PackRescue

Gwen
Campbell

First book of the Western
Wolves.

Fina has a life, a family, a
future—until a pack of rogue werewolves kills everyone she loves and tries to
tie her to their pack permanently.

Fina ends up in Wyoming, in the
middle of a huge pack led by a sheriff whose streak of badass goes bone-deep.
She needs the safety of a pack to figure her next moves but one whiff tells
Cutler that Little Miss Hellfire from back east is his mate, and she’s going to
be staying with his pack for good. Unfortunately, there’s the tiny complication
of his brother Nath, who recognizes immediately that Fina is his mate as well.

Fina has to navigate pack politics,
her own fears and the haunting specter of the rogues who are still after her.
Luckily, she has two yummy brothers focused on keeping her safe and fulfilling
her every need.

A Romantica®
ménage paranormal erotic romance
from
Ellora’s Cave

“Yes I
heard
you, Helen.” Fina juggled her cell
phone, keys and shoulder bag. She shut the car door with a quick punch of her
backside. “I
did
ask and no we can’t get the keys early. Why? Because
the previous tenants haven’t moved out yet for crying out loud.”

Technically it was still spring but the hot weather had hit
with a vengeance a few days ago. Tennessee was like that. Her sleeveless blouse
was already sticking to her back and she’d left the air-conditioned comfort of
her vehicle only seconds ago. Fina walked faster, hurrying for the gloriously
climate-controlled interior of the house she’d lived in for all of her twenty
years.

“The good news is the lease is signed and they got my dad’s
check for the first month’s rent.” She freed up a finger, punched the lock
button on her keyfob and didn’t even pay attention to the ping and quick
headlight flash from her compact hybrid SUV. It had been her high school
graduation present from her parents. “Honestly, you’d think you’d never had an
apartment of your own before.” Fina laughed with delight and anticipation. The
girl on the other end of the phone—Helen, her best friend forever—laughed with
her.

“We can pick up the keys on the first of the month…yes, I
got measurements. Jeez, you and your mother are crazy-insane fixated on
curtains.” Fina’s bag slipped off her arm, jarring the phone in her hand. She
held on to everything, barely, hoisted the strap of her bag onto her shoulder
and hurried across the darkened drive toward the front door of her home.

“I gotta go, Helen,” Fina blurted out. She trotted up the
steps and her soft sandals made no noise on the porch. “I just got home and I’m
dying here…yes, you’ve told me a zillion times to just get used to the heat and
embrace it. I swear if you start spouting that Zen garbage when we move in
together to go to college in the fall, I’ll start smacking you around.” The
doorknob didn’t turn in Fina’s hand and the porch light hadn’t been turned on,
although she was perfectly capable of seeing in the dark. She frowned and
fumbled some more with her key ring. Her parents never locked the door, not
before ten anyway. They’d gotten sick and tired of having to open it for one of
their four adult children every time one of them forgot their key.

“No jury in the land would convict me for smacking you,”
Fina added warmly. “I gotta go, Helen,” she repeated. “It’s gonna be great,”
she added with an excitement that made her shoulders come up and the back of
her neck vibrate.

Fina snapped her cell shut, jammed it into her purse, shoved
her key into the lock and turned the doorknob.

“I’m home,” she called out to no one in particular, dropped
her keys in her bag, dropped her bag inside the door then pulled the door shut
behind her as she toed off her sandals. “You won’t—”

Fina’s head snapped up. The instant she smelled the blood,
her canines extended, making her gums stretch and burn. The wolf inside her
leaped forward with the surge of adrenaline. Her fangs slipped over her lower
lip and that was before she saw a man’s shadow at the far end of the polished
hallway. He didn’t move like her father or older brother. She sensed the wolf
in him but he didn’t smell like a member of their pack.

The smell of blood freshened as the air-conditioning cycled
on, kicking the fan up to a higher speed. The air rushed up at her from a grate
in the floor. Fina gagged on the smell.
That
was her pack’s smell. Her
family’s smell. They were the source of the blood. The man stepped out of the
living room with the shadows of two others behind him. He was tall, with
ragged, pale hair and he was wearing a pair of her father’s pants and nothing
else.

The daughter of an Alpha, Fina’s first instinct was to
fight, defend her pack. But it was three against one and her common sense won
out over her wolf’s instincts and she spun around. The doorknob was turning
under her fingers when strong hands grabbed her from behind. He was big and she
was small…it was no contest.

