Den and Breakfast: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Honeycomb Falls Book 1) by Cassie Wright

petite body with all the right curves in all the right places.
    Would my pack agree to a permanent den? Shifters are nomadic by nature. We stake out a vast territory, and then wander across it, following our prey. To fix on one permanent spot would be against our natures. But I'm the alpha. If that's what I decide, that's what will happen.
    All I have to do now is defeat Maric in combat, expel him from the pack, and then I can return to Honeycomb Hall with enough strength to make sure no pack - not even the Blood Moons - will ever think of messing with Rachel while under her roof.
    I sprint even faster, deeper into the hills, racing along the valley bottoms between the mountains. I love the wild smells. The beauty of the wilderness. It's been too long. Too long since I simply ran like this, deeper and deeper into the forest. My nose picks up a tapestry of scents, everything from delicious-smelling prey to warning boundary marks of other shifters. Where's my pack's scent? Maric has to have them close. My body is fueled by inexhaustible stamina. Even though my breath is burning in my lungs, still I go faster.
    Rachel is alone. Rachel is undefended. I need to be back there, with my arms around her, my nose buried in her hair, her body snuggled against mine.
    There! I pick up a faint trail. I haven't scented Mara in more than two years, but her scent is unmistakable. She's a member of my Hidden Moon pack. We grew up together as cubs, learned to hunt together, and she supported me when I became alpha when my father died.
    The scent grows stronger as I follow it along a silver stream, and then it's joined by Jared's scent, dark and heavy. Excitement lurches in my heart. My pack!
    I burst out into a clearing surrounded by high fir trees, and there they are. All eight of them, my family, my friends, the center of my wolf's sense of self. Eight heads rise up, eyes slitting as they stare at me in surprise, and then as one they leap to their feet, eager, alert, yipping and calling out their excitement.
    But I'm not the alpha. I'm the omega if anything. Maric is in his wolf form, lean and rangy, and he steps to the front, eyes narrowed in anger. And fear. I can smell it. Fear. He knows I'm about to kick the shit out of him.
    "Maric," I say, the fur on the nape of my neck bristling. "I challenge you for the alpha position of the Hidden Moon pack."
    Maric's lips writhe back from his lips. "I deny your challenge. You're not a member of our pack. You have no right."
    I'm stunned. What? I see the other wolves look at each other in confusion. Not a member of the pack?
    "You're scared." I begin to circle him. "It makes sense. You know you'll lose. You use human thinking to hide from my challenge. It won't work. I will fight you. The winner will be the alpha."
    Maric looks to a huge wolf who moves to stand by his side. Hugo. The former omega of my pack, a dull brute of stunning strength - and now clearly Maric's beta. Hugo's piss-yellow eyes are locked on me. Maric seems to reach a decision. "Well, then, before we fight, let me tell you one thing."
    I pause. What could it be?
    "You should know that -" And then he breaks off speaking and leaps upon me, teeth bared, going into full attack.
    I roar and leap back onto my hind legs. Maric's jaws snap at my neck, and just barely miss. I snarl and lunge in, going for a foreleg, looking to crunch it in two, but Maric dances back. He's always been quick. We circle, snarling and growling. The rest of the pack is watching with intense focus. The future of the Hidden Moon pack depends on this fight.
    I have no patience. Two years I've been trapped. Two years Maric has led the Hidden Moon pack and ruined our reputation with his cowardly decisions. I abandon subtlety and rush forward, using my greater size to force him back. He leaps from side to side, snapping, desperate, but he can't get his balance. I hit him hard with my shoulder and he goes down, rolling and trying to come back up on his feet. A surge of