Chosen Wolf
Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
More Curses
Other Books
Sneak Peeks
Author’s Note
CHOSEN WOLF
CURSE OF THE MOON - BOOK TWO
by Stacy Claflin
http://www.stacyclaflin.com
Copyright ©2016 Stacy Claflin. All rights reserved.
©Cover Design: Rebecca Frank
Edited by Staci Troilo
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental or used fictitiously. The author has taken great liberties with locales including the creation of fictional towns.
Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. Do not upload or distribute anywhere.
This e-book is for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to others. If you would like to share this book with others, please either purchase it for them or direct them to StacyClaflin.com for purchase links. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.
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Chapter 1
Victoria
The full moon inched higher in the night sky, growing bigger and brighter by the moment. One by one, the members of the pack ran behind the Moonhaven mansion to remove their clothes before they tore to shreds as their bodies turned from men to wolves. Howls sounded in the distance.
Toby squeezed my hand, holding my gaze. “Maybe this will be the month you can finally shift again, Victoria.”
Sharp pains ran through my body. My right hip cracked. I bit my tongue, trying not to cry out in pain. My skin felt on fire as fur tried to poke through, but couldn’t.
His face tensed, a pained look in his eyes. “Are you shifting?”
I shook my head. There was nothing normal about this, and it was proving to be more difficult and painful than my other months of un-shifts. Each one grew worse than the last.
Toby scooped me up, carried me inside, and helped me onto my bed. “I can’t keep my wolf inside any longer. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I fought to keep my voice steady. Tears threatened.
He brushed hair from my face and kissed my forehead. “Ziamara’s upstairs sleeping. She said to wake her if you need anything.”
“I’ll be fine.” I grimaced, the pain nearly choking me.
Toby cried out and the sound of ripping fabric tore through the room. He spun around and dashed out the door. The back of his shirt had ripped, and fur poked through the split material.
I gripped a pillow, squeezing it as hard as I could to distract myself from the pain. It didn’t work, and the pillow exploded, filling the air with white feathers.
A loud pop sounded and then a horrific pain shot through my shoulders. I slumped down and screamed, unable to take the pain.
Ziamara ran in, pulling her rainbow-colored hair from her face. “What’s wrong?” She ran to the bed and felt my forehead. “You’re burning up. I’m going to get you painkillers.”
“No.” My voice squeaked. “Find sleeping pills.”
Her eyes widened. “You want to sleep?”
“I can’t do this for a full night. My body will return to normal once the moon goes down.”
She stared at me. “Would Toby agree to this?”
“Yes!” I didn’t know for sure if he would, and didn’t care. He wasn’t there to give his opinion.
My wrist snapped and hung like a limp noodle.
“Please!” I begged.
“Okay.” She ran from the room.
I grabbed onto the side of the bed, clutched it as hard as I could as a fresh wave of pain ran from my head to my toes. My inner wolf howled and clawed, begging to be set free. I tried giving into the shift, but as usual, nothing happened.
“Can you swallow?” Ziamara’s voice broke through my thoughts.
My wolf calmed down, and I managed to open my eyes. “Yes.”
“Lean back.”
I did.
She swept hair from my face and opened my mouth. “I’m going to put this pill in and then help you with the cup of water unless you want to do it yourself.”
I shook my head. With one bum hand, I didn’t want to do anything to risk the other.
Ziamara slipped the hard pill onto my tongue and then eased a glass of warm water to my mouth. “Drink.”
It took three attempts. I nearly choked, but I managed to get the pill down.
She put the glass on my nightstand, sat next to me, and pulled the covers to my chin. “Close your eyes. I’m going to stay right here.”
One of my ankles snapped. I cried out but then managed to close my eyes. Ziamara held my good hand and hummed a soothing tune. I focused on the melody until my mind grew fuzzy. Finally, I lost awareness of everything.
The next morning
When I woke, Toby sat next to me instead of Ziamara.
“How are you, sweetness?” he asked.
I sat up to discover that nothing hurt and everything moved as though it had never been injured. “Good as new.” I forced a smile.
He pulled me close. “Ziamara told me how bad it was. We need to find a way to break this curse. If each full moon only gets worse for you, how will you survive? What if it starts to affect your organs?”
I frowned, having no answer. He was right. “What are we going to do?”
Toby kissed the top of my head. “We’ll figure something out. I promise. But classes are going to start soon. Do you feel up to going?”
Lying around wouldn’t help me, especially if I fell behind in my studies. “I’m fine.”
He helped me up. “Why don’t you get ready, and I’ll have Brick whip us up some breakfast?”
