In England, 1992, eighteen-year-old Jessica Hunt stands on the brink of a new life. After winning the Dublin Pack's Warrior Challenge, she earns a spot in the Werewolf Games in Maine, USA. Born an orphan with mixed blood, Jessica has fought hard to earn her place in the pack. Her sharp tracking skills make her stand out, but being a young, unmated female in a male-dominated world brings its own struggles. Jessica's journey to the Games is not just about winning medals. It's about proving her worth and earning respect. She faces tough competition, complex pack politics, and the unwanted advances of the alpha's son, Neill. Traveling to Maine, she must show her strength against the best werewolf warriors from around the world. In the Baxter Pack's vast territory, Jessica's fight for glory turns into a search for identity and belonging. She must use her wit, stamina, and strong will to find her place in a society that values strength and lineage. Will she rise to the challenge, or will the weight of expectations and norms hold her back?
Jessica Hunt's POV
England
June 21, 1992
"Alpha, may I present the winners of the Warrior Challenge." Beta Ronnie said as he stood before the five of us. The assembled Pack members let out a roar as the Alpha and Luna applauded us. I was at the left end of the line, a smile plastered on my face that wouldn't go away. I still couldn't believe I'd won in my first year of eligibility.
Alpha Ethan Smith walked forward with Luna Elizabeth at his side. The Alpha pair were in their late forties and had ruled over the Dublin Pack for the past fifteen years. Ethan was tall and broad-shouldered, while Elizabeth was short and heavily pregnant. Their two younger sons and one daughter watched the ceremony with the rest of the Pack leadership. The Alpha pair came to a halt in front of us. We followed Beta Ronnie to a knee and bared our necks to them. The three-hundred-plus adult members of the Dublin Pack did the same. "Rise, Victorious Warriors of Dublin," the Alpha commanded in a loud voice. We stood while the remainder of the Pack stayed down. "You have competed with skill and honor, and it makes me proud to have you in our Pack. I have every confidence you will represent our Pack well in the Werewolf Games next month."
The Werewolf Games were the Olympics of our world. Created after World War Two by the American and European Werewolf Councils, it brought together the finest warriors in the world every four years. This year the games were at the Baxter Pack lands in central Maine. Each Pack could send up to five Pack members to compete against the best werewolf warriors in our world. To be eligible to compete, you had to be of age (18 or above) and not a current Pack Alpha or Luna. Fights between Alphas had too many potential consequences, after all.
The Alpha pair followed the Beta to award the medals and checks to the winners. "Winner of the Unarmed Human Combat competition, Beta O'Malley." The crowd applauded as the Alpha shook his hand and gave him the thousand-pound check before Luna Elizabeth placed the medal around his thick neck. Brian O'Malley was a fireplug of a man in his late twenties, just under six feet tall but over two hundred and twenty pounds of solid muscle. I swore the medal hung from his skull because the man had no neck. I'd watched his matches; his boxing was good, but his ground game was awesome. His nickname was Boa because he'd squeeze the life out of you.
"Winner of the Wolf Form Competition, Alpha Heir Rowan Smith." His father's pride in his son and heir couldn't have shown brighter as he shook his hand. His mother was crying as she placed the medal around his neck. Rowan was twenty-two years old and nearly the size of his father. He was taller than me in wolf form and three times my body weight. He'd been brutally efficient in taking down challengers, with most of his submissions coming in the first thirty seconds of the fights.
"Winner of the Classical Armed Combat Competition for the fifth consecutive competition, Beta Giovani Sen." That was no shock. Beta Sen dominated Archery and Knife-Throwing competitions while narrowly winning the Fencing tournament. In that competition, he could compete into his sixties.
"Winner of the Armed Combat Competition for the third consecutive time, Warrior Cain Ruin." I'd also competed in this competition, coming in fourth in Handgun and seventh in Rifle. Cain had won both events easily.
The Pack women let out a loud cheer when the Alpha pair moved to me. "Winner of the Tracker Competition, the youngest competitor in our field, Tracker Jessica Hunt." Trackers were a different kind of wolf. Blessed by the Goddess with a sensitive nose, intelligence, and the endurance to run for days, they could hunt down anyone or anything. Tracking and Armed Combat were the only competitions where size and strength didn't matter. I'd scored the second-highest in the Scent Tracking competition and won the cross-country race.
The Alpha shook my hand and gave me my winner's check, and the Luna raised herself to kiss my cheek after placing the medal around my neck. Since I was almost six feet tall and still growing, the Luna only came up to my collarbone, even in her heels. "Very impressive, Jessica. We expect great things from you."
"Thank you, Alpha," I said.
"I hope you have your passport. Won't this be your first trip outside of England?"
"I have it, Alpha, and yes, it will be. I'm looking forward to testing myself against the best."
"You'll find them in Maine, I'm sure." He turned to look at his Alpha Heir. "Ensure you protect Jessica on this trip. A female competitor of her age is going to attract a lot of attention."
