Wolf Called, page 16
“They recruited you,” I murmured.
Chaser nodded. “A decade passed…I came to Australia and more time passed, then I met her. Loretta.” His hands shook and he ran them through his hair, his greying skin beginning to look more drawn. “She brought me back.”
And the Hollow Men didn’t like it. Chaser had his humanity, he was in love, and they couldn’t control him anymore. He knew all their secrets, which meant he was a liability.
Chaser didn’t have to fill in the blanks, I understood what had happened next.
My heart broke. “They took her, didn’t they?”
“I was on the run…” His voice wavered. “I wanted to get her back before it was too late, but I had no one.”
“So you went to Fortitude.”
“They were the only supernaturals willing to go against the Hollow Men. The alpha saw the worth in my loyalty, no matter how he gained it. I knew his enemy inside and out. With my knowledge, he could finish them off for good. The wolves would help me get her back, but by the time we made our play, it was too late. They’d already killed her, but I’d already been bound.” He held up his hand, showing me the crossed sword tattoo on his thumb. “Didn’t matter if she was dead or alive, the pack had held up their end, and I was… What did you call it? Enslaved and branded?” He snorted and wiped his eyes. “This is my repayment. A magical brand that binds me to the pack for all time. When I said I didn’t have a choice, I meant it, Sloane.”
Oh, God. Of all the scenarios that had played in my mind, this was not one of them. His life had been brutally torn from him and now he was enslaved to my father and all the Fortitude alphas that’d came before.
“So, you turned it off again…” I whispered. He’d turned it off rather than feel the death of Loretta and the pain of the things Fortitude had forced him to do.
“You were right,” he murmured. “I’m a criminal and a murderer. Your father’s dog.”
“You were trying to get justice,” I said. “You did what you thought needed to be done.”
“I didn’t expect you, Sloane.”
I snorted, struggling to hold in my tears. I hadn’t expected him, either.
He sighed and leaned back in the seat. “It’s not easy letting her go.”
“I can’t make you do anything,” I said, my throat burning with unshed tears—some of them selfish ones for myself, “but I can’t play this game anymore. I won’t.”
“Sloane…”
“You can’t give her up, I understand that. You can’t help me because of that brand. I get it. That’s why I need to walk away. I need to protect myself.” The words struck deep in my heart, and it was all I could do to keep it together. “You need to get out of the car, Chaser.”
“Sloane,” he said, “you don’t understand.”
“I do. More than you realise.”
His hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist. I struggled against his hold, but he was still stronger than I was, even with the blood loss.
“Get out,” I snarled.
His iridescent eyes blazed, burning into mine like liquid fire. “No.”
I stared at him, completely lost.
“I feel things for you, Sloane,” he murmured. “I don’t know what they are, and I shouldn’t have them, but I do.” His breath hitched. “I will be the death of you, but… I’m a selfish bastard.”
Chaser was asking me to stay, even though it meant going to Fortitude. He couldn’t leave, his brand enslaved him to the alpha, my father. He was asking me to free him.
“Me?” I whispered, completely dumbfounded. “You’re asking me for help?”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re the one who made my humanity return. Call it payback.”
“That explains the emotional whiplash.” I shook my head. “How do you know?”
Chaser coughed and pressed the heel of his palm over his heart. “It was small things at first, then more and more. When a vampire turns off their emotions, who they were before is shut away. The onslaught of all the things they did while they were off flood in and overwhelm everything. Guilt, remorse, pain, longing… I’m not sure I can suffer a century of it without…” He coughed again and lowered his head. “I can’t remember who I was.”
And I didn’t know who I was now that I’d turned. What a pair we made.
Turning in the seat, I held out my arm. “Here.”
He looked at me, his brow creasing. “I can’t.”
“You need blood,” I told him. “Take mine.”
“Sloane, your blood is what this is all about. The blood of the wolf who can turn at will.”
“They said there was supposed to be a sacrifice,” I said. “I assume that’s got to be some witchy thing and until then, it’s just blood, right?”
His gaze flickered to my wrist. “I don’t know.”
“And if it’s not? What will it do to you?”
“They believe your blood holds the key to true immortality,” he replied. “A cure for all things that could kill them.”
I screwed up my nose. “How do they figure that?”
“Because you are immune to the ultimate curse,” Chaser explained. “You alone have control over your supernatural form. No wolf, no vampire, or even witch can choose between humanity and what they are. Only you.”
I wasn’t sure I understood how that equated to true immortality—maybe it didn’t—but they believed it and that’s all that mattered.
“So, you better drink before you desiccate again,” I told him, thrusting my wrist at him again. “All I can see are plusses.”
Chaser looked torn for a moment, then he wrapped his fingers around my wrist. “This will sting.”
I nodded. “Do what you have to.”
He lowered his lips towards my wrist, his hazel eyes misting into blackness, and I grimaced as his fangs pierced my flesh.
I felt my blood leave my arm and my head spun as he drank. Leaning back against the seat, my eyes fluttered and I stared at him as he fed, completely transfixed. It was strangely erotic having his mouth on me, my blood returning him to life.
He sighed when he pulled away, sinking back against the passenger seat. The colour was returning to his cheeks, but I knew he hadn’t drank enough, not by a long shot. The little he’d taken from me was just a stopgap until we found him something—someone—more.
“Do you feel any different?” I whispered as he pressed his thumb against a fang.
A drop of blood beaded on his torn flesh and he rubbed it into the bite mark on my wrist, even though my wolfness would probably heal me. Though, I appreciated the human gesture. He did care.
“No,” he said. “I feel the same.”
