Title: The Rules of Dating Authors: Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance Release Date: September 19, 2022
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It all started when I hosted a little party for a bunch of new friends. Though “friends” might not be the right word since the invitees were all the women I’d found out my boyfriend was talking to behind my back. When the guest of honor walked in—aka my now ex—things took a turn… Unfortunately, a stranger witnessed the whole blowout. I was in a mood that night and ended up giving this gorgeous guy an attitude, too. As if my night could get any worse, before he stormed off, he informed me he was actually my landlord. Colby Lennon, along with three of his friends, owned the building where my tattoo shop was located. He and I were total opposites. He wore a tie, oozed confidence that came with years of women falling at his feet, and wasn’t afraid to say what he wanted, which lately—was me. I hated that I found myself attracted to him. Especially since I was supposed to be on a self-imposed dating hiatus. Yet the two of us couldn’t seem to stay away from each other. We started hanging out, as friends. I even went as far as making rules for what he’d dubbed our “undates.” But eventually, our explosive attraction became too much to bear, and we broke our resolve. I let my guard down and started to really fall for Colby. Nothing could have prepared me for the ride he took me on. And I certainly wasn’t prepared for where I’d wind up when the ride was over. All good things must come to an end, right? Except our ending was one I didn’t see coming.
Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.
She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.
With over two million books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over thirty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
Alpha Mountain: Warrior by Vanessa Vale & Renee Rose is now live!
Mistake #1: Sleeping with a friend Hooking up with Quincy was a no-brainer. The sexy hot-shot Navy pilot wasn’t on my SEAL team. I thought she’d be safe for a one-night stand.
Mistake #2: Letting her walk out the door I realized too late she wasn’t a one-and-done for me. But now she thinks I’m a player. Okay, she knows I’m a player. Which is why she won’t go there with me again.
Mistake #3: Wanting to repeat Mistake #1 Quincy’s on my team. We live in the same barracks. We’re friends. I don’t want to screw that up. Being near her is pure torture. I don’t know how much longer I can last Before I risk the biggest mistake of all— losing her.
Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo!
A USA Today bestseller, Vanessa Vale writes tempting romance with unapologetic bad boys who don’t just fall in love, they fall hard. Her 75+ books have sold over one million copies. She lives in the American West where she’s always finding inspiration for her next story. While she’s not as skilled at social media as her kids, she loves to interact with readers.
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR RENEE ROSE loves a dominant, dirty-talking alpha hero! She’s sold over a million copies of steamy romance with varying levels of kink. Her books have been featured in USA Today’s Happily Ever After and Popsugar. Named Eroticon USA’s Next Top Erotic Author in 2013, she has also won Spunky and Sassy’s Favorite Sci-Fi and Anthology author, The Romance Reviews Best Historical Romance, and has hit the USA Today list nine times with her Chicago Bratva, Bad Boy Alpha and Wolf Ranch books and various anthologies.
Title: Lone Star Best Friend Series: Saddle Creek, TX: The Crawfords #5 Author: Kat Baxter
Genre: Contemporary TX Western Romantic Comedy Release Date: September 5, 2022
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A Friends-to-lovers/Curvy Girl Romance
Johnny
Harper Rhodes and I were just kids when we promised to be each other’s first everything. I’m not sure if she thought I was kidding or lying. All I know is she’s left town because she thinks I got another woman pregnant. Little does she know I’ve been saving everything for her. Every kiss. Every touch. Every filthy-fueled fantasy. I’m tired of waiting. Harper belongs to me and it’s time she understood that.
Harper
When we were kids, I thought Johnny Crawford and I would be best friends forever. Then we grew up. Johnny got stupid hot and I got, well, just really stupid. As in I fell in love with him. I saved myself for him because I never could imagine anyone else touching me. Now he wants to cash in on those promises we made. Am I just practice for him until something better comes along, or has he really been saving himself just for me all this time?
