Mastered: Ten Tales of Sensual Surrender (107 page)

What’s coming next in the Montgomery Ink world? Austin Montgomery starts the whole new Montgomery Ink series in Delicate Ink coming October 2014. Plus there is no way I can let Sassy go away so easily, so make sure you stick around to see just what this New Orleans trio has up their sleeves.

Until next time…

Carrie Ann

About this Author

USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan never thought she’d be a writer. Not really. No, she loved math and science and even went on to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as a kid and devoured teen fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn’t until someone handed her a romance book in her late teens that she realized that there was something out there just for her. When another author suggested she use the voices in her head for good and not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other stories were born.

Carrie Ann is a bestselling author of over twenty novels and novellas and has so much more on her mind (and on her spreadsheets *grins*) that she isn’t planning on giving up her dream anytime soon.

www.CarrieAnnRyan.com

Also from this Author

Now Available:

Redwood Pack Series:

An Alpha’s Path

A Taste for a Mate

Trinity Bound

A Night Away

Enforcer’s Redemption

Blurred Expectations

Forgiveness

Shattered Emotions

Hidden Destiny

A Beta’s Haven

Holiday, Montana Series:

Charmed Spirits

Santa’s Executive

Finding Abigail

Her Lucky Love

Dreams of Ivory

Dante’s Circle Series:

Dust of My Wings

Her Warriors’ Three Wishes

An Unlucky Moon

Ever After

Montgomery Ink:
Ink Inspired

Ink Reunited

Coming Soon:

Redwood Pack

Fighting Fate

Loving the Omega

Dark Fates

Dante’s Circle:

Tangled Innocence

Fierce Enchantment

Montgomery Ink:

Delicate Ink

Did you enjoy this selection? Why not try another romance from Fated Desires?

From USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan’s Redwood Pack Series

Hidden Destiny

Chapter One

Her wolf wanted to eat him up—one tasty morsel at a time.

Lexi Anderson sighed.

No, that wouldn’t be happening.

It didn’t matter that she wanted to lick the man at the party with many generous swipes of her tongue because it just wouldn’t happen.

It didn’t matter that she wanted to bury her hands in his hair while he pumped himself into her, their sweat-slicked bodies sliding against one another as they came together hard.

It still wouldn’t be happening.

She took a deep breath, the outside air filling her lungs and cooling her down—at least somewhat. As she tried to relax, she took in her surroundings, needing something far greater than her to function. The trees stood around them, tall, ancient, almost comforting. The sun warmed her skin in the cooling air, though just from looking at the man across from her, she was heated plenty already.

She took another breath, holding it in for as long as she could. The scent of forest and the coming rain would never be enough for her.

Lexi would never know the feeling of the land beneath her four paws, the brush of wind in her fur, nor the release of home and center when the moon’s pull finally took her wolf.

No, she would never have any of that, yet she should have been used to it by now.

She’d been a latent wolf—a wolf trapped within her body, unable to shift, but still part of her in a sense—for all fifty years of her life, and wishing for something different was only making things harder for her. Since latent wolves couldn’t shift into their wolf forms, they were forever bound to their human forms and cut off from the wolf part of their souls. They couldn’t even hear their other half’s thoughts. Oh, they could feel
something
, or at least feel the instincts and some of the urges that came with being a wolf, but they didn’t feel the same connection that others did.

It had been a miracle in itself that she’d survived into adulthood, as most latent wolves died from the added stress to their bodies because of their inability to shift.

She was one of the lucky ones.

If one could call it that.

There were more important things in her world than the fact she would never be able to shift into a wolf.

Namely, the little boy playing in the front yard of the Alpha’s home.

Parker, her eight-year-old son and love of her life, currently played in a pile of wolf babies. Well, only one baby was currently in wolf form, as the others were too young to change yet, but her Parker seemed to be in heaven.

Finn, the son of the Heir to the Redwood Pack, jumped on Parker’s stomach. Luckily the three-year-old had learned enough control in wolf form that he didn’t have his claws out. Wolf children didn’t shift until they were at least two or three years old when they would have at least a semblance of control over their little bodies.

Even though Lexi had grown up in the Talon Pack and knew that children play-fought in both forms, she still winced. It had been awhile since she’d been around other wolves for long periods of time, and she didn’t like the idea of her baby being hurt by Finn’s little claws.

It was, after all, only the third time the other little boy had shifted into this form. He had remarkable control though, considering his age. Lexi wasn’t sure if that had to do with the royal blood running through his veins, the fact that he would one day be the Heir and then eventually the Alpha, or that he was wise for his age. He’d already been through so much, almost being killed by the hands of their worst enemy. He’d been changed dramatically, even at a young age.

All of that together seemed to have made one strong little wolf.

The little fluff ball mock growled at Parker then rolled onto his back, leaving all four paws in the air. His cousins, Micah and Brie, who were both under two, gave up trying to tickle Parker and went to give Finn a belly rub.

Something oddly hollow echoed in Lexi’s chest at the sight.

These babies were part of a family. A family that, while they had opened their home to her, Parker, and her brother, Logan, wasn’t hers.

They would never be hers.

Not really.

