Midsummer's Embrace

  Tales of the Tellurian Pack #7

  Blake R. Wolfe

  UwU Publishing

  Copyright © 2023 Blake R. Wolfe

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  This book was produced without the use of AI Generated Content.

  Cover design by: GetCovers

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  Introduction

  Welcome back to the Tellurian Pack! Are you ready to check in on Adrian and Cooper to see how they’re doing? I know I am!

  If you want to know when more stories like this are coming out, sign up for the author’s newsletter at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/l9uq9vm8sk

  Midsummer Solstice: Cooper

  Was I surprised Adrian never showed up to the Tellurian Pack’s special midsummer solstice celebration? A little bit. But did I know exactly where to find him? Yes.

  He was in the same place he always was when he didn’t come home on time. The park. Probably cramped in his little research station out on the beach. He had a tendency to get lost in samples and tests and watching the stars. More than once, other members of the pack asked me if I was worried that he might be out messing around with me. But to be fair, they’d never seen his extensive rock collection that he fawned over. I’d more likely get left at home for a seaweed sample than another man.

  And I was okay with that. Truly. Seeing Adrian so passionate about his work was a beautiful thing. It was one of the many things I loved about him.

  But he could show up to a pack function once in a while, especially when the solstice and the full moon happened at the same time. It was quite a party and being pack Gamma meant I didn’t get much free time to enjoy it. Kael, Chance, and Leo had their hands full, trying to keep everyone somewhat sane as the full moon rose to its peak. The wolf instinct was strong, and it always led to rowdiness.

  So, in a way, he was doing me a favor. I had an excuse to run off and not work security all night while everyone else was drunk, shifting, and running off into the woods. At least out there on that abandoned beach, I could find some peace and maybe spend a little quality time with my Alpha.

  I drove across town, taking the winding road down past the hotels and closed shops. Most of the lights were off this time of night. It was nearly midnight, so traffic was practically non-existent. I kept the windows rolled down, my face and hair catching the wind as I drove. The smells of high summer filled my nostrils, reminding me of all those days spent out on the beach with Adrian.

  It was an exceptionally beautiful night. Marquette wasn’t big enough to cause light pollution, but what little there was faded away as I drove out of town. Beyond the city limits, the sky opened up, the vast darkness of the universe stretching out forever. Only, it wasn’t dark. Instead, it was filled with millions upon millions of stars twinkling brightly. Not only that, but you could see the entire band of the Milky Way overhead.

  I could only glance at it while I was driving, but it was a mesmerizing sight. On several occasions, I’d gone out to the research station with Adrian to help him do certain tests that could only be carried out at night. Inevitably, we’d end up side by side on the beach, our hands clasped between us as we stared up at the stars for some, that would mean spiraling into an existential crisis about how tiny and insignificant we were. But for me, it was the exact opposite.

  To know that out of everywhere in the universe I could have possibly been, I was there in Marquette, hand in hand with the most perfect man in the world. He was my mate, my Alpha, and the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Hell, I’d even managed to find a family of my own with the Tellurian Pack. Chance, Kael, Leo, and Jake… all of them were the best friends and brothers a man could ask for.

  How could I not feel like the luckiest wolf in the world lying on a beach with the knowledge that my life was practically perfect?

  I found it hard to feel small when I looked up at the stars because my life was so full of love and joy. It sounded like some stupid poster you’d find at a home decor store, but it was true. I actually felt that way. And that was the greatest thing I could imagine.

  Well… that and getting railed by Adrian again. That was always fun, especially during the full moon. His Alpha really came out then, and he had a tendency to use me like a piece of meat, which was my preferred method. Lucky me, tonight was a full moon.

  Now, I just had to get to him.

  Pulling into the long driveway to the park, I hopped out and unlocked the gates. Someone from the pack stopped by every night at dusk to lock the park up. Only security and pack leadership had keys, along with Adrian, of course. As soon as I had the car through, I locked it behind me and headed into the darkness of the trees.

  The park was a different place at night and one of my favorites. I’d been coming there for years to run by myself. Coincidentally, it was where I met Adrian in the first place. But since the Tellurian Pack purchased it, things had changed a bit. The roads were no longer bumpy and full of potholes, the trees were trimmed back and taken care of, and everything else, from the bathrooms to the pavilions, had been updated. Revenue from the park more than covered the renovations and Adrian’s salary to work at the research station.

  His job, of course, was to make sure we didn’t have any more attacks like we had the summer we met. The sea serpent, whatever it was, had been killed, and another incident hadn’t come to pass. At least not yet. Adrian did his best to monitor shifting conditions in the lake and keep up with weather or natural phenomena that could bring another such creature to our shores. He was diligent and passionate, and not a single dime spent on him was ever questioned.

  When he wasn’t trying to make sure no local werewolves lost their lives in Lake Superior, he worked on his own project. Documenting the Mishipeshu, the one he’d befriended, took up most of his spare time in the summer. He spent long days in the water, swimming with the creature and taking notes on its behavior. Of course, he said his presence and relationship with it skewed the data, but he still learned a few things about it.

