Loving Clarke: Greyriver Shifters: Volume Two, #4

By Kristina Weaver

This is the fourth book of Greyriver Shifters Volume Two.

 

CLARKE

She's the one female I don't want.

 

That's a lie. I want her; I just don't want to want her. Lily Matthews is selfish, self-centered, and a complication I do not need. She's not my Fated, she's not my anything, and I don't care if I never lay eyes on her again; in fact, I'd be happy until she's attacked by a group of rogues in the city and comes back to the pack broken. I hate that look in her eyes, the fear that is so strong I scent it on her. Mostly I hate that she's too afraid to live the life I know she deserves. Maybe I can help her get past her fears. Maybe I can show Lily that I've changed, and she means more to me than I ever thought she could.

 

LILY

He has to be mine because I will always be his.

 

I hated Clarke Kilter. The male is stubborn, stuck up, and judgemental. He's also the sexiest male I have ever laid eyes on and I want him with my every breath. Can two people who once hated each other love enough to change destiny?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristina Weaver
• Release date: Oct 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386813255

Kristina Weaver

Immerse yourself in the world of romantic comedy with Kristina Weaver. Her stories feature strong male characters and witty female leads, creating laughter and chaos before delivering a happy ending. With the added bonus of paranormal elements, her books are perfect for those seeking adventure. Start with the first book in the Greyriver Shifters Volume One series and get ready to be swept away into a world of imagination. Keep an eye out for discounts and even FREE offers on this book because this is an experience you wouldn't want to miss! For more information: Books2read.com/KristinaWeaver KristinaWeaverAuthor at Gmail dot com

Book preview

Chapter One

Clarke

I shudder, pumping my hips in a lazy rhythm that makes the female beneath me scream out in ecstasy and clamp down, the wet heat of her smooth sex milking the cum from me in long, toe curling jets of teeth grinding ecstasy.

Coming, shooting my seed into the latex, I slump and roll to the side, grinning over at Selby when she moans and clutches her sex, her own smile wicked and filled with female satisfaction.

That was awesome, cowboy. Maybe we can hook up again in a week or two, when I get back from my trip to the Greaves pack? she asks when she rolls to her feet and grabs her clothes, her perfect, lithe body giving me a show that almost, but not quite, has my dick stirring again with interest.

Maybe? Probably gonna be busy with work and pack ball practice though, I murmur, thinking about my schedule with a wince.

I’m pulling a double shift now that some of those damn Outcasts have left, most of them joining the Clayton pack or having travelled down to California where the sun is warm and life is apparently sunny.

With Rylan mated, Fated, all that romantic shit that couples do when they fall in love, I am swamped at work, and with the upcoming pack ball championships to think about, I am probably not seeing the light of day anytime soon.

At least not soon enough to hook up with anyone in the next while and definitely not with Selby Masters, the spoilt little blonde I only agreed to be with tonight because I felt like shit when she came onto me so strongly.

Yeah, I know the female was playing me to win some bet, and yeah, I get that I basically just stuck my dick in her so she could prove to her friends that she got a piece of Clarke Kilter, the last Kilter standing without a ball and chain.

So what? Like I care. With the way my life is going lately just about the only thing I do care about is my throwing arm and making sure the Greyriver Reevers win this championship and prove to the other packs that I still have it and that I am not some washed out wannabe clinging to my high school days and the glory I found there.

Which I am, if I’m gonna be truthful. It’s probably juvenile, and yeah, I understand if I sound like an ass, but I love the way it makes me feel when I throw a solid pass to win a game and people look at me like I’m a god.

I need that shit since I’m the last single Kilter male, and my brothers seem intent on being the best thing to ever happen to the pack. Logan, my oldest brother is lead enforcer, the Alpha’s most trusted second, and he’s an over achieving SOB, whom I would despise with jealous zeal if I didn’t love him so damn much.

He’s mated to his Fated female, Hannah, the town psychic—mental stalker if we’re honest—and they have three positively adorable little demons, whom I do adore, but spend as little time with as possible because they are evil. Evil.

My brother Banner, the youngest, is mated to his Fated female, Cass, the sweetest, kindest person I have ever met in my life, and one of the only reasons I haven’t kicked Banner’s ass in the last few months, and they have a daughter, Avery, the light of everyone’s lives.

