Castling: The Call

By J.M. Valentine

Alpha-daughter Aster Graves has always wanted to carve her own path in life, constantly caught between the loyalty to her Loup-Garou kind and her compassion towards mortals. After her pack is rescued from attack by the warrior pack of Salem, her entire life is turned upside down when she finds herself Calling-an ancient gift her pack has not exp

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kreature of Habit
• Release date: May 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869367112

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Castling

The Call

J. M. Valentine

Copyright © 2024 J. M. Valentine

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Kreature of Habit—Murray, KY

ISBN: 979-8-9902462-0-1

eBook ISBN: 979-8869367112

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024911380

Title:Castling: The Call

Author: J. M. Valentine

Digital distribution | 2024

Paperback | 2024

This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, places, and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination, and are not to be construed as real.

Published in the United States by New Book Authors Publishing

DEDICATION

To Toby—the greatest IF where my wonders began.

PROLOGUE

T

he collide to my side was like a missile straight to my ribs. I went rolling on the ground and fell out of my fur into my mortal skin when my head smacked into the side of the tree. My vision and hearing was fuzzy as the calloused hands of a male clasped my side and bicep to hoist me off the ground.

Where do you plan on going running in circles like that? My faceless attacker chuckled in a gruff hush from behind me.

A Blood Knight.

All the others went west, Loup-Garou. I cursed myself in my trembling and tried to summon all my strength to lie without shaking.

Loup-Garou—is that what you call me? He mused.

I ignored the question. Loup-Garou was the only word that could’ve come from my mouth with the minute amount of respect I could pretend to offer.

Even though I couldn’t turn my head, I knew that he was cloaked in furs. The parts that met my skin were sticky and made me flinch when I knew it was blood, possibly from one of my own—one of my pack.

Your pack can head them off that way. Just don’t hurt me, I rushed through grit teeth, biting my tongue before I could spit.

I have a feeling that you wouldn’t care if I hurt you so long as I don’t hurt anyone else, he admitted quietly, seeing straight through me. He sounded raspy and hoarse. His voice was practically a growl that still made some words hard to distinguish since he couldn’t seem to raise it any higher.

I could sense his tension and the tiny movements of his head as he looked around us. In the dark, I could hear the growls and screams coming from the direction of the den. I’d used myself as a decoy so that some of my pack mates could make their escape and shouldn’t have been so naive to think I’d be able to evade being captured myself.

Rain weighed my dark hair down until it stuck to the sides of my face and neck. Yet even with that curtain, I shivered when his shallow breathing landed on my skin as he rested his cheek against my head.

I could make out the brush of his lips to my hair as he whispered to me, Lovely. You make the moon swell.

Those words. They made my bones rattle, and I couldn’t anticipate what would come next.

W-what do you want? I repeated on the verge of collapse.

What is it you want? he asked right back. Would you choose me and make me your every luxury in this life?

His hand fell over my eyes, and with the press of his knuckle under my chin, he tipped my head up with a gentle twist until I felt the blow of his breath. In the cold that surrounded us, his lips were scorching against, not my lips where I anticipated, but my cheek. My body went rigid and the impulse to jerk away flittered through me. But when I thought he’d be forceful in his taking, it was unexpectedly light like the swift peck of a child.

Though my heart wasn’t in it, I could feel his swamping desire as he refused to lose an inch between us. I didn’t dare to budge because any movement might give his lips a different place to land. Yet somehow in that kiss stolen from me, it felt more like a gift. There was a radiance and a luster that warmed me through so that when I knew I needed to pull away all I could do was stay as long as he was willing to stand there with me.

Home.

The thought shook me.

That calling.

The Blood Knight swallowed as though he was holding back pain, and he gasped in the release, quietly panting in exhaustion as his posture dipped suddenly. Never for a second did his grip on me falter as though he were clinging to me to save his own life. Taking deep breaths against me seemed to build his energy back and brought him into a state of calm again.

His lips brushed my skin like the flutter of wings when he asked me a question impregnated with hope and uncertainty, Will you find your way if I let you go?

