Found: True Mates Book 0.5 (BBW Wolf Shifter Romance) (A Craggstone Paranormal Romance) Read Online Free PDF

lay silent, not moving, a bloody mess on the ground. Was she—? I nudged her with my nose, my heart threatening to tear out of my chest.
    Sharp pain erupted in my hind leg, teeth digging in and clamping down. Whirling round, I swiped at the coyote who was trying to use my leg as a chew toy, sending him flying into the corner. One of Marcus’ pack — but where was the leader?
    I spied Marcus, hunched over on the ground, his shift nearly finished. It would be so easy to return the favor, and finish him off while he was vulnerable…I shook my furry head, a human gesture of my wolf’s disgust at the thought. There were rules that should be followed in a challenge, honor demanded it. Not that he had any honor to start with, I snorted with revulsion while pacing the floor, waiting for him to rise.
    One eye on Marcus, the other pinning the other coyote in place, I anxiously checked Claire, tugging on the fragile mating bond, willing her to respond. Still nothing. Deja vu — and not the good kind. She was going to make it, she had to…
    With a low growl, Marcus lumbered to his feet, his fur matted and oozing blood. She’d got him good, I noted, nudging her one more time, willing her to open her beautiful gray eyes and see the damage she’d inflicted.
    I turned to face my opponent, my heart heavy and shoulders drooping. I would do this for her. Whether we both lived, or died — Marcus deserved to suffer for what he had done. A howl tore from my throat, carrying with it a warning, a threat…a death sentence.
    Then, a mere whisper of sound, the slightest exhale of breath. She was alive! She was fucking alive! My heart swelled in my chest, energy pouring back into me, filling and lifting me. Fuck, yeah. Time to party!
     
    ***
    Claire
    Snarls and growls surrounded me, the thump of bodies crashing together, howls of pain and roars of fury. Adam! I had to open my eyes — I had to know, was he winning? Please, sweet Mother, let him be winning.
    Millimeter by millimeter I peeled my eyelids open, the bright light blinding me momentarily, then the fuzziness started to clear, and a mess of legs, fur and teeth came into focus. A black wolf, large and muscular, pinned a scraggy brown coyote to the ground, their teeth snapping and scraping, each seeking the opportunity to strike a killing blow.
    The wooden floor of the cabin was slick, smeared with the blood of both men, and as they rolled back and forth, snapping and snarling, their claws scored the surface, searching for a grip.
    Movement caught my eye, a shape slinking under the window. Straining my eyes against the glare, I recognized the second coyote packmember. He was fully shifted and skirting around the fight, his walk slow and deliberately cautious. Was he coming for me? Or for Adam?
    He turned to face his Alpha, his teeth bared in a feral approximation of a grin. Adam!
    Please help me, I begged my wolf, who was buried deep inside, curled in a ball and licking her wounds. Our mate needs us…
    With a mournful howl she lumbered to standing, shaking her head and rolling her shoulders. She rocked back on her feet…
    Fuck, this was going to hurt…
    Pain, like I’d never felt before, hit me, my muscles shrieking in agony as bones twisted and snapped. Shifting had never felt like this, like being mangled by a steamroller, but my human body was depleted, too weak to assist with the shift.
    She roared through me, forcing my body to reform, none of the seamless give and take I was used to. Then I was on my paws, leaping through the air, claws extended at the shithead of a coyote that thought he would harm my mate.
    And not a split second too late, I met him midair as he launched at the Alpha’s on the ground. Knocking him flying, we landed in a tangle of teeth and claws, me on top of his larger bulk. He blinked at me in surprise, the expression quickly wiped away and replaced with furious anger.
    But I was way beyond pissed. Pissed that my parents had been taken from me. Pissed