Forever Werewolf

Forever Werewolf
Michele Hauf

He was searching for a home. He didn’t expect to find her. Trystan Hawkes is looking for family, for his true werewolf pack, when he is trapped at Castle Wulfsiege following an avalanche. Stuck in her lair, he’s soon drawn to werewolf princess Lexi Connor but her cool attitude makes winning her heart a challenge…And Lexi is hiding a secret from Tryst – the dark truth that could forever impact their future together. Now Tryst has to decide how much he’s willing to give up if he wants to win Lexi’s heart.

When Lexi shrugged, the most amazing thing happened.

It struck Tryst so hard, he slapped a hand to his chest to slow down his suddenly rapid heartbeats.

“What?” she asked.

“You know what’s even more amazing than your skills on the slopes?” He pointed to her face. “That gorgeous smile. Lexi, I just gotta say, right now I so want to kiss you. But I feel like I have to ask your permission, or risk a sharp left hook to my jaw.”

That chased away her smile. “Right. Well. I’ll see you tomorrow, Hawkes.”

Lexi marched off. Even in the snow boots, she managed a sexy hip-shifting sashay. Tryst whistled lowly.

His inner wolf howled, and then, Tryst let it escape, carrying out a long vocal song that declared his interest in Lexi and placed a challenge to any who would protest.

Dear Reader,

I’m thrilled to present this double volume of werewolf romances to you. In Forever Werewolf you’ll meet my newest werewolf hero, Trystan Hawkes, who has a complicated family history, and must learn to embrace that before he can truly love another.

Now, I write my stories in a world I call Beautiful Creatures. Sometimes characters show up in other books, and other times children of a previous hero and heroine couple might have their own story. If you are interested in learning more about my world, do stop by Club Scarlet online at clubscarlet.michelehauf.com. I’ve also begun making “boards” on Pinterest for each of my books. There I pin pictures of the people who inspired my heroes and heroines, places, things and homes that are also featured in the books. Find me as toastfaery. It’s fun!

Michele

About the Author

MICHELE HAUF has been writing romance, action-adventure and fantasy stories for more than twenty years. Her first published novel was Dark Rapture. France, musketeers, vampires and faeries populate her stories. And if she followed the adage “write what you know,” all her stories would have snow in them. Fortunately, she steps beyond her comfort zone and writes about countries she has never visited and of creatures she has never seen.

Michele can also be found on Facebook and Twitter and at michelehauf.com. You can also write to Michele at PO Box 23, Anoka, MN 55303, USA.

Forever

Werewolf

Michele Hauf

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Chapter 1

The stretch limo rounded a plowed country road that had segued from asphalt to gravel about three leagues south. The area was remote, perfect for a pack to live in relative privacy, though there was a village not far to the west. The village catered to mortals with a taste for quality skiing and secret liaisons in cozy cottage hideaways.

The gravel road was lined in frost-coated trees. The sky was white, the road packed with white snow. The proverbial winter wonderland.

A remarkable castle rose from the snow-blanketed valley and into Trystan Hawkes’s backseat view. His father, Rhys Hawkes, had told him the fifteenth-century castle Wulfsiege was something to see. He had understated the remarkable structure.

Set in the Hautes-Alpes region of southeastern France, the multiturreted castle, forged from pale limestone, was surrounded by waves of pine forest, and mountains capped with pristine powder. The almost-white stone blended the castle against the landscape in an eerie effect that must have been a sudden shock to marauders from the past as they marched upon the fortressed structure.

A literal wall of snow, sheered off by a plow, fenced the left side of the road as they approached, as if a glacier, pushed just far enough, had decided to stop and rest for centuries. Pale winter sun glinted on the wall of snow and flashed as if across steel.

Trystan ached to ski or snowboard the gorgeous powder. His wolf pined to lope along the forest’s edge under the moonlight on four legs instead of two.

