Lost: Silver Falls University Read online

  Lost

  Silver Falls University

  M. Sinclair

  Lost & Bound Publishing

  Lost: Silver Falls University #1

  Copyright © 2020 M. Sinclair in USA

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced/transmitted/distributed in any form. No part of this publication shall be shared by any means including photocopying, recording, or any electronic/mechanical method, or the Internet, without prior written consent of the author. Cases of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law are the exception. The unauthorized reproduction/transmitting of this work is illegal. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Editorial Team:

  Refined Voice Editing & Proofreading

  Created with Vellum

  The Union of Love & Madness

  For every single amazing woman out there that has found strength, even in the most difficult of situations. That has persevered and pushed, despite feeling lost. There is enough room for all types of heroines in this world; never doubt the important part you play in everyone’s life.

  Kingdom of Wolves: A world where Alphas rule.

  Enter the Kingdom of Wolves, a shared universe created by a set of fantastic authors that feature psychotic and possessive wolf alphas, intoxicating relationships, fated mates and strong badass heroines. Kingdom of Wolves will keep you up all night, addicted for more.

  Make sure to leave your manners at the door, these wolves don't play nice when it comes to the women they want.

  These stories are all set in the same world and can be read in any order. Some books are standalones and some are the start of a series.

  This shared world will bring you books by the following authors:

  Wild Moon by C.R. Jane & Mila Young

  Lost by M. Sinclair

  Torn to Bits by Katie May

  Crossed Fates by Lexi C. Foss & Elle Christensen

  Shift of Morals by K Webster

  Rabid by Ivy Asher & Raven Kennedy

  Alpha’s Claim by Amelia Hutchins

  A Lycan’s Rage by Theresa Hissong

  Lunacy by Lanie Olson

  Check out all the books in the Kingdom of Wolves collection!

  Contents

  Description

  1. Effie Harlow

  2. Effie Harlow

  3. Julian De León

  4. Effie Harlow

  5. Effie Harlow

  6. Tore Hansen

  7. Effie Harlow

  8. Effie Harlow

  9. Effie Harlow

  10. Effie Harlow

  11. Caedmon Moroz

  12. Effie Harlow

  13. Dakota Claymore

  14. Effie Harlow

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  M. Sinclair

  Published Work

  Stalk me… really, I’m into it.

  Description

  Five broken alphas. One lost wolf. A fate she never expected.

  Silver Falls University. There was no reason for a female bitten wolf like myself to be here. More so, there was no reason that someone who grew up as poor as I did, in an overcrowded packhouse in the South Side of Chicago, should be making her way up north to one of the most prestigious supernatural universities in the country.

  I truly had no idea what to expect. Something that was my own fault. I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with anyone or anything. ‘Sheltered’ was an understatement, except to the darkness that came with struggling to survive cruel bullying and an incurable loneliness that had formed the woman I was today.

  The place I had grown up never felt like home. No one had ever felt like home.

  Well, until I met a man on the way to campus. A man that had me feeling so completely comfortable, yet confused and overwhelmed. There had to be something wrong with me, right? This wasn’t normal. Then again, I should have realized that nothing about my life moving forward would be normal.

  I just didn’t realize how much was in store for me.

  Join Effie Harlow on her journey at Silver Falls University, where she begins to realize that something about her is different. This slow burn reverse harem paranormal romance features five protective and possessive shifter mates that are bound and determined to keep Effie by their side, no matter what. To prove to her that she is so much more than anyone has ever tried to tell her she was. Will they be able to convince her of her place at Silver Falls and in their life? Or will Effie get lost in the university crowds like she did back home? Find out in this first installment of five in the Silver Falls University Series.

  Warning: This PNR university-style RH will contain swearing, adult sexual content +18, elements of PTSD and mention of prior emotional, sexual, and physical abuse, violence, and additional darker themes. Mild cliff-hanger warning - the 2nd installment of the Silver Falls University series, Forgotten, is now available for pre-order.

  1

  Effie Harlow

  “Next stop—Kirkwall.”

  My quiet humming momentarily cut off as I winced. The overhead intercom’s static interference made it nearly impossible to hear which stop we were arriving at. My ears rang uncomfortably as my wolf shifted under my skin, offering me a frustrated look. As if this was somehow my fault!

  Luckily, I had heard enough to distinguish the word ‘Kirkwall,’ meaning that I was nearly to my stop. From what I understood about this train system, there was little to no chance of missing the stop since it was quite literally the end of the line. At least, I hoped my understanding was correct. The last thing I needed today, considering I barely had enough money to make it onto campus, was dealing with more train fares and schedules.

