Mountain Wolf's Curse (Daddy Wolves 0f The Wild Series Book 2) Read online

  Mountain Wolf’s Curse

  (Daddy Wolves of the Wild)

  Serena Meadows

  Copyright ©2019 by Serena Meadows - All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental. This book is intended for adult readers only. Any sexual activity portrayed in these pages occurs between consenting adults over the age of 18 who are not related by blood.

  Contents

  Authors Note

  Story Description

  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

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Also By Serena Meadows

  About the Author

  Exclusive Offer

  AUTHORS NOTE

  Daddy Wolves of the Wild Series

  You should know that Mountain Wolf’s Curse is the second book in the Daddy Wolves of the Wild romance series. Although each story can be read independently and all end with a HEA with no cliffhangers, to get the full experience of the series, you should really read them in order.

  Book 1 - Mountain Wolf’s Nanny

  Book 2 - Mountain Wolf’s Curse

  Book 3- Mountain Wolf Playboy

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  A single dad, scarred by the past…

  A witch who stands for all he despises…

  They’re sworn enemies, until a greater evil rises.

  Jake doesn’t smile at strangers. He doesn’t stop to appreciate sunsets, or coo over fluffy puppies. Those small fleeting moments of happiness are reserved solely for his daughter, Stella. The single dad has made plenty of mistakes, but come hell or high water he will love and protect his girl. Especially from people like her mother.

  When an artist comes to restore the murals at his family’s summer camp, Jake immediately smells a rat. The young woman is nervous, secretive, and worst of all, attractive. He’s been down this road before; Marley may as well be wearing a red flag and a pair of devil horns. There is no way he’s letting her into their lives.

  That is, until the unthinkable happens.

  The desperate father suddenly finds himself way out of his depth, and the very person he swore not to trust might be the only one who can help him.

  Chapter One

  ***Jake***

  Jake stood in the center of the room, in the late afternoon sun studying the murals on the walls of the meeting hall, feeling, for a second, that he was eight again and seeing them for the first time. The light streaming in through the huge windows behind him seemed to bring the paintings to life, making the figures jump and dance as if they were truly alive.

  Just as it had all those years ago, the sight filled him with joy and a childish sense of wonder, and he slowly began to relax. Moving home had been the right decision for both he and Stella; in Leadville, they’d both be able to put the past behind them and move forward with their lives. It was time for Stella to be a child again—time for him to take care of her, instead of her taking care of him.

  When Nick called him a few weeks ago and offered him the job, he’d thought at first that he’d been joking, that something so perfect for them both couldn’t be true. But they were here. Stella was already out on a horse with Nick’s daughter, Emma; the job was real; and for the first time in years, he felt a sense of hope blossoming inside him.

  His thoughts were interrupted when Nick came through the swinging doors from the kitchen, the sound of the hinges squeaking from disuse enough to break the spell he was under. “Really takes you back, doesn’t it?” he asked, wiping his hands on his pants.

  “We had a lot of good times here,” Jake said, taking one more look around the room. “It’s going to be good to see the place opened up again; it seems wrong for it to be sitting empty like this.”

  Nick came over and slapped him on the back; he tried not to wince, but his old friend saw his reaction and quickly stepped back. “Sorry, I forgot. How are the burns?”

  Jake shrugged, uncomfortable with the question. “They’re healed, but sometimes they still hurt,” he answered, knowing that his old friend was only worried.

  After the accident, as he preferred to think of it, Nick had been the first person he’d called, and if it hadn’t been for him, he might not have made it through what followed. Just thinking about that terrible night made his heart rate speed up, and humiliation flood his body. Pushing it from his mind, he took a deep breath and turned back to Nick, who’d gone silent.

  “Come on; we still have a lot of ground to cover before it gets dark,” he said, flashing Nick a smile that he only half felt.

  “I’m ready when you are, but I have to warn you, the kitchen is in pretty bad shape,” Nick said, leading the way over to the swinging doors.

  ***Marley***

  Marley had been staring at the dark computer screen for ten minutes, tracing the path that had led her there and letting the darkness that had been threatening slowly take over. When she’d seen the email crushing her last chance at saving her career, part of her had wanted to fight, to send out another request to yet another museum or private collector. But then reality had intruded, and she’d finally allowed herself to see what everyone else had seen: she’d let a man ruin her life.