They’re all perfectly happy, perfectly awesome, and just perfect. Which is great because I wouldn’t want anything less for my boys or those amazing females they mated. Most days.

Sometimes, I get jealous though, okay, so sue me. It’s damned hard being the last male left standing in the family and having my mom constantly ask me when I’m settling down and having me a brood of little Clarkes she can coddle and spoil.

Even harder is telling her that it’s not going to happen anytime soon because I’ve never met any female I want to be with for longer than it takes to come.

Not that I say that shit to my mom; she’d claw my intestines out and make me watch while she fries them for supper.

But it is true. As crass as it may sound. I have never met a female I want for more than a few thrills and spills, and the truth is I don’t think I will. It’s just not likely to happen when I will never leave town unless it’s to play a game against a hosting pack.

That happens rarely lately because our packs have been on a sort of hiatus with everything that’s been going on. First, the scentless shifters invading Greyriver, then the whole Resistance debacle and the threat of all the packs being subject to take over by the Resistance, and lately just keeping things going as the pack expands.

I don’t think anyone really understands just how much more work it is for the enforcers since the Harris pack joined ours, but let me tell you that it’s a lot.

There’s a lot more land to patrol since the Alpha, Nick, had to expand and make sure there is space for the other pack members to build their homes. Add to that the fact that the enforcers coming from the Harris pack needed to be trained and tested and then add to that the fact that most of my friends and family have had some crisis or another in the last months and wrap it all up with the bow that is my Alpha calling me up to play pack ball again and, well, I am one busy male right now.

Clarke?

I flinch when Selby leans down, her strong scent and sexual musk reaching my nose and making me want to gag with the strength of her need.

Sweets?

Thanks for this. It’s been great, she says softly, smiling when I grin and give her a cheeky salute.

My pleasure, darling. See ya around.

She shrugs, probably intending to go over to a friend’s and gossip about Clarke Kilter and his amazing cock, and sidles out of my bedroom with a sway of her thin hips.

I only breathe easy when I hear the front door slam, and then I’m practically diving into the shower to scrub my body clean and rid myself of the scent of another meaningless encounter.

It makes me sick, all of this, and yet the more disillusioned I get, the harder I try to recapture the days when all I cared about was glory, sex, and bachelorhood.

The truth is, I don’t think I can, and not because I’m some sort of pussy who can’t admit to feeling drained and emotionally desperate for some sort of companionship but because it doesn’t matter how real I get with myself, everything is still the same.

I still haven’t met anyone, I still don’t have a clue what I’m supposed to do with my life besides work and cling to pack ball like some old fucking man clinging to youth, and besides....it’s pathetic to try this hard and have nothing to show for it besides a few trophies and one-night stands that leave me feeling dirty and empty.

People would laugh their asses off it they knew that Clark Kilter ‘the Playboy’ hates every single second of the flirting and the smack talk. Because I do. I hate it. Hate coming home with females who don’t know me and don’t want to know me, not really, not beyond sex or hooking up to fulfil some bet.

I also hate knowing that I’m going to be alone when it’s done, just like I am now, and that odds are, I’ll scrub myself raw and go to work even if it isn’t my shift because I can’t sleep, not when I feel raw inside.

Most of all I hate that I lie to everyone because letting them think I’m some sort of playboy with sex on the brain beats telling them that I’m lonely and tired of the aimless path my life has taken.

Whiney bitch, I think, slapping off the stream of water and toweling dry in front of the mirror. My body is riddled with scars where I’ve been mauled, shot, stabbed or tackled by the rabid assholes I play pack ball with or against.

That’s not usual, not with the shifter DNA running through my veins but hell, you tempt fate on a daily basis and the hag is bound to get fed up and leave a few permanent reminders behind, just to let you know you’re not as invincible as you think you are.

Yo! You here?

I grimace at the sound of Jock’s voice and grab a pair of jeans and a tee before running downstairs to make sure the idiot isn’t opening my whiskey again. Honestly, what part of collecting doesn’t the bastard understand?

Rounding the corner into the living room, I find him inspecting my porn instead and grin when he holds up a copy of Bunny Does Babe—The Farmhouse Collection. It’s one of my favorites but not for the reason you’d think.

