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  Trained by the Rogue Wolf, (The Real Werewives of Sawtooth Forest #2) Copyright 2020

  Cover Design by Sotia Lazu

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Trained by the Rogue Wolf (The Real Werewives of Sawtooth Forest, #2)

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Trained by the Rogue Wolf

  Chasing my dream could cost me my mate.

  For seven years, I’ve been on the run. The only thing that kept me alive was the dream of playing pro football. When I walked onto the Alaska Bloodhounds practice field, I expected to leave in handcuffs, not with a contract. I’ve got one shot to prove myself, and I don’t plan on wasting it.

  That dream brought me to Jessica. My mate.

  She hasn’t shifted yet, but I can feel her wolf is close. Can I show her how to be a wolf when I’ve spent so much time denying who I am?

  When my past catches up with me, it could cost me everything. Football. Jessica. I’ve spent my whole life training for this moment. I won’t let any wolf take it away from me.

  Prologue

  Matteo

  It took big brass balls to stand on the field of battle and think I was good enough to take on the legends of the Continental Football Association. There was protocol and tradition involved. I hadn’t been invited to any of those parties. I didn’t finish high school, so college was out of the question, and my invitation to the combine mysteriously got lost in the mail. Probably because I didn’t stay in one place long enough for anyone to find me.

  But I never stopped training. Studying. Getting stronger. I never stopped dreaming.

  I’d lost absolutely everything but my dream.

  Right now, those legends needed me.

  Alaska Bloodhounds linebacker Ray Pendragon will miss the rest of the team’s improbable playoff run due to an ACL injury. The Bloodhounds, who were already thin at the position, will be facing their strongest opposition so far this season. Can the beleaguered defense carry the workload, or will their weaknesses finally be exposed?

  I snapped off the radio and took a deep breath before walking into the practice bubble. I’d come all the way to Holiday Falls, Alaska and I couldn’t let my nerves get the best of me now.

  Excitement about the Bloodhounds’ playoff run had everyone buzzing. Reporters and camera crews entered easily. I should’ve had credentials, but I slipped through, following those who had a right to be here deep into the inside of the organization. I headed straight to the field. It might be the only time I had a chance to stand on it.

  Coach Phelan paced in the middle of the field while the team did warmups. My heroes were on this field.

  I couldn’t think about that right now.

  “Who the fuck’s that guy?” someone said, and everyone stopped to look at me.

  “Do we need to call security?” Coach Phelan was the calm in every storm. Nothing rattled the old bear shifter. That was why he was the best, and why I was willing to risk arrest for the chance to play for him. “Practice is closed today. You can get your soundbite later.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or an insult that he thought I was a reporter. I admired the job, but I’d worked hard to have the body of a football player.

  “I’m not here for a story,” I said. “I’m here to play linebacker.”

  I expected those snickers.

  Coach took off his glasses, squinting as he approached. “Who the hell are you?”

  “My name’s Matteo Shaw. You don’t know me. But I’ve been living and breathing this game my whole life, and I can help you win the championship.”

  More snickers, but there were a whole lot of guys I admired on this field who couldn’t take their eyes off me. That was the first step. Make them pay attention. Next step: keep them guessing.

  “You play for one of the other teams?” Twenty-four teams were currently sitting on their asses at home at this stage of the season. The Bloodhounds would have scouting information on every single player. But not me.

  I shook my head.

  “Where’d you go to school?” Coach asked.

  “I didn’t.”

  “You a shifter?”

  I nodded. “Wolf.”

  He sighed. “You have about thirty seconds to tell me what makes you think you can take the field with the absolute best in the business before the only players you’ll get tackled by today are from the security team.”

  Thirty seconds was more generous than I’d expected. “A rival pack sucker-punched us in the middle of the night. Burned our buildings, slaughtered our women and children. I should be dead too. I fought them, saving everyone I could. I was eighteen years old. Had a full football scholarship to a state school waiting for me. It was all gone after that night. I had to disappear after that if I wanted to survive. But I never stopped fighting. Because one day, I knew I’d be standing on this field, with a chance to prove myself.”

  Coach didn’t answer right away, but he didn’t call security, either. It was my first victory as a professional football player.

  “Why now? I don’t think you’ve come to help us out of the goodness of your heart.”

  “Because I found the wolf responsible for killing our pack is dead.” Or so I hoped. Marcus wouldn’t be flaunting himself all over social media if there was a chance of Cade coming for him again. “It’s time to take back the years that were stolen from me.”

  “Give him a chance.” I turned to see Landon fucking Fox nod at me. Now was not the time to get starstruck. “We’re so thin at linebacker, we’re royally screwed if one of these guys gets a hangnail. We’re going up against the best offense in the league this week. If this guy can help keep them off the field, I don’t give a shit if he landed here from Mars.”