***
Welcome to Saddle Creek, TX. Cattle ranches scattered amidst the rugged hills; the land dotted with wildflowers, cacti and longhorns. Small town, but home to the big Crawford family. These cowboys and mountain men have been busy working their land and haven’t had time for romantic complications. But when the terms of a will mandates they all find brides or risk losing their family’s land? It’ll be a race to the altar as each of them is determined to do their part to save their slice of heaven. But none of them expects that finding a bride will also mean finding love.
USA Today Bestselling Author Kat Baxter writes fast-paced, sweet & STEAMY romantic comedies. Readers have dubbed her books “laugh-out-loud funny,” “hot enough to melt your kindle,” and “The Queen of Adorkable.” She lives in Texas with her family and a menagerie of animals. Kat is the pseudonym for a bestselling historical romance author.
From USA Today and WSJ Bestselling author Laramie Briscoe comes the next book in the Bradford Station Series!
The heat is on.
Situated on the Tennessee and North Carolina border, this town is nothing like you’ve ever experienced. Hot guys, the women they love, and a town worth saving. Bradford, TN is the epicenter of the next great romance dynasty.
Firefighters, family, and community…
Cameron Hines
I take my job very seriously. Both of them. I’m a Lieutenant at Bradford Station Company One, and I’m a single dad to a little girl who completely brightens my world.
It’s not easy, holding it all together, but I do my best. Honestly, I wouldn’t be doing as well as I am without my best friend’s sister. Natalie treats my daughter like her own, and watches her for me without complaint.
Things are status quo until one day I see her in a different light. She quits being the babysitter, and becomes a woman. One I’ll do anything for.
When her brother finds out all bets are off, and I have to answer for my indiscretions. He and I are sent out on a mission to find a lost child in the woods. We have to bury the hatchet and do our jobs, but when the worst happens, we have to make a decision that neither of us ever imagined.
Rookie: A Firefighter Romance (Bradford Station Book 1)
Danny Ramirez
As a Probationary Firefighter, I’m doing everything I can to impress the members of my company. Knowing I’m the first in my family to be educated makes me proud, and gives me hope for the future.
I hold myself to a higher standard than anyone else, especially with a southern small-town breathing down my neck. One night, on a dark mountain road, I help the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life change a flat tire.
What I don’t know, is she’s the youngest daughter of my Chief. His number one rule? Don’t date his daughter’s.
I try to stay away from her, try like hell, but when a forest fire threatens our town, and the guys in my company. I know I can’t let her walk away from me. Not without a fight.
Meet Laramie Briscoe
Laramie Briscoe is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of over 30 books, with sales of over half a million copies.
Since self-publishing her first book in May of 2013, Laramie has appeared on the Top 100 Bestselling E-books Lists on iBooks, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. Her books have been known to make readers laugh and cry. They are guaranteed to be emotional, steamy reads.
When she’s not writing alpha males who seriously love their women, she loves spending time with friends, reading, and marathoning shows on Netflix. Married to her high school sweetheart, Laramie lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband.
Once upon a time he broke me, and for that, I refuse to fall for him again.
Resisting the Grump, an all-new sizzling and hilarious small-town romantic comedy from bestselling author Ashley Munoz is live now!
Stalking the town recluse wasn’t exactly wise.
Davis was five years older than me…antisocial and temperamental. And there was the little fact that he didn’t know I existed.
Still, I gave him my heart, and he crushed it.
So I picked up the pieces and ran away to New York City. I had a plan that kept my heart intact for four years.
But one phone call changed everything.
Returning home meant facing the past…and the man who ruined me.
I had hoped that the mountain had swallowed him whole. Alas, as I set out to help my parents, I discover he’s not only alive and well, but that they apparently love the jerk.
He has no idea that we have a past, which is both a relief and salt in the wound.
I promise myself I’ll ignore how his eyes linger on me, or the way his touch feels like a live wire, and I’ll remember that once upon a time he broke me and for that I refuse to fall for him again.
But I can’t control that he seems to be falling for me this time.