“Thanks.” I got ready as fast as I could and scarfed down the feast made by our pack’s cook. All the trauma on my body had left me unusually hungry.
Toby held my hand and led me outside. “Are you sure about going to classes today?”
“It’s going to be hard pretending everything’s normal, but I’m sure it’ll be good for me to get back to life as normal.” I ran the back of my hand along scruff on his chin. Shivers ran down my back. How had I managed to snag the most gorgeous man alive? I only hoped I would live long enough to enjoy more time with him.
He pressed his mouth on mine, giving me a deep, mind-melting kiss powerful enough to make me forget about everything else. “I’ll miss you.”
“Me, too.”
Toby squeezed my hand and then climbed into his camouflage Hummer. It roared to life.
I got into the Bentley he’d given me and pulled off my platinum chain necklace, slid it through my cherished engagement ring, and put it back on, tucking it under my shirt and wearing it close to my heart. Unfortunately,
I couldn’t be seen wearing the ring on my finger because I couldn’t tell anyone outside of the pack about the engagement.
The electric gate opened and Toby drove out. I followed him, and it closed behind me. I slowed, letting him get ahead so no one would see us exiting the long gravel drive together.
Once on the road, I headed for the Waldensian mansion. It was my temporary home and housed about fifty other college kids. Had it not been for the full moon the previous night, I would have slept there.
It was early enough that hopefully I could get in and out without anyone noticing my late arrival home. Most would either be still sleeping or just getting up.
My roommate slept soundly. I sighed with relief and messed my covers up so she’d think I’d slept there. Otherwise, her mind would run with wild and untrue conclusions, and that was without her knowing I was engaged to the hottest professor on campus.
Humans couldn’t know about us—our true nature. Werewolves weren’t supposed to exist, at least not outside of books and movies. So we had to lay low and play by their rules. Sometimes it truly sucked.
I grabbed some clothes from my closet and changed. Time was ticking before my first class.
Sasha sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. “What time did you get in?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t check the time.”
“Girl, you have some night life.” She pulled some braids behind her head and wrapped them in a band. “When are you going to get me into the Jag?”
“I’ll see what I can do.” I had lost access to the most exclusive club in the area, but I didn’t feel like getting into that right then. “Since I’m not seeing Carter anymore, I don’t even work there now.”
“Oh, right. Massive bummer. Well, if you’re bored, one of the sororities is throwing a big party tonight. We need to hang out—it’s been too long.”
“Yeah, totally. I’ll try. Massaro threw another big paper at us and a presentation on top of that. You know, because we have nothing else in our lives other than his course.”
“Ugh. Remind me to avoid his classes.”
“He’s the worst. Do what you can.” I grabbed my backpack.
Sasha grimaced. “I can’t believe you’re still carrying that thing. We seriously need to buy you something cute.”
I shrugged. “It works.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Maybe this weekend.”
Her face lit up. “Shopping trip! Wanna take the ferry to Seattle?”
I thought of being away from Toby for a day trip. My chest constricted. Weekends were the only chance we could spend any real time together. “Maybe.”
Sasha pouted. “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. We can bring along some other girls. You really need girl time.”
That actually did sound like fun. “Okay, you’ve talked me into it. I’ll try to get my paper done by Friday.”
“It’s a date! Invite your friends. No boys, though. I’m serious.”
“No boys. See ya tonight.”
“Ciao.” She waved.
When I got to the school parking lot, I set the alarm and hurried to my first class. Students surrounded the professor, blocking him from my view. I sat in my typical seat close to the front.
Grace, my fifteen-year-old genius friend, came in and sat next to me, twisting her red hair around her finger. “Can you believe last night’s assignment? It took me forever.”
“I know, right?” I tried to see around the mob of students clamoring for the professor’s attention. The girls could never get enough of Toby. It had been a month since his abduction, but they still acted like he just returned.
She glanced at the girls crowding around him. “They never stop sucking up. You’d think they had a chance at dating him.”
I snickered. Grace had no idea just how little a chance they actually stood.
“Okay, time to begin class,” Toby announced.
The girls groaned and whined but made their way to their seats. Finally, he came into view. He turned and grinned at me, his eyes shining. I thought back to our parting kiss at Moonhaven, and my body warmed.
He pulled his gaze from me and glanced around the room. “Are you ready to hear about the project coming up?”
We all shook our heads. Just what I needed, another project.
Toby grabbed a pen and began writing on the whiteboard. “You’re going to pair up and come up with a hypothesis. Next, you’ll poll at least one hundred people—it should be easy to get double that with social media—and explain why you were right or wrong.”
Grace grabbed my arm. “I claim you as my partner.”
