Table of Contents
Copyright
The Bond of Brothers
Foreword
Chapter One – Penny
Chapter Two – Logan
Chapter Three – Penny
Chapter Four – Logan
Chapter Five – Penny
Chapter Six – Logan
Chapter Seven – Penny
Chapter Eight – Logan
Chapter Nine – Penny
Chapter Ten – Logan
Chapter Eleven – Penny
Chapter Twelve – Logan
Chapter Thirteen – Penny
Chapter Fourteen – Logan
Chapter Fifteen – Penny
Chapter Sixteen – Logan
Chapter Seventeen – Penny
Chapter Eighteen – Logan
Chapter Nineteen – Penny
Chapter Twenty – Logan
Chapter Twenty-One – Penny
Chapter Twenty-Two – Logan
Chapter Twenty-Three – Penny
Chapter Twenty-Four – Logan
Chapter Twenty-Five – Penny
Chapter Twenty-Six – Logan
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Penny
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Logan
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Penny
Chapter Thirty – Logan
Epilogue
Sneak Peek! The Horse Shifter's Mate
Sneak Peek! The Horse Shifter's Mate Chapter One
Sneak Peek! The Horse Shifter's Mate Chapter One
Also By Harmony Raines
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The White Wolf of Wishing Moon Bay
The Bond of Brothers
Book One
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All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.
This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.
© 2021 Harmony Raines
The Bond of Brothers
The White Wolf of Wishing Moon Bay
The Bond of Brothers Book One
The Horse Shifter’s Mate
The Bond of Brothers Book Two
Her Fae-vorite Bear
The Bond of Brothers Book Three
The White Wolf of Wishing Moon Bay
The Bond of Brothers
Book One
A second chance shifter romance
He has a reputation for being a grump wolf. But when his mate arrives in town with her adorable son, he’ll do whatever it takes to make her stay.
After a devastating tragedy left him orphaned, white wolf shifter, Logan, was adopted by Valerie and raised in Wishing Moon Bay, a town like no other.
Most of the inhabitants have supernatural powers. Shifters live alongside witches and vampires, usually without any trouble. But when Logan’s mate ends up in town—not an easy feat for a non-magical person—trouble soon follows.
With the help of his adopted brothers, Logan promises to keep them safe. Whatever the cost.
Newly dumped and divorced, Penny is traveling to her sister’s house when her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Only it’s not the middle of nowhere. A road sign to a town she’s never heard of, and is not on any map, looms out of the darkness. As her car makes sounds no car should ever make, she has no choice. Penny makes a lifechanging decision and drives toward Wishing Moon Bay.
Soon, Penny is caught up in otherworldly danger.
Her shock at learning the supernatural is just plain natural in Wishing Moon Bay soon disappears as she falls for Logan, the man who says he’s her mate.
But even the grumpy white wolf shifter might not be able to save Penny from the danger that stalks her.
And then there’s the weird feeling that she’s visited Wishing Moon Bay before…
Chapter One – Penny
“Oh, no. No, no, no.” Penny stared at the flashing light on the dashboard which didn’t stop no matter how many times she no-ed it.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Milo’s small, scared voice came from the back seat where he was buckled in safely with his toy wolf tucked under his arm.
“Nothing.” The flashing light said otherwise but there was no use worrying her son. Not yet at least. Maybe the light didn’t mean an emergency. Maybe it just meant, get me to a garage at your earliest convenience. But cars weren’t polite in that way. As if to confirm this, something clunked under the hood.
“That didn’t sound like nothing.” Milo squirmed in his seat and sat up straighter so that he could see out of the window. Not that there was anything to see, darkness surrounded them on all sides. Deep, penetrating darkness.
“We’re okay. The car is still running.” She closed her eyes briefly as they kangaroo-hopped down the narrow country road. They were in the middle of nowhere, heading for her sister’s house.
After the breakup of her marriage, Penny was practically destitute, thanks to the lying, cheating man she thought she loved. But what love she had for him was gone after her jerk of a husband ran off with an older woman. When you hit forty, your husband was supposed to run off with a young, nubile woman. Not a woman ten years his senior.
She let out a small sob and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. Her confidence was at its lowest ebb, she was a failure, forced to go beg her sister to let her and Milo stay until she got herself back on her feet.
Penny focused on keeping the car on the road and refused to think that at least the headlights were still working in case they heard her and gave up, too. Not that it mattered if they were working or not if the engine failed. There were no towns, no houses for a hundred miles in either direction. No one to see them, no one to come to her rescue. Not according to the map.