“You misunderstood…I don’t want to be your friend, Rae, and you are a lot of work, but if you haven’t noticed, work doesn’t scare me off. I like work. I like trouble. You’re a fucking delicious mixture of both, and please understand me when I say this”—he lowered his head, his lips just barely a breath away from mine—“I like kissing you.”
About Ashley
Ashley resides in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her four children and her husband. She loves coffee, reading fantasy, and writing about people who kiss and cuss.
Title: Inked Temptation Series: Montgomery Ink: Fort Collins #5 Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: July 11, 2022
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The final Montgomery finds his match in this touching second chance romance from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan.
I thought I was moving on from my divorce, but now my ex is marrying someone else. I shouldn’t be this broken up, but it’s hard to put on a brave face when my family is basically an inked up Hallmark movie.
And I shouldn’t be brooding about what I don’t have, if it’s going to cause me to fall off a roof. Right into the grumpy neighbor’s burly arms.
He’d make a nice distraction, except he wants nothing to do with the burning attraction between us. Until one accidental kiss leads to more.
I’m not ready to risk my heart again, but Killian’s tortured eyes don’t seem to give me a choice. This thing between us is real.
But Killian is still trying to recover from a tragedy. And there are people who will do anything to make sure he never finds happiness again.
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Fractured Connections, and Elements of Five series, which have sold over 3.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over seventy-five novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.
Can a grumpy former Ranger find lasting happiness in a marriage of convenience with a sunny single mom?
After losing his leg, former Army Ranger Holt Steele is building a new life and a new business with his friends. Sure, he never expected to put small-town baker on his resume, but he finds he likes the quiet, simple life. If only he didn’t like the sunny single mom who works across the street–or her adorable kid–quite so much.
After escaping a controlling husband, event planner Cayla Black has one focus–growing her business and maintaining a safe, happy home for her daughter. She has no time or interest in a man. Not even one who charms her child with Disney songs and keeps turning up like a mind-reader to help without being asked.
But when her ex’s conviction is overturned on a technicality, and he shows up intending to reclaim his wife and child, Holt intervenes with an outrageous lie. The only way to fix it is to make his falsehood the truth. As they struggle to convince everyone that their marriage of protection is real, these two reluctant hearts fall deeper, until the lines between the fiction and the dream begin to blur, and they have to risk it all to protect the family they didn’t know they wanted.
“We’ll get to the bottom of it. But I need you to tell me everything that happened. Everything he said. Can you do that?”
Her voice was muffled as she told the story against his chest.
“He said he’d had good luck with his last appeal. That all his convictions were overturned, and he was a free man. I don’t understand. They said they had all the evidence they needed. How could it be overturned when he’s already been serving his sentence?”
It was a damned good question. “I’ve got a guy who can dig into it. But let’s talk about the more immediate issue. Will he come after Maddie, or is he all talk?”
Cayla lifted her head, and the look in her eyes shredded his gut. “Oh, he’ll come after her. Not out of any kind of love or desire to have a relationship with his child, but because he’ll believe she belongs to him. The same way he thinks I still do.”
“You’re divorced.”
“That doesn’t matter to a man like him. He views me as his property. And I have no idea what he’s going to do with what you threw out. What were you thinking, claiming to be my husband?” Baffled consternation knit her brows together.
He hadn’t been thinking. Not really. He’d already been walking over when he’d gotten her voice text. From that point, the only thing in his head was getting to Cayla, protecting her in whatever way he could. And when he’d walked in and seen her there, face sheet white, his immediate instinct had been to shield what was his. But he hadn’t had a chance to process what the hell that meant, and he didn’t think Cayla would appreciate that just now.
“That it might intimidate him. It seemed like a good idea in the heat of the moment.”
She pulled away, swiping at her face. “Yeah, well, you basically just waved a red flag at a very smart and calculating bull. He’s not going to just let this go because I allegedly belong to someone else. He’ll never acknowledge that claim. I was his first, and as far as he’s concerned, I’m his always. I only felt safe because he was behind bars and was supposed to stay there for a good long while. Now I… I don’t know what to do.”
