Pleasured by the Wolf: Echo Valley Shifter Mates, #3

By Vivian Hawthorne

"I'm not holding back this time," Alex whispered as he lowered me to the bed. 

 

After a year of heartbreak, Emma finally has a date…with a brooding wolf shifter named Alex Burroughs. Well, why not? She might as well have a little fun during her last few days in town. Little does she know, the closer she gets to Alex, the closer she'll get to uncovering the truth about Echo Valley and the rich shifter family who runs it. The very same shifter family who wants Alex dead.

 

 Alex is a humble, small town handyman. Emma is a college girl from the city. Their connection might not make sense on paper, but Emma will soon learn that it doesn't have to make sense if it feels this good…

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cam Girl Studios
• Release date: Jul 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201767921

Book preview

Chapter 1: Emma

I opened my eyes, and I panicked for a few seconds.

Where am I? I thought as a whirlwind of images flew through my mind. Downtown Echo Valley. The mansion. Alex’s truck. Alex.

I felt the sheets under my hands and squeezed them. I took a deep breath. Alex’s warmth had long faded from the bed, but his scent still lingered.

Groggily, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. So much had happened in the course of a single night. I still needed time to process it all. My mind hadn’t caught up to the revelation that shapeshifters existed.

And there was so much more to learn.

For instance, there was the little fact of my cousin being some sort of witch.

Still sore from last night, I got up and walked into the hallway, padding past Kelly’s bedroom door to use the bathroom. When I came back out after washing my hands, I found her door propped open. Kelly poked her head out and smiled tentatively.

Hey. How’d you sleep? she asked.

Like a rock, I said, even though my shoulder, neck, and back were still sore.

Kelly’s smile cracked a little wider. Want some breakfast?

I didn’t even know that I was hungry, but now that she mentioned it—

I’m starving! I said.

Kelly stepped out into the hallway and rolled up the sleeves of her kimono robe. Then, leave it up to me.

Feeling in high spirits, I followed Kelly into the kitchen.

While she collected ingredients from the refrigerator, I started the coffeemaker. Soon, the room was toasty with the smell of coffee, which mingled comfortingly with the aroma of the Florentine egg bake Kelly popped into the oven. Pretty soon, I felt like my energy was back up, and I felt like I could finally talk about what happened.

Last night had left me feeling rough, but there was little that couldn’t be fixed by a good breakfast with my favorite cousin.

* * *

"You met Edith Denali?" Kelly said.

I nodded as I stirred a tiny sprinkle of sugar into my coffee. Kelly was at the sink, rinsing crumbs of egg bake off of our plates. She turned around to face me as she dried her hands on a blue gingham dish towel.

"So let me get this straight. Liam and his cousins took you to their mansion. They didn’t do any weird Guantanamo torture stuff. And then Liam’s mom popped her head in and made send you back?"

You seem disappointed that I wasn’t tortured.

Kelly shook her head, but she was smiling, evidently impressed. Some of the shifters call her Dragon Lady. Did you know that?

I laughed and promptly choked on a mouthful of coffee. I can understand why. She’s kind of intimidating.

Menacing is more like it. What did she do?

She made her kids bring me some tea and scones.

Kelly dropped the towel. She did?

Well—but—I mean, she was really mean about it.

Kelly poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot and finally came back to the table. I don’t understand. Why did they go through the trouble to break into my apartment and kidnap you?

I was glad that Kelly was too busy spooning cream and sugar into her coffee, because my face grew suddenly hot. I guess Liam thought Alex and I were, like, an item. ‘Mates’ is what he called it. He wanted to get Alex back for something.

"Oooooh, Kelly said, drawing it out to reflect her understanding. That makes sense, actually, because the Denali pack and Alex’s pack are—"

I know. Edith told me all about it. Over tea.

Yeah, of course, Kelly said, completely unbothered. It was like she was saying, Yeah, of course grass is green. She picked up her mug and grinned over the rim at me. God, I’m so glad I finally have someone in the family to talk to about this stuff. Did you know Liam has a twin brother, Joe? They’re usually always together. Where was he?

About that, I began. I played with my coffee mug, sliding it back and forth from my right hand to my left, as I thought about the other things Edith had told me. Apparently, Alex and one of his packmates were in the woods, and—

Back in the guest room, my phone was ringing.

Kelly’s eyebrows rose. Are you going to get that?

Silently, I rose from the table and hurried into the guest room, where my phone was still plugged into the charger on the nightstand. I glanced at the screen to