He looped an arm around her waist, hoisted her off her feet
and carried her across the wooden floor her mother kept polished as if keeping
a clean house were a religion. Fina smelled more than saw the random, dry drops
of blood on it. She started to change into her wolf form. In her human form she
was small and delicately made. As a wolf she was large and powerful—especially
for a female. The first thing she consciously changed were her hands. Her claws
extended and she raked the man’s naked abdomen, aiming to disembowel. He
smashed his free hand into her wrist, deflecting her aim. Fina broke his skin
but penetrated no deeper.

Fina grunted and curled into a defensive ball when he
stopped long enough to slam her skull into the wall. Pain and colors exploded
in her head, obliterating all thought, and her hands returned to human form.

“Submit or die, bitch,” the man carrying her growled. He
cradled his wound with one arm and tightened the other until Fina couldn’t
breathe. “Time to meet your new Alpha.”

He spun into the living room, slammed her hip into the
doorframe as he took the corner then tossed her onto the hardwood floor. Fina
yelped as pain rocketed through her back but scrambled to her feet.

The smell of blood was thicker here. A part of her brain
shut down, screaming when she recognized her father’s smell and her older
brother’s…and saw bits of gore clinging to the white plastered ceiling. The
rest of her brain jerked into alertness, despite the pain still rattling it.
Werewolves were sitting around her family’s living room, lounging on the
furniture and drinking out of glasses from her father’s bar. Seven men, some of
them naked, some of them wearing her father’s or her brother’s clothes, ranging
from twenty to thirty years of age. If they’d shifted while clothed the change
in mass would have shredded whatever clothing they’d been wearing. They grinned
at her savagely.

“Well, well…aren’t you a pretty little thing. I could just
eat you up.” A tall man stood and walked toward her. The one who’d been
carrying her shoved her forward. She turned to him, snarled and drew her arm
back. Her claws were extending again and this time she didn’t plan on missing
her mark.

“Now, now…” The tall man grabbed Fina’s long auburn hair and
yanked her head back. “Mind your manners, little bitch.” He was much stronger
than he looked. Rough power pulsed from him and Fina recognized him for what he
was—a rogue Alpha. His hand still buried in her hair, he turned her to face
him. Fina shuddered when she saw splashes of dried blood on his forehead and
chest. “My pack was a little, shall we say,
overzealous
when we carried
out our assault on your pack. Turns out we haven’t found a single breeding
female…alive, that is.”

His head shot up and he glared at the other werewolves in the
room.

“Still, we have to start somewhere.” He sniffed her and his
lips curled back into a smile that terrified Fina. “You’ll do just fine.”

Claws appeared from every direction, shredding Fina’s cotton
blouse and jeans. The rogue Alpha shoved her to the floor and as she fell she
changed into her wolf form, biting and clawing. She clamped down on the thigh
of one of the rogues, growling with savage delight when her teeth pierced
fabric and flesh. She’d missed the artery and she unclamped her jaw, aiming her
next bite. Fina never got a chance to sink her teeth in again. The rogue Alpha
changed as well. Fina’s legs splayed as the weight of the larger wolf slammed
down onto her. Instinct held her still when his jaws fastened onto the back of
her neck, over her spine.

The first werewolf, the one who’d grabbed her at the door,
stepped in front of her slowly, his movements almost casual. Two thin rivulets
of blood had spilled out of the tears to his abdomen but they’d already
clotted. Werewolves healed fast. He kneeled down in front of her and dipped his
head to one side so she could see his eyes. “Submit or die, bitch,” he repeated
conversationally then cuffed the top of her snout. His Alpha growled at him and
Fina felt hot, moist breath a second before the Alpha’s vibrating jaw clamped
down even harder, driving the points of his canines into her skin.

“Okay, scratch that,” the man corrected himself nervously. “Take
it furry or smooth—whatever. Oh and welcome to your new pack.”

He stepped back, chuckling darkly. Fina struggled wildly,
her back end jerking up and sideways. She fought for a long time but the rogue
Alpha’s grip on her neck didn’t slacken. Her skin tore and her fur hung from
her in thin strips. She felt trails of her own blood snake through her coat. Fina
fought and fought until she had to stop to breathe. In that instant, his weight
shifted and he covered her.

Fina howled in pain and anger as he started humping her
fast. The man standing in front of her watched with barbaric intensity,
adjusting his erection before pulling off the pants he was wearing. He changed
into wolf form and circled them like a shaggy gray specter. One by one the
other rogue werewolves changed too and joined him in his predatory, patient
march.