  My humming once again picked up as I refocused on the southern Wisconsin town that I was now traveling through. This was the furthest I’d ever been from home. Something that was both intimidating and exciting.

  This was a good thing.

  That was what I continued to tell myself, because if I didn’t, I was liable to freak out, considering the massive change that I was embarking on. Completely alone, mind you. A change that I hadn’t exactly willingly volunteered for, either.

  No, none of this, as with most things in my life, had been my choice. I had never considered moving anywhere, let alone three hours north of my South Side Chicago home. More so, the concept of attending a university of any kind, especially one like this, had never crossed my mind. Why would it? I may have been sheltered from the world outside of our pack, but I knew enough to understand that girls like me didn’t get the opportunity to further their education past high school.

  Girls like me worked at their pack’s local bar as a waitress and lived with their parents until they managed to attract a mate and pop out their own litter of wolves. Appealing, right? But despite its unsavory nature to me, I had accepted that was my future. Or I had assumed so.

  Now, though? Well, now I felt far more free to accept just how much that concept had truly bothered me. I knew mating was necessary to continuing a pack’s heritage and family line, but it had never sounded like something I wanted to take part in. My nose scrunched slightly as I considered the concept of mating with any of the boys that I knew from back home. No. No, thank you.

  Was it normal to feel so distasteful about men in general?

  Actually, that was a lie. Most men didn’t bother me at all… until they showed themselves to be similar to the man that took me in, Gerald. When those qualities—quick to temper and general disdain for all females—showed thems
elves, I usually found myself completely disenchanted.

  Not that I’d ever been ‘enchanted’ with a man to begin with, if we were being honest. I may have found them attractive at first, but upon hearing their cruel language and watching how they treated others? Any attraction had completely disappeared.

  Fertility and strength of your mate.

  Theresa, Gerald’s wife, and her friends constantly claimed that the ‘fertility and strength of your mate’ was far more important than the substance. Something that not only left me with an uneasy feeling in my stomach, but didn’t ring true. I was positive they believed what they were saying, but I felt like that was more of a lie created to make shifter women think they were happy or content with the mates they had, even if the pairing was far from perfect. Once coming to that realization, my disdain for relationships like that had only grown further.

  Relationships where your opinion wasn’t respected.

  Relationships where you were blamed entirely for not being able to produce pups.

  Relationships where you were essentially a servant in your own home.

  I may have been a more quiet individual, but I was far from ignorant. Rather the opposite, and I found myself constantly wanting to stand up for her against Gerald. What went on between the man and woman I had lived with was far from normal, even if it was accepted in our pack. I’d learned my lesson, though—it was far safer to keep my opinions to myself.

  I knew, bone deep, that how he treated her wasn’t right.

  I knew the bruises he left on her and me weren’t acceptable.

  I knew the hatred he spewed about how she looked and acted was why she constantly appeared withdrawn and exhausted.

  Yet when I tried to intervene at all, even talking to her in private, I was somehow the one at fault. I was either ‘too young to understand’ or ‘ungrateful to the man that provided a roof over our head.’ The latter was not even factual, because Gerald didn’t have a job, so Alpha technically owned our apartment. But that didn’t matter. Theresa had twisted it in her head so that those elements weren’t important and that they were minor inconveniences that ‘us women’ had to deal with.

  After all, you know how men can be.

  I hated that phrase. I had heard it time and time again, making my frustration with the situation grow and turn into a general wariness about mating as a whole. Something that should have been impossible, considering I was a wolf shifter and mating was literally second nature to us. But… maybe it wasn’t mating that upset me as much as the concept of being with someone like Gerald.

  Why couldn’t your mate be expected to treat you with respect? I knew I was supposed to be submissive by nature, not only as a female shifter but as the type of wolf I was, but everything told me that we weren’t meant to be treated like that.

  Relief flooded me as I realized what a bullet I’d dodged. I had truly believed that my only option was for me to mate with someone like that, and now that it wasn’t my unavoidable future? I was both angry at myself for having accepted that fate so easily and also a bit terrified because I had absolutely no idea what my future would hold. It couldn’t be worse than what I would have been going through, though, right? I was praying to the Goddess that was the case.

  My fists tightened slightly, nails digging into my palms, as a thread of anxiety began to unravel in my abdomen. Change was not my friend, and there was absolutely no way to avoid it, considering my life was being turned upside down. I was being thrust into a new world, almost literally, and expected to make my way into it with ease? That seemed unfair.

  I craved stability. I craved to understand and be able to predict what would come next in my daily life, and right now I couldn’t even tell you where my next meal was coming from. While I knew this change could yield positive results, I was still cautious, because everything about this situation was far from my normal. That didn’t even include all the unanswered questions I had.

