Temptation: Grey Wolves Rising, #1

By Emma Storm

Some werewolves walk the world forever in search of their mates. Gabriel Danes was one of the lucky ones–Joy Sutton appeared in his path one night six years earlier. Unfortunately, she came along too soon, leaving him with a painful choice: succumb to temptation and rob a young girl of her innocence, or suffer through season after season until she’d experienced enough of the world to know what she would have to give up if she decided to accept his bite.

Joy didn’t need four years at a university in Miami to teach her anything about the world, but she went anyway because Gabriel Danes wanted a woman, not a girl…and because it was just too painful to watch him live his life around her while she yearned helplessly for what he wouldn’t give. Now she’s home, and she’s done. Just done.

But when Joy tracks Gabriel down to let him know she’s moving to Florida for good, his tightly-leashed control snaps–and Joy realizes she did learn something during four years of college.

She learned how to claim her mate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emma Storm
• Release date: Mar 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781540184658

Book preview

Some werewolves walk the world forever in search of their mates. Gabriel Danes was one of the lucky ones–Joy Sutton appeared in his path one night six years earlier. Unfortunately, she came along too soon, leaving him with a painful choice: succumb to temptation and rob a young girl of her innocence, or suffer through season after season until she’d experienced enough of the world to know what she would have to give up if she decided to accept his bite.

Joy didn’t need four years at a university in Miami to teach her anything about the world, but she went anyway because Gabriel Danes wanted a woman, not a girl...and because it was just too painful to watch him live his life around her while she yearned helplessly for what he wouldn’t give. Now she’s home, and she’s done. Just done.

But when Joy tracks Gabriel down to let him know she’s moving to Florida for good, his tightly-leashed control snaps–and Joy realizes she did learn something during four years of college.

She learned how to claim her mate.

1

Gabriel Danes was hungry, but not for the bacon sizzling on the grill at Calla’s Kitchen. The animal inside him craved the sweet, rich iron of its True Mate’s blood.

But that wasn’t on the diner’s breakfast menu. After shaking the first flakes of a late-spring blizzard from his hair, he returned the nods several locals sent in his direction. If they had any idea they were filling their bellies in the company of a werewolf caught in the height of the Mating Season, they didn’t show it.

In the thick of the Saturday-morning crowd, a familiar hand lifted to wave him over. Gabriel strode through the tight-packed tables, heading for Zev and Forrest, the other two men who made up his pack.

Lines of tension bracketed Forrest’s mouth, while Zev practically vibrated with wild energy. A human gathering place was no haven for three males consumed by the primal urge to fuck...and so much more than that. If the compulsion of the Mating Season stopped at their dicks, everything would be a damn sight less complicated.

Cheer up, guys. Their server winked as she slid a cup of coffee and a menu in front of Gabriel. It’s just a few flurries.

We’re as ready for the end of winter as anyone else. Forrest, always in possession of his public face, elicited a commiserating cluck from their server before she took her coffeepot to the next crowded table.

Once she was out of earshot, Forrest spoke. Less than a week. You two going to make it?

I’m fine. Gabriel tore open a packet of sugar with unnecessary force and dumped it into his cup.

Zev slaughtered a sausage with his fork. I want it finished.

You should be praying for more time, not cursing the time you’ve been given. Forrest leaned back against the padded bench seat of their booth and looked at Gabriel. Joy came home last night.

At the sound of her name, Gabriel’s wolf reared up. On the outside, Gabriel went utterly still. The sights and sounds of the diner fell away, leaving him to drown in a river of memory and fantasy.

Her eyes haunted him. Hell, every part of her haunted him, but he would never forget the shadow of pain he’d put in her wide eyes the last time they’d parted.

The hurt he’d dealt was necessary. Joy had no knowledge of his kind, of how her life would change once he claimed her. Every day, he prayed she would forgive him when the time was right for her taking, and every night, he dreamed.

He dreamed about her golden silky hair spilling over his thighs while she took his cock into her warm mouth. His hands craved the soft, heavy weight of her breasts. And his ears— Gabriel closed his eyes as hunger clawed in his gut. His ears needed the wet, carnal sounds of sinking into her tight, slippery heat.

All things he’d denied himself for the past six years because he wanted more from her—more for her—than frenzied coupling with a werewolf.

Zev’s rough curse sawed through Gabriel’s dark thoughts. Tell him all of it. He’s too proud to ask.

Gabriel raked his hands through his hair and braced his elbows on the table. All of what?

Forrest stirred the pulp in the bottom of a glass of orange juice. She’s finished her fourth year. That’s supposed to be the end, isn’t it?

Unless she’s going after a graduate degree. The way she should. His small-town girl could have the whole world if she wanted it. So curious and hungry, she’d more than once nearly broken his resolve to stay away and push her to experience the world. She deserved her chance at life the way normal people lived it.

Your problem is you fell in love with her. Zev didn’t sneer the words but he came damn close.

That was your last free shot, Gabriel warned, low enough that his words wouldn’t leave the table.

Forrest ignored them. She got into town late last night with an empty trailer hitched to the back of her car.

No point asking what that meant. All at once, the crowded