Free Forbidden Hope: A Werewolf Wars Prequel Novella by Bethany Shaw

my granddaughters are doing the same thing. I understand that love is important. However, the survival of our species cannot be left up to love alone.”
    “Once Emily has conceived, she will be mated to the father of her child,” Emmett reasoned. “It will only last until a good breeding partner is found.”
    Breeding partner? Bile rose up in Emily’s throat at the thought. She wanted to hurl at the horror and injustice of it all.
    “The other two girls here, are they of breeding age?” Fernando asked.
    “No, Maddie and Amelia have not started their heat cycles yet,” Claire spoke up.
    “They are fifteen and sixteen,” Emmett explained.
    “Do you plan to take them?” Claire asked, her voice cracking slightly.
    “I see no reason not to leave them in your charge until they come of age. May I ask how you happened upon them?” Fernando inquired.
    Emmett leaned forward on his desk. “The two young girls came to us about three-and-a-half years ago. We received a distress call from a neighboring pack about an hour away. By the time we got there, there wasn’t much we could do. The men who lived aren’t fighters; from what I’ve gathered, the pack was quite docile in nature. Regardless, they have all become intricate members of our pack, and we have found jobs for each of them.”
    “Tragic,” Luis muttered. “We are seeing more and more attacks recently. There are some packs where there are no female wolves at all. It is causing a lot of tension.”
    “And you think forcing women to breed is going to calm the packs?” Claire asked.
    “Claire, darling,” Emmett said, standing up. “Why don’t you and Emily set to work on supper, and leave the talks to us.”
    Claire growled low in her throat. Emily snapped her head, watching her mother closely. She held her breath. Surely her mother would say something—object to this ridiculousness. Her parents stared at each other for a long moment before her mother rose from the couch, pulling her up too.
    “Come along, Emily,” she murmured.
    Emily gaped at her mother for a moment before allowing herself to be pulled from the room. She had a feeling that her mother and father would be revisiting the conversation later. The only thing left to do now was pray that her mother could talk some common sense into Emmett. If not, then she didn’t want to think about the consequences.
    ***
    M arcus fisted his hands at his sides as he paced Vincent’s bedroom floor. “I can’t believe Emmett agreed to this,” he snarled.
    “I can,” Devon said as he pulled the monitor up through the heating ductwork.
    “But mom?” Vincent started, collapsing on the bed. “She didn’t even fight it —n ot really. Do you think she is okay with this?”
    “I think we’re going to have to assume she is going to side with Emmett on this,” Devon sighed, turning the monitor off, sticking in a box, and shoving back under the bed.
    “I don’t care about them. What are we going to do about Emily? I know she doesn’t want this—and her being passed around is unacceptable,” Marcus growled. “We can worry about everything else later. How are we going to help get her out of this.”
    Devon sank down onto the bed and ran a hand over his face. “I wish we could listen to the entire conversation.”
    “I didn’t know the batteries were going bad, or I would have replaced them,” Vincent grumbled.
    “I don’t even want to know why you have that to begin with,” Devon sighed, balling and un-balling his hands.
    “It comes in handy,” Vincent smirked.
    “This isn’t helping, Em,” Marcus snapped. Heat crept across his face as his anger boiled over. He grimaced as his nails dug into his palms, sending tiny rivulets of blood to the floor.
    “You’re partially shifting,” Vincent noted, staring at Marcus’ hands.
    “I could tear him apart.”
    “He’d kill you. You don’t have the skill to fight him,” Devon replied.
    “I don’t care. I’ll distract him, you two get Em