Hey y'all! I mentioned I'm in the progress of writing another werewolf book and many of you said you wanted a sneak peek! Just like this book, it is far different than stereotypical werewolf books.
I thought I'd leave you a snippet here, as well as the description. It's very grumpy werewolf x sunshine human.
â¼ï¸WARNINGâ¼ï¸
This book will have lots of romance and fluff, but it also has mentions of death, suicide, depression, abuse, and other triggering topics. Please use discretion before reading.
~ Description ~
Alfie Murphy was secretly a disgraced rouge Alpha who lived amongst the humans- something nearly unheard of to werewolves. However, it was completely unheard of to his new neighbor, Adalyn, being a human and all.
After years of struggling, losing his young daughter to cancer, and battling depression, Alfie was ready to end it all. Quite literally. With a noose around his neck, he prepared himself to take his final breath, when a knock came from his front door.
To his dismay, on the other side of the door was his chirpy new neighbor and her daughter. Alfie's instincts overtook him and he immediately sensed this human was his mate. Being a human, she couldn't sense that- nor would he ever let her find out. The noose still dangled in his living room and he planned on finished what he started, but... maybe not yet.
He planned on avoiding her like the plague, but somehow, they always seemed to cross paths. At the realization that someone needed to take care of his cat when he departed from this earth, Adalyn seemed to be the perfect candidate. The catch? She'll take the cat if he pretends to be her boyfriend until the new year.
The problem? His old pack wants him back. They bring things to an extreme level by kidnapping her in hopes of luring him back. It works, but boy will there be hell to pay for it.
Now to save her life, he needs to live his, but maybe... maybe with her, life isn't so bad.
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To set the scene below, Adalyn is a human who ran away with her daughter, Lily, from her abusive ex husband. Alfie is the werewolf. Alfie knows Adalyn is his mate, but she doesn't know this. Adalyn's ex broke into her house and Alfie came in to save the day.
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Adalyn quickly approached the brooding man from behind and placed a gentle hand on his broad shoulder. "Alfie?"
Alfie whirled around to face her, anger written all over his face. She knew he'd never hurt her, but with all the adrenaline in her, she couldn't help the little ball of fear that worked it's way in her stomach as he towered over her.
Her breath hitched. "I-I- um...." the words got caught in her throat. She tried to step back, but he was quick to take hold of her arm with a grip surprisingly light. She peered back up to see the way his expression had softened, making her relax slightly.
"Sorry," he sighed, running his hand down her arm to take hold of her hand. "I'm sorry." Though he was enraged at the moment, he didn't want to take it out in her. It was never his intention.
Carefully, she reached up to cup his face, her thumb running under his already bruising eye. "Are you okay?" She managed to get out.
He blinked, caught off by the question. "Your crazy ex husband just showed up to kidnap you and your daughter, and you're asking if I'm okay?" He exasperated, softly.
She bit her lip, trembling. The adrenaline of it all hadn't worn off yet. "Yeah..." she sighed.
He eyed her, bewildered at the tiny woman. He noticed her tremors and the way she anxiously rung her hands together. Tears were gathered in her eyes, wide and panicked, but she fought them off. She knew once she started to cry, she wouldn't be able to stop. She didn't want that now.
Alfie took a step towards her to comfort her, but she had other plans. She promptly shuffled right past him to the stool at the counter top and ordered, "sit," to the large man.
He shook his head. "You don't have to worry about me, Addy. Let me help you-"
"Sit down, Alfred." She snapped and opened the cabinet under the sink for a first aid kit.
He raised a brow at the use of his full name and at her attempt at being authoritative. It was a cute attempt, and an attempt he would give into regardless. Maybe if she got whatever this out of her system and she knew he was okay, she would let him help her.
He did as instructed and sat on the stool. Because of the height difference, this just made them eye level. She reached for his face to inspect it, but he stopped her by lightly grabbing her wrists, making her tense. "I'm okay. It's just a black eye." He insisted.
"And a split eyebrow." She pointed out.
He reached up to feel his forehead and discovered she was right. It was split.
She surprised him by rolling her eyes. She stepped away for a moment to retrieve a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and handed it to him. "You need to ice your eyebrow and eye."
He opened his mouth to respond, but was quickly cut off by a gasp from her.
"Did he stab you?!" She exclaimed, her eyes landing on some blood stained on his shirt.
"Wha- oh." He coughed in surprise as she lifted his shirt to inspect the wound. Her feather light touches made butterflies fill his stomach and forget all about the pain he was in.
She was too focused on the problem to realize how inappropriate it was to grab his shirtless torso.
"I landed on some broken glass, I'm okay." He reassured her.
"I'm okay." She mocked in her best Alfie impression she could manage, using a deeper tone of voice.
She continued to ramble on to herself, stuff that he couldn't quite pick up on. This was his first time seeing her like this, all riled up. Her lips were still drawn into a frown, eyebrows knitted together in concern, and a few stray pieces of her hair fell out of her messy bun to lay on her face. As bad as he felt, his heart swelled at her concern. It's been a long time since someone had fussed over him.
She stilled her movements, noticing he was studying her intensely. "What?"
His finger hooked around a strand of hair that fell from her bun and tucked it behind her ear. "Adalyn, stop fussing. I'm okay."
She blinked, her cheeks turning a tinge of pink. "I- um...." She shook her head to collect herself, grabbed something to clean his cut up side, and something to patch it up. She knelt between his spread legs and peeked up through her lashes to see him peering down at her with a playful glint in his eyes.
"Alfie." She warned, but her voice sounded more embarrassed then threatening.
"I didn't say nothin'." He threw his hands up in mock surrender.