  First of all, how was I even headed to this university in the first place? Why could no one answer that simple question for me? I mean, my grades were decent, but… It made absolutely no sense.

  Silver Falls University.

  When Gerald and Theresa had informed me about my ‘change of plans’ a few days ago, I’d thought they were teasing me. They had to be joking, right? I mean, why else would they state it so casually? The only thing that convinced me was when they’d handed me the acceptance letter to a university that I knew I had never applied to.

  In fact, I had never bothered applying to any colleges following my graduation the previous spring. No one from my graduating class, with the exception of two students, had chosen to go to university this past fall. It just wasn’t something any of us did. Not only because of the financial hardship it put on the pack, but because, as I said, there wasn’t a lot of emphasis on education overall.

  So who had submitted my information for a late start in the spring semester? That was one more question that no one seemed to be able to articulate an answer for. Then again, I didn’t push it very much, especially since we had been surrounded by so many other pack members the past few days, everyone seemingly shocked at the change of fortune.

  Despite my unease with change, it was getting me out of a toxic situation. Plus, I’d been awarded a full scholarship, so I would owe my pack and the school nothing.

  Do you know how much it took for someone to want to get away from a pack that saved their life? To not want to feel indebted to the people that brought me in when I was cold and stumbling through the streets? A lot. Trust me when I said there were a hundred reasons why I’d needed to get out of there, and half of them had to do with the current bruising on my body.

  I healed faster than a human but slower than most wolf shifters. So when a full-grown male wolf shifter like Gerald served out a hit or two? You better believe that it didn’t heal right away. Despite Theresa seeming to accept the mistreatment that I knew was wrong, I would take any way out of such a toxic situation. When I’d been presented with an opportunity, I’d leapt at it.

  A mysterious scholarship to one of the most prestigious universities in the Midwest was not something I was going to question. Especially if no one else was. Something that I should have found suspicious, but at the time I’d been just wanting an escape. Now though, as I sat on this train overthinking the massive change I was making, the unease and anxiety was making itself known once again.

  Had they truly wanted me gone that bad? Was that why they had jumped on it? I hadn’t thought I was that much of a problem, considering I normally kept to myself.

  More so, was this a bad idea? Or a dangerous situation?

  Shaking myself, I swallowed nervously, not allowing myself to dip into too negative of a thought pattern. I needed to give this a chance—maybe it would be a change of luck. One that I would have never been afforded by my old pack. A place where I would have been relegated to a lower position in the hierarchy simply because of the type of wolf I was. Because I was different from them.

  No one had ever made it a secret growing up that I was not only different from the rest of my pack, but not exactly welcome. I wasn’t a fenrir wolf. I never would be. I hadn’t been ‘blessed’ with strong genetics like them, so I wasn’t particularly strong, fast, or aggressive in nature. Unlike their heightened magic, I legitimately had to shift to be even somewhat dangerous. ‘Somewhat’ being the key word.

  I was a bitten wolf.

  A species of wolf that wasn’t considered exactly ‘top tier’ within our society. Well, what I knew of our society, which was fairly limited. I had never been allowed to venture out past our pack’s small territory, so I wasn’t positive if that was the case everywhere else.

  It was why I had been so shocked when I was allowed to just leave today. Just walk out and go. Why had they suddenly changed their minds? Why was I now being thrown right into society and expected to survive on my own?

  I liked to think I’d read enough to have a general understanding of how
things worked, and I knew I was fairly intelligent, but I felt blinded and overwhelmed. How could I focus on everything going on around me while also trying to just get to my destination? I mean, I’d been nearly hit by a car just crossing the street an hour or so ago, and that was because I’d been busy staring up at the top of the skyscraper I’d walked out of. Who knew there was so much going on right outside of my pack’s territory?

  So much left unexplored. An explosive, vibrant city that I hadn’t been allowed to experience and was now being forced to leave. I suppose I could have just ventured out on my own, gotten off at one of the stops, but I had no money and no idea where I was. I had been told to take the train north to Kirkwall, and that was it.

  Easy, right?

  Not so much, considering I had never felt so alone in my life. I didn’t like my pack, but at least it was familiar.

  I wasn’t sold that kind and good people, like the ones you saw in movies, actually existed in real life. Not fully. To be fair, if you had the experiences I did, you would probably be skeptical as well. I’d been bullied constantly by the pack, and more specifically, my peers, throughout school. The few times I’d tried to stand up for myself, I’d ended up bruised and bloodied. A ‘show of dominance,’ the teachers in our pack had called it. Well, it had for sure shown me how weak I was in comparison to the others.