Iron
Blue Collar Wolves #1
Mating Season Collection
Ronin Winters
Romantic Geek Publishing
IRON (BLUE COLLAR WOLVES #1) (MATING SEASON COLLECTION)
Romantic Geek Publishing
Copyright © 2015 Ronin Winters
E-book ISBN 978-1-938593-25-3
Kindle Edition
Publication Date: June 2015
Editor: Sara Lunsford
Copy Editor: Eilis Flynn
Cover Design: Croco Designs
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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 purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Books by Ronin Winters
What is The Mating Season Collection?
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
About the Author
Mating Season – Books Released so Far
New Releases List Sign-Up
Find Ronin (as Danielle Monsch) on Social Media
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Books by Ronin Winters
The Mating Season
The mating moon is rising…
Blue Collar Wolves
Iron
Brick House
Steel
The Pleasure Chronicles
Sexy Sci-Fi about Warrior women and the Alpha Males who love them
Pleasure Satellite – To the Strongest goes Everything…
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FACEBOOK FAN GROUP FOR THE MATING SEASON
What is The Mating Season Collection?
The Mating Season began when six friends who also happen to be Paranormal Romance Writers got together and started talking about how it was funny that authors could take the same premise but make such different stories around it.
A little more talk (and perhaps a little more wine – no telling) and they began to brainstorm about a shifter world revolving around The Mating Season, a special time of year that would be the only time a shifter could take a mate. One author suggested she would take a story this way while another laughed and cut her off and said, nope, she’d tell a story like this.
And then they all stopped and thought, Hey, why don’t we write these different stories and release them all together in one collection? So they did.
Six Authors. Six Different Packs. And all of it revolving around One Premise – The Mating Season.
We are proud and excited to have worked on this project together. I hope you enjoy my take and my pack as they navigate The Mating Season, and please check out my friends’ packs and their takes on it as well.
–Ronin
Chapter One
‡
Fucking hell, those curves.
Those curves that left him hard and aching, palming his dick with just the thought of them, that he fucking came in his sleep over, that he fucking salivated over like a dog in heat, and they were right there, those hips and that ass in skin-tight blue jeans, swinging in beat to the classic rock pouring out of the jukebox.
And Isabella Santiago knew what she was doing to him, like fuck she didn’t. She had glanced at him over her shoulder before stopping right in his line of sight with her back to him, one hand tucked into her back pocket as if to direct his eyes where to go. Then she started dancing in place, and that ass hadn’t stopped moving since.
“Iron, man, quit drooling over the bitch and nut up enough to say hi without pissing your pants.”
From behind the bar, Iron flipped off his alpha, then went back to wiping the pint glass. “Why don’t you go fucking say hi, Steel? I already said hi when she came in with her friends.”
Steel leaned back, his bright gold eyes sharp and focused. “Friends, huh? Take it you didn’t see how rich boy’s eyes are glued to her ass?”
Iron’s hand flexed, the glass cracking under the sudden pressure. Iron swore while Steel gave a small laugh as the glass was tossed in the trash. Hell yeah he’d noticed the scrawny little glasses-wearing bastard, and he was due some type of reward for not tossing the guy out on the ass of his too-expensive jeans. “Not my place to say anything.”
Steel’s snort could be heard over the low roar of the crowd, the sound carrying a mocking edge. “She’s your true mate. It’s been your place to speak since we were kids, but you’ve been too dumbass to man up and claim what’s yours. Are you going to change that this mating season, or do I have to go through this for another year?”
Avoiding his alpha’s stare, Iron took a quick look across the room. The small bar was as crowded as it got, both pool tables and the dart board in use, with people lining the bar and talking over each other. Most of them were strangers. Usually the bar was filled with pack or those connected to the pack with only a few outsiders, but this was the mating season, so usual rules didn’t apply. Unmated pack members went beyond the pack’s territory looking for women, and for those already mated – well, they didn’t want to leave home.
For Iron, mating season was hell on earth, and that wasn’t a fucking exaggeration. Connected to his true mate but not mated to her, mating season meant the sensation of a thousand pinpricks jabbing at his skin every moment he wasn’t touching her and constant desire to move, to find her, to fill himself with her and to fill her. His nose searched out her scent and every other one made him want to puke. The clawing need to sink fangs and cock into his woman, to mark her, to get her pregnant and to feel her come.
And here she was in front of him, unexpected and unwelcome, because she was pure temptation and the wolf within was throwing itself at the cage where Iron kept it locked tight. It lunged and growled and bared its teeth in frightening display, determined to get to his mate.
Iron refused to let that happen. True mates were fucking lies and he wasn’t going down that path. Bella wasn’t meant for him, his wolf be damned. “Instead of bitching about my life, don’t you think your ass should be out there finding your mate? Doesn’t look good if the alpha is unmated too long. Challengers start sniffing around.”