Her shoulders shook as the tears fell harder.
Holt curled his hands into fists, desperate to do something. “He’s not going to get to either of you. I swear it.”
“How can you promise that?”
His brain spun, considering and rejecting scenarios. If Raynor sued for some kind of custody of Maddie, being caught out in a lie would hardly be in Cayla’s favor. And even if he didn’t, would they even be safe in their own home? The man she’d described wouldn’t let a piece of paper like a restraining order stop him—if they could even get one. They needed protection on site. Both of them. And there was one obvious solution.
“Marry me.”
Meet Kait Nolan:
Kait Nolan is a RITA® Award-winning Mississippi author who calls everyone sugar, honey, or darlin’, and can wield a ‘Bless your heart’ like a Snuggie or a saber, depending on requirements. She believes in love, laughter, and that tacos are the world’s most perfect food. When she’s not writing, reading, working the evil day job, or wrangling family (both the two-legged and the four-), you can find her obsessively watching The Great British Bake Off.
Good girls are saved by princes, but my savior is a monster.
After my father died and my family splintered, I became a target, a pawn in a game I didn’t know I was playing. Then he appeared–dark, dangerous, tormented, and always just within reach. He makes me feel something I lost years ago: Safe. And he thinks he can keep me at arm’s length.
Once upon a time I was a hero, until the sins of my father caught up with me, and I was forced into darkness. I should’ve died in that fire. Instead, I served evil men, until I risked it all by walking away. Now I’m a wanted man. At any time, I could be taken down for what I owe. What I don’t expect to find in my hiding place is her–broken, beautiful, so damn tempting. I shouldn’t touch her with my filthy hands. I was hired to keep her safe. But every day it gets harder, then she starts sneaking into my bed.
Together, we’re filthy, but together, we can find our way through the flames.
(FILTHY is a stand-alone, bodyguard, romantic suspense novel. It contains a fierce, wounded alpha-protector and the filthy girl he’s hired to protect… No cheating. No cliffhangers.)
Tia Louise is the USA TODAY best-selling, award-winning author of super-hot and sexy romances. All her heroes are alphas with hearts of gold, and all her heroines are the smart, sassy ladies who love them.
Title: Etched in Honor Series: Aspen Pack #1 Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Paranormal Romance Release Date: May 23, 2022
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NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan returns to the world of paranormal and Pack worlds in the thrilling and dynamic new Aspen Pack series.
The betrayal that had nearly taken out the Aspen Pack has passed, but the ramifications of starting with a new hierarchy are taking their toll on Audrey Porter. Once traitor to the former leaders for trying to save their people, now she’s the Beta of the Pack and must try to hold their shattered remains together. Only she never expected the man from her past to awaken memories long since buried.
Gavin Powers is the new Tracker for the Aspen, yet it feels as though he’s always been part of the Pack, rather than a newcomer trying to heal a people long since thought forgotten. There are secrets within the den that could alter how the world sees shifters, and if Gavin isn’t careful, his attraction to Audrey could ruin everything.
There is a mysterious new enemy on the horizon, one long since vanquished into myth. As the darkness surrounded the Packs is unveiled, it will take a wolf and a lioness to unbury the past and fight for their future—or risk losing everything before it begins.
I dodged the blacked-tipped talons handily but nearly tripped over the wolf to my side. I winced as I jumped over Ronin and didn’t let the fact that he cowered beside me insult my cat. After all, he was a new wolf. And he didn’t know exactly how to fight yet. This wasn’t exactly the training I had planned for the day, but there was no going back now, not when I needed to fight whatever these things were.
It looked like a man, a normal man, with excessive strength. Its eyes were dark-rimmed, but I couldn’t see its irises to tell what color they were. And its fingernails had turned into claws, or perhaps the talons I had once thought. But they looked as if they had been dipped into black ink. The nails were black for sure, but even the fingertips seemed to radiate that darkness.
