Greylock Manor: A Wolf Shifter Romance (Wolf Mountain Pack Book 1) E-Book

Mac Flynn

• Herausgeber: Crescent Moon Studios, Inc.
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Visions of feral eyes haunt the waking hours of Alexandra Shaw. They both scare and intrigue her, and after one particularly strong dream she heads out to find where these visions are leading her.

Her destination turns out to be Greylock Lodge, a supposedly abandoned chalet up in the mountains. Getting there proves to be the hard part, but she's not the only one trying to reach the elusive lodge. A tense crowd waits in a small clearing, and among them is a handsome man by the name of Christopher Dayton. The eyes have called them all there, but they all have their different reasons for coming.

The crowd is presented with a challenge by two mysterious figures, people who can change into wolves and back again. Their goal, if they can make it, is to reach Greylock Manor at the far end of the forested valley. Anyone who can’t will lose not only the game, but their memories. Maybe even their lives.

Alex finds Chris at her side as she sets off into the dark, spooky woods where unknown dangers await them. The ‘game’ soon gets all too real, but Alex is determined to reach the end, no matter what. Chris is likewise set on winning, but Alex can’t help but notice the enticingly heated gazes he sends her way.

Along the way Alex discovers that even if she doesn’t reach the end, she’s perhaps found something more important: love.

Leseprobe

GREYLOCK MANOR

WOLF MOUNTAIN PACK BOOK 1

MAC FLYNN

Copyright © 2022 by M. Flynn

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Want to get an email when a new book is released? Sign up here to join the M. Flynn Newsletter, the online newsletter with a bite!

Wanting to find the rest of the series and check out some of my other books? Hop over to my website for a peek!

CONTENTS

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

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Continue the adventure

Other series by M. Flynn

1

Padded footsteps.

That was my first impression of the forest in which I stood. Long shadows surrounded me, but I could make out the dense, ancient trees and brush. And then there were the footsteps.

They circled me again and again, hidden in those deep shadows as they summed me up. I wondered if it found my scent tasty or disgusting. With all the grease fat on my hands, I didn’t need a second guess.

I looked to and fro, following the sound but never seeing the noisemaker. “Who are you?” I shouted. I may as well have been calling to the sky.

The footsteps stopped, or rather, the noise stopped. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. A growl came from behind me.

I spun around. A pair of eyes stared at me from the darkness. One of the eyes was yellow and the other white. The growl repeated itself and I could see long, white teeth against the blackness. My whole body shivered as I took a step back.

And fell right into the arms of my very confused manager. I tilted my head back and sheepishly smiled up at him. “Hiya, Mr. Bradley.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Are you alright, Miss Shaw?”

I jumped out of his hands and spun around to face him, which was no tiny feat as the aisle between the fry maker and the burger grill wasn’t very large. “It’s nothing. I just spaced out for a second.”

He gestured to something behind me. “A very long second.”

I looked down at where he directed me and winced. I’d left a batch of fries in the hot oil a little too long. They’d turned from a nice yellow to a very unappetizing brown. Bradley lifted the basket out and set it beside the oil tank. “Would you like to offer me a different explanation?”

I bit my lower lip. “I guess I was just-”

“Thinking again?” he suggested.

I winced. “Something like that.”

Bradley sighed. “Miss Shaw, I’ve already warned you twice this week about daydreaming.”

My shoulders drooped and I hung my head. “I know, and I’m really sorry about it, Mr. Bradley. I promise it won’t happen again.”

He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Well, I can guarantee it won’t happen again.” My heart skipped a beat as visions of the unemployment line clouded my mind. “No, I’m not firing you, I’m just going to let you off early for today so you can get some rest.” He tilted his head to one side and studied my face. “You look like you haven’t been sleeping well. Maybe that will clear your head.”

I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

He gave my shoulder a shake. “Come on. Get home and get some rest.”

I cast a furtive look at the remains of the fries. “What about them?”

He grimaced. “I’ll give them a proper burial and take the spot up myself, now get along before I have to boot you out.”

I leaned up on my tiptoes and pressed a light kiss on his cheek. “Thanks, Mr. Bradley. You’re a saint.”

