Unbound (Red Falls Shifters Book 1) Read online

  UNBOUND

  by Michelle Woods

  Copyright©2018 Michelle Woods

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations in critical reviews and articles.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, groups and incidents are products of author’s imagination or are used in a non-factual manner and are not to be construed as real. Any events, organizations, or persons depicted are entirely coincidental.

  For more information or to request permission contact: [email protected]

  Edited by: Cathy Hook

  Copyright©2016 Shutterstock/Image

  Copyright©2016 Shutterstock/Image

  Publisher : Woods Publishing & Design Inc.

  Cover : Woods Publishing & Design Inc.

  Contact : [email protected]

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter One

  Emily Holden sighed as she stared out into the darkness, her heart pounding in an erratic rhythm as she watched the storm clouds roll across the sky. Lightening flashed, lighting up the woods. Emily stared hard at the trees. She really shouldn’t be this worked up about a little thunderstorm. It wasn’t like she was out in the storm after all. Nope, she was safe and sound in her tiny one bedroom apartment. Emily reached up and placed her hand on the cold window pane that separated her from the outside world. She let out a sound of frustration as she forced herself to turn away from the window.

  It wasn’t fair that she worried about him, she shouldn’t care. She hated feeling this way because she knew without a doubt that her feelings weren’t returned. Brendon Fletcher had zero idea she was even alive. It hurt to think about it, leaving Emily feeling like a damned fool every time she did. Brendon was the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. She knew damned well that he could take care of himself without her worry. Besides, he had enough pack with him tonight that he should be fine, despite the ominous clouds packing the sky. Hell, even her family was with him.

  Emily turned back to the window wondering if everyone was alright. She wondered idly what it would be like to run with the pack. A hard knot of pain speared her chest because she was human unlike her parents and her brother Rodrick. That meant that she would never know what it was like to run with them. Rodrick had tried to explain to her when she was younger, telling her it was like being close to the animal that lived inside of them, but she hadn’t understood. Emily let out another deep sigh, closing her eyes after another bit of lightning flashed across the sky. She didn’t like the feelings of loneliness that hung around her tonight. It wasn’t a new feeling. It was hard not to feel that way when she’d been abandoned outside a local Citgo where her dad—the towns sheriff and beta wolf—had found her. She’d been about ten weeks old and wrapped in newspaper with a little note that said ‘her name is Emily’.

  That was it, just her name. No, please take care of my daughter or, I couldn’t care for her so please be good to her. Nope, it had just said her name is Emily. Like they didn’t care one whit what happened to her, but thought it was tacky for her not to have a name. She knew that Jeffery and Tina Holden—her adoptive parents—loved her, but it still hurt knowing her real parents hadn’t cared about her enough to even ask that whoever found her would take care of her. Jeffery had scooped her up and taken her home. When he’d brought her to live with him, his wife, and his two-year-old son he’d likely thought it was temporary. After weeks of searching he’d discovered that there was no trace of the person who’d abandoned her in the parking lot. Being the man he was, he’d set about adopting her on the spot. Her life hadn’t been easy being the only human member of a werewolf family, it wasn’t simple by any stretch of the imagination.

  It wasn’t that they didn’t love her or want to protect her—they did, but she couldn’t really be a part of their lives in the same way she would have been had she been a shifter. She couldn’t go on pack runs and she wasn’t a wolf, so she didn’t really fit in with the pack. It had been hard growing up, because without a doubt wolves could be cruel to those they perceived as weaker. As a human, she was definitely weaker. Not that anyone had hurt her, because her father and brother had made sure she was able to defend herself. Since Jeffery was the packs beta and her brother was a beta in training while she was growing up she’d rarely had to deal with more than the prejudice voices of her pack mates. Many of the dominate wolves in the pack had made sure she knew that she wasn’t good enough for them. She hated those wolves and when she’d turned twenty her father had offered to turn her, but she’d refused. She was staying human unless she found a wolf she wanted to mate with and since she was hung up on the alpha she very seriously doubted that would ever happen. Besides the added lifespan would be torture if she was alone. Another pang of loneliness hit her, making her think of Brendon’s blue eyes and his handsome face encased by those dark locks of shaggy looking black hair. No, she wouldn’t think about him anymore. She had to stop torturing herself.

  Emily pushed up from the couch heading into the kitchen. Staring out the window like a lovesick cow wasn’t doing her any good. She needed to get some hot coco and some sleep. She had a big day tomorrow. Her bakery was opening and since she’d sank every dime she had into it, she needed to get some rest so that she could handle what she hoped would be the morning rush. She’d always been good at baking even when she was just a girl. Her mother had said it was as if she’d been born with the knowledge of how to cook. Emily didn’t know about that, but she was good at it now and her finally being able to open her bakery was the proof of that skill. She’d brought samples to the loan office the day she’d applied and Francine Bishop, who had every intention of turning her down for the loan on principle, had taken one bite of her scones and moaned like she’d just eaten mana from heaven. It had taken about ten minutes to get her business loan, and after weeks of preparation she was about to live out the dream she’d had since she was seven years old standing outside of the little bakery on sixth street.