"I will, Father." He gave me a wink, one I didn't appreciate. Neill was unmated, full of himself, and a horn dog who would fuck anything of age with a pulse. He'd hit on me the night of my birthday after letting out a sigh of relief that I wasn't his mate. My blood wasn't good enough for him, and his Luna would be more than an abandoned half-breed dropped off at a Belfast orphanage. I knew that my mother was human, but I had no idea who my werewolf father was; I'd never felt a family bond with anyone in this Pack or other Irish packs.
Once a Pack member scented me in the orphanage nursery, Council law required the Pack to take me in or kill me. Leaving a werewolf child outside a Pack structure was far too dangerous. The Alphas found a childless couple to claim me, and I'd been in the Pack since I was six months old. I'd been teased mercilessly in the Pack due to my heritage and height. I was five feet tall by my tenth birthday, thin and uncoordinated. When the other girls filled out, I kept getting taller. I had the body of a long-distance runner, not a swimsuit model. Tracking was my way to Pack rank and respect, so I'd worked hard to get to this point.
The Alpha gestured for the Pack to rise. "LET US FEAST IN THEIR HONOR!" The Pack let out a deafening roar, and the five of us waved to the crowd. As the Alpha pair walked back to the Pack House, the rest of the Pack converged on us.
I hugged and thanked those who came to me, almost all of whom were young or female. Werewolf society remained highly patriarchal, especially in the warrior ranks. Women were allowed to become warriors but rarely advanced to the higher Pack rankings.
It wasn't that women couldn't be Betas. The Dublin Pack had six female Betas, all the mates of strong males who had fought for their positions. With our smaller size and lesser strength, females couldn't win the challenges in wolf form required to become Betas on our own.
A month later, I stood next to a van in front of the Pack House, my luggage already loaded. "Make us proud," Alpha Ethan said to the five winners and Beta Ronnie, plus the four mates who were traveling to watch their men compete. "I wish I could be there, but your Luna could give birth any day now."
"We will bring the Pack honor," Alpha Heir Rowan replied. Although he was the second-youngest to me in our group, he outranked all the Betas.
July 9th, 1992
We loaded up, and an Omega drove us to the airport.
My first plane ride was thrilling but uncomfortable. My long legs were up against the seatback, and Beta Giovani kept taking over the armrest and my space. I found it difficult to sleep over the engine noise, so I read and listened to music with the Sony Discman I'd bought with my prize money. I was tired by the time we landed in LaGuardia.
Werewolves from France and Russia joined us for our flight to Bangor. None were my mate, and all were much older than me. My Pack members kept the unmated away from me for the short connecting flight.
The Bangor Pack hosts sent two ten-passenger vans to pick us up just before ten in the morning. As the junior wolf in the group, I ended up in the back row, falling asleep against the bags stacked next to me on the seat. I woke when the van stopped for a security check. We drove for another twenty minutes before we reached the Pack House area.
No Pack could house the influx of people for this game, but the Baxter Pack did their best with tents and trailers. Packs close enough to drive brought RVs and parked them nearby. Instead of heading to the tent city, an Omega led me to a hallway on the second floor of the Pack House. "Only nine females are competing this year, and only you are unmated," she informed me. "Luna McInnis is placing you with the unmated females of our Pack."
Baxter Pack housing was typical for our kind. A large Pack House dominated the compound. The top floor held the private quarters for the Alpha and Senior Beta in one wing and Pack Offices in the other. The second floor had more Beta quarters and the Unmated Female room on one side, Unmated Male housing on the other. The main floor contained the Pack dining area, kitchen, conference rooms, and recreation rooms. The expansive basement held the Safe Room, Armory, gymnasium, and storage.
Mated pairs got scattered in homes and cabins around the property or nearby towns. When Pack Members came of age, they could move into the Pack House or stay with their parents. My roommates, Anna and Lois, were in their twenties and had never found their mates. After a brief introduction, I showered and fell asleep until Anna woke me for the Opening Dinner. "Are you excited?"
"I'm jet-lagged," I said as I pulled my dress over my body. The silver dress had thin straps and clung to my athletic body. Since I was so tall, I was wearing it with matching sandals.
My dark red hair was a mess. Lois volunteered to braid it, doing a complicated braid around each side of my head that finished in a single long braid down to the middle of my back. "Perfect," she said a few minutes later. "You look like a Warrior Princess. Maybe our mates are here already!"
I rolled my eyes. "And maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt."
Anna put her hands on her hips. "You're a certified badass, Jessica! The ONLY available contestant in the entire Games! Don't lose hope like Lois here."
"We'll see. I've never competed against anyone who was not in my Pack."
"We better get going," Anna said. She led us out of the room and down to the Dining Room. The Baxter Pack had decorated it for the event, with a long table along one side where the Alphas and their mates would sit. Round tables filled the room, each labeled with the name of a Pack. I took a deep sniff for my mate; nothing. Anna and Lois hid their disappointment as they left for their other duties.
