Desired by the Pack: Part Two: Peace River Guardians, #2

By Emma Storm

It's been nearly three weeks since January Cabot came face to face with alpha werewolf Beck and the Peace River Guardians alpha pack. While she counts down the days until she can take a home pregnancy test, unsure whether she hopes for a negative or a positive, Beck and the Guardians watch January closely, looking for evidence that she might be the dangerous target of their hunt. When January makes plans to flee the reach of the pack, the Guardians make their play to grab her for their own.

This is the second installment in DESIRED BY THE PACK, a paranormal romance that follows the complex relationship between January and the Peace River Guardians werewolf pack. .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emma Storm
• Release date: Aug 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781498979054

Book preview

1

January Cabot knew firsthand how little time it took to change things forever. Blink, and wicked magic robs a young girl of her future. Sneeze, and a condom breaks at the worst possible moment. So why, she wondered as she stared at the home pregnancy test kit and morning after pill boxes camped on her bathroom sink, did it take weeks to find out whether one little sperm managed to find one little egg?

Unable to bear the sight of the boxes another second, she hid her face in the damp towel she’d used to dry her hair. The morning after pill was useless now. Its window of effectiveness had closed more than a week ago because she couldn’t bring herself to actively destroy a possibility. Now fear and hope waged an active game of tug of war, leaving her unsure what she actually wanted.

Unsure what she was willing to risk for the chance to hold a child, to claim a mate.

The alpha werewolf sprawled across her bed wasn’t helping her make the hard decisions.

Idiot, she mumbled to herself. I never want to see you again had lasted all of about twenty hours before Thomas Becker, alpha of the Peace River Guardians and wearer of the broken condom, had prowled right back into her life.

Breathing into the towel, she picked up a hint of his scent and her insides went soft and warm.

Two weeks. She’d only known him two weeks, but she’d grown painfully attached in that short time.

They hadn’t made love since the night in the kitchen with Cross. Hadn’t even kissed. When she got home from work, Beck was waiting for her with dinner and wine. Simple meals, but for a woman accustomed to ending her long days inside a sleeve of crackers or a can of soup, Beck’s culinary treatment was an irresistible change.

Dinner was followed by a foot and leg rub, a warm, broad chest at her back as she fell asleep. Beck didn’t stay the entire night, but she couldn’t be sure when he left because he did so with a wolf’s stealth. Before dawn, though, she knew that much. Werewolves lost much of their Moon magic with the sunrise and no werewolf, regardless how determined to win a woman, would willingly be caught out vulnerable.

January learned a lot about Beck during their midnight dinners. Over a candle-lit table, he told her about his childhood as a member of a stationary, earth-side pack. His early years were what January’s should have been, if things were different.

But they weren’t.

January dropped her towel into the hamper with a sigh. Despite her efforts to remain aloof, Beck was courting her and she was falling.

Had fallen. Hard, fast. The morning she woke up to a pre-programmed pot of coffee and a napkin doodle of a sad sun, she knew she was screwed.

Pregnant or not, she had to get rid of him.

Donning a two-piece pajama set like it was armor, she pretended her wet hair was a knight’s helmet, took a deep breath, and left the bathroom like she was charging into battle.

Her farmhouse wasn’t modern enough for en suite bathrooms so she had to walk down the hall to reach her bedroom. When she reached Prince’s open door, she paused. Something had shifted in their friendship and January didn’t know how to bridge the growing gap.

Beck’s nightly presence was exacerbating the problem. The evenings she and Prince worked the same shift and came home to Beck, Prince only stayed long enough to shower and change his clothes before leaving again—if he even bothered to come inside at all, which he hadn’t done in the past few days. She didn’t know where he went, but his absence was another reason she had to put an end to Beck’s dead-end courtship. Prince, unlike January, would grab any opportunity to be part of a pack. Unfortunately, a male who couldn’t shift had more value as a member of human society. January wasn’t even certain Prince could form a mate bond but she knew no female werewolf would want him.

Just like no male should want her.

Squaring her shoulders, she prepared to walk past Prince’s room and confront Beck, but something moved in the dark and she stopped. Beck appeared in the door a moment later.

When she stood this close to him, her resolve weakened. To cover the chink in her armor, she met his shadowed gaze, a trick she could only pull off because the Moon had marked her Beck’s equal in many ways. The soft skin around her navel, which bore that tattoo-like mark, tingled with awareness of him.

As did other parts of her.

Distraction. She needed one. Taking a step back, she asked, What are you doing in there?

I thought I smelled something. He stepped into the hall and stuffed something into his pocket.

January frowned. What did you – And then she realized Beck was fully dressed, from a gray thermal henley all the way down to his boots. Are you leaving?

Yes. I have business to deal with. He reached out and hooked his hand around the back of her neck, drawing her close before she gathered the good sense to resist.

The hall was dark except for the dim glow of the nightlight in the bathroom and the yellow wash of light from the bedside lamp in her room, still a few feet away. The low light played over Beck’s features, obscuring his intent as he ran his other hand down her back to the curve of her ass. Gripping one cheek, he angled her lower body until she felt the hard press of his muscular thigh between her legs. Surrender sighed from her lungs and pulsed within her folds. Her lips parted, inviting him in.

Beck took her mouth with tender ferocity,