Wolf’s Claimed Mate: Wolf Shifter Pretend Romance (Silverlake Valley Wolves Book 3), page 1
Wolf’s Claimed Mate
Wolf Shifter Pretend Romance
Silverlake Valley Wolves Book 3
Sansa Moon
Copyright © 2024 by Sansa Moon.
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of the book only. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form, including recording, without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1 - Sasha
Chapter 2 - Conall
Chapter 3 - Sasha
Chapter 4 - Conall
Chapter 5 - Sasha
Chapter 6 - Conall
Chapter 7 - Sasha
Chapter 8 - Conall
Chapter 9 - Sasha
Chapter 10 - Conall
Chapter 11 - Sasha
Chapter 12 - Conall
Chapter 13 - Sasha
Chapter 14 - Conall
Chapter 15 - Sasha
Chapter 16 - Conall
Chapter 17 - Sasha
Chapter 18 - Conall
Chapter 19 - Sasha
Chapter 20 - Conall
Chapter 21 - Sasha
Chapter 22 - Conall
Chapter 23 - Sasha
Chapter 24 - Conall
Chapter 25 - Sasha
Chapter 26 - Conall
Chapter 27 - Sasha
Chapter 28 - Conall
Chapter 29 - Sasha
Chapter 30 - Conall
Epilogue - Sasha
About the Author
Books by Sansa Moon
Chapter 1 - Sasha
“Don’t get me wrong, I love Silverlake Valley, but I do miss Atlanta when it comes to shopping.”
I grimaced as I flicked through the clothes rack. Small towns were pretty, and I loved the cozy businesses and joints to hang out in, but the clothing options were not where it was at.
Next to me, Thalia sniggered as she shook her head. She wore a cream-colored woolen turtleneck tucked into black cargo pants with her usual silver buckles and chains on. Once every two months, we’d go further into the field to escape the small-town fashion trends. It wasn’t that they were terrible; they just weren’t for me. I missed my leather miniskirts and mesh-paneled bodysuits that came with big city nightlife.
As Luna of Silverlake Valley, Thalia was important. She was rich. Thalia had risen in the ranks ever since her Mating Games more than a year ago. Now married to her mate and raising her baby daughter with a powerful pack at her feet, I couldn’t help but feel a little envious of my best friend.
It was a strange thing to feel envious of her. Thalia had always talked about me like I was the better of us two. Now I felt… not quite pushed out but not entirely as involved as I had been during her heartbreak recovery and climb back to herself. Getting her involved with Kato’s pack years ago had caused a rift between us. But Thalia had improved herself, and I felt a little lost at where I fit in with her now.
She had always depended on me. Now, she didn’t need me, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she had kept me around for.
I clenched my hand on the sweater I discarded in annoyance. I was not vulnerable. I hated these weak thoughts and shoved them, walking away.
Thalia, unaware of my inner turmoil, followed me. “Okay, so if we’re done in this one, then—oh, those boots would look gorgeous on you! I can totally see you at the Inferno in these.” She grabbed my hand, and we rushed over to the shoe racks at the back. For a second, it was like the old days: me dragging Thalia out to shop her heartbreak away, retail therapy in Atlanta, while she talked about her plans to end Fenrys.
Now, she was married to him. How far she’d climbed.
I grinned, genuinely feeling more happy at finding our balance again, as I picked up the vanilla-colored suede boot. It was knee-high, something I’d pair with a black minidress. I knew I’d find the perfect dress, but it wouldn’t be in Silverlake Valley. Somehow, the small town found the balance between clubbing and modesty—something I quite frankly despised—and it worked for some. Just not for me. I was a leopard, a woman who loved clubbing and dancing and drinking—I didn’t want modesty. I wanted to own my sexuality and body and never let anyone take it from me.
I held onto the boots, laughing as Thalia watched me with a raised brow.
“What?” I said. “They’ll be my new babies.”
“More like they’ll be the key to getting the next guy in your bed,” she teased.
