One Night One Secret Read online

  Table of Contents

  One Night One Secret

  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

  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

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  More By Hollie Hutchins

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  Copyright

  One Night One Secret

  ♠

  By: Hollie Hutchins

  Prologue

  The musk of the drunken, sweaty humans assaulted Aelnoth’s sense of smell, and his other senses too. There were half-clad women hanging from what looked like thick metal chains suspended from the ceiling. In every corner, humans were groping and tugging; playing out their worst fantasies. The music and strobe lights pulsated so aggressively that his head spun. He had to get out of there.

  There was no culture in that place. He could sense the masking of shame and disappointment from the humans around him.

  This must be why Symes suggested I visit this specific club, Aelnoth thought as he stumbled into the ally outside. He didn’t want his friend to be right about the human world. But it was hard to argue when confronted with debauchery he had just witnessed.

  Running his hands through his deep brown hair, he looked up and down the alley, hungry. He was hungry. He couldn’t hunt in the human world, it was forbidden. Since he was in downtown Toronto he didn’t think there would be very many wildlife options anyway. The next best thing would be a steak, rare. He stumbled down the alley toward the main road. He must be a bit drunk, he thought—usually he could quell his hunger. Not this night. Alcohol didn’t affect shifters in the same way as humans, but the few drinks he had in the club dulled his thinking. He was ravenous. Surely there would be an all-night diner nearby. One of the best parts of human cities was the 24-hour access to food, drink, and entertainment.

  Turning the corner onto the main road he growled in surprise as he ran into something soft.

  “What the hell…?”

  A woman?

  “Excuse me, miss,” he said, trying to move around her, but failing miserably. The delayed effects of the alcohol making him clumsy. She grabbed his arm to steady him and a shock of electricity ran through him. Unable to control his wolf, his eyes switched from their human form, chestnut brown to a momentary burst of yellow from his wolf.

  “Woah there, killer,” she said, trying her best to keep them both stable and failing. Aelnoth smiled and thought she must be a little bit tipsy herself. He looked the small, curvaceous, woman up and down. She wasn’t what his kind would call beautiful, she was shorter than most shifter women, and her straight black hair had a stylish cut, ending in sharp angles at her chin. Very different from the flowing, natural locks of Undervale women. She let out a small gasp—she must have caught the quick change in his eyes. She quickly let go of his arm and placing two hands onto his chest pushed him against the dark brick wall of the alley.

  “You’re a shifter. You’re not supposed to be here,” she whispered.

  “I can be wherever I want,” he growled back.

  “Not without consequences,” she replied.

  He liked her stubbornness. She had some power packed into that small, delicious frame. He licked his lips, staring down at her. He hadn’t had a human woman before, and in his inebriated state he thought maybe taking this one would be an interesting challenge.

  “There’re consequences for everything, but you only live once…” he said, holding her gaze. She had piercing blue eyes, like ice, he thought.

  She smiled up at him. He could smell the alcohol on her but underneath that there was another, sweeter smell, was it vanilla?

  His hunger switched and it was no longer a steak he craved. He wanted to taste this woman, he needed to taste this woman. Quick as a flash, he reversed their positions. He now had her against the cool brick, trapping her between arms placed on either side of her body.

  “I wonder,” he said. “What would be the consequence for kissing you.”

  He leaned in closer, placing his lips a hair’s breadth from her sweet bud of a mouth.

  “I wonder…” she whispered as his lips captured hers in a hungry kiss. He explored her mouth, imploring her to open for him as his tongue entered her. To his shock, she responded with eagerness and aggression. Matching his strokes eagerly with exploring strokes of her own.

  His hands found her waist and he lifted her, allowing him better access to her sweet curves, bracing her firmly against himself and the wall. She let out a small moan of pleasure and warmth exploded through his body as he deepened the kiss. Pulling back for breath, he looked down into her eager eyes, silently asking for permission to seek more. She gave him a slight nod and taking his free hand, he traced her body down until he felt the waistband of her short velvet skirt. He slipped his hand below the soft fabric and he moved past the lace of her panties to feel a soft wetness waiting for him. With a slight arch of her hips and a sharp intake of breath, she told him she was eager for more. Using one finger, he parted the delicate opening of her sex and found the tender nub within. Kissing her neck rhythmically using his tongue to mirror the motion of his hand, he kept his movements slow and constant.

  It is vanilla, he thought, keeping his own pleasure in check and speeding up as she bucked wildly against his hand.

  “Please…” she moaned.

  “Not yet, love,” he whispered, pulling his hand from her and stepping back. “This is too public for what I want to do to you.”

  “I need you, now,” she said, ripping back his shirt and revealing his clan tattoo, a large wolf’s paw, with a red ban across the center pad representing his noble clan status.

  The cool air hit his chest and he chuckled at her intense need. She was an interesting woman, and he wanted to give her the pleasure she sought. He may be drunk, but he wasn’t foolish, if he took her here, like this he ran the risk of exposing himself.