I had never seen the like, but as I was part of the Aspen Pack, I knew that not all was what it seemed, and there were many unknowns out there.
I let my claws push through my fingertips and raked the nails down the back of one. The man in front of me let out a shocked gasp, then fell to his knees. I didn’t want any of that black tar or whatever it was to touch me. My cat didn’t like the scent of it, and frankly, neither did the human part of me.
I was a lion shifter in the middle of a wolf Pack, a wolf Pack that was like none other.
And my cat already had enough and arched its back up.
There were two of these creatures in front of me, and they didn’t scent of the rogues that we had been fighting for years, nor did they scent of wolf.
I wasn’t sure if they were a witch gone bad or not, but whatever they were, we needed to deal with it before it was too late.
I grumbled a bit, then found a branch to toss at Ronin. Ronin gave me this odd look, his human face looking puzzled, and I sighed before I made sure he held the stick, and I pulled the dagger out of my boot.
I used my claws on the creature’s back, but I wasn’t about to get anywhere near its mouth.
My senses told me it wasn’t a good idea, no matter what it was.
I used the dagger to stab the closest creature at the base of the skull and twisted. It let out a scream, one abruptly cutoff, before it fell to its knees, its body at an odd angle on the ground.
I went to the other one, but it came at Ronin quickly, ignoring me. I cursed under my breath, my cat ready to slice at those who endangered our people. Ronin was under our watch, and we refused to let him get hurt because we weren’t strong enough.
I kept moving towards it, but Ronin smacked the thing with the branch.
Well, that was one way to fight it. Probably not the best way, but we were getting somewhere. At least I hoped so.
Ronin smacked it again, but then the creature gripped the branch and shook it. He tossed Ronin twenty feet back, and my brows winged up.
Well then, that was some strength. He probably could even beat Hayes when it came to strength, and that polar bear was the strongest person I knew.
It seemed it was time for me to stop pussyfooting around, as it were, and take care of this thing.
It was bleeding from the claw marks, and the blood was red, so I counted that as something to take note of, but I wasn’t sure what it meant.
I didn’t want to wait to find out, so I moved forward and tossed my dagger directly into the creature’s eyes.
It screamed, pulling at the dagger but not falling down.
That image would haunt my nightmares for years to come. Considering the number of things that already haunted my nightmares, that was saying something.
“Okay then. Why won’t you die?”
“This is only the beginning,” the creature growled as he pulled the dagger out of its eye.
I swallowed hard. I hadn’t been aware it could talk. I had no idea what it was, but it wasn’t dead from a dagger to the eye, and it stepped forward once, twice, and fell.
Oh good. It was dead. Thank the goddess because I wasn’t sure exactly what I was supposed to do now.
I sighed and then went to take my dagger back.
Ronin sat on the ground and looked up at me before lowering his gaze.
His wolf was in the golden glow surrounding his iris, and my cat wanted to reach out, bat him on the head, and then hug him close.
Ronin wasn’t submissive by any means, nor was he a paternal wolf. He was a dominant, but so in the middle of the chain that he could wobble either way depending on who was around him. And my cat was one of the most dominant shifters in the Pack.
It didn’t matter that the rest of them were wolves except for a select few. My cat was Beta of the Aspen Pack and had held that title longer than any other leader within the Pack. Everyone else had gained their connection and responsibility after everything had changed.
I alone remained.
My heart ached, but I pushed away the pain.
Just because the rest of the hierarchy was relatively new in the past year and a half didn’t mean we were falling or breaking.
I just happened to be the only one with experience.
Experience that was met with hatred in some eyes, but I was good at ignoring that.
I leaned down in front of Ronin and gripped the back of his neck as I would a pup. He looked up at me then, meeting my gaze for an instant before lowering his eyes but not his chin.
My cat purred in happiness. That was showing who was more dominant, but not lowering. And that I counted as progress.
“Are you okay? Did their claws or teeth or anything else out of the ordinary touch you?”
Ronin shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I’m fine, but I messed up.”
