Free Sold To The Werewolf: A Wolf Shifter Biker Romantic Suspense by Summer Cooper Page A

from her memories of her honeymoon of midnight strolls along the beach before making love in the ocean, to her present reality of smiling at people she still wasn’t sure of. She’d been Zare’s wife for over a month now and the Sunday family dinners still felt awkward for her.
    She’d been watching a group of males ranging in age from 18 to 64 for the last hour. They kept breaking apart and coming back together. They would shift between glaring at Zare’s back and turning away when he turned in their direction. All cousins of Zare’s, she couldn’t ask them to leave but she didn’t have to stand around watching them glaring at her husband when his back was turned.
    A month of marriage produced a deep abiding love within Jane for Zare. The man was everything she’d expected him to be and more. He might not be her childhood dream of what a man should be but she loved him deeply regardless. He was exactly what she’d needed, not a fantasy. There was more to the family and the family business than she was being told but she wasn’t too concerned. After all, Zare couldn’t be doing anything wrong.
    They still made the occasional jaunt out to the bar but for the most part Zare stayed home with her at the end of the day. He’d go out to play in his pool league games, to operate his business, and to get things done but for the most part he stayed near Jane, even moving a lot of his work to the office in the house.
    But that look of malice from his cousins, what did that mean? The clan was something Zare often spoke of, the good of the clan, the future of the clan. These men, and a previous mention of the Alpha, made Jane wonder. She kept telling herself Zare couldn’t be involved in anything bad but why else would those men be looking at him like that. Did it mean they resented what he was doing or did it mean they wanted part of what he had?
    Jane brushed off her concerns as Zare’s aunt, Star, came up to show Jane a new book she’d ordered. Jane gave the expected responses but kept Zare in her sights. She was worried about him. Later she lost sight of Zare and saw the group of men talking together as they moved out to a barn a little further back from the house.
    The land here had been reclaimed from the swamp but it still took a lot of work to keep the swamp from claiming it back. Jane watched the men and followed, noticing that there were quite a few people coming in and out of the barn, some hanging out around the outside. She went to the back of the barn, the encroaching night and a few cypress trees hiding her movements.
    She found a window and looked into the barn. What she saw made her nearly fall off of the barrel she was perched on. Inside there was a boxing ring, tables and chairs, and a crowd of people. That explained all of the boats parked behind the house. She’d wondered where all of those people were.
    Jane smothered a gasp behind her hand as she spotted two men going into the ring. There was no referee and the two men started pounding at each other as soon as they walked into the ring. Both were in their late 40s and overweight, balding, and looked like the last place they belonged was in a boxing ring.
    Blood was soon pouring from one of the men and as he fell to the floor of the ring the other man leaped onto his chest a knife appearing from somewhere. He pushed the blade deep into the man’s skin but he didn’t stab him. Instead he looked up and following his line of sight. Jane felt her world start to collapse again. Zare was standing there shaking his head.
    The victor growled and punched the fallen man in the face once more before he stomped off. Jane wobbled on the barrel but grabbed at the window sill. No wonder Zare had told her it was too dangerous in the barn for her! Jane felt tears pricking her eyes as she saw women taking money from men and leading them off to dark corners of the barn while others handed over pills.
    Jane didn’t recognize any of the prostitutes or the people