It’s hilarious. Very rarely have I ever watched porn that includes two chicks dressed up as a rabbit and a pig, going down on each other while oinking and making whatever sound a rabbit makes. Funniest shit I ever watched in my life, and that is saying something because I have personally walked in on Logan and Hannah having sex in my parents’ guestroom and that was comical beyond belief. Didn’t know my eldest bro could bend his legs that way. Or that Hannah has a dominatrix living under all that snark.

Put it down, perv.

Perv? Dude, it’s your porn, he points out, laughing and holding up a personal favorite of mine titled Grace’s Anatomy, an inventive re-enactment of just how much Grey and Yang really love each other.

Personally, I’d have been more into it if that hot Yang had looked more like Yang. Celebrity crush, what can I say?

Yeah, so you can drop it and tell me what the hell you want? I mutter, stalking into the open-plan kitchen to grab some beers.

Jock accepts his with a smile and shrugs into a chair, his nose curling when he looks at the state of the kitchen and the moldy pan I am not going anywhere near. Ever.

I hate chores or housework of any kind, so chances are I’ll just toss the whole lot of dishes and buy more. It wouldn’t be the first time either.

Your brother is shitting himself with the training center and the workload.

Banner? I thought he was stoked about the success it’s been. I heard he and the Garrison males have turned that place into the next best thing. Even Hannah’s been seen down there taking self-defense classes and Mika is there at least three times a week doing that Krav Magi stuff.

Maga. It’s Krav Maga, and it’s awesome. Took a class myself.

Pussy.

Hey man, don’t knock it till you try it. I also took yoga with Beebee, and it was great, really relaxing.

I snort, not knowing whether to laugh my ass off or hate Jock for being ballsy enough to do this stuff without shame. I go with laughing and smirk when he blushes, my enjoyment of his discomfort helping to turn a shit night into a semi-bearable one.

Leave it to me to be best friends with the only male in town who’s worse off in the love stakes than I am. Jock, for all his Zen, life’s-a-peach attitude, has been in love with his Fated Scarlet since he met her well over a year ago.

It would be sweet, but the truth is, the female refuses to so much as spit on him, and I really do believe that if he were on fire she’d help him, but only if it’s to pour gasoline on the fire. And yet he still keeps going back for more. Or more accurately, stalking her like a lunatic. Maniac.

What’s with Banner? I would have thought he’d want the training center to be a success since he poured so much money into it.

Yeah, until he realized how much time he’d have to spend away from his mate and daughter.

Logan seems to be doing it just fine.

Logan is married to Hannah, and his three young are the spawn of Satan. I think going to work and risking being killed is his idea of a vacation. Jock chuckles, making me laugh and shake my head.

Like I said, I love my niece and nephews, but Logan’s little darlings are monsters. Adorable and totally hilarious to watch three kids set someone’s coat on fire, while they’re in it, but it’s another thing to be the one wearing the coat.

All I can say is thank God for my fast healing, or I’d look like the guy from Nightmare on Elm Street.

Yeah, well Banner chose to open the center, and he was the one who agreed to go back to the force when Nick asked him, so he can’t blame anyone but himself, I point out.

Agreed. But it’s not pleasant seeing a male toss a four-hundred-pound weight bench through a wall because he missed Avery’s first giggle.

I grin, thinking of my other niece—the one who isn’t evil—and the absolute adoration I see on Banner’s face whenever he’s near his daughter and mate. The male is smitten, obsessed, completely gone for those females, something I can’t blame him for since they’re both so damn sweet and lovable.

Who got hurt?

No one. Unless you count Loner getting sixteen stitches and a cast on his right wrist.

Meh, I say, shrugging off the minor injury. So, as interesting as it is to gossip about my brother, not, what do you really want?

Jock grimaces, giving me a sheepish glance and bites his lip in a wheedling way that only works for females and should only ever be attempted by females. Ever. On Jock it looks like he’s flirting with me and just...wrong.

Cut the shit, man, what do you want now? If it’s you asking me to follow Scarlet again, then the answer is no. She kicks a male, and she’s got wicked aim. My balls still hurt just hearing her name, I whine, cupping the body part in question just in case that evil witch is hiding somewhere, just waiting for another chance to emasculate me.

Naw, I figured I need to abide by that restraining order for at least a month before I get tossed in prison. This is about, well, the thing is that I kinda need a favor.