  However, he’d grown concerned in the past couple of years. Another Mishipeshu had never been seen. Only his. He worried that the species might die out. That fear had quadrupled this year especially. The Mishipeshu had yet to be seen, and summer was already here. Adrian had been staying at the research station until nearly midnight every single night in the hopes that he’d see the glow of the creature swimming in the distance.

  But it never came, and he was starting to lose hope that it would ever return. And I hoped, for his sake, that it did. Just like a normal person would be heartbroken to lose a dog, so would Adrian if his mythical water beast never came home.

  My headlights swung into the parking lot at last as I came around the final bend. The place was completely deserted. Pulling the car to the far end of the lot, I saw the service road heading back through the woods that led to the research center. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far, and in about a minute, I found myself parked next to Adrian’s car outside the building.

  Inside, the lights were still on, just as I expected. I hopped out and stretched in the moonlight, enjoying the coolness of it on my skin. The wolf inside me grumbled in response. It wanted to be set free. But I had to find Adrian first.

  Prying myself away from the gorgeous night sky shining above me, I walked through the center's front doors. A bell jingled overhead, and I stood there for a moment, waiting for Adrian to come to meet me at the door like he always did.

  But nobody came.

  “Hello?” I called, my voice echoing off the hard tile floors. “Adrian?”

  No answer.

  “Odd.”

  All the lights were on, and the doors opened, so I began to wander in search of him. Maybe he’d fallen asleep at his desk. That did seem to happen quite a bit. The man loved to work himself to death. Or maybe he had his headphones in and couldn’t hear me. He was always getting lost in his projects. I never thought marine biology could be so fascinating, but he was absolutely transfixed with algae, seaweed, and tiny mollusks. If I let him, we might have a house full of fish tanks.

  However, no matter how many doors I passed through or how many corners I turned, I couldn’t seem to find him. I even checked the supply closets and the roof access. Adrian just wasn’t in the building. And that could only mean one thing.

  He was down at the beach.

  I sighed as I headed back toward the doors, flipping off the lights as I went. Getting down to the beach meant hiking a dune in the dark. But it was also one of the best places to stare up at the stars and see the full moon hanging high in the sky. I couldn’t think of a better place to end up.

  Locking the center’s doors behind me, I kicked off my shoes and started trudging through the sand. The path remained flat for about fifty yards before climbing steeply upward. Thankfully, a boardwalk led up and over the dune to minimize erosion, and the stairs were much easier than climbing up the shifting sands. Plus, the

top platform made for an excellent lookout point. It would be easy to spot Adrian from up there.

  “Here we go,” I muttered, reaching the bottom stair.

  There were about four hundred of them, and by the time I reached the top, I was huffing and puffing. Even in the best shape of my life, those stairs were a killer. I took a moment to catch my breath, leaning against the railing and staring up at the stars. The breeze kicked off the lake, bringing cool air up the dune to rustle the trees clinging to the sandy mountain.

  It was serene, to say the very least. One of my favorite places in the entire world. Everything seemed so right up there, looking down at the moonlight-drenched sands. Waves crashed against the shore. In the distance, I could just make out the lights of the town against the darkness of night. Marquette was easily one of the most beautiful places in the world.

  And, as my gaze drifted lower, I noticed a dark shape below near the shore. I recognized Adrian’s gait almost immediately. Inhaling deeply through my nose, I picked up his scent on the wind, too. It was definitely him. But he was standing in the sand, just staring out over the water. What could have him so enraptured?

  Then I saw them, the pale glow beneath the waves. What I’d mistaken for the shimmer of moonlight was actually something else. Some sort of large creature was making its way toward Adrian slowly.

  My heart rate picked up immediately, remembering the sea serpent attacks when we’d met. Without a second thought, I raced down the stairs, shouting as I went.

  “Adrian!” I called. “Get away from the water!”

  He didn’t move.

  “ADRIAN!”

  I tore off my shirt, leaving it behind me. Thankfully, my shoes were already gone, and gym shorts were easy to slip out of. With at least a hundred more steps to go, I vaulted over the railing, the wolf exploding out of me as I sailed through the air. My paws hit the sand, and I barrelled down the dune, barking the entire way.

  In less than fifteen seconds, I was at his side, sand flying in all directions as I skidded to a stop. My jaws clamped around his pant leg, pulling him backward and off his feet. He cried out, completely caught off guard as I attempted to drag him away from the water. Fabric tore, but I found a new hold and kept on pulling.

  “Cooper?” He seemed completely out of it. “Cooper! What are you doing?”

  I continued to pull.

  “Cooper, stop,” he said, pushing me away by the muzzle. “It’s fine.”

  I snorted, a low growl echoing through my chest.

  “You saw the lights, didn’t you?”

  The growl stopped.