  “Where can we go?” he asked.

  Breathlessly, she replied, “I live close, let’s go to my place.”

  “Lead the way, love,” he said kissing her again fast and hard before letting her down to follow her home. Symes, you may have tried to ruin my night, he thought. But I have found some culture yet.

  Chapter 1

  Six Years Later

  “Mom, it hurts.”

  “I know, baby, sit tight. It’s almost our turn.” Susie rubbed her son’s head lovingly as they sat in the cold dentist’s office. This was their third appointment this week. Susie was growing more and more frustrated. No one could tell her what was wrong with her son. When it became clear his teeth were part of the problem, his pediatrician recommended this dentist and Susie was grateful. She looked around the well-appointed waiting room. The office was set up to help make children feel at ease, and Susie appreciated that. There were toys stacked neatly in the corner, and if he weren’t in so much pain, Susie knew she would have a difficult time pulling Jason away from the Legos.

  Jason was such a perfect, happy baby and toddler. Full of energy and curiosity, Susie would spend all her time chasing h
im around, playing and learning how to be a great mom. It was Susie and Jason against the world. She fell in love with him the moment he was born, with his head full of deep brown hair and her pale blue eyes, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to protect her son. It broke her heart seeing those eyes now, filling with tears as he rubbed his throbbing jaw.

  Susie was at a complete loss as to how to help her baby boy. He hadn’t yet lost any of his baby teeth, but all his new teeth were growing in. And it was happening at a rate that was astonishing. He had also recently started complaining of constant aches in his arms and legs, and uncontrollable nausea. Susie was sure some kind of virus or disease was attacking her son. It terrified her. She knew she was being punished because of the careless one-night stand that brought Jason into the world. As a single mother, Jason was everything to her. What if this is serious? she thought. What will I do? Where would we even begin?

  “Ms. Masters?” A nurse came out from behind a closed door, Susie looked up, a little shocked by how young the woman looked. With a hot pink streak through her bleached blonde hair and cartoon pins lining her brightly colored scrubs, she looked like she belonged in a teen pop music video and not in a dentist’s office. Susie remembered what it was like to be young and free. She bet the nurse probably partied in her off time. Lucky kid. “Ms. Masters, Jason, Dr. Merkel will see you guys now.”

  ***

  “Ms. Masters, Jason is great kid,” Dr. Merkel said, leaning back in his desk chair.

  Going to the dentist always made Susie feel a little bit nervous, but Dr. Merkel had put her at ease. Jason handled the examination very well. Dr. Merkel let him touch all the dental tools and answered all his curious questions about all the metal implements with kindness.

  “Thanks, he’s pretty great,” she said staring over at Jason who was coloring quietly on the floor of Dr. Merkel’s office. Susie was relieved that his pain appeared to be under control thanks to the shot of Novocain the doctor administered during his examination. “Do you know any more about what could be wrong with him?”

  “I’d like to know more about his father,” Dr. Merkel said.

  “His father is out of the picture,” Susie replied.

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Do you happen to know about his medical history, or anything about his family?”

  “Doctor, I hate to admit this, but I know virtually nothing about Jason’s father. We weren’t in a relationship.”

  “I see, so you know nothing,” Dr. Merkel said, tilting his head in a way that made Susie think he thought she was hiding something. For a man she had just met, it irritated her how perceptive Dr. Merkel seemed to be.

  She hated admitting to anyone that Jason was the result of a one-night stand. It sounded irresponsible, maybe it was, but she was young, and more than a little bit tipsy. All she knew about Jason’s father was that he was a shifter in the city illegally, and he had a tattoo that she wouldn’t forget, a large wolf’s paw with a red band. Thinking about that night now, even though the particulars were hazy, she remembered the raw need she had for him and how that tattoo looked so regal spanning his broad chest. She knew he was a shifter, dangerous even, but she hadn’t cared. Her cheeks warmed at the memory. It had been six years and that moment still had an effect on her. She had only told one other person he was a shifter, she couldn’t bear to see the disgust in people’s eyes. She thought most of the rhetoric about shifters was based in fear, but she was not afraid of him, she was curious. Curiosity or not they had used protection. Obviously, that didn’t work, she thought, looking over at her sweet baby boy.

  “Nothing at all, is it important? I wouldn’t know how to find him, if I tried,” she said.

  “Well, I don’t want to scare you,” he began. “But Jason will need specialized care moving forward. Not only for his teeth, but for his other symptoms. I think the reason Dr. Smith recommended you to me was because I have a unique set of qualities that can recognize the specialness of a boy like Jason.”

  “Unique set of qualities? I don’t think I understand.”

  “It’s important that you know, given the proper care and education, Jason will be absolutely fine. I asked you about his father, because of what he may be and may need moving forward,” Dr. Merkel said, standing up to take off his lab coat. Turning back to face Susie, he pushed up his shirt sleeves. Susie noticed a tattoo on his upper forearm. Her breath started to quicken. It can’t be, she thought. Dr. Merkel’s tattoo was smaller than Jason’s father’s tattoo, but it was very similar. A wolf’s paw, only instead of a red band across the center, the doctor’s was black.

