A SCI-FI GAMER FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS ROMANCE
SPELLBINDING HIS RANGER
BOOK ONE
LOOKING FOR GROUP
SHANNON PEMRICK
First Edition
Spellbinding His Ranger Copyright © 2018 Shannon Pemrick
Cover Design by Covers by Combs
Editing by Sandra Nguyen
ISBN 978-0-9984464-7-9 (e-book)
ISBN 978-0-9984464-6-2 (paperback)
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
www.shannonpemrick.com
To Joe
For always inspiring and encouraging me and being my player number two.
Other Books in this Series
Book 1 | Spellbinding His Ranger
Book 2 | Protecting His Priest (coming soon)
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Series List
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Other Titles by Shannon
About the Author
CHAPTER ONE
Mercedes bent over the front of a 2016 Bugatti Chiron with faded blue and black paint, tightening a bolt in the engine bay. A tassel of golden blonde hair escaped her messy bun and she quickly tucked it behind her ear. Orange light from the low-hanging California sun filtered through the windows of the large car shop. Vehicles of various makes, models, and years sat in bays within the building, while many more sat in the parking lot.
“Miss Mercedes,” a robotic voice called out from the phone attached to her hip. “I know you’re enjoying restoring this project car, but if you don’t pack up soon, you’ll be late for your plans today with Takashi.”
Mercedes wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and pulled away from the car. “What time is it, Tasha?”
“Seven-oh-four p.m.”
She unlatched her phone to look at it. “Are you sure?”
Sure enough, she’d stayed two hours after closing. Crap. At this rate, she’d have to rush to eat dinner if she didn’t want to be late. Luckily I don’t have to clean myself up or anything. The thought of looking nice just for Takashi sent a flutter of butterflies through her stomach. No, no, simmer down. The two of them were just friends.
A thought occurred to her as she put away her tools. “Tasha, was day is it?”
“Wednesday, May 4, 2107. Why do you ask?”
“Do I have any messages from Heart Connect?”
The shop went quiet, except for the sounds of Mercedes’ cleanup, while Tasha finished her request. “I’m sorry, Miss Mercedes, but you have no new messages.”
A prickle of disappointment ran through her. “Okay, thank you.”
She’d been messaging a guy back and forth on the dating site for the past few days. It looked to be promising, but then he up and disappeared two days ago. A part of her hoped he’d just gotten busy and would get back to her soon, but after two days with nothing, she knew to move on. At least I have that date set up for tomorrow. Mercedes wasn’t getting her hopes up, but she wanted to be as positive as possible right now.
“Miss Mercedes, are you all right?” Tasha asked. “I sense an emotional change in you.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry. Please pull the car up for me.”
“Of course.”
Mercedes grabbed a rag and cleaning solution, going about scrubbing her hands free of grime, focusing on her cybernetic prosthetic arm first. It would be the easiest to clean.
She turned off lights as she moved through the shop, noting the light still on in the office. She ducked in to find a tall man with fair hair, tan skin, and a muscular physique sitting in front of a computer.
“Dad, I’m heading out.”
He looked back at her and smiled. “All right. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Don’t stay too much longer. The work will still be here tomorrow.” She then ducked out and left the building.
Her white 2011 Bugatti Veyron sat out front, its engine purring at idle. Tasha’s voice came from the dash of the car when Mercedes hopped in. “Miss Mercedes, I’ve received the traffic report, and traffic will be a lower volume than usual. You will reach home ten minutes ahead of schedule. Your dinner will be ready at its normal time, though, so you will have to wait. I suggest using that extra time to feed your fish and relax.”
“Have I told you how much I love having you around, Tasha?”
“Since you purchased me.”
Mercedes chuckled and reclined in her seat as her sports car pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, continuing to clean her hands. Her cybernetic prosthetic arm no longer carried traces of her trade, but her real one wasn’t taking to the cleaning cloth, especially around her cuticles. She pouted. She’d grown up in her father’s antique car shop, learning all there was to fixing the old non-self-drivers from over seventy years ago, as well as the different paint jobs a shop could offer for new and old vehicles. She loved the line of work, but it did a number on her skin.
She was sure her skin had absorbed a good portion of the grime, grease, and paint she handled daily. Some days, she wished her passion fell under a different umbrella so she could have nice-looking hands. She looked at her prosthetic arm. Well, except this thing.
Bright lights flickered behind the clear fiberglass structure, pistons and other moving components doing their job as she moved her false limb. Cybernetic limbs were the hot ticket technology on the market. Her best friend, Narissa, had a hand in all that, along with her family. They’d pioneered the cybernetic technology used today, and even now, were developing ways to improve the tech.
