Savage Mate

SAVAGE MATE LOLA GABRIEL Savage Mate Text Copyright © 2023 by Lola Gabriel All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental. First printing, 2023 Cover art: Miblart Publisher Secret Woods Books [email protected] www.SecretWoodsBooks.com CONTENTS Secret Woods Books1. Kane2. Layla3. Kane4. Layla5. Kane6. Layla7. Kane8. Layla9. Kane10. Layla11. Kane12. Layla13. Kane14. Layla15. Kane16. Layla17. Kane18. Layla19. Kane20. LaylaOther Books You Will LoveSecret Woods Books SECRET WOODS BOOKS Receive a FREE paranormal romance eBook by visiting our website and signing up for our mailing list: SecretWoodsBooks.com By signing up for our mailing list, you’ll receive a FREE paranormal romance eBook. The newsletter will also provide information on upcoming books and special offers. 1KANE Istepped into the house and shook off the rain. “Hey, man,” I said to Blaze, who lounged on the couch, watching a game on TV. “Alpha,” he said with a nod of his head before he got up and clapped his hand into mine. “It’s a shitstorm out there.” Lightning crackled overhead as if to emphasize the point. The yellow ceiling light flickered, and a rumble of thunder followed. “Yeah.” I ran my hands through my wet hair. I found a tie in my pocket and pulled it back. “The forest needs this, though. It was hell coming from town.” “You’re working late.” I shrugged. “This far away from the full moon, there isn’t much else for me to do. Besides, I like hanging out at the clubs.” “Because you know it’s all yours, a king looking down at his kingdom.” I chuckled and nodded. I owned all the clubs and casinos in Pule Falls, and a few in the next town over, too. I liked staying busy. Blaze nodded. “Beer?” “I’d kill for one.” He grinned and opened a cooler next to the couch, tossing a can of beer at me. I snatched it out of the air with one hand. “Seriously? The kitchen is right there,” I said. Blaze laughed. “Yeah, and way too far when I’m lazy as shit. I got the cooler right here, my beer stays cold, and the only reason I need to get up now is to take a piss.” I laughed and dropped my large body onto the small couch opposite Blaze. The couch groaned under my weight. “Hey, if you break my shit again, you’re replacing it,” Blaze complained. “Not my problem your couch is too small.” “Not all wolf shifters come in the size of a tank,” he deadpanned. I shrugged, cracked open my beer, and took a long sip. “Ah.” I let out a contented sigh before I rolled my neck. “Just what the witch-doctor ordered.” Blaze snorted. “That’s such an archaic saying. When have you last seen a mage?” “Not recently,” I said with a shrug. “Good thing, too. They grate me.” That, and the fact that since we’d lost ours, they’d been steering clear of the pack so that I couldn’t even ask one to join our ranks. I tried not to focus on that. It was easier to act like I didn’t want one than to admit that the mages wanted nothing to do with the new alpha. “They can be a pain in the ass…” “But?” “It’s not a bad thing to have one in the pack, you know. It keeps shit under control. Right now, you have me and your deltas. It’s not enough.” Blaze was right. He was my Beta—my right-hand man, acting as the lieutenant in the pack. He also happened to be my best friend, which helped a lot because I could confide in him when the rest of the pack, the deltas and the omegas, were like attack dogs or children I had to babysit. Being alpha was lonely. It took a lot of time and fighting their way up in pack rank for a wolf to become a beta, and usually once they did, they were so power hungry they wanted to eventually take out their alpha, too. I was lucky that Blaze knew his place, and he was there for me to lean on rather than to have to watch my back, lest he sink his teeth into it. A mage was a magical creature, on the same level as the deltas, who usually linked herself to a pack and helped with control. When my dad had been alpha of Pule Falls and the surrounding country, we’d had a mage run with us, but Gwenna died mysteriously. Since then… I liked to think I was okay without one, but shit was starting to go sideways. Fuck if I was going to admit to it, though. “I have bigger fish to fry,” I said. “The Dark Wolf?” I nodded with a grunt. “I heard it’s supposed to be really exclusive. Only the top dogs in the shifter community get in.” I snorted. “That sounds like a load of crap.” Blaze shrugged. “What else did you hear?” I was curious. Blaze had his ear to the ground. I owned clubs and casinos, which meant that my people walked on eggshells around me. Blaze was a club-goer, he knew what was going on in a world where people didn’t talk openly to alphas like me. “I heard the owner is a real big shot. Some big-time alpha from out of town.” A growl involuntarily rolled out of my throat. Another alpha in my territory? He hadn’t introduced himself. That was wolf shifter etiquette. “I don’t think he’s here to cause shit,” Blaze said, knowing what I was thinking. “It’s still right for him to make himself known.” He nodded,