The Last Wolf Fae: A Wolf Fae Saga, #1

By T. M. Caruana

Hunger Games meets Squid Game.

 

An honourable cause. 

A devious bet. 

A ruthless social experiment.

A race that was thought to be extinct resurfaces. 

 

Rowan, the Red Wolf Pack's Alpha, finds Liz's propaganda gatherings of rivalling wolf shifters a waste of time. 

Save the world! Minimise wastage! End world hunger! What comes next?

However, this time, Rowan relishes the perfect opportunity to challenge the  pompous grey wolf, Sir John, for power. The Red Wolves are considered weaker by their long-time enemies, the Grey Wolves, who have always done their best to undermine the Red Wolf Pack's influence. Having the old timer lose face and money - now that is worth Rowan's time. 

A bet is made between Rowan and Sir John, and a gruesome social experiment is devised - twelve contestants from different races and social backgrounds will be recruited to join a fake reality show with a half-million pounds prize. When the experiment begins, the contestants must deal with prejudice, greed, and animalistic instincts that surface with the need to survive. There can be only one at the end. 

This is a bet Rowan soon starts to regret when he realises that he had played down his feelings for one of his recruits, Tasha, and he notices there is something different with her as she shows signs of being a rare wolf breed thought extinct. As the need to keep Tasha safe, claws at his insides, Rowan no longer cares about the bet and he must sacrifice everything to save her, even if that means he might die and start a war against the Grey Wolf Pack. 

But will the others let him ruin the experiment? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marvellous Magics
• Release date: Oct 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215393413

Book preview

T.M. Caruana

The Last Wolf Fae

Copyright © 2019 by T.M. Caruana

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

The Last Wolf Fae, is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2019 by T. M. Caruana. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

First edition

Cover art by Cristal Designs

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

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Contents

Foreword

1. PREPARATIONS

2. THE DEAL

3. SARAH JOHNSON

4. CONNOR WHITEMORE

5. WALLACE LOWMAN

6. SIMON FIRELL

7. JENNIFER SALOMON

8. ALESSANDRO DE LUCA

9. JOANNE GOODWIN

10. TONY GARCIA

11. JOLIE COBER

12. JADEN MCRYAN

13. TASHA MOORE

14. NAGU NAGAR

15. GAME ON

16. SPLASH OUT

17. FORMING ALLIANCES

18. SUDDEN DEATH

19. GROWING CONSCIENCE

20. EXTRACTION

21. HIDE AND SEEK

22. TURNING WINDS

23. MURDERER ON THE LOOSE

24. ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ADD UP

Foreword

Food is the world’s most valuable commodity.

Everyone needs it. Everyone would die without it.

And everyone would kill for it.

Wasting it is a crime against those who die needing it.

1

PREPARATIONS

Don’t go in there, called Joanne Goodwin, the loyal secretary of fifteen years, from behind her meticulously organised desk.

Jaden McRyan was no longer a rookie in the Federal Agricultural Organisation (FAO). He had now become a valued member and, therefore, despised Joanne’s dispassionate warning. For fifteen years, she had sat on that chair, only lifting a finger to press the buttons on her intercom. She had no awareness of the work undertaken by the FAO, and she certainly had no interest in learning now that she was approaching her retirement.

Why not? I have booked the room, defended Jaden snappily, just wanting her to be bothered enough to check her calendar.

Simultaneously, he was trying to balance a pile of papers and books to prevent them from falling out of his hands. At the same time he could sense him being arrogantly judged for his untidy black arrangement of hair and his young face that hadn’t even seen the world for thirty years yet. Jaden wrinkled his nose as he could scent the black-backed jackal smell all over her. They were a foul breed; backstabbers. Her human form evidenced it perfectly. Their simple mindfulness could never be compared to a full blood grey wolf like himself.

The directors are using it for an urgent unscheduled meeting. They’re not to be disturbed, she lectured from her recently Restylane-filled lips.

Jaden was fuming under the weight of his documents and the body warmth of having walked up two flights of stairs. Not to mention his aggravation at wasting the amount of work he had put into planning the meeting. He made a deep growl. Joanne was gloating. She showed her signature smirk – the display of almighty importance when declining him access to the meeting-room at the directors’ orders.

Typical! Jaden sneered. They never abide by the scheduling rules whilst we commoners must, he said, as he gave Joanne a worried look.

The directors wouldn’t meet if it wasn’t important and urgent. I’m quite certain that their issues are far more pressing than yours. And no, I don’t have any gossip as to what it’s about.