“Miss Mercedes,” Tasha said. “You have an incoming call from Dr. Narissa. Should I answer it?”
Speak of the devil. “Please do.”
She heard a click, and then, “Hello?”
“Hey, Narissa.”
“Hey. You sound like you’re on speaker and there are no clanking sounds, so my guess is you’re in your car on your way home from work.”
“Bingo. I had the urge to work on my personal project car. Just barely left the shop.”
“She will be home in eleven minutes,” Tasha announced.
Mercedes and Narissa chuckled. Narissa spoke again. “Okay, cool. Do you think you could finagle a raid run today with the guild? Eli had to cancel on the guild due to something going on in his side of the
world.”
Narissa was talking about the MMORPG, massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Lusara Fates. A fantasy world filled with made-up playable species, adventure, and social interaction. The game’s popularity was all due to its ability to craft brilliant storytelling, compelling encounters for PvE, player vs. environment, balanced PvP, player vs. player, and unique economics that meshed with the real world, making it possible for people to make a legitimate living inside the game if they so pleased.
Mercedes had been introduced to the game upon making friends with Narissa, and was welcomed into her guild with open arms. While there was a big competition in the gaming community between those who chose PvP or PvE, the guild focused on working together, so it allowed players from both sides through its doors.
Friendly banter and competition were allowed, but personal attacks were swiftly handled by the guild leader and his appointed officers. It made for a fun environment and great connections. They all called each other friends, many of them finding conventions or competitions to meet up in person. And whenever someone needed help, the guild was there for them. Like a second family.
“Sorry, but I already made plans with Takashi.”
“Oh, date with your boyfriend,” Narissa teased.
Her cheeks warmed and she was glad she was only on the phone. “It’s not like that.”
“Don’t deny it.”
Takashi and Mercedes had known each other for a long time. He’d been one of the first guild members to invite her on some quests to get used to the game and build camaraderie. The avatar he played was a particularly handsome half-elf, a human and elf hybrid, and over the years, the two of them had made a deep connection. One so deep, she had to remind herself they were just friends.
Plus, she’d never met him outside the game. Social media was the only thing that had allowed her to even know what he looked like in real life. And damn if he isn’t good looking, making these conversations that much more tempting in indulge in.
“As I’ve told you before, we’re just friends.”
“And you should change that.”
She knew Narissa was going to be stubborn about this. The topic had become number one between them these past few months, but Mercedes was just as stubborn. “Apparently I have to remind you he lives in South Korea right now, only coming back stateside to see family or for work conferences.”
“And apparently I have to remind you of VR. Besides, with all the flowers he gives you, the two of you are all but in a relationship, anyway. Might as well make it official and reap the extra benefits.”
She always brought up the full-body experience of VR as part of her argument. Virtual reality. A big part of why Lusara Fates had been so successful. It had to be played in tech pods that hooked up to your nervous system. In doing so, it allowed the player to experience the game as if they were actually there, instead of letting the imagination run wild. Not that there’s anything wrong with letting it run wild. As long it stays there.
There were plenty of people who hooked up in this game, either for a short time, or even created successful partnerships out of it. But Mercedes knew she and Takashi were just friends. “They’re yellow roses, which symbolize friendship. You know this.”
Narissa let out a deep sigh of frustration. “Cede, you’re twenty-nine years old and single. You’re missing out on a perfect chance with a great guy.”
Mercedes glanced down at her cybernetic arm as her car pulled into the driveway of her half of the condo she lived in. “I’d prefer to keep my friendship with him intact. Besides, you’re one to talk. You’re a year older and single.”
Her friend shut up immediately, though she did catch some grumbling on the other end. Narissa focused on her work a lot, pulling long hours to the point it was unhealthy many times. This drove away most potential partners, if she even had time to look their way.
Mercedes loved her friend’s passion to help others, but Narissa needed to focus on herself for once.
“So, I want to run something by you, having to do with your cybernetic,” Narissa said.
“Sure.” Mercedes was happy for the change. She didn’t want to talk about Takashi, their close friendship, and his… She shook her head. Stop it, Mercedes. “Tasha, please transfer the call to my phone.”
“Dr. Narissa, please hold a moment while I complete Miss Mercedes’ request.”
Mercedes hooked an earphone onto her ear and held onto her phone as she climbed out of the car. Her phone pinged and she was reconnected to Narissa. “All right, I’m here to listen.”
