Howl’s Beauty (Woodland Pack Book 2) Read online

  More than once Talia’s mother, Isadora, would grumble and complain about how Talia’s father, Isadora’s mate, would only come by in order to reestablish their mating bond, before taking off again. It was only because of that Talia was even aware of the perils of mating. She’d been determined to never find the man, or woman, or people, who were fated to be joined with her forever. She didn’t want to be attached to anyone in that way. Had no desire to be so bonded. And yet…

  Here he was. Her mate. Standing in front of her. Telling her that she smelled like a human.

  “Are you saying you’re not a human?” the gorgeous man before her asked. Talia allowed her own gaze to traverse his body. From the crown of his head with its thick, black strands, to his blue eyes, thin, patrician nose, and full lips surrounded by bristly, black, facial hair; down to his thick neck, broad shoulders, big biceps, trim waist, trunk-like thighs, and big feet, which of course drew Talia’s gaze up to his groin to see if the old adage was true. Big feet and big hands equaled a mighty big… package.

  And from what Talia could see from the imprint of her mate’s groin, it was true. Very much so.

  “I’m saying that perhaps you shouldn’t make assumptions based on your first sniff, huh?” Talia shrugged. “Now, if you will excuse me?”

  She turned to walk away, her heart pounding in her chest, only to come up short when her mate grabbed her arm and tugged her backwards until her back was flush against his chest.

  “Where are you off to so fast? I know your name, but you don’t know mine,” he said in a deep, husky voice. “Besides, I was hoping we could get to know each other better.”

  Talia attempted to wriggle herself free, only to end up shimmying her body, pressing it more firmly against the man behind her. She bit her lower lip to prevent her moan from falling free and stopped moving when he pressed a large palm against her stomach.

  “You can stop pretending like you want to go when I know what you really want.”

  Talia sucked in a breath and blinked in order to try and clear the haze of lust from her gaze. Fuck, he smelled so delicious. The creature inside of her rammed and fought to be free and though Talia had not shifted often, or even fully, she wanted to set the animal free at that moment. But she couldn’t. No matter how much she really, really wanted to.

  She’d delivered her message to Angelo, and now she had to run. She had to leave not only the state, but the country, because she was certain her father would find her soon, and he wouldn’t allow her to claim ignorance as to her best friend’s whereabouts anymore. He would demand answers, and he would get them, no matter what he had to do to her in order to achieve that goal.

  “You really need to let me go. It’s what’s best for both of us,” she whispered, hoping the handsome stranger behind her couldn’t hear the way her heart was pounding in her chest.

  She gasped when she found herself spun around once more, her dark brown eyes colliding with his blue ones.

  “What’s best for both of us is this—”

  He took her lips in a hot, fiery, passionate kiss that robbed her of her thoughts, made her fingers go numb and caused her body to slump into his. She trembled the moment she felt his hands stroke her back, one trailing up to bury itself into her hair. Her groan of pleasure mixed with his, and Talia wound her arms up and around his neck, pressing herself closer to him.

  Long minutes later they had to come up for air, and Talia—her face hot with desire and embarrassment—looked up into the face of the man the gods Remus and Romulus had created just for her.

  “Hello Talia, my name’s Harold Marconi, but you can call me Howl… or Harry.”

  Marconi.

  The family who was her father’s enemy, was the one her mate belonged to.

  Shit.

  Chapter Four

  Second… No, Third Impressions

  Howl led his mate, Talia, down the hallway to his office, neither of them speaking. Once they stepped into the large, opulent room, he locked the door behind them and lifted her up into his arms, pressing her back against the door. He shivered as her curves settled against the hard planes of his own body and took her mouth in a hard, punishing kiss. Moving over to the wide, deep, dark maroon couch he’d had installed in his personal space, even though he was rarely in town thanks to his enlistment in the military, Howl lay Talia down on the cushions and stepped back.

  Running his fingers through his hair, Howl tried to figure out how to explain his actions to the human in front of him. Though she’d implied that she wasn’t fully human, he was still certain that she didn’t completely understand the truth about mates and bonds and claiming bites.

  “A-are you okay?” she asked in a wavering voice.

  Howl nodded. “Yes, I just… I just wanted to explain things to you.”

  “Explain what things to me.”

  “Things about us.”

  “Us?”

  Howl inclined his head. “You see, long ago, when the world was created there were two gods: Remus and Romulus, who could take on the forms of both man and wolf. They walked the Earth, longing to be whole, to be complete. Because while they were powerful and love each other fiercely, as only brothers can, they were both still lonely. And so, they created companions. Mates. Someone made just for them. Remus’ mate was a woman, beautiful, smart, compassionate, who was completely human, and Romulus’ mate was a man, just as beautiful, smart, and compassionate. They lived happily and gave birth to many children. However, when Remus and Romulus felt that their time on Earth had come to an end, they knew they could not return to the Heavens without their mates, and so they took them with them. But they noticed that their children, and other shifters they’d created were just as lonely and so they created mates for them all. Someone who complemented the shifters in every way. And when their children, two for Remus and two for Romulus, decided to separate and go to separate parts of the world in order to inhabit and grow the populations there, the gods ensured that they would each meet their mates.”

