Her Fierce Wolf (Marked by the Moon Book 2) - Shifter Paranormal Romance Read online

  “Yeah. Left it at my apartment that night. She told me her dream wedding ring once. I wrote down all the details to make sure I wouldn’t forget a single thing and ordered a custom ring just like it.”

  “Ugh.” Willow sat down beside him on the porch stairs and gave him a big hug. “You’re so damn cute. You know that? I’d kill for a mate like you.”

  “Thanks. I think,” He said uncertainly as he gave her a little squeeze back.

  Mates. Fated Mates. Love. It was all a bit of a sore topic for Willow. She had a wolf she wanted to call her mate when she was eighteen. He was her best friend. He was a wolf her father had picked out for her, thinking it would save the wolf shifters from disappearing. Wolves weren’t having pups or even conceiving back then. Females weren’t going into heat, their most fertile time, either. When they did manage to conceive, more often than not, their offspring appeared to be wolfless. Those were dark times in Blue Pack. Many wolves, not just those in Blue Pack, gave up their children because they were such purists, anti-human and all that. Turned out they gave up pups. Sleeping Wolves. At least wolves were opening up to the rest of the world now. Nick claimed Gwen when he thought she was a human. Prejudice was slowly leaving the pack. As a whole, things had never been better.

  But Willow was still sore. She never got that wolf she loved, the one her father picked for her, because he ran away the night he was supposed to claim her. He didn’t like the way Blue Pack lived, or he just didn’t like Willow. She wondered about that sometimes. Thinking about him, thinking about Casey Hunt, hurt even to this day, and she had just turned twenty-five. Ever since Casey left, she had hoped that Fated Mates were real, that she would find someone someday made for her. Someone who would love her unconditionally and never leave her. If Nick and Gwen were anything to go by, she knew, at the very least, that Fated Mates existed in this world. It wasn’t impossible. But Casey wasn’t her Fated Mate, and she would never see him again. He was as good as dead. Just like her parents.

  Willow stood up and walked out into the yellowing October grass, a few yards away from the motel to give some room. She needed to focus on helping Max before she made herself depressed with all her own problems. She was peppy on the outside, but something inside of her broke the night Casey left, and she didn’t know if it would ever be fixed.

  “C’mon, Max!” she shouted, waving him down. “Let’s do this.”

  Hesitantly, Max came to join her on the grassy field. The motel was on the town’s outskirts, keeping it separate from downtown as well as the farms. It was a safety measure for wild Awakened Wolves like Max.

  “I’ll shift first,” Willow offered, trying to get Max to loosen up.

  Maybe it was a little rash to shift out in the open like this. Any lessons Willow gave other Awakened Wolves were done out in Blue Forest, the forest neighboring Moonwatch, in case humans came down this way—which was hardly ever. Honestly, she didn’t really care if a human saw her shift anyway. In her mind, it was just a matter of time until Blue Pack made themselves known to the rest of the world. They were already learning to accept humans, so why not take things a step further? Her brother would disagree with that nonchalant assessment, but he wasn’t here.

  She took off her clothes and noticed Max’s eyes drop down to the grass at his feet. He still wasn’t used to the naked thing after all. He wasn’t used to any of this. He certainly wasn’t used to his wolf. Sometimes Willow wondered if he was actively rejecting his wolf. He said he was trying to get this worked out, but it was more like he was trying to tame his wolf instead of getting along with him.

  Max kept a silver chained cross around his neck, though it wasn’t visible most of the time since he kept it hidden under his shirt. The chain was large enough that it could stay around his neck when he shifted. It was the one thing he didn’t break when going wild. Willow knew he hung on to that thing because he believed in a different god than the Moon. She wondered if that was part of the problem he was having with his wolf. Like a conflict of interests? Hell if she knew. That was a wild guess. All she knew was that necklace was very important to him and whatever religion or god he believed in made the whole naked thing hard for him to get past. Willow didn’t get that bit. It wasn’t like he was cheating on his girlfriend. She knew he was way too committed to ever do something like that to Lizbeth.