What was this feeling? Lightning was crashing above us, but inside of me was a building crescendo. There was a radical collide in my core like I’d been struck by a wave determined to take me under.

Was it fear?

Was it rage?

Was this the feeling of being on the cusp of fight or flight?

I wasn’t sure what it was, but for the first time in my life, I kissed a stranger. I kissed an enemy who tasted of blood.

I gasped when I felt a tightness to my throat. My instincts made me want to take flight under his choke.

Forgive me, he apologized gently. Easy now. Shhh…, he hushed with a lulling drop to his tone. Just sleep a little.

The pressure of his hand intensified, but there was no real force behind it as though he was trying to minimize the pain he was putting me through. When I lost the strength in my legs, I fell back further into his chest. He didn’t carry me away though. He laid me down just below the slope behind a fallen tree.

Stay. I won’t be too far, he whispered into my hair as the howling got closer to us.

It sounded like an oath that could be taken in blood and made me even more confused in my dwindling, oxygen deprived state. With every slow blink that each drop of rain tried to seal shut, I watched the dark shadows clash in the distance. Snarls. Growls. The snap of jaws. Such awful sounds was the lullaby that pulled me into dreams of a black abyss. When I woke, there was nothing but the light patter of rain hitting the trees and pale, grey light dripping through the canopy.

And I was alone with the wonder if the Loup-Garou was a hysterical figment of my imagination running wild with adrenaline.

When I’d wandered back through the woods, the silence was shattering. With each step, the smell of distant smoke dampened in the air and was spritzed with blood. I saw the broken bodies of wolves all around, their pelts were black as night with bloodied handprints marking and stroking over them. All the heaps of corpses were Blood Knights, and a part of me wished that the Loup-Garou never existed at all.

Contents

Castling

DEDICATION

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

EPILOGUE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1

I

 gazed across the glassy surface of the lake, looking for every ripple as the breeze blew swift kisses across my face. I trailed the tips of my fingers just above the water’s edge before dipping each in one at a time. I hoped my pretend play would disguise my spying on the small family a few yards down from where I sat.

Like this, Dad? I heard a boy ask loudly to his father. Proudly, he dangled a lure he had knotted to the fishing line in front of his father’s face to distract him from his sister.

The father flicked up the rim of his worn, red cap then held the line still and squinted his eyes to examine the knot. He grinned and rumpled his son’s blonde curls. Just like that, bud!

The father turned his attention back to the girl. Her eyes were a brilliant sky blue and her bounding curls were bunched into perfectly aligned pigtails. She had on a checkered pink top with a large embroidered strawberry on the front and ruffled shorts to match. In that attire, she looked out of place with her father and brother sporting well-loved jeans and tees with tiny, sporadic holes that only a keen eye would notice.

Nevertheless, her father made it seem like she was right where she was supposed to be. That she fit perfectly in that space on the shore as he helped her hold her fishing rod and slowly cranked her hand at just the right speed.

There you go! You got it. He told her before letting go to have her reel it in on her own. He gave her shoulder a squeeze of encouragement.

I had seen fishing before. I watched it being carried out hundreds of times at the lake. Always at a distance. There was something about this family. I had seen this man with this boy and girl a dozen times in the past. I was fascinated by the way they interacted in the way they did as though they stepped out of wholesome, family drama.

There was such gentleness and joy in their simple lives. They didn’t have a care in the world. Not truly knowing what lurked beyond the trees, or even there at the water’s edge.

The girl looked over at me and gave me a small wave paired with a mashed smile. She was trained to be polite, but felt awkward greeting an unknown face.

I blinked, startled that I was noticed. I ducked my head down, hoping the bowing reeds would cover me now that she had caught me staring.

Hey! The man called in my direction. My initial reaction was to get up and run back into the safety of the woods. But my panic settled when he said, We have an extra pole.

Slowly I brought my eyes up to meet the welcome of him holding a fishing rod in my direction. I looked around me to make sure he hadn’t been speaking to someone else behind me. There was no one within earshot since all the other scatters of people were on the opposite side of the lake aside from a few old men in their boats.