  Howl looked over at Talia to gauge her response to his words, but she merely sat on the couch, her eyes wide as she listened to him speak.

  “And so, it continued on. From generation to generation. Shifters were born and each of them had a mate—though not every one of them was lucky enough to find them—a person, male or female, sometimes more than one, sometimes they were human, sometimes they were shifters, who completed them. The shifters would know them by their smell. Their mates were their destiny. And from the moment they first smelled each other, first touched, first kissed, their bond would start to form. It would be cemented when the shifter not only bit their mate, but when they consummated their relationship. And then they would live happily ever after. Neither able to live without the other, and each dying within moments of their mate.”

  Talia nodded and swallowed thickly. “A-and why-why are you telling me this?” she stammered out the question.

  Howl stopped in front of her and gestured back and forth between them.

  “Because you’re my mate. The woman created just for me.”

  Her scent was enchanting. Her lips beckoned him to come and sip from her mouth. And her body....

  Good god, her body made every muscle, cell, and tendon harden. Every bit of him wanted every bit of her. More than simply wanting her. He wanted... no, needed, to claim her. To put his scent on every inch of her curvy form. He wanted every other man to be humbled by the strength and depth of Howl’s bond to Talia. He wanted women to be so envious—so jealous—that they ripped their hair out due to their inescapable need to take Talia’s place.

  Looking at her, he licked his lips, the tip of his canines piercing the tip of his tongue. Howl saw the moment she became aware of his blood. Watched as her nostrils flared. Her nipples hardened. Her hands clenched into fists at her side.

  Yes. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. She wanted to feel his body on top of hers. Feel his teeth puncturing the skin of her throat as he mated her. As he took
her with a hunger and ferocity that was unmatched by anyone else.

  He would have her. He would take her again and again until she could no longer move and the only thing she could whisper was his name.

  And then he would fuck her again until she melted all over his sheets like butter.

  And then—and only then—would he stop and find out...

  Just what the hell kind of secret his mate was keeping. Because he could tell she was hiding something.

  Talia didn’t speak, she simply eased up from her chair, shaking her head, before she hastily said goodbye and ran from the room.

  Howl stood there, frozen in the middle of his office, his heart feeling as if it had been ripped from his chest and sent through the shredder. He didn’t know how his brother was functioning, Howl felt gutted, his legs felt weak as he realized that his mate had run from him. Tilting his head back, he gave truth to the nickname he’d been given at a young age and let out a howl of despair that shook the windows of the building. He ripped his shirt and allowed his shift to flow over him, until he stood on all four paws, his wolf a massive creature in the center of the room. Sitting on his hind legs, Howl released another wail of grief before he lay down, resting his head on his front paws.

  It was not over. There was no way he was going to let Talia simply go. He would find her, and he would make her see reason.

  She was his mate, and he would have her.

  Howl sat in his black 2020 Ford Expedition™ and stared up at the building that housed JY’s F&M Online Makeover, LLC. He knew Talia was inside. His mate. The woman who’d run from him, but the woman he was determined to claim and be with.

  He rubbed his face with the palms of his hands, trying to wake himself up. Howl regularly spent days without sleep, serving in the military overseas, but he’d never suffered as he had the previous evening. His wolf had battered against his ribcage, clawing, snarling, and desperately trying to get out. Howl had gone for a run at around two in the morning and found himself spending hours trying to pick up Talia’s scent. He’d barely been able to take a step or think after Talia took off, she’d dominated his thoughts and so he hadn’t been too surprised that his wolf was so determined to try and find their mate.

  Which was why he’d found Talia’s office, her scent still lingering in the air, allowing him to sit out in the parking lot until she came out.

  Whenever that was.

  When the front door of the building opened and Talia strode from within, wearing a blue pinstriped suit, Howl sat up quickly and ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to look presentable. He climbed from inside the vehicle and made his way towards her, determined to formally introduce himself, not as her “mate”, but simply as a man who found her attractive, and one deadest on asking her for a second chance to make a first impression.

  Talia froze at the sight of him, and Howl held up his hands in surrender.

  “I’m not here to scare you or even to stalk you,” he said gently, chuckling when Talia quirked an eyebrow. “Okay, I’m not here to scare you,” he amended his statement. “I just realized… after you ran out of my office… that I probably came off looking like a crazy person and I’m really hoping that you’ll give me a second chance to make a better first impression on you. And to maybe take you out on a date?”

  Talia tilted her head to the side and Howl smiled at the adorable gesture. She smiled at him and shrugged.

  “Sure, Harry. I’ll give you a second chance to not be a crazy person. Though it should probably be a third chance. Your second one was wasted on you sitting out here like a stalker waiting for me,” Talia said with a shy smile.

  Howl blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry about that, I just…” he shrugged.