I shook my head. “Whatever that was, was far stronger than either one of us was prepared for.”
He looked up at me then for just an instant and blinked in surprise. “You don’t know what that was?”
I didn’t want any more lies in my Pack, not after years of pain and sacrifice and nothing but lies. So I told him the truth. Chase would have to find his own path and tell me exactly what he wanted the rest of the Pack to know in general. After all, he was my Alpha and had once been my friend.
I pushed that thought away and squeezed the back of Ronin’s neck again. The younger wolf relaxed marginally, and I knew he liked the action. “I don’t know what that was. We’re going to find out, though. It was strong, so strong that I had to use my dagger rather than my claws or strength. You did what you could, and while you aren’t ready to hold a weapon on you at all times like that, we’re getting there.”
“I nearly tripped you,” he grumbled.
“We were just finishing a long training session when those whatever they were slithered out of the trees as they did. They came on us out of nowhere, and we’re both exhausted after our training.”
He wrinkled his nose, and I knew he smelled the lie on that.
“Okay, you were exhausted. I’m tired. Does that make your wolf feel better?” I asked, putting a lighthearted note in my tone.
Ronin nodded. “Yes. Sorry. I’m still getting used to all these scents and everything.”
My heart ached for him, and my cat wanted to reach out and lick his face just to make sure that he felt better. Doing that in human form with a new wolf, one that didn’t know me well, was probably not the best thing.
“Everything’s okay. We are going to figure out what these are and put them in the basement so that way our Healer can take a look at it.”
“Maybe the other Packs know?”
That made me smile. “Hopefully, the others do. They’ve all dealt with many strange things.”
“Well, we have our own strangeness,” Ronin said with a bit of pride, and I felt it too. The Aspen Pack was unique in that we were not just wolves. Other than a few people who held our secrets, the rest of the world thought the only shifters out there were wolves. After all, they were the ones that had been forced to be revealed to the public. And after a war and scary end of times, humans and wolves lived in a decent harmony. The fact that the government had wolf sympathizers helped. Any scary laws that could have restricted the movements and freedoms of anyone magical in nature were now scrubbed off the table indefinitely.
Wolves and witches were able to live freely.
Cats and bears, on the other hand, were unheard of.
I knew of a couple of cats that roamed the earth as individuals, but I was the only lioness that I knew of near here other than Aimee. There was a lynx shifter as well, and she was my best friend, but other than that, it was just me here.
And there was only one bear that I knew of.
Perhaps there were other secret Packs that held them, and I had the hope in my heart that there were. But even most wolves didn’t know we existed, and that had been for a reason years before.
Now I wasn’t even sure what the reason could be.
I looked down at the two dead bodies next to me, my cat hissing, and ran my hand over Ronin’s back. Then I stood up and helped him do the same.
“We should head back into the den, behind the wards. But we need to tell the others what happened.”
There was no doubt that Chase as Alpha would be able to feel that something had indeed happened.
The others would as well since Steele was the Enforcer, and he could feel outside threats to the Pack. This just felt like such a different threat that I wasn’t sure he would be able to tell what it was.
Cruz might be able to tell as well, but he was the Heir and felt so lost that I wasn’t even sure he would know to respond at all. It didn’t matter that he was a dominant wolf. We were all so far out of our depths, it was a little scary.
I rubbed at my chest and then was reminded again that I wasn’t the only cat shifter around. At least the only lioness around. I wanted someone of my own kind, even if it didn’t make sense. I should see Aimee. And check on her. She was a lioness like me because of what I had to do to save her.
I shook my head, remembering the Talon Pack lioness who now lived in a Pack of wolves as I did.
She was strong, mated to the Healer, and could handle anything on her own.
At least, that’s what I figured. It wasn’t like I could truly speak to her often these days, not with my needing to be with the Aspens as much as I was.
I turned to see Steele coming towards me, a glare on his face as always. I didn’t know him well, though that was only because I had to hide my true loyalties for so long that I didn’t know my Pack as I should.
