Wild Wolf Claiming: A Howl's Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Epilogue

  Books by Grace Goodwin

  Connect With Grace

  Wild Wolf Claiming: Howls Romance

  By

  Grace Goodwin

  Copyright

  Wild Wolf Claiming: Copyright © 2017 by Grace Goodwin

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, digital or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning or by any type of data storage and retrieval system without express, written permission from the author.

  Published by Grace Goodwin as KSA Publishing Consultants, Inc.

  Goodwin, Grace

  Wild Wolf Claiming

  Cover design © 2017 by KSA Publishing Consultants, Inc.

  Cover Photo © canstock: arturkurjan; GraphicStock

  Chapter One

  Lily

  My ears buzzed with that strange little ringing noise I got when I was being watched. It had me checking every mirror on the car and accelerating to ninety. Which was stupid. No one was here. Wherever here was. I was over a thousand miles from home in an unfamiliar car. Idaho was as far from East Springs, Tennessee as I could get before I hit the crowds on the west coast. That was out for me. Too many people. Too much water.

  I never thought I’d ever run away from home, not at twenty-one. But that was exactly what I was doing. No, not running away from home, running away from him. Robert Nathanial Howard the third.

  “Asshole.” Reaching for the radio dial, I cranked up the volume to drown out my memories. Oh, he hadn’t raped me, but he’d had a hard time listening when I told him no, to stop, that I didn’t want it. He’d slowed down, pulled back, looked at me like I was lying. Said some bullshit about scenting my change, like I was a confused thirteen-year-old just hitting puberty.

  Whatever. He hadn’t seemed convinced until I’d said my grandfather would kill him. That had shut him down, wilted his dick and had him rolling off me faster than fleeing a fire.

  Everyone in East Springs was afraid of my family, especially Grandad. Weirdly afraid. But I didn’t ask too many questions. Grandad ran the town and that was just the way things were. That was the way things had always been. My mom was gone now, leaving me alone with him. We weren’t touchy-feely huggers. Hell, he was a distant, cold old man with ice blue eyes and a temper I avoided rousing. Everyone avoided rousing.

  Even worse, being around him reminded me of my mom, which hurt. Since I looked a lot like her, I figured he felt the same. After she died a couple years ago, well, Grandad and I pretty much avoided each other. But neither one of us had to look far to be reminded of my mother. All we had to do was look in the mirror and those ice blue eyes stared right back at us.

  But Grandad was always there for me, whether I wanted him to be or not. He ran our town, thought he ran my life. Even now, a thousand miles away, he’d find a way to keep tabs on me. That was just what he did. So of course he heard about Robbie getting a little too pushy with me, and I hadn’t told a soul.

  People in East Springs paired off young. Too young, in my opinion. Most of the women were head over heels in lust by the time they were nineteen. That was insane. I had somehow avoided that. So far. Although if Robbie’d had his way, I’d have been paired off with him whether I wanted to be or not. I wasn’t going to be with a guy just because he pushed himself on me.

  Not that Robbie was a terrible human being. He was gorgeous, as men in my home town tended to be. Over six foot with chiseled features, muscles everywhere and eyes that looked right through me. But he wasn’t for me. I didn’t know what I wanted, but it definitely wasn’t him.

  Ever since my sixteenth birthday, I felt like I’d been watched, like the rest of my family was just waiting for a hormone bomb to drop inside me and turn me into a sex-crazed maniac like some of my younger cousins. Maybe that would have helped Robbie’s chances. Maybe I would’ve been so horny it wouldn’t matter so much who I was with.

  I’d fooled around a bit, sure, but I’d never felt the lust, the need, my friends had mentioned. Because of this, I figured maybe there was something wrong with me. I liked hooking up just fine, it just wasn’t worth obsessing over. With Robbie I’d tried, really tried, but his tongue had all but made me gag when he shoved it in my mouth and his hands on my bare skin had made my skin crawl. And look what that got me?

