Excerpt & Giveaway: Wake Me Up Inside (Mates #1) by Cardeno C.

The lovely Cardeno C. is re-releasing her sexy shifter series, Mates. She's here with an excerpt from the first book, Wake Me Up Inside, and you have a chance to win an ebook copy!

A powerful Alpha wolf shifter and a strong-willed human overcome traditions ingrained over generations and uncover long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny as true mates.

Regarded as the strongest wolf shifter in generations, Alpha Zev Hassick is surprised and confused by his attraction to his best friend. His very human, very male best friend. A male shifter has to mate with a female shifter to keep his humanity, so shifters can't be gay. Yet, everything inside Zev tells him Jonah is his true mate.

Maintaining a relationship with the man he has loved since childhood isn’t easy for Jonah Marvel, but he won’t let distance or Zev’s odd family get in their way. When unexplained ailments begin to plague Jonah, he needs to save his own life and sanity in order to have a future with Zev.

Zev and Jonah know they're destined for each other, but they must overcome traditions ingrained over generations and long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny.

Excerpt: 

He reached out a trembling hand and stroked the soft fur on the head still resting in his lap. The wolf whimpered and turned into his hand, licking it. Then those familiar eyes looked up into Jonah’s face.

“Zev, I…I…”

Okay, so it’d be fine, but at that moment he felt cold and sweaty, he was having trouble getting air into his lungs despite rapid attempts to suck it in, he was nauseous, and he thought he might faint. Yeah, okay, so maybe he was in shock. Just a little bit.

Jonah dropped to his knees and then laid flat on his back, trying to calm down. He propped his feet up on the chair.

“Blondie?” Zev’s concerned face was right above him, petting his hair. “You’re shaking. Oh, damn. Jonah, do you hear me?”

He hadn’t even seen the wolf turn back into a man. It had happened that seamlessly.

“I… I… I’m fine. Just, um, need to lie down a little. Maybe…” Jonah tried to gather his thoughts. That effort alone was helping. “Just get me a blanket, okay? I’m cold.”

Zev shot out of the room, and before he knew it, Jonah felt a blanket being tucked around him. He looked up and saw that Zev’s gorgeous eyes were wide, his forehead was creased with worry, and his full lips were drawn in tight lines. Jonah tried to exude comfort.

“I’m okay, Pup. Promise. This is just a lot to take in. Give me a minute to adjust.”

All right, time to man up. So his boyfriend could turn into a wolf? Hell, he’d done rounds in the ER of a huge metropolitan city at night. Some of the shit he’d seen there firsthand was way scarier than a furry woodland creature who liked to nuzzle him. That train of thought almost made him laugh out loud.

He might have even managed a smile because he heard Zev let out a relieved sigh and felt the man relax, even though they weren’t touching. How could he feel what was going on in someone else’s body?

Okay, yeah, that was weird. He’d need an explanation. Add it to the ever-fucking-growing list.

“All right. So you can turn into a wolf.”

Jonah’s voice almost sounded steady. He gave himself mental props for that achievement.

“Yeah. Are you still freaking out?” Zev asked.

“Nah. You’re not the first seemingly normal guy I’ve seen turn into a wolf.”

“I’m not?”

Jonah shook his head.

“No. Of course, it usually happens at bars late at night when the guy’s had too much alcohol or controlled substances and he’s making a pathetic last-ditch attempt to get laid. Still, I’ll take your type of wolf over the kind that shows up right around last call anytime.”

Zev’s jaw dropped.

“Are you… Was that a joke, Blondie?”

Want to win an ebook copy of Wake Me Up Inside? Thought so. Comment below with your name and contact info (email, Goodreads profile, Twitter, etc) for your chance to win! This giveaway will be open until September 22, 9PM PST, when a winner will be randomly drawn. Good luck!