Free KEEPING YOU: Howlers Motorcycle Club 1: A Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Motorcycle Club Romance by Lauren Devane

I could use sick days for awhile—luckily I had years of them built up.
    Not finding Sam, I stepped in the shower and washed off, then got out and changed into jeans and a t-shirt. Slipping on tennis shoes, I walked across the compound to the clubhouse where I found Madison reading a thick book, idly turning pages with one hand and using the other to sip her coffee.
    “Any more caffeine?” I asked.
    “Oh god,” Madison jumped up and came to me. “Your face.”
    “It looks worse than it feels.” Or, at least, that’s what I was trying to convince myself.
    “Let me take a look at it.” She ran her fingers gently over the bone, then looked into my eyes. “At least your pupils look good,” she said. “I don’t know what Sam was thinking to let you go to sleep without medical attention.”
    “I stayed up watching her all night to make sure she was breathing just fine,” Sam said, coming out of the meeting room with a few other club members and walking over to me. He slung an arm over my shoulders. “Was only gone for 5 minutes.” He kissed my cheek. “I just told the guys what happened.”
    “Don’t worry, Eleanor,” said Mike. “We keep every member of our pack safe.”
    I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. “Um, I see.”
    He smiled gently. “You’re one of us now.”
    “Since when?”
    “Since you accepted Sam’s invitation to come home.” Madison grinned at me and it was as if the earth imperceptibly shifted. One moment I was me and the next I was meandSam. Us. A unit. I had a home with the man who was standing behind me, his teeth bared in a grin.
    And I’d accepted it, because they’d accepted me. He said I could leave the compound, which meant I could still have margarita nights with Sarah, continue designing medications and actually shop for my own clothes. But at night, I’d come home and cuddle up with Sam, hike in the woods that ringed the buildings, or go to another potluck with the pack.
    My immediate instinct was to deny what I felt, but I’d been doing that for too long. He’d saved my life more than once. When he wouldn’t let me go, I’d felt betrayed—but now I understood why he had to do it.
    I’d do it too, to protect him.
    “Sam has some business he needs to see to in town,” Mike said, stepping forward and wrapping his arm around Madison, who leaned into him with her face against the soft black leather of his jacket. “We need to do the official inspection and vote on your patching.”
    “What do you mean?” I cut a glance to Sam and saw that he looked uncomfortable, was shifting his weight from one foot to another.
    Madison spoke, her soft voice soothing. “Mike has to examine your commitment and ask for the opinions of the other members. It’s just some speeches, some questions. It’s really more of a formality than anything else. Then the patched members of the Howlers will vote on whether you can wear Sam’s property patch.”
    “What?” Property?
    “You’re his mate—there’s no debating that—but you’re also his ol’ lady, like I’m Mike’s. That’s why my club jacket says ‘Property of Michael.’ It lets people know.”
    Even having an inkling of what it meant, the idea of being called someone’s property was less than appealing. I’d spent my entire life making sure I was my own person. Strong, independent and free—which I guess I had to be after my parents died, because none of the foster parents or group homes that had me really wanted me. I looked at Sam and he smiled gently at me. I wondered whether he understood my internal struggle.
    Madison did. She walked over, laid a hand on my arm and continued speaking. “It may seem strange to people outside the club. Property isn’t a bad thing, though. It doesn’t make you any less you. It just means that you’re his woman and anyone who fucks with you is taking on all of us.” The guys surrounding us nodded at her statement, and my hackles lowered a little.
    Sam kissed the top of