Wishing Moon Bay 2 miles
She read the sign as the car bounced along the road like Milo when he had the hiccups. Her forehead creased. Penny had driven this route before and was certain there had been no sign for Wishing Moon Bay the last time she’d followed this road to Helena’s house. As for the map... Wishing Moon Bay wasn’t on the map.
Perhaps it was a new town. One that had been built recently. Too new to be on any map.
Wishing Moon Bay 1 mile
The car lurched forward, and Milo grabbed hold of the door while clutching Mr. Wolfy even tighter. “Is it going to stop?”
“I hope not.” She meant the car, but she suspected Milo meant the bumping and clanking that seemed to have combined into a steady rhythm like an acapella group waiting for someone to start singing. Penny was not in the mood for singing.
Wishing Moon Bay 1/2 mile
The singing started anyway. A small whine from under the hood which she suspected was steam escaping from the radiator.
“What are we going to do?” Milo asked the question that had been beating in her head in time with the clanking.
“We’re going to take a detour and find a garage to fix the car.” Penny peered into the darkness, looking for the turnout to Wishing Moon Bay. It had to be close and she couldn’t risk missing it. The car was barely capable of driving forward let alone reversing.
“We’re going to Wishing Moon Bay?” Milo’s hopeful voice gave her confidence.
“Yes, we are. It sounds like a good place, doesn’t it?” Any place was better than breaking down on the side of the road in the dark.
“Do you think we could make a wish if we go
there?” His hope cranked up a notch.
“I don’t see why not.”
“There’s the turnout, Mommy!” Milo pointed and Penny turned the wheel sharply.
The turnout was almost hidden between the trees on the left side of the road. It would be so easy to drive past and never see it at all. But they had seen it and now they were driving along the narrow road. With no hope of turning around, the car seemed to have toned down its cacophony of noises and only emitted a small hiccup every now and again.
The temptation to back the car up and drive back toward the known world, the safe world, was almost too much. However, every time she even looked for a suitable place to turn around, the car reminded her it was in control, it could stop any moment.
Then they reached THE TUNNEL.
“Shit!”
“Don’t swear, Mommy.” Milo reached for the back of her car seat and leaned forward to look out of the windshield. “Spooky.”
Let’s just hope we get through the other side. She kept that thought firmly in her head as they entered the darkness. The headlights hardly penetrated the absolute darkness and Penny shrank back, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Shall we sing a song?”
“What kind of song?” Milo was invisible in the dark of the tunnel.
“’Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?’”
“That’s a baby song,” he insisted.
You will always be my baby, she told him in her head, knowing he would protest if she said the words out loud. “Then you pick a song.”
“I can’t think of one.” He pointed ahead, his hand touching her ear in the dark and she nearly screamed. “I see a light.”
Get a grip. It’s not Halloween.
“I see it, too.” She let out her pent-up breath and relaxed her hands on the wheel as the light grew bigger and brighter.
“It’s the moon.”
“It can’t be.” Her brow furrowed.
“That is the moon,” Milo insisted.
“I guess it is.” There was no point arguing with her son. The light at the end of the tunnel was the moon, it hung in the sky just above the horizon, although she had no idea how since on the other side of the tunnel there was no moon.
Only last night she’d stood outside of their house, with all their belongings packed in the car ready for their next adventure, and stared at the sliver of moon that hung in the sky. She’d stood and thought how appropriate that the moon would be fully waned by the time they began their journey to Helena’s and that it would grow bigger and brighter, as she hoped their lives would when they put the past couple of months behind them.
In the distance, tall mountains were silhouetted against the sky. Mountains that were no more on the map than the town itself.
But as the car lumped and bumped down the road toward the collection of houses bathed in moonlight, she was too relieved to care about the impossibilities of the moon or the rest of her surroundings.
“What if we can’t find a mechanic?” Milo asked. “Won’t they all be in bed?”
Penny glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “It’s not very late. I’m sure they won’t be in bed, but they probably have already closed down for the night.” The car jolted and lurched forward, letting out a loud bang.
“I think if they were in bed, we would have just woken them up.” Milo seemed to be enjoying this far too much, although it was better than him being afraid.
“You might be right. But if we don’t find a mechanic this evening, we can always find a hotel for the night and ask for directions to the nearest garage in the morning.”
“A hotel!” For Milo, the day was just getting better and better.
For Penny, it was getting more and more expensive. She had barely any money and what she had was supposed to support them for the next few weeks. Car repairs and hotel rooms were not within her meager budget.
“There.” Milo pointed out of the window as they rolled past a large, illuminated sign that read, Frank and Dennis Car Repairs.
“Good spotting.” She steered the car into the parking lot, relieved that one of the large sliