Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Trial by Fire
    Trial by Fire
    Trial by Fire
    Ebook102 pages1 hour

    Trial by Fire

    By Annie Oakfield

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The forest is seriously hotting up

    For the first twenty years of her life, Nadia St. John was an ordinary young woman, raised by her aunt, and educated at the New England College in New Hampshire.

    But Nadia’s world is turned upside down when she learns the exclusive country club she works at is home to a pack of wolf-shifters, one of them being her uncle.

    Quickly pulled into a politically-charged world of conflicted wolf-packs, Nadia is assailed with deadly premonitions and sibling subterfuge, while dangerous Trials determine which of the shifters are permitted to mate — with her.

    Events are further complicated by an accidental sexual encounter with a young male shifter, throwing her future with the pack into serious doubt.

    Reader Advisory: A Paranormal Romantic Suspense story containing accounts of women surrendering to handsome, naked men in a forest. If you are offended by sex, muscular men, nudity or wolves . . . read on. You’ll love what happens next.

    PUBLISHER NOTE: M/F. (Polyamory). 22,300 words.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLuminosity Publishing LLP
    Release dateNov 27, 2019
    ISBN9780463177068
    Trial by Fire
    Author

    Annie Oakfield

    Annie Oakfield is a keen writer and has been penning naughty stories since the ‘old days.’ Most of her stories were simply erotic fantasies that she shared with only a few close, friends. But with time and years of life experience, Annie now writes stories inspired by her real-life experiences, and drawn from her fantasies.Annie grew up reading fantasy and science fiction and has applied her love of these genres to a new series of erotic short stories.Annie enjoys partying with her friends into the early hours, but she is just as content to relax with a nice hot bath.

    Read more from Annie Oakfield

    Related to Trial by Fire

    Related ebooks

    Paranormal Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Family Plot

      May 7, 2020

      The Family Plot
      10 min read

    • Article

      That Particular Sunday

      Jul 6, 2023

      That Particular Sunday
      26 min read

    • Article

      Supportive Husband

      Sep 12, 2023

      There were less intimate places available, so it was odd when a woman took the seat directly facing mine across the subway aisle. I looked up from my book and right back down: a couple of months before, we’d gone home together. She had a Southern acc

      22 min read

    • Article

      Sam Neill On His New Memoir And Living With Blood Cancer: ‘I’m Not Afraid To Die, But It Would Annoy Me’

      Mar 17, 2023

      If you came to Sam Neill’s memoir without knowing the first thing about it, chapter one would hold a terrible shock. It begins amusingly enough: a lovely anecdote about his daughter Elena being asked at school when she was little about what her dad d

      7 min read

    • Article

      Heave’s Whisky

      Feb 27, 2024

      Heave’s Whisky
      7 min read

    • Article

      All By Myself

      Apr 28, 2020

      All By Myself
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    • Article

      A WING AND a prayer

      Sep 28, 2021

      A raven saved my life Cate McMurray, 47, from West Midlands I ’d always known I was different. As a small child, I used to see and hear people who weren’t there. One day, I was playing hide ‘n’ seek with my two sisters, and tucked myself away in a cu

      4 min read

    • Article

      Last Conversations With My Mother

      Jun 17, 2019

      Last Conversations With My Mother
      3 min read

    • Article

      Let The Bones Talk

      Jun 16, 2021

      Let The Bones Talk
      6 min read

    • Article

      Let The Bones Talk

      Jun 16, 2021

      Let The Bones Talk
      6 min read

    • Article

      Nothing To Fear

      Jan 26, 2021

      Nothing To Fear
      8 min read

    • Article

      All Of Us Here

      Jun 4, 2020

      All Of Us Here
      6 min read

    • Article

      Emily

      Jul 28, 2017

      Emily
      3 min read

    • Article

      LOVE, Virtually

      Feb 16, 2020

      LOVE, Virtually
      5 min read

    • Article

      Dead Reckoning

      Sep 9, 2020

      Dead Reckoning
      6 min read

    • Article

      I’ll Be There

      Oct 25, 2019

      I’ll Be There
      7 min read

    • Article

      Little CHARMS

      Oct 19, 2022

      Little CHARMS
      6 min read

    • Article

      I’m the One Who Survives: An Excerpt from ‘The Postcard’

      May 15, 2023

      I remember with cruel clarity the day when someone said to me—I was still only little—“Your family died in an oven.” The post I’m the One Who Survives: An Excerpt from ‘The Postcard’ appeared first on The Millions.

      9 min read

    • Article

      THE BOY WHO Saw Angels

      Oct 27, 2020

      THE BOY WHO Saw Angels
      4 min read

    • Article

      Caught Out

      Oct 2, 2022

      Caught Out
      9 min read

    • Article

      Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

      Jun 10, 2020

      Ashleigh Bryant Phillips
      6 min read

    • Article

      Honey & Spice

      Aug 8, 2022

      So, he was good with kids; had a softness to him. The most dangerous thing about that was clearly it wasn’t performed: there was no way he could fake the adoration with which he looked at that angel. With that obnoxious display of genuine cuteness, h

      5 min read

    • Article

      Cast Out

      Jul 10, 2021

      Verity pushed back the quilts, rolled off her straw mattress onto the floor, felt for the poker, and stirred the ashes. The embers glowed. She wouldn’t have to go fire-borrowing again. Her chilled hands were clumsy. One glowing bit of wood rolled fro

      21 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Trial by Fire

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Trial by Fire - Annie Oakfield

      TRIAL BY FIRE

      The Wolves of New Hampshire, Book Four

      Annie Oakfield

      The forest is seriously hotting up

      For the first twenty years of her life, Nadia St. John was an ordinary young woman, raised by her aunt, and educated at the New England College in New Hampshire.

