Defiance (Book 6 of The Claimed Series) SAMPLE

1. Rosemary

“Nope. Not wearing that.”

“Why not? It’s at the beach.”

Hadley looked over at the two-piece bathing suit with the knitted coverup and c****d her head. “Because it’s a bonfire, not a beach party. No one’s going in the ocean.”

“They might,” Mara piped up. “Wouldn’t you rather be overprepared than under?”

“I think a tank top and shorts will be fine. It’s starting to get chilly.”

Mara snorted, tossing back her head with an exaggerated eyeroll. “We don’t get cold, you p***y. We’re wolves. You could swim in the Arctic four hours and live to tell about it.”

“Humans do too,” Hadley pointed out.

“Those humans are insane. They don’t heal as well and get hypothermia. Or they’re gluttons for punishment and get used to it by training for that s**t. Nuts, if you ask me.”

While Hadley and Mara were the best of friends, they were otherwise nothing alike. Not only were they complete opposites in physical features, but they both had different interests. Hadley was more cerebral, emotional—always in her head. Mara was a go-getter who couldn’t be dissuaded. An extrovert, if you will. Hadley was a thinker. She made choices based on both her head and heart, but she never was rash. Mara was almost recklessly impulsive—to the point of insane, at times.

Hadley guessed water with glaciers and icebergs was her limit. “I’ll wear a nice tank top and shorts and nothing less.” She could stand up to her domineering best friend when she was firm enough in her beliefs.

“Fine, fine.”

“Yo!”

Hadley’s brother, Taylor, sauntered into the room and stretched out on her bed.

“Off!” She turned to face him, her arms folding over her chest as her hip popped out.

Taylor glanced up at her. “What? Beds are for laying on, aren’t they? Or do you sleep on the f*****g floor?”

“Your big fat feet are on my bed.”

“So?”

Hadley’s shoulders rose as she breathed hard. “You have shoes.”

“Oh.” Taylor sat up and placed the soles of his sneakers to the rug. “Better?”

“Well, you’re still here,” she mumbled before moving toward her walk-in closet to get dressed.

“Hey, Tay! Hi, I’m here too. Remember me? Mara? Like I’m here all the time.” Mara smiled, a perky, half-snickering grin.

“Yup, I remember you. Annoying best friend to my sister. No boundaries. Walks into the house like you own it.” He wasn’t a big fan of Mara’s.

“That’s me!” Mara’s grin widened.

“So, are you two ladies ready to go, or do we need to take another 45 days to get the face on and the clothing perfect? No stilettos? Are you actually going to wear sensible shoes to this shindig?”

“Sandals, asshat.”

He looked down at Mara’s feet and smirked. “Those aren’t sandals. Your bedazzler went on the fritz and that train wreck happened.”

Mara snorted. “They’re cute. Your Vans on the other hand…”

“Sensible and trendy,” he remarked. Then he looked at what she was wearing. “Are we stopping off at a strip club first so you can make some quick cash?”

“f**k off, Taylor. f**k right off.”

“Well, I’m done.” Hadley stepped out of the closet wearing a blue tank top and shorts with flipflops.

“No! At least put on nice shoes!” Mara stood up from the desk chair she was slumped on.

“What? Why? Just going to ruin them in the sand. Flip flops are fine.”

“Had, this is a bonfire—the bonfire. You could meet your mate there! That’s what the whole f*****g thing is about.”

Hadley sighed, but shuffled back into the closet to find a new pair of shoes. When she came out a couple of moments later, it was obvious that she wasn’t a fan of her only other pair of sandals. “This good, Your Majesty, or should we stop off somewhere for proper foot apparel?”

“It’s fine, just let’s get the f**k out of here.” Taylor stood and stretched to his full height. “It’s an hour to the beach, and they’ve got food. If I miss eating, I’m throwing you both onto the fire for my own personal barbecue. Wolf meat—medium rare.”

“I hate your brother,” Mara mumbled as she swept past Hadley and out the bedroom door.

A half hour later in the car, Mara’s foot was tapping away as she turned around to look at Hadley in the back. She’d called shotgun and was rubbing it in, much to Hadley’s irritation.

“You looking for work yet?”

Hadley hardly shrugged and watched out the window as the scenery flew by. “Was going to take a couple of months off first and get used to being back at the pack. I was away for about three years, for the most part. It…it’s almost like starting over.”

Though things around Alpine Pack hadn’t changed much, it really was like coming home to find it somehow different—even if Hadley still had the same brown hair and eyes and hadn’t grown from her five-foot one height. The freshman 15 she’d gained hadn’t quite been lost yet. They’d instead turned into fuller curves, her hair was now midway down her back, but she was still the same sensitive, thoughtful person she always was, half in her head, half thinking with her heart. Hadley tried to be well-balanced, but it was still a struggle. She tended to lead with her heart first and foremost, the nagging in her mind a bit of a constant buzz at the back.

Both of her parents had been adamant about her taking business courses as a backup in college. Art wasn’t going to be her major, so she’d minored in it, though all her professors thought she showed promise. Maybe it was why she was holding off on a job for now—hoping for something available with her passion in mind and not the backup plan her parents had in store for her.

She sighed, wanting to ignore the question but knowing Mara would only pry more. “I want to see what’s out there for me. It’s not like I’m hurting for money or have student loans to pay back.”

That was true enough. She’d gotten a full scholarship and kept it with good grades. At least she had that going for her, if not her whole life planned out ahead of her.

