Unawakened Fate

Unawakened Fate Vegas Wolf Pack Series Book 1 Amanda Nichole Copyright Unawakened Fate Copyright ©2022 by Amanda Nichole All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in book review. Cover Design by: OkayCreations Edited by: Amanda Nichole Contents Content Warning Quote Dedication 1. Prologue 2. Chapter 1 3. Chapter 2 4. Chapter 3 5. Chapter 4 6. Chapter 5 7. Chapter 6 8. Chapter 7 9. Chapter 8 10. Chapter 9 11. Chapter 10 12. Chapter 11 13. Chapter 12 14. Chapter 13 15. Chapter 14 16. Chapter 15 17. Chapter 16 18. Chapter 17 19. Chapter 18 20. Chapter 19 21. Chapter 20 22. Chapter 21 23. Chapter 22 24. Chapter 23 25. Fate Awakened Prologue Reader's Note Acknowledgments About Author Content Warning CONTENT WARNING Unawakened Fate is a paranormal romance between an awakened wolf shifter and an unawakened wolf shifter. While this book is rooted in the supernatural it includes real-life elements which may not be suitable for all readers. Some of these include references to alcohol consumption, violence, and mental health struggles with panic attacks. Additionally, it explores themes around generational trauma, domestic abuse, addiction, and implied sexual violence. Please note that due to these elements, this book is intended for adult audiences and is not recommended for anyone under 18 years old. Quote If you have chemistry, you only need one other thing. Timing. But timing’s a bitch. ~Robin Scherbatsky Dedication Dedication Page To my students in the graduating class of 2026, who reminded me that dreaming big doesn’t stop just because you grow up. Prologue Cain My muscles twitch imperceptibly as I shift the claws on my dominant hand. The thin patience I had when arriving today has long since evaporated. The room stinks of all forms of bodily fluids and will require a good hosing down. The constant screaming, sobbing, and crying coming from the huddled, tied-up lump on the floor causes a dull ache between my temples as I pace the room, trying to let some pent-up aggression out. This interrogation is taking too long. A threatening growl escapes my throat. We haven’t gotten any information on the location of our missing tech, and time is running short for us to get it back before it can be used against us. Someone leaked information that we have some bleeding-edge technology we were about to release. Before going to market, a single encryption key was transported out of the city to get the data certified. That key was stolen in transit, and our courier was slaughtered. After hours of backtracking, we traced the leak to a wolf from Deacon Marlo’s pack in Reno, his nephew Kole. We granted Kole access to our territory to study at UNLV at the special request of his Alpha and Uncle. He is a guest here, but he isn’t one of us. And now, after fourteen hours of interrogation, he is playing dumb and not spilling the information we need. Dante, Alpha for our Vegas Pack, believes Kole is holding back on us. None of us will be safe if this shit gets into the wrong hands. It could out us as a species, which would tear down not only our pack but all of them. The sniveling and whining continue, “Please… I don’t know anyth….” The loud crunch of bones breaking under a strong foot abruptly stops the calculated groveling and opens the door to more outright screaming. “We know you leaked the information on our route. What we need is who gave you the information and who you told?!” Jake shouts over the cries, turning the heel of his steel-toed boot on the mangled hand and throwing another solid punch to the nose for good measure. Jake likes to do the dirty work, sometimes too much. By giving him the ability to be our top interrogator behind the scenes, he gets to quench his need for doling out pain in a controlled way. This arrangement benefits us because rather than having to clean up after an outburst, Jake works out his aggression here, where we need the answers anyway. Jake has demons, but he is good at what he does, so we sometimes overlook the means when he gets us the ends. Today’s session, however, is dragging on longer than anticipated, and the fluorescent lights overhead begin to turn on automatically with the sun setting. The addition of the bright light shows off the work Jake did over the past few hours. Blood splatter covers every surface from the early hours of breaking Kole in. The stench of sweat, urine, and vomit hang in the air as Kole wheezes trying to pull in air through what must be at least one punctured lung that accompanies several broken ribs. Jake rarely allows Awakened to shift during his interrogations due to our species' rapid healing when we transition. In this session, he graciously allowed Kole to shift, only once, to heal his injuries, which might have killed him by now. I doubt Jake will be giving second chances at this stage, but killing the Reno Pack Alpha’s nephew will be a declaration of war. A war we aren't ready for, especially considering we just lost our competitive edge in transit. Jake lifts his boot, yanking a handful of blood-matted hair, and crouches lower to whisper, “If you're so set on lying to us, I will be sure to send each and every piece of you to that sister of yours up in Reno. Don't make your family pay for your incompetence.” The gasp that escapes his mouth would have been