His eyes were wide, but he shook off his shock and laughed. “Well, at least one person understands that.”

“Hey, Mr. Saint!” one of my coworkers called to him from the ice cream machine. “Could you use your saintly powers and clean out these nozzles?”

Bradley sighed and rolled up his sleeves. “Never a dull moment, now out while I take care of soft ice cream.”

I gave him a lazy salute and hurried out. Taking a nap sounded like just the thing, and soon I was in my dinged-up car driving through my small hometown. The junk-food alley gave way to the residential homes, and soon I pulled into the short driveway of my childhood home. Relief turned to guilt when I noticed the front curtain move and a face peek out.

I slunk out of the car as the front door opened and my mom rolled out. “What are you doing home this early?”

I bent over and clapped my hand on the arms of her chair. “No worries, mom. I just had a little accident at work and-”

“Accident!”

I could have clobbered myself for my poor choice of words. “Well, the fries had a little accident because of me,” I explained as I turned her wheelchair around and pushed her back toward the house. “But everyone made it out alive and the fire department let me off for good behavior.”

My mom twisted around and revealed an amused smile on her lips. “How crispy were those fries?”

I winced. “Let’s just say they could have broken some false teeth.”

A snort escaped her lips, followed quickly by a sigh as she set her hands in her lap. “That isn’t like you. Is something on your mind?”

I shrugged as I rolled her up the ramp and into the small house we called our own. The carpet was stained, and the kitchen cupboards were outdated, but the house was clean and painted. “I don’t know. I just keep getting distracted. Mr. Bradley thought maybe I should take a nap.”

“Mr. Bradley is right,” my mom mused as she grabbed the wheels of her chair and jerked us to a stop. She tilted her head back and smiled up at him, but I could see the worry in her eyes. “You’ve been having nightmares.”

I winced. “That obvious?”

She pointed down the single narrow hall and at the door to my bedroom. The door was slightly ajar. “Your bed sheets look like somebody tried to make an escape rope out of them and gave up halfway. That much thrashing about can’t be good for anyone’s sleep.”

I leaned down and pecked a kiss on her cheek. “Well, I’ll be sure to sleep this evening. In the meantime-” I straightened and rolled her toward the kitchen. “What say we cook up some grub?”

My mom smiled. “I’ll do the grease cooking.”

We soon ate and I slipped into my bedroom where I shrugged out of my uniform. I tossed the shirt onto the foot of my bed and paused to study the sheets. They were indeed coiled and clumped together like snakes wrestling to the death. I sighed and untangled them enough to slip between the serpents. My head had hardly hit the pillow before I fell asleep.

However, a quiet sleep was not to come to me.

Slumber brought with it the same visions I’d been seeing in my waking hours. I was surrounded by a thick forest of trees again, and a touch of ghosting fog added to the atmosphere. My body tensed, waiting for the sound I expected. I wasn’t disappointed.

It was the footsteps again, louder than I’d ever heard them before. I spun in a circle but couldn’t see anyone. I also didn’t see the tree root beneath me, but my foot was kind enough to find it. I stumbled forward but caught myself before I tumbled across the wet-looking ground. That was the last straw.

I balled my hands into fists at my side and glared at the darkness. “Whoever you are, come out and show yourself! Stop being such a coward!”

I got my wish as the hairs on the back of my neck sprang up. Something was behind me. I spun around and my heart skipped a beat when I saw a figure standing in the shadows of the largest of the trees. Whoever this was, they had the same yellow and white eyes I’d seen before.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a shaky step toward them. “W-who are you?”

Their reply was to step partially into the light and reveal all but the upper half of their face. It was a man above six feet in height with graying hair but lacking in the wrinkles associated with anyone over fifty. He wore a crisp black suit with a gray tie that matched his hair. A silver ring flashed on his finger that clasped the top of a cane made of the same material. The cane sported an elegant curve that transformed into a wolf’s head, complete with an extra-bushy mane.

The man stretched out his hand to me. I looked from those strange eyes to his upturned palm. Something at the back of my mind screamed a warning. My heart told me to take it.