Do you wanna try? he asked me with a smile that gave off more warmth than the sun.

I made my way up to my bare feet and wrung the hem of my plain white dress with my dirty palms. After an apprehensive breath, I took a step closer in their direction. I constantly looked over my shoulder in both directions to see if anyone else was around and quickened my pace over.

You ever fish before? The man asked me.

I shook my head and tucked the dark brown locks that strewn my face behind my ear. I chewed my bottom lip as he readied the spare reel for me, explaining exactly what he was doing, and cautiously, I shifted so I could see every step. I would bob my head in understanding and when he grinned I could feel the side of my mouth begin to pull.

He motioned me in front of him and assisted me while I casted. My eyes widened with excitement as the lure flew through the air and landed a good distance into the water with a plunk.

More ripples.

Wow! Look at that! He said with excitement like I had accomplished it on my own. He squatted down at my side between me and his daughter. Now, don’t reel it in too fast. Nice and steady like Anna is.

This girl, Anna, smiled so kindly at me the second time around. Yeah, like this, she showed me.

I mimicked the motion self consciously.

What a natural! The man applauded.

I was beaming with a smile that showed more teeth and could feel the swell in my cheeks as they lifted closer to my eyes.

Your folks cookin’ out at the pavilion? You live nearby? The man asked then, sounding like he was trying to gauge why I was alone.

My hand paused as I turned my head to look at him. I searched his charming blue eyes in question.

His demeanor hadn’t changed. He continued to smile as he tipped his head in the direction behind us. You live in the woods?

I glanced toward where he indicated and started to open my mouth, but another voice halted me.

There you are! The strong voice hollered.

Startled, I dropped the pole and spun around to see the face of the owner. By the way he sounded, one would expect him to be more rugged, but he was tailored with his hair combed perfectly and the sleeves of his tucked pinstripe shirt rolled evenly up his forearms. The sleek, pricey glasses (that he didn’t need) only made him look more refined and sophisticated.

Honey, you can’t run off on me like that, he said with a charming lull. He held out his arms to me, and I went to him and instinctively raised my arms for the lift up onto his hip. I’ve been looking for you everywhere, he said as he pushed more hair from my face. He held my chin and turned my head both ways in a quick check. When he was satisfied that I was still in one piece, he sighed in relief that was short lived before the scolding tone came out. Gosh, your mom is gonna kill me. What have you gotten yourself into, Janie?

This man is not my father, and my name isn’t Janie.

With a shrug and a smile, he pressed his forehead to mine and took another deep breath before letting his shoulders relax. I held tightly to his neck and didn’t dare look back at the family.

Gosh, thank you so much for finding her, he went on to say to the man. I had turned around for two seconds and she was gone. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life! He let out a relieved laugh and held me tighter, his fingers slipping through my hair to keep my cheek to his shoulder.

No problem at all, the man said. We were just doin’ a lil fishin’. I’m Mike. Mike Sullivan.

My holder moved his hand from my head to shake hands and immediately replaced it. Raymond.

His name was Julian.

You from around here, Ray? Mike asked.

We just moved here from the city. Another lie. She’s been begging to go to the lake and I got an urgent call from my boss. She’s never been in such a, Julian searched for a word, woodsy setting. She must’ve just got excited. He swallowed and shook his head, bouncing me in his arms like he was trying to calm me. I don’t even want to think about what could’ve happened.

Yeah, you might want to keep a close eye on her when you’re out here, Mike said. We got wolves runnin’ in these woods.

Wolves? Julian croaked, cleaving to me tighter. I could feel the turn of his head as he looked about. Are-are they dangerous? Has anyone been attacked?

Few years ago it was quite the pandemic. Took folks awhile before they started goin’ in again. You might want to, you know, there were a few pats, get you some protection.

Julian nodded. Oh, okay. I’ll consider that. Thanks for the warning. And again, thank you so much for keeping her safe.

What are neighbors for? Mike hollered over to me, Nice to meet you, lil’ lady.