  “A black eye and a bad attitude.” I checked the damage I’d inflicted in the rear view mirror. The fading green and yellow bruising was almost completely gone now. And the light coating of makeup I wore hid the rest. I’d been stupid, running blindly in the dark. The doctor had said I was lucky I hadn’t lost an eye. Robbie had been skulking around, oozing fury. And yeah, it was obvious the doctor didn’t believe I’d done it to myself. He’d thought Robbie hit me and I was covering for my boyfriend.

  As if. But it had felt good to make Robbie suffer.

  Besides, a little makeup and I still looked good, especially since I’d left the jerk two time zones away. The sun had pinked my cheeks. My eyes were sparkling with something other than rage, and I felt free. Happy.

  If I’d done what I wanted to do when Robbie was feeling me up, I’d be sitting in a jail cell right now. Fortunately, I was very, very good at controlling my temper. My mother had drilled that into me since I could walk. A Windbourn never loses their temper.

  There were a lot of rules like that. Don’t lose your temper. Don’t draw attention to yourself in public. Don’t run too fast. No sports. Don’t. Don’t.

  “Don’t date a member of the Howard family,” I added. I’d broken that one, and look how fantastically that little adventure played out.

  They were a wealthy family that lived farther north. The Howard family pretty much owned the small town they lived in, just like the Winterbourns ran East Springs. And the rivalry between the Howards and the Windbourns went as far back as I could remember. No, much longer than my lifetime. Our high school hated theirs, our mayor hated theirs. It was intense and very small town. And me with Robbie? It had seemed very Romeo and Juliet…well, without the Romeo and Juliet. I’d seen to that. I’d found the entire thing ridiculous.

  Sure, he was hot. Rippling muscles, dark hair, the face of a god. He’d said all the right things, done all the right things. Until he got me beneath him. Then something inside me had come roaring to life, but not with desire.

  I’d never felt anything like it, before or since. And frankly, the ferocity of my reaction scared the shit out of me.

  I’d wanted to kill him. And not in a pretty way, in a gouge out his eyes and rip his throat out kind of way.

  A huge overreaction for a guy I’d invited into my bed. I’d done it partly to test myself because I was tired of having the reputation of being a frigid witch, and partly to defy my Grandad and his legion of spies that were always following me around since my mom died, watching me like I was a ticking time bomb.

  I wanted to want Robbie. I had. I’d tried, but there just hadn’t been anything right about it. I wanted my heart to race. I wanted to feel wild and desperate and out of control. I wanted passion like all my friends spoke about, that I knew existed with the right guy. I’d wanted to feel that and I’d hoped Robbie would be it. It would’ve been so simple.

  Meh. He’d been fine. Fooling around had been fine. Fine. But the whole time I’d been thinking about my college application to Lewiston and
Cooke College, wondering if they’d take me, wondering if my father’s cousins still lived in the same small town in Idaho. Robbie had been touching me, kissing me, his body hot and hard and pressing me into the bed and I’d been wondering how I’d done on the math placement exam.

  Which was just messed up.

  A rabbit darted into the road and seeing my approach, scurried back into the thick woods that were right up on the road’s edge, bringing me back from my thoughts. Fine. I didn’t want fine. I wanted more. I wanted everything. Sweaty skin, ragged breathing, heated touches, soft caresses, whispered words. Blinding pleasure. It was out there, with someone. I put my fingers to my almost healed cheek. Just not with Robbie and not in East Springs.

  My spine tingled and my skin broke out with goose bumps despite the heat of the sun shining through the trees. I had the top down and my dark hair flying wild behind me. The sun was baking my skin, but a chill moved through me and I thought I saw a shadow racing beside me in the woods just off the highway.

  But that was freaking impossible. Right? Nothing could run that fast.

  Scared now, and feeling stupid about it, I slowed the car down to sixty-five, relieved when I saw a sign for Black Falls. Five miles. Which meant about five minutes until I could get out of this car, stretch my legs, get checked in to a hotel and take a nice, hot shower.

