Jackal and Wolf by Madeline Hatter (read my book TXT) 📕

has the job unless you tell her. She can come in, try it out and then hit the road if you don’t like her. It’s not like we promised her the damn job or anything.”

“Which part of ‘we don’t hire humans' do you not understand? You know our lives are at stake, and I don’t like the idea of putting the pack at risk for some human we don’t even know.”

“I’m asking for one shift, bro. Do me a favor and let her work today. She’s gonna be here in half an hour. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll be the perfect mate for one of the guys. Problem solved, right? She was average even though she’s a tiny thing,” he tried to reason with me.

My brother was a sucker for a woman in distress. All they had to do was smile at him and make up some lame story and he wanted to save them from all their troubles. Be their fucking sweet knight in shining armor.

“Fine. I’ll give her today, but that’s it.” I conceded, which was a lucky thing for the human girl in question, because, without my approval, she’d be out on her fucking ass no matter what my younger brothers had told her earlier.

“Thanks,” he was saying as I tuned him out because Nicky suddenly pushed for control.

I reined him as hard as I could and was surprised by how difficult he was being. He pushed against the barriers again, wanting out. There and now. Then the scent of wet pine and cocoa drifted my way and Nicky wanted to know where it was coming from so he could put our scent all around in it. Drew was looking over my shoulder with a sweet smile on his face. A growl crept up my throat when I saw the flirty gleam in his chocolate eyes as I turned to see who he had been looking at. She was the plainest girl I’d ever seen but she was beautiful in her own way. Nicky and I both wanted to fuck her till she couldn’t walk. Everything I’d thought I would never want. Her tiny frame looked practically breakable by Werewolf standards. I had to be at least a full foot and a half taller than she was and more than a hundred pounds heavier. She looked nothing like our females, who were tall, lithe and athletic. She had curves that were just begging to be touched.

Licked.

Sucked.

Bitten.

Her breasts were straining against the blue fabric of the collared shirt she wore. She looked nothing like a wolf.  Her big almond eyes were beautiful and one was a smokey grey the other a dark blue-grey. They flashed with something as the chemistry between us was set a flame. I heard her let out a shaky breath before she looked up again. Only this time, her eyes didn’t look at me, she smiled over my shoulder at my brother. Nicky who’d been howling in appreciation as I’d been staring at her, quickly turned to snarling at the sight of her smiling at Drew. I swiveled my head to glare at him.

“Shit, Andreas. You’re going to make me tell her no?” Drew muttered under his breath.

“You misunderstand me. She’s hired. Permanently,” I growled.

Drew’s eyes widened in surprise before he glanced at us.

“She’s my mate. Spread the word. She’s mine even if I haven’t claimed mated with her yet. If anyone fucking messes with her, then they will have to pack up their asses and leave. You make it damn clear that I don’t want any bullshit about this. You got me?”

“Yeah, man. I’ll take care of it,” he promised. “But are you really sure about this?”

I inhaled deeply and I wish I hadn’t. She might be human and a stranger, but her scent drew me like no other wolf or human did. It called to Nicky and made him demand that I take her and fuck her senseless. And he didn’t want me to wait to do anything about it either.

“Hey, Drew,” she greeted my brother.“I hope you don’t mind that I’m an hour early.”

The sound of her voice made me want to growl. It was damaged. Someone had hurt my mate.

“Not at all,” Drew replied. “It means you have a chance to meet my oldest brother, Drew. He owns the town.”

Her gaze shifted to me and her eyes widened, a hint of something entering them for a brief moment.

“Hi,” I said softly.

She trembled slightly when she looked past us. I could smell the surprise coming off of her in waves. She walked up to one of the new officers who was mates with my youngest brother.

“Jason, what are you doing here?” I heard her ask.

I heard him gasp in surprise.

“What the hell are you doing here Vera? You can’t be here. Ian will find you. He’s been searching for you. Normally, I wouldn’t care because of who you are, but I can’t see you be here and to have it be any different with the pack here.”

“Can we talk about this over lunch?” She glanced at us before she gave him an object and walked back to us.