Julian discreetly tapped his finger against my skull as a queue for me to respond.

I flipped my head to look at Mike one last time. Thank you for letting me fish, I said shyly.

Julian gave my arm a small good job squeeze.

Mike nodded. Aw, no problem, sweetheart.

Bye! Anna chimed with a wave.

I bit my lip, opening and closing my hand to her. Bye.

With that, Julian turned around and started walking along the path back to where the cars were. He still looking? he asked.

I lifted my eyes and saw Mike standing there with arms crossed staring our way. I nodded my chin against his collarbone.

Okay, he said, patting my back. You just tell me when.

Mike tipped his head in observation. Then after another minute, he turned his body back towards the lake. After another short gaze, his head followed.

Now, I said.

In an instant, Julian bolted into the tree line and didn’t slow down until we were at least a mile into the dense woods. He sniffed the air and stood still with perked ears as he listened.

Deer. Squirrels. A creek.

When he was satisfied, he set me down and pulled out his cellphone. He got down in front of me and waited for someone to answer as he plucked the leaves from my hair and examined me for injuries that was more legitimate than his showy check at the lake.

You okay? he asked me. You get hurt?

I shook my head and stood in silence with my hands clasped together as I stared down at my feet. With the back of his hand he made an attempt to clean the dirt that marked my face.

Hey, Julian greeted the voice that answered. Yeah, I found her. She was at the lake. —No. She’s fine. But she was engaging this time. —Yeah, we’re maybe twenty minutes on foot.

Julian hung up and slipped his phone back into his pocket as he rose back up to an erect position. With a sigh, he removed the glasses from his face while simultaneously dragging his fingers through his light brown hair to shake life back into it. Had Mike seen him this way, he would’ve questioned if he was old enough to even be my father.

He wasn’t. In reality, Julian was still a teenager. Nature had been good to him even in his youth and built him tall with devilishly handsome features that bought anyone into believing anything he said. Man, woman, it didn’t matter. There was something in the way he spoke and the way he carried himself that led everyone to believe they were speaking to someone older and incredibly wise. Needless to say that he never got carded in any club he tried to get into (if getting into clubs was his scene).

I suppose that it also helped that at the time, I was incredibly small for my age. (Then again, that much never changed. It was pretty much a curse to be treated like a child because, despite my defiant nature, innocence couldn’t seem to quit me.)

Julian grasped my hand gently, his thumb running against my small knuckle as a means of coaxing me. I wondered if he had honed in on my heart beating like a rabbit’s. I shifted my eyes, ready to see his disapproving face, but in his gaze was a sea of relief and understanding.

Let’s go home, Aster, he said and gave me a light tug.

Am I in trouble? I asked, skipping a few steps to keep up with his stride.

Julian chuckled, Better believe it. He took a look down at me and while keeping kindness in his brown eyes, he was more serious. You know better, Alpha-daughter. You can’t keep running off to watch the humans. What if a hunter came?

I was careful, I promised, as much as a nine year old could.

You not only put yourself at risk, but the whole pack. The Beta in him finally decided to show up to the party. His tone was older and with a baritone thunder that made me want to shudder and roll over. Yes, despite Julian not even being full grown, Alpha didn’t hesitate to groom him for Beta the moment Beta Marco passed in a car accident a few years back.

It’s not fair, Julian, I complained, giving his arm a hard swing as though he’d been ignoring me. We have to live around mortals and can’t even be friends with them.

Aster, if they knew what we were, he shook his head, they wouldn’t want to be friends. They’d want us gone.

I jerked my hand free from his and stomped my bare foot on the ground. My eyes started to water when I had slammed my shoeless foot down on top of a thorn covered branch. Holding back my sniffling, I stated boldly, You don’t know that! They were really nice. They aren’t all like the hunters you’re so scared of.

Seem nice, he corrected me. You can’t assume you know someone just by looking at them or even how they treat you when you first meet them. Things aren’t always as they seem.

