by Jules Tyler
Table of Contents
BURNING
The Snake River Prison Camp Series
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BURNING
SECRETS
The Snake River Prison Camp Series
Book One
JULES TYLER
Copyright © 2017 Jules Tyler
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law
DEDICATION
For the love of my life, thank you for trusting me enough to share your secrets with me. You inspire me to be better every day.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Where do I even begin? There are so many people that need to be thanked!
First, I want to acknowledge my family. You haven’t complained, but you’ve always encouraged me to lock the door and put to words the thoughts in my heart. Thank you for being the encouragement at home that I needed.
To my Idaho girls: Kati, Courtney and Amanda. I love you girls! You pushed me to work harder and have been there to be a sounding board for all of my crazy ideas. These characters would not be who they are without you.
I need to give a big shout out to the women who have done so much behind the scenes too! Susan of Wicked Women Designs, for my cover work and all of the wonderful referrals for the rest of the publishing process.
Summer of Red Pen Revolution publishing, it’s like they’re my word butt better, right?
Ena from Enticing Journey Book Promotions, you’ve been a wonderful resource and I’m looking forward to watching our bond grow.
Elizabeth thank you for the formatting, who knows what kind of mess I would’ve gotten myself into without you.
Last, but not least, my Wanderlust girls. Thank you for the encouragement and boost of confidence when I needed it most. I cannot wait to see you all soon.
Chapter One
McKinzy pushed her glasses over her raven black hair as she squinted down at the address on her phone again. Michaelson hadn’t been kidding when he had told her that she would be living in the middle of nowhere. She had assumed the old man had been using some sort of flawed humor when he had mentioned the location was just outside of Donnelly, Idaho. Sure, she wanted out of Portland, but she hadn’t realized just how backwoods accepting this position would be for her.
Wyatt Michaelson had contacted her about a month ago when he had caught wind of her desire to promote from Deputy Warden at the small federal prison in Portland, Oregon to warden anywhere in the United States. She had been desperate for a change of scenery for far too long. After answering to someone other than herself for the last five years, of course it only made sense for someone as dominant as herself to move up the chain of command and start fresh somewhere else. She had received a lot of crap in this line of work because she gave off the appearance of someone who was delicate and defenseless. Her innocent green eyes could be deceiving though; the dragon that resided in her middle gave her the strength and agility she needed to hold her own against anyone. She was invincible. At least, that was always how she felt before...Before that day when her whole life fell apart.
Shaking her head at of the thoughts stirring within, she took in her surroundings. The road in front of her black Jeep Cherokee forked in three directions. The road to the left led towards a semicircle of six log cabins with a large fire pit in the center of them, those were supposed to be the officers’ housing. The road to the right didn’t hold much promise of a prison compound either. Staggered alongside that portion of road were ten slightly larger cabins, spread out across a clearing. The road directly in front of her led up a small hill with two buildings nestled on top, but it was likely those weren’t the prison she had expected either. McKinzy was used to a single large cement compound that could house roughly a thousand inmates and was run by a crew of thirty, but this was something else.
There had been a warning that this was the roughest place to run on this side of the hemisphere, but looking at what was laid in front of her made McKinzy shake her head, “This doesn’t even look like a prison. It looks like a damned summer camp.”
She felt duped to say the least; this wasn’t what she had signed up for. She had become accustomed to rough and tumble, not a job babysitting a bunch of hillbillies in the mountains! Scrubbing a hand over her face, she felt defeated.
“Well, there isn’t any way we can go back now. Best get on with it, I guess,” she huffed her defeat. After taking a moment, she straightened her back and decided to make the best of the situation. Pushing the gear shift out of park and into drive, she turned down the road to her left.
The address Michaelson had given her was for cabin number four, which was located at the dead center of the cabins on the left. Stretching her arms above her head, she tilted her head back and yawned. Man was it going to be nice to get out of this car and relax for this first time in years. At least as much as she could relax, as the person in charge.
Alerted to something to her left, she turned. Outside her driver’s side window, fully clad in tactical khakis, a black polo that was stretching at the seams around his arms and chest, and black hiking boots, stood a giant of a man. McKinzy’s jaw dropped ever so slightly as she drank in his appearance. His piercing blue eyes were offset by his fiery red beard. She made note of his shaved head and the tattoo peeking out from under his sleeve. It was some sort of Celtic knot, if she was correct. She practically felt her panties soak as she struggled to find her voice.
Rolling down her window she made eye contact with the stranger as he demanded, “What business do you have here? This is private property.”
“Rude much?” She quipped back, pushing her door open to force him to back away from her a little bit, her arousal not getting any better with the low rumble of his voice when he spoke to her. He felt like a challenge she would thoroughly enjoy beating.
