Wolf Lover: Konochur (New Scotia Pack Book 2)

• Title Page
  
• PROLOGUE
  
• CHAPTER 1
  
• CHAPTER 2
  
• CHAPTER 3
  
• CHAPTER 4
  
• CHAPTER 5
  
• CHAPTER 6
  
• CHAPTER 7
  
• CHAPTER 8
  
• CHAPTER 9
  
• Epilogue
  

Wolf Lover: KONOCHUR

New Scotia Pack, Book 2

by Victoria Danann

Copyright 2015 Victoria Danann

Published by 7th House, Imprint of Andromeda LLC

ISBN 978-1-933320-87-8

Read more about this author and upcoming works at
VictoriaDanann.com

PROLOGUE

THE ORDER OF THE BLACK SWAN

This book is loosely related to the Knights of Black Swan series and contains a few minor references to characters from those books.

There is a very old and secret society of vampire hunters, paranormal investigators and protectors known as The Order of the Black Swan. In the twenty-first century, the Order was presented with proof that the scientific postulation that multiple dimensions operate independently within the same “space”, tied to one planet as hub or anchor, depending on how you view it. Each dimension is a single reality to its occupants with the exception of Elementals - demons, angels, sylphs, and certain shifters, who can move between dimensions as easily as we walk from room to room.

THE NEW SCOTIA TRIBE

From
Moonlight
, Book 4, Knights of Black Swan. In the process of averting possible extinction of his tribe, the king of the Elk Mountain werewolves, Stalkson Grey, fell in love with a cult slave and abducted her with the demon, Deliverance’s, assistance. He eventually won his captive's heart and took his new mate to the New Elk Mountain werewolf colony in Lunark Dimension where the wolf people’s ancestors had settled centuries before. The Elk Mountain tribe had ceased to produce daughters for an entire generation. The demon found a solution to that by locating a human world that had not produced sons. The werewolf boys were given a month to find mates and convince them to leave their homes for an unknown place called Lunark.

A few years later his nephew-by-marriage, (
Liulf
, New Scotia Pack Book 1), also migrated his tribe to Lunark Dimension and set up the colony of New Scotia. This book is about his younger brother and second-in-command, Konochur, called Conn and the human, Lestriv, who had married one of the werewolves and pioneered migration to a new world.

CHAPTER 1

“They’re here!”

Lessie smiled at the excitement in Elise’s voice. She turned her face toward where Elise was pointing while jumping up and down.

She laughed at her friend. “Have a little dignity.”

“Pffft,” said Elise. “Who needs dignity? I need a man. Or maybe a werewolf man.” She pretended to swoon.

The day was bright, filled with the musical sounds of wind chimes ringing in the breeze, like a fanfare announcing the arrival of the young wolves looking for brides. Lessie tried but failed to calm the surge of nerves. Elise was the catalyst that pushed her control over the edge. Her emotions had broken free and were not taking either advice or direction, as was clear by the goose bumps that had risen all over her body. Even the air felt like it was filled with magic.

Their society had been burdened with a generation of young women of marriageable age, and no male counterparts to marry. Likewise, so they’d been told, there was a world with a population of young eligible werewolf males without females to wed and, supposedly, they were even
more
eager to meet. The Conscriptor had stressed the word “eager” in a way that made some of the girls giggle and exchange bright-eyed looks of delight. Others were more outwardly reserved, even if they were just as titillated by the suggestive inference.

As recently as a fortnight before, the young ladies had never heard of werewolves. The description of their species was a little horrifying at first, but desperation overrode choosiness and they decided they were willing to take a look. By the time the day of arrival came, all reservations had melted into a breathless anticipation.

Lessie wore a yellow dress that complemented her auburn-streaked hair and light brown eyes. Set against the bright sunshine of the morning, the color almost made her appear to glow, as if she was walking surrounded by a halo.

The wolves were arriving on the docks by an ocean that was sparkling with reflected sunlight. The means of their arrival was nothing less than dazzling to humans who were accustomed to ordinary, mundane lives.

From the hillside Lessie and her friends could see the prospective husbands come into view one at a time, as if they were walking out of nothingness and taking form as they emerged. It seemed to the girls that it was a god-like thing to do, appearing out of nowhere. That, of course, added to their mystique and made the occasion even more thrilling. The prospects were arriving quickly enough to become a group and be scoping out their surroundings by the time the bachelorettes reached the dock en masse.

The werewolves had been told they would have their work cut out for them if they wanted to convince a human female to commit to mate and leave her home forever. With that in mind, they had studied what behaviors women find attractive in men, along with actual classes in the arts of love, taught by a sex demon who was a friend of their alpha. They had come to the land of brides prepared for pursuit of a mate to be the challenge of their lives. So the last thing they expected was to be, more or less, besieged by a crowd of beauties in brightly colored dresses and brighter smiles that conveyed receptiveness to social advances.

Lessie’s friends had rushed into the crowd of wolves with an enthusiasm that she found embarrassing. She’d hung back at the edge of the throng, feeling and, perhaps, looking uncertain.

While she was trying to decide whether she would continue to observe or join the mixer, the air dazzled a few feet away and she was face to face with a male who simply and literally took her breath away. He was a little taller than she, with golden skin and long mahogany-colored hair worn loose down his back. But the single feature that caught her attention so that she couldn’t have looked away, not even if she was on fire, was his eyes. His irises were a gray so pale they made him seem even more alien than she’d been expecting. But the otherworldly look of his eyes was softened and warmed when the edges of his mouth turned up into a wolf smile.

As it happened, he seemed to be just as captivated by her and never took his eyes away. Relations with the opposite sex were both easy and natural for werewolves as they were sexual creatures with an innate charismatic appeal, particularly where humans were concerned. One look at the face of the prey who had wandered into his path told the wolf that his pursuit could be both fruitful and rewarding beyond his dreams.

“What’s your name?” asked the wolf.

“Lestriv,” said the girl.

“Lestriv.” He repeated her name slowly as if he was tasting it and rolling it around on his tongue. “That’s hard to say.” His conclusion was offered with a teasing smile that made his eyes light from within.

She resisted the impulse to reach out and trace the strong pronounced line of his jaw with her fingertips, but just barely. Instead she returned his smile, feeling shy about her inexperience with the opposite sex and, at the same time, emboldened by his obvious interest.

“I guess that’s why most people call me Lessie.”

He tried out “Lessie” the same way and, looking satisfied, said, “Much better.”

The werewolf took a step toward her. She took a step back reflexively, not because she wanted to retreat from him. She didn’t. It was simply an involuntary response.

She couldn’t have known it, but it was the best thing she could have done if she wanted to snag a wolf because that small response awakened his predatory instincts and made her an object of even greater fascination.

“Don’t be afraid,” said the wolf.

“I’m… not,” Lessie stumbled.

“I’ll not harm you. In fact,” his mouth curled in a way that made her knees weak, “I’ll show you more pleasure than you’ve ever imagined. If you’ll let me.”

At that he reached out at arm’s length and ran a warm finger down her cheek. She couldn’t suppress a shiver. He couldn’t stop his smile from widening when he saw it.

Inside she might have been contemplating the many ways she would like to explore his claim of commanding pleasure, but what her mouth said was, “What’s your name?”

He raised his chin and offered a charming little lopsided grin. “Jimmy Clear Eyes.”

Lessie cocked her head to the side and studied him. “That suits you fine, werewolf.”

Again, he took a step toward the woman. This time she did not back away.

“You
suit me fine, human.”

The sound of wind chimes blown by sweet sunny breezes stopped abruptly as Lessie started to feel the corporeal weight of her body waking. She heard a woman’s voice repeat, “They’re here,” but it wasn’t Elise announcing Jimmy’s arrival. It was the alpha’s mate, Luna, come to help get her ready for the worst day of her life, Jimmy’s funeral.

Inside her mind chanted, “No,” over and over again, as though she could use the word as a shield against reentering the nightmare of her reality. But she couldn't hold wakefulness at bay forever.

New tears sprang into eyes badly swollen from crying for two days. As she turned in the bed, her hand automatically went to her belly, which was just beginning to show the world that their second child was seeded and growing. She hoped that the baby, he or she, was insulated from sharing the pain in her heart.

Jimmy.

CHAPTER 2

Earlier.

The wolves of Lunark Dimension had come to think of their world as the closest thing to paradise on the waking side of fantasy. The human mates who were part of the Elk Mountain Tribe agreed. The werewolves who had migrated from harsher climates appreciated the mild weather as well as the lush landscape, the plentiful game, and the quiet serenity of old ways where the loudest noise ever heard was a wolf howl or the squawk of a blue jay.

The three tribes had learned not only to live peaceably with each other, but to work together for the good of future generations. No small accomplishment for hot headed, territorial werewolves, but they managed to set aside the contentious side of their natures in favor of a better future for everyone. And all was well until
they
came.

The dragon shifters.

They didn’t ask the original inhabitants of First Colony, led by the alpha, SilverRuff, for permission. They simply saw an opportunity and took it.

Like werewolves, dragon shifters had run out of hospitable places. Unlike werewolves, the dragon shifters were to blame for being hunted to extinction. They left destruction, often needless destruction, and massive loss of life wherever they went. They didn’t just kill for survival. Like domesticated cats, they often killed for a perverse view of fun.