She thought she had a family before with the Talons, and then that had been shattered. The Alpha had exiled her, cutting her off from the Pack because of something out of her control. Logan came with her because he was her brother. God, she hated that she’d caused him to be a lone wolf, shunned because of what had happened to her.

They spent over eight years on the run until finally coming into contact with the Redwoods. For some reason, they had opened their wards and let them into their Pack—blood bond and all.

She knew not everyone within the Pack was happy about it, but the Jamensons, the ruling family, wanted them.

Lexi still wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

A man, Patrick, yes, that was his name, walked past her and glared. Not so odd considering most wolves who didn’t really know her seemed to do that, but she didn’t know this man or what his problem was.

She raised a brow, and he looked down on her as though she were five-day-old dog poo.

Great.

He walked away, and she looked off in the distance. It seemed making friends with people other than the Jamensons was going to be a lost cause. In Patrick’s case, it didn’t seem as though she was missing anything.

“Still on the outside looking in?” Cailin Jamenson, the Alpha’s only daughter, asked as she walked up to Lexi’s side.

Lexi gave the gorgeous woman a weak smile, feeling positively frumpy and old in her tattered jeans and shirt. It wasn’t as if Lexi had a closet full of clothes after being on the run for so long. In fact, most of what she was wearing and possessed was borrowed.

Damn, she’d have to change that soon. It didn’t sit well with her that she didn’t have much to her name. She left most of her belongings when she left the Talons and hadn’t been able to add to her wardrobe and personal things over time. That whole experience left Lexi feeling less than attractive.

Cailin, however, looked like God’s gift to man with her long blue-black hair flowing down her back and her piercing green eyes that seemed to see more than Lexi wanted. The woman would make fashion models feel inferior with her sharp cheekbones, curves like a goddess, painted-on jeans, and a tight tank that only emphasized the woman’s way-too-perky breasts.

Lexi had a decent body because of the healthy metabolism and genetics of being a wolf, but there must have been something special in the water the day Cailin Jamenson was conceived.

Logan didn’t stand a chance.

Lexi snorted at that thought, and Cailin raised her brow. It was plain to see that Logan and Cailin were potential mates. Because fate was a fickle bitch, each wolf had many—or sometimes not so many—potential mates that they could meet throughout their long lifetimes. Just because the mating urge rode hard and a connection could click into place at any moment didn’t mean that the two parties had to act on it.

From where Lexi stood, it seemed the lone Jamenson daughter wanted to be as far from Logan as possible.

There had to be a story there, but considering Lexi had even more secrets of her own, she wasn’t about to start prying.

Much.

“Lexi?”

She blinked as Cailin moved closer, her eyebrows lowered.

“Sorry. I’m just thinking.” Well, it was the truth, though Lexi wasn’t about to tell Cailin what she was actually thinking about.

“Do I want to know what about?” Cailin asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

It was May and summer was already starting its angry burn across the rest of the country, but in the Northwest, it was still a bit cool with the cloud cover. Plus, the Pack’s den was situated between two cliff faces and surrounded by tall trees. Though not actually Redwoods, they were close. It was a running joke—like a thousand years running—that the Pack was named after trees that didn’t actually exist in their chosen area.

Lexi didn’t quite get it, but it wasn’t a big deal. She was just happy this Pack seemed to have opened their arms to her and her family.

At least the Jamensons had.

The rest of the Pack…yeah, not so much. An image of Patrick filled her mind, and she blinked it away.

That was a thought for another time. Right now, she had a little boy’s birthday to celebrate, a certain wolf to avoid, and a pretense to show another wolf that everything was okay while she herself avoided that certain wolf.

It was confusing enough that Lexi didn’t need to add another set of worries to her already full plate.

“Lexi, hon? What the heck is going on in that head of yours?” Cailin moved to block Lexi’s view of the tangle of children and stared right at her face.

Lexi might have been a couple inches taller than the other woman, but Cailin had a presence that couldn’t be ignored. She only had to ask her brother.

She shook her head then smiled. At least she thought she smiled. It might as well have been a grimace considering the way Cailin’s eyebrow rose.

Again.

“I’m fine. Really. I think I’m just tired. That’s all.”

“Not sleeping?” Cailin asked.

“Not really.” That wasn’t a change though. Lexi rarely slept through the night. She never really had considering she was latent. Her body was a little more wired than most because she couldn’t expel energy the way the other wolves could. Not to mention the whole on-the-run thing didn’t exactly soothe one’s nerves.

“Do you need to talk to Hannah about getting something to help you sleep?” Hannah was the Pack Healer, the one person connected to the Pack through bonds that enabled her to use the overall energy and her own powers to Heal others. “If you don’t want to go to her, I can probably help. I used to grow the Pack herbs until Hannah took over.”

Wolves’ metabolisms were such that they couldn’t take the usual human drugs or even get drunk on alcohol. It was great for the wolves, considering their genetics helped with maintaining their bodies for centuries and sometimes even longer, but sucked for things like the common cold. Wolves didn’t actually die of old age like humans did. Those that reached a certain age became elders and usually shut themselves off from the world because of all their memories. Cailin had once grown the herbs and harvested other plants used as natural remedies to help the wolves. Now that Hannah had come into the Pack when she’d mated Cailin’s brother, Reed—as well as another man named Josh—and become the Healer, Cailin had been out of a job.