I nodded. Toby continued explaining the parameters of the assignment. It was hard to focus after being able to be as close to him as I wanted at Moonhaven. My mind kept wandering to stolen kisses and the warmth of being in his arms.
Grace nudged me. “Stop daydreaming.”
Was I that obvious?
Almost before it had begun, the class was over. Everyone crowded around Toby again, not allowing me to even give him a little wave. At least I’d be able to give him much more than that later.
“Do you have any ideas for our hypothesis?” Grace asked as we headed down the hall.
“No. Let’s think about it tonight. He said we’d break off into pairs tomorrow.”
“Okay. I don’t have any ideas yet.”
“Me, neither.” We made small talk as I drove us to the other side of campus.
In my geography class, Professor Johnson stood at the front of the room, poring over maps.
I sat in my typical seat, mentally listing off the countries in Europe for our inevitable quiz.
Someone sat next to me, but I was too wrapped up in my list.
“Hey there,” came a familiar, feminine voice.
I snapped my attention to the beautiful, quirky blonde.
“What are you doing here, Soleil?”
She put her hands behind her head and grinned. “I just transferred.” She mouthed, Toby insisted.
“From where? Valhalla U?”
Soleil sat up, shooting me a dirty look. “Not funny,” she whispered. “And don’t say that out loud. Even humans know that’s where valkyries are from.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like anyone’s going to believe you’re—”
“Don’t.” She narrowed her eyes, blackness covering the blue, and bleeding into the white.
“Okay, okay.” Even if I did say she was a valkyrie, no one would believe it any more than they’d believe I was a werewolf engaged to the hottest professor on campus, who also happened to be a werewolf.
The blue returned to Soleil’s eyes, and she smiled. “I was able to get into this and psych with you, too.”
I arched a brow. “Couldn’t get into stats?”
Half of her mouth curved up. “Actually, no. But with Toby there, you’re safe.” Soleil leaned close. “This class is going to be a snap. I’ve been to every country countless times, not to mention a few that she”—Soleil flicked a nod toward Professor Johnson—“hasn’t even heard of. I guarantee it. Some things get erased from history permanently.”
“Close your books and laptops,” Professor Johnson said. “Quiz time.”
People groaned around us as she passed out the papers with an outline of Europe on them. “You have exactly ten minutes.”
Soleil had hers finished before I had written my name and date.
“Showoff,” I whispered.
She smirked playfully and sipped some coffee. At least I assumed it was coffee, but after seeing her drink from souls, I wasn’t going to ask.
After class, I couldn’t find Toby in the cafeteria.
“He’s fine,” Soleil bit into her sandwich.
I frowned. “He’s usually here.”
She gave me a knowing look. “You had him all weekend, remember?”
“It wasn’t like we had a lot of alone time with the pack around. They were all over him like a bunch of excited puppies.”
“You’ll have to get used to that, chicky. There’s nothing like the love and loyalty of a pack—especially this one. They’re dedicated to him because he’s good to them, not because he threatens them like a traditional alpha.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I can’t complain. Part of why I fell in love with him this time—before my memories were restored—is because he spent so much time and attention on his pack.”
“And he wants you right there with him.” She arched her brows.
I sipped my drink. “That’s true.” I really didn’t have much room to complain about anything. I’d been dead and then had my memories stripped from me. Now I was alive and had him back, including all my memories of him. There were still some blanks, though. I couldn’t remember anything about why my memories had been wiped.
But more importantly, I needed to figure out how to shift at the full moon before it killed me.
Chapter 2
Victoria
When we got to the last class of the day, I turned to Soleil. “Watch out for Massaro. He could probably suck out your soul.”
The valkyrie’s eyes narrowed and the blue turned black. “I’d like to see him try.”
I snickered. “Oh, he will. It’s just a matter of time. I think he secretly wishes he was a val—”
The whites of Soleil’s eyes turned completely black. “I told you not to say that.”
“You’re going to have to stop doing that. What if someone sees you?”
Her eyes returned to normal. “Then don’t test me.”
Carter came in and sat next to us. The jaguar shifter eyed Soleil. “What are you doing here?”
“Watching out for my new best friend. Now you can shoo.” Soleil waved him away.
He shook his head and stared at me. “I discovered some secrets my father has been hiding.”
“Did you learn anything useful, pretty boy?” Soleil asked.
“Why don’t you drink from my soul and find out?”
Her eyes blackened, but then quickly turned back to blue. “You two don’t understand the severity of this. If someone finds out my true nature, I may be forced to drink the essence from everyone in the room.”
Carter’s eyes widened. “At the same time?”