  Her reputation was shot, destroyed by a man who’d sweet-talked her, then crushed not only her heart but her hopes and dreams. She had no one to blame but herself; she’d ignored that little voice inside her head that kept telling her that Rolf was too good to be true. Now she’d pay for that for the rest of her life. All her dreams of working in one of the big museums were nothing but ashes, and she’d be lucky if she could find a job in a gallery pushing unknow artists on the public.

  Feeling herself sinking deeper into despair, she reached for her phone to call her best friend, Maggie, then set the phone back down when guilt washed over her. It had been six weeks since she’d had a conversation with Maggie—six weeks of hiding what was really going on in her life because she was embarrassed. Of course, it wasn’t all her fault. Maggie had taken off for Colorado, wrapped up in a crazy plan to save her father’s restaurant, and hadn’t been easy to get a hold of.

  Sighing because life had gotten so complicated for them both, she wished for the years during college when they’d shared the cramped apartment above the restaurant. Things had been simple back then: working in the restaurant, studying together at the little kitchen table, the long late-night talks about what they wanted out of life. Now, it looked like neither of them was going to get what they’d dreamed of back then, and it made her heart ache.

  Realizing that no matter what she’d done, Maggie would always be there for her, she p
icked up her phone again, finally ready to make the phone call she should have made when she got home from France. Just as she picked up the phone, a call came through; she screamed, dropped the phone to the floor, then had to scramble out of her chair to get it.

  Without even looking at the screen, she picked up the call. “Hello,” she said, slightly breathless.

  “Marley, it’s Maggie,” her best friend said, then when she didn’t answer right away, “Are you there? Can you hear me?”

  “Sorry, I’m here,” she said, a smile spreading across her face, some of the darkness receding.

  “Did I call at a bad time? I tried to figure out the time difference. I didn’t want to wake you up, but I couldn’t wait any longer to call you,” Maggie said.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest.

  Maggie laughed. “Relax, nothing’s wrong. I just needed to talk to you. So much has happened, and I miss you,” Maggie said, her words coming out in a rush.

  A pang of guilt shot through her. “Yeah, I have something to tell you too.”

  “You go first,” Maggie said.

  Maggie sounded so happy, and the last thing she wanted to do was bring her down. “No, I want to hear about you first.”

  ***Jake***

  Jake stepped onto the porch of the cabin, avoiding the step that was completely rotted out, then moved to the side so Nick could stand next to him. “Are they all like this?” he asked, afraid to open the door.

  Nick nodded. “Most of them have some rotting. This place was old when Tim took over, and a few years of neglect have done a lot of damage.”

  “As much as I want this job, I have to ask if you know what you’re getting into. It’s going to cost a small fortune to fix this place up,” he said, finally brave enough to open the door.

  They stood in silence for a few seconds, both staring into the empty cabin and remembering all the fun they’d had. “Well, it doesn’t look as bad inside as I’d imagined,” Jake said, taking a tentative step through the door.

  The cabin had been stripped, so all that remained were the empty bunks lining the walls, a desk at one end, and the fireplace. It wasn’t as big as he remembered, but with a few modifications, it would be good enough for he and Stella until they found a permanent place to live. Walking around the empty space, he could see how easy it would be to transform the cabin into a snug little home.

  “I think I can make this work,” Jake said, pacing off where he’d put the walls.

  “It’s not too late to change your mind; this is a bit rougher than I thought it was,” Nick said, looking around him.

  But Jake had already made up his mind; he was going to live at Serendipity for as long as he could. The peace it gave him was a relief after the last two years of torment. “Once I’m done, it will be just fine,” he said, then looked over at his old friend. “I need this right now.”

  Nick studied him for a minute, then nodded. “I knew you were the right man for this job,” he said. “It looks like Serendipity will be your home for a while.”

  ***Marley***

  Maggie was talking so fast, it was hard to keep up with her, but a few things stood out. “Wait a second,” she said, interrupting Maggie. “Are you telling me that you fell in love with the man you were supposed to be spying on?”

  “Yes, and we’re getting married,” Maggie said, her voice bubbling with happiness. “I wish you could come, but I know it’s a long way here from France. How much longer will you be staying?”

  Marley knew the moment of truth had come. “Well, about that. I’ve been home for a few weeks; things didn’t go as well as I expected,” she said, unable to tell Maggie the truth.

  She expected a million questions to come pouring out of Maggie, but instead, she said, “That’s good because I need you here. There’s something I think you should see.”

  “I guess I could come for a visit. I’ve never been to Colorado,” she said, knowing she had nothing better to do.