Fina woke with a start. The sun hadn’t risen but the room
was slightly brighter than nighttime. Two large, naked bodies crowded hers on
the hard floor and she grimaced at the cramps in her side and thigh. After she’d
fallen asleep her body had returned to human form, which would explain why she
hurt so much. She moved and fresh pain shot through her. Her head, arms, neck
and between her legs ached so bad she thought she was going to throw up. She
laid her head back down, waiting for the nausea to pass. When it did she took
two deep, deliberate breaths and forced herself to stand. She stepped over the
wiry, sleeping body of the man who’d been sprawled out in front of her and her
shaky knees almost brought her crashing down on top of him. Fina held back a
yelp of pain, stayed on her feet and made her way toward the front door.

She changed direction, heading for the kitchen instead when
a tall, thin body, lying on the rug in front of the sofa, stirred. He was
younger than most of the werewolves in the room—maybe twenty-two years old—and
he looked up at her sleepily, got up slowly, stretched, scratched his groin and
followed her.

Inside the kitchen, Fina turned on the lights and stood in
front of the coffee maker, breathing and considering her options. He ambled in
behind her and switched off the light with a growl of disapproval.

“Leave it on,” Fina ordered quietly.

“Bossy,” he groused but flicked the switch back up. He
walked up behind her, reached around her and squeezed her breast.

“Would
he
be happy to see you doing that without his
permission?” Fina jerked her head in the direction of the living room. It was a
long shot. She didn’t know what kind of control the rogue Alpha had over his
pack or what liberties he’d let them take with their females. But since she was
the only living female within screaming distance, it made sense he’d use mating
rights as a form of control over the others.

The werewolf behind her snarled but lifted his hand from her
breast. She wanted to shudder and scream. Yanking open a cupboard instead, Fina
got down a canister of coffee grounds. It gave her a plausible reason for being
in the kitchen at this hour and the smell would confound the others…for a while
at least.

When the coffee started to brew, Fina took stock of her
physical condition. She was pale and shaky—whether from shock or loss of blood
she wasn’t sure. Werewolf healing powers were extraordinary and even now she
could feel the massive bruising on her hips, thighs and neck fade in tiny
increments. The pain between her legs was pervasive though and she felt torn,
raw and caked with spent semen. She watched the male werewolf warily as he
ripped a handful of paper towels off her mother’s holder, wet them under the
tap then lifted her heavy, tangled hair and pressed the toweling to the back of
her neck.

“You won’t get tore up as much if you don’t fight,” he
mumbled then yawned lustily as he sponged the dried blood off her skin.

Fina bit back the urge to swing around and tear out his
throat. She fought down her wolf, who wanted to kill this interloper—just as he’d
likely killed members of her pack—but he’d provided the insight she needed to
plan her escape. Mated female werewolves stayed put. They didn’t leave the
security of their pack and this man, although he was young, clearly believed
she was now part of his pack. They’d probably watched her father’s land,
planned their attack and struck before dusk when the eight families that
comprised Fina’s pack were sitting down to dinner in their homes. The cooking
smells would have helped mask the rogue werewolves. Every house would have had
the air-conditioning running, keeping their smell outside. She held herself
still and tried not to wince when he wiped her still-jagged wounds too hard. He
gentled his touch, moved closer and started rubbing his flaccid penis over the crevice
in her rear end. Fina stepped away and got out a coffee mug.

“Want one?” she asked with deliberate, bored annoyance,
jiggling the mug in the air.

He growled quietly then threw the paper towels onto the
counter. “Nah. I’m going back to sleep. Let me know when you decide to take
that pickle out of your ass. Maybe we can do it in our skin instead of our fur,”
he added nastily. He slapped her backside then ambled back toward the living
room.

Fina exhaled shakily. When the smell of brewing coffee had
filled the first floor, she padded down the hall and headed upstairs, stepping
over the fifth and eighth steps, which squeaked. She peeked into her bedroom.
The smell of blood was thinner up here and she stopped cringing every time she
turned a corner. Fina dressed quickly, not bothering to clean herself even
though she desperately needed to scrub herself raw in a scalding shower. If she
was going to escape, she had to make her move while the rogue werewolves were
still asleep. They assumed she’d accepted their claiming, and why shouldn’t
they? After their Alpha had mounted her, Fina had been too in shock to fight.
She’d either blocked out the memory or simply stopped paying attention after
the third wolf. A trumpet of hysterical laughter tore at her throat and Fina
clamped her hands over her mouth, stopping it from forming. Wearing lightweight
clothes, she headed back downstairs, moving slowly but deliberately. If any of
them woke up and saw her, they’d assume she was moving around the house
normally.