  Once the superstar veteran spoke up on my behalf, the other guys felt more comfortable joining in the chorus to give me a chance.

  Honestly, I expected this stunt to end in handcuffs, not a helmet and pads.

  “He’s right.” Coach shook his head. “Pendragon was diagnosed too late to get anyone off waivers and have them learn our system. What’s your name again?”

  “Matteo Shaw.” I’d make sure he never forgot it.

  “Do you understand how impossibly long the odds are stacked against you?”

  “I’m here.” I fought my grin. “Talking to you. Those odds don’t seem so bad anymore.”

  “If you say so, Matteo Shaw. Today’s your lucky fucking day. Go back to the locker room and tell the trainers you need a uniform. As you get dressed, I want you to think about the fact we’ll be coming at you hard. Landon Fox is the top-rated quarterback in the
CFA. Most likely to be named MVP. Again. It’s your job to make sure he isn’t picking you out of his teeth after practice.”

  Holy shit, this was a dream come true. I looked at Fox and nodded. “Give me your absolute worst.”

  His hair and beard were gray now, but he hadn’t lost a step. One side of his mouth curled up in a smile. No, that was a challenge. “Be careful what you wish for, rookie.”

  Not likely, I thought as I trotted toward the locker room. I’d wished for this and it was happening. As long as I didn’t make an absolute fool of myself, there was no way the Bloodhounds could say no. There were probably a hundred reasons they’d try, but they were desperate. I knew desperate. I’d spent too long with its hand gripping my throat, threatening to take my last breath.

  It had been ages since I’d been in full uniform. Too long. My old coaches always warned that the game got faster every time you leveled up. I’d just taken the express elevator to the penthouse.

  I was met with cheers when I came back out on the field. That was a good sign. These guys wanted to win as much as I wanted to play. They were willing to take a chance.

  “First we run drills. You know who plays defense. Get in the back of the line and learn everything you can. We end practice with a scrimmage. You better be on your toes, because like I said, we’ll be testing you at every turn.”

  “Thanks for the opportunity, Coach,” I said.

  “I can’t tell if you’re batshit crazy or the best thing that ever happened to me.” Coach swept his electronic clipboard toward the field. “Get out there. I’ll have all the answers soon enough.”

  That speed thing wasn’t bullshit. Even simple drills moved in a time warp, but I kept up. I learned to stay one step ahead after I escaped the ambush. A wolf without a pack had to be smart, or else I’d be dead. And the other guys on the defense wanted me there, because during the scrimmage, they made sure I understood the plays.

  Landon Fox made good on Coach’s promise, hammering the ball at me every pass, until I intercepted him.

  Holy shit, I intercepted a Landon Fox pass.

  I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself after the scrimmage, so I followed the guys to the locker room.

  “Matteo Shaw,” Coach barked. “Come into my office.”

  Still wearing my borrowed uniform, I didn’t sit when I closed the door behind me. But Coach did. He had his laptop in front of him, and he’d typed my name into a search engine.

  “Are you going to tell me who you really are?” he asked. “There’s no record of anyone by your name playing football anywhere. I don’t believe you’re that good with no history.”

  “I hate to disappoint you, Coach, but I told you the truth. If any of the recruiting staff is still at Wyoming State, they can vouch for me. Maybe my high school coach, but he’ll be really surprised to hear I’m alive.”

  “If I put you on that field on Sunday, people will want to know who you are. They’ll dig deep, especially if you tell them the same story you told me. I don’t give a damn where you came from if you can help me win; but there are reporters who will be salivating to uncover something you might not want to share. Are you ready for that?”

  “They can’t do worse to me than already has been done.” I’d spare Coach the details. Waking up to my mother screaming, bleeding, taking her last breath. The blood everywhere. The bodies of those I loved lifeless in the dirt.

  He nodded. “I plan on signing you to a one-week contract. To see how you do against a real opponent. But I’ve got one more question for you. Is there anyone who will be surprised you’re alive?”

  My phone was in my temporary locker. Before I got here, I couldn’t stop watching the video. It was about two little birds in a shelter and their love bond. Which was cute, but it wasn’t what made me watch it over and over again.

  “Yeah.” I still couldn’t believe what I’d seen. “My brother.”

  Chapter One

  Jessica

  Good-looking guys were a dime a dozen but it didn’t mean I ever stopped enjoying them. The problem in Holiday Falls, Alaska was the feeling was not mutual. I couldn’t get anyone to pay attention to me.

  What. The. Hell?

  “It’s a weird time of year.” My mom was the executive producer of The Real Werewives of Alaska. I came here to help her out because I didn’t know what else to do with myself. My twin sister, who was also my best friend, the other half of my brain, and my voice of reason, had shifted into her wolf form on Christmas Eve and immediately got snagged by a wolf claiming to be her forever mate.