Joanne flipped her shoulder-length dark blonde hair and addressed her stern pale grey eyes at Jaden as an indicator that he should leave it alone. She knew how curious he was and didn’t want the meeting to spread concerns amongst the employees, resulting from any unjustified coffee break gossip.

Sure, sure, Jaden murmured, not paying attention to her, as his mind had wandered off into wild imaginings.

He turned his back towards Joanne so as to be able to gently sniff the air without her taking note. Recently there had been four wolf-shifters passing through the reception. Three were full blood grey wolves and the last one, which was the most disturbing; a red wolf. Not any red wolf – their Alpha. Letting his eyes wonder he noticed that Joanne had realised what he was doing. He dug his face behind the pile of books to hide his shame at sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.

You will let me know when they have finished so I can use it, right?

I’ll reschedule you for Wednesday next week at eight in the morning. How does that sound?

Jaden moaned. He had over an hour commute from his house to the office since moving out to the suburbs last year, after deciding city life wasn’t for him.

Sounds very early, he complained, knowing that if a wolf-matter came up he would have little sleep that night, but I will take it.

Jaden had worked his way up from being a mail-boy to become a member of the research department and knew that the time slots for this meeting-room, the boardroom, were precious and hard to come by. He had worked alongside Joanne, for what seemed ages, and that was probably the only reason she had fitted him in so soon. He made a dissatisfied snort and barged out.

And Mr McRyan, Joanne called after him just as he was about to make a grab for the door handle; in a risky balancing act, don’t disappoint me with a last minute cancellation. There are plenty of nights for howling at the moon.

Joanne obviously knew they were both wolves due to their enhanced sense of smell. Wolves had a scent that other wolves would notice, but to which humans would be oblivious. Being a jackal, Joanne belonged to the grey pack, yet she was expected to follow the same strict pack rules as a pure grey wolf.

He tried to smile and felt a pang of punching guilt hitting his chest. He knew she had done him a favour, both as a co-worker and for being of another breed, and it would be extremely rude not to show up for the appointment.

Of course not. Thank you Joanne. I really appreciate it, he firmly responded to show her that he had understood the insinuated message.

Once Jaden had left, Joanne brought out four booklets, which she had urgently hidden in a tray, away from sight, when she had heard Jaden coming. They were booklets containing statistics collected by the CEO of the Animal Rights Agency (ARA), Elizabeth von Wisehouse, which Joanne had been assigned to deliver after the four highly influential people had finished mingling over breakfast. A task Joanne hadn’t been given a chance to refuse as the full blood grey wolf had stormed in at the last minute; her green coat half unbuttoned, her brown hair tied in a flimsy windswept ponytail resembling a bird’s nest and her face without make-up. She had blasted her intense green eyes at Joanne when giving her the instructions.

Joanne flipped her wrist so that her watch display the time. In ten minutes she would have to lift her bottom off the comfortable office chair to deliver the content to the participants. As a jackal, she only aimed to work satisfactorily until she could claim her pension money and couldn’t care less about who was in the meeting.

Jackals were not known to be particularly fond of belonging to their packs, and the only one she had to answer to was the grey wolf Alpha, Paw. But not many had come across him. To Joanne, he remained only a legend of a grey wolf, so refined he was almost white. He was said to be as big as a Grand Piano with teeth as long as an ink pen, that easily could penetrate through a human body. His eyes glowed yellow in the dark and his howl would make any other wolf in his pack surrender to his call. But, Joanne had never met him.

She looked down at the other three names listed on the booklet’s cover page in the ‘For the attention of’ section. The first one being their own organisation’s CEO and representative, Anne Knightsworth and the second being Sir John Eagleman, CEO of the Government’s Special Projects Team; both of them full blood grey wolf-shifters. Joanne snorted as she read the last name of the Alpha of the grey wolves’ rival pack – the red wolf pack; Rowan Quinton, a Member of Parliament with the Conservative Party.

These people were sworn enemies and hadn’t come to mingle over breakfast because they enjoyed it – they preferred meat over croissants any day. They were all busy officials and wouldn’t waste time socialising with rival breeds. What were they up to?

2

THE DEAL

On the other side of the secretary’s wall, coffee had been devoured, but the croissants had been left untouched, starting to attract the flies. No one had time, or cared enough, for pleasantries and they had jumped straight into a heated discussion involving all four officials’ standpoints.

