Trapped by the Wolf

By Juno Blake

He’ll never let her go.

Lucy knows the rules. Don’t go out under the full moon. Never travel in the countryside without silver.

But we all make mistakes sometimes...

When a sudden storm drives Lucy off the road, she takes shelter in an abandoned castle. The castle is surrounded by tall silver walls, so she thinks she’s safe. No werewolf can get past silver.

But not all walls are meant to keep things out.

Lucy only wanted shelter, but what she finds is a cage—and an alpha werewolf who will never let her go. She knows she has to escape, but she’s not sure what frightens her most: that the wolf will break her... or that she’ll enjoy it.

Ciaran and Lucy’s steamy story continues in Claimed by the Wolf!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Juno Blake
• Release date: Jul 11, 2018

Book preview

Chapter 1

This was a mistake, Lucy thought grimly as rain battered her helmet .

When she’d set off on her motorbike early in the morning, it had been cloudy, the slightest drizzle softening the air. Lucy had been excited: if the drizzle cleared, the towering clouds would make an incredible backdrop for photos of the rugged Northern European coastline she was exploring.

Instead, the rain had gotten heavier. And heavier. And now…

Shit! Lucy yelled as her motorbike skidded on the slick surface. She fought to regain control of the bike and came to a stop at the edge of the road. Panting, she looked around.

She was in the middle of nowhere. The road she was driving on was the only sign of civilization from here to the horizon. The ground fell away on either side of the road in tumbles of rock and windswept grass, down to the rain-lashed sea.

The rain was so heavy it was hard to tell where the ocean ended and the sky began. Lucy squinted through her helmet visor, scrubbing at the glass in a vain attempt to keep the rain off long enough for her to look around properly.

Lucy peered through the grey sheets of rain. Is that…?

She wiped her visor clean again, hardly believing her eyes. Out in the rain, seeming to rise up from the ocean itself, was an enormous castle.

But it can’t be, Lucy thought. How could I not have heard about this? An ancient castle, all the way out here on the coast, in the middle of nowhere?

Lucy tried to remember the map she’d pored over when she was planning this trip. She had spent years saving, and reading every travel book and blog she could find, to make this the adventure of a lifetime.

Lucy frowned. She had been focusing on places of great natural beauty to photograph, but there was no way she would have forgotten seeing a castle in the tourist brochures for the area. Seriously… a castle!

Her fingers were itching to photograph it already. Here, from the road, with its tall towers shrouded in rain, the castle looked like some Atlantean fortress rising from the waves. If she could just get a bit closer… What an amazing picture that would be. My best so far.

She dismissed the idea with a rueful shake of her head. Just riding in this rain was difficult enough—she didn’t want to get her photography gear soaked, too. Even the best shot wasn’t worth ruining her gear.

But that didn’t mean she was going to turn her back on the mysterious castle. It had been hours since she saw any buildings, and Lucy had been on the lookout for somewhere to hide from the rain. Maybe she couldn’t photograph the castle, but at least she could take shelter in it. Even if it was derelict, there might be a dry corner in the ruins for Lucy to hide in until the worst of the storm passed.

She started the engine and rode forward slowly, watching out for the road leading out to the castle. There must be a driveway somewhere, she thought. It can’t actually be rising up from the waves… right?

Even though she kept her eyes peeled, she almost missed it.

The turnoff wasn’t signposted, and it was almost invisible behind a tall thicket of wind-swept brambles. Lucy pushed her way past the brambles, glad she’d worn sturdy pants and her leather jacket.

The rain pummeled her helmet and shoulders as she rode carefully up the old road to the castle. The road was paved with large, flat stones, not asphalt like the motorway she’d been driving along before. Some of the stones were cracked, and Lucy had to take care not to get her wheels stuck.

She was so intently focused on the road that she didn’t notice how close she was getting to the castle. When she did finally look up, it was already looming above her.

The sight took her breath away. The local stone here was granite, hard and grey as the sea, but the stone the castle had been built from was darker, almost black.

It wasn’t derelict. This close, she could see the castle was completely intact, a dark, forbidding fortress standing strong behind heavy metal gates. On either side of the gate, tall walls topped with gleaming metal spikes disappeared into the pounding rain, encircling the castle grounds. A shining chain and padlock held the gate closed. It was obviously new… and equally as clearly meant to keep people out.

Lucy chewed her lip. She’d been to plenty of old castles and stately homes while she was traveling around the UK. But this place was different. There were no signs encouraging her to part with painful amounts of money, for a start.

And she was sure there hadn’t been anything about castles in the tourist brochures she’d read in the last town.

Doubt twisted in her stomach. An abandoned castle was one thing. She’d even be happy to camp out in a tourist trap and play the idiot tourist if anyone came along to throw her out.

But if someone lived here?

Normal people don’t live in castles.

The thought sent a shiver down her spine. She shook herself.

You’re being paranoid. Normal people don’t live in castles, sure, but I bet super-rich humans do. Or… aristocracy? They still have kings and queens around here, don’t they? Some countries, at least.

No. Lucy wasn’t an idiot. She knew what sorts of people lived in places like this. It was a stereotype… because it was true.

She raised one hand to her throat before she remembered she had lost her silver necklace a few countries back. She hadn’t worried about it at the time—she hadn’t planned on being anywhere she would need it—but…

Werewolves. Vampires. Other creatures of the night. They were more common here in the old country than they were back in America—and more dangerous, if you believed the stories. Their culture here was thousands of years old.

And part of that culture was preying on humans.

A droplet of icy rain made its way under Lucy’s collar, making her shiver.

I’m going to freeze out here, she thought. It’s either this, or hiding behind a handy rock until the storm passes.