Wolf Betrayed: The Dark Ridge Wolves, #3

By Marissa Farrar

Never go into the forest alone. Don't stray off the path. Stay home during a full moon.

Maya Brookes knows the rules, but that doesn't mean she always wants to abide by them. With her father sick, she's stuck running the family business, and unable to live the life of a normal twenty-one year old. After a particularly hard day working, she finds herself lured into the forest, despite it being a full moon. She soon learns the reason for the rules as she comes face to face with a giant white wolf who can shift into a man. A naked man. A man who is clearly very pleased to see her…

Wolf shifter Chance Nickoli has always been used to being at the bottom of the pack's hierarchy. He thought he was content until an attack that originated from his own pack left him scarred. Pondering his future, Chance takes to the forest in wolf form. The last thing he expects is to catch a scent he recognizes instantly as belonging to his mate. A mate he hasn't even met yet. He's even more surprised to discover his mate is human.

Can a wolf shifter and a human ever have a future? Or will their desire for each other divide the Dark Ridge wolves and uncover a secret kept buried for years...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warwick House Press
• Release date: Jul 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386556084

Book preview

Chapter One

HEY, CAN I GET ANOTHER round of waffles for Mr. Franks, and table twelve needs fresh coffee.

Maya shouted the order to Steph, the other waitress working that day. The woman—older than Maya’s twenty-one years—flashed Maya a smile to show she’d heard and hurried off to get the food and drinks. Steph was a good worker. She needed to be, with two children at home who she worked to support after their idiot of a father got himself locked up for trying to sell drugs.

Taking a rare moment, Maya looked out of the windows, which spanned the length of the diner, and across the road to the expanse of trees beyond.

Never go into the forest alone. Don’t stray off the path. Stay home during a full moon.

Maya Brookes knew the rules, but that didn’t mean she always wanted to follow them. She was an adult now, and already life was starting to drive her crazy. When she’d been growing up, she’d fantasized about leaving the small town of Little Nimping and going off to college, but then her dad had gotten sick, and her mom hadn’t been able to cope with the family business alone. She wished she was one of those people who didn’t give a damn about anyone else, and who would go off and live her life regardless of others, but that wasn’t her. Her father, Jeremy, struggled with severe osteoarthritis in his joints which left him unable to do a physical job like working in the restaurant. In fact, now the disease was so progressive, he struggled to do much of anything at all himself, and was confined to a chair or bed most of the time. She knew her mom, Barbara, felt guilty at keeping her here, but they didn’t have anyone else they could trust with things like the banking and closing up every night. Her mom needed to be around to help her dad, and so all that kind of thing fell onto Maya’s lap. When she wasn’t handling the money, she helped out front, taking orders from the same customers she’d seen her whole life. They always asked after both her and her parents, and it was all she could do to stop herself falling to her knees and begging them to get her out of there. There must be more to life, but she felt it was passing her by.

Perhaps that was why the lure of the forest kept calling to her.

Everyone in town knew of the shifter compound where the Dark Ridge wolves lived. They came to town on the odd occasion for supplies, but for the most part they kept to themselves. Humans lived their lives, and shifters lived theirs. But the thought of them fascinated Maya. She knew others preferred to pretend they didn’t exist, but it wasn’t as though they actually hurt anyone. They had the rules to keep humans safe from shifters during the full moon, when they prowled the forest in their wolf form, but as far as she was aware, any problems had been caused more by the humans than the shifters. Nothing had happened recently, but when she was a child she remembered there being a couple of hunters who’d accidentally shot some shifters when they’d been in wolf form. The tales were that it was a difficult time for both the humans and the shifters, both wanting to keep peace intact, while needing to have someone pay for what had happened. The humans argued that they weren’t to know the wolves had been shifters—they’d shifted against the moon, something they weren’t supposed to do, but had been necessary that day for some reason. The hunters argued that they had no way of knowing those had been shifters they’d been hunting, but of course the shifters didn’t believe they should be shooting wolves, period, whether they were shifters or not. In the end, the hunters did time for the deaths of the shifters, but it had been for manslaughter, not murder, and they’d been out within a few years.

That had been the last time anyone had had any conflict with the shifters. People knew to stick to the rules, so why was it Maya wanted to break them?

It was going to be a full moon that night, the first of the three night cycle where shifters could move between wolf and human form at will. She couldn’t explain it, but the forest beckoned her. She would never give voice to her desires, but she wanted more than anything to come face to face with one of the creatures. Her life was void of excitement, and perhaps this was just the easiest way of injecting some into it. She’d heard the shifters were bigger than regular wolves and that their eyes glowed yellow. She’d give anything just to catch a glimpse of one as it ran.

One of the regulars, Mrs. Hewish, signaled her with a wrinkled, shaky hand, and then lifted her empty coffee cup. Maya smiled back then went to grab the pot to give her a refill.

How’s your daddy doing these days? the old lady asked as Maya filled her cup back to the brim.

Some days are better than others. My mom is taking care of him almost full time now.

She gave Maya a wide smile and patted her on the back of the hand. At least they’ve got you. You’re such a good girl. I bet they wouldn’t know what to do without you.

Maya forced herself to smile back, but inside her stomach was sinking. They wouldn’t be able to cope without her, that was the truth of it. She took a small wage from the business, but she didn’t need much. She still lived at home with them, so didn’t need money for rent, and was able to drive the truck which had the restaurant’s emblem on the side. If her parents had to bring someone else in to manage this place, they’d go bust within a year. They simply couldn’t afford to pay a manager’s salary on the turnover the restaurant had. They did okay, but their customers were regulars who came back year after year, ordering the same things, and they’d not felt they were able to put their prices up much when they had such loyal clientele.

After what felt like forever, the last of the breakfast crowd paid and left.

You okay to clear up? she asked Steph as the final customer walked out, the door swinging shut behind them. I want to go and check on my folks.

Steph looked up from the table she was wiping. Sure, sweetie.

I’ll be back soon so you can grab your break.

Steph waved a dismissive hand. We’ve got a good hour before the lunch rush starts up. Take your time.

Maya left to slip out the back of the restaurant to where the family home was built. A yard separated the house from the business, but instead of hosting a swing seat or other garden furniture, it was filled with cast-offs from the restaurant—tables and chairs that weren’t needed, and boxes of deliveries that hadn’t been stocked away yet.

She entered the home she shared with her parents and headed straight for the kitchen, knowing she’d find her mother there.

She wasn’t wrong. Her mother sat in her customary spot at the pine table.

Hi, Mom. How are you doing?

Her mother looked tired, dark smudges below her eyes, her face pale and drawn. She placed a finger to her lips and jerked her head toward the sitting room, then waved Maya toward the kitchen table.

Your dad has finally gotten to sleep. He was awake all night in pain, and I don’t want to wake him.

Barbara got to her feet and set about putting the kettle on.

I’ll do that, Mom, Maya said, taking the kettle from her. You go and sit down. If Dad was awake all night, I’m going to guess you were, too.

Her mother sat in the wooden chair and nodded. "You know it’s impossible for me to sleep when he can’t keep still. It’s not his fault, he