He let me go and I turned towards the road. Right now, we were on a dangerous precipice.
Nothing was solved. Nothing at all. My father was still after me, and so were the Hollow Men. Chaser and I were finally on the same page but…
“It was meant to be an easy job,” he said. “I was given an address, a description, and a destination. Everything that happened after I first laid eyes on you…”
“Wasn’t meant to happen,” I finished.
“No.”
“Way to make a girl feel special.”
He smirked before sitting back in the seat. He looked exhausted and in no shape to make any coherent decisions, which meant I had to make them for us.
“I don’t know why,” he whispered. “I knew about who you were, that the vampires wanted you for your blood…and that rival packs want you dead. As for Fortitude? All he told me was that he wanted to keep you safe.”
I scoffed, “Which means he wants me for something.”
Thinking about the scenarios that had plagued me since our road trip began, I couldn’t quite piece it together. Fortitude was in the middle of a war with the Hollow Men, which started a century ago. Chaser had noble intentions, wanting to rescue Loretta, but the wolves had seen an opportunity to grasp more power. Where did I fit into all this? Why was my blood so special to the vampires? What’s in it for Fortitude?
There was only one way to find out.
“I want to go to Fortitude,” I declared.
Chaser frowned and chewed on his bottom lip. After weeks of trying to convince him to run away with me, I’d just slapped him in the face.
“Why the sudden change of heart?”
“I want to see my father.”
“After all we’ve been through?”
“What have they given you in a century?” I asked. “They tricked you into immortal slavery. They’ve made you do things I can’t even wrap my mind around. My story doesn’t have a happy ending…I know my father is lying. I’m not his daughter, I’m a commodity.”
“Sloane, what are you saying?”
“One thing has become crystal-clear,” I murmured. “After all the attempted murders, the kidnapping, the torture… After all the blood… He’s not fit to be alpha.”
Chaser stared at me, his expression changing so fast I couldn’t keep up. It didn’t matter what he thought at the end of this. All that mattered was the battle to come.
“I’m going to take it from him,” I said, reaching over and turning the key in the ignition. “I’m going to make the Fortitude wolves mine, and he won’t even see it coming. I will not be a pawn in his game, and you will never be a slave again.”
His lips curved as the engine turned over and sparked to life.
“I have no idea what I’m doing, so I’m going to need help.” I grasped his hand and met his gaze. “Are you with me?”
Chaser returned my grasp, threading his fingers through mine. “Long live the queen.”
OTHER BOOKS IN
THE FORTITUDE WOLVES TRILOGY…
Werewolves and vampires are embroiled in a war for supremacy and a troubled woman is in the centre of it all…only she doesn’t know it.
Packed with suspense, action, and supernatural secrets, this series is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats…
Wolf Called #1
Wolf Fated #2
Wolf Hunted #3
WOLF FATED
(Fortitude Wolves - Book Two)
* * *
Hunted by vampires. Challenging for alpha. For werewolf Sloane, the real battle is about to begin.
After being pursued by vampires and hunted by rival wolves, Sloane and Chaser have finally made it to their destination—the home of the Fortitude Wolves, the meanest werewolf pack on the east coast of Australia.
With vampires desperate to control her extraordinary power, Sloane is faced with a new challenge—how to understand who she was born to be—but there’s only one thing she wants after all the misery she’s been through. A happy ending. One where the Fortitude Wolves are hers to rule and her father’s legacy is ash on the wind.
With Chaser by her side and one long list of people to avenge, she believes she can challenge for alpha and win, but earning the trust of the pack is easier said than done.
She’s about to learn that supernatural loyalty is the most dangerous game of them all.
* * *
Wolf Fated is the second book in the Fortitude Wolves trilogy, a suspenseful Urban Fantasy series where werewolves and vampires go to war for the ultimate prize—true immortality.
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ABOUT NICOLE
Nicole R. Taylor is an Australian Urban Fantasy author.
She lives in the western suburbs of Melbourne dreaming up nail biting stories featuring sassy witches, duplicitous vampires, hunky shapeshifters, and devious monsters.
She likes chocolate, cat memes, and video games.
When she’s not writing, she likes to think of what she’s writing next.
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Want more novels just like this one? Check out Nicole’s other series:
AUSTRALIAN SUPERNATURAL - In the harsh and unforgiving Australian Outback lies the tiny opal mining town of Solace. A witch runs the general store, a vampire cuts and polishes opal, the mechanic is a werewolf, a fae is the local layabout, and an elemental works the mine. But what’s hidden underneath the baked earth is the most dangerous thing of all.
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THE ARONDIGHT CODEX - An ancient war with demons. A lost sword with the power to end it all. And a woman with purple hair is the world’s only hope.
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THE CAMELOT ARCHIVE - Set in the same alternate Arthurian world seen in The Arondight Codex… Deadly secrets. Murder and revenge. The end of the world is nye and Camelot is the last bastion of hope.
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THE WITCH HUNTER SAGA - Vampires and witches collide in this thrilling Urban Fantasy adventure. You’ve never met vampires quite like these…
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THE CRESCENT WITCH CHRONICLES - Witches, shapeshifters, and ancient myth collide in this colourful Irish flavoured series! Come on an adventure fraught with danger and forbidden romance… and the ultimate battle to save magic before it's gone forever.
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THE DARKLAND DRUIDS - A woman with no living relatives travels from Australia to the other side of the world to find out the truth of who she is…only to land in the middle of a prophecy of destruction. Druids, witches, fae, and shapeshifters abound in this thrilling magical adventure!
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Nicole R. Taylor, Wolf Called