  “It’s alright. I know who it is.” He reached out, stroking the fur on the side of my face. “I’ve seen her for the past few nights, but I had to be sure before I went in the water.”

  A whine crawled out of my throat. The idea of him going into the lake at night always made me anxious. He was a good swimmer, and he knew what he was doing. But after those attacks… well, I just couldn’t shake the fear that something else might happen to him.

  “The Mishipeshu is back,” he said, both of his hands running through my fur. “I’m sure of it. I heard her calling out over the water.” He pulled me close, throwing his arm over my shoulders as we both looked out over the water. “Listen.”

  There was nothing but the sound of crashing waves for the first few seconds. But just when I was growing impatient, my ears perked up, both of them swiveling toward the water. A low guttural cry echoed over the water. It was somewhere between a seal and a whale, although I couldn’t quite figure out how. But it was definitely a sound I’d heard before.

  “Remember?” he asked, scritching my shoulder. “That’s her call.”

  Another cry came up on the breeze, this one the same but a much higher pitch.

  “And that is the reason she’s been gone so long,” he added. “I… I think she’s had a calf.”

  I could hear the excitement in his voice, and I knew he was dying to talk about it. Leaning against his shoulder, I let the wolf fade, calling my human form back into existence. Within a matter of seconds, the fur faded away, and I was sitting there next to him in the sand, his arm still draped over my shoulders.

  “A calf?” I asked. “Are you sure?”

  “There’s no other explanation,” he smiled. “You heard it. And there’s definitely a smaller glow swimming alongside her.” He paused for a moment. “I… I wonder if she’d let us meet him.”

  “Him? How do you know that?”

  “Based on his color. The glow is a bit darker with a pinkish hue. It’s just a guess, but it’s definitely not the same.”

  “I don’t even know how you tell the gender of fish to begin with.”

  “Oh, she’s not a fish,” he corrected. “She’s a mammal. That I’m certain of.” He pushed himself up, still beaming as he reached back down to me. “Come on. Let’s see if she’ll bring him in closer.”

  There was the passionate glow in his eyes that I loved so much. I still wasn’t completely convinced that getting in the water was a good idea, but I trusted him. When it came to fish stuff, Adrian was your guy. If he was confident that this creature wouldn’t eat us, I had to at least give it a try. Besides, knee-deep water was safe, right?

  “You’re certain it’s not another monster?” I asked, taking his hand as he hauled me to my feet. “I’m not gonna get eaten?” I glanced down at my naked body, realizing all my clothes were left on the boardwalk from when I’d shifted. “Maybe I shouldn’t go in like this.”

  “Here,” he replied, whipping off his own shorts and handing them over to me. “I’ll just wear these.”

  These turned out to be a shorty wetsuit under his clothing. Apparently, he’d been planning on taking a swim tonight one way or another. I sighed, my ticket out of going into the freezing water denied.

  “Hope you don’t mind your belt getting wet,” I replied, cinching the belt up at least three holes. “You’re a lot bigger than me.”

  “I’m fit,” he replied, tossing the rest of his clothes into a pile on the sand.

  “I’m fit!” I growled back, flexing my arms. “Look at these guns!”

  “Very impressive.” His tone said otherwise.

  I turned away, crossing my arms over my chest. But a moment later, I felt his arms wrap around my waist, the warmth of him spreading over my back.

  “You know I think you’re the most beautiful creature in all the world,” he whispered in my ear. His lips traced over my neck, and I shivered. “But Alpha blood means I’m just more muscular than you, that’s all.”

  “Yeah, yeah… Rub it in.”

  “And I like it that you’re smaller than me,” he added, giving me a squeeze. “Makes you easier to hold on to.”

  I couldn’t help a low, contented growl as he kissed my neck, lavishing his attention. He always knew what to say to me, even when he knew that I was just playing grumpy. It was a little game we played. He got to be the hulking broody Alpha while I got to be his little twink. If anyone else treated me like that, I might be offended. But with Adrian, it just felt right. And it was fun. That’s all that mattered.

  “Alright,” I said, untangling myself from him. “Let’s go look at your beastie and freeze to death in the process. I know you want to hang out with her more than me.”

  “Thank you,” he said, giving me a quick kiss. “And once we’re done, I’m yours for the rest of the night.”

  “Bet your ass you are.”

  With one last smile, Adrian darted toward the water. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him go. He was so much different than that brooding outcast I found on the beach the first night we met. Over the past couple of years, he’d come out of his shell, finally learning to trust the pack and those around him. We both had. The icy walls we’d created were getting thinner and thinner with every passing day.

  I guess that’s what happened when you were ridiculously happy.

  “Wait for me,” I called, trudging through the cold sand.

  That water was going to be fucking frigid, I just knew it. There was ice on the lake only a month or two ago, so it wasn’t going to be warm by any stretch of the imagination. Not that it ever stopped Adrian. But I was small, like he said, and prone to hypothermia. Not that I’d ever tested it before, but Adrian seemed intent on killing me with this lake.

 

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