  Willow called to her wolf and felt her bones shift. Cracking and snapping sounds rang into the air as her body rearranged itself. Her skin grew and tightened. Her body changed shape and she grew a tail as she dropped down on all fours. She was covered in a silvery coat of fur that looked blond in the right light, much like the color of her hair when she was in her human body.

  She barked at Max when he still hadn’t turned his gaze back to her. The moment he saw her as a wolf, his eyes changed to a bright orange and a snarl was on his lips.

  Holy shit.

  She hadn’t planned for his wolf to react this immediately or aggressively—especially toward a female. Willow growled back, letting him know she was no pushover, reminding him that she was his Beta. Her position in the pack may have been higher than Max’s, but that didn’t change the fact that she was a beta wolf and he was an alpha wolf. There was a power and dominance difference. That was why most packs didn’t have more than one alpha wolf and that alpha wolf was always Alpha of the pack, the leader. Then again, any Berserker would appear alpha because they were so wild and therefore strong. Honestly, Berserkers were in a classification of their own. They were dangerous.

  Max had lost it. He was snarling and foaming at the mouth. He was shifting even though he hadn’t taken off any of his clothes. His wolf didn’t care. His clothes ripped to shreds, his silver chain necklace once again the only survivor, as he shifted in an explosion of noise and white as snow fur. Then he was pouncing.

  Willow scurried away just in time to avoid him crashing into her. Forget a lesson on him and his wolf getting along. Max was set on one thing, and that was apparently digging his teeth into her. Shit. She had totally screwed up this time. Her brother was right. She couldn’t neutralize a wolf as big and strong as Max. But she was going to have to try. Otherwise, he was likely to kill her. He wasn’t conscious anymore. She could see it in the wildness of his eyes.

  Max lunged for her again, teeth snapping and a growl deep in his throat. Willow managed to dodge him again. She had always been quick and agile, and that was to her favor at the moment. She snapped at Max’s flank, trying to get him back to his senses. It didn’t work. Max twirled around and caught her right foreleg in his jaws. He had her good. She was anticipating him biting down hard—but he didn’t. The presence of his teeth was gone. He was retreating from her with a confused whimper.

  Max did worse when he was around other shifters who were in their wolf body. She made a quick decision to shift back. If this worked, she would be damn lucky.

  When she felt the chill of a cold autumn breeze touching her human skin, she wrapped her arms around herself. She wasn’t cold, but her senses were on overload.

  “Max, shift back. It’s okay. Everything is okay,” she said, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible like she had heard Gwen do a number of times. If there was one thing her brother’s mate had, it was a calm and authoritative presence.

  The white wolf in front of her whimpered again, but that was how she knew she was getting through to the human side of Max. That was the only way his wolf side ever seemed to stop being Berserker. Maybe his wolf wasn’t getting better, but it seemed to Willow that Max was getting better at putting him in his place. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a good thing. It made the split between his human and wolf side even deeper, an ever-widening chasm.

  Max’s shift back to his human side was slow and painful. It was a fight between the two sides of himself, and it took an excruciating five minutes for him to completely shift back. Willow walked up to him, hunched over in the yellowing grass, his hands on his forehead like he was suffering from a terrible headache. She placed her hand
on his shoulder.

  “You okay?” she whispered.

  “Did I hurt you?” he asked.

  “You didn’t hurt me.” She frowned. It was obvious he was the one hurting. “Sorry, Max. I shouldn’t have done that. I was being impulsive… like usual. Nick will figure this out. He’s the wise and powerful Alpha.” She said that last part a bit mockingly, but she meant it. She had a lot of faith in her brother.

  Max laughed bitterly. “But it hasn’t gotten any better the whole time I’ve been here. It’s worse.” He got up, purposefully keeping his gaze away from Willow. He picked up his shredded clothes. “That’s another set ruined,” he muttered.

  “Max, it’s going to be okay,” Willow said firmly. “You’ll see.”

  “I hope you’re right, Willow.”

