The Boy and His Wolf

The Boy
and His Wolf

A WOLVES OF AMBER PINES NOVELLA

SEAN THOMAS

Copyright 2014 Sean Thomas

Smashwords Edition

Tanner never thought he'd be back in Amber Pines or back in Dash's bed.
But four years and 1,000 miles wasn't enough distance to make him forget the power of first love. Sure, he spent his time training with one of the world's top Hunters and he's no longer the scrawny teenager he used to be. But now that his former pack is threatened, Tanner is again involved in the dangerous life he thought he left behind. 
Do Tanner and Dash have a second chance or has his werewolf made his heart as impenetrable as his body? With an all-out battle raging, Tanner must find his place in the new Amber Pines or be shut out forever. 

Copyright © 2014 by Sean Thomas.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

Sean Thomas

www.seanthomasauthor.com

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Cover Art:

Model In a Hoodie: Copyright © by vishstudio, DepositPhotos

Trees in the Forest Wilderness: Copyright © by Graphicstock

The Boy and His Wolf/ Sean Thomas. -- Smashwords ed.

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

A Thank You From The Author

Author Biography

This book is for every person without a pack.

Amber Pines will always welcome you.

I would like to thank Amy Denim for the countless hours spent helping make this possibility into a reality. Without her help in every step along this journey, I would still be a clueless writer hoping to one day have a book to call my own.

I cannot thank you enough.

Diane Whiddon, your words of support and fantastic critiques pushed me to improve where I had weakness and accept where I had strength. You rock.

To my family and friends who have supported me on this journey, I appreciate you lending me your ears and your support. I couldn’t ask for a better pack of my own.

Finally, thank you to Our Last Night for showing me that stars can be pulled down when the darkness threatens to blind us.

Blood dripped over my lip and into the deep grooves of the hardwood floor.

Well, that hurt. Two split lips in twenty minutes? I’m usually better than this.

I immediately rolled to the side, narrowly missing the stomp of a leather boot, and threw myself back onto my feet. When the next fist was about to hit the other side of my face I grabbed his wrist, twisted it to the side, and head butted him right in his nose.

“
Glugh.” The sound was from the spurt of blood or his audible reaction to the hit, I wasn’t sure. Either way, gross.

He fell to the ground, cradling his nose, and I whirled around just in time to block a kick intended for my neck. The new attacker came out of nowhere.

“
Enough with my face,” I called out. I just healed from the last cut along my cheek and I didn’t need another one.

She was smaller in build and much faster than her male counterpart. I turned just as she let loose a series of kicks in my direction. It was all I could do to block each attack. I was fast, but I wasn’t that fast. She had conditioned her body for speed and she excelled at it. Taking blow after blow, my eyes scanned around for a weapon, anything I could use to put some distance between us. A half broken stick lay some five yards to my left, but when I attempted to turn out of the attacker’s reach, my gut suffered a kick.

Hunter rule #4: Never take your eyes off your attacker.

Before the air had fully escaped my lungs, a fist joined with the other side of my face. So much for my flawless good looks.

Luckily the punch had given me just the amount of distance I needed to grab the stick and raise it to shield yet another kick aimed at my torso. Then she unsheathed a combo blade.

“
Now that’s cheating,” I said, cracking my neck from side to side, loosening up my already sore muscles.

She gave a mischievous grin and I smiled right back. Now we could have some fun.

The blade cut through the air with zero resistance. She wielded it like an extension of her arm, perfected by years of training, and had I not received the same training I would definitely be shredded by now.

I whipped the stick at her wrists, aiming to knock the blade from her hand, but we were evenly matched. Two Hunters in a dance only we knew.

The blade came down like lightning with a vengeance and I angled the stick to push her arm to the side, allowing me to step in close enough to smash into her middle with the force of my shoulder. She may have had speed, but I had strength, and she flew back, landing hard on her butt.

The knife fell from her hand and by the time she started to raise herself I had the blade at her throat.

“
Checkmate,” I told her.

She fell back against the ground and threw her hands up, accepting defeat.

“
Two out of three…you win,” she said.

“
We’re even now.” I helped her to her feet, handing the knife back to her.

A man with tissue stuffed in his nose walked up to us.

“
Really, Tanner?” he asked, his voice nasally. “My nose… again?”

I slapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry Jack, but you know how I feel about being socked in the face.”

The man was twenty years my senior and in better shape than I could ever hope to be at his age. A former MMA fighter, Jack Rios had the build of a tank and was decorated with tattoos like an inner city alley. I didn’t feel too bad about the nose, especially because it had been broken so many times in his life that it couldn’t look any more jagged.

“
Our top model here needs to keep his money maker,” Noelle said and she cradled my face in her hands. “God knows you would be on the street without it, looking for some rich daddy to make you his house boy.”

I shook the thought vigorously from my head and headed for my bag. Jack’s second-story loft doubled as our gym most days and I was thankful that he kept the air-conditioning set to sub-zero.

“
Great workout, guys,” I said, digging for my cell phone.

I was expecting a phone call from a company I had applied to a couple of days ago. Noelle was right about me about to be homeless. My part-time retail job was not paying my bills and I seriously needed to make some cash. Nine to Five job, where art thou?

Then there was my unofficial job as a Hunter. Fighting the supernatural baddies of Los Angeles meant I definitely needed health insurance. I was still paying off my last trip to the ER for the shattered elbow I received from fighting a Wraith. That experience wasn’t pleasant.

Disappointment accompanied frustration at seeing no missed calls. What was the point of a college education if you couldn’t get a job after?

I did have one new text message though.

RICHTON’S DEAD. WE THINK POISONED BY A RIVAL PACK. –Marco

Everything stopped. Blood rushed so fast from my head, I dropped to the bench before I passed out. My former pack’s Alpha was murdered. How was this possible? My eyes kept reading the text over and over, but my brain couldn’t comprehend the words. Bile crept up the back of my throat, spicy and toxic, and I held it at bay with a gulp of the cold air.

“
You alright?” Noelle was next to me, her hand on my shoulder. “You need some water?”

I shook my head, staring at the screen. Noelle reached down and angled the phone towards her.

“
Oh my God,” she said, sitting down next to me.

I let out a breath I hadn’t been aware I was holding and drew the cold gym air back into my lungs, feeling the burn along my throat.

“
That was your old pack’s Alpha, right?” she asked.

“
Yeah. Killed by a rival pack.” My words sounded foreign. “I can’t believe that.”

“
I’m sorry, Tan,” she reassured me.

Noelle took the phone from my limp hand and showed it to Jack.

“
Shit man,” he responded, dragging his last word out.

“
I gotta go, right?” I asked, looking to both of them for the answer I already knew.

Noelle looked at Jack. “I mean…you don’t have to. You don’t owe them anything.”

I dragged my hands over my sweaty face. “I owe that man a lot, actually. He accepted me, a human, into a wolf pack and then started my training.”