“Should have brought along the board,” he said to the driver, who pulled the limo to a stop at a massive iron gate coated with more of the hoarfrost and flashed his credentials to the gatekeeper. “Man, I’d love to shred that stuff.”

“The Alpine pack hosts the games every other year,” the driver said in a cheerful voice. “Edmonton Connor is the principal. Wolves from dozens of packs across the world show for the competition.”

“Competition,” Tryst muttered, feeling a blood-deep competitive streak flash through his veins. “Winter games, as in skiing and snowmobiling?”

“And snowboarding and two- and four-legged races. It’s quite the spectacle. This isn’t the year though. Next year.”

Tryst gave a disappointed whistle. “I will most definitely be back.”

“It’s quite calm here today. One would never guess just yesterday the area experienced a fierce snowstorm. Covered an icy layer of December snow with a foot of the fluffy stuff. Pretty.”

Pretty, Tryst thought, but also dangerous. Mother Nature may be capable of producing stunners like the view he’d admired while driving up, but she could also be a bitch in areas like this set between mountains and valleys. Sudden storms could trap recreational skiers without warning.

“We’ve arrived, Monsieur Hawkes. Shall I wait?”

Tryst tore his gaze from the immense limestone front of the castle, where purple banners depicting a wolf rampant whipped in the wind, and dug in his pocket for his wallet. Then he remembered this was a limo the pack had sent to pick him up from the nearby village, and not a cab. Before that, he’d cabbed it from the airport to the village. The flight from the Charles de Gaulle in Paris had been rough. He hated flying, unless it was unimpeded through the air on a snowboard over extreme white powder.

“Must partake of the pow while I’m here,” he muttered.

He lived for physical competition, and winter games were his sport of choice. Skimming down fresh powder, icy snowflakes misting his face, his body in complete control of the board—heaven. He couldn’t believe there were actually games for his breed. Outstanding! Too bad he’d come here during a year when the games were not featured.

“I’d say drive on,” he said to the driver. “I have to hand the package directly to the receiver, and it may take a while. Heck, I hope to have a look around while I’m here.”

And learn more about the pack, was what he didn’t say. Pack life intrigued him. He’d not grown up as part of a pack, and the allure of a tightly knit group of werewolves living together as family was irresistible to his wondering heart.

“Enjoy the weather, monsieur.”

Tryst stepped out of the limo and tugged the small titanium case, handcuffed to his wrist, along with him. “Thanks, man,” he said. “Be careful on that hairpin turn going out. That was a doozy in this long car.”

The driver nodded and drove off.

The wind blew Tryst’s scatter of hair across his face. Brushing it away, he trudged over the packed, icy snow that glossed the courtyard before the massive castle, eager to see the inside of this fascinating place.

“Wulfsiege.” He loved the name. It conjured images of medieval werewolf warriors defending their homes and family against ancient marauders.

His father had been born in the eighteenth century, but he’d never regaled Tryst with tales of his past. Tryst figured his dad hadn’t seen armored combat, though the man had certainly experienced defiance and struggle thanks to his mixed heritage of werewolf and vampire.

He paused, inhaling a breath of courage. Yes, it was required. For the haunting taunts of outsider lived in his brain. A slur used too often against him when he was younger and even, on occasion, now. Could he do this?

“Of course I can,” he whispered. But a defensive clench of his fist was unavoidable. He never let down his guard.

A weird rumble, almost like thunder, alerted him. He cast a glance to the strange white sky that looked solid, as if he could take a bite out of it. “Couldn’t be. Not in February.”

Instinct prickled the hairs along his arms under the layers of sweater and ski coat Tryst wore. He cast a glance along the sharp wall of snow not five hundred yards from the castle grounds. Tryst tilted his head, wondering what he was looking for and sensing he should see it. But he did not, so he brushed it off as nerves. Never before had he entered a pack compound—or castle—and he wasn’t certain how they’d accept this outsider.