First Beginnings

First Beginnings

Penn Lake Wolves Book One

By Clare Atling

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to
persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely
coincidental.  The characters are productions of the author’s imagination.

First Beginnings

Copyright ©  2013 by Clare Atling

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may
not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written
permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in critical
articles or reviews.

Sarah has everything in place for the first time in her
life.  She and her friend Callie are about to open their lifelong dream
bakery when one night turns everything she thought she knew upside down. 

Seth is the alpha of his pack and has waited years to find
his mate.  Can he convince Sarah she will be happy on Penn Lake Island or
will she choose the life she has worked so hard for? 

Dedication

To my husband who is my happy ending.  xxx

Chapter One

Looking at herself in the
full-length mirror behind her bedroom door, Sarah took in her carefully chosen
outfit. Smart blue jeans, green cami top and her sexy, black patent, three-inch
heels. Okay, so she could barely walk in a straight line in them, but they cost
her most of her week’s wages.

Tonight, she and her best friend,
Callie, would be hitting the bars in the hope of getting very drunk and
celebrating the fact that they had passed their final exams, before sitting
down and working out how they were going to open their own bakery. Sarah had
managed to save some money, but knew it would be nowhere near enough to make up
her share. It had been their joint dream all through college and she had
trained hard with Callie to become joint business owner of their bakery.

She brushed out her long blonde
hair and decided to let it hang loose, then applied some lip gloss. Sarah knew
she was pretty and had a good figure, even though she ate her way through most
of what she cooked on the bakery course. Callie, on the other hand, was bigger
in size but equally as pretty. Sarah knew Callie was often annoyed by the fact
that Sarah could consume vast quantities of junk food and yet still maintain
her size 8 figure.

She could hear Callie getting
ready in her room next door and smiled at how much she loved her best friend.
They were perfectly matched together and told each other everything.

‘Come on, Callie! Time to hit the
bars... I’m thirsty!’ she shouted as she made her way out. Callie came out of
her room, laughing at Sarah’s comment.

‘Okay, okay,’ she replied.
‘Anyone would think you’ve never been out before. You’re like someone who’s
just turned twenty-one and can legally go to a bar for the first time!’ Callie
had on her favourite pink top which had jewels around the neck line, blue jeans
and her pink, high-top pumps. Although Callie was a plus-size girl, she had the
grace of a panther and looked beautiful with her glossy brown hair pulled back
into a ponytail. Sarah laughed at her comment, grabbing her purse and keys from
the side.

‘Cab’s waiting for us,’ she said.
‘Come on. All the hot men will be taken by the time we get there. We’ll be
stuck in the corner looking like two old spinsters!’ Shutting the door and
making sure it was locked, she followed behind Callie, watching her
gracefulness.

‘It’s so not fair that you walk
like a catwalk model in those shoes,’ she commented, ‘whilst I look like Bambi
on ice.’ Callie laughed out loud and looked down at Sarah's shoes.

‘You know, as much as you love
those shoes, they’ll be off your feet within the hour and in my closet by
tomorrow morning,’ she said winking and smiling at her friend.

Once they made it to the bar,
they paid the cab driver and entered through the big, posh-looking doors. The
bouncer was talking to some blonde and didn’t give them a second glace as they
walked through the crowded area towards the bar to get the first drinks of the
night.

As Sarah sipped her spritzer, she
noticed Callie was holding on to her vodka and lemonade with a strange look on
her face. It was almost as if she was sniffing the air. Sarah smiled at her
friend and pulled on her arm to get her attention. Callie bent her head down to
hear what Sarah was saying above the noise in the bar.

‘You okay?’ said Sarah. ‘You
looked like you were lost for a minute.’ Callie smiled back reassuringly, but
it didn’t look convincing.

‘Sorry,’ she replied. ‘Thought I
saw someone I knew, but it wasn’t them.’ Callie couldn’t lie to save her life
and Sarah knew it. However, she let it go as they were out to have fun and get
horribly drunk, before inevitably waking up the next morning vowing to never
drink again.

‘Come on,’ shouted Sarah, ‘drink
up. I want at least two more drinks before I hit the dance floor.’ Then she
picked up her glass and downed the rest of her spritzer.

Chapter Two

Marcus could scent a wolf amongst
all these disgusting sweaty humans. He had come here to find a new play toy for
his son, Colt, who hadn’t seemed to want to play since the death of his mother
five years ago. Of course, Marcus knew that bringing him a human female every
now and then wasn’t really helping, but they were much easier to control and
kill than the wolves he had brought him. They tended to fight back and use
their strength and Marcus had to kill them faster than the human girls.