  He walked away and let himself into his motel room, leaving Willow out in the cold autumn breeze alone. She sighed and put on her clothes. She fucked that up pretty bad. She really thought she could help him. She didn’t have a plan or anything, but she figured it’d just work out. She figured maybe the Moon would make it work out. She didn’t know how to help him, but her faith in him wasn’t lost. He was a good guy, and she believed he would overcome this. Somehow.

  He had to. Lizbeth was waiting for him. No matter what it looked like, Willow knew Max hadn’t run out on her. She wished she could tell Lizbeth that, but then she would have to tell her he was a wolf, and Max was super against her knowing. It was like he was ashamed of what he was. Maybe that was the saddest part. No one could get it through his head that nothing was wrong with him. He just needed to accept his wolf. He said he was trying at least.

  Willow looked up at the cloudy sky above. If she were Lizbeth, she would have wanted to know what was going on. She would have been fighting for Max. She had only known him just over a month, but she knew he was kind and earnest. He was a damn sexy beast too. All good things. All things she wanted in a mate. Maybe his girlfriend should be told the truth. Maybe she was who he needed to overcome this roadblock. Willow would go against his wishes and fetch her herself.

  But what if she was wrong? What if Lizbeth wasn’t meant for Max just like Casey wasn’t meant for her? What if the Moon wasn’t on their side?

  What Willow wanted more than anything was for her Fated Mate to find her. Or for her to find him. Regardless of who found who, she wanted him. She would know him when she first laid eyes on him. He would fill the chasm in her own heart. He would be perfect, everything Willow wished for and wanted. Strong. Smoking hot. Willing to fight for her. Determined to keep her. He would never leave her. He would want her and need her as badly as she did him. He would be her closest companion, and they would experience a love like no other. Her Fated Mate would make right everything that was wrong. She had to believe things would work out. She had to believe in the Moon.

  Chapter 3

  WILLOW WALKED OVER TO another new motel Howard Hunt was currently constructing. There was another field of grass separating this motel from the one Max was staying in, but they were relatively close together for as close together as things got on the Moonwatch outskirts.

  Howard was Casey’s father. He hadn’t talked about his son at all since the day he left. In some ways, Willow thought he took Casey leaving worse than anyone. She knew he shared her pain anyway. Blue Pack worked a little differently than most wolf packs since Nick had two Betas. Nick did things that way because Blue Pack was split between two cities, and he couldn’t split himself. When Howard wasn’t busy overseeing construction for new motels or housing, he was in Eastbrook kind of acting as Alpha in Nick’s place. Steven, the former Storm Pack Beta, took care of things in Eastbrook when Howard couldn’t. So far it had all worked out, but everyone was relieved to have the rest of the pack working on moving into Moonwatch.

  Being Beta was a lot of work. She missed spending time with Julie Hunt, Blue Pack’s history keeper. She was like a second mother to Willow and they become even closer since Willow’s parents died a few months ago. Julie was Casey’s mother, and she really sympathized with what Willow went through. Casey broke a lot of things the day he left. One of those things was his mother and father’s relationship. Technically, they were still mated, but Willow hadn’t seen them talk for years until Nick and Gwen got together. They talked a little now, but it was far from the close mated wolves relationship they had before.

  Being Alpha was even more work. Nick had to somehow do his best to deal with all of these problems in the pack. He had to make the decisions that would keep his pack safe and happy. He thought the way to do that was to run the pack the same way their father had, but it didn’t work out so well for him. Running the pack the way their father had would have meant him never claiming Gwen. That was why he stopped trying to follow in their father’s footstep and started carving his own path as Alpha. Gwen was to thank for that.

  “That didn’t go so well,” Howard called down to Willow from the bare bones part of the motel roof he was working on. “I was about to run over there and help you, but the kid reeled himself in. At least he’s getting better at doing that much. Fewer wolves are getting torn into these days.”

  Willow shrugged. It was better for the wolves around him, but not for Max.

  “I know it’s not perfect, but it’s something.” Howard paused. “What were you even doing with him? I’m sure Nick didn’t okay that.”

  “Don’t tell him, all right?” Willow replied, addressing Howard as well as every wolf working with him.

  “We won’t. We don’t have to since I think you learned your lesson.”

