Once Bitten Twice Smitten: BBW Werewolf Shifter Menage Romance by Ariana Hawkes Page A

at him, dumbstruck.
    “I was wondering if I could have a word with your daughter, the elder one?” Chase said at last, flashing the man his most charming grin. Brad’s wolf sniggered as he noticed that Chase had a few lumps of earth clinging to his jacket.
    “Who are you?” the man asked, his suspicion not dropping an inch.
    “We’re friends from college,” Chase continued.
    “She doesn’t go to college, and you obviously don’t even know her name!” the man said. He emerged from the house, shutting the door tight behind him. “You’d better tell me what your business is here, or you’re going to be very sorry that you ever set foot on my property!” he hissed. Adrenaline surged through Brad’s body. It was now or never.
    “We’re very sorry to have turned up unannounced, sir,” he said. “We just weren’t sure of the correct address. We’re from Gila, and we would just like the opportunity to get to know your daughter.” Recognition, fear, and fury flashed across the man’s face, all at the same time. He drew himself up to his full height.
    “I know who you are!” he boomed. “And I don’t want you animals around my daughter!” Chase and Brad recoiled at being referred to in such derogatory terms, but kept silent. The man pinched the bridge of his nose, and took a long, shaky breath. “God knows I’ve done everything in my power to protect her from you. It’s cost my family so much over the years, changing our names, hiding away from our relatives, leaving behind everything we knew in Gila. But you’ve found us anyway!” His voice cracked, and he seemed on the point of breaking down. He stared at them in turn. “How on earth did you find us here?”
    “We have a national network that assists us with this kind of thing,” Chase said, unusually gently. Brad cast a glance at him, and saw that he was equally shaken by the man’s evident pain.
    “Sir, your daughter needs our help,” Brad began. “We know she’s begun the process that will soon culminate in a full shift into her wolf form. Being around her own kind will ease her distress in this difficult time.”
    “She is not your kind!” The man bellowed, his shoulders flexing and his hands bunching into fists. “She is one of us! Part of our family! I don’t know which one of you sank your filthy teeth into her and almost killed her in the process, but I’m telling you this: biting her does not make her your own!” His voice had become so loud that it echoed up and down the quiet street. Brad and Chase’s wolves whined at the insults being leveled at them. They were unused to being described with anything other than glowing praise.
    Just then the door opened. The girl poked her head out. Brad and Chase both inhaled sharply. She was even prettier than the image that had been flitting through Brad’s mind for the past few hours. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were flashing.
    “Dad, what’s going – ” she started to say, then she caught sight of the two of them over her father’s shoulder. Her lips pursed as she looked at Brad. “You again!” she said. Chase flashed him a furious glance, but Brad ignored it. “My dad’s told me the whole story.”
    “And?” Brad said.
    “And nothing!” Her father yelled, pushing his face right up into Brad’s. Brad’s wolf could’ve snapped his neck with a single bite, but he backed away, showing the man due respect, as the father of his future mate. “Get the hell out of this town! We’ll take care of our daughter, whatever happens. And if I ever see you here again, I’ll have you shot, and your secrets exposed to the whole world!” Chase and Brad shuddered. If the man made good on his threat, the lives of all the werewolves in the US, as they knew them, would be over. Their wolves whimpered, tails dropping between their legs. They turned, in unison, and left without a word.
    *
    “Well, that went well,” Brad said, stretching his feet out in front of him. Chase had