Julian got down on my level and wrapped his arm around my waist to keep me from toppling over as he carefully lifted my foot when my pain didn’t go unnoticed. I kept my face stubbornly angled toward the ground even while he brushed my tears away with the knuckle of his forefinger.

This is how it has to be. We can walk among them, but it’s our pack where we stay. Instead of shifting me, he craned his neck to meet my eye line. Do you understand, Aster?

No. I didn’t understand. Not then I didn’t. As the years passed, I came to the conclusion that we Loup-Garou didn’t need to hide ourselves in plain sight for our own safety, but to keep humans safe from us. My kind didn’t agree, always seeing mortals as the rattled enemy that was prone to panic and shoot before asking questions. But perhaps they had a right to shoot when fangs and claws were lunging towards them.

To me, if there was anything a Loup-Garou had to fear, it was other Loup-Garou. These wolves whose lives consisted of bathing in the blood of our kind and took trophies of pelts and teeth. Those Primitives who chose not to evolve their nature with the rest of the world—not because of capability but will itself.

They just love being top of the food chain, and they want everyone to know it too.

My pack wasn’t like that though, and I was a Loup-Garou of the Graves.

Oh. My. Gosh. Did you see what Clover was wearing? Posie went on enthusiastically as we walked past the small shops that lined Main Street. Her voice snapped me out of my bit of daydreaming.

Diane scoffed, tossing her newly dyed blonde locks over her shoulder. You mean did we see what she wasn’t wearing, don’t you?

I smirked to myself, falling a step behind them as I let my eyes get their fill of window fronts and fashioned mannequins.

Graves Pack is what we Loup-Garou term as a Modern Pack—a pack containing well socialized wolves that mingle among mortals and share common customs and social behaviors. Other than the fact that we could change our skins, we lived our lives in a very similar way to the humans. That being said, our relations with them were always very superficial since it could only really pertain to work. We weren’t supposed to form lasting relationships with them and most DEFINITELY were not supposed to mate with such creatures.

As much as I loved being a part of a Modern pack and how it allowed me to at least touch the fragile lives of mortals, it did have its downfalls. All of it cycled around strength, and I had always wished that that was a petty topic to be unnecessary in this day and age. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Modern packs didn’t raise up their wolves to be warriors anymore since we had worldly careers and trades. So when a Primitive Warrior Pack came along to overtake our territory or even take us as slaves, we could hardly defend ourselves.

It was this fact that led the Pack of Graves to take the step of binding itself to the Pack of Salem. They were more of a Traditional Pack. Well, at least that was the closest category they could fall into. This Traditional Pack still held onto (to put it simply) tradition. This meant every born-in Salem was groomed to be the very definition of a Loup-Garou. One who howled and ran under full moons and knew that the worlds between ours and mortals spun in different directions. With that said, their wolves were definitely groomed for the fight. Even their Beta-males were known to be fierce when it came to tooth and claw.

Even though they existed with a toe in the modern world, they continued to hang onto some ancient practices. Though they walked among mortals more than Primitives, their interaction was never more than it needed to be. Because of this, they still fully utilized pack doctors rather than going hospitals and were incredibly self reliant.

They even believed in predestined mates!

According to legend, the Ancients had paired Loup-Garou to one of their Blood Pack. Together they were supposed find and fulfill their purposes in a way to bring honor to our kind. In order to help us find this one, the Ancients gave us a gift—the Call.

When the time was right, our souls were meant to cry out for one another, and we would be rapt in a want so fierce that we’d be driven to mate till we shared seed to have us sealed together in an everlasting bond. Then we would mark one another in show of our loyalty and devotion to this one.

Call. Bond. Mark.

To us Moderns, Calls and predestined mates were nothing more than whimsical lore. No one waited around for their mate’s Call anymore. Much like mortals, hardly any of us even waited to start mating. The line was only drawn at giving seed to the one they decided would be their mate. Even if we thought the Call was a bunch of hogwash, the bond of mateship definitely wasn’t.

Every single mated Loup-Garou I knew was perfectly content with the mate they had chosen rather than the hand of the Ancients anyway. There might be some wrinkles in choosing for ourselves, but it’d be ironed out in the end. Bonding and Marking would make sure of it. That was the strength of Loup-Garou bonding after all.

