Holiday In. Maine: The Conall Clan, #5

By Donna Steele

Marcus Johnson, Territory Alpha of the Wyoming Territory and brother to Clarissa, is lonely. Clarissa now lives with her lifemate and, while there are times she had made his life difficult, she was always there. Now he was alone out West with a lot of she-wolves with single daughters. So he's come to Maine to celebrate Yule with her and suck it up that she has a lifemate, Marcel has a lifemate, hell even Lou found a lifemate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donna Steele
• Release date: Nov 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223055136

Donna Steele

Women strong enough for love. Donna writes science fiction, paranormal and small town romances about women coming into their strength and having the courage to find and accept love. Now that she has retired from going into an office every day, she created an office at home and writes full time. Talk about living the dream! She was the girl at the party who was yearning for the quiet corner and a book to read (go Rory Gilmore!), and has been writing in her head since she learned to read. Getting those stories down on paper (or in her laptop) has been more fun than she ever imagined it could be. The possibilities of science fiction have always drawn her and she's read them all, there just needed to be a little more romance in them. She finally got up the courage to write them herself and is delighted to be able to share these stories with you. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA and the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. She can be reached at www.steelestories.com, www.facebook.com/donnasteeleauthor, or https://twitter.com/steele_donna

Book preview

Dedication

Once again Sherrie has kicked this book up to the next level! Can’t thank you enough.

And of course, to Darwin, always.

Holiday in Maine

Chapter One

Marcus Johnson was reeling from all of the upheaval in his life. Too much had changed in too short a time. Unfortunately, being the Territory Alpha for a large section of the western United States, he wasn’t allowed the luxury of admitting—or even showing—how much these changes affected him. Now that he was no longer the youngest Territory Alpha, he couldn’t even use that as an excuse for being so unsettled.

Clarissa, his sister and acting matriarch, had found her lifemate in Wesley Conall when they had attended Lou Conall’s lifemating ceremony to his human mate, Megan. At the ritual for Megan to become shifter, Clarissa had foiled a near tragedy and her lifemate had claimed her—in front of the entire world of Alpha shifters.

Marcus was happy for her, delighted really, although he didn’t know how much he would miss her until she was no longer with him.

Part of him knew he should be delighted to no longer have her as his responsibility. She had been more than a handful growing up. They had lost their parents early and basically raised one another. As the elder sibling, he had tried his best to keep a young she-wolf in line, however Clarissa was headstrong, and he knew his best hadn’t been good enough on more than one occasion.

Even as her brother, he was aware Clarissa was one of the most beautiful women in the world. Her beauty had only added to the problem.

Now she and her lifemate, Wesley, lived in Maine. They were assisting the newest Territory Alpha, Marcel Tremblay to rebuild his territory. That was a whole other story and he was relieved to be as far away from it as he was.

Really.

Hell, he was lonely.

Though Clarissa wasn’t officially a matriarch, she had acted as one from the time Marcus had taken over the territory. He hadn’t realized how much she had taken on, despite her protests that she wasn’t capable. She had proven herself a true matriarch when she risked her own life to save Karen Conall at that fateful ceremony, surprising herself as much as everyone else.

In any case, Marcus was now alone. Oh, he could find a mate. More than one woman was anxious to take on that role. The previous matriarch had passed on to the stars shortly after Clarissa and he had taken over the territory, so he didn’t even have a Miss Wanda to aid him as Lou Conall had prior to finding Megan.

His parents had been mated, not lifemated and they had gotten along fine. Unfortunately, being exposed to so many recent lifematings made him crave one of his own.

Territory Alphas did not go on hunts. They did lead them, and he had done so more than once, however nothing had come of it in his case.

Might as well admit it, yes, he was lonely. At least he had an excuse for a vacation. He had been invited to this year’s Yule celebration in Maine, to meet Marcel’s new lifemate, Jacquelyn. Clarissa was excited that he had decided to visit, and he planned to spend some time getting to know his new brother-in-law, Wesley, better.

Marcus had not had much opportunity to get to know the man when everything transpired. His responsibilities had him traveling back to Wyoming immediately after their small ceremony, which was held in Sweetwater, since Lou was Wesley’s pledged Alpha. Traditionally, ceremonies were held in the males’ territory, which would normally be the females’ new home. Of course, there was nothing normal or traditional about this pair of lifemates.

Miss Wanda had officiated the small private ceremony in her home. No one wanted a major blow-out like Lou and Megan’s formal mating. Because Wesley needed to return to Chicago within days, they held the ceremony only a day after that of Megan and Lou, which was as close to the equinox as they could make it. They certainly didn’t want to wait three weeks for the next full moon. Clarissa was ecstatic that Lou attended, and even had a smile on his face more than once. Everyone knew that was mostly due to the small woman beside him at the ceremony.

After this, maybe he should go to Europe on some pretense and do a little discreet hunting there. Of course, Marcel hadn’t been on a hunt when he’d fallen into circumstances that led to his lifemating. Obviously staying holed up in Wyoming wasn’t working.

****

Miriam hurried on her way to the Alpha complex. School was out for the holidays and she had time to assist in decorating for the gala. She was honored to be asked to help decorate for this celebration. For the first time in ages, the territory had a real Alpha, and a real reason to celebrate Yule. Miriam had known Marcel since he was a cub, as younger brother to her best friend, Karen. She was delighted to help bring back a tradition that had faltered under the previous Alpha.

Clarissa and Jacquelyn were both new to the area and didn’t really know the complex all that well. Back before Eric Davis had become Alpha, Miriam had spent a lot of time in the Alpha’s home. Luckily, she knew where to find the decorations for a traditional Yule celebration.

Now that Eric was gone, people were beginning to return to the area and some of the old traditions could return with them. The stiffness of Eric’s formal affairs would be a thing of the past now and everyone could be more comfortable.

Adah, the new matriarch’s adopted mother, was the wild card this year. Being Jewish, she had demanded to know if Hanukkah decorations would be included. They’d had to explain