Spit it out, asshole, I don’t have all night.

Oh yeah, what you got going for you right now? he asks, giving me a hard glance. I heard you brought that Selby female home with you. You gonna fumigate your sheets for fear of catching the clap?

I flip him the bird, not at all impressed with his attitude. I may not like all females, at least not some of the ones I sleep with, but they deserve respect. Even if they’re likely to be the only shifters in existence to get crotch rot.

She left.

Aaaah, another blissful night having meaningless sex while the rest of us losers have to walk in your shadow, he mocks, the old jibe doing a lot more than anyone can guess at.

They all think it’s so funny, so me to sleep around, when the truth is that all I want is to spend just one hour with someone I like rather than trying to fill time with females who mean about as much to me as I do to them.

It’s not exactly my dream to be considered a walking cock for the rest of my life.

It was a bet okay. Short of humiliating her in front of all of her friends and the shifters at the bar I had no other choice. Besides she was funny.

Oh yeah, what did she do, tell you your dick is big?

Screw you dickhole, I do have a monster cock.

Or an ego, he retorts, making my lips twitch. Okay, okay, here’s the deal, I promised Jazz that I’d let her sister crash at my place while she’s visiting for the next month, but Nick is sending me on assignment and the fucking foundation cracked, so I can’t even let her stay in the house while I’m gone.

And what? You want me to spend the next month with one of the Matthews females riding my ass? I ask, shaking my head vehemently.

I love Jasmine, and I would do just about anything for her, but having one of those ball-busting sisters of hers in my space twenty-four seven for an entire month? Not fucking happening.

Of Jasmine’s six sisters, four of them are unmated, and trust me, those are the most unpleasant four. Likely why they aren’t mated yet, as mean as that may sound.

Of the four, I dislike Lily the most. Well, not dislike exactly, not completely anyway. It’s just that she’s the biggest ballbuster I have ever met and that’s saying something since my sister-in-law is Hannah.

We just rub each other the wrong way, okay?

Please? Look, I’d owe you a favor, Clarke. I can’t just leave and not make other arrangements for Lily—

Lily? She’s the—no! Not just no, fuck no. Nope. Not happening. Sorry dude, if it had been any other Matthews female, hell the pregnant one even, but not Lily, I say, shaking my head hard. No.

Jock frowns, giving me a hard look, and yeah I get that I sound like an asshole, but so what. I can sound any way I want. I welcome hatred even, as long as I don’t ever have to see Lily Matthews again.

You’re being a dick. Lily’s a cool female. She’s the one who got us the tickets to the Bernveld pack ball game when it was sold out.

So I’ll sell my soul to the devil to pay her back, I counter, meaning it with every fiber of my being.

Clarke—

Jock, it’s not happening, man. Ever. I would rather shave my balls with the teeth of a sabre tooth tiger. A live one. Lily and I, we do not get along, and to make shit worse, she kicked me in the fucking balls the last time we were eye to eye.

You called her a selfish, lying bitch, Clarke. You fucking deserved it. No, you deserved worse. The fact that Lily only kicked you in the lady-packet showed real self-control, he argues, showing a startling propensity to have a Goddamn point.

Okay, so I may have said some really nasty shit to her after we found out that Jasmine’s whole family had been lying to her about her true parentage and those lies almost cost Jasmine her life. To this day, I still don’t quite believe that it’s possible for a human baby to be turned by a shifter when the mother is bitten by one of my kind.

Or at least I would be able to disbelieve it if not for the fact that Jasmine is a real-life example of a baby who was infected with shifter essence when her human mother was carrying her.

It’s a long story, but it boils down to Jasmine’s mother having been a human female who fell in love with a shifter male—Jasmine’s biological father was human too. Jasmine’s daddy had a brother, who decided that he liked this human female, not that I blame him, her mother was a hottie when she was young and any male worth his salt would have seen that defenseless female, pregnant, and struggling to survive, and wanted to look after her.

Long story short, shifter male falls in love with pregnant human, loses control of himself during sex, bites said human female, and wham, human baby in the womb is infected with shifter essence, thereby becoming a shifter.

It’s not anything like werewolves, so at least poor Jazz doesn’t have to worry about that shit, but that isn’t even the issue here. What had me losing my temper was that her family had treated her like a joke all her life, and then when she was seriously ill they all lied, refusing to tell the truth about her parentage. If it hadn’t been for Hyacinth, Jasmine’s closest sister and all round best bud telling the truth, Jazz would not have made it.

