Vinny
I opened the throttle and leaned forward, hollering out a whoop of delight, which was met with Vali’s yippy howls of excitement. He loved this as much as I did. All I wanted to do was take my helmet off and feel the wind in my hair as I zoomed down the country. I wore a helmet not because it kept my brain inside my skull, but because it really sucks when you get a mouthful of bugs.
I tried not to think of my destination too much and just enjoy the open road. I estimated that it would take four days to get back to Blackfern Valley. As I got closer to my dreaded destination, my thought process betrayed me. It kept bringing me back to my final few days in Blackfern Valley.
I tried to force my brain to think about my dad, my sister, my niece, God—even my mother who died when I was fifteen. Each time my brain would start to behave, little snippets of unwanted memories and thoughts would intertwine themselves, popping forward and back like little poltergeists of doom.
Vali was being no help so I picked up speed in a hope that the adrenaline would keep my nightmares at bay. Faster. Faster.
Wait, what was that smell? Vali grumbled as the scent hit his nose. His ears flattened against his skull, and he let out a low whiney snarl. My heart spasmed and I felt the icicles threaten to take over.
I spun and slid as I hit the corner at speed. I tilted my bike to try and counteract the gravity and correct myself, but I was going too fast. Shit! The hot tar seal ripped my jeans as my body scraped against the rough road and my bike catapulted in the other direction.
I rolled a couple of times, gave myself a couple of breaths and tried to reason with my galloping heart. There was a strong jasmine fragrance in the air. Jasmine was the smell I detested the most. But there was no way that it was her scent I was detecting. Not all the way out here. I groaned and lifted myself up, taking off my helmet and walking over to my bike.
“Are you okay?” a squeaky voice called. I turned to witness a small, busty blonde running towards me and I tried to give her a smile. It came out like a grimace. I took a gentle sniff as she approached. She had big blue eyes, a heart shaped face and a scent of pure human.“Yeah, I’m okay.” I raked my eyes down her body taking in her tight jeans and crop top that emphasized her rock-star body. Damn.
“You came off your bike,” she said stating the obvious, but her eyes were large and full of concern, so I suppressed the urge to roll mine.
“Not the first time,” I said with a nod as I pretended to heave my bike up. It wasn’t heavy. Not at all. In fact, I could lift it above my head with very little effort. Humans however do find motorcycles heavy.
“That was a gnarly crash! I don’t think your bike is going to start.” Her eyes ran over the bike with interest. I gave it a quick once over and concluded that she was correct. It wasn’t going to start.
“Shit.” I closed my eyes and knew I was going to have to stash the bike, get the concerned citizen to leave before I shifted and ran the rest of the way.
“Come on, you can put it in the back.” I blinked at her. Put what in the back? Of where?! My wolf grinned stupidly at me. She pointed back to the blood-red half-ton truck parked on the side of the road. Oh.“It’s okay—”
“You are one of those aren’t you?” Her blue eyes flashed at me.
“One of what?”
“You never accept help from people. From women.”
“Of course, no—” I started to shake my head.
“Good,” she said in a final tone, going back towards her truck. She looked back and gave me an expectant look. Defeated, I pushed the bike towards her.
I wondered how I was going to get it onto the bed of her truck without giving away my werewolf strength while she popped the tailgate down and shimmied up onto the tray. She pushed a few moving boxes to the side before sliding a ramp towards the back and gave me a grin.
“Connect the ramp and push your bike up. I have some straps here too. We can secure it and then I am taking you to the hospital.” Who was this girl?
“I don’t need a hospital,” I said as I followed her directions.
“Just humour me. You came off your bike at such a speed that your neck should be broken.” I grimaced again. She was right, if I didn’t have my werewolf reflexes, I would never have been able to prepare myself for the catastrophe of that landing.
“What are you? A doctor?” I grunted at her as I pretended to slightly struggle, pushing my bike up the strange angle. A tinkly laugh echoed as she helped me direct the bike.
“No, I am a history student.” Ah. A student. I looked at the boxes again. She must be moving to Kempthorne for the start of the trimester. “My name is Camille.” A small hand reached around the bike, and I gripped it in mine giving it a gentle shake.
“Vinny.” She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder, giving me an appraisal before shaking her head and handing me a strap.
***
I thought that I would be able to lose her once we made it to the hospital, but she was adamant about following me in. I was committed now, there was no way she was going to let me walk away. She walked straight up to the receptionist and beamed at her.
