Mating Instinct

By Cora Zane

Gemma Warren can hardly believe it when she is handed down an unexpected mating decree from the pack alpha. Who is the mysterious R.T. and why does he think they should be mates? Does it have something to do with that unfortunate little trespassing incident she got herself into a few weeks before? There is only one way to find out...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cora Zane
• Release date: Sep 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370898961

Cora Zane

Cora Zane is probably best known as the author of the Werekind Werewolf Series of e-books. She began writing professionally in 2005 and has since published over twenty stories through multiple publishers, including Cleis Press. Her erotica work has been called "Surprisingly Kinky" by Library Journal, and a "Charasmatic Standout" by Publisher's Weekly. She is also a former P.E.A.R.L. finalist and a winner of the Freya Award. Primarily an erotic romance and erotica author, she has also published horror and slipstream stories in various anthologies. You can visit her online at www.corazane.com.

Book preview

1

The bonfire was dying down , and the full moon had disappeared behind the tops of the trees when Gemma Warren headed back to her shabby old step-side pickup truck.

Cars, trucks, and motorcycles were cutting out of Miller’s Landing, forming a steady stream of outgoing traffic along the narrow, dirt drive leading out to the main road. At almost two in the morning, the Saturday night exodus had begun.

The men assigned to bin duty were busy extinguishing the burn barrels with shovelfuls of dirt, and everyone who wasn’t on a four-legged run through the woods, or standing around saying their goodbyes, was packing up their coolers and prepping to leave.

On her way across the landing, a loud whistle sounded off, followed by more attempts at whistling, and finally a shout. Gemma!

She looked to her left, but didn’t immediately spot who had called her name. Two car rows over, several people, including her older cousin, Shane Norris, and his mate, Marisa, stood up in the back of someone’s truck and waved their arms overhead to flag her down. Amused, she waved back.

Nice flower crown, Marisa called out.

Gemma moved closer to the row of cars. Thanks. I’ll make you one.

Shane shouted at her over the din. Who let you out past your bedtime, young lady?

Seriously? Get out! Gemma waved him off and laughed.

Marisa’s face broke into a wide, tipsy grin. She toasted Gemma with a red plastic cup. Baby girl, you’re single. Why aren’t you out on a run right now?

She held her arms out wide. Betsey and Adriana ditched me. For hot tail, no less. Not that she was about to say that in front of her overprotective, older cousin.

You don’t need those girls to go on a run, Marisa shouted back.

Don’t listen to her. Shane reached around his mate and playfully covered her mouth with his hand. They’re a bad influence, both of ‘em. You’ll just end up in trouble running around with those two.

Sounds promising, Gemma said in mock excitement, while trying not to laugh. I’ll tell them you said that.

Shane toasted her with his beer. He had been ‘warning’ her about Betsey and Adriana since she and her friends were in elementary school. Truth be told, she didn’t need Betsey or Adriana to help her find a pot full of trouble, but the less her kinfolks knew about that, the better.

Gemma waved goodbye. As she turned to leave, Marisa called after her, Drive home safe!

I will, she promised, giving her in-law a thumbs up before heading off again in the direction of her truck.

While walking, her grin slowly faded. As much as she would have liked to shift into her fur and run hotfoot in the moonlight, she had decided to hold off until she was a hundred percent sure that the little trespassing incident she had gotten herself into a couple of weeks before wasn’t going to come back to bite her in the ass.

So far so good.

The first week after it had happened, she kept expecting a notice of complaint to arrive from the pack council, along with a request to attend a hearing before the new alpha. To date, nothing had come of it, thank goodness. Nevertheless, just thinking about the embarrassing encounter, which amounted to getting busted in her fur on someone else’s private property, filled her with apprehension and sent heat rushing to her face.

Gemma unclipped the lucky rabbit’s foot keyring from the belt loop of her tattered cutoffs and sorted the keys by touch. Behind her, the thunderous rumble of a motorcycle engine, too close for comfort, made her jump. A frown drew her brows together, and she glanced over her shoulder toward Chrome Row, where the bikers parked.

This close to dawn, there were broad gaps in the lineup of motorcycles. Roughly half the bikes that had been there earlier in the evening were now gone. Even so, she had rarely seen so many motorcycles parked in one place. People were still saddling up; headlights were flicking on, the engines growling and rumbling to life as more riders called it a night and made their way toward the camp exit.

Walking alone, as the bikers rode past, she was aware of the curious male glances directed her way, but she avoided eye contact…just in case. The pack had exploded in number almost overnight when the new alpha took over, and she didn’t know most of the new males who had recently moved into town.

In the distance, she spotted the white roller bars of her truck and changed course, veering off through the parked vehicles to get there faster. The truck was right where she had left it before going on a beer run with Betsey and Adriana earlier that night. Other vehicles had since parked around it. As for where her friends were, the last time she’d seen Betsey was when the slender blonde had shifted into her fur and dashed off into the woods with one of the new guys—her first big shocker of the evening. Then, not long after Betsey took off, she had lost track of Adriana, too.

Right before she had decided to head home, Gemma tried to find one of her friends to let them know she was leaving. However, when she had walked back to where Adriana had parked her rust bucket LTD, she found nothing but a pile of clothes heaped on the car’s truck. A tell-tail sign that screamed: Getting busy. Don’t wait up.

Gemma sighed. At least someone was getting busy. Being the odd one out every weekend made her wonder if she was destined to