Read Online Forbidden Hope: A Werewolf Wars Prequel Novella by Bethany Shaw - Free Book Online

insisted.
    Vincent stepped forward, confidently. “I’ll talk to dad-”
    “No!” she interrupted. Heat scorched her cheeks as she remembered the altercation with her father the other night. “Just leave it alone. Both of you.” 
    “How can we?” Marcus asked. “If you wanted this, it would be one thing-”
    Emily lifted her hand up to stop him.
    “We all know there is a crisis amongst our kind. There aren’t very many fertile female wolves. It’s causing unrest amongst some of the packs in the area. The lone and pack wolves are going to continue to attack until they capture me, Maddie, and Amelia. This alliance with the Gulf Packs will keep us safe. As a species, we all need to do our part,” she recited.
    “You and I will have kids someday, Em,” Marcus objected.
    Emily looked down at her sandals as she wiggled her toes. “My dad won’t let that happen and I can’t lose you.”
    Marcus cupped her face. “I would rather fight for you than see you off someplace you don’t want to be. You’re my life, Emily McKinley, and nothing will change that.”
    Emily nodded, knowing his words were true.
    “He threatened to kill you,” she sighed, closing her eyes. “Yesterday, there were wolves watching us talk, if I hadn’t...” she shook her head.
    “Dad isn’t going to kill anyone, Em,” Vincent replied.
    “What are we going to do?” Emily asked, looking from her brother back to Marcus. “The leader of the Gulf Packs will be here tomorrow.”
    “We’ll come up with a plan,” Marcus assured.
    Emily nodded. “The two of us should keep our distance while the alpha is here. If something goes wrong, all of us will pay.”
    “Someone’s coming,” Vincent whispered. “Go, Em! Get back to the house and showered before anyone can pick up Marcus’ scent on you. Marcus and I will shift and go for a long swim. Hurry.”
    Emily didn’t need to be told twice. “Be safe,” she warned before sprinting toward the house.
    ***
    M arcus picked up the payphone and inserted his change. Devon nodded at him from across the bar. They’d both agreed that they needed to know more about the Gulf Pack and the tension between the other packs in their area. And, if it came to it, they needed a place to stay where Emmett wouldn’t think to look.
    The phone clicked and the dial tone bleated loudly in his ear. Emmett screened all of the calls they made on their pack cell phones, which is why they had come out to call Quinn. His ex-pack mate, and one of the only survivors of his original pack, had left shortly after the attack on Emily three years ago. He’d opted to join a pack in Louisiana because he didn’t approve of Emmett’s rules.
    The phone rang three times. “Hello?”
    “Quinn, it’s Marcus,” he greeted.
    “Marcus,” Quinn said slowly. “How are you?”
    “I’ve been better,” he admitted.
    “It's been a while.”
    “I know. I’m sorry. I wish I were calling for better reasons, but I need to ask you a few things. We are having a bit of a situation with some packs up here in Oklahoma,” Marcus started.
    “You too?”
    “Yeah. There’s a lot of anarchy. There have been more attacks from both packs and lone wolves lately. I was just curious how things were going where you are?”
    Quinn sighed heavily into the phone, causing it to crackle in Marcus’ ear. “I wish I could tell you things were good. But we’ve been having a lot of trouble with one pack in particular. It sounds like it’s the same pack from what you’re describing.”
    “Which pack?” Marcus frowned.
    “The Gulf Packs. They send in what you’re supposed to think is a lone wolf or a group pretending to be a pack. In reality, they are Juarez’s own men. Their job is to abduct any females, if possible, and to stir up trouble with your pack—make you uneasy. Then their leader Juarez shows up or calls and offers protection in exchange for fertile females. It’s all a ploy. If you refuse him, then he’ll attack your pack