Read Fated For The Wolf: A Fertile Shapeshifter Romance (Werewolf's Harem Series Book 6) Online
Authors: Vivian Wood
Fated For The Wolf: A Fertile Shapeshifter Romance (Werewolf's Harem Series Book 6) (13 page)
“Yeah. Come on, Luke,” Finn said, putting his arm around Luke and steering him toward the house.
Luke squinted, trying to remember why he wanted to go to the house.
“Is there pizza in the house?” Luke wondered aloud.
Finn chuckled and kept moving.
“Sure thing, buddy. We’re going to find some pizza in your room, I’m sure of it.”
“Awesome!” Luke cheered, letting his brother lead the way.
Luke woke with the deepest kind of pain lodged in his skull. In his whole body, in fact. He smelled stale booze on himself, tasted the sour sweetness in his mouth, strong enough to make him gag.
“What in the fuck?” he cried, cracking open his eyes against the bright morning sunlight that suddenly spilled across his face.
“Time to get up,” his mother said, standing over his bed. In a moment he was a kid again, trying to tell her he was too sick to go to school, knowing she wasn’t going to tolerate his crap.
“Ma…” Luke whined.
“Breakfast is in ten minutes, and you’re not sitting at my table like this,” she said, waving a hand to indicate his general state of being. “Get up this instant.”
She left his room, muttering something about having worthless drunken louts for sons. Luke used every bit of his steel willpower and years of military training to get himself up and into the shower. He was mostly glad he hadn’t vomited on himself in his sleep, or worse. He’d seen men on his teams do horrible things while drunk, the most disgusting of it while they slept off their stupor.
As Luke dragged on a shirt and pants, he tried to remember the night before. He recounted the events in his head, getting all the way up to Cam’s one-two fistfight, before he stilled.
Aubrey…
Had he really seen Aubrey last night?
In a flash he was stuffing his feet into his shoes, grabbing his bag, and racing full-tilt toward the front door.
“Wait!” his mother called, but he didn’t listen. He was opening his car door before Gavin caught up with him, looking every bit as wretched and hungover as Luke felt.
“Ma says to come back to the house,” Gavin said, catching Luke’s arm.
Luke snarled, shaking him off.
“I have to go!” he insisted.
“She says Aubrey’s already gone. Who the hell is Aubrey?” Gavin said, stifling a yawn.
“What?” Luke turned to look at the house, confused. His mother stood on the porch barefoot, hands on her hips, looking downright pissed. Not exactly what he wanted to go back to, but Ma seemed to be the only one in the know.
When Luke and Gavin hit the porch, she just tsked at both of them and pointed to the dining room table, where everyone else was slumped in their seats. Waiting for them, it seemed.
Luke slid into his seat just as Wyatt gave an exaggerated sigh of misery, which seemed to be the final straw.
“We’ve been having family breakfast in this house for almost thirty six years!” she declared. “I’ll be damned if I stop just because you all can’t hold your liquor. Grown men, my ass!”
Every single one of them gawped at Ma, even Pa. She never, ever cursed and forbade them from it in her house.
“After they way you all represented this family last night, every single one of you can just hush. Eat your breakfast, or I promise that I will find a way to make you feel a whole lot worse than you already do.”
After the longest, quietest family breakfast of Luke’s whole life, Ma gave her lips a dainty pat with her napkin.
“All right, now. Luke, Aubrey went home to Arizona. She left this morning, you just missed her.”
Luke opened his mouth to protest, to ask why Ma didn’t let him go catch his woman, but Ma just shook her head.
“It’s not the right time. Wyatt, you’d better get that girl out of your room. And I mean right this second.”
Wyatt turned beet red and rose from the table, heading to the back of the house.
“Cameron, you’re giving Emmet a ride to the airport so you can apologize to him. And you will apologize, or else. Noah and Finn, you both made a sorry show of choosing your companions last night. I expect better from the two of you, and I don’t want to see either of those girls again.”
She paused for a moment before continuing.
“And Gavin. I liked that girl you danced with. Her father asked me for your information, so I think you’ll be hearing from them soon.”
Gavin looked surprised, but he merely nodded.
“All done?” Pa asked, reaching out to pat Ma’s hand.
“Dismissed,” she sighed.
Everyone rose and brought their plates to the kitchen, following a ritual as old as Luke could remember. When the dishwasher was loaded and the skillet seasoned and the dining room floor swept, they all headed their separate ways.
Luke found Ma once more, ready to say goodbye. She was sitting in the sun room, working furiously at a needlepoint.
“I suppose you’re going to leave now, despite my advice,” she said.
“I am,” Luke said.
“Aubrey Rose Umbridge is a sensitive soul, just like her mother was. You’d better tread lightly with her, Luke,” Ma admonished.
“You know her family?” Luke asked, taken aback.
“I know a lot of things,” Ma said. Luke recognized her mood, and knew he wasn’t getting any useful information from her just now.
“Alright, Ma,” Luke said, leaning in and kissing her cheek. She accepted it in silence, her expression pensive.
“You know,” she said at last. “It would be easier for you if you waited a while, until she’s not angry anymore. She’s just like her mother, I bet.”
Luke tried to find the words to explain.
“I’ve waited a long time, Ma. I can’t wait for anything else, not anymore.”
Ma looked up at him, sympathy flashing in her blue-green eyes.
“Alright then, you go on ahead. I hope it works out for you, darlin’,” she said.
“Thanks Ma. I’ll call you,” Luke promised.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, shooing him away with one hand.
Luke turned and headed out to his car, wondering what the next step might be. He didn’t know where, when, or how he would track her down, but he knew he would. He had to.
“Aubrey Rose Umbridge, here I come,” he uttered. With that, Luke just climbed in his car and headed South.
To Be Continued…
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Luke’s Obsession
, the first full-length book in the Red Lodge Bears series, available now on Amazon! Turn to the next page for a glimpse of Luke and Aubrey’s story. To get the latest release news, free stories, and more, don’t forget to
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About The Author
Vivian is an erotic romance writer, author of the Werewolf Harem Series and the Louisiana Shifters Series.
Vivian has been an autodidact from a young age, and to this day she'll read anything she can get her hands on - back of the cereal box, billboards, whatever. When she's not reading or writing romantic stories, Vivian likes making drinks from her Trader Vic's cocktail recipe book, snuggling her badly behaved dog, and drinking great coffee on rainy wraparound porches in New Orleans.
Vivian really enjoys her work, and is always excited to see what's in store next for her beloved characters.