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  “What the hell?” The steering wheel jerked in my hands and I had to hold on tightly to keep the car from swerving off the road, right into the forest.

  Foot off the gas, I eased to the side, fighting the car the whole way. When I finally rolled to a stop, I took a second to catch my breath, let my heart rate slow. Muttering a string of curses, I got out and walked around.

  The right front tire was flat as a pancake and I hadn’t seen another car for a solid ten minutes. I was out in the middle of Nowhereville.

  “Damn it, damn it, damn it!” I was so not in the mood for this. Sure, I could change a damn tire, but I was wearing a bright pink sundress and my brand new white sandals. I had a mani-pedi in hot pink to match, and I didn’t want to drive into my new town, to a new school and a new life with tire grease and dirt all over me.

  Hands on my hips, I scanned the road in both directions. Nothing.

  Bending over the passenger side door, I grabbed my cell phone from the cup holder.

  Nope. Zero bars. I looked around at the trees. The never-ending trees. No bars meant I couldn’t splurge for a tow truck even if I wanted to.

  And my spare was buried in the trunk under just about everything I owned.

  Tossing the phone on the passenger seat, I spun and leaned my backside against the car door. “This is not happening.”

  I would not cry. Wouldn’t do it.

  A Windbourn never shows weakness in public. Don’t cry, dear. Never, ever cry where they can see you.

  Holy hell. How many times had I heard my mother say that one?

  Evidently enough, because the sting of tears dried up instantly. With a sigh, I walked around, pulled the keys out of the ignition and opened the trunk. If I had to unpack the whole damn car, I might was well get started.

  “Need some help?”

  The voice was deep, masculine and raced through me like an electric current. I jumped, hitting my head on the open trunk before slowly pivoting on my heel to find the sexiest man I’d ever seen.

  He was six-three if he was an inch, with golden brown hair and amber eyes that were watching me with laser focus. He wasn’t ogling, but looking me straight in the eye. Somehow, that didn’t mean much. I had the feeling he was acutely aware of every inch of me without even shifting his gaze.

  “I…um, I have a flat.” I tried to peek around him, but I didn’t see a car or a truck or a motorcycle. What had he done? Run out here? “Where’s your car?”

  He laughed and I found myself smiling back. He tucked his hands into his jeans pockets, his stance casual. “There’s a fishing hole just over that ridge.” He angled his chin behind him. “I heard your radio, and then the tire blow. Thought you might need some help.”

  Oh. Damn. He’d heard me blaring Taylor Swift? I felt my cheeks turning pink, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. And my mother had never told me any Windbourn rules about music.

  “I can change the tire for you. Or I can call my cousin, Drake, and he can come out and give you a tow.”

  “There’s no cell service,” I blurted out.

  His lithe, well-muscled frame was defined by a pair of well-worn, well shaped jeans. They cupped his hips and butt, and his…ahem, quite large package. Realizing I was the one who was ogling, I jerked my gaze up to his flat stomach, broad chest and even broader shoulders. A simple black t-shirt shouldn’t look so good. Neither should his corded arms and big hands.

  Big hands meant—

  “So, got a tire iron then?” he asked.

  I whipped my gaze up to his, saw the slight turn at the corner of his full lips. Yeah, he’d caught me looking and my cheeks had to be the same pink as my dress.

  When I tilted my head, unsure, he stepped forward and held out his hand. For the briefest of moments, I could have sworn I saw his amber eyes turn dark brown. “I’m Kade.”

  I knew I shouldn’t, but I wanted to feel his skin. Wanted to see how big his hand was in comparison to mine. I wanted him to touch me, wondered if I’d actually feel small and feminine. Somehow protected. I placed my hand in his and it was like my entire body came roaring to life.

  That hormones bomb that everyone had been waiting to go off?

  Boom.

  “Lily…Lily Windbourn.”