  Willow stuck her tongue out like a petulant child, but she didn’t care. She was frustrated. It felt like no one was actively helping Max. Though, she knew that wasn’t true. Gwen seemed to get through to Max the best, but Nick was getting more protective of her by the day with her being pregnant and starting to show. Gwen was good at keeping Max calm when she was at his side, but that didn’t help Max when he was on his own. He was still at odds with his wolf.

  Twirling around, Willow plopped down on the grass below her. It wasn’t soft and green anymore, but she didn’t care. It had been a hot summer and it was fall, the season for all things to die in greeting winter. But it was earth. It was comfort.

  She took a big inhale through her nose, smelling the freshly cut wood Howard and his team were working with. Howard was good with wood. He was a carpenter and an architect. All of the buildings in Moonwatch were uniform. They were built with the same burgundy wood, and they all had wolves carved into them. It was a show of pride in the Wolf. The tradition was started at the very beginning of Blue Pack years ago, by the first Hunt brought into the pack.

  Willow had wondered why they hadn’t just added on to the first motel instead of constructing this new one a field away, but Nick had sensibly said it would be easier to keep all visitors in smaller numbers. They’d be easier to supervise. The motels were meant for Awakened Wolves and many of them were unstable at first—especially in Max’s case.

  Now that she was lying down in the grass, Willow realized just how tired she was. It couldn’t hurt to lie there for a while longer. She had taken care of all of her duties for the day. Maybe she would take a nap. The weather was perfect since wolf shifters were very warm blooded. There was a slight enough chill that lying in the grass created the perfect temperature. Willow’s breaths came in longer and more relaxed. She was so focused on her breathing, she almost missed the sound of footsteps in the grass. They were too light to belong to one of the guys working on the motel. Willow sniffed the air and caught a familiar blue spruce scent.

  Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to see her brother’s mate hovering over her. Gwen’s brown hair was almost constantly pulled back into a ponytail. She was taller than Willow, stronger too—since her wolf manifested. Willow was the queen of curves, and she didn’t look particularly strong. By wolf standards, she wasn’t the strongest, but looks could be misleading. She was much stronger than any human.

  G
wen grinned. “Being lazy this evening, huh?” she teased.

  “I’m taking a well-deserved break, thank you,” Willow said with mock offense.

  Willow sat up only to grab Gwen’s right hand and guided her to sit beside her in the yellow grass. She held on to her hand for a moment longer to look at the beautiful glossy sheen of the pearly Moon Mark on the back of it. The mark reflected the Moon in the night sky. It was a Lunas Sigil. A Moon Mark. Willow’s brother had the same mark on his left hand. It was a physical manifestation of Gwen and Nick being Fated Mates. And it was hella romantic.

  Willow flung her arms around Gwen, giving her a tight hug. Then she quickly moved her hands to Gwen’s light sweater covered stomach. Gwen was only a couple months along, but Willow could feel that baby bump.

  “I am going to spoil you rotten,” Willow told her future niece. She had already decided her brother was getting a girl.

  “Uh, Willow,” Gwen said with a laugh, “I’m here too, you know?”

  “Shhh, I’m having a conversation with the baby,” Willow chastised.

  Gwen tickled Willow’s sides and then her stomach, her most ticklish area. The sensation made Willow recoil as she tried to stifle her laughter. Gwen wasn’t done there. She kept tickling Willow, sending her to her back as she laughed uncontrollably. Gwen grinned as she hovered above her and nipped at her ear. Willow nipped back. The two of them were acting like pups even though they were grown-ass wolves.

  Lately, Gwen had outbursts like this, playing like a wolf but in her human body. She couldn’t shift into a wolf anymore because of her pregnancy. It was a strange quirk that happened before too far into a pregnancy. It kind of sucked for Gwen though. She had just barely gotten her wolf and then almost two months later she found out she was pregnant. Even though Gwen couldn’t shift now, like she hadn’t been able to most of her life, her wolf was still very present. It wasn’t all bad. Besides, when her pup was born, she’d be able to shift again no problem. A couple years after, her pup would be able to shift too.