I grinned, going along with it as I bought the boots. We left, heading towards a store where she could buy Christmas gifts ahead of the holidays for Reina, her baby cub. She’d already bought Fenrys a new Rolex and Dior cologne, decking him in designer brands that I was envious of because she received tenfold. The new bag slung around her shoulder was D&G; the pants were Balenciaga, effortlessly casual but gorgeously tailored.
What Thalia didn’t know was that I was still a virgin.
I was attractive; I got the attention from men that I enjoyed, but I’d never let anyone take me all the way with them. I enjoyed the flirting and the dancing and the conversation. The teasing games. But I just wasn’t ready for the whole physical commitment. Part of me knew I flitted between men easily and I still wanted my first time to be meaningful.
“Should I buy Reina this?” Thalia wondered aloud, running her hands across a baby’s beanie, the color an autumnal gold with orange trimming. I noticed the designer label on it and laughed.
“Thalia, she’s not even two years old.”
“So?”
“Just because you have money doesn’t mean you need to deck out your toddler in designer things. She won’t even know it to appreciate it.” I fixed her with a smirk. “I know you love playing rich hot Luna, but we’re in a small town. Everyone fawns over you and Fenrys in your finery, but Reina can wait for that till she’s older.”
Thalia still looked unconvinced. She wasn’t shallow by any means, but she’d gotten used to Fenrys heaping luxury onto those in his inner circle.
Again, I couldn’t bite down the wave of envy.
“At least you have a family to buy for,” I muttered, unable to keep the comment to myself. I wasn’t angry at Thalia that she had everything I wanted. A family, security both within herself and her life financially. A home to call hers, a pack of her own. I’d never had that.
“Sasha—”
“No, no.” I waved her off, laughing without a lot of humor to the sound. “I don’t need whatever’s about to come out of your mouth; come on. You’ve known me too long to give me pity about my family. They turned their backs on me all those years ago. I tried to reach out, but they rejected me again. In the end, I should be glad I’m away from them.” I shrugged, trying to brush it off. Deep down, the impending holidays had always been a struggle, thinking of them, wondering if they missed me after I’d left my hometown, following my boyfriend, a wolf shifter. They’d disagreed with me choosing a wolf shifter rather than a leopard shifter, like they wanted.
“I know, but—”
“Lia, it’s okay. My father is someone I’m definitely better off without,” I muttered. “Abusive prick.” He’d been the worst of them. At least my mom’s awful go-to comment was her threat that if I left, I was never welcome to return. My father had been taunting, physically abusive at times, because of being young and in love with a wolf at the time. Well, I had left, and I hadn’t returned.
“I shouldn’t have bragged.” Thalia frowned at herself. “Or got pouty over knowing it would be a sort of waste to not buy my daughter a…” She checked the tag and laughed, covering her mouth. “Thirty-five-dollar beanie.”
I sniggered, shaking my head. “It’d be her new, very expensive chew toy.”
“Oh, God, don’t remind me. Last week, she chewed through the rubber bracket thing on Conall’s headphones.”
At the mention of Conall, I stiffened, walked on, tried to keep my composure.
Strong hands sliding into my hair, a tongue sliding against mine. My name was a cut-off groan as hips rolled against mine… Pulling away, walking away, an apology, and a locked-up heart.
Thalia was onto me, of course, she was. We’d been best friends for years. We’d been through heartbreaks, nasty contracts and pack leaders, family breakups, her pregnancy with Reina, and then everything with Dakota and Aidan a few months ago. We didn’t go through all that together just to hide things now.
Outside, the snow fell gently. Christmas was still another month away, but Silverlake Valley always got snow.
When we ventured out into it, it fell in Thalia’s hair, barely visible against the white blonde.
“Where to next?”
“I’m starving,” I told her. “I need, like, the biggest greasiest burger we can find.”
Thalia looked towards one of the few diners in town. “Jack’s?”
“Jack’s.”