I took a step toward him but stopped. My gullible heart nearly stopped when a pair of wolves sidled up on either side of him. They were huge, their shoulders in equal height to his torso, and their yellow eyes were focused only on me. I took a step back and a growl reverberated from one of the pair.

The wolves darted forward and leapt at me. As I threw up my arms, I glimpsed the man’s lips move. He said only two words before the wolves tumbled down on me.

I shot up in bed, my body awash in sweat. My hand shook as I reached up and brushed my damp hair away from my eyes. A few whispered words passed over my trembling lips.

“Greylock… Manor.”

2

From that hour a map had been embedded in my mind. It was a fuzzy one, like a child had scrawled an outline from a much better map and then the rain came and kind of smudged it. Still, even a squiggly line could be followed, and that’s what I intended to do.

“Are you sure about this?” my mom asked me as she sat nearby, her eyes watching as I folded a week’s worth of clothes beside my scroungy old backpack from high school that I’d dug out earlier that morning.

“It’s okay,” I assured her as I began the process of cramming the clothes into the bag. “Mr. Bradley already gave me a couple of days off. That should be enough.”

My mom shook her head. “But enough for what? What are you hoping to find up there?”

I paused and set my palms on the covers of my bed. “I just… I don’t know, but I know whatever’s up there is worth finding.” I lifted my eyes to her and gave her a smile. “I promise I’ll be safe, and besides, Wolf Mountain is a pretty popular hiking destination. I won’t be alone up there, and I promise I won’t do anything stupid.”

A snort escaped her lips. She rolled up to me and grasped one of my hands. I couldn’t help but look into her kind, bemused face. “You wouldn’t be my daughter if you didn’t do something stupid.” She looked down at our joined hands and sighed. “But please, just promise me you’ll be as careful as you can.”

I knelt in front of her and set my hand atop our joined ones. “I swear on all the souls of the fries lost in deep fryers that I will be as careful as I can be.”

She swatted my shoulder. “Oh, you!”

I laughed and stood where I shrugged. “I couldn’t think of anything bigger than that to swear on.”

She eyed me with a mischievous look as she half-turned toward the door. “So should I burn some hamburgers as incense to help you on your journey?”

I winced. “Please don’t. I couldn’t bear the thought of a burnt hamburger being on my conscience.”

My mom laughed and turned away, but I noticed some of her humor fled. There was a pensive expression on her face and her voice was so soft I almost didn’t hear her. “All this talk about food, you should find a decent diner not far from the summit of the mountain. Dan’s Den. They used to serve up some good grub.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”

My mom gave me a smile, but there was sadness about the corners of her lips. “I used to spend a lot of time hiking in those woods when I was in college.”

I folded my arms over my chest and gave her a look of curiosity. “You never told me that.”

She shrugged. “It was a long time ago. Before this-” She gestured down at herself. “But anyway, you promise you’ll call me when you get to the foot of the mountain?”

I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. “Even if there’s no reception, I’ll figure out a way to send up some smoke signals.”

She laughed and patted my arm. “Then I’ll be sure to listen for the phone and watch the skies.”

I soon packed and the two of us went outside to my car. The bag was tossed into the rumpled passenger seat of my sorry old sedan, and I turned to my mom. She still looked worried. My heart fell a little, and for the first time I began to have doubts.

“You know, I really don’t have to go-” I began, but she shook her head.

“Nonsense. Your head’s been foggier this week than London in 1900. You need to go just to get some fresh air to air out those cobwebs. And with that” She spun me around to face my car and gave me a push, “off you go!”

I stumbled across the hood but stopped on the other side and gave her a smile and a wink. “You take care of yourself and behave!”

She dropped her hands into her lap and sighed. “I suppose that means no prank-calling the neighbors about their refrigerators?”

“Or any of their other appliances,” I added as I dropped into my car. I leaned over the center console and smiled at her through the partially open passenger window. “And remember, I’ll be back in a few days.”

She smiled and waved at me. “Plenty of time to change the locks.”

I snorted and sat back in my seat. My mom waved as I backed out of the driveway, and I returned the wave as I drove past the house. I glanced through the rearview mirror until I couldn’t see the lawn. My mom sat there the whole time staring at me. There was that twinge of guilt again.

