One Virgin + Two Wolf Shifters = E-Reader Ecstasy
Megan’s
Mates, Wolf Clan Shifters #2
By Ann Gimpel
Dream Shadow Press55K words
Release Date: 4/18/16
Genre: Shifter Ménage Romance
Buy Links:
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Book Description:
Calgary,
Alberta 1936
After witnessing what might’ve
been a murder, Megan is frantic to escape the Garden of Eden cult, so she
catches the night train north out of town. Her lifetime commitment to the cult
may well be her death sentence, but she’s not sticking around to let them frame
her.
Wolf shifters, Les and Karl,
eke out a primitive existence on the flanks of the Canadian Rockies. Between
Hunters who want to kill them and a wildfire raging out of control, they’re
glad when Jed, their clan leader, shows up. And even more delighted when they
see who’s in his car.
Jed’s mate, Alice, spied Megan
by the side of the road looking lost and desperate and offered her a ride.
Before Jed’s car even stops rolling, Les and Karl know she’s their mate. So
skittish she’s barely willing to exit the car, Megan busies herself helping Jed
and his pack mates unload supplies. Can Les and Karl convince her to join her
life to theirs? If she does, will the risks she faced as a cult member pale in
comparison to being mated to shifters?
Excerpt from Megan’s
Mates:
…The phone jangled again. Loud
and strident, it made Les’ sensitive lupine hearing ache. It took him a moment
to realize he needed his human form to make the noise go away. He’d tried to
ignore the damned thing, but whoever was calling wouldn’t give up. Every time
he ventured near the house, it was ringing. With an aggravated growl, he
commanded his body to shift.
As soon as he had feet rather
than paws, he strode through the door of his cabin deep in the woods, jaw tight
with annoyance. The remote location a few miles outside Rocky Mountain House
often lost phone service for long periods of time.
“Yes and too bad this isn’t one
of them,” he muttered, snatched up the receiver, and barked, “Yes, I’m here.”
“It’s about damned time. I’ve
been trying to get hold of you for days.”
Les’ eyes widened. “Jed?”
“Who the hell else?”
Les brayed laughter. “Good
point. It’s not as if very many people have this number. What’s up, boss? I
thought you were coming my way months ago. The boys and I wondered what
happened.”
“Now that I have your
attention, hang up.” Jed’s voice held a sharp edge that Les remembered all too
well. “We’ll do this a more private way.”
“You got it.” Les dropped the
black receiver back into place. He kicked the door shut to keep the cold breeze
out. It didn’t bother him as a wolf, but he was naked, and the air had a chill
edge to it. He trotted into the bedroom and had begun to dress when Jed’s voice
sounded in his mind.
“Where
the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for a week.”
Les sank onto the bed and
pulled a quilt over his still-bare legs as he considered where to start. Jed
was clan leader for wolf shifters. He needed all the information Les could
provide. “First off, we’re all still
okay.”
“That’s
a relief. When I couldn’t raise you, I was afraid Hunters had killed everyone.
Made me half-crazy not to know anything. Anyway, we pulled into Calgary last
night, so I’m finally close enough to use telepathy.”
“Is
your new mate with you?”
“Affirmative.
Bron, Terin, and Alice are with me.”
Jed blew out a breath. “You may have
heard through the grapevine, we’d originally decided to come north as part of
our wedding trip, but Hunters nabbed half a dozen of us in northern California.
It took a major offensive to free our people. Even so, we lost a couple.”
Les nodded, and then realized
Jed couldn’t see him. “Yes, I know. We’ve
had problems of our own. Hunters almost got your cousins, Ron and Chris. We
killed them, and I’m still waiting for the fallout on that one since we also
killed the whole posse that came afterward, hunting for their fallen
companions. All five of them.”
“How
many total? Was there any choice?”
Jed’s voice was stern as he peppered Les with questions.
“Seven.
No, no choice.” Anger
tightened Les’ muscles. He’d like to kill every goddamned Hunter in the
universe, but he wasn’t about to tell Jed that. And there hadn’t been any
choice, not really. They’d been surrounded. The only thing that saved them was
taking a firm offensive position.
Jed broke into Les’ thoughts. “What’d you do with the bodies?”
“Don’t
worry, boss. No one will ever find them. We dragged them to the very bottom of
a cave system where there’s a vent to an upper cave and burned them.”
“How
long ago?”
Les thought about it. He’d
spent much of the last month as a wolf, which skewed his time sense. “Maybe a week.”
“You
still haven’t told me why you weren’t answering your phone.”
“We’ve
all been in our wolf forms. There’s a fire burning out of control between our
pack and the crest of the Rockies. A couple of the cabins farther west
incinerated—”
“Humph,” Jed interrupted, obviously not concerned
about an out-of-control wildfire. “Any of
you find mates yet?”
“What
do you think? It’s not as if the odds are in our favor.”
“Maybe
Alice can change that. Women trust her. She’s actually scared up three mates
since she joined Bron, Terin, and me.”
A hesitation. “How close did you say that
fire was?”