  “I’m not talking about a visit; I’m talking about you moving here,” Maggie said, a note of mystery in her voice.

  “You want me to move to Colorado?” she sputtered.

  “Just for a little while. We’ve got something here that I think would interest you,” Maggie said, still being mysterious.

  “Are you going to tell me what it is before I pack up and come out there?” she asked.

  “Nope, you’re just going to have to trust me,” Maggie said.

  “Can I think about it?”

  “Think about it all you want but trust me when I say that you have to see what we found, and if I’m right, you might just have the topic for your master’s thesis. Call me when you’ve decided, and I’ll get you a plane ticket,” Maggie said, then the line went dead.

  Marley stared at the phone for a few minutes, her head swimming with all the possibilities, then she shook her head and called Maggie back. “Okay, I’m starting to pack now; where do I pick up my ticket?” she asked, ignoring Maggie’s whoop of joy.

  As soon as she got off the phone, she got out her computer to do a little research but came up with little that would appeal to an art historian. Leadville was an idyllic mountain town nestled in the Rocky Mountains, rich in history but not the kind she studied, and she wondered if the trip would be a waste. Then she realized that she had nothing better to do; it was going to take a long time for the art world to forget about her mistake. Maggie might be the only hope she had.

  Sitting at her desk, she looked around her apartment and a feeling that she wouldn’t be back washed over her. She blocked it before it could grow, before one of those episodes she hated so much took over, and she was thrust into the world she’d been avoiding for most of her life. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the real world and started planning what to pack, sighing with relief when the feeling disappeared completely.

  Unbidden, a picture of her grandmother popped into her mind, her disapproving face so clear, it made her shiver. The woman had been gone for several years, but the lessons she’d forced on Marley had stayed with her, exerted a force that was nearly impossible to break, forcing her to dampen a part of her that cried out to be released every hour of every day.

  She pushed the woman out of her mind; she’d done enough damage when she was alive, and Marley refused to think about her any more than she had to. An adventure awaited her, and if her luck had changed, the future she’d been dreaming of since she was a small child.

  Chapter Two

  ***Jake***

  A plate in each hand, Jake used his hip to open the screen door. “Dinner is served,” he said, setting the plates on the table with a flourish of his arms.

  Stella giggled, then rolled her eyes. “Dad, you’re ridiculous.”

  “Well, it’s our first dinner in the cabin, and I wanted it to be special,” he said, gesturing to the food he’d set in front of her.

  “But this is only a hamburger,” she said, picking it up and taking a big bite.

  “Your favorite if I remember right,” he said, taking a bite of his own.

  Stella made a big production of chewing and swallowing. “I’d give it a nine out of ten,” she said, then took another bite.

  Jake grinned at her. “Just a nine?”

  Stella laughed. “You got bonus points for the fries,” she said.

  They ate in silence for a while, then Stella said, “Nick and Maggie are nice.”

  Jake nodded. “Nick and I have been friends since we were kids,” he said.

  “Emma and I decided that we should be best friends,” Stella announced, grinning from ear to ear.

  “I think that’s great,” Jake said, relief washing over him.

  They ate in silence for a few minutes. He could tell that Stella had something on her mind, but nothing could have prepared him for the question that came out of her mouth. “Am I a shifter or a witch?” she asked.

  “That’s a good question,” he said, setting down his fork and leanin
g back in his chair, trying to find the right answer. “I guess you’re a little of both, Stella.”

  She studied him for a second. “What if I’m neither? What if I’m like Maggie and I don’t have any magic?” she finally asked, her voice quavering. “Emma already shifted, and she’s only a little bit older than I am.”

  Jake reached over and pulled Stella out of her chair and into his lap even though she was too big. “No matter what you are, I’ll always love you, but I think you’ll see that very soon the magic inside you is going to start waking up,” he said. “Don’t rush things, sweetheart; it’ll come when it’s time.”

  Stella hugged him, then pulled back and looked at him. “It’s just hard to wait, to not know when it is coming or what’s going to happen. I wish we knew some witches. What if I start flying around the room or something?”

  Jake laughed. “I don’t think that’s how it happens, but I’ll see what I can do about finding someone you can talk to,” he said, only then realizing what he’d offered.

  Stella thought about that for a second, then nodded her head. “That sounds good. Thanks, Dad.”

  Jake was so lost in trying to figure out how he was going to find a witch and then deal with being around her that he almost didn’t hear her next question. “Do you think your magic will ever come back?”