The stranger slowly blinked and folded his arms, “Didn’t answer my question. What. Business. Do. You. Have. Here?”
Holy shit was he intense, she thought as she responded, “I’ll tell you as soon as you calm the fuck down and tell me who you are. I don’t give details to anyone that demands them of me.”
She smirked as she watched the stranger’s eyes blaze with fury. Obviously this was a man who wasn’t used to being challenged, especially not by a woman like her. Bending over to tug her yoga pants back into place, she took a calming breath. When she sat back up, she watched for his reaction to what she had said. He seemed to have calmed a smidge.
“I’m the Sergeant here. I run this place.”
“Still doesn’t give me a name, but I will work with it. I’m actually the one who runs this place now. The name is McKinzy Regan. Michaelson sen
t me up here to fill the open position.”
“Why the hell would he send a woman up here?” He ground out.
McKinzy felt the blood begin to boil in her veins. Men that lacked respect for her because she was a woman pissed her off to no end. “If you must know, I’ve been Deputy Warden in Portland for over two years. This isn’t my first rodeo.”
“Not saying you aren’t good at your job, ma’am. Just sayin’ it’s dangerous up here for women, especially unmated ones like yourself.”
McKinzy raised an eyebrow at him, “Unmated? You mean single?”
The mountain of a man turned to face her cabin, “Uh yeah, that’s what I said, isn’t it? I’ll let you into your cabin.”
“So are you gonna introduce yourself, or am I just supposed to guess what your name is? I bet it’s Twat Waffle? Or perhaps it’s Dick Weevil?” She grunted as she lugged her luggage out of the trunk. Mama had always said her smart mouth would get her into trouble someday, but this guy’s lack of manners was seriously getting on her nerves.
“The name is Adrian Brenton.”
“So you’re the Sergeant, huh? I guess that means that with me filling the Warden position and there not being a Deputy Warden, we will be working pretty closely then.”
Turning the doorknob, Adrian shot a hardened look over his shoulder. His dominance would normally be suffocating to someone who didn’t have a beast inside of them, “Let’s see if you last the week. You aren’t exactly the kind of person I see lasting very long here.”
McKinzy clamped her mouth shut to prevent any more unprofessional language or opinions from slipping out. She had little tolerance for sexists, especially this one. Just something about him was festering under her skin, like a boil that needed lanced.
Propping himself against the counter in the small kitchen, he dropped the keys into her hand. When he went to release the keys, his fingers brushed against her palm, setting her hand ablaze and sending her mind racing. Huh, that was weird.
“We usually serve dinner up the hill around five for the men. Then the crew meets back here at the fire pit around seven for debriefing and food for ourselves. Take some time to get settled in and meet us then,” Adrian said, closing the door behind him.
“Nice to meet you too, asshat,” McKinzy muttered to herself as she dragged her luggage from the entryway into the sitting area so she could take a look around.
The dining area and sitting area were practically overlapping. She could see the linoleum peeling around the edges where it met the ugly puce-colored carpet. Taking a few steps toward the furniture, she could see little black bear silhouettes embroidered on the covers of the two matching futons that faced each other with a TV propped up on a milk crate in the middle of them.
Walking back to her luggage, she pulled the handle and headed towards the other side of the house. When she reached the two doors at the end of the hall, she opened both doors at the same time, finding the office to her right and the bedroom in front of her.
“Well, I guess that’ll be convenient for doing those late night reports in the office.” She chuckled to herself.
The bedroom held a gigantic four poster log bed with forest green sheets nicely folded in the corner with two pillows and a matching quilt. She could see the mattress was brand new since it was still stark white. It was almost as if someone had been trying to make it up to her for getting the short end of the stick coming up here.
“I had to pick that up in Boise yesterday. I hope you find it comfortable,” Adrian’s voice behind her startled her.
“Do you ever announce yourself before sneaking up on someone? Or knock? What if I had been walking around naked?” She asked, already irritated with his intrusion on her private moment.
Adrian smirked at her and stepped closer, “Do you do that often?”
Her body was practically humming with his nearness. Oh he is naughty. McKinzy felt her cheeks heating with arousal as she choked out, “No.”
“Hmmm, that’s too bad. I’m quite comfortable with nudity,” he said, his smile growing even naughtier with flirtation before darkening. “You’ll need to shower before you come out to the fire tonight.”
What? “Excuse me?” McKinzy dipped her nose to her arm pit, trying to sniff out the source of the stink.
“You smell…aroused. We can’t have that up here, these men here…They’re a little more…Sensitive than what you’re used to.”
“Sensitive?’
“You’ll see.”
And like that, he was gone again. McKinzy hunched over to smell herself. She knew she smelled aroused from her own heightened senses, but how could he smell it? Unless…could he be like her?