She's the Alpha Killer - a rogue werewolf wanted dead by the powerful Werewolf Council. With feral brutality and deadly skills, Nisha Hunt has been murdering the ruthless pack Alphas that run the secret world of werewolves. But everything changes when Nisha rescues her long-lost sister Niesha from a depraved prostitution ring in a blaze of chaos and bloodshed. Niesha has been broken, her wolf savagely killed, leaving her a shell of the vibrant young woman she once was. With nowhere else to turn, Nisha seeks sanctuary from the centuries-old vampire Jarrod and his supernatural coven in the intoxicating streets of New Orleans. As Nisha nurses her sister back to health, she burns for vengeance against those who destroyed Niesha. Hot on Nisha's trail is FBI Agent Ranmo Smith - a werewolf working within the human world who has just discovered she is his fated mate. Ranmo is torn between his duty to capture Nisha for her crimes and the cosmic pull he feels towards this beautiful, dangerous woman. When their hunt brings them together in an explosive confrontation, passions will be unleashed, destinies will be challenged, and the streets of New Orleans will run red. In this searing World of romance, vengeance and supernatural peril, one woman's primal quest for justice will shatter the uneasy peace between werewolves and vampires, sparking a savage conflict that threatens to burn the supernatural underground to the ground.
"Uhuu..." She flinched and closed her legs, and even that excited him. To praise her for her cute groan, he took her legs and opened them back up. She was already wet. Her pale petals were closed. A clear drop of fluid dripped from her crevice onto the sheets. How did it feel inside? He opened her entrance with his finger. Her swollen clitoris stood out, and her inner lips were even wetter. It was all a lovable, soft pink. He lowered his lips. He felt her body shrink back with a gasp. The sweet, tempting fragrance flared out and called to him. He swept his tongue from bottom to top as he licked her.
After two years of marriage, Sadie was finally pregnant. Filled with hope and joy, she was blindsided when Noah asked for a divorce. During a failed attempt on her life, Sadie found herself lying in a pool of blood, desperately calling Noah to ask him to save her and the baby. But her calls went unanswered. Shattered by his betrayal, she left the country. Time passed, and Sadie was about to be wed for a second time. Noah appeared in a frenzy and fell to his knees. "How dare you marry someone else after bearing my child?"
Rachel used to think that her devotion would win Brian over one day, but she was proven wrong when his true love returned. Rachel had endured it all—from standing alone at the altar to dragging herself to the hospital for an emergency treatment. Everyone thought she was crazy to give up so much of herself for someone who didn’t return her feelings. But when Brian received news of Rachel’s terminal illness and realized she didn’t have long to live, he completely broke down. "I forbid you to die!" Rachel just smiled. She no longer needed him. "I will finally be free."
6 years ago, Lydia suffered a brutal betrayal orchestrated by her own husband and step-sister, who drugged her and framed her. In a twist of fate, she ended up having a one-night stand with a stranger. Don't even remember what he looked like. Later, in the throes of death, she discovered the truth about her mother's death all those years ago. In the blink of an eye, she lost everything. 6 years later, Lydia returned with her genius son, vowing to exact revenge on all her enemies! Little did she know, she encountered an incredibly familiar man at the airport! *** The man was briskly pushing open the door to the restroom, heading to the urinal. Even with such a mundane action, he did it with unparalleled elegance and grace. Lydia, following him in a daze, saw his fierce lower body and suddenly snapped back to reality. She let out a high-pitched scream, instinctively covering her eyes with her hands, her cheeks flushed, and stood there stiffly, unsure of what to do. Lambert furrowed his brows slightly but remained calm as he continued to relieve himself. The sound of water hitting the urinal made Lydia's face even redder. She angrily shouted, "You pervert!" Little did Lydia know that Lambert, seeing her in this state, had a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Memories from many years ago flashed through his mind, and his heart couldn't help but stir. It was her!
Kaelyn devoted three years tending to her husband after a terrible accident. But once he was fully recovered, he cast her aside and brought his first love back from abroad. Devastated, Kaelyn decided on a divorce as people mocked her for being discarded. She went on to reinvent herself, becoming a highly sought-after doctor, a champion racer, and an internationally renowned architectural designer. Even then, the traitors sneered in disdain, believing Kaelyn would never find someone. But then the ex-husband’s uncle, a powerful warlord, returned with his army to ask for Kaelyn’s hand in marriage.
"Sign the divorce papers and get out!" Leanna got married to pay a debt, but she was betrayed by her husband and shunned by her in-laws. Seeing that her efforts were in vain, she agreed to divorce and claimed her half of the properties. With her purse plump from the settlement, Leanna enjoyed her newfound freedom. The constant harassment from her ex's mistress never fazed her. She took back her identities as top hacker, champion racer, medical professor, and renowned jewelry designer. Then someone discovered her secret. Matthew smiled. "Will you have me as your next husband?"
What happens when a hook-up gets complicated by a baby? Can she hide the secret from him? Or will he show her how possessive he can be when he learns she's carrying his child? "Seven years ago, I had a one-night stand with my brother's best friend, who also happened to be my lifelong crush. The next day, he vanished leaving me pregnant. Now, I am a single mom raising our son in the same small town. Recently, he returned to attend my brother's wedding and the truth about our son was finally revealed. As he reclaims his place in our lives, the sparks between us reignite. However, danger from his past threatens to shatter our newfound connection. I am torn between my love for him and my fear of getting hurt again, especially now that I have two hearts to protect - our son's and my own."