He gave me a tight nod as he looked around at his lieutenants. “What happened here?”
I raised a brow because he wasn’t as dominant as I was. The only person that was within this Pack was Chase, and even then, some days, it didn’t feel like it.
Steele just shook his head, his own wolf understanding that he didn’t get to growl at me like that in front of others. We were all still finding our place, figuring out how to work together as a cohesive unit. The fact that I hadn’t had a cohesive unit with the previous hierarchy spoke volumes. We were taking our cues from the Redwoods and Talons. But even then, the Redwoods had decades of learning to work together and were an actual family. The hierarchy before the current generation was still around, guiding them. They weren’t elders per se, but they were a tight unit.
The Talons, on the other hand, had to rebuild from the ground up at one point, and so we were trying to follow their lead. Much like the Central Pack was doing. Though their Pack had been completely demolished, only coming back with a blessing from the actual moon goddess, the goddess of wolves.
I shook my head and looked over at Steele. “I don’t know. I’m trying to figure it out myself.”
I explained about the dark claws and the fact that it had spoken even after we had shoved a dagger into its eye. Steele raised a brow, then pulled out his phone. “We should talk with the Redwoods and the Talons. They might have seen something when they were down south.”
I frowned, then remembered that nearly a year ago the Tracker for the Redwood Pack had gone down south to meet another Pack of all things and had come up with something similar. The dark smudges and black bite marks.
“Do you think it’s that? I thought that those were genetically modified rogues or whatever that they had found.”
“Not exactly. The dead bodies that piled up happened to be because of that rogue, the wolf that had gotten out thanks to the drug that is no longer a problem within our borders. However, the black marks seemed to be something different.”
I cursed under my breath. “I didn’t know that.”
“I only think I know it because I was talking with Gina.”
Gina was the Enforcer of the Redwood Pack, his counterpart, and had more experience than he did, but only barely.
“Okay. I’ll talk with Chase then. Do you guys have this settled?”
“We do. We’ll meet up with Wren.”
A smile slid over my face at the mention of my best friend’s name. Wren was a lynx shifter and our Healer.
As long as she was connected to the Pack, she could use those bonds to heal those around her. She was also an MD and kept up with her medical studies throughout her years. She had been a doctor before the goddesses had called on her to become the Healer of our Pack. It had fit, and now she worked on the mystical side and the medical side.
“Hopefully, she’ll figure it out, and hey, I hear there’s a new geneticist joining the Pacific Northwest Pack Alliance.”
I grinned. “Is that the name that you’re going with now?” I asked.
Steele rolled his eyes. “I think Cruz is having a little too much fun with the other Packs forming names. But since we’re working so close together, the Pacific Northwest Pack Alliance seems to be working with the four of us.”
That made me smile because it wasn’t just the Redwoods and the Talons any longer. The Aspens were going to bring things to the table, and I knew the Centrals were doing the same. Even though the Centrals had a dark past with the Redwoods, we had just as much of a dark one with the Talons.
My stomach ached at that thought, and my cat scratched at me, so I pushed that thought away and sighed. “I need to go meet with Chase.”
“I take it training’s over then?” he asked, looking at Ronin.
Ronin lowered his head, and if he were in wolf form, his tail would’ve been tucked between his legs. I moved forward, went on my tiptoes, and ran my hand through his hair. “You’re fine. We’ll finish up the day after tomorrow. I know you have your studies.”
The kid, and he really was a kid, only in his early twenties, beamed at me. “Yes, true. Thank you so much for your help. I know I’m getting better, right?”
“You are. You fought well today. We weren’t expecting this, but we made it out because we had each other. So thank you.”
His eyes widened before he walked away, speaking with another wolf his age that was a Lieutenant. That Lieutenant was far stronger in dominance but had just an edge of maternal nature to her that she seemed to ease Ronin’s wolf.
“You’re good with him.”
I looked at Steele. “I’m trying. Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.”
