by Kimbra Swain
“I guess I should have asked if you were with my daughter,” he said.
“Suzanna is a wonderful woman, and I’d be honored if she felt that way about me. But she won’t allow herself to fall in love, because she too is bound by your rules,” I said.
“I will compromise. Either Sully takes a wife and produces a child or Suzanna marries Reuben of the Bateman pack. You choose, but I must have stability,” Hiram said. “And I’ve had enough of you telling me what to do, Dominick Meyer. I agree, it is time for you to move on.”
Hiram had spoken. He rose from the chair and left the house without another word. “I’ll pack my things tomorrow,” I said.
“You aren’t leaving, and you’ve got one hell of a set of balls on you to talk to him like that,” Sully said.
“It’s hot,” Suzi said.
“It’s how I wish I had talked to my father. If I had put him down, I could have taken his place and saved the pack,” I said. “But I was a coward, and I ran.”
“Whatever you were, you aren’t that same man. Now you are the kind of guy who talks back to an Alpha and lives to tell about it,” Sully said. “Suzi, you don’t have to marry Reuben. I’ll find some girl to marry to make him happy.”
A tear rolled down her cheek, and she jumped up to hug him. “Why? I could marry him. Maybe he’s a nice guy. It’s just the reasoning I hate. I might like him. There’s no reason you should do this. And father is wrong about you. You could find the mate you choose and adopt a child. There have always been plenty of wolf orphans who need a good home.”
“I’m going to go to Steelshore and see what I can find there,” I said.
“You aren’t in any shape to go anywhere,” Sully protested.
“I didn’t mean right now!” I replied. “When I heal up. If what he said is true, this is much bigger than just us. I think you both should follow your heart. You haven’t even allowed yourselves to think about being happy. You’ve made me happier than I ever thought I would be. I can go back out there now, knowing that I have somewhere to come back home to.”
I got hauled into their hug.
Fourteen
A month later, I sat inside a diner in Steelshore, Alabama when a very well-dressed man entered. He carried a cane with a skull on the top. He smiled at me, then nodded. I didn’t dare try to contact the local packs, but I knew how to find a fairy or other supernatural by scent. I’d followed this guy for two days. He frequented a burlesque show that I had no desire to view.
By this point, I’d determined that he was a vampire which was unusual. Vamps usually kept to themselves, but this one seemed to have a prolific social life.
“May I sit?” he asked.
I nodded, and the waitress hustled over to take his order.
“What can I get for you, honey?” she asked.
“Coffee,” he replied.
“Coming right up,” she said, then sauntered off. I watched her look him up and down like he was a piece of meat.
“She’s attracted,” I said.
“They all are. It gets old after a while. Why don’t you tell me why a lone wolf has summoned me to a diner and interrupted my day?” he said.
“What can I call you?” I asked.
“Seamus,” he replied, as the waitress sat down his cup of coffee, several cups of creamer, and sugar packets. “Thank you, dear.” He reached up and touched her hand. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she shivered. She walked away in a daze.
“What did you do to her?” I asked.
“Gave her something to think about for a little while so we can talk in private,” he said. He didn’t use the cream or sugar but sipped the coffee like it wasn’t scalding hot.
“I’m Nick from Louisiana. We’ve had some interesting things going on with the packs there. Fairy things,” I said.
“Trafficking. I know all about the network out there, moving contraband from the port to Las Vegas,” he said.
“Can you give me any specifics as to who is doing it?” I asked.
“It’s not any of my business, but I heard that up near Birmingham there is a very powerful fairy that has come into power. I don’t know anything about her though,” he said.
“Winter?” I asked.
“Indeed.”
“My mother is Winter.”
“Oh, a Faeborn. No wonder you are a loner. The wolves look down on your kind,” he said.
“I have a pack, but it’s better for them if I’m here,” I said.
He dropped a twenty-dollar bill on the table and stood. He buttoned his wool coat up. “I would tell you to drop this before it gets you killed, but you don’t look like the type to do that.”
