Her dad's untimely car accident had changed everything for them last year. The terrible crash had resulted in both of his legs being amputated. Without adequate health insurance or savings, the medical bills skyrocketed as a result of his recovery and the surgery. Trina's refusal to place her parent in long-term care led her to make the life-altering decision to quit a six-figure job to return home and help him through recovery.
The physical therapy, medications, and top-of-the-line prosthetics were expensive. The family dry cleaning business kept a roof over their head and food on the table, but month after month she pinched from her own retirement savings after all their credit cards were maxed out to pay for his care.
Trina picked up the purchase order for the overhead supplies for next week and compared it to her bank balance. She was a little over one hundred dollars short, which was enough reason for the bank to decline the charge.
She sat back in her chair and released an exasperated sigh. Something had to be done—fast. There was another ten days left until the end of this month and judging from the amount of money in her account, it was barely enough to get by and run a business.
The bell chimed over the entry door to the store. The first customer of the day. She should have been delighted to start the week off with the boost in earnings local businesses expected to bring in during the big convention coming to their small town of Cross City, but this morning's news had already put a damper on her spirit.
"Hello," the customer called out.
Trina rose from her chair and went to greet the customer, a middle-aged women with a pile of dresses in her arms. "Good morning. How may I help you?"
"I need these dresses cleaned and I'd like to pick them up in two days."
"No problem." Trina zoned out as she wrote up the order.
The woman looked around the shop nervously as Trina keyed the information into the system.
"How will you be paying today?"
There was a spark of gold around the woman's irises and her pupils narrowed as she observed Trina. It wasn't a natural reaction, but Trina had witnessed this type of response before. The woman must have picked up on how aggravated she was. Aggravated was an understatement, to say the least. But the reaction wasn't completely out of the norm. Her non-human customers were always very wary of their surroundings—just like the woman standing here.
Before Trina could stare anymore, the woman averted her gaze, looked down at the counter, and held out her credit card. "Credit, please."
On the card was an emblem in the corner unique to the non-human population in America, which confirmed Trina's suspicions. The woman was a shifter. Thirty years had passed since it had been discovered that shifters lived among them. To this day, no one could determine if the discovery of two wolf pups and a human-like baby left inside a bassinet outside of a church was by accident or intentional. Many concluded that some poor mother couldn't care for her child, so left the responsibility with the church. At the time, no explanation as to why the wolf pups were in the bassinet with the baby—except to keep it warm—was given.
The wolf pups were released to a wild life conservation center, but the baby was taken into the custody of Child Protective Services. When doctors investigated her DNA in an effort to find the parents, the results revealed some not-so-human qualities. The information was leaked by a scientist and the government had no choice but to reveal that non-humans lived among us. Just like the woman standing in Trina's dry cleaning store.
The woman cleared her throat and thrust the card toward Trina again. "Don't you still accept our payments?"
"Sorry, yes I do."
Trina completed the transaction at the cash register.
When the woman left the store, she grabbed her cell phone and thumbed through the phone log in search of the number to her retirement fund servicer. The last time, she'd told herself she wouldn't take another distribution, but if she didn't do something she and her father could end up living on the streets.
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Preview: Mountain Wolf
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Trouble in Aspen Valley and a threat to journalist Cassie Grey's life leaves her no choice but to seek refuge. At the advice of her brother, she agrees to lay low in a mountain-side cabin owned by his best friend Luke.
While staying with Luke, Cassie sees past his serious demeanor and becomes infatuated by his rogue grin and rugged good looks. She also senses something purely animalistic about him. His panty-melting stares are just as potent to her as his lingering caresses. She wants more than his promise of safety. It doesn't matter that he's ten years older than her. She knows a real man is what she needs. She can't fight the need to have him all to herself—she doesn't want to.
Wolf shifter Luke Lombardi is a man of his word, but Cassie's sexy curves and teasing touches are driving him to distraction. He's supposed to be looking out for her, not wishing she was his. By Luke's standards, she's barely legal and out of his league, but she doesn't seem to care. His control is fading…especially when all he wants to do is lay claim to the mate he's always desired. There's just one more obstacle: revealing his secret could mean losing her forever.