      But Nadia’s world is turned upside down when she learns the exclusive country club she works at is home to a pack of wolf-shifters, one of them being her uncle.

      Quickly pulled into a politically-charged world of conflicted wolf-packs, Nadia is assailed with deadly premonitions and sibling subterfuge, while dangerous Trials determine which of the shifters are permitted to mate — with her.

      Events are further complicated by an accidental sexual encounter with a young male shifter, throwing her future with the pack into serious doubt.

      Reader Advisory: A Paranormal Romantic Suspense story containing accounts of women surrendering to handsome, naked men in a forest. If you are offended by sex, muscular men, nudity or wolves . . . read on. You’ll love what happens next.

      PUBLISHER NOTE: M/F. (Polyamory). 22,300 words.

      TRIAL BY FIRE

      The Wolves of New Hampshire, Book Four

      ANNIE OAKFIELD

      booklogo

      WWW.LUMINOSITYPUBLISHING.COM

      LUMINOSITY PUBLISHING LLP

      TRIAL BY FIRE

      The Wolves of New Hampshire, Book Four

      Copyright © November 2019 ANNIE OAKFIELD

      Cover Art by Poppy Designs

      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

      No part of this literary work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher.

      This is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

      RULES:

       "The final Trial is where the three victors from each pack will compete to become the sole representative for their pack.

      "The Trials will take place every day, until day six, where they will stretch to alternate days, to allow for some resting time.

      "We will be judging competitors on stamina, intelligence, and guile as well as strength. Only then will you be considered worthy enough to mate with Nadia.

      The next Trial will test your courage and resilience to their limits.

      CHAPTER ONE

      I walked through the dream, a helpless witness to the carnage and destruction erupting all around. Smoke whirled past me, rank and acrid, filling my nose and throat until I gagged.

      Why are you showing me this? I yelled into the flame-orange night sky. No one answered. Of course, they didn’t. Unlike my last visit to this awful night, this was no waking premonition of a dreadful future, only an echo of that visitation.

      I kicked the white rock which had concealed the book of matches, except this time, I found nothing. The matches had enabled me to read Uncle Sean’s cryptic message . . . the one he’d died to protect.

      Two hundred and forty-five days, I said to myself. "And Celia 7L . . . whatever the hell that means."

      In the days since my premonition, neither Sean nor I had been able to figure out what the 7L meant. Still, I walked on through the dream, anxious for clues. But my whirling thoughts distracted me, driving me crazy. I’d never wanted to be Progenitor, and yet I’d volunteered, in front of hundreds of witnesses. Why? Because without me, the carnage would be our future; bloodshed, destruction and the end of the three-pack unity my great-grandmother started.

      You mustn’t doubt yourself, a voice said. I turned, to see a young woman step out of the shadows. I guessed she was only a few years older than me, judging by her lithe and largely unclothed figure.

      Of course you’re naked, I said to myself. It seems to be the thing around here.

      She smiled. It’s our way, Nadia. She adjusted the shawl hanging from her shoulders, but only to cover her arms. Of her nudity, she showed no shame.

      Uh . . . who are you, exactly? I’d already been visited by Mom in a dream — an inherited memory, my uncle assured me. And I’d actually been my grandmother in dreams, several times. But this wasn’t either of them, although her face seemed familiar.

      You don’t recognize your own great-grandmother? She chuckled. No, of course you don’t. I imagine you’ve only seen pictures of me as an old woman.

      Uh . . . no. Sorry. I caught my lower lip with my teeth.

      Oh. Despite her obvious disappointment, her smile lingered.

      Aunt Deb didn’t have many family pictures, I explained quickly. Most of them were of her and her brothers, and our baby pictures.

      Of course, my dear. Don’t trouble yourself about it. Now that I think back, I don’t ever recall seeing a camera pointing my way.

      I can’t believe that. You’re so beautiful!

      She smiled wistfully. I was, once. But you must remember, we shifters keep our lives largely under wraps. She tugged the shawl across her throat. So to speak.

      You’re Eleanor, aren’t you?

      You remembered!

      I wonder if Uncle Sean has any pictures.

      Oh, it doesn’t matter. She tapped her chest. Isn’t this kind of meeting better than some faded tin-type?

      Tin . . . type?

      It’s what they make photographic plates from . . . Oh, but you probably use the new silver ones now, yes?

      I frowned. Actually, we use digital. When she blinked at me, nonplussed, I continued, It doesn’t matter. You’re here now.

      I’m here now, and so happy to see my beautiful great-granddaughter.

      I smiled, but couldn’t think of anything else to say. What could two naked women separated by sixty years have in common . . . apart from the obvious? In my desperation to break the silence, I voiced my fears, which were also a source of excitement, I realized.

      I volunteered to be Progenitor.

      It’s a brave and noble thing to do, Nadia. I sense your reluctance, and I share your nightmares.

      I’ve seen the consequences. I indicated the orange sky. I’ve seen what’ll happen if I don’t step forward.

      As did your grandmother, and your mother.

      Isn’t there another way to keep the peace?

      She shook her head. None so effective, my dear.

      Sean mentioned a blood oath, where the winners were sworn to protect me. Couldn’t some other form of—

      Nadia, the oath isn’t to protect you. It’s for your children. It only extends to you because you’re needed to birth them.

      I was appalled. As soon as they’re born, someone could murder me?

      She laughed bitterly. Of course not. A mother is crucial to a child’s upbringing.

      So, I’m safe until they’re old enough to join the pack.

      At least. Have as many children as you’re able, Nadia.

      I hadn’t planned to have any . . . not until I was married.

      Your destiny has changed, my dear.

      Tell me about it.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1