Colt was a good boy who had doted
on his mother, the stupid bitch. She’d had the nerve to try and run away with
Colt after he beat her one night. She had made some comment about him being
sick in the head after she had found one of his playthings in his dungeon. He’d
caught her packing some clothes when he was supposed to be away on business.
Marcus had kept her in his dungeons for a few months before he’d slit her
throat. She had always been a good fuck, but a useless bitch when it came to
ruling his way. He, of course, told Colt that his mother had left him to be
with another wolf; since then, Colt had remained withdrawn. Marcus was slowly
losing patience with his son, disappointed in how he had turned out. Colt was
440 years old and should be ruling by his father’s side, not sitting like a
sissy boy looking for a mother he would never find.

Looking around the noisy bar,
searching for the perfect play toy to snap Colt out of this gloom, he spotted
the blonde dancing on the dance floor with her fat friend. He sneered at the
larger girl, thinking that he could give her to the guards to fuck before
preparing the blonde for Colt. Watching her golden hair brush along her back, he
was getting hard thinking that, if Colt didn’t want this one, then he would
keep her for a while for himself.

Smiling an evil grin, he sat
watching in the dark corner, waiting for his chance.

Chapter Three

‘Urgh! Callie, my feet hurt.’
Sarah looked down at her feet, noticing her shoes were gone. She burst into
laughter and nearly stumbled into the bush on the side of the path. Callie
shook her head and laughed at her friend.

‘Your feet hurt because you took
your shoes off ten minutes ago,’ she replied. ‘You’ve been walking across this
dirty path barefoot.’ Callie continued to glide along elegantly, making Sarah
stop and frown.

‘It's so not fair. First you
never get as drunk as me and always end up getting me home. Secondly, you
never
lose a pair of shoes.’

Before Callie could answer, she
stopped and raised her face again, as if she was once more sniffing the air.

‘Callie, you’ve been doing that
all night,’ said Sarah. ‘Sniffing the air like you’re smelling a fart! Really,
someone as graceful as you should wait till you’re back home before you let
rip!’ Sarah was laughing so hard at her own comment that, this time, she
did
fall over and landed, very unladylike, on her hands and knees.

‘Sarah...’ Callie began, sounding
concerned.

‘I’m fine... I’m fine... God, I’m
so going to regret that tomorrow…’ Sarah looked up and saw a man approaching.

‘Sarah...’ said Callie, ’I’m
going to tell you to run... as fast as you can. Okay!’ Callie stood in front of
Sarah in a defensive pose whilst Sarah got to her feet. She suddenly felt
herself sober for a moment before looking again at the man closing in on them.

‘Callie... you okay?’ Sarah was
now standing upright again, wondering what was upsetting Callie. ‘Do you know
him or something?’

‘No, but I think we should get
out of here.’ Callie was mentally slapping herself for coming this way home.
They had done it plenty of times before, but now she felt something she hadn’t
felt in a long time. Fear.

Callie grabbed Sarah's hand and
started to run, but didn’t get far before she felt a hard shove on her back.
Callie flew through the air and landed on her stomach. Quickly, she got to her
feet and span around, just in time to see the man grab Sarah by the arm.

‘Stay out of this, bitch, or I’ll
snap her arm like a twig,’ the man sneered at Callie.

Sarah felt his hand tighten on
her upper arm and knew it was going to leave a bruise.

‘Run, Callie!’ she shouted
frantically. ‘Get some help.’

She didn’t want Callie to get
hurt, but then again she sure as hell didn’t want to be left alone with this
nut job. She tried to struggle away, but he leant in. He sniffed her hair and
licked his rough tongue against her cheek. She could feel herself beginning to
shake with fear.

‘That’s right, human,’ said the
man. ‘I can smell your fear.’ He pressed himself up behind her. ‘Can you feel
how much it excites me? I’m going to enjoy making you scream.’

Callie was close to them now.
‘Let her go and I’ll go easy on you,’ she said boldly. Sarah wished she had her
friend’s confidence.

‘Callie! No, please, don’t get
hurt...’ The pain in her arm as the man held her made her stop short, but
nothing prepared her for what happened next.

Callie kicked off her shoes.
Then, to Sarah’s amazement, she watched as her friend’s eyes transformed from
their usual deep brown to a piercing blue glow.