  “A shifter…” she whispered. She stood up, pacing back and forth in front of Dr. Merkel’s desk, running her hands through her dark hair. Her head began spinning. What could she do, what was going to happen now?

  “Mommy, what’s wrong?” Jason asked. The last thing Susie wanted was to upset the boy. She needed to wrap her head around this new piece of information.

  “Nothing baby, Mommy just needs to think. Keep coloring buddy. If you’re good while I finish talking to Dr. Merkel we can get chicken nuggets for dinner,” she said.

  “Yay!” he said, turning back immediately to his coloring.

  Turning to Dr. Merkel, she placed both hands on his desk. “What do I need to do?”

  “Jason is young, and I’ve never seen a child turn this early. First things first, Ms. Masters, we need to locate Jason’s father.”

  Chapter 2

  Aelnoth looked up from the ancient desk, used by his father, grandfather and great-grandfather before him and made of a deep, dark, cherry wood that was once prevalent in the area. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around the room taking note of the history of his pack all around him. From the portraits on the walls, to the books that lined the shelves filled with the written record of their kind. He wondered how he would ever live up to the expectations of his clan and the kingdom. He buried his head back into the accounting books in front of him. First, he had to learn his father’s accounting system.

  He had been going over the Ashlu Clan ledgers for the better part of two hours. His vision blurred from staring at column after column of numbers. He longed to change into the deep brown and grey of his wolf form and roam the lands rather than pore over books of numbers.

  The clan affairs appeared in good order, all the crops were slated to come in strong for harvest, and the coffers were full. Aelnoth was still unsure. He had been lord of the clan for less than six weeks since the death of his father. Even though he had been groomed for this role his entire life, he was increasingly less and less sure he was prepared. He stared at the portrait of his father that hung secured into the stone wall over the fire hearth, looming over him with judgement and expectation. The artist should be commended for the excellent likeness, he thought, and reminded himself to speak with his mother about possibly moving the portrait to another room in the den. Preferably somewhere far away from Aelnoth’s rooms.

  The den of the Lord of Clan Ashlu was large and impressive. When he was young, he would try to get lost in the cavernous depths of the den’s many interconnecting rooms. It was home to Aelnoth, his mother the widowed Lady Aelnoth, a myriad of servants, and his young sister Alaina when she blessed them with her presence.

  As alpha, the home and land were his. Aelnoth was still in awe of the great den. Built over 300 years prior by his great-grandfather, Guyutasa, the first Alpha of Clan Ashlu. While furnished lavishly, and filled with the history of the Ashlu clan, it still held the smells and feel of the outdoors, decorated with elaborate art and plant life indigenous to their clan lands.

  Guyutasa, one of the first shifters, not fully human, and not fully wolf, the native peoples saw great potential and hope in having him and his kind close-by. Shifters were granted the land surrounding the bluffs from the Iroquoian nations who had been there before, as a way to guarantee protection. Humans and shifters lived side by side in harmony for many years. Humans stayed out of Undervale, and shifters stayed out of the huma
n world. It wasn’t until modern times, when technology and politics began to control men that the relationships began to strain.

  Most of Undervale was located in a deep valley shielding it from sunlight. The Ashlu den, by contrast, was situated at the mouth of a large bluff that overlooked the large lake the humans called Ontario, the land surrounding it was rich and fertile farmland used to supply much of the food and feed crops for the rest of Undervale. It was because of this that Ashlu was the second greatest clan in Undervale, second only to the King’s own clan.

  Aelnoth rang the small buzzer on the side of his desk to call a servant in to bring him food. If he was going to finish the ledgers tonight, he would need all the energy he could get, and he didn’t have time to hunt.

  His eyes sparkled with affection when he saw Matthew answer the call.

  “Ah Matthew, my favorite friend,” he said in jovial greeting to the young human.

  “I’d hardly call us friends, my lord,” Matthew responded with a smile, matching Aelnoth’s jovial tone.

  Matthew had been caught crossing the border into Undervale illegally five years before, and as an illegal, he was sent to the Auction blocks. That is where Aelnoth purchased him. And not for any small sum. Typical punishment for an indentured human could last anywhere between two to five years depending on many different factors. However, being young and handsome, even for a human, Matthew was much sought after to be purchased as a breeder for a great clan. Illegal humans used for breeding were only released upon the successful birth of a shifter pup. Even then they were sent back to the human world and forced to leave their offspring behind to be raised by the clans.

  A child did not typically show signs of shifting until age 10 or later. That could stretch a human’s sentence into fifteen years or more. Aelnoth thought the whole practice of using humans as indentured servants was barbaric but had always been particularly disgusted by the idea of forced breeding and with an extended sentence thought it all the more heinous.