Title: Forever With My Werewolf
Series: Moonlit Wolves: Moon Struck Arc #1
Blurb:
Love is never simple—especially when your
lover is a werewolf
Tim only wanted one thing: to learn his
lover’s secret. However, he wished learning the truth hadn’t meant being
kidnapped, and starting his family down a road Tim wasn’t quite sure they’d
survive.
Previously published, freshly rewritten,
reordered, and lengthened.
Series trigger warning: contains graphic
violence/death, graphic sex, and may have scenes depicting violence of
children.
Coming to an e-stores near you in
February 2018
AUTHOR BIO:
I'll show you mine, if you'll show me yours... da da da da
dum, author of LGBT+ genre fiction
Serious I wanna know
Email me at beeheeley@gmail.com
EXCERPT
“Where
are we going?” Tim asked for the umpteenth time as he was pulled through the
thick trees in the bush surrounding Oberon. The bush “rubbish” was damp under
his feet even though it hadn’t rained in a good month. The large roots of the
trees, with trunks that towered over their heads, were sticky with moss. Tim
knew if he looked back he wouldn’t be
able to see the road, though they’d only just stepped into the tree line. The
uniformity came from tree farming, even if this area was now considered national
forest.
“Just for
a walk in the woods.” Gene smiled, something wicked glinting in his eye.
“Woods?
Really?” Tim’s eyes narrowed as he looked back at Gene. Colin, Tim’s boyfriend,
squeezed his fingers as he guided him forwards.
Tim took
a breath, trying to get rid of the nerves eating away at his stomach. Something
wasn’t quite right, but then it wasn’t
all that unusual. These boys had a secret,
and it seemed he might be finally learning what it was. Only learning secrets
wasn’t always a good thing—Tim knew that from experience.
“Yeah?
That’s what we are in.” Gene’s playful and argumentative nature soothed Tim like nothing else could, even if everything
else was still there.
“No, we
are in the bush. Woods are in other countries,”
Tim replied automatically.
“Semantics.”
Gene chuckled, but even that was slightly off.
Tim
stumbled as Colin stopped without warning. There hadn’t even been a slowing
down of step, more like Colin had
forgotten where they’d been going until suddenly he was there.
“This
will do.” Colin took a deep breath; his
fingers were still wrapped tightly around Tim’s. He didn’t turn to look at him,
even when the rest of the group moved around them.
All up
there were eight people present, all part of a group sharing a three-bedroom house. To
say they were close was an understatement, and it had taken Tim a long time to
get used to the dynamic. Tim’s eyes were
all for Colin, though—wide shoulders, thick neck, square jaw, and floppy blond
hair. He always looked larger than he was,
like his big personality was showing through,
and the hair on his jaw was thick, in desperate need of a shave, but Tim liked the look on him. He simply
wore track pants and a thin jumper, with flip-flops on his feet despite the
bush setting—something else Tim had wondered about aloud, like everything else
involving today.
“So are
you ready for this?” Colin asked, his voice smooth and even, though there was
an undercurrent of anticipation, like
he’d been plugged into a wall socket and
was just waiting to be turned on.
“For
what? Come on, Colin, you’re scaring me.”
“Come on,
Tim,” Gene said, piping up from across the soggy pine needles littering the
area. “Haven’t you always wanted to know what we get up to on the full moon?”
“I….”
Yes. Yes, he had always wondered, even
pestered not only Colin but the rest of them on what they got up to on their
annual camping trips. He’d not actually realised this was what they did,
considering they’d not brought any camping equipment. It had definitely thrown
him.
“There’s
only one way to learn.” Kyle chuckled, and it fell flat against the needles. He gripped the bottom of his shirt and
pulled it up over his head, making Tim blush slightly and look away. Okay, that
was even weirder. Tim had become very used
to the fact that if he went to Colin’s house,
he’d most likely run into a naked man—or two. Hell, one time he’d accidentally
gone over on naked movie night. Lots of flesh on display on that particular
visit.
“Babe.” Colin's voice had Tim looking up. “It’s going
to be okay,” he continued, but even Tim could see he was lying. But about what?
What they were about to tell him? Or was it more about whether Tim would still
stay with him when whatever was supposed to happen was over?
“What’s
going on, Colin?” Tim brought his hands up, cupping Colin’s face. Such a
handsome one, Tim had always thought. He
was everything Tim had ever wanted, and
he’d been crazy about him since the first time he’d seen him. Pulling Colin
closer, Tim took his lips in a kiss he hoped spoke of love and reassurance. It
wasn’t until he pulled back, blinking a few times, that he realised Colin was
naked. In fact they all were.
“Ah…
guys, what’s going on?”
“We told you, Tim. You
wouldn’t believe it unless we showed you.” James spoke in his typical serious
tone, which slowly turned into a pained growl as the moon shone a bright spot
through the trees, hitting the middle of their circle.
“I….” Tim
swallowed hard at the sound of deep panting from all seven men around him. Some
of them curled in on themselves, others their
backs bowed, the sound of sockets popping and bones cracking loud in the
silence of the bushland. It was sickening to Tim, and made his throat hurt as
he gagged. And then something extraordinarily scary happened, right
before Tim’s eyes—they became even larger as thick hair sprouted out of their
skin and covered their bodies. Noses became longer, turning into snouts, and
Tim realised what was happening: Colin was turning into a canine. But not like
a wolf you’d find in the woods, no. He was looking more like something caught
between Lupin in the Harry Potter series, and a 1980s movie version of a
werewolf, except in full HD. Thick hind legs
held up a straggly body, which seemed to curl in on itself naturally. Colin’s ribs showed through his flesh, his gut cut in, arms
curled around him—itself, and fingers
became longer, sharp claws ripping out the tops of them.