“Hi, I just witnessed this idiot coming off his motorcycle at speed.”
“I am fine.” I rolled my eyes at the middle-aged receptionist.
“No,” she snapped. “He should be dead. Can you check him for functioning brain cells? I swear!” She sounded exasperated but when I darted my eyes towards her, I saw her lip twitch in humour. “Perhaps you will find them in his penis?”
Vali chuckled deeply and I even cracked a grin but before I could retort my nose was invaded with jasmine petals. It wasn’t an illusion this time as the jasmine merged with an undercurrent of canine. My heart stuttered and stalled. I instinctually spun and looked directly into Roman’s warm brown eyes. The icicles in my heart expanded to the size of a glacier, but with the speed of an unexpected snowstorm. Vali growled and whimpered, flashing his canines and lowering is head.
“V-Vinny,” she stammered as she took me in. I didn’t answer, my tongue had shriveled up and was so dry it was basically dust. The glacier kept growing and Vali kept growling. I felt a small breeze travel through my nerves, a wind-tangled snarl of pure hate, bitter and cold as it fed into the icy pit in my chest. I knew the silver ring around my irises would be glowing with anger.
A warm hand touched my arm, but it did nothing to ease the cold. I just stared at Roman, frozen to the spot. It felt like an eternity, standing there staring at each other, but in reality, it was no more than a minute. A minute of twisted torture.
“Hi, I’m Camille!” The sassy blonde broke the tension. “My friend here came off his bike and I was hoping that he could be seen to.”
Roman looked at Camille and her big brown eyes flashed with an icy purple for a brief second before Roman regained composure and gave a megawatt smile. “Sure, come on through Vincent.”
Pro Tip: Authors will periodically go into the edit screen when they notice typos or continuity errors and fix these meaning that the book you are reading might not be the most up to date version. Remember to periodically sign in and out of your GoodNovel account. This means that you will be able to have the most up to date version of the books you are reading.
RomanI smiled at my patient as I offered him his discharge papers, reminding him to take his medication and directed him out through the emergency waiting area. There was the sudden aroma of peppermint followed by canine and human and a loud bantering conversation that made me freeze in my spot. The girl’s voice was loud and squeaky and even though I hadn’t heard her companion speak yet, I instantly knew who it was.My heart spasmed and pounded erratically as I looked up and took in the stunning specimen standing before me. His blond hair was longer than I had seen it, sitting between his chin and shoulders, flicking at odd angles at the end. His broad shoulders fit snuggly into his leather jacket and his jeans were ripped in a way that was not intentional. His green and silver eyes found mine and I felt as though I had been hit with a blast of frosty air. The malice contempt could not be mistaken for anything else. Rue stood in shock, gaping and unable to make a comment or a sound.
VinnyAs soon as I stepped away from the hospital, the aroma of jasmine started to dissipate, making it a little easier to breathe. Each breath in the hospital felt like razorblades to my throat but the further we got from the hospital, the more my lungs opened to receive the oxygen they were so badly struggling for. There was an icy void in my chest, but I had convinced Camille to come to a bar with me, so it was only a matter of time before I filled the chasm. I was starting my third glass of bourbon and I smiled as Camille amicably told me about herself, like this was a real date. As if I wasn’t trying to ignore the gaping hole in my chest. I kept sniffing the air, high on alert trying to detect the hints of jasmine before they arrived. I was convinced my bad luck had just started, that Roman would follow me into this bar, if only to make my life a living hell. “I hate that she looks good,” Vali grumbled, placing unwanted images of Roman in my mind. Even standing in lilac-coloured
Roman My eyes pinged open and I looked around the bedroom that wasn’t mine. The room looked like it belonged to a teenage boy, with clothes haphazardly tumbling out of semi open drawers and more piles on the floor-drobe. The walls were covered in car and music posters and an electric guitar was sitting on a stand in the corner. The owner of the room seemed like a teenage boy, but he was definitely older than that, I would never sleep with a teenage boy.I heard the shower turn off and rolled off the bed and started to dress myself quickly. I tugged on my black panties and scrub pants and had managed to clasp my bra before the bedroom door opened and in walked Murdoch, my saviour in my time of need, “Morning Rome.”“Hey,” I muttered, pulling my camisole over my head and looking around for my scrub top.“You want breakfast?” I froze. We didn’t usually do breakfast. We both knew what this was and canoodling over oatmeal was not part of the agreement. I schooled my face into a mundane exp