  Chapter Two

  Kade

  Fuck. Me. A Windbourn? Here? In Black Falls territory?

  No wonder I’d been drawn to her, compelled to shadow a car driving along the edge of national forest. I’d scented her easily, and no wonder. She was in a damn convertible. Peaches and vanilla shampoo and something else that I couldn’t define, something that was uniquely her.

  Long, dark hair hung down her back, tousled and ruffled by the wind. Her cheeks were sun kissed, her lips full and I wanted to kiss them. And her eyes. Fuck, her eyes were so pale, so vivid. I saw worry and curiosity combined. The interest was there, but without her scent, without picking up the new tang of arousal, I wouldn’t know for sure. Her wolf certainly wasn’t presenting itself. No, if it had, she’d be bent over the hood of her car, her dress pushed up about her waist and my cock buried deep.

  I wanted to howl. My wolf wanted her, even rose to the surface for a moment. Hell, I wanted her. Wanted to touch and taste and listen to her whisper my name as I filled her with my….

  Sure. Not going there, not with her. I had to hold a hand over my cock to hide my reaction to her. Lust. Instant heat. The urge to bite her, mark her, make her mine. That was the long and short of it. It was intense, powerful, the need to take her, the need to claim her roared through my head until I had a hard time concentrating on making small talk.

  What the hell? Sure, I’d been attracted to women before, could smell their interest, but it hadn’t been like this. No, I could practically taste Lily. My mouth watered to do just that. Her lips and lower. Her nipples, which were prominent beneath the thin fabric of her pink dress. And lower still, to the sweet apex of her thighs.

  Yeah, I wanted to eat the pussy of a damn Windbourn. The Windbourns were the most powerful werewolf family in the east, hell, maybe in the world. What was she doing here? This was Black Falls territory. We controlled this area of the country. What the hell was her alpha thinking, sending her up here alone? Did she have permission to be here? Or would taking her into town stir up a hornet’s nest of trouble?

  That was a stupid question. Of course she’d stir up a shit ton of trouble. She smelled like heaven, powerful and sweet and ripe for the taking. Thankfully, I’d scented her first, found her first. Once other unmated males in the area picked up the sweet peaches and vanilla, I wouldn’t be alone in my interest. Which me
ant I’d probably have to fight for the right to claim her in the moonlight, take care of her, see to her pleasure when her body suffered the almost violent lust of an awakening.

  When even that thought didn’t deter my wolf, I knew I was in trouble already. Damn it.

  I couldn’t touch her. Not here. Not now. Pack protocol required claiming her in an official ceremony, where all other contenders were near her to offer their scent and protection. But from the sweet smell of her skin, and the interest she was throwing off with those ice blue eyes, I’d get my chance soon enough. Her wolf was quiet, but wouldn’t remain so for long. I’d say it was close to her time. Real close, since just looking at me had brought her body to life. Judging by the scent rising from her, I’d say her panties were ruined. My wolf was pleased with that, for she was definitely responsive. And when her wolf came out? She was going to play with me and no one else. Claiming ceremony or not.

  “Where are you headed?” I asked, trying to keep her eyes on my face and not on my throbbing cock. No doubt if she looked, she’d see the thick bulge beneath the worn denim.

  “Black Falls. I start classes at Lewiston and Cooke next week.”

  My wolf settled, happy knowing she wasn’t passing through. Prepared to wait for the right time to claim her. I’d never wanted to mark a woman before, and the urge was powerful, making my jaw clench, my canines ache. She’d be just a few miles away at school. I had time. I could watch over her, protect her from harm—and from other unmated wolves—until she was ready. Until I could make her mine.

  Mine? Where the hell had that thought come from?

  The wolf inside me chuckled and settled into a watchful stance. Mine. Mine. Mine. The werewolf in me had a simple mind, driven more by instinct than logic. And yes, he intended to claim her. He wanted her. No questions, no bullshit. That was the wolf way. I’d heard about it, had friends tell me what it was like to meet their mates, but now…