***
Jack’s Diner was, for the most part, the college kids’ hotspot joint. But for us, we’d practically grown up in here, too, as had Fenrys. I recognized Jack’s son flipping burgers in the back kitchen, while the old man himself had passed down signature recipes and managed the books while he vacationed in Florida every summer.
“So,” Thalia said, as I took a huge bite of burger. “Conall.”
I choked on my mouthful, swallowing with a slurp of milkshake. “What about him?”
“Will you be buying him anything for the holidays?” She leaned into her straw, eyeing me mischievously over her milkshake. “You know, seeing as you’ve both agreed to work closely together to discuss Kato’s pack. You have the intel Fenrys wants Conall to build on.” She shrugged. “You never know, you two could be a couple by Christmas.”
I stared at her, lifting a brow. “A couple by Christmas,” I echoed flatly. “What are we, a Hallmark Christmas movie?” I shook my head. “No, there’s nothing between us. Yeah, I flirted with him a little the other month, and he was hot when he was angry with Aidan, but there’s nothing there. Honestly, I don’t even want to work with him.”
“I’m pretty sure you two were cozied up at the first meeting Fenrys and Aidan called together.”
“That was when he was hot,” I muttered.
“And now?”
Now, I was denying any sort of feelings I had towards the pack’s beta ever since the night after the meeting. He was a wolf; I was a leopard. I’d gone down that unfortunate road before. I didn’t need to do it again. Besides, it was Conall.
I ignored her question. “Can’t I just write down what I know and hand it to him in notes? He could make a pretty mind map.” I grinned, imagining Conall tied up in string.
“Well, no, not really. Don’t you think it’d be more beneficial for you two to work directly together to gain double the perspective? You have the past information, he has the current, or most recent, and together, that’ll build a future picture of what we can expect. Patterns, plans—”
“I don’t want to work with him, Lia.”
“I know you don’t like accepting help,” Thalia went on gently. “You value your independence. I get that. But this is for the pack. For all of our lives. If Kato’s pack, even with their leader dead, comes for Silverlake Valley again, then it’s not just the pack. It’s you, it’s innocent people, it’s people like we once were. Uninvolved but somehow dragged into the mess anyway.”
A stab of guilt went through me at that. I still harbored guilt for even getting Thalia involved in Kato’s messy, twisted contracts the other year. Even if both she and Fenrys had forgiven me, I still was having a hard time forgiving myself.
“I can do this alone,” I said, insistent. “And I work just as hard alone as I could with him. If anything, he’ll be a distraction.”
“Because he’s hot?” she grinned.
“No, because he’s—” The word came through clenched teeth. “Arrogant. Annoying. Talkative.”
“It sounds like you’ll both never run out of things to talk about, then.” Thalia’s smile was smug as she slurped her milkshake noisily. “You’re working with him.”
“But—”
“Luna’s orders.”
Chapter 2 - Conall
The Silverlake Valley gym was open twenty-four hours, and I was glad for that. At two in the morning, I needed to blow off some steam—I always had steam to blow off these days. I glanced at the two alphas that pounded the treadmills next to me. Fenrys, in his gray hoodie, his eyes narrowed, directed ahead, and ran without his breath, even laboring. He upped his speed twice, and increased his incline.
Next to him, Aidan punched his speed up, matching Fenrys. The two locked eyes. Aidan increased his again, Fenrys did the same. Except he increased the incline again, and Aidan increased his own.
I rolled my eyes. “Why don’t we get a ruler while we’re at it?” I muttered. Aidan snorted.
“He won’t agree to that,” the alpha from Oak Hill said smugly. “He knows he’ll lose.”
“Yeah?” Fenrys challenged.
“Sure. Ask Dakota. She has all the experience of just how much I’d win if we started measuring.”
His eyes flicked down, and then he pinched his index finger and thumb together. I noticed that they didn’t even miss a step on the treadmill.
“How about you both meet me at the punching bag,” I said. “And you’ll both have your asses handed to you.”