“My
cabin’s not in any immediate danger. It’s fall and I’m expecting it to rain
soon.” Les scratched at
month-old beard growth on his chin. “It’s
pretty primitive here, boss. Nothing like your digs in Hollywood.”
A different voice sounded in
his head, rich, vibrant, and definitely female. “I’ve been listening in. Shameless of me not to have said something
earlier. Don’t worry about me. My life was a whole lot simpler before I met up
with Jed and my other two mates. Besides, I’m looking forward to meeting the
clan members here in Alberta.”
Les’ mouth twitched into half a
smile. “You must be Alice. We’ve heard a
lot about you. Are you really six feet tall?”
Alice snorted, making Les wish
he’d kept his mouth shut. After all, Alice was mated to his clan leader. “How about if we leave the details open, and
you can see for yourself when we get there? Jed says it’s a four or five hour
drive, and we should arrive sometime tomorrow. Is there anything we need to
bring from the big city?”
Les gazed around his
one-bedroom cabin as if he expected a grocery list to materialize. He cleared
his throat before remembering he didn’t need his actual voice. “Um, we’ve been pretty much living off the
land this past month, so anything you bring would be welcome.”
“I
get the picture.” Jed
broke in with a laugh. “We’ll fill up the
trunk and the rest of the back seat.”
Les couldn’t help himself. “Who gets to sit next to Alice?”
Female chuckling made his heart
lighter than it had been in a long time.
“Oh,
they fuss and snarl a bit, but they sort of take turns. It’s nice actually, to
have three doting mates.”
“I’m
sure it is.” Les brushed a
wave of sadness aside. He’d love to have a woman to fuss over, alongside Karl,
his pack mate. They’d hunted for years for a female to grace their lives
without success after their first mate died in childbirth in the 1600s. A few
promising candidates crossed their path when they’d lived in Edmonton, but
Hunters had driven them out of the city fifty years before.
“We’ll
be there by tomorrow afternoon.”
Jed’s voice was gruff, and Les figured his clan leader could read his mind.
“I’ll
alert the troops, boss. Everyone will be really glad to see all of you. And to
meet your mate.”
Les waited, but a certain
emptiness told him Jed had signed off. He shoved the quilt aside, finished
dressing, and called Karl through their telepathic link. It didn’t take long
before paws scrabbled against the door, and Les remembered he’d shut it. By the
time he crossed the small space and pulled the door open, Karl had found his
human form and stood shivering, arms wrapped around his tall, spare frame.
Black hair hung to his waist in tangles.
“Thanks. Damned cold out here.”
The wolf shifter bounded into the room, giving the door a shove as he passed
through it. “What’s up?”
“Jed’s here.” Les spread his
arms wide and rolled his eyes. “Along with his lieutenants and their new mate.
We’ve got to clean this place up.”
“Why? It’s always been good
enough for us.”
Les slugged him in the arm.
“You weren’t listening. Jed’s mate
will be here.”
“Oh, I get it.” Karl chortled,
his dark eyes gleaming with glee. “Maybe if we didn’t do anything, she’d take
pity on us and—”
“Right. Find some clothes, and
we’ll get to work. I don’t think Jed, Terin, or Bron will want their new mate
waiting on the likes of us.”
Karl sprinted for his sleeping
alcove toward the rear of the log cabin’s main room. Drawers banged open.
“Fire’s getting closer,” he called over one shoulder. “Maybe it would be better
for all of us to get together in Red Deer.”
Les considered it. “Nope. Too
soon since we axed those Hunters. That’s where they were from—there and
Edmonton. I don’t want any friendly sheriff asking questions if they discover
we live out here. Are you sure the fire’s closer? Maybe the wind just shifted
direction.”
“It’s definitely closer. The
smoke’s thicker, and I can actually hear it burning from the rise a couple
miles west of here. At least my wolf can.” Karl slid his legs into trousers and
pulled a sweater over his head before shoving his feet into an ancient pair of
sheepskin slippers. He turned to Les. “Where do you think we should start? Come
to think of it, when do you want to alert the rest of the clan, or should I do
that?”
“We can take care of that later
tonight. How about if you work on the dishes? I’ll sweep and get the kettle
going for laundry.”
Karl strode to the sink and
pumped the handle for water. “Eww.” He wrinkled his nose. “How long have these
plates been here?”
“Does it matter?” Les lugged a
large, cast iron kettle in through the back door and hefted it onto a
wood-burning stove. He opened the firebox door, levered a pocket knife out of
his pants, and started shaving tinder. “Let’s warm some water. That should
help.” As he worked, Les dialed in his lupine senses and scented fresh air
coming through the back door. It was indeed tinged with smoke. What bad timing
for a major fire. If it drove them into one of the nearby towns, they’d risk
discovery because Hunters could scent them.
“Les?”
He looked up from his
half-built fire. “Um-hum.”
“Maybe it’s time to move on.”
“No!” Les banged a fist down on
his thigh. “I’m sick of running. If the fire gets this far, we’ll come back
when it’s over and rebuild.”
“But we’ll never find a mate
out here.”
“Just do the damned dishes.
We’ve got enough problems without adding to them.”…
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