  I had some mixed emotions about that. Jasmine was the quiet one, but it didn’t mean she was a pushover. When we were in school, she was the one who’d befriend the bullied kid, and had this magical way of making bad stuff go away. That kindness and empathy could be taken advantage of.

  Or maybe I didn’t want to believe my sweet sister had found a mate before I did.

  It was one of the reasons I came to Alaska. I was convinced she and Marcus, her alleged mate, would be here. But instead they decided to stay in Granger Falls, Idaho, and my mom and I were hopping on a plane to surprise them.

  Another example of how my sister was too pure for this world—she’d started a video series to get animals adopted at the shelter she worked at. Since she had some serious connections, the videos were going viral, and Mom wanted to film a runway style show they’d planned for placement during The Real Werewives of Alaska season finale.

  I was going to help. Because I’d die of boredom here. No one was paying attention to me.

  “Maybe Alaska guys aren’t my type.” I was used to California guys, who were perfectly groomed and they knew it. The guys here were a lot rougher around the edges, which I had no idea I’d like so much, or Alaska Bloodhounds, laser-focused on winning the CFA Championship and not on me.

  I liked being the center of attention. I was studying theater at UCLA and I wasn’t used to being behind the scenes. I had no idea how I’d fit into my new role as best supporting actress with my sister in the spotlight.

  “Everyone will need to relax once the season is done. They’ve been working so hard, they’re all overdue for some fun.” Mom tugged her carryon through the Holiday Falls airport. I didn’t travel that light, and I had to check my bags. She gave me so much crap when she saw my suitcase, but I had a feeling once I saw Jasmine, I might want to stay in Idaho for a little while.

  But I’d committed to helping Mom put the show together for next season, so I couldn’t.

  “That doesn’t mean you have carte blanche.” Mom was still talking, but my gaze had landed on the most beautiful man I’d seen since I’d left the lower forty-eight. Dark hair, olive skin, and the most piercing eyes. I’d swear they were the color of the moon.

  I might not have gotten up close and personal with my own wolf yet, but there was no denying the animal inside him.

  I’d never dated a shifter before. And at this rate—under the close supervision of my mom and her ever-present camera crew—I probably never would.

  I kept waiting for my own animal to speak to me, like Jasmine said hers had been for weeks leading up to her shift. I was watching for it like getting my period after a pregnancy scare. But nothing.

  This is the perfect time, wolf. This beautiful man was sitting at our terminal, which meant he was going to Boise too.

  “Jessica, did you hear a word I said?” Mom waved her hand in front of my face. The shifter grinned and my heart fluttered. Oh. Didn’t know I’d been caught looking.

  “Something about you won’t let me date the hot shifters.” I sighed and forced myself to turn away from the hotness on the other side of the terminal. “What if I never shift?”

  I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that, in the middle of the airport, but it was dominating my every thought.

  She gave me that frown that only a mom could manage, like I’d managed to break her heart, just a little bit. Over almost nineteen years, I’d given her the opportunity to perfec
t that look. “It’s not so bad being human.”

  “It’s so ordinary.” I sunk into my seat and turned to sneak another look at the hot shifter. Crap. Had I imagined him? Maybe my wolf was speaking to me in mysterious ways. It wouldn’t be sweet and gentle like Jasmine’s wolf. No, mine would come to me in a sexy fever dream. Totally on brand.

  “I like to think I’ve done okay.” For a human, Mom was a total badass. A trailblazer for women in sports. She was the very first female reporter in the CFA, and when she retired, the very best. Not to mention she started The Real Werewives. “If your animal is meant to come, she’ll come in her own time. I don’t want you to be so worried about what you don’t have that you forget about what you do.”

  Easier said than done.

  I had plenty of time to sleep on the flight to Boise, and every time I closed my eyes I felt that shifter’s presence, like I knew him, but he wouldn’t speak to me. I wished my wolf would make an appearance. Until Jasmine shifted, I’d been content to be human, but without her around, I was left with an uneasy feeling.

  The hot guy was on the plane—way in the back, his gaze meeting mine every time I looked back at him. He was expressionless, stoic, like he had so many secrets inside him.

  Once we landed, he was gone. But not forgotten.

  **

  “I can’t believe you ruined the surprise.” Mom groaned when I confessed I might have slipped to Jasmine that the entire family was in Granger Falls for her animal adoption runway show. We didn’t have to come—Mom had already sent a camera person to help her with the short videos that were taking the internet by storm—but how could we stay away? My sister was making the world a better place and we were all so proud of her.

  And I was sulking about some random dude on a plane. Pathetic. We were about to walk into an animal shelter, which was a giant wakeup call that I needed to get over myself. So what, some dude on a plane didn’t fall for my charms. These animals had it much worse.

  “I got excited.” My sister and I had never spent weeks apart before. I might have gasped when I saw her. She was glowing, like happiness had transformed her more than her shift.