Rhyannon Byrd - Wild Wolf Claiming

His wolf had never reacted this strongly to a woman... And. She. Was. His.

Werewolf Elliot Connors had come to the sleepy town of Charity to stop a madman from claiming his next victims for his macabre collection of sex slaves. After saving Skye Hewitt from being kidnapped, Elliot desires the diner waitress more than his next breath. All his senses scream that Skye is his life-mate. But his past has taught him well that nothing worth having ever comes easy. Now things are about to get bloody, dangerous...and wild.

The sight of her had just knocked the air out of him.

Elliot narrowed his eyes as he stared at the woman, eating up every detail. She was … different. But in a good way. In a he-couldn’t-stop-staring, wanted-to-eat-her-alive kind of way. Bite by mouthwatering bite.

As Elliot stood there like a statue and watched her, it became easy to see what had captured the kidnapper’s interest beyond her physical beauty. She was … soft. Soft and sweet and inviting. A lure … it was calling to him, making him want, when he hadn’t wanted anyone in what felt like forever.

And never … never like this.

RHYANNON BYRDis an avid, longtime fan of romance and an author of more than twenty paranormal and erotic titles. She has been nominated for three RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Awards, including Best Shapeshifter Romance. Rhyannon lives in the beautiful county of Warwickshire, England, with her husband and family.

For information on Rhyannon’s books, visit her website at www.rhyannonbyrd.comor find her on Facebook.

Wild Wolf Claiming

Rhyannon Byrd

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To everyone who hoped that Elliot would one day have a story of his own …

This one’s for you!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text His wolf had never reacted this strongly to a woman... And. She. Was. His. Werewolf Elliot Connors had come to the sleepy town of Charity to stop a madman from claiming his next victims for his macabre collection of sex slaves. After saving Skye Hewitt from being kidnapped, Elliot desires the diner waitress more than his next breath. All his senses scream that Skye is his life-mate. But his past has taught him well that nothing worth having ever comes easy. Now things are about to get bloody, dangerous...and wild.

Introduction The sight of her had just knocked the air out of him. Elliot narrowed his eyes as he stared at the woman, eating up every detail. She was … different. But in a good way. In a he-couldn’t-stop-staring, wanted-to-eat-her-alive kind of way. Bite by mouthwatering bite. As Elliot stood there like a statue and watched her, it became easy to see what had captured the kidnapper’s interest beyond her physical beauty. She was … soft. Soft and sweet and inviting. A lure … it was calling to him, making him want, when he hadn’t wanted anyone in what felt like forever. And never … never like this.

About the Author RHYANNON BYRD is an avid, longtime fan of romance and an author of more than twenty paranormal and erotic titles. She has been nominated for three RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Awards, including Best Shapeshifter Romance. Rhyannon lives in the beautiful county of Warwickshire, England, with her husband and family. For information on Rhyannon’s books, visit her website at www.rhyannonbyrd.com or find her on Facebook.

Title Page Wild Wolf Claiming Rhyannon Byrd www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dedication To everyone who hoped that Elliot would one day have a story of his own … This one’s for you!

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Nine years ago

Elliot Connors was in a shitty situation. One he’d been putting off for too long.

A week had passed since another human life had been lost because of his mistakes, and he knew he should have dealt with this reckoning, or confrontation, or whatever you wanted to call it long before now. But he hadn’t, because he suspected he knew exactly how this meeting would go.

Standing at the far end of the dining room table in his parents’ house, he watched as Jerry and Miriam Connors digested the confession he’d just made to them. A dark, ugly confession, full of blood and sin and evil. And in their eyes, no doubt, embarrassment—at least as much as they were able to process. He didn’t for a moment think they would mourn the loss of the human life he’d taken, or the one that’d been lost because of him. No, compassion for humanity wasn’t in their makeup. Hell, compassion for anything was beyond them.

But his lack of control would be the thing that proved difficult for them to face. To Jerry and Miriam Connors, control meant everything. There was nothing, nothing in this entire world, that they believed in more.

As pure-blooded werewolves in the Silvercrest Lycan pack, Elliot’s parents could have easily been one of those arrogant, racist couples who despised anyone and anything they deemed beneath them. Humans, the half-breed Bloodrunners who protected the pack, and any Lycan who mated with a human. For most purebloods, these groups were not only deemed inferior, but often abhorrent.

His parents, though, were different. The thing they hated most in this world was emotion, in any form. As orphans who had been raised with foster families, his parents had suffered for lack of attention and he’d always wondered if that had forged them into such cold, calculating adults. But, in truth, he didn’t honestly know. The only certainty he had when it came to the two Lycans who had given him life was that emotion in their eyes meant weakness. And what was a loss of control but the absence of logic in the face of extreme emotion? Passion, love, devotion. The concepts were no doubt as foreign to them as guilt would be to a sociopath.

God, no wonder he’d been so attracted to Marly, with her kind smiles and her natural warmth. She’d been the kind of girl who could make even the shyest introvert feel welcome, and he’d been drawn to the warmth of her human soul like a moth to a flame. Only...Marly hadn’t been the danger. Elliot and the world that he came from had. And now it was too late. Marly was gone, his seventeen-year-old soul was blackened and there was no one to blame but himself.

From the look on his parents’ faces, he knew they blamed him, too.

Reaching for the cup of coffee that sat before him, his father took a sip of the steamy beverage, then lowered the mug. His dark eyes, so like Elliot’s own, narrowed with decision, and in a calm voice, he said, “You made mistakes that could have easily been avoided had you been willing to control your more primitive urges, and then you took refuge with the Runners. It seems logical that your place is with them now. We’ll expect you to have your things out of the house by the end of the day.”

Well, that was no fucking surprise. And yet, he couldn’t quite swallow down the lump that had just lodged its way into his throat. “Yeah?” he choked out. “So that’s it?”

His mother’s tone was as bland as her expression as she turned her attention from his father to him. “What more did you expect, Elliot?”

A husky, bitter laugh left his lips before he could stop it. “I suppose a heartfelt ‘We love you and will stand by you’ would be asking a bit much, huh?”

“And what place does love have in this life that you’ve chosen for yourself?” his father asked. “How can love exist for something as ill-disciplined as you?”