Embracing the Wolf by Felicity Heaton

Embracing the
Wolf

    Kat, a hunter
with the Werewolf Control Forces, fled her alpha werewolf lover,
Amon, when he told her that she too had the gene in her blood and
would one day mature into a werewolf—into his mate.

    Four years on,
Kat has now matured. Each night she fights the ‘beast’ inside of
her and her desire to return to Amon. She hunts rogue werewolves
with a vengeance, hating her kind and her blood, gaining
satisfaction from eradicating those that have surrendered to
darkness and violence, but she can’t change her feelings and her
craving for Amon is becoming stronger with every dream she has of
him.

    When Amon’s
pack finally catches up with her, she discovers that he’s
dangerously close to turning rogue and only she can save him from
the darkness. An encounter with Amon reignites the passion they had
once shared, dreams constantly stir her hunger for him, and Kat
finds herself faced with a hard decision. Will she let him turn
rogue and hunt him, or will she embrace the wolf and mate with Amon
to save them both?

    Embracing the
Wolf

    Felicity
Heaton

    Smashwords
Edition

    Copyright 2008
by Felicity Heaton

    All rights reserved. No
part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the author, except for the
inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

    ****

    Chapter
1

    Four years.

    Four years ago, she had
fled her home. Four years ago, she had run away from him and her
feelings.

    Those four years had not
erased him from her memory. She still recalled the heat of his
touch and the tender brush of his lips against her skin.

    Amon.

    Kat ghosted her hands over
her bare arms, over flesh chilled by winter night. As she thought
of him, her hands became the intimate, loving caress of Amon’s. The
memory weakened her and stirred desire to return to him. She
cursed, breaking the silence of the cemetery. It was impossible to
escape her feelings and her intense craving for him. No matter how
far she ran.

    She stood on the stone
sarcophagus in the centre of the cemetery, a breeze washing her
skin. Inky darkness stretched in front of her. Bright
moonlight-cast shadows stretched long from the trees, swallowing
the graves that edged the crammed lot. Silence became a comforting
shroud over the Earth.

    Her target lay dead below
her. One less werewolf in the world. In human form again and naked,
his body was bloodied and beaten from their fight. Lifeless eyes
stared up at the moon, as though that goddess could still answer
the prayers of her child.

    The recovery unit were
coming to take the body away. Kat hated having to wait for them.
With the hunt over, she had nothing to occupy her mind. Her
purposelessness ate at her, opening up a hollow feeling inside her.
It attacked the carefully constructed barriers around her heart and
brought thoughts of Amon.

    Kat’s gaze rose to the
moon. She sought the calm it normally inspired in her. Her black
pistols weighed heavily at her sides tonight, their silver load
dragging her insides down and turning her stomach to
lead.

    She pressed a hand to her
chest.

    The beast stirred in the
depths of her heart and snarled for freedom.

    Amon had warned her that
it would once she had matured. Back then, she hadn’t believed him.
She had run.

    The idea of housing a
werewolf in her body had frightened her. When her beast had risen,
it had redefined the word ‘frightened’. Kat had been so scared that
she had almost run back to Amon. He had been right. Her blood was
werewolf, just as his was, but that didn’t mean that she was going
to let it control her. She would never change.

    She was not an
animal.

    And she would not
surrender to it. Every day of her life, Kat fought it and hid her
dirty secret. Every day of her life, she hunted her kin.

    Kat had joined the
Werewolf Control Forces after they had