Steel threw him a goddamn annoying smirk. “Unlike some, I’m not scared of getting my mate. Once I find my true mate I’m courting the hell out of her and mating her the second she allows it. I only need to keep my eyes open to grab her up when she comes by.”
“And you think she’s going to come by while your ass is planted on my bar stool?” Fucking Steel. Iron could take dealing with the shit thrown at him if the alpha was easier to rile, but no, he’d always been calm, cool, and fucking collected.
“Once I’m meant to find her, I’ll find her. Doesn’t matter where.”
“Where did all this Zen bullshit come from? You need to let me know so I don’t ever visit.”
S
teel took another swig from his beer bottle, unaffected by the aggression pouring off the pack’s beta. “Might as well stop hoping I’ll give you a fight and a reason to shut the bar down so Bella has to go home. Suck it up, buttercup.”
Too bad. A full-out fight would have been welcome. Humans being so weak sucked sometimes, since any fight with them was over before it began.
Out of habit, he did a quick look-over of the bar for any signs of problems. Since most here weren’t pack or regulars, he didn’t know who to be wary of, so he glanced from dart board to pool table to pool table…
Fuck. Bella was at a pool table, lining up a shot like the little shark she was, and that ass in those jeans was on perfect display – bent over the pool table, pointed in his direction, and begging for him to spend days worshipping it like he’d wanted to since the moment he first realized what his dick was for.
“Iron’s looking like the wolf from one of those old cartoons, tongue all out and eyes three feet extended. Is Bella around?” Dropping into the bar stool next to Steel, the man speaking was almost pretty-boy handsome with his clear blue eyes, blond hair, and cocky grin, but was saved from that description by the deep voice with its I’ve traveled the world and picked up a bit from everywhere accent and the thick scruff over his cheeks and neck.
“Don’t give me shit, House, since you’re only here for Mel. Speaking of, where’s your other half?” House’s grin dropped and a scowl took over. Yeah, Iron wasn’t the only one in a shit situation, and they needed reminded of it some days.
House’s mouth pursed, like he was debating if it was worth letting an argument develop, but he dropped it, saying “Mel here tonight?”
“She should be arriving in a few. She’s got the shift til close, so I hope you don’t have to work tomorrow. Since you’ll be here all night drinking and all.”
House threw some money on the bar. “Just get me a beer and shut the hell up.”
“And your partner in crime? Should I set up a tab for him as well?” Hell yeah, it was a lot more fun being on the giving shit side instead of taking it.
Speaking of…the door opened to frame a big, hulking figure of a man, with a plain-bordering-on-unattractive face and eyes and short, shaggy hair the same color as tree bark. He made his way to the bar with everyone around him stepping back to let him pass unimpeded, taking the seat on the other side of Steel.
Steel gave a small nod. “How you doin’, Brick? The shop treating you well?”
“Working on a ’68 Mustang.”
“That’s sweet,” said Steel, and Iron nodded. House said nothing, and everyone ignored the thrum of tension that settled around the group as Iron went to grab another beer.
A shout rose from the pool area. Bella was running the table and looked ready to sink the eight. Now she was facing him, the front of her shirt cut low to reveal the upper curve of her breast. As she pocketed the eight her friends cheered, and she put her arms on the table, arching her back just a little, just enough to pull that shirt as low as it would go before it would be illegal. Before he mustered the willpower to look away, the little bitch raised her eyes until she was staring direct into his, long curly hair swinging over her shoulder, those cock-sucking lips of hers curled up at the corners and big brown eyes sparkling. Like she knew what he’d been ogling…knew, and approved.
Like she planned it. Of course she had. Sneaky, brilliant, beautiful bitch. No, really she was more a cat. After all, she’d been driving him crazy since they were six-year-olds in Mrs. Jenkins’s first-grade class.
House’s impossible-to-place accent cut through the spell Bella’s eyes always cast over him. “What’s Bella doing here, anyway? I thought she lived at the hospital these days.”
Hospital. Doctor Isabella Santiago. Ice-cold reality doused him, and Iron tore his gaze from her, slamming glasses on the bar and began pouring.
“You said the h word. Mistake.” Steel was responding to House, but his attention was fixed on Iron. “We don’t use such dirty language around here.”
“Steel, man–” Iron bit his tongue to keep from continuing the sentence. His alpha would put up with a lot of talk, but the words that wanted to escape Iron’s throat right now would get them into a fight that would leave a bloody mess across the bar. Besides, this was Steel’s way, trying to goad him into something that wasn’t going to fuckin’ happen. Steel might be doing it out of brotherly love, but it got tired.
In answer to a prayer Iron never said, the door behind him opened and in walked Melissa Harris for her shift, her dyed blonde hair up in a ponytail, face make-up free with her usual outfit of T-shirt, jeans, and boots, all well-worn. “Hey, guys.”