I tightened my hands on the wheel and stiffened my jaw. “Come on, Alex. You’ll feel much better when you get back, and then you can take her out to some fancy restaurant where the two of you can get plastered and end up in somebody’s pool floaty.”

I regretfully pushed my mom to the back of my thoughts and focused on the road ahead of me. My fuzzy mental map, or FMM, as I called it, led me along one of the mountain highways to Wolf Mountain. The range of mountains covered half the countryside with their deep, hidden valleys and craggy cliffs. They attracted a lot of tourism, and more than one person had gone missing among those dark woods.

I rolled my eyes. “You just had to remind yourself of that, didn’t you?”

I was glad for the warm, sunny day as I drove higher and deeper into the mountainous countryside. The towns grew fewer and farther between, replaced by scattered homesteads that showed off their age with their homemade stone chimneys and fences that were around to stop the dinosaurs from roaming.

I kept my eyes peeled for the restaurant, and sure enough two hours into my drive I spotted a rustic but clean sign that read Dan’s Den. The place was a low-top square building with windows on three sides and a long counter that stretched across the middle of the interior. Except for a cooling counter and door, the kitchen was hidden by a wall that split the building in two. Four-seater tables lined the wall below the windows and shiny red stools finished off the seating around the long counter. A half dozen cars sat outside. Most were beaten-up old pickups and vans, so the black mustang at the end of the parking lot stood out.

I parked my sedan on the other side of it and stepped out to admire the view.

“She’s nice, isn’t she?”

I started and whipped my head up. A man stood in front of one of the vans with a smile on his lips and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He had short brown hair, and a handsome and slightly rugged physique. His arms were folded over his chest, though the top arm grasped a small to-go box.

“That depends,” I mused as I stepped up onto a low sidewalk that stretched across the front of the restaurant.

He raised an eyebrow. “On what?”

I stopped beside him and grinned. “On who’s driving.”

He flashed me a mischievous grin. “And if it was me?”

“Then I’d be really worried,” I teased as I nodded at the box. “And is that apple pie, or are you just happy to see me?”

“Both,” he quipped as he popped open the container and showed me a slice of the pie. “And you have a good nose.”

I shrugged. “It’s a gift, but what brings a sophisticated gentleman like you to a small place like this.”

Some of his humor dropped from his face as he closed the lid. “Nothing much. I just wanted to see the view around here. I’d heard it was wonderful.”

I half-turned to look at the road. A short, rocky hill stood on the other side and was one of the many hints of the foothills of the Wolf Mountain range. “It is pretty.”

“And you?” he wondered as he looked me over. I couldn’t help but notice the approving expression in his eyes. “You don’t look like the type to be taking a nature hike.”

I looked down at my sneakers and laughed. “No, I suppose not, but a girl’s got to work with what she has.”

“If you don’t mind my saying, but you have quite a bit to work with.”

I whipped my head up and revealed my colored cheeks. “Yeah, well, I have my mom to thank for that.”

The man took my hand in his and lifted the top to his lips. “She must be beautiful.” He kissed the top of my hand before he released me. “Hopefully we’ll meet again someday.”

“Y-yeah,” I stuttered as he strode past me and slipped into the car.

I turned and kind of stumbled over my own feet to watch him back out. He waved and I waved back, and then he was gone.

Damn.

With a heavy heart I stepped inside and ordered a hamburger, not burnt, and a piece of apple pie. If there was one thing I could say about that guy, it’s that he was a great salesman for pies. And sex.

In an hour I was back on the road and on my way up a winding two-lane highway. The craggy hills rose up on either side now and featured scraggly trees and a few bushes. Every now and again the rock face had been blasted to make room for a pull-off. I was approaching one of them when a pair of flashing red lights pulled up behind me.

“Ah shit.”

3

I pulled over into one of the blasted parking spots.

The cop car followed me, and we both shut off our engines. The officer stepped out and walked over to me. I rolled down my window and gave him a stupid, shaky smile. “What seems to be the problem, officer?” Yeah, nothing stupid about that cliche.

