by Alanea Alder
Kindred of Arkadia 1
Fate Knows Best
Rebecca Morgan thinks she knows what she wants out of life, until her life plan goes to hell in a handbasket. Now she is out looking for adventure. She just doesn’t expect to discover a shifter-only town and one six-foot-eight, grumpy, bear-shifting sheriff named Aleksander Arkadion.
Aleksander Arkadion only wants to date shifter females after working a brutal homicide case that has him returning to the shifter-only town of his youth. Which is why is he curious to discover a human in town and shocked when he realizes the tiny woman is his mate.
As the attraction between them grows, Aleks realizes that he can’t stay away from the petite female, but the realization may come too late. Although her body was never in any danger, he may have destroyed her heart by pushing her away. Now he has to convince his mate he really does want her while keeping her safe from rogue hyenas bent on taking her.
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Shape-shifter
Length: 46,261 words
FATE KNOWS BEST
Kindred of Arkadia 1
Alanea Alder
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
FATE KNOWS BEST
Copyright © 2013 by Alanea Alder
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-865-6
First E-book Publication: May 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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Regarding E-book Piracy
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This is Alanea Alder’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Alder’s right to earn a living from her work.
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DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to those who helped to make it happen. The wonderful ladies whom I met at the Siren-BookStrand convention, especially Lynn Hagen whose simple words "Just do it and never give up." kept me moving forward. To Heather Rainer whose patient and kind words lifted me up when I was feeling overwhelmed. To my Mom, who over the years has always listened to my crazy ideas, before and after coffee. To Leah Michaels, my partner in crime. And finally to Peggy Thomason, aka (Pegster) who is the bestest friend a woman could hope to ask for, thanks for everything you did to make this happen, please continue to help me on what will hopefully be a successful series.
To my readers. First of all, let me thank you for reading my books. It's such an honor to be able to write and have my stories published so that someone else can read them. Above all else, I am and always will be, an AVID reader. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for joining me on this crazy journey, I hope it's a fun trip. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me via Facebook or my website.
With all my gratitude ~Alanea~
FATE KNOWS BEST
Kindred of Arkadia 1
ALANEA ALDER
Copyright © 2013
Prologue
“Why are we here?” The voice of the high-pitched hyena grated on his nerves. If only there was another way. The gentleman sighed. No. His kind weren’t permitted in Arkadia, and this group had access.
“You are here because I require something from you,” he said quietly.
“Who the fuck are you?” the hyena asked arrogantly. The gentleman moved faster than he knew the shifter could track and appeared behind the man. He straightened his fingers and plunged his hand into the hyena’s back, wrapping his fingers around the spine. The hyena’s screams filled the room. The gentleman sighed happily.
“Shush or I will kill you,” he said softly. The hyena quieted down but kept whimpering.
“I bought the debt you incurred when you lost the last shipment meant for your associates. I work with them from time to time as well. They were most eager to take my money. So you see, that makes you my little puppet,” he said, shaking the hand that was still fisted around the hyena’s spine. The hyena’s body jerked from side to side.
“Now, what I need is very simple. Totally within your capabilities to get. I almost feel like it’s too easy for you. What I want is Arkadion blood,” the gentleman said, savoring the name Arkadion on his tongue as if it were a fine wine.
“How do we get it?” the hyena gasped.
“I don’t care. Find a way. Bring me the Arkadion blood or come back and face me,” the gentleman said, ripping his hand out of the hyena. He brought his hand to his mouth and began to slowly lick his fingers.
“Face me or face the Arkadion. Now go,” the gentleman said and then nodded to the large shadow in the corner.
The figure grabbed one hyena in each hand and took them from the room.
“Thank you, Payne,” the gentleman said.
Chapter 1:
Arkadia
“Made a wrong turn, once or twice. Dug my way out, blood and fire.” Rebecca sang along to P!nk as her bright-blue Smart car made its way down the dark mountain highway. She had ignored the small clanking sound she heard from her tiny car all the way through South Carolina, and it was now making itself known.