“I’m not.”
“I’m going to help you out. Head up to Birmingham. There’s a coffee shop just over Red Mountain near Homewood. Someone will contact you there,” he said, handing me a slip of paper with the address on it.
“Thanks,” I said.
He left me and disappeared the moment he stepped out of the diner. The waitress in the back hit her peak, and I had to leave because the moans of ecstasy was more than I could take. I slipped on my helmet for the motorcycle that Sully had bought me before I left. My cell phone had been upgraded too. It wirelessly connected to my helmet. I called him as I drove north.
“Hello,” Suzi answered.
“Well, hello beautiful,” I said.
“Nick! How are you?” she asked.
“I’m good. Following a lead up to Birmingham,” I said.
“Nick, I am getting married next week,” she said. I nearly wrecked the bike. “It turns out that Reuben is actually a wonderful guy, and I want Sully to be happy.”
“I thought he was courting that Chauvin girl,” I said.
“And he’s miserable,” she said.
“I’m sorry.”
“We aren’t. We will do what we have to do, and after that, we will find our happiness. We won’t have it until you are happy, too,” she said.
“I miss you guys,” I said.
“Come home soon.”
“I’m on my way.”
“You always say that.”
“And every step I take leads me back to you guys.”
“We love you, Nick.”
“Love you, too.”
The phone call disconnected, and I was determined to meet Seamus’ contact in Birmingham, then get back home. Only that contact turned out to be Tennyson Schuyler who sent me on another mission to Shady Grove, Alabama.
As much as I missed my Louisiana family, I knew that being here was where I belonged. When I met Grace Ann Bryant, my life changed. I was already on that track, but suddenly I had a purpose. At first, I thought she was the one we were looking for that was trafficking fairies, but I soon found out that there was a whole other drama there. The pack in Shady Grove accepted me. Troy made me his Beta, which I gladly took. I had a pack again. People that depended upon me.
Suzi sent me pictures of her wedding to Reuben. It wasn’t long after that when Levi married Grace. Sully called me one day saying he had information about the fairy woman who was my mother. He wanted to meet me, but outside of Houma. Grace needed someone to go down there and ask some questions about the voodoo priestess, Lisette. I agreed so that I could meet up with my friend.
“Sully!” I said, watching him rise to meet me. He hugged me tightly, and something in his eyes seemed wrong. “What’s happened?”
“Father is dead, and the pack rejected me as Alpha. Suzi is in charge,” he said.
“That’s what you wanted, right?”
“They banished me,” he said.
“What?! Suzi wouldn’t let that happen!” I said.
“She didn’t. My mother did,” he said. “She’s the one we’ve been looking for.”
I stumbled back away from him. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we are brothers. Half-brothers. She changed her glamour from pack to pack, so she never looked the same for any of us” he said. “Father is
dead because he found out.”
“Is Suzi okay?” I asked. “Do we need to get her out of there?”
“She’s okay right now. She’s playing along with Reuben. He will protect her, but now the trafficking is moving through Houma,” he said, dropping his head. “We have to stop her.”
“We will. I have somewhere you can go,” I said. “And you kissed me! I’m your brother, and you fucking kissed me!”
He laughed. “I didn’t know!”
“Have you not seen Star Wars!?” I protested, trying to ease his demeanor.
He smiled, but it faded back to the lack of light I’d seen before. He’d lost hope. Sully always had a light and a goodness that radiated from him. Our mother’s actions had driven it from him. I’d do whatever it took to get it back. “So, where do we go from here?” he asked.
“Have you ever heard of Shady Grove, Alabama?”
Bad Moon Rising is the first book in the Dog River Wolfpack Series. Pre-order it today!
Acknowledgments
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I’d like to thank my favorite music artists who inspire me through the soundtrack that I listen to while I write.
Thanks to my Canvas Crew and ARC teams. A big shout out to the members of Magic and Mason Jars. I provide the mason jars, and you are the magic.
Thanks to my family. My beautiful daughter and my handsome husband.