He leaned down and smiled at me. “I just wanted to tell you your license plate is loose. Did you want me to try to fix it?”

I blinked at him. “Seriously?”

He laughed. “Why not? I’ve got tools in my trunk. Shouldn’t take more than a few seconds.”

I nodded my head like a bobble-head. “T-then sure, work away.”

He returned to his car, and I stepped out to inspect the ‘damage.’ My license plate was indeed a little askew. The officer returned with a small, flat toolbox in one hand and knelt in front of the plate.

“Looks like just a loose screw,” he commented as he pulled out a ratchet with the right size head.

I snorted. “Story of my life. . .”

A quick couple of turns and he grinned at his job. “There. That should do her for another few thousand miles.”

I swept my eyes over the narrow canyon and furrowed my brow. “Do you know much about this area?”

“Yep,” he replied as he put away his tools and shut the toolbox. He stood and smiled at me. “Born and raised just ten miles down the road.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “Then you don’t happen to know any place called Greylock Manor, do you?”

He shook his head. “Nope, never heard of the place.”

My shoulders drooped. “I see… well, thanks for the help with the license plate.”

“No problem,” he returned as he followed me to the front of my car. I slipped inside, but he put one arm on the windowsill and looked me over. “If you don’t mind my asking, what brings you up here?”

Both of my eyebrows shot up. “What makes you think I’m not just passing through?”

“Because you’re not the first person asking for directions to that place,” he revealed with pursed lips. “I’ve been hailed five times today from people asking about it.”

A feather could have knocked me over, provided it was a very big one. “What did they say about it?”

He shook his head. “Not much. Just wanted to know a way to the place. I couldn’t help them, of course, but they seemed determined to search around, anyway.”

I stared ahead and pursed my lips. “You don’t happen to know if there’s an old hiking trail or road a few miles up ahead, do you? Sort of near the summit?”

He nodded. “Yep. Just up a ways and on the right. You might miss it, but there’s a small turn-off like this one just before the mouth where you can park.”

“Did it used to lead somewhere?”

He jerked his head in the general direction up one of the taller mountain peaks that hung above us. “To an old ski lodge, but that place hasn’t been used in years. It closed down about fifty years ago after some rich guy bought it for himself. I heard he still lives there, but nobody’s allowed up his private drive beyond the paved road.”

I nodded at the highway that stretched out before me. “And this leads to the private road?”

He shook his head. “Not exactly. That is, the trail you’re looking for doesn’t lead to the private road. It goes up the old road that folks used before the new one was punched in the fifties. You won’t get very far on that one, though. The park service closed it up about a mile off the highway. Too many people got to snooping around and getting lost up there.” He paused and studied me with that funny look again. “They said they saw wolves up there.”

The color drained from my face. “Were they right?”

He pushed off the window of my car and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen one, but sometimes my headlights play tricks on me, and I see something dart across the road that I can’t explain. Anyway, it was nice meeting you.”

“Likewise,” I returned as he strode back to his car.

I started my vehicle but waved at him to go ahead. He passed by me with a wave and a honk, and I pulled out. The scenery was just as beautiful as ever, but I hardly saw any of it as I drove up the gentle slope toward my destination. But then, what was my destination? The trooper just told me there was no such place, so where was I going?

“For a nice, gentle woodland stroll,” I teased myself with a laugh.

Still, I couldn’t deny that there was a map in my head that I hadn’t put there, and the irresistible urge to follow it was still gnawing away inside me. With those two things spurring me on, along with my curiosity, I drove onward and soon arrived at the turn-off the officer had mentioned. It was a hollowed-out section of the rocky hillside in the shape of a half circle. The road turned to the left and allowed the forest to crowd in on the far side of the turn-off.

Much was my shock when I noticed a familiar mustang already parked there.

The space was large enough for both our cars, and I grabbed my bag and climbed out with my eyes on the mustang. The car turned out to be empty and the doors locked. I looked around but didn’t see any sign of the handsome stranger.

“Easy there, Alex…” I muttered to myself as I strapped on my bag. “You didn’t come here to fall in love with a wealthy guy.”

But I wouldn’t have said no to it, either.