I Do, Pup (Book 8.5): Puppyville Pack

By Fel Fern

I love you—three simple words that mean the world to me, to us. People say if you say it often enough, it loses meaning. That’s bullshit. Paul and I have known each other since we were kids, but what we have isn’t just puppy love anymore. We complete each other. I can’t get Paul out of my heart and the same goes for him. This isn’t me shutting the door to the final chapter of our love story.

It’s me opening the door to our new one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fel Fern
• Release date: Apr 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533724663

Book preview

Prologue

Past

Paul

Paul, if you’d only see Dr. Saunders, my mom begins. She has plenty of words to say, the same arguments I know by heart, but I cut her off.

The answer’s still no, I say firmly, crossing my arms against my chest.

Paul, why don’t you show your mother the respect she deserves? My dad cuts in, barely able to contain his anger.

At six-foot plus and a gym trainer, he’s intimidating, or used to be. Funny how things change once your humanity’s stolen from you and you become something else. The three of us sit in the living room, in the house I grew up in all my life, or at least, the human Paul did.

During a school trip I and two of my best friends, Trig and Blue, were bitten by a werewolf.

The three of us might have survived our first shift, an impressive feat considering not all the pups make it, but my parents don’t care. When I came home from that trip, with my neck thickly bandaged from the bite that changed my life forever, my parents thought a doppelganger replaced their son.

I don’t need a therapist to tell me what I am, I inject.

My wolf paces inside me, restless and annoyed. I know just a bit more and I’ll snap. A young werewolf isn’t in full control of the shift, I know this, but parents aren’t helping. I need to get out of this house. Be elsewhere.

It’s Trig I think of, my childhood friend who lives just across town. Trig, who I cuddled up with during the worst storm of my life. Thanks to Trig, I made my first shift. When I think I’m about to lose to my temperamental wolf, I conjure the image of Trig and me in wolf form, cuddling inside a cave while a storm raged outside. Because when we’re together, nothing can touch us.

Trig and I, we’re invincible.

He’s the anchor weighing me down, keeping me attached to a reality that’s become strange and unfamiliar to me.

I need Trig. I want to see him. Once I do, everything will be fine.

I loathe every second I spend in the living room. Surrounding us are shelves full of framed photos of someone else—the human Paul. In those photos, Paul’s laughing in each one, oblivious and naïve, never thinking one event can alter him forever.

My parents think I’m a monster. I know I’m not. Shifters and the existence of the supernatural have long been established. We’re just like everyone else, although we turn furry, but each time I step into this house, I feel unnatural and unwanted.

If my family doesn’t need me, I know someone who does.

If you talk to Dr. Saunders, take that first step, then we can work towards curing your symptom, dad patiently explains.

I nearly explode at that word.

"Symptom? What the fuck? I’m gay and a