  He trembled as Talia’s hand touched his hand. “I understand…” she glanced away for a moment and muttered. “More than you realize.” She looked back at him and winked.

  “Call me, Harry,” she told him, before slipping him her business card.

  Howl waited until she got in her car and drove away, before he gave into the overwhelming urge to sniff the card she’d given him in order to imprint her scent on his brain.

  It was his infatuation with his new mate, his excitement and relief at being given a second chance with her, his fascination with her shyness and her beauty that intrigued him and took his breath away, that caused him to not notice the smell of new shifters in the area until they’d surrounded him.

  “Ahh, if it isn’t the Beta Marconi,” Alpha Bianchi’s voice reached him from behind the wall of shifters as he stepped through an opening. Howl snarled at the older man and crouched, one hand on the ground before him as he tucked Talia’s card in his back pocket for safekeeping. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. “Fancy meeting you here. Is there perhaps a young woman in this building you are attracted to? One you want to get to know a little better?”

  Howl’s upper lip curled up in anger as he refused to take the bait that Alpha Bianchi dangled in front of him. Before Howl could go on the offensive, he was distracted by the sight of Talia’s car racing back into the parking lot and her jumping out of the vehicle, waving her hands and yelling at them to leave him alone.

  Women. Human women. So dramatic and such distractions. Howl tried to send her away with his free hand, but Alpha Bianchi chose that moment to act.

  “Take him,” Alpha Bianchi ordered, “I’ll deal with her.”

  It was that sinister promise which caused Howl to jump up in order to fight and protect his mate, even though he was vastly outnumbered.

  It wasn’t long before Talia’s screams for him to run faded away, and darkness rose up to greet him.

  Chapter Five

  Revelations and A Claiming

  “Did you have to hit him so hard?”

  “Shut up or I’ll hit you next.”

  “You would hit your own daughter?”

  “You’re no daughter of mine… not if you’re mated to a Marconi.”

  “You don’t mean that…”

  “The fuck I don’t.”

  Voices filtered into his subconscious, tendrils of a conversation he was not meant to hear. Howl couldn’t distinguish who was speaking, all he knew was that his wolf had retreated, and his body was one incredibly huge knot of pain.

  “Aahh, are you back with us Beta?” Alpha Bianchi’s voice punctured the haze and Howl opened his eyes, only to scowl at the older man.

  “What the fuck do you want? And why did you kidnap me and my mate, just seconds after we’d mated?”

  Alpha Bianchi shrugged as he walked the space in front of Howl, peeling off his suit jacket, rolling up the sleeves of his button-down striped shirt, and pulling off his rings. Howl reached out to Talia through their mating link, checking to see if she was okay, and he breathed a sigh of relief when she sent back reassurance and comfort.

  “Oh, I don’t want much. I just want to know where your brother, the alpha is? He and I have matters to discuss.”

  Howl shook his head. While he’d heard the city Talia had sent Growl to in order to collect his wayward mate there was absolutely no way he was going to give that information to Bianchi.

  “I have no idea,” he answered with a nonchalant shrug of his own.

  Though he knew it was coming, Howl was still unprepared for the punch that landed on his right jaw. He turned his head and spit the blood and saliva that had collected in his mouth from the last blow to his jaw, in the face of his kidnappers.

  “I told you: I. Don’t. Know. Where. He. Is!” he snarled.

  Don Alpha Fernando Bianchi shook his head. “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I didn’t think your father raised you to be a liar, Harold. Or wait…” he tilted his head and gave Howl a mocking look of concern. “Is it… Harry?”

  Icy tendrils of dread crawled their way up his spine at that nickname. There was only one person he knew who called him that… only one person he’d given permission to call him that.

  Talia.

  His mate. He
’d been so stunned to meet her at the Woodland Pack Incorporated building. Once Angelo had taken off, Howl had taken her hand and practically dragged her to his office. He’d stumbled and stammered through what could only be described as a: #conversationfail about shifters and mates. When he’d finished the stunned and fearful look on his mate’s face had caused Howl’s heart to sink. How in the hell was he supposed to explain such a thing to a human?

  Talia had eased up from the chair, hastily said goodbye and left. It had taken every ounce of willpower he possessed to not chase after her. He wasn’t sure how his brother, Angelo, was still alive and breathing after Joi had run off, Howl had barely been able to take a step or think after Talia took off.

  That hadn’t prevented him from finding her at work and sitting out in the parking lot until she’d come out. He’d finally introduced himself and asked for a second chance to make a first impression.

  “Sure, Harry. I’ll give you a second chance to not be a crazy person. Though it should probably be a third chance. Your second one was wasted on you sitting out here like a stalker waiting for me,” Talia said with a shy smile.

  Howl blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry about that, I just…” he shrugged.

  He trembled as Talia’s hand touched his hand. “I understand…” she glanced away for a moment and muttered. “More than you realize.” She looked back at him and winked.

  “Call me, Harry,” she’d told him before slipping him her business card.

  Howl had waited until she’d gotten in her car and had driven away, before he’d sniffed the card and imprinted her scent on his brain.