At this point, Erin was convinced that she was a cat with nine lives because she escaped death once more as her father-in-law came to her rescue, knocking his brother off of her just when he was about to sink his fangs into her face. Although she was badly wounded, she knew her injuries weren’t fatal, so he got to her feet and stood beside a tree to catch her breath.“You killed my son?” Vak screamed at his brother.“Yes, and I shall kill you too!” Shouted an unrepentant Nikjin. “It is my turn to become the Alpha King of werewolves!”The brothers began to wrestle ferociously, swiping and snarling at each other. It was more than just a fight for survival – it was a fight for respect and honor. The fight was so brutal that within minutes, they were both covered in blood and seriously wounded. As the fight intensified, Erin became worried and wondered if she should jump in and target Nikjin who was attacking his brother wildly like a wolf on drugs.Without warning, Vak knocked his oppone
The Full Moon Feast of werewolves was one of Erin’s least favorite events to attend, but unfortunately for her, she has never had the best excuse to avoid going since she became eligible to participate seven years ago. She couldn’t for the life of her understand why the clan Chief and his ancestors made the event mandatory for all adult werewolves; why didn’t they just restrict attendance to married werewolves only? Or to werewolves who enjoyed boring speeches about who was doing great in their human lives and which werewolf had finally found a mate in the slim pickings available in the clan? Why did she have to be involved in all of that, especially the “networking” sessions?“Erin! What are you doing up there? You’re going to be late!” Her mother called out to her from downstairs.“Ugh!” Erin groaned and quickly applied a dash of pale pink lipstick to her luscious lips before dropping it into her heavy handb
“I beg your pardon!” Erin said haughtily. She didn’t know which one annoyed her the most – that this strange man had the audacity to call her his mate or that she felt he might be telling the truth.“Erin, there you are!” Farida said and waltzed into the back room in her flowing chiffon kimono with beautiful Aztec prints. Her chocolate skin glistened with health and her full Afro hair looked like a dark halo around her head.“I see you’ve finally met our boss, Mr. Devon Grey,” Farida continued cheerfully, completely oblivious to the tension in the room. “Devon, let me officially introduce you to our new intern, Erin Brown.”Erin couldn’t believe her ears – this weirdo was the owner of the gallery? Great!“This is the Devon Grey?” She asked incredulously.“The one and only!” Replied Farida proudly.While Devon may not be a known face due to h
Six hours later, it was time for Erin to pack up her stuff and go home after a busy day of work. Who would’ve thought there was much work to do in an art gallery? Farida had been such a great supervisor; patiently taking her through the gallery inventory, showing her the basics of curating remarkable pieces of art, guiding her through intricacies for displaying the right pieces on the main floor, and which spots were best for different paintings depending on their sizes and visuals. It had been such a wholesome experience for Erin that she couldn’t wait to come back to work again tomorrow.She couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t get another glimpse of Devon after their awkward meeting in the morning. As she backed out of the parking space in front of the gallery, she thought she saw someone stepping away from a window upstairs just as she looked up. She suspected the person might be Devon and she wondered why he had acted so strangely with her ear
Devon could tell that Erin was very nervous about his announcement and he couldn’t blame her for feeling that way, not after how he freaked her out this morning at the gallery and even called her by a name she obviously couldn’t know was hers. In fairness to him though, he had been caught off-guard by the sight of her. He’d thought that his trip to the past had been merely a dream and not a real depiction of his previous life, but now he knew better.Resisting the urge to look at Erin, he looked straight ahead and began his speech. “Thank you for the flattering welcome, Chief,” Devon began. “And thank you to every clan member here for accepting me into your midst. At least, I hope that I’m welcome.”“Of course, you are, son,” said Dame Black, the head of the Black pack. “We are one big happy family here, and you are now one of us.”“Can we skip to the good part already?” Asked Da
Work seemed like a blur to Erin the next day because she spent the entire day looking forward to the moment when Devon would present her with the so-called dream stone with its supposed time travel powers.Any normal person would have brushed off Devon’s wild tales about a powerful stone with supernatural powers, but being the curious person that she was, Erin couldn’t resist the opportunity to explore a new adventure, even an unbelievable one. Plus, there was the issue of Devon claiming to be her mate even though he was a complete stranger and they had never met before. Was that how it’s supposed to be? Shouldn’t her mate be someone she already knew? Weren’t they supposed to automatically fall in love or something?At that last thought, Erin cringed a little. She had always found the whole falling in love thing a bit creepy because she was an independent woman, and the thought of having someone in her life whom she couldn’t live wit
“May I come in?” She asked when she reached the doorway.Devon looked up sharply as if stunned to know that there was someone else in the building with him at this time. “Oh, hi, Erin,” he said a bit absently. “Please, come in.”As she walked into the wide office, he stood up to greet her. “Good to see you again, Erin,” he said with a grin. “I completely forgot about our meeting.”“It’s not exactly a meeting,” she said self-consciously. “Just me coming to get some instructions on how to use the oh-so-powerful dream stone.”Devon chuckled and propped a hip on the edge of his desk. “I was even more skeptical about it when I first heard of it a few years ago. My cousin, Eli, had been in possession of it before then, but he’d never been curious enough to find out if the stone was what legends claimed it to be or not. I, on the other hand, decided to humor mys
Morning came faster than Erin had expected. It seemed as if she’d only closed her eyes for two seconds last night and when she opened them, it was morning. Yes, she’d had a dreamless sleep and now she was awake, feeling refreshed and ready to go to work and gloat at Devon about how she’d known all along that his stupid dream stone was nothing but an ordinary pebble that he’d probably picked up at a riverbank somewhere and transformed it into something special with his fake story about werewolf legends. What a tall glass of horseshit. And to think that she’d nearly fallen for it. Ha!With an unusual burst of energy, Erin sat up in bed and threw back the covers, but the moment her feet hit the floor, she knew something was wrong. Her energy levels immediately dropped down to zero as soon as she looked at her feet and saw them encased in a pair of primitive leather booties instead of the soft woolen socks she’d worn to bed last night. The tan