Brick and House both tensed, their gazes locking on Mel, which she seemed oblivious to as she started on her prep for the night. How much House and Brick’s situation sucked hit Iron again, making his own issues more bearable. Having the same true mate as another wolf? Not for any amount of money would he sign on for that.
As she finished counting the till, Mel said, “I’m surprised to see you guys here. Shouldn’t yinz be out, finding your true mates? Don’t be a dumbass like Iron here.”
Iron threw up his hands. “Fuck my life, man.”
“Why don’t you fuck Bella instead? And mate her while you’re at it?”
Fierce. That described Mel more than anyone else he knew, even Bella. She hadn’t blinked when she discovered in seventh grade that two of her three best friends were werewolves, and she discovered that after an attack where a werewolf from a different pack went after her. Steel stopped the attack, but it was Mel who had doused the bastard in mace, then when he was back in his human form kicked him in the balls so hard he was probably still singing soprano.
As awesome as it was to see her in action, it was less satisfying when she used it against him. When the season started and he hadn’t gone after Bella – for yet another year, the Mel voice in his head said, angry drawl and all – she’d taken to glaring at him as a hobby, and he knew the minute she began to suspect he was going to do something with Laura because she served his prized whiskey stash to the bar one night he was off, feigning wide-eyed ignorance of how it happened the next day.
Never let it be said Mel was subtle.
Steel spoke up, and though Iron could try to pretend it was because Steel was going to back-off, why bother? The reason was it would be bloody if Brick and House tried to make a wolf skin out of Iron should he lose his temper and upset Mel. “Mel, Bella’s here. Shouldn’t you go say hi?”
Mel cut her eyes at Steel, but she smiled anyway. “Fine, right after I’m done prepping.” She turned back to Iron, poking him in the chest with her finger. “You – grow a dick, or a brain, or something. Quit making her wait.”
Twin growls of protection reached Iron’s ear, both pitched too low for Mel’s human hearing to grasp. Iron stepped back an inch in a show of understanding, head bowed a fraction to Brick and House. As beta he didn’t show submission to anyone but his alpha, but he was willing to give a small acknowledgment to keep the peace. No need for instincts to take over and start a bloodbath.
Both the other wolves knew Iron wouldn’t touch Mel, knew he wouldn’t hurt her for her display, but as Iron knew too well, logic meant fuck all when it came to mates.
Brick and House shook off their reaction as well. House gave Iron a conciliatory smile, and Brick – well, Brick didn’t leap over the bar and go for Iron’s throat. That was as conciliatory as the man got.
Mel wrapped an apron around her waist, pocketed her order pad, and began putting the bar to order, which meant making sure the beer was cold, the whiskey ready, and the glasses clean. The clientele they served here didn’t care for much beyond that.
Both House’s and Brick’s attention was fixed on her, both giving small groans when she leaned over to pull a case of beer out from the bottom shelf. Iron leaned close, saying in a low voice, “Should I go get you two some cigarettes?”
“Fuck off, man,” came House’s less-than
-pleased response. Brick glared, and Steel fucking snickered, the asshole.
“Mel.” Bella’s happy voice rang through the building, and Mel responded, rushing from behind the bar to the shorter, darker woman, who had put down her pool cue and was waiting.
Squeals and hugs sounded between the two, and in Iron a deep growl of contentment sounded from his wolf. Its mate was happy and pack was close by – even if he did want to deck the assholes sometimes. This was right.
Iron shook it off. No. It wasn’t right. Laura was going to be his mate, and that was best for everyone, and his fucking wolf better get with the fucking program.
A table started calling out for refills, breaking Mel and Bella apart, and after one last hug Mel came back to the bar to start filling pints. House and Brick had changed seats while she was away and were now sitting across from Mel, which wasn’t an accident. Since these were the seats Mel was closest to when she was behind the bar, they were exclusively for Brick and House to use, and anyone who sat in them when Mel worked either would move – or they would be moved.
Since it was well known the two weren’t the best of friends, Mel spared them her usual quick warning glance. Why she still bothered was a mystery. Here at the bar was the only time Brick and House could be next to each other without a fight starting. Even if Mel didn’t understand the reason behind it, that was fact. Maybe a glare or a growl, but nothing physical ever developed.
The phone rang, and Mel grabbed it up. “Iron’s,” she said, but disinterest turned into muted panic. “What about Danny? Is he…no, have Daddy take him to the ER, I’ll meet you…I’ll be there as soon as I can. Mom – Mom – it’s okay, quit panicking, all right? Little boys break bones. The next few weeks will suck, but he’ll be fine…yes, Mom, I gotta go. I’ll call you as soon as I get to the hospital.”
The four wolves’ full attention was on Mel as she spoke into the phone. She hung up and said, as she began tearing off her apron, “Mom thinks Danny broke his arm. I need to get to him. I swear I’ll make this up-”
Iron: Blue Collar Wolves #1 (Mating Season Collection) Page 1