He swallowed hard. “I feel like that too. Even though you’ve been Beta for longer, you had to be a different Beta before.”
I knew he’d said it as a compliment, but it felt like a slap nonetheless. “I know. But we have new wolves joining the Pack every week, it seems.”
“We do. And that’s something that Chase is going to want to talk to you about,” he added with a grimace.
“What?”
“Allister’s here.”
I blinked at his mention of the Thames Pack Alpha. The Thames Pack was over by the actual Thames River in England. “I didn’t realize he was visiting.”
“He wanted to meet with our alliance, or whatever else he wants to call it. And in doing so, he brought with him a lone wolf that’s been with them for a while but wanted to come back to the United States. And since the Centrals and the Aspens are pretty much recruiting for Pack members at this point, he figured this guy would work out well with us.”
“Oh. Okay. What does it have to do with me?”
“As Beta, Chase wants you to help him get acclimated to the den. He’s going to blood him in later today.”
“Him? Just one?”
“There are two women that are joining the Central Pack, from what I can tell. But we get the Tracker.”
My lion perked up, her tail swishing back and forth. “He’s a Tracker?”
“He is, and has the talent for it, and since our Pack doesn’t actually have one as part of the hierarchy, Chase says the moon goddess will bestow the new guy with the title.”
A Tracker was someone who could follow the Pack lines and use extrasensory abilities to find anyone within the Pack. If magic or other impediments were in the way, it didn’t always work, but a Tracker was great to have. We hadn’t had one in a decade. Not since our former Alpha had killed him for daring to disobey him.
I swallowed hard, thinking of another Tracker that I’d met in my lifetime. One I didn’t want to think about too hard because it hurt even to imagine.
“I guess since I’m the Beta, it’s my job to see to the needs of the Pack.”
Steele saluted me as he turned back to work with the dead bodies that I had left behind, and I shook my hair out before making my way towards the den.
The den was situated in the northern part of California, amongst the Redwood trees, much like the Redwood namesake Pack that was a little more north of us. We took over Washington, Oregon, and California once you put all of the Pack territories together. We were a large group, but insular.
Our wards protected the den itself, but a lot of our Pack lived outside the den, within the communities of humans and witches. That was how it should be. A den was a place to come home to.
It hadn’t been like that for so long that it almost felt odd to think that now this den could be healthy once again.
I walked through the wards, past the sentries, and let the magic settle over my skin. My cat preened, enjoying the tingles of magic, and I shook my head at it.
Silly cat.
She wanted to run, to let the world look at her glorious golden pelt, but I ignored her. We had things to do. We could laze in the sun later.
I turned the corner, my cat perking up, an odd scent hitting her nose.
I frowned, wondering why it scented so familiar.
“Audrey. You’re here. Good,” Chase, my Alpha, stated as I came towards him, but my heart stuttered, my skin breaking out into a cold sweat. I couldn’t focus. Not on him.
It couldn’t be.
This wasn’t him.
It was a ghost, a death. This was nothing. I was dreaming. Maybe I had been bitten by whatever I just fought, and now I was dead.
Because this couldn’t be true.
“Audrey, you know Allister, and this is Gavin. He’ll be a new member of the Aspen Pack.”
Gavin. That was the name of the stranger, the stranger with the eyes.
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Fractured Connections, and Elements of Five series, which have sold over 3.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over seventy-five novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Rowe is both “contemporary romance at its best” (Bex ‘N’ Books) and a “paranormal star” (JR Ward). The author of more than fifty novels, Stephanie is a 2021 Vivian Award Nominee, and a 2018 winner and a five-time nominee for the RITA® award, the highest awards in romance fiction. As an award-winning author, Stephanie has been touching readers’ hearts and keeping them spellbound for more than a decade with her contemporary romances, romantic suspense, and paranormal romances. For more info on Stephanie, visit http://www.stephanierowe.com, follow her on Facebook: @StephanieRoweBooks, Twitter: @stephanierowe2, and Instagram: @stephanierowe2.
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