And that’s going to be me. He won’t be just any somebody that someone decides for me, but my somebody.

Maybe that’s what made the idea of the two packs binding turn my stomach even more. In a few days’ time, fate would decide which ten of the she-wolves from Graves would form a new pack with ten of Salem’s. All say would be stripped of us and we’d have to be forced to show our bellies to an Alpha that wasn’t our own.

It was the fault of those vicious Blood Knights for coming to take us over.

The hatred burning inside me started to fade when the memory of that night flooded in. It felt almost like a dream now. I recalled being barely awake as I watched them fight in the distance like dancing silhouettes. But when I came to in the morning there wasn’t blood anywhere and I still felt dizzy. Maybe I slipped and hit my head on the way down causing me to have some ludicrous, bad-guy fantasy.

I took my bottom lip into my mouth and felt the flash of heat on my cheeks at the thought. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that night. There was something about being in the arms of the villain who hid me and let me go.

I’d never been kissed that way before. A kiss on the cheek—yes. But the endearment was what was so foreign.

His aching.

His pain.

His sorrow.

All of it met my skin and sunk into me, but when he pulled back, there was a solace.

Aster? Hell-oh! Posie waved both hands in front of my face.

I blinked with a small shake and shifted back from her in fear of being swatted.

Posie set her hands on her hips. Hey, what’s been with you? You’ve been out of it all day.

Diane stood in a quiet, already knowing.

Just, I sighed and glanced back at the cupcake display in the bakery window. Just thinking about the Lottery.

Posie squealed and speedily clapped her hands in excitement. Oh, I know! I cannot wait. CAN NOT WAIT!

How can you say that? I snapped. Do you realize that we’re just handing over our own to creeps who would rather slit your throat than talk it out?

Salems are actually really sophisticated. I heard from Briar that their hierarchy is straight from a Victorian novel! Diane gave me a look of understanding. They’re giving up their own too. It’s fair. Not to mention, they are the ones that saved the pack.

That’s easy for you to say! You’re exempt! I muttered bitterly and crossed my arms tightly to my chest.

Diane was Posie’s older sister and right before the deal was made, she turned twenty-five, which knocked her out of the female age limit for the Lottery. When Julian announced the year prior that the Lottery would include all the female wolves between eighteen and twenty-five, I was relieved since that meant I would still be seventeen. But because of tradition, the male Lottery had to fall under a full moon. That pushed back the female Lottery, which as FATE would have it, would be a day after my birthday.

Now as the days closed in, dread only continued to pour into me minute by minute.

Posie sighed, You’re such a control freak, you know that? It’s going to be so much fun! It’s basically a two day party and the mating ban will finally get lifted again.

Diane smirked. Not that Aster noticed it was banned to begin with.

Tch. Right? Posie said with a roll of her eyes.

Well, excuse me if I don’t want to roll around with every available male in the pack! I muttered.

Posie shrugged. What are you waiting for?

Someone relatable, I answered matter-of-factly.

We’re pack! Diane exclaimed. What more do you need?

I hummed and thought a little more. A connection that doesn’t come as naturally, I replied. I want to find someone I belong with rather than just feel the belonging of our name and blood.

Eh, Posie retorted. That’s such a human thing, isn’t it?

And maybe they got it right, I stated. My stance was proud and bold. Despite both of them being larger than me, the dominance I exuded made them hunch. I rolled my eyes to walk past them. Honestly, that’s probably all we have in common with Salem. We lie with anyone because they’re there and they do it because of some moon beam, kismet fantasy.

We still choose our mates, Diane replied as she and Posie picked up their pace to catch up with the strides I had gained on them. And I heard a mate’s Call can be rejected.

Are you sure that’s not some supernatural book thing? Posie asked. Wasn’t that the point of the Call? Like you’re supposed to be with them and all that?

Diane looked off in wonder. "I guess. Kind of romantic in a way. Can you imagine being