“Just get me to the closest city and I promise to get you the works. I’m talking new belts and detailing, just please don’t leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere in the North Carolina mountains.” Rebecca pleaded with her car. She glanced down and realized she was almost out of gas as well.
Afraid to pull over in case her car decided to cut off on her, she was holding up her phone’s GPS app tr
ying to see where the nearest town was when a deer and then a fairly large animal darted into the middle of the road. She slammed on her brakes and her phone went flying. When her car came to a complete stop she looked around, both animals were nowhere to be seen.
Breathing heavily and with shaking hands she picked up her phone from under the gas pedal just in time to see the battery die.
“Oh come on, please!” She shook the phone as if that would breathe new life into the battery.
Looking out the window, she tried to recall what was close by. It wasn’t hard to do. There wasn’t much ahead. It was about a hundred miles until the next city or another thirty miles to the next rest stop. She sighed as she saw one snowflake then another hit her windshield. She glanced to her left and blinked. Was that road there a second ago? She looked closer and she could clearly see a well-kept paved road. On the horizon beyond the trees she saw a faint glow of lights. She was still trying to decide if she should go down the unknown road when her car began to sputter. She quickly put it in gear and decided to take her chances with a nearby unknown rather than an impossible-to-reach certainty.
She drove down the dark road and was just about to turn around when she came upon an open archway. Hanging from the center of the arch was a sign that just read “Arkadia.” She frowned, I don’t remember an Arkadia on the map. She shrugged and drove the car forward. The snow was really coming down now. To her right she passed what looked to be the town’s city hall. It was a beautiful white stone building with unexpected touches of Gothic architecture. Small alcoves and gargoyles graced the top of the building. She smiled. She loved older buildings. As she drove by she read the sign. “Courthouse–Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm, First Floor. Utilities–Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm, Second Floor. Townhall–Friday, 6pm-10pm, First Floor. Church Services–Sat-Sun, Second Floor.”
Now that makes sense and is a perfect use of space. She kept driving. On her immediate left was a fifties-style diner complete with a jukebox in the window. The sign simply read “Ma’s Diner.”
I bet they have amazing food, she made a mental note to go back there for dinner.
After the diner and town hall she could turn left or right or go straight. She looked down to the left and saw signs for a bakery, a coffee shop, and clothing stores. To her right she saw signs for the theater and an electronics shop aptly named “Johnny 5’s”. She chuckled at that. She also saw a library and a furniture store, but no garage. So she decided to head straight. When she came to the next intersection, looking right she saw at the end of the street on the left a sign in large bold font “Garage”. She shrugged. I guess the name says it all.
She pulled up next to where the bay doors stood open, and that was when her car decided to die with a loud bang. Sighing with relief that she had made it to a garage in an actual town, she picked up the backpack that served as her purse and stepped out of her car, leaving her luggage in the back seat. An extremely tall and large man stepped out of the open bay door wiping his hands on a rag. He stood around six seven and looked to be in his fifties. His shiny brown hair was going grey at the temples. He looked kind, and it seemed the light lines on his face were from smiling or laughing. For some reason, though they looked nothing alike, he reminded her of her father.
The man smiled warmly and walked up to her. She had to look way up to meet his green eyes.
“It’s so tiny it looks like a toy!” the large man said as he walked slowly around the car.
“Right now it’s a broken toy. It literally just died in your parking lot. Do you think you can fix it?” she asked.
The man just absently nodded and kept circling the car.
“You leave it here and I will play with it. My name is Aaron Arkadion. This is my garage.” He ran a hand over the hood almost as if he were petting the family dog.
“Thank you. My name is Rebecca. Rebecca Morgan.”
When he finally looked up and really looked at her, she could see a flicker of shock in his eyes.
“How did you get here?” he asked.
Confused, she replied, “I drove here.” He tilted his head and continued to look at her. She stared right back. Her stomach growled.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“I’m starved! My cheese crackers and beef jerky ran out sometime this afternoon,”
“Come on, I’ll drive you to my wife’s diner. She makes the most amazing food, as you can see,” he said, laughing and patting his mid-section.
