Caught A Paranormal Romance - Rebecca Royce

Chapter 1

Preston

There were times in my life that I never saw coming. Lately, it felt like every day was one. I stood to the side of the bed, watching Mac writhe on top of the covers. She talked to someone, but I had no idea with whom she held that conversation. We were losing her to madness. Every day, it got worse. Or at least, it seemed that way. This was only day two. Perhaps there would come a time when it would stop progressing. We hadn’t hit that day yet.

A man named Ross Morgan was taking her piece by piece, until she’d stop communicating altogether. That was what happened to female werewolves when they became their version of the Loup. They faded into madness in their minds, unable to communicate with the outside world. But we weren’t there yet. Bit by bit, we were losing our mate, and so far, there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it.

Even through the closed windows, I could hear the sounds around me. More werewolves than I’d seen in decades swarmed through my house. They were here, a makeshift pack, to help my family fight this Loup who was after us. All of them had suffered. Yet, I had never loved huge crowds, even if they were pack, and their constant presence grated on my nerves like someone had taken a garlic peeler and tried to use it on my skin.

Beyond them, the sounds from outside warred with the scents I was desperate to get closer to. Forget that, what I really wanted was to scoop my mate off this bed and take her outside to the swamp with me. We were fucking home, but we weren’t home. And all I wanted in the world was to get her to where she could really be home with us.

I stalked to the window, taking a deep breath. This was where my family had always lived, until the Accords screwed everything up. We were meant to be here. I could smell the deer, the raccoons, the alligators, frogs, and turtles. Fuck, I could even smell the snakes. All of it called to my wolf, begging me to shift, but all my wolf wanted was my mate. Healthy. Happy. Here.

The door opened and closed, and my younger brother Jarret entered. Without a word, he walked to the edge of the bed and scooted in next to Mac. Wrapping her in his arms, he held her like he would never let her go.

We all had our ways in life. He wanted to cuddle, to heal. I wanted to rage. But at the end of the day, we were both stuck with no way out of this mess.

The phone rang in my pocket, and I picked it up before it could bother Mac. Although, I would love to see her eyes open. They hadn’t done that yet today.

“Yeah?” Yes, I was answering the phone that way. Anyone who called instead of texted would get that kind of annoyance right now.

“That’s how you say hello?” It was Rainer. I’d never been so happy to hear my big brother’s voice in my life. Truth was, we’d been close most of our lives, until it all fell apart when he went to jail. These days, he was more than my trusted friend and relative, he was my pack leader, and we shared a mate.

He’d been hauled off by the police and worrying about him was my second most concerning thing at the moment. Rainer could handle himself. He wasn’t being attacked psychically by a sick wolf who I might have had sympathy for, if he hadn’t come after what was mine.

“Talk.” I hoped he could hear what he’d certainly smell if he were here. I was the on the edge of losing my mind.

“I’m on my way back. The cops don’t even know why they have me here. Looks like Ross can mind control humans, too.”

I winced. “The hits just keep on coming. So we can’t even be sure the humans we don’t want to deal with in the first place aren’t working for Ross.”

“We kind of knew anyway.” Rainer was quiet for a second. “That’s how he got all of those people to attack us to begin with.”

“Sure.” I lifted my mouth off the phone to speak to Jarret. “Big brother’s okay.”

He held up his thumb in the universal sign for good. It was like he was up-voting us. I swore he spent three times the amount of time