I’m delighted to have Unwanted Appeal – Hidden Wolves book 3 back out for readers and on Amazon for the first time. (This 34K novella was not done through MLR, so contracts kept it from being on AZ before.)
Amazon US link
Smashwords all formats link
(I also sent the NEW book 6 – Undeniable Bonds – off to my editor, still on track for a possible end of May release.)
I hope new readers who enjoyed meeting Aaron and Zach in book 2 will like another look at Aaron trying to protect his pack and his mate, balancing his compassion for other gay wolves against the safety of the people he loves. And you’ll get Zach’s POV, as he keeps his Alpha and mate from taking life too seriously and austerely. This rerelease is a light reedit, so if you have the old version you don’t need the new one.
Chapter 1
Aaron, Alpha of the Minneapolis West Pack, stood at the upper window of the farmhouse and surveyed his domain. He laughed silently at himself for thinking of the landscape that way, but that didn’t change the feeling. Out there was a stretch of wooded land in his name and a group of men who bowed their heads at his command. Maybe a touch ironically on Lucas’s and Simon’s parts, but still. His pack, his place.
He’d never imagined this, in his childhood under the skies of Wyoming. Or in his tiny room in San Francisco. Or even when he was running silent and controlled, keeping his head down as Sixth in Gordon’s pack. Yet here he was and, he felt in his bones, here he belonged. After so many fresh starts, this was the life they’d have to pry out of his cold, dead hands.
The slightly uneven footsteps behind him were part of that. He didn’t turn as Zach came up at his back and stood close against his shoulder. If they’d been really alone, instead of silhouetted in a window, Zach might have stretched enough to put his chin on Aaron’s shoulder, but downstairs the rest of the pack was gathering. Voices carried from the room below, and another SUV pulled up into the space in front of the farmhouse.
Aaron narrowed his eyes. The ground was really getting churned to mud out there. He’d have to order another load of gravel and decide who needed to be put to work spreading rocks.
Zach said by his ear, on a faint breath that wouldn’t carry, “Pumping up your boss man ego?”
With his left hand, which would be completely hidden from the window, Aaron reached back and grabbed Zach through his jeans, in a grip just hard enough to make him yip. “You think I need to?”
“No, Alpha. Never. You’re the ultimate boss man at all times.” Zach’s voice, still a whisper, shook just a little. Probably with amusement, but over their Alpha bond, Aaron could feel a spark of desire in Zach too.
“And don’t forget it.” He let go, with a little pat of promise for later.
“Seriously, doesn’t it chuff you a bit to have eleven grown men show up at your beck and call?”
“Chuff? Are you reading that British Doctor Who fiction online again?”
“And who showed me where to find it?” Zach sobered. “The Alphas finally finished voting, huh?” He hesitated. “They didn’t choose you for the Council after all, did they?”
Aaron laughed. “When pigs fly. Can you imagine? Alphas actually voting for the leader of the heretical gay pack as one of their policy makers? Hah.” For once, that was almost a good thing. He had no desire whatsoever to be on the Council. “I’m amazed they got enough of a consensus to elect anyone.”
“Did some of them refuse to vote?”
“A few. Not many. The only thing worse than voting for someone who might command them, would be letting the other Alphas make the decision without them.”
Zach muttered, “I can imagine.”…
…
* Aaron’s vision of increasing gay tolerance in the packs may yet come true, but until it does, the werewolf world is still hostile. He’ll have outside strays and stragglers bringing asylum requests and trouble to the Minneapolis West Pack, as he deals with his pack’s Unwanted Appeal. Luckily, he also has Zach to lighten the load, and brighten his life.
Book 4 – Unjustified Claims will re-release April 6th.