AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Last night. When we got home.” I smiled at her in gratitude. “Thank you for giving me the kick I needed to get out of my own way.”
“That’s amazing!” She lifted my hair, noticing the scars from Donovan’s bite. “We need to celebrate!”
I laughed, so happy, glad she was pleased. She was a close friend of Donovan’s and I liked that we were heading down that path, too. “Yeah. Crazy. Panic-attack-evoking scary. But good. I like it here. I love that I’ve found him. And that I’ve found you, too.”
“Don’t,” she choked, teary-eyed. “I love that I’ve found you!” She tucked herself beneath my spare arm and gave me a side hug. “I’m glad you’re going to make a go of it. You won’t regret it. Not with Donovan.”
“Thanks, Grace.”
“Grace!” someone shrieked from behind us. Grace untangled herself from me and turned around.
“Gen!”
An attractive woman with long red hair and sharp green eyes pulled Grace into a hug. “It feels like forever since I’ve last seen you.”
“I can’t believe you’re home” Grace gave her a squeeze, then turned to me. “Savannah, this is my friend, Genevieve, from Max’s pack. Gen, this is my new friend, Savannah.”
“Hi.” Gen smiled in welcome. “Nice to meet you. Are you new to the creek?”
“Pretty new. About a week old.”
Grace filled in the blanks. “She ended up here under unusual circumstances, and walked straight into mate magic with Donovan.”
“No!” Gen gasped, but she seemed pleased. “That’s wonderful news! Donovan is a great guy. Solid. And not bad on the eye, either. I had a crush on him until I discovered poetry. Now only wounded souls will do.” She half-smiled, her eyes glancing over at where Donovan stood with the other wolves from the alliance. But something told me she wasn’t pining after Donovan.
Is it Max? Her alpha?I replied, “Donovan is a good guy. If a bit archaic in some ways.”
She laughed “They all are. That’s why I fled my homestead the second I graduated from our version of high school. My dad was the worst, ‘Don’t wear that, Genevieve, don’t do that, Genevieve, don’t live, Genevieve.’” She rolled her eyes. “I went to college out of state, did graphic design, and somehow ended up becoming a wedding planner instead of an actual graphic designer.”
“How’s the business going?” Grace asked.
“I quit. And it wasn’t because of the bridezillas. Those I understand. But not the mother of a bridezilla. Or the sisters. Or the cousins. Or the groping grooms. So many of them are as toxic as fuck. I’m not cut out for that kind of life.”
Grace blinked in realization. “Are you saying you’ve come home?”
“Yeah. Been back to Shadow Acres for a few days now. I was going to visit once I found my feet. But then Max said he was coming over to visit Donovan so I asked if I could come too. I came over with his beta, Benny. He won’t let Max go anywhere alone, and Max refuses to travel with him because of his love of country music.”
Grace laughed. “Yeah. Country isn’t refined enough for Max and his pompous tastes.”
“Hey. I just had to suffer a drive with Benny. Max has a point.”
Laughing with them, I dared to ask, “Is it rude to ask if you’re a wolf or …?”
Gen waved her hand. “It’s not rude to ask. And I am one. I can shift. Just another reason they’re so protective when they let me out into the world. I take it you’re new to all this?”
“Shall I give her a high-level summary?” Grace asked.
“Sure.”
Grace took hold of Gen’s hand, and tugged her around the back of Donovan’s cabin, encouraging me to follow to a place with fewer people milling around. From our new position, I also had a better view of Donovan and the alliance wolves near the trees. Donovan chatted away with Kyran, and Max stood talking with Harrison. Justin wasn’t with them. He was off having fun and playing with the other kids. No wonder Harrison loved bringing him here. The young boy was having a great time under Grace’s mom’s watchful eye.
“So,” Grace began, dragging my attention back to the conversation. She caught Gen up to speed, keeping her voice low. “High level, and not many know this yet, but Savannah was hired by Gideon Fletcher as a bounty hunter to bring back Warren Donovan—that’s Donovan’s old name—otherwise, he’d kill her uncle. Savannah, the badass, found the creek, faked a breakdown, and discovered she liked Donovan too much to hurt him. He liked her back so much it hurt him, too, and then ‘boom!’ mate magic. The two of them got their act together, they’ve mated, and the alliance is going to be meeting tomorrow to discuss ways to get Savannah’s uncle out of trouble and Gideon off Donovan’s back once and for all!”
Gen’s eyes widened as she blindly reached for Grace’s cocktail. She took a long sip before handing it back. “The fact I kept up with that goes to show I know you too well, Grace. But Savannah, holy shit! A bounty hunter? You found the creek when many have failed? Your uncle’s life hangs in the balance and you’ve mated with a man who you’ve just discovered turns wolf?”
I winced. “Pretty much.”
“You are so fucking badass,” she laughed in awe. “Like, seriously. No wonder he’s smitten with you!”