CHAPTER ONE EXCERPT
"Ma’am, have you got anyone you can stay with for a while? A friend or relative?"
"Um…" Cassie Grey exclaimed as she sat outside on the step leading to her townhouse.
The police officer continued to stand over her. He wrote something down on his notepad as he waited for her to answer. The portable radio hooked to his belt buzzed to life, requesting responses and giving out locations to other incidents.
She couldn't believe this was happening…
Even though it was in the middle of the night, some of her neighbors began to come outside to investigate. For the past two years, Cassie had been renting this townhome unit. Nothing like this had ever happened. But she was no stranger to the world of crimes and various scandals in Aspen Valley and other surrounding areas. Just yesterday she was helping a lead news anchor with the live reporting of a story just outside of a food mart that had been robbed. And today… she had just become the main victim of a similar crime. Cassie couldn't believe her luck.
"Do you at least have somewhere you can stay for the night?" the police asked, raising his voice a little louder this time.
"I think so," she replied.
The police officer looked at her with his eyebrows drawn tightly together and his lips set in a frown. "It's not safe for you to stay here alone right now, so is that a yes or no?"
"Yes. I have a relative here in town. My brother."
"His name?"
"Neil Grey," she said. "Look, I just need to collect some of my things before I leave."
The police officer nodded. "No problem. Get what you need, but please be careful. Our team is still collecting evidence. We should have the police report ready in a few days for you and your landlord. And for the threat you received, we'll likely need more time to gather and process leads. We'll find this guy. Don't worry."
She hoped so. Her life wasn't the only life at risk. And whoever had written the threatening note, affixed it to an eight-pound rock, and hurled it through her living room window had made it clear that he was serious.
Cassie walked over the threshold into her home where the detectives worked side by side as they looked for clues and took pictures. Maybe she was lucky to even be alive. The perpetrator could've done more than break through a window in the middle of the night.
She hurried down the hall and grabbed a large suitcase from her closet where she began picking out clothes and shoving them inside. As she packed what she needed, she pulled out her phone and dialed her brother's cell.
"What the hell, Cassie? Do you know what time it is?" he answered groggily.
Cassie also heard the voice of a woman in the background asking, "Who is that?" Probably his girlfriend. Every month he had a different one, but that was
beside the point.
"Neil, I need a favor," she said. "Someone left a threatening note in my house. I'm wondering if I can crash at your place just for the night." She was under-reacting, but she didn't want to rile up her brother.
"I'm up now! What happened?"
Now that she had his full attention, she knew he'd never let her live this one down. There was a time when her one and only brother monitored her every move.
When their parents got on board a plane nearly nine years ago to vacation overseas only to meet an untimely demise in a crash, Neil had turned into the strict older brother who thought everyone—and everything—would strip his only living family member from him. It had taken him a while to realize that she was moving into adulthood and to loosen up a bit. Now that she was twenty-one and had her own place now, she'd just experienced what real freedom from an overbearing brother felt like. But after what just happened, she had no doubt that his overprotective ways would return.
After the call, Cassie's thoughts trailed back to the moment when she lifted and read the note from the rock.
-Your article about how these animals pretending to be humans shouldn't be treated "inhumanely" was rather interesting. But really? THEY'RE ANIMALS! If you don't like how we protest, GET OUT OF OUR TOWN! Or I have an even better idea. Meet me at the county zoo where I can gut you and then throw you in a cage of lions. I hope you've got life insurance-.
It took her almost no time to come to the conclusion that her stalker was mad that she was connecting telling clues on a case surrounding the shifter murders. Someone didn't want to be ousted or caught. The note had been very telling. Her stalker was the real animal here and he deserved to be locked up in prison.
Cassie was committed to this case. One threat wasn't going to stop her from finding the real truth. But now she had another goal: staying alive.
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Aspen Valley Wolf Pack
ARE YOU READY FOR MORE?
This copy includes two bonus books from the Aspen Valley Wolf Pack series, so keep reading for more of these wolf shifter alpha bad boys!
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About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Amber Ella Monroe pens seductive tales of paranormal romance. She also writes contemporary romance as Ambrielle Kirk. As a child, she never really dreamed of being an author. It was a destined path that chose her. Now she writes with her readers in mind, but the characters, of course, dictate the outcome.
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