[Spell of the Shifters 05] • Claimed by the Wolf

Music journalist Ethan has his dream job in Paris, and his dream lover in the shape of Guillaume, the magazine's deputy editor. But there's a catch: Guillaume is a wolf shifter, and while his pack accept their relationship, other shifters are not as tolerant. This prejudice leads to a life-or-death threat which forces him to confront what his love for Guillaume really means.

This is the fifth installment of the Spell of the Shifters series.

Warning: This short but highly charged erotic romance (7,800 words) contains one cute but naive LA music correspondent, a heartstoppingly hot Parisian wolf and a very graphic sex scene. Not suitable for under-18s.

Excerpt

I scanned the room for Guillaume. He'd become lost in the sea of fur as the different packs mingled and caught up with each other's news.

There he was. My heart melted when I saw him playing around with a couple of the Toulouse pack. He was always so serious when he was in human form, and it was as though shifting to his wolf persona gave him the chance to kid around a bit and show a lighter side of himself.

God, he was gorgeous. He stood out among all the others of his kind. I never had any problems distinguishing him from the wolves in his pack. He was one of a kind, with his thick black pelt, lean, muscular body and dark brown eyes. He was always so gentle around me, and I had only seen his snarling, terrifying side a couple of times: first, when the Belgian wolf pack threatened me, and the second time when Antoine, the pack troublemaker, threatened to come between us.

Ah, Antoine.

Kat nudged me. Her people apparently had psychic abilities, so I wasn't surprised when she winked at me.

"Antoine, eh?"

I stared into the middle of the room. There was Antoine, the center of attention, as always. He'd have stood out in any company, whether as a man or a wolf. His deep white fur, as soft as a child's plush toy, made him look more cuddly and harmless than he actually was. But to gaze into those strangely cold pale blue eyes was to get the measure of the man. He was solidly muscled and intimidating-looking, and while I could understand Guillaume's attraction to him, I still couldn't believe that they had been mates, intending to be partnered for life.

Antoine had been the one who broke Guillaume's heart, yet he acted as though it were the other way round. He was jealous of me - I knew this because Thomas had warned me that he would stop at nothing to break us up. On one occasion, he had used his scorching sexual magnetism to come on to me, and to my shame, I had succumbed.

It had backfired because Guillaume was furious with Antoine, rather than me, and both still bore the scars of their fight that night. Antoine's behavior had long ago cost him his status as pack Beta, a position Guillaume now held, and that slight was like a weeping sore.

Kat followed my gaze. Antoine was engaging in the kind of overtly sexual behavior that I knew would earn him a reprimand from Thomas, rubbing himself up against one of the Marseille wolves, and nipping at the back of his neck. The object of his attention was a small brown male with long silky fur, black eyes and a cute face.