Aidan snorted. “Don’t be stupid. You can fight Jason.”
“No,” I snarled. I adjusted my treadmill up to theirs. I could be capable of matching the alphas. I didn’t only have to compete against another beta. The three of us sprinted competitively to the point where I didn’t even think we were working out anymore. Aidan’s hair was pulled up into a knot at the back of his head, his hoodie half zipped up, exposing his chest underneath. All hard-packed muscles.
I hated being fucking smaller than them. I ran for ten minutes, matching pace with them. Whenever I thought about slowing down, I pictured my brother and his angry glare across the Inferno Lounge and then at our pack’s home, fixed on me, every inch of hatred aimed at me. I pictured Sasha walking away. Hot hands finding my chest, fingers walking up my skin, ghosting the waistband of my jeans. Her mouth was hot on mine, my name pouring from her lips. A wrenched parting of our bodies. ‘Leave, Conall’.
I tripped on the treadmill, lost to my own thoughts.
Aidan chuckled. “Still trying to keep up with us, buddy? Maybe if you work hard enough, you can be the alpha of your own pack!” He said it excitedly, condescending as hell.
“Fuck you,” I snarled and got my pacing back.
“Don’t antagonize him,” Fenrys snapped. “I’m serious, Aidan. Our packs are… working together, somewhat. They don’t need to see an example from you and think it’s okay to start petty arguments or fights.”
“I’ll bust your ass again, Aidan,” I warned. “You may have shaken hands with Fenrys, but I’ll still go at you like I did in the woods the day you dumped Dak—”
“Say her name,” Aidan spat, slamming his treadmill to a stop. I hopped off mine, meeting him face-to-face, annoyed at his inches over me. Fenrys sighed, switching off his machine too. “I dare you to put my mate’s name in your mouth, beta.”
“Aidan,” Fenrys said sharply. Aidan dismissed him with ignorance, not taking his attention off me. I smiled slowly. I’d been itching for a fight ever since my brother had come back into my life and ignored me rather than fighting it out with me properly.
“You want to hit me, Aidan?” I taunted. “Go on. I’ll fight you right now.”
“Don’t push me, Conall.”
I shoved his shoulders back, smirking. “Oh, no. Looks like I did.”
“You never did grow out of that cocky mouth—”
“Stop,” Fenrys shouted. The other men in the gym halted, glancing our way and then back to their own machines. “Conall, stop picking a fight. Aidan, shut up.”
“Listen to your alpha like a good beta, Conall,” Aidan said.
“Do you speak to your own second like that, you condescending piece of sh—”
Fenrys bodily forced himself between us, shoving us back. “We cannot keep doing this every week. You want to hit the gym together? Fine. But take it out in the ring if you’re going to do it anywhere. Stop making a mockery of our packs trying to work together.” His voice dropped into a growl. “What’s the combined goal?”
He eyed me, then Aidan. God, this was idiotic. “Taking down Kato’s pack.”
“Yes, good. If you want to act like elementary kids picking fights in the yard, then I’ll talk to you both like one.”
“Now listen—” Aidan began to snarl, but Fenrys held up a hand.
“I’m working with you for the safety of our packs and towns, but you’re on my turf, Tyrone. Play nice.”
Aidan battled with wanting to defy the order as alpha and doing what was right. I dared to step closer, but Fenrys put his arm out to prevent me from going further. Thinking of Aidan’s taunt of keeping up with them and following orders, I tore away from the two alphas and retreated to the other side of the gym. I piled up forty kilos of weights on the bench press, gritted my teeth as I lay down, and began my reps.
Sasha walking away.
My brother coming back into my life.
Two alphas.
Two towns.
Our enemy’s pack returning.
Fuck. I wanted to be more, do more, prove my place. I was strong—Fenrys had had me at his side all these years for a reason, but I couldn’t change my DNA. I was a beta, through and through, even if I had the temper of an alpha as well as the desire to be one.