‘Callie...’ Sarah’s voice shook
as she looked at Callie. She heard the feral growl behind her and, suddenly,
she was flying through the air. She landed with a thud on her side and felt the
pain in her arm. She hoped it wasn’t broken.

Looking up, she saw the man was
snapping his long teeth at Callie, whilst she was growling and snapping her own
equally long teeth back at him. Sarah shook her head, hoping she really had drunk
too much and that her best friend hadn’t just turned into a freaking vampire,
or whatever it was.

The sound of ripping clothes filled
the air as Sarah watched a white glow flow out of Callie’s body, whereupon a
brown wolf appeared in her place. Feeling the bile rising from her stomach,
Sarah watched as the creepy man also began to transform into a wolf, but a much
bigger, scarier, black-looking wolf.
Okay, so it’s not a vampire
, Sarah
thought as she watched the two creatures circle each other.

The black wolf threw himself at
Callie, who just managed to leap clear of him. She grabbed his hind leg and
threw him against the lamp post. He recovered quickly and, once again, set
about catching Callie.

Sarah must have made a noise, as
he stopped abruptly and turned in her direction.

‘Oh shit... Oh crap... HELP!’ she
screamed. ‘Someone, help me...’ Sarah was scuffling back on her bottom, trying
to get her legs to work so she could stand up and run. The pain in her arm was
long forgotten as she stared into the blue eyes of the black wolf.

Closing her eyes, expecting the
killer blow, she sat there. Hearing the deep growl, she opened her eyes
slightly and watched as the brown wolf, once her best friend, leapt onto the
bigger wolf’s back, before she finally blacked out into sweet nothingness.

Chapter Four

The first thing Sarah felt when
she awoke was the pain in her arm, but the pain in her head was also as bad. It
was dark in the room, but she could see Callie looking at her from a chair.

‘Shit, Callie… how much did I
drink last night? I feel like hell. Where are we? Looks pretty rundown for a
hotel.’ Sarah sat up carefully and squinted at Callie.

‘Callie... you okay?’ Sarah
asked. Callie walked over to the bed and sat down next to Sarah.

‘How are you feeling, besides the
headache?’ she asked. ‘I don’t think your arm’s broken. It’s just badly
bruised. I’m so sorry about last night. I should have told you.’ Tears streaked
down her face.

Sarah sat up straight, looking at
Callie. She reached out her hand to offer comfort to her friend, as images of
the previous night came tearing back to her.

‘OH MY GOD! Callie...’ Sarah
immediately pulled away, looking at Callie as though she were a monster. Callie
stiffened and moved toward Sarah.

‘Please, Sarah, let me explain,’
she replied. ‘I...’ Sarah held up her hand to stop her.

‘What
are
you?’ she asked
suspiciously. ‘You changed, Callie. Into a fucking wolf! A wolf. Holy shit!’
Sarah shouted as she went to push herself up. The pain in her arm shot through
her and she let out a sharp yelp, but she didn’t know she was crying until
Callie reached over to brush the tears away.

‘Don’t touch me, you freak!’ said
Sarah. ’What the fuck. A wolf!’ Sarah watched as Callie’s face flinched, as if
she’d been slapped.

‘Sarah, I am so sorry,’ began
Callie. ‘I know I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to be afraid or
push me away. I’m still your best friend. I’m still Callie.’ She said the last
sentence on a sob.

‘Who just happens to sprout hair
and snap sharp teeth at a man who wanted to kill us?’ Sarah looked around the
room, looking for a way out. ‘I want to go home, Callie.’

Callie sighed and shook her head.
‘I’m sorry, Sarah, but I couldn’t take us home as he would have scented me
there. I got us out of there and ran as fast as I could. I got a cab to bring
us here, telling the driver you had passed out drunk.’ Callie looked so sad the
Sarah almost wanted to hug her friend and tell her it was ok. But it wasn’t ok.
Callie was a wolf and hadn’t trusted her enough to let her in on this massive
secret. That thought hurt the most.

‘So what now, Callie?’ she asked.
‘I’m trapped here in God knows where forever.’

‘Of course not,’ replied Callie.
‘I just needed some time to think. I found this place months ago. It’s an
abandoned old spa. I thought if we stayed away for a few days, then I could
think more clearly about what to do next.’ Callie had stood up and was now
pacing the room. ‘Shit, Sarah, I’m so sorry. I’ll get us out of this, I
promise.’

Just before Sarah was about to
tell Callie to stop pacing, they heard the sound of an engine pulling into the
car park outside.