New Blood (Werewolf Alliance #1)

Chapter 1
Three Months Ago – Marin County, Northern California
Danielle wasn’t sure what exactly had awoken her, maybe a tree branch brushing against the cottage or the mournful howl of a coyote, or perhaps even the distant wail of a siren coming from the freeway several miles inland.
She shot up to a sitting position, shoving the duvet off her in the process. The cool night air immediately wrapped around her, seeping through her flannel pajamas, making her realize that the heater hadn’t switched on when it had gotten colder overnight. In Northern California, the temperatures could drop into the thirties in November, particularly a few miles inland, away from the moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean.
Quickly, she swung her legs out of bed, her naked feet finding her slippers easily in the dark.
The moment she rose and walked to the door, her Lycan senses stirred, alerting her to a scent that spelled danger. It was faint, but when she drew more of the cold air through her nostrils into her lungs, the scent intensified, setting alarm bells off inside her: gas! Had the pilot light of the old furnace gone out, preventing the gas from igniting, releasing it instead into the small cottage?
Danielle rushed to the door and yanked it open. She didn’t bother fumbling for the light switch—her superior werewolf vision allowed her to see well enough in the dark. Besides, she didn’t want to risk one of the old crystal fuses that the 1920s cottage was equipped with being blown, igniting the gas that had already collected in her home.
In the living room, she could smell it more intensely. She brought her sleeve to her nose and mouth, trying to prevent herself from inhaling too much of the noxious gas, while she rushed to where the smell was strongest: the old gas fireplace with its stone mantle.
She could hear the hissing sound of the gas escaping from the small holes on the coil that lay beneath fake wooden logs. Fuck! She leaned down and reached to the right of the fireplace to turn the key to the off position. To her shock, the four-inch-long old metal key that normally stuck in the small hole in the wall was gone. Frantically, she searched the floor with her hands, wondering if it had fallen out when she’d used it last. Her search was in vain. The key was gone. She had no way of switching off the gas from inside the house.
She had to get to the main gas shutoff outside the cottage. The fastest way was through the kitchen, which had a back door to the outside. Her heart pounding, Danielle raced through the short corridor and yanked the door to the kitchen open. She stormed inside, hurrying toward the back door, when she saw something bright in the corner of her eye. In mid-run, she turned her head. What she noticed made her blood turn to ice in her veins: a flame flickered on one of the four burners of the gas stove.
Danielle hadn’t used the stove at all in the past week, because she ate in the main house inhabited by the Gallaghers, the werewolf pack she belonged to. So why was one of the burners switched on? How could she have missed this?
Within a split second, her brain assessed the situation: the smell of the gas escaping from the fireplace in the living room was spreading quickly throughout the rest of the small house, and she could sense it reaching the kitchen. Did she have time to switch off the stove before the gas could ignite? A small butcher block island was between her and the stove. Running around it to reach the stove would cost her precious seconds she didn’t have. The risk was too great.
Knowing escaping the cottage was her best chance of survival, she barreled toward the door, twisting the handle. She pulled, but the door didn’t open.
“Shit!”
During the damp winter months, the wood expanded, and the old wooden door was often stuck. Just as it was now. Sweat collected on her nape, and she gritted her teeth, braced her foot on the frame, and pulled the door open, almost taking it off its hinges.
Before she could make a step outside, the gas in the cottage ignited, causing an explosion that shattered the windows. A violent shockwave hit her from behind, catapulting her outside, and tossed her face down on the damp ground. The shock knocked the wind out of her, and the impact of her body hitting the hard ground paralyzed her for a second. Had she been human, she would have broken a few bones—if not worse—but it was harder to injure a werewolf.
As quickly as she could, she looked over her shoulder. The kitchen was burning, and from what she could see, the explosion had blasted a hole into the roof and an even larger one into the wall to the bedroom, which was next to the kitchen. Had she been sleeping in her bed, the fire would have engulfed her by now.
She scrambled to get up, trying to get away from the burning building, but her knees buckled, and she had to brace herself on a stack of firewood. Her heart was pounding. Now that the adrenaline that had helped her kick down the door and escape with her life was waning, reality sank in. She could have died tonight.
Before she could wallow in those thoughts, she heard voices and the sound of rapidly approaching footfalls. By the time Danielle reached the footpath leading from her cottage to the main house that lay about five hundred yards away, several of her pack members had already reached the cottage.
Cameron, the eldest son of William Gallagher, the pack’s alpha, was the first to arrive. His aunt Flora, William’s sister-in-law, was on his heels. Cameron was fully dressed, which probably meant he’d not been in bed yet, but Flora was wearing a nightgown and a thick parka over it.
“Oh my God, Danielle. Are you alright?” Flora asked, breathing hard.
“We’ve gotta douse the fire before it spreads to the trees!” Cameron yelled, giving her a cursory look.
More people in various states of dress and undress came running. Owen, one of Flora’s sons, carried a fire extinguisher meant for small kitchen fires, while his brother Spencer carried a shovel.
William Gallagher was right behind them, already barking orders over his shoulder, “Byron, Thaddeus, get the hoses!”
From the other direction, where more small cottages dotted the estate, she also heard voices and footfalls. The occupants of those small homes had been alerted to the ruckus, too. Danielle could only watch in shock as the Gallagher pack members used whatever they could to extinguish the fire with the small fire extinguisher, a shovel to toss wet dirt on the flames, and finally with the hoses that were connected to a standing pipe.
“You must be freezing,” Flora said from next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.
Danielle appreciated the kind gesture. “If I hadn’t woken up…”
Flora patted her shoulder.
With his sons and nephews getting control over the fire now, William finally turned around to her and addressed her for the first time, “Are you okay? What happened?”
Concern was written on his face, and for the first time since she’d met him six years earlier, she could see his age in the deep lines on his face. He was still attractive and virile and would remain so for many years to come. The werewolf gene with which he’d been born caused his body to age slower than that of a human, though werewolves weren’t immortal.
“Danielle?” he prompted and gripped her arms.
Finally, she found her voice again. “I’m okay. Just shaken.”
“What happened?”
“I woke up and smelled gas.”
She looked past him to see that the fire was under control. It appeared that the kitchen and bedroom had sustained substantial damage, but the living room and bathroom were still standing, even though the windows had been blown out. She tore her gaze away from it, shivering involuntarily.
“The fireplace was leaking gas, and I couldn’t turn it off.”
Cameron interrupted from behind his father, “How hard can it be to turn off the gas to a fireplace?!”
“Shut it!” William ground out, his eyes briefly flickering red like they did whenever he was annoyed and whenever his wolf side tried to break through from beneath the civilized surface.
“I tried. I really did,” Danielle insisted quickly, not wanting to anger him. After all, he was her alpha, and he was a strict leader who didn’t tolerate insubordinate pack members. “But there was no key to turn. It was gone.”
William nodded, his forehead furrowing. “We’ll look into it when the sun is up.”
“In the meantime,” Flora added, “let’s get you settled in the cottage next to Heath and Priscilla’s.”
“No!” William protested, not just to Danielle’s surprise, but also to Flora’s. “Danielle will be living in the main house from now on.”
“But that cottage is empty, and—”
He cut Flora off with a look that brooked no refusal. Flora quickly backpaddled, and Danielle felt sorry for the woman.
“Of course, as you wish, William,” she said and forced a smile.
“The room next to Thaddeus’s is empty,” William added.
“But that’s on the family floor,” Flora said.
She was right. The nine members of the Gallagher family—William and his daughter and three sons, and Flora and her daughter and two sons—lived on the second and third floors of the main house and its new wing that had been added in the last two decades. All pack members not directly related to the Gallaghers lived in smaller cottages on the grounds. Others, depending on what job they performed for the pack, lived off-site. But only cooks and other household staff had previously lived in one of the two spare rooms on the first floor of the mansion, and currently, both rooms were vacant. Priscilla, a young woman who, together with Danielle, took care of most of the household chores like cleaning and cooking, lived in one of the cottages with her brother, Heath.
Before she could say that she didn’t mind living on the ground floor where the kitchen and all common rooms were located, William spoke again.
“It’s decided. Danielle will stay where I say she stays.”
Flora mounted no further protest. She turned away from William.
“I’ll help you put sheets on the bed,” Flora said, looking at her.
Danielle put a hand on Flora’s arm and squeezed it. “That’s very kind of you, but I can do it. I’m too wound up to sleep right now anyway.”
Flora drew an audible breath into her nostrils. “Alright then. But in the morning, I’ll bring you some clothes that’ll fit you.”
Flora turned and walked back toward the house. Danielle took another look at the cottage that could have become her tomb tonight, before she followed her. She’d liked living in the little cottage. It had been her own little home where nobody ever disturbed her. It would be different living under the watchful eye of the Gallagher family without having a truly private space to retreat to. She was still not used to being part of a pack because, for a long time, she and her mother had lived on their own, without the protection of a pack. But her mother was gone, and remaining on her own hadn’t been an option any longer.

The Werewolf Alliance, which imposes rules on all werewolf packs to
safeguard their secrets, sends Jude Beaumont and his team of
well-trained werewolves to California to deal with a rogue pack. After
deposing and exiling the current alpha and killing his murderous son,
power dynamics shift, complicating Jude's mission to unite the pack
beneath him and quell a brewing rebellion by mating with the former
alpha's daughter.

1. New Blood
2. Crimson Heart

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