“You’re looking for work in art, right? Don’t tell you’re going to go straight to the business. You’re going to try for your passion first?” Mara had practically interrogated her all throughout college what she was going to do with her minor.

If Hadley had the devil on her shoulder, it was Mara. Her parents were on the other, and she had whiplash from trying to listen to both weave their magic words in her ears.

It was frustrating.

“Yes—well, I’m looking into both, actually. See what comes up first or what looks most promising.”

Even though she wasn’t looking at her best friend, Hadley would feel the disapproval rolling off her in waves.

She was determined to skip past it and asked Taylor to change the radio station. She wasn’t a fan of hard rock right now. It only reminded her of a guy she’d dated casually during college who was into that genre of music. Jack had been a little too pushy and had wanted to claim her—mate with her. Hadley had wanted to wait for her true mate, and the ensuing breakup was long and arduous. Hadley wanted out, but Jack held on fast.

The shifter world had changed in the past few years. The Claiming ceremonies had been replaced by something a little less…animal, and The Counsel had decided to hold get-togethers a few times a year all across the nation. With bonfires and balls—people were allowed to stay “single” for longer, or take a chosen mate if they so desired. It happened, but it wasn’t often as it was easier now to find a true mate. Only the wolves that stayed unmated well past their mid-20s chose to claim a chosen female.  Out of desperation or the need for a family—either was the culprit, though usually when you hit your 29th or 30th birthday, it was a given that your mate was either otherwise claimed or dead.

“Leave her alone, Mar. Had can do what she wants, whenever she wants.”

“Yes, but what she really wants is to be an artist,” Mara pointed out.

“Shut up, both of you,” Hadley muttered. “I don’t want to talk about it. This is supposed to be fun, not you two bickering all night. If I wanted that, I’d have stayed home. Knock. It. Off.”

“Fine.” Mara sat back in her seat and folded her arms. “But once we get there, Taylor needs to go somewhere that’s far away from me. Such a f*****g buzzkill. Like going on a date that’s being chaperoned by your parents.”

That was kind of the feeling that Hadley got as well, but that was probably because he was her blood brother, and he’d always been protective of her. It just didn’t come out when Mara was around because the two of them were too busy fighting like cats and dogs.

The rest of the drive was pretty silent, Taylor and Mara ignoring each other, Hadley in the back watching the small cottages along the beach whip past. Along with the smaller homes, larger vacation houses, many on stilts, were set back along private beaches, some with signs telling trespassers to keep away.

After twenty minutes—Taylor had cut about ten minutes off the trip by speeding—they were pulling into a nearly-full parking lot. He turned off his car, which was older, but still serviceable and in good working order. When he pocketed the keys after hopping out, he started to walk toward the beach, ignoring Mara in her sparkly high-heeled sandals and making his way toward the bonfire.

Hadley would have been annoyed if she didn’t know it was for the best, Taylor going his own way while the two women went their own.

One could smell burgers, steak, and pork from a mile away—could hear it sizzling over spits on one side of the fire before servers placed the cooked meat on the table next to the side dishes.

“Eat or mingle first?” Mara asked from over her shoulder.

“Eat, I think.” Hadley frowned as she felt her stomach rumble. “I get hangry if I don’t eat enough.” She rubbed her belly, which was unfortunately a little bit larger than she was currently satisfied with. She’d get to working on it soon. After all, she’d only been home for a few days and her mother, Justine, had been filling her with all her favorite dishes in celebration of her return. She swore her mother wouldn’t be satisfied until she had her own episode of My 600-Lb. Life.

They both went to the opposite end of one long table while Taylor sniffed around at the far end, selecting his sides first and concentrating on filling two plates full.

They ran down the table, selecting a little bit of everything and then off toward one of the felled logs that suited guests as seating. There were many around the area, most of them from a recent hurricane that had come through and knocked them down with category 3 winds as it ripped along the coast.

As they ate, they made a few plans for the summer. They weren’t too far away from a few tourist attractions that they used to frequent as children, and Mara thought it was a good way to get back to her roots—through the memories of her youth until she turned 18 and went off to college. She’d graduated a year early, taking summer courses to speed up the process.

This might have been a bonfire to find a mate, but it was also a chance for her to catch up with her best friend finally.

Once their bellies were full, they stretched out with their backs against the wood, most of the people around them finishing up their food and starting to talk.

With the scent of sizzling meats slowly fading, Hadley leaned her back on the log and closed her eyes, sighing, head tilted to the sky. She could now hear individual conversations, one a little bit louder than the others. The tone was authoritative, and the words—they made Hadley shiver.

“No, Chris. I don’t give a s**t,” the man was saying. “I’ll reject her, and I’m only here because I have to find her for that to happen. I don’t want to prolong this any longer.”

The words were repulsive, and Hadley knew exactly what he was talking about. The man wanted to find his mate just so he could reject her and be able to choose one of his liking. It was known to have happened in the last few years, especially with high-ranking members of the Pack. Stronger blood in the Alphas and Betas, and since The Claiming was no more, the shifter population was taking full advantage of it.

With pretty deplorable results in some instances.

Rejected females would sometimes wait years for a second chance mate never to be given one, never to have another male claim them.

In the worst cases—suicide.

Hadley immediately turned toward the voice, the scent of the man speaking hitting her dead in the face as soon as he stood up from a neighboring log.

Rosemary—freshly cut from a garden maybe, with something a little deeper, sultrier beneath it. She couldn’t place it because the realization of what she was faced with was too much.

And when her eyes met his, they stung and watered before she could stop them.