She cleaned up the cut that was just below his ribcage with a huff and added a bandage over it. She straightened, still unintentionally caged between his thighs. "Be careful not to stretch too much. You don't want it to...." the words died in her mouth when her gaze caught his.
His face was a lot closer to hers than she expected. His dark brown eyes flickered down to her lips, then back up to her eyes. Without breaking eye contact, he gently took the wrappers from the bandaids out of her hands and set them aside.
Quietly, he asked. "Can I take care of you now?"
For a moment, her trembling and rambling ceased. That is, until she noticed the shattered glass all over her living room floor. Then she was breathing heavy, like there suddenly wasn't enough oxygen in the room. All at once, she stumbled over her own feet to the living room, desperately trying to pick up all the pieces of glass, desperately trying to erase all the evidence of today.
"He comes into my home, breaks my things..." she muttered angrily to herself about her ex, picking up the pieces by hand.
Alfie hurried over to her and placed a hand on her back to catch her attention. She wasn't in the right mindset and screamed at the contact, flinching away from his touch.
She whirled around to discover it was only Alfie and she was safe. Once her brain at least told her that, she got back to angrily grumbling under her breath and picked up more glass, not caring about the little shards that broke her skin.
Again, he stepped in. "Just leave it, Addy. I'll clean it up." He exasperated and gently guided her away from the mess. "I got it."
She shook her head. "No, I should be the one to clean it." She persisted, frustrated.
"Just sit down. It's okay."
"It's not okay!" She flailed her arms to try again. "I need to-"
Finally, he had enough. Promptly, he swept her off her feet, easily picking her up by the waist, and didn't put her back down until her bottom hit the cushion of a couch.
She opened her mouth to rip him a new one, but he quickly cut her off. Bent down to be face to face with her, he pointed to the mess behind him. "I'm going to clean this up." With the other hand, he pointed stern finger at her. "Do not move. I mean it."
Her angry expression softened. "I'm so-"
"Sorry." He finished for her. "You have no need to be." He searched the closet for a broom, relieved when he found one. "You don't have to apologize for things that aren't your fault. You don't have to say sorry."
Her eyebrows furrowed together and she sat forward. "I should be the one cleaning."
His anger burned like acid- anger not directed at her, but at the situation. At the low life man child that abused her, at himself for not being able to protect sooner, and whoever made her feel like everything was her fault. Whoever made her feel like she couldn't ask for help.
"Sit down, Adalyn." He ordered through clenched teeth.
She shrunk back against the chair, her eyes teary and blank. Processing. He knew if she was really herself right now, she'd tell him off. The lack of reaction was actually concerning to him.
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He tried again, this time, softer. "I got this, okay?"
Her gaze flickered up for a moment, but she remained quiet.
He quickly cleaned the mess up and she didn't make a single sound or movement the whole time. When he finished, he grabbed the first aid kit from the counter she just used on him. "I'm going to look at your hands now."
"Why?"
He released a deep breath, kneeling in front of her. "Look at your hands."
Her gaze fell to her bloody hands that had little bits of glass in them. "Oh, gosh." She gasped and became rigid when she noticed some of the blood had dropped onto her clothes. "I didn't... I can clean the blood up. It will come out. I've done it before."
While that comment was severely concerning, he didn't address it now. "I don't care about the clothes, I care about your hands." His hands slid down her arms and gently took hold of her bloody hands. "Can I...."
At her nod, he set out the materials on the couch next to her and gently got to work. Piece by piece, he pulled the little pieces of glass out. Then he cleaned her arm that was skinned when she was shoved on the coffee table, but thankfully it was not as bad as her hands. He was surprised there was no reaction from her, her eyes still slightly glazed over.
She wasn't completely back yet, he could tell by the way she still trembled. She was numb. But she was almost snapped out of it.
He finished after a couple minutes and cleaned and wrapped her hands. When his eyes met hers again, they looked more clear. "You okay?"
She scooted back in her seat in attempt to avoid him and the conversation, but he was having none of it. From where he was still kneeling on the ground, he wrapped a loose arm around her waist before she could go too far. It was something she could easily stay out of if she wanted to, but instead she scooted closer.
With a teary smile that didn't reach her eyes, she whispered, "I'm fine."
He smiled at the obvious lie. "Are you?"
"I'm tough." She said more so to convince herself.
He nodded in agreement. "You are."
"I can take care of myself." She sniffled.
"You have." He agreed. "You still do. You always will. I've just joined in too. Now we take care of each other, yeah?"
Not trusting her voice anymore, she gave a weak nod instead.
He hung his head and sighed. They were so close, she could feel his breath fan her face. "Listen, Addy. I knew you were tough the day I met you, but today I saw how incredibly strong you truly are. I understand you have to be brave and put on a facade for Lily, but she's not here." He told her, gently, his hand that wasn't around her waist drawing up. He interlocked his tattooed fingers with her delicate ones, and she let him. "You don't have to be strong with me. Tell me how I can help."
At a loss for words, she closed the gap and wrapped her small arms around his neck, her head in the crook of his neck. His strong arms wrapped around her middle in return, hesitant, but ready. "You already have." She whispered.
In that moment, his arms squeezed a fraction tighter and she breathed more slowly. She had never been hugged like this before. There was something so warm, something that felt right. She let her body melt, her muscles become loose. He gave her the respect of an equal but cradled her like he absolutely cherished her.
In that embrace she felt her worries lose their keen sting and her optimism raise its head from the dirt. He felt her body press in, soft and warm. This was the love he's waited for, prayed for. He inwardly thanked God and hugged all the tighter.
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Before y'all come for me, I'm releasing a new chapter for Lycanthope in a little bit! See you in the next chapter soon!
In the mean time, please let me know what you think of this snippet!! Idk when I'll release it but hopefully after I complete this book :)