Vinny I entered the bar and my eyes instantly grazed over the flash of light brown skin of Roman’s lower back as she leant forward on a bar stool. It was like I had no control over the direction of my stare, or the length of time I was staring. The skin was smooth and flawless as it disappeared into the hem of her top and down into her tight as fuck jeans that showed off her glorious ass. Now that she wasn’t hidden under her uniform, I could really appreciate just how mesmerizing her curves were. Even from behind, just for a moment. When her eyes met mine, the flickering purple broke my trance. My legs which were frozen to the spot, moved me away as if a sudden determination had overridden my body. The ice in my heart solidified as I sat on a leathered booth seat and picked up a menu. I could feel her gaze. It was as if every cell in my body was tuned to her. Even the ones covered in ice. The smell of jasmine was irritating my nose as I tried in vain to keep my breathing shallow. An
Roman My skin itched and burned. My blood was boiling through my veins. The mechanical, fake and forced laughter died in my throat as the piercing green eyes met mine. Then there was silence. The conversation that I was desperately trying to ignore and listen to at the same time muted. I looked over again and saw that the conversation had turned telepathic. Rue was snarling and pacing, sending grotesque images through my mind— lots of bloody carnage. Sweaty muscular bodies slamming against each other, hard and dirty. Fingernails scraping, lips being painfully bitten and pulled. Teeth entering carotid arteries and ripping. Blood then even more blood. Hands running over nipples and tweaking them painfully. The building sensation of an orgasm being ripped away before the climax. Pools and pools of blood. A neck snapping. Lifeless green eyes. It was like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to rip him apart or fuck him senseless. Maybe fuck him then rip him apart? I forced the thoughts back
VinnyIt had been almost three weeks since I had been back in Blackfern Valley. The sound of tools tinkering on the garage floor echoed into the quiet solitude of my father’s empty garage. Usually, I would be blasting the terribly old FM-stereo on the backwall as I fiddled around in the grease and grim of motorcycle mechanics, but this time I wasn’t feeling it. This time I wanted to focus. I needed to focus.My body had been taut with tension ever since I stepped foot in Blackfern Valley. I was like a wound-up spring, ready to react at a second’s notice. Nothing felt right here. Even Vali was on high alert. I just couldn’t decide why we were so on edge. Maybe it was just because we hadn’t been back here in a long time, and this was a natural thing to feel? Or maybe it’s because my family was in danger, and I felt like I was sitting around doing nothing?“Leave it to the trackers and the warriors.” My sister had told me. I had argued and demanded why she had brought me back if she didn
Roman The bush was a blur as I sprinted through it. This time it wasn’t Rue that needed a release, it was me. What a fucking shit show this was! My life had turned into a well choreographed disaster, and I was barely holding it together. I wanted to take advantage of the last few warm weeks of summer and invited Murdoch to the swimming hole. It was an olive-branch. We had been fucking non-stop for weeks to try and keep Rue satiated. However, my wolf was more volatile than ever, and even if she didn’t want to burst out of my skin, she had made me irritable with uncontrollable mood swings. Each time he tried to talk to me about what was bothering me, I closed down and reminded him that I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. That all I was after was distraction. He was happy enough to provide the distraction, but when the mood swings hit, he always looked torn.The swimming hole was supposed to be a non-confrontational day out. A day of relaxation. A day of friendship-bonding and hippy-like
VinnyI paced the living area of the packhouse as I waited. Back, forward, back, forward. Each footstep ricocheted my anger off the floorboards. In my mind, Vali was mimicking my pacing. We were both wound up and agitated. We were both ready to snap.My sister watched me pace as she bounced Lacey on her lap. I looked up towards the office door every so often and grumbled softly when the door remained tightly shut.“Would you stop pacing?” my sister murmured exasperatedly.“This close Clem!” I growled pushing my thumb and finger millimetres apart. “We were this close to getting one up on these fuckers. Then she had to go and get in the fucking way. If I wasn’t dealing with her, I could have helped the warriors—”“There were three trained warriors Vinny! Three. They should have had it handled. Even on the off chance you were there to help… honestly what more could have been done?”“He shouldn’t have got away.”“No, he shouldn’t have, which is why your Alpha and Beta are doing a debrief