“Well, I’ve been doing some research and redesigning some of our tech, big surprise there…” Mercedes couldn’t refrain a laugh at her friend’s jest at herself. “And I think I’ve finally had a breakthrough for improvements. We’re going ahead with a prototype, but it gave me an idea that I was hoping you’d be willing to test.”
Mercedes swiped her house key in front of the lock, unlocking her door, and entered her home. The smell of meat and potatoes filled the air. She tossed her key deck into a bowl on a stand by the door. “Lay it on me and I can give you an answer.”
“This new tech we’re working on—it improves the mobility of the current style on the market, as well as simulating nerves.”
Mercedes’ eyes widened. She expected her friend to say they’d made advancements on the artificial skin to cover cybernetic limbs.
Currently, there were only two ways to get new skin. Through skin grafting, which didn’t work so well with cybernetics, and then a false skin specifically designed to cling to the fiberglass casing. Unfortunately, this false skin had some issues passing as real skin. If you opted to use it, it was best to have make-up skills to make it less noticeable.
Mercedes didn’t like the artificial skin, so she stuck it out with showing off her cybernetic, waiting for the day the technology finally caught up.
But simulated nerves was an even better topic. After her accident and being fitted with the cybernetic, Mercedes believed she’d never feel anything from that arm again, except the occasional phantom pain many amputees felt. “Can you really do that?”
“If my data is correct, yes. We’re going to start testing prototypes tomorrow, so we’ll know for sure then. But it made me wonder how it would affect those with old tech. The new tech will be more expensive to make, and that’ll mean the cost for someone to obtain one will be higher, too. Not everyone can afford the more expensive option, so I started thinking about a way to slowly upgrade old tech without having to outright replace it with the new one.”
Giddiness rose up in Mercedes’ chest. “If this is your roundabout way of asking if I’ll be your guinea pig, the answer is yes!”
She swore she could hear Narissa’s smile. “I knew you would be on board with this. I’m hoping it works. I’d like to roll it out for Shira and Ajax to test once we work out the big kinks.”
Mercedes frowned. Ajax, another guild member of theirs, had the same prosthetic as her. But Shira… her cybernetic enhancements were extensive. The two had been involved in a similar accident; they met when they shared the same hospital room. But compared to Mercedes, Shira had been harmed far worse. The amount of work doctors put in just to save her life, let alone get the cybernetics she needed to have a more “normal” life… Mercedes shook her head.
Shira never wanted anyone to feel bad for her. Even though her life had been completely changed, she wasn’t letting it get the best of her. Aside from her love life, she’d done well. She hadn’t been able to keep her old modeling job. Mercedes remembered the news headlines when that all went down, but she’d found a different outlet, in Lusara Fates. And she’d made new friends, including her. Mercedes couldn’t even imagine her life without Shira and Narissa, or the rest of the guild, for that matter.
Mercedes entered the kitchen to grab herself something to drink
. “That makes me want to try this out more.”
“Good. I’ll give you more details on what the testing will do, and our timeline for all of it. I don’t think we’ll get to the same quality grade as these new techs, but if I can offer a partial upgrade system for people, I think that will really help.” Narissa chuckled. “And as a thank you for being my first test subject—I mean willing participant of this carefully laid out test—you will receive a full upgrade after testing completes.”
Mercedes smirked. “I appreciate the gift.”
“Miss Mercedes,” Tasha said through her kitchen appliance application. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but your dinner is ready.”
“Thank you, Tasha. I’ll retrieve it in a moment.”
“Of course, Miss Mercedes.”
“I should let you eat so you’re able to spend time with your not-boyfriend.”
Mercedes exhaled a long sigh as she pulled her steak and potatoes out of the oven. Narissa giggled before saying goodbye and hanging up. Mercedes’ stomach growled, and she licked her lips hungrily as she carried her meal to the table. It didn’t take her long to eat every last bite.
Meal consumed, Mercedes put her dishes away, fed her fish—but not before teasing them a bit with her finger—and headed through her spacious living room to her gaming room.
The room was filled wall-to-wall with bookshelves containing games of all vintages, as well as various equipment and consoles that still worked, such as an Atari and a PS4. She also had a few new consoles that had just come out in the last two years—a Nintendo Sector and a PlayStation Star. Two or three decades ago, Sony, along with Microsoft, went away from numbering their consoles and tried to get more creative.
A computer station stood in one corner, while in the opposite corner resided her VR gaming pod—a specialized curved chair with all the necessary gear to suck her into the virtual world, and hanging screens to allow her any out-of-game prompts, from selecting a game to managing business tools.
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