As it is, she’s still recovering from the stress of having to learn that she was adopted by her stepdad’s brother and raised on lies all her life. As for the rest of the Matthews clan, they’re lucky to be alive after the shit they pulled, so yeah, I was a prince when I saw Lily because what I really wanted to do was kill something.

If not for being a female, I think I’d have hurt her after I had to watch Jazz suffer with pain, fear, and the real threat of death before she managed to absorb her animal fully and gain control of her body.

Lily didn’t help her case by keeping quiet the way she always does, and scuttling around the place like a fucking shadow. It’s weird the way she seems to just melt into the woodwork and keep to herself, those eerily-colored, grey-green eyes of hers tracking everything and cataloguing it while she hides in the corner.

Unless we’re in the same room, then you bet your ass that female is getting lippy and kicking me in the balls.

Yeah, well, she can show self-control somewhere else because she is not staying here. I’d rather point a loaded shotgun at my foot and pull the trigger.

Chapter Two

Lily

You know when life really, really sucks?

When you get stuck spending a month in the same town with a male you can’t stand. Not that I plan on seeing Clarke Kilter any time soon, not if I can help it, but the fact still remains I’m breathing the same air as that nasty, mean, rude SOB, and it is not making me happy.

Lily? Lil! Yo Lily, you with us?

I flinch, my natural reaction since I’m always zoning out and people are forced to yell to gain my attention, and turn to smile at Rylan, my sister Jasmine’s mate and Fated male.

I like Ry. He’s handsome, smart, funny, and very kind, which—coming from my pack—is a new experience. Not that I don’t like my pack or that I’m not loyal or anything, but growing up in a town where the Matthews clan was considered ‘those shifters’ with six sisters, four mean-as-snakes brothers, and too many cousins to count, and, well, this is a vacation I fully intend to take advantage of.

Yeah, just enjoying the scenery, I say softly, my naturally soft voice annoying me because it makes me seem...weak.

Which I am. I always have been the weak one. It’s just the way I always have been. Quiet. Tame. Melting into the background to avoid the stares and jeers from others. I like it though, not that I like being weak, but I accept the things I cannot change, and instead look for the positives, like the fact that I am very good at observing others and I see things most people don’t.

For instance, Rylan’s trying to pretend that he’s okay with me being here, when in fact the male is still seething angry with my family and only let me visit because Jazz wanted me to.

Jazz. My sister. The strongest female I know, and such a good, well-adjusted individual that when I called her and told her why I needed somewhere to get away, she immediately told me to come here.

I am not staying with her and Rylan however because despite Jazz’s warm and fuzzies, and we will forgive and love each other stuff, I can’t expect her to welcome me into her home when her mate doesn’t want me here.

I don’t blame him. I betrayed Jazz by not telling her the family secret, a truth that could have saved her from weeks of debilitating heat and death. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I did. God knows I did, but the thing is, my family would have disowned me if I had, and I had nowhere else to go.

Hell, they aren’t even speaking to me at the moment because they found out I told Hyacinth the truth, and she went to Nick Silverton, the Greyriver Alpha, and told him.

Suffice it to say, I needed this ‘vacation’ about as badly as a vagrant needs a home. It’s shockingly accurate since my parents kicked me out and my Alpha told me never to darken pack territory again.

No one knows that, however, not even Hyacinth, who is surprisingly nice to me now that she likes me. I don’t want anyone to know because if they do they’d just pity me, and I don’t need or want pity. What I need is some time to figure out what the hell I’m going to do.

For shifters, losing their pack is akin to being an outcast, literally the lone wolf out in the wilderness. I have no one at my back, no money unless you count the few hundred dollars I saved up and hid in my underwear, just for emergencies.

I was living with my folks, helping out at home with bills and stuff while my other siblings all moved on with their lives and lived ,so yeah, I actually have nothing and no one, besides Jazz, who honestly doesn’t even factor into this because I am not asking her for help.

That would be audacious and galling. I don’t deserve her help. Hell, I don’t

Reviews for Loving Clarke

[Stacy Beesley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

ok so i didnt think anyone go be as funny as Hannah but Lily is really close!