“No, not possible,” she said out loud. Why would a shifter be way up here in these mountains? Most shifters lived in groups closer to civilization so they could hold jobs and find mates easier. They had to hide in plain sight these days or the government might get tipped off to their whereabouts. They had a tendency to use shifters for special missions, as it was dangerous work unfit for humans. They felt it was their right to put shifters to work and shifters were to comply. The government had expectations and if you said no, there were always consequences. She had watched families be wiped out for refusing to take orders… Much like her own.
She gripped the bedpost, trying to get a grip on herself. Emotions were dangerous too. She wasn’t supposed to feel anything. Feeling led to getting hurt, and that wasn’t an option. Grabbing her towel and toiletries from her suitcase, she headed for the shower. She desperately needed to wash off the guilt of being the only one of her family that had survived. She had first impressions with the rest of the crew and she was determined to ensure it went better than her introductions with Adrian.
Chapter Two
Adrian stirred the fire absentmindedly, trying to avoid eye contact with the rest of the crew. One look and they’d all know what he was thinking, as usual. What had Michaelson been thinking letting a unmated woman come up here? Especially a human one. These were dangerous waters for a group of bachelor shifters, let alone ones that were up in the inmate portion of the camp. What did he care anyways? Maybe she’d get scared the first time she saw how big some of these men were and go home. Adrian went rigid. That idea made him sick, but why?
Mine. The beast stirred that was inside of him stirred.
“What’s on your mind, brother?” Duke asked from his right.
Duke was a giant of a man with terrifying features. From his ebony skin wrapped around tightly packed muscles to chiseled jaw and scars on his back, anyone in their right mind would be terrified of him at first glance. They’d think he’d been beaten as a child, but in truth, he was a brawler gorilla shifter who had been to war with the special task force of shifters the government kept under their thumb. Luckily, they had let him leave in one piece after his last tour, but he wouldn’t say why, so everyone just chose to let sleeping dogs lie.
Steps sounding on the deck behind him brought Adrian’s attention toward McKinzy’s cabin. He struggled to keep his eyes in his head as McKinzy stepped off the porch in tight blue jeans, a black t shirt that accented all of her curves, and hiking boots. This definitely wasn’t the same woman he had met earlier that afternoon. She almost commanded attention with her mere presence, and something terrifying and dominant was wafting off of her. The beast in his middle stood at attention.
Mine.
“How could a human woman like her present so much dominance like that?” He whispered to himself.
Almost as if she could hear him, McKinzy’s head snapped up and her eyes locked with his. Canting her head, she demanded, “What’re you looking at, Brenton?”
A delicious shiver ran down his spine and into his groin as he stood to introduce her to the boys, “Everyone, this is Ms Regan, she’s up here to stay. So ya’ll be on your best behavior.”
“Just call me McKinzy, please,” she gave a polite smile to the group.
Elijah jumped to his feet as though someone had iss
ued a challenge he couldn’t refuse and sauntered over with a charming smirk on his face, “So, are you some nurse sent up here to stitch us back together when things get too crazy? I hope so. I think nurses are hot as fuck.”
McKinzy straightened and her expression darkened, “Actually, officer, I’m your new warden. So I suggest you think twice before addressing me in that manner again. Because if you do, I promise, it’ll be the last thing you do.”
Holy fuck was she scary when she sounded like that! Elijah’s face went slack and looked as though he tucked his tail between his legs as he cowered back to his seat. Duke and Jasper tried, but failed, to stifle laughs. It wasn’t very often that Elijah was sent packing by a woman, let alone threatened by one. Elijah lowered himself back into his chair, attempting to regain his confidence. Poor pup had that coming for far too long. He was twenty three and over confident in his looks, as most wolf shifters were. His dark brown hair in combination with his lean muscles and deep blue eyes seemed to be the perfect combination for the ladies down in Boise when they went on grocery runs.
Still laughing, Duke stuck his hand out to McKinzy, “Don’t mind him, Elijah is just a cocky pup. The name is Duke. Duke Irving. Aside from Adrian, I’ll be helping you keep this crew of misfits in line. So, I guess you could say, we’ll be close.”
A warning rumble escaped Adrian’s chest and everyone’s eyes widened before Jasper elbowed him in the side. Adrian wasn’t sure what his issue was. He felt as though he should protect McKinzy from his crew, especially Duke and Elijah. Since Elijah was a wolf shifter, sly and charming by nature, Adrian was used to his antics. So why was Adrian jealous of Elijah? Or Duke, of all people? After all, Duke was his best friend and right hand man.
Duke cleared his throat to break the tension then pointed to the cousins, “That there on the right is Jasper and on the left is his cousin Desmond. They’re from up north and keep to themselves mostly. They run the watch tower on the south end.”