“Oh no, I couldn’t put you out like that. I can walk.” She hefted her backpack up over her shoulder.
The large man smiled again and pointed to the sky where the snow was coming down harder now.
“It’s no trouble. I was on my way there anyway for my own dinner. Come on, little one, let’s go get something warm to eat.” Very easily he plucked her backpack from her shoulder and walked over to a huge truck.
She smiled and followed.
In the end he had to reach over the seat and pull her in since the truck was so far off the ground.
“My dad used to call me that,” she said as she buckled her seat belt.
“What, little one?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Used to?” he asked again simply.
She nodded again as he pulled away from the garage.
“He died a few years ago. There was a house fire. I lost him and the house. The only thing that made it was my car and only because it was with me at work at the time. Since then I’ve learned not to accumulate things.” She watched as they passed the grocery store before making the left that put them back onto Main Street.
“I am sorry for your loss. It must have been hard. You have no other family?” he asked, concern and worry on his face as he frowned.
She shook her head.
“Nope. Just me now. I lost my mother when I was three. She died in a car accident. They were both older when they had me, so I never knew my grandparents, and I was an only child, so no siblings. But it’s okay. A lot of people don’t have family.” She turned her face from the window where she had been watching the small town go by to see his large green eyes filled with tears for her. Her eyes widened.
“Oh! It’s okay, really!” She patted his shoulder.
He sniffled loudly.
“It’s not right, a tiny thing like you being alone. Not right at all.” He easily pulled into a parking spot near the door. The street was packed with cars. She was surprised no one had taken the spot so close until she spotted the sign.
Reserved for Pa.
“You wait there. I will come around for you,” he said.
She grinned as she watched the large but extremely kind man walk around the truck to open the door for her. He put his hands under her arms and very easily lifted her out of the truck. She felt like a rag doll. Surprisingly despite his size not once did she feel uncomfortable or afraid of him. But then again she had always been a good judge of character. And at the moment her gut was telling her she just made a really special friend. She tucked her hand into his elbow and let him lead her into the diner. She couldn’t wait to see the menu. She was starved.
When they walked into the diner everyone immediately got quiet. Rebecca realized that she was essentially a stranger in what seemed to be a typical small town. The quiet part didn’t bother her as much as the staring. It was starting to make her feel like a bug under a microscope. She started to edge behind her new friend when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to stand beside him.
“This is Rebecca Morgan. She is from out of town.” He made from out of town sound as if she came from outer space.
“Rebecca, why don’t you tell them how you found our town.” He walked her to the counter and propped her up on the bar stool. Her feet didn’t even touch the metal bar halfway down the stool, so her feet swung freely. The black-and-white checkerboard floor gleamed as though it had just been waxed. The entire placed smelled of comfort foods and lemon cleaner.
Not one to be shy, she launched into
her story.
“Well I’ve been driving around for a while, kinda on a sabbatical since my jerk of a boss decided I was ‘redundant.’ Anyway my car started making funny noises somewhere in South Carolina. So when the noises started getting louder tonight, I bargained with her that if she got me to civilization I would make sure she got new parts. Right after that I was checking my phone’s GPS, which by the way didn’t even have your town showing, so I know the software must be outdated, but then again it was only a ninety-nine-cent app so what can you expect, right?” A few heads nodded.
“So I was checking my phone. When I looked up, a deer then this huge animal came darting out into the middle of the road. So I slammed on my brakes and my phone went flying. When I looked up both animals were gone. I’m glad I didn’t hit them. I love animals.” A lot of people were smiling.
“Any hosier. I picked up my phone, which immediately died. Then it began to snow. Then my car started stuttering. I was just about to cry when I saw out of the corner of my eye this road with a glow up ahead like a town or city. I could have sworn it wasn’t there before. So I decided a well-kept road like that had to lead somewhere, so I chose to go after an unknown nearby place rather than walk the hundred miles to the next town. I found the garage and then my poor car died and then Mr. Arkadion here offered me a ride to the diner and here I am.” She smiled.