Free Maggie's Wolves, Part Two: A BBW Shifter Romance (Red Mountain Pack Book 2) by Cara Morgan

Chapter One
    Maggie pulled on an old flannel robe and followed Eli outside to meet the pack. The sun was struggling to break through the clouds. The air was cold enough to freeze her breath, and there was a solid foot of snow on the ground. She was shivering by the time she’d taken two steps from the door, but Eli seemed impervious to the weather. He wore a pair of old jeans and his fleece-lined boots, but that was it. She opened her mouth to tease him about catching a cold, but then decided to simply enjoy the sight of all that thick, bulging muscle. It warmed her up from the inside.
    “You can wait inside where it’s warm,” he said as she joined him. “I just wanted to talk to them for a minute or two to warn them about what to expect.”
    She raised her brows. “You’re warning them about me?”
    He coiled an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. “You need a warning label, sweetheart. Shifter in heat. Proceed with caution .”
    “Hey,” she teased back, elbowing him in the ribs.
    He laughed and buried his cold nose against the side of her neck. Pressing a quick kiss there, he said, “They need to know you’re new to our world. Most alpha females would already understand the rules of the game and let their wolves take charge.”
    Her smile slipped away. “I’m doing this wrong.”
    “What?” He caught her chin and lifted her face. “That’s not what I meant at all. You’re not doing anything wrong. I just want this to go well for everyone involved. It’s best if there aren’t any misunderstandings upfront. You’re still worried about this?”
    “I’m a little nervous.”
    Terrified might be a better word. She already cared about Eli, and she knew how badly he wanted her to accept his pack as her own. He’d been completely honest in his expectations about that and, while her wolf was on board with the idea of claiming more mates, her human half was beginning to second guess everything. There was only one thing of which she was absolutely certain—scared or not, she wasn’t about to hide away while someone else decided her future. Not even Eli.
    Resting her head against his shoulder, she took a deep breath to steady herself and was startled when she caught the scent of the approaching wolves. Masculine and wild, the scent made her mouth water.
    “I can smell them,” she said. “My nose isn’t usually this sharp when I’m walking around on two legs.”
    “It’s probably the heat. Your wolf wants to find other shifters.”
    She looked out at the woods. She couldn’t see the wolves yet, but they weren’t far away. “There are only two.”
    He nodded, tilting his head and tasting the air. “Case and Jack.”
    They didn’t have long to wait. Within moments, the first wolf, large and covered with reddish brown fur, stepped from the tree line. He paused to study them through golden eyes. Maggie would have been able to read the wolf’s curiosity in the slight tilt of his head even if she hadn’t had the instincts of a shifter. A second wolf, smaller and gray, entered the clearing only a few seconds behind.
    Eli stepped forward to greet them, positioning himself between her and the wolves. He probably meant to give her a minute or two to catch her breath, but she’d felt better with his arm wrapped around her. The wolves ignored Eli anyway, both of them moving to keep her within sight. They stared at her with obvious interest.
    No. It was more than that. They were watching her with intent, as if she were prey. Feeling threatened, she reached for her wolf and, when the shift eluded her, made a small noise of distress.
    “It’s okay, Maggie,” Eli said softly. “They’re not going to hurt you.”
    It wasn’t that. “You said I would be able to shift.”
    Frowning, he turned to look at her. “You still can’t?”
    She shook her head. “It’s the same as it was last night before...” She glanced at the wolves, who continued to stalk closer, and then back at Eli. “