Oh, fuck no…. Tim’s
mind stuttered, not knowing which way was up and what was down. No. No!
Screams
filled the air, bouncing off the trees, but Tim couldn’t hear, even though he
was the one making the noise. He stood frozen, eyes flickering from one werew—
“Oh
shit.” His chest hurt from his rapid breathing. “Oh shit.” He was standing
around, caught in the middle of the beasts—of
things out of a horror movie. Movies which
depicted exactly how the guys now looked, except they had better graphics
because they were real! Standing there. Right in front of him. Waiting.
But for what? To catch his scent before they
started the feeding frenzy?
Seven of
them. There was seven beasts! Beasts
with a better name than that, but one Tim was reluctant to call them. What if thinking it would make it real. What if it was real, and he was really standing in
the midst of seven large growly werewolves!
Oh shit.
Tears pricked at his eyes as he squeaked in breath
after breath. The one that took place as
Colin lifted his—its?—hand, thin, hairy and tipped with wicked claws, was the
longest and loudest.
Tim’s
body finally moved. He stumbled backwards, tripping over a log or root on the
ground, but he kept on going, crab-crawling without turning away from the
beasts. A mouth on one opened, sharp teeth catching the moonlight, and Tim was done. Flight mode kicked in. Turning around,
he pulled himself off the ground without stopping,
and he was off. He needed to get out of here, needed to get somewhere safe.
He’d watched all the werewolf movies he could get his hands on, loved
everything about them, but what they all had in common was horror. The fact
that once the creatures turned, they ate.
They took apart everyone and everything around them, anything with a heartbeat,
and turned them into food. Realistically Tim should have thought about that,
should have been able to see past the
obvious panic his head was creating, but really, fuck realism in the face of a
fucking werewolf!
The edge
of the bush came quickly, thick trees abruptly stopping,
and Tim stumbled down a steep-ish hill, dirt kicking up under his heels, roots
pushing him further forwards, so he had
no other hope than landing on the gravel road with a hard bang. He was even
lucky enough to slide a little, which burned the heel of his hand, an elbow,
and one knee. His heart was in his throat,
and all he could do was make sure his
chin didn’t meet the same end. He was going to feel this in the morning.
The
squeal of tires told him he needed to get out of the way, and he tried to
stumble to his knees, and yet he knew he wouldn’t be quick enough.
“Dude,
you okay?” a male voice said from a distance.
“Ah.” Tim
managed to sit back on his heels, body aching. He
looked towards the car, and saw it was actually a good foot or so away from
him, three men sticking their heads out the windows of it. There weren't any streetlights in this part, so he
wasn’t sure what they looked like.
“Mate?”
“Ah,
yeah.” Tim nodded, trying to turn his mind back on as the stinging in his
wounds blazed brightly. “Yeah, I think
so.”
“Why you
out here?” the talker asked as he came around the car, the headlights
flickering as another walked into the beams.
Tim’s
eyes glanced towards the trees; his heart
beat hard, his stomach twisting.
The
scraping of boots on the road close to
him had him turning back towards the men. They both looked to be mid to late
twenties, rough-looking, hard. Tim wanted to get away from them as much as he
wanted to get away from the werewolves. One had dark hair and almost
translucent skin, oddly so, as if he never really got out into the sun. The
other male was similar looking, and yet very different. Tim would guess that
came more from the shape of his face than anything else.
“Grab
him!” said the one who hadn’t spoken so
far, his eyes locked on to the tree line. “We need to get outta here before….
Shit! Teddy, pick ’im up!”
Tim and
the talker—Teddy’s—eyes flicked towards the edge of the bush, both seeing
exactly the same thing—a line of werewolves, standing up tall on their hind
legs, like some sort of horror movie. Children
of the Corn kind of shit. Bright eyes
watched, soft growls rumbling through the pack.
“Shit.”
Before Tim could do anything, Teddy
grabbed him under one arm and lifted him up off the ground.
A
werewolf roared, sharp and to the point, and it made everyone freeze.
“What fucking luck.” Teddy chuckled.
“Destiny,”
yet another voice said, this one deeper, menacing with its glee. “Teddy, knock ’im out.”
Tim
looked at the speaker, he was older by a lot, maybe even in his late fifties.
Tim blinked, trying to understand everything that was happening. He seemed to
be in more danger with these people than
the werewolves in the woods.
Guns
started going off, the people from the car now shooting at the line of
werewolves. All but one moved back into the protection of the trees. Tim
watched as bullets dug deep into the werewolf whose eyes were locked on Tim, and
then like a dream his eyesight dimmed, and everything went away.
Colin
screamed—he couldn’t help it—though in wolf form it turned into a howl that
seemed to rip apart the night.
His mate.
His mate
was taken.
His sides
hurt, he could hardly breathe.
He needed
to find his mate.
It was
only the first night as a wolf. This one had him weaker than he would be
tomorrow night, and then the night after that
he’d be in this state again.
He was
weak.
His mate
was taken from him.
He took a
step, another, and another. Getting himself on the road, looking at the
direction the van had gone.
His mate
had gone.
He needed
to follow. Needed to get him, bring him home.
He
started to run, but it was slow. His side burned as pain lanced through his body. His legs felt like jelly. But
he had to go, had to get to his mate.
He—he... had to....
The road
became the only thing he could see. His body hurt, he couldn’t get it to move.
He needed to move. To get his mate. To
bring him home where he was meant to be.
A howl
went through the night, drenched in fear and hurt. Loneliness and grief. The
sound of it alone would bring a tear to your eye.
More
howls joined in, some close—werewolves. Others far away—dogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment