Page 89 of The Mating Frenzy
Thankyou for reading The Mating Frenzy, Werewolves of Montana Book 10. I hope you enjoyed thestories.
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If you’re interested in reading connected books featuring other characters in this novel, here’s a list ofthem.
The Mating Game, Xavier’sromance
The Mating Ritual, Gideon’s romance (where you first meetKieran)
The Mating Season, Tristan’s romance (introduces Drust, the dragonshifter)
The Mating Chase, the FREE story on Amazon that starts theseries.
Please read on for a preview ofSNOWBOUND WITH THE ALPHA WOLF, Adrian and Darcy’s lovestory.
Copyright 2017 BonnieVanak
Colorado, ten yearsago.
Cold. He was so damn cold and alone, the ice spearing his verybones.
I’m not going to die outhere.
Adrian Paulson struggled against the blinding snow stinging his eyes. Drifts four feet deep covered this rugged terrain, with treacherous ice beneath. One slip and he’d tumble down the jagged mountain, becoming shattered bones and smashedskin.
I’m not going to die out here, he repeated silently. Adrian huddled deeper into the thinly lined parka they’d given him. The thin trousers and hiking boots were soaked in the last hour. Blisters formed on his feet from the too-big hiking boots. He’d already hiked five miles when the rain turned to ice and thensnow.
Real nice of his pack alpha, to let him have clothing that would provide little protection against the blizzard. Then again, his alpha wanted to send him naked into the storm. Into the land where no pack dared to venture, for the snow came here early. Winter wasbrutal.
This was the land where Lars, his alpha, sent Lupines todie.
Wind whistled through the pine boughs, tore at the hood of his parka as he struggled to reach the forest. Blinding snow made it hard to see more than two feet in front of him. If he could get to that mound of rock, find a cave and shelter, he’d makeit.
But weakened from seven days of starvation forced on him as punishment, he barely had the strength to walk. The pack alpha had denied him raw meat as well, so he could not shift into hiswolf.
Something lay ahead in the snow – a mound. Perhaps a shelter? He walked quicker, his heart racing with hope. Something glinted in the blinding white, a speck of gold. But when he reached the mound, he discovered it was acorpse.
A cheap gold necklace, once cherished, ringed the dead person’s neck. No, not a person, a human or Skin as Lupines called him. But a frail old wolf, sick and bedridden, unable to produce work forLars.
He reached out, stroked the frozen face, the sightless eyes staringskyward.
“Gran,” he whispered, his throat raw andscraped.
Grief consumed him. Adrian lifted his face to the sky andhowled.
His alpha detested the weak and the elderly, and those who could not work in the mine, were sent out into the elements todie.
Alone and afraid, and starve todeath.
Gently he covered the frail bones with snow and said a silent good-bye. Tears trickled down his frozen cheeks. He scrubbed them away. No tears, butrevenge.
He kept plodding on, but the blinding snow confused him. No forest. Nocave.
Exhausted, at his limit, he slipped and fell. Adrian lay upon the snow, his body growingnumb.
I’m going to die out here. What a fuckingwaste.