Life on Earth isn’t sustainable if it carries on at this rate. We will starve within the next five hundred years, declared Elizabeth von Wisehouse, as soon as she had been supplied with her own statistics booklet by the lazy secretary who would have fallen over had she walked any slower.

Adrenaline was racing through her blood, and she felt a strong urge for a sprint. Nonetheless, she flicked through the research report laid on the solid mahogany boardroom table. Although she had strong wolf instincts; always ready for a snack, she was too concerned that the lack of food in the world would result in the wolves’ need to start nibbling on humans, hence she herself had long since given up meat all together.

The tense atmosphere caused her to repeatedly press the button of her pen, producing the clicking sound, which seemed to increasingly annoy her opponents.

One opponent, Sir John Eagleman, was a pompous know-it-all who didn’t share Liz’s view on the shortage of food resources, emphasised that meat is meat, no matter where it comes from. He leaned back, pressing his fat belly into the black leather chair and exasperatedly stroked his bald forehead. The few grey strands at the top of his head showed a receding hairline in comparison to the sides.

You are talking nonsense, Liz. Is this one of those premature crisis meetings you tend to organise every time you feel like having a tantrum and attracting attention? he asked apparently unimpressed, as he scratched his beard with his chubby fingers.

You are incredible. Do you know that? Here I am, trying to help save the humans, and you spit insults in my face, Liz defended, worried that her audience wouldn’t listen to what she had to say.

Stop it you two, interrupted Anne Knightsworth, the oldest of the participants.

She was the most knowledgeable on historic events concerning food production and consumption, however possibly not the most relevant person to lead the modern discussions toward a better future – according to Liz.

Do we always have to argue on a personal level? Liz, go ahead and just tell us the facts so we can minute the outcome and get home on time, she politely suggested, although appearing completely uninterested, as she yawned deeply.

In time for what, Anne? To fatten up your cats? mocked Rowan Quinton, who knew her tiredness came from old age and laziness rather than nocturnal work duties.

Although, being the youngest of them all, his intelligence and hard work had made him equally worthy of the others’ respect. This was despite the fact that he also was the Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack after his father had passed away last spring. The red wolves had long since held a specific treaty agreement with the grey wolves and hence, no public rivalry battles had ever been witnessed. The great-great-grandfathers of both clans had once fought in a battle together, where the red Alpha had saved the grey Alpha’s life. He had been awarded a sanctuary territory from the significantly larger grey wolf clan on Canvey Island, just north of the Thames estuary. No wolf has ever dared to question the Blue Wolfprint documents and hence, Rowan was superior in this meeting due to this protection.

Sir John shook his head, apparently baffled at how Rowan shamelessly insulted the CEO of the FAO. Surely, he knew the position she held in her field. Rowan detected the hint and thought better of the personal attack and didn’t launch another one.

That’s unnecessary, murmured Liz quietly, defending Anne, her only hope of an alliance.

Liz hadn’t dared speak louder, as any direct attention from Rowan made her blush. He overwhelmed her with his status, quick wits, and his sexy appeal. His ocean blue eyes and black wavy hair were in perfect contrast to his cream-coloured skin. His tidy eyebrows and sharply sculptured stubble showed a man who cared for his appearance. Liz had hoped her comment would go unnoticed, however Rowan put on his best charm, making her wish she’d never opened her mouth.

Not really, no. I just wanted to point out the fact that we’re in a world crisis and hence our information, Rowan said and tapped the booklet with his pen, should be considered highly important. This isn’t a topic that can be discussed light-heartedly just to get it over and done with.

There it was. Liz felt her cheeks burn, and started fanning herself with her booklet, to tone them down as soon as possible. Blushing like a little girl inspired no authority amongst this crowd.

So, as I was saying, Liz voiced loudly and carried on to report her findings, the ratio of speed by which we can raise chattels compared to the growing population of the human race isn’t sustainable for the future. These statistics also take into consideration our concerns over emerging viruses during recent years, which have significantly deteriorated farmed produce.

With all due respect, Miss Wisehouse, you aren’t really here to make an argument for the breakeven point in food consumption are you? Rowan interrupted in an apparent attempt at weakening her confidence.

She could see he was toying with her. Throwing her out as bait and then reeling her in. Claiming control, a puppet. She was a grey wolf and hence he had no Alpha control over her. She was under Dacry’s, command, since let’s face it, no one had ever seen Paw. This meant that it would be harder to persuade her to join him, even if they did fight for the same cause. His charm seemed to work. She certainly seemed affected by him.

Von,