  Emily reached out grabbing the small pot that she kept on the stove filling it with milk before turning on the burner. She went over to the coco, spooning out just enough for a single cup, adding the sugar, water, and a pinch of salt before stirring it and waiting for it to heat. Adding the vanilla to the coco, she poured it into her mug dropping in a few marshmallows before blowing gently on the hot concoction. Her mind wandering again to the wolf she’d had a crush on for more years than she could count. Going off to school had been her last ditch effort to forget the powerful alpha who seemed to star in every one of her girlish fantasies. It hadn’t worked of course. Although she’d dated several men while away, not one of them had made her feel the intense need that filled her every time she saw Brendon.

  None of them had his smile or the deep laughter that seemed to pour out of him when he was having fun. She could remember hearing it growing up as she hid in the shadows trying to catch a glimpse of him as a young teen. He’d been around a lot because Rodrick was his beta. That meant that she was tortured by his presence because she knew he’d never notice her. Once when she was about sixteen and he was twenty she’d been crying on a little bench in the woods after Melissa and her crew of mega bitches had shoved her down ruining her favorite sundress.

  Brendon had melted out of the woods with a dark frown on his face and demanded to know what was wrong. He’d looked so furious. His dark brows had been drawn together and he’d scowled down at her with his arms crossed. His voice was already deep and when he spoke, a sexual charge had gone through her. She hadn’t understood the feeling then, but now she understood what she’d been feeling all too well. Emily hadn’t wanted him to think less of her for not standing up to Melissa and her she bitches, so she’d lied and told him she’d tripped, ripping her favorite dress. Brendon had sat down beside her on the bench and hugged her gently. He’d kissed her forehead softly and whispered that he’d buy her another one just like it if only she’d stop crying. Emily had agreed to stop crying and the next day she’d received a perfect copy of the dress she’d been wearing. She still had no idea where he’d manage to find one. Shaking off the memories of that long ago day when he’d made her feel special was harder than usual.

  Emily knew that a relationship between them would never happen. Wolves had mates, and those mates were rarely humans. She also knew from her mother that wolves scented their mate almost instantly when their senses determined it was time to mate. They would smell their perfect match and would chase that scent right to their mate without a single doubt. Only she’d known Brendon for years and it was no secret that
he’d been looking for a mate for a little over four years. Which meant if she was his mate he would have already shown up at her door demanding in typical alpha fashion that she was his. Since that hadn’t happened, she’d have to assume that she wasn’t his mate, which meant she was doomed. Emily took a sip of her coco, loving the sweet taste of the confection, letting out a little moan of pleasure as she took another sip before turning off the stove and washing the pot. She then lifted her cup and headed back to her bedroom. Entering, she sat the coco down and grabbed the shirt she slept in tossing her clothes into the hamper as she headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower. It only took about five minutes for her to shower before slipping on her extra-large t-shirt that she’d stolen from her roommate Karen’s brother. He’d been staying with them and she’d found it under the couch when he’d left. After washing it she’d realized it would be a perfect sleep shirt.

  Hence her stealing it. She almost giggled at the memory. She took the last sip of her lukewarm coco before falling into bed, wiggling down into the fluffy blankets with a deep sigh. Hearing a loud clap of thunder Emily sent up a prayer that her family and the pack were safe. She forced herself not to separate Brendon from the group, despite her need to know he was safe.

  Chapter Two

  Brendon Fletcher let out a low growl, feeling frustration flow through his body. He’d been feeling irritated all damned week, ever since he’d caught that scent last Saturday at the store. Brendon felt his hands clench as his claws tried to come out, his wolf unhappy that they weren’t looking for their mate. He knew that smell—vanilla mixed with woman—had been attached to his mate. Brendon had been helping Letty Colt, one of his elderly pack mates, to her car with her heavy bags that day when he’d caught the scent. He’d been bent over her trunk putting her bags inside for her while offering to escort her home and put them away when he’d been hit hard with what had felt like a punch to the gut, as the wind had brought the smell to him. He’d immediately shoved the remaining bags into Letty’s trunk, slamming it before he’d turned to follow that heavenly smell across the parking lot in search of the woman who smelled so damned good that his wolf was going insane trying to escape his skin so he could track her down.

  In a crowded parking lot at the local grocery store he’d known he’d scare the humans who didn’t know about his kind, so he’d shoved the wolf back refusing to shift. He’d followed the smell, his cock twitching, filling with the need to take her and make her his. He tracked the scent to an empty parking place feeling like he would crawl out of his own skin when he realized he’d missed her. His wolf had been on edge, urging him to let him out to hunt ever since making last night a damned disaster because of it. The pack had met for a run and as he’d shifted he’d scented the smell on one of his packmates which hadn’t made his wolf happy at all. Brendon remembered the dark growl that had poured out of his throat as he’d headed towards the scent which was fading as the pack began to run off into the woods.

  Brendon knew if it hadn’t started raining masking the scent and washing it from whichever packmate that had scented of his woman, his wolf might have lost it. The wolf had been in full possessive alpha mode and he knew he’d intended to find the packmate that scented of his woman and make them tell him where she was. He hadn’t cared how he got the information as long as he got it. His wolf had wanted to gut whoever it was wearing his mate’s scent because he’d known that it was coming from one of his male wolves and he wasn’t too proud to admit that if he’d scented sex on the male he might have killed him. He didn’t know if he would have been able to stop his wolf from taking out any threat to his claim on her. The rain washing the smell of her away had told him that whoever had scented of his woman hadn’t had sex with her or the smell wouldn’t have been washed away so easily, but it hadn’t made him or his wolf any happier.

  “Hey, what’s wrong with the big bad alpha today?” Lisa asked, laughing as she walked into his office plopping down in a chair across from his desk. She propped her feet on his desk earning a dark glower that had her removing her feet with an eyeroll.

  “Nothing.” Brendon snapped, not ready to share with his sister that he’d smelled his mate, but was unable to find her, despite the three times he’d scented her on the air.

  “Wow, yeah, that sounds like nothing. Jeez, you don’t have to go all alpha on me.” Lisa snorted, sitting up and glaring at him. She hated when he went alpha on her, likely because they were siblings and whatever he said she did, because despite their relationship he was still her alpha.

  “Sorry. I’m just in a mood.” Brendon apologized.

  “Is something going on that you’re all bent out of shape about? I hope not because we just fixed that issue with the Williams pack and Kendrick.” Lisa muttered looking worried.

  The situation with the Williams pack and their brother had been a mess. Brendon knew that Kendrick hadn’t meant to cause the bar fight. Kendrick was young and a hothead, a combo that sometimes got him into trouble. It hadn’t helped that the fight had happened in the bar over in the Williams pack territory and it had led to several wolves shifting, causing a rift in the two normally friendly packs. He and Tyler, their alpha, had finally worked it out and now Kendrick was helping with the clean-up and refurbishing of the bar.

  “No, nothing is going on.” Brendon muttered, still trying to control his wolf.

  “Then what’s crawled up your ass, your supreme alphaness?” Lisa asked, sounding annoyed with him. Not that he cared much.

  “I’m just a little on edge. The run was cut short last night and my wolf isn’t happy about it.” Brendon replied not elaborating. He didn’t need his sister giving him shit about an alpha who couldn’t find his mate. Letting out another angry growl he sat back in his leather chair turning to glare out the window.

  “Huh, well I’m going to Em’s bakery opening. Want to come? The stuff she bakes will make your taste buds sit up and dance.” Lisa asked as she stood up.

  “No thanks.” Brendon grunted, not in the mood for anything except hunting down his wayward mate. Which he couldn’t do today because he had too many things to deal with for the pack. The fact that he didn’t have time to go and find his mate wasn’t helping to calm his wolf, that was for damned sure.

  “Alright, but you have no idea what you’re missing.” Lisa mumbled shaking her head as she left his office. He thought about his need to go to Emily’s bakery and show his support of her business to the pack, wondering if he should make time for it today. Despite her only being an adopted member and human, she was still part of his pack. He liked Emily, she’d always had a sort of soothing effect on his wolf whenever she was around. He looked at the paperwork he needed to review and the various other things he needed to handle, and decided that he would wait.

  Brendon knew he’d have to go to Emily’s bakery sometime this week. He likely should try to get over there tomorrow because he hadn’t seen Emily since she’d showed up six months ago fresh from college and he wanted to talk to her. He’d been meaning to go see her for over two months, but every time he’d thought about catching up, something had come up. He wondered if she was the same bubbly, wide-eyed girl who’d left for college with a dream of becoming the best pastry chef she could be. It would be an added bonus if she had the same effect on his wolf, as she had in the past before she’d left.

  He’d been too busy dealing with the issues with his brother and the current expansion of pack property he was working on with his beta to hang out with her. He needed to go by the bakery but right now showing support of his beta’s sister’s business was the last thing he wanted to think about with his mate being the elusive creature that she was. Right now his focus was on his mate and finding her, not on Emily, despite her soothing effect on his wolf.

  His mind twisted around as he tried to figure out why his mate hadn’t come to him. Surely she’d scented him just as he had her? Why wouldn’t she come to him? Brendon couldn’t help the next thought that popped into his head because there was only one reason that would happen. He was almost sure since his mate wasn’t already beating down the door to make herself known to him that she must be human. That wasn’t an issue for him, but it might be for the pack because turned wolves were usually not dominant. Brendon sighed glaring out at the sunny day, his mind still on his current dilemma.