic in the woods as if they were wild animals.
“We are not going to ‘frolic’ anywhere, honey.” Naked now, he stood and glanced down her still-clothed body before bringing his gaze to hers. His glorious cock stood at attention between them. “We’re going to run helter-skelter through the trees until we reach home and then fuck like wolves as soon as we enter the house. I’ll give you the grand tour after. Much later.”
Hannah smiled at the man she realized she loved more than anything in the world. Surely he’d picked up on that from digging around in her open mind, but it was time to say it out loud. “I love you, James Morgan.” She pulled her shirt over her head, dropping it and her bra in the pile he’d started on the floor.
“And I love you, Hannah Stone.”
She stepped forward, naked now, and tried to kiss her mate on the lips, but he wouldn’t have it and jumped away from her.
Moments later, Hannah and her mate had shifted into wolf form and ran into the trees behind her father’s house toward her new life.
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed this short novella, one of my earliest books. It gives a small taste of my wolf-shifter world. If you enjoy my shifters, I suggest you give Kara’s Wolves a try next. It remains my best-selling book to date, and it’s often available for free. Here’s a link to Kara’s Wolves on my website where you can connect to whatever format you prefer.
www.beccajameson.com/the-wolf-masters/karas-wolves-wolf-masters-book-1
Kara Shepherd is about to compete in her last gymnastics meet and graduate from college. A week before graduation her roommates drag her out to a country bar to live a little before entering the real world. She has no idea the course of her future is about to take a sharp turn.
Justin Masters and his lifetime friend, Trevor Shields, share everything from their farm to their women. At twenty-eight years old, neither has met their mate, and neither is in a hurry to find a woman and end their long-standing arrangement with each other. Their dairy farm a few miles outside of town allows them the luxury of shifting to their wolf form any time they want in relative seclusion.
Justin’s world tips when Kara walks into that bar on a random Friday night. Immediately recognizing her scent as that of his mate, he is drawn to her by forces beyond his control. Nervous about sharing the news with Trevor, Justin is relieved to realize that Kara is also his best friend’s mate. Now all they have to do is convince Kara she belongs in a lifelong ménage and track down a stalker who seems hell bent on taking Kara for himself.
Books by Becca Jameson
Wolf Masters Series
Kara’s Wolves
Lindsey’s Wolves
Jessica’s Wolves
Alyssa’s Wolves
Tessa’s Wolf
Rebecca’s Wolves
Melinda’s Wolves
Laurie’s Wolves
Amanda’s Wolves
Sharon’s Wolves
The Fight Club Series
Come
Perv
Need
Hers
Want
Lust
The Underground Series
Force
Guard
Submit
Thrust
Torque
Saving Sofia
Spring
Training Series
Catching Zia
Catching Lily
Catching Ava
Claiming Her Series
The Rules
The Game
The Prize
Emergence Series
Bound to be Taken
Bound to be Tamed
Bound to be Tested
Bound to be Tempted
Durham Wolves Series
Rescue in the Smokies
Fire in the Smokies
Freedom in the Smokies
Wolf Gatherings Series
Tarnished
Dominated
Completed
Redeemed
Abandoned
Betrayed
The Art of Kink Series
Pose
Paint
Sculpt
Stand Alone Books
Blind with Love
Guarding the Truth
Out of the Smoke
Abducting His Mate
Three’s a Cruise
Wolf Trinity
Frostbitten
About the Author
Becca Jameson is the best-selling author of the Wolf Masters series and The Fight Club series. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two kids. With over 50 books written, she has dabbled in a variety of genres, ranging from paranormal to BDSM. When she isn’t writing, she can be found jogging with her dog, scrapbooking, or cooking. She doesn’t sleep much, and she loves to talk to fans, so feel free to contact her through e-mail, Facebook, or her website.
…where Alphas dominate…
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