Nicky paced inside me at the thought of her talking to another man. He wanted out so he could mark her as his and warn off all the other Werewolves—even the new officer. I nodded my head in her direction of the back room and she stepped in front of me as we walked to the back of the bar. I watched the sway of her ass with each step she took and had to resist the pull to shift and mark her. I could so easily picture my cock driving into her warm pussy. She had that unique smell that called to me even if she wasn’t my mate—one that my pack members had noticed judging by the stares that followed her as she made her way across the room. I leveled a glare at each of them, warning them off. One by one, they lowered their eyes in respect, baring their necks in the process. None of them wanted to anger me. I was their alpha. They might not have realized yet that she was going to be my mate, but they weren’t stupid enough to miss my frustration at their even daring to look at her. I took her to my office, sat in the seat across from my desk when she did she had sat down in a submissive way, and I could see her knuckles whiten as she clasped her hands tightly in her lap. When I closed the door behind me, she jumped in her seat. Not wanting to startle her again, I walked behind my desk, slowly and sat down. Her scent changed from nervousness to outright fear, and I realized that it was likely she was running from someone. Based on her reaction to me and how Drew and Peter described her, my guess was it was a man. Someone Nicky and I would enjoy killing if ever given the chance. It didn’t matter what had brought her into my life. I would handle whatever situation she’d found herself in, because the moment I saw her—no when I smelled her scent, I wasn’t letting go of my mate. No matter who or what tried to stand in my way. It might sound overprotective to some, but there were many reasons why I was the alpha of the pack. Honesty was just one of them.

“I didn’t catch your name,” I said, starting off the conversation.

“Stark,” she said after clearing her throat. “Vera Stark.”

I liked the sound of her voice. It shook slightly and made me think about how she’d scream my name as I drove inside her.

Mate, Nicky howled in my head upon hearing her speak again. He and I were in agreement—Vera Stark was our mate. As an alpha, I was to have confidence and think rationally. My pack depended on me to make decisions quickly and without regret.  But sitting in front of my mate for the first time I was struck by a moment of self-doubt. How would I be able to hold Nicky back long enough for her to come to accept what all of us were, I knew the guy had mentioned the pack, so maybe she knew. Especially since her eyes still held fear as they gazed up at me. I knew I needed to proceed carefully so I didn’t scare her off. I didn’t want her to feel the need to run again. I knew that if she ran I would go after her and leave my pack behind.

“So Drew mentioned you might tell me I couldn’t have the job when I was here earlier,” she said in a shaky voice. “So did your brother Peter at the bar.”

“I’m sure they did,” I muttered, frustrated to hear their names on her lips yet again. Why the hell did I put him in charge of the damn bar when I wasn’t around anyway? If I’d been here instead, she would have met me first and I would have been the one who would tell her she could have the job of sheriff. Maybe then she’d be more comfortable around me and not my damn brothers.

“It’s okay that they gave me it temporarily, right?” Vera asked. “More than okay,” I reassured her. “You can be our sheriff.”

Her eyebrows shot up and her mouth dropped open in surprise. Then she bit her lips nervously before responding.

“But Drew and Peter said you wouldn’t want me to have the job, that I’d have to leave town?”

“They don’t know what they are saying half the time,” I murmured, tossing a grin her way.

She relaxed slightly and she smiled at my attempt at flirting.

“I’ll be here on time, work hard, and won’t date the other officers since you are my mate.”

The very thought of any of my pack mates touching Vera had a snarl creeping up my throat.

“Damn straight you won’t,” I snapped, and softly I asked. “How did you know that?”

“Not that it’s any of your concern, but I was in a pack before I left it.” she hissed back with a little shake in her voice, a spark lit her almond-shaped eyes.

“All you need to know is that, if you hire me, I won’t cause any trouble for you.”

“Your our new sheriff, if you still want the job,” I said.

“Yes, I want the job.” On the occasions I couldn’t be here watching over her, I would have Jason and Drew watching her.

“And don’t even think to have your pack members watch out for me.” She snapped. “I can take care of myself, just most don’t realize it.”

The feeling I’d long since learned to trust told me that she was hiding something.

“Something to keep in mind: sometimes hiding stuff let’s trouble follow us even when we’ve thought we've left it behind. If I had to guess this Ian person did something to hurt you?”

Chapter 2 - Vera

I'd allowed the mate attraction for Andreas to lull me into a short sense of security, especially after what I had gone through with Ian. My walls crumbled down because there was something about him being a Werewolf that scared me. I wasn't sure I could explain it.