From early in life Kimbra Swain was indoctrinated in the ways of geekdom. Raised on Star Wars, Tolkien, Superheroes, and Voltron, she found herself immersed in a world of imagination. She started writing in high school, and completed her English degree from the University of Alabama in 2003.
Her writing is influenced by a gamut of favorite authors including Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Timothy Zahn, Kathy Reichs, Kevin Hearne, and Jim Butcher.
Born and raised in Alabama, Kimbra still lives there with her husband and 7 year-old daughter. When she isn't reading or writing, she plays PC games, makes jewelry, and plays with her two dogs.
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KIMBRA’S OTHER SERIES:
Chantilly Lace
The Path to Redemption
DOG RIVER WOLFPACK
BOOK ONE: BAD MOON RISING
(COMING IN DEC 2019)
Chapter One
When she stepped into my office, my heart lurched at seeing her again after our first meeting. However, she clearly wasn't here for that this time.
"Lyra, is everything okay?" I asked.
She shifted her weight, sighing deeply. Opening her mouth to speak, regret flowed from her dark green eyes. She hated me. Hated what happened between us. That would explain a lot actually. She had helped me search for Rory and Soraya, but we’d barely spoken.
"I need your help," she mumbled.
Life had taught me to be guarded. Her disappearance had reinforced that principle.
Grace and Levi sent me here to help the supernaturals in this city. Even though Lyra wasn't technically from Steelshore, she and her sister lived close enough. But I didn't dare lower my guard.
"What can I do for you?" I asked, remaining seated behind my desk.
"Wow. I didn't expect such coldness. Not from you," she fired at me.
"Why not? I tried contacting you. You made it very clear that you weren't interested in talking to me," I fired back.
"Perhaps I had more important things going on that responding to a one-night mistake!" she exclaimed. "I should have never come back here."
Turning on her heel, she marched toward the door. Cursing me under her breath where I could hear it, I waited for her to change her mind.
Looking back over her shoulder, the fire subsided in her eyes. Her shoulders slumped. Raising her hands to her hips, she stared at the floor.
Whatever had brought her here was important. More important than her pride. For that reason, I apologized.
"Forgive me. This is not about us, is it? What can I do to help you?" I relented.
Her voice was just above a whisper. "No, it's not about us. It's about my family."
Lyra took care of her younger sister, Tinley, after their parents were killed in an invasion into their territory. Lyra's pack had retained control over the Dog River region, but she lost both parents in the process. Her father was the Alpha with no male heir. However, their pack had always been guided by her great aunts, the matriarchs of the pack. They put Lyra in charge. She struggled to retain control which she didn't outright tell me. However, after one night in bed, I knew. She fought me for control. I let her have it. It was what she needed.
One night. Then silence.
In the end, I knew it didn't matter that I had allowed her take the lead. She had given me more than she had ever intended.
"Nick, another pack is moving into the region. There is discord in the pack. They are losing faith in my leadership abilities. I need an Alpha," she whimpered.
"I'm not an Alpha," I responded quickly.
"Just because you renounced it, doesn't mean it isn't still in you!" she growled.
"I can't lead your pack," I said.
"You won't. It's mine, but I need back-up," she said.
"I'll call Mark. He can send down some fighters to help protect the pack," I responded.
"No outsiders!" she exclaimed.
Her emotions teetered from high to low like a squeaky see-saw.
"It wouldn't be permanent. The Shady Grove pack is trained for this kind of thing. We help shifters all over the country. Not just wolves. They would be under your control," I said.
She stomped back across the room in her killer heel boots and leaned over my desk. Her eyes flashed with the animal inside of her.
"I didn't ask for the Shady Grove pack. I asked for you, but you are a coward. You think because you lost a hand that you can't lead. That no one but your little task force here will listen to you. Get over yourself, Dominick. Are you going to help me or not?" Her voice dripped with fire. The fire I'd come to associate with strong, stubborn southern women.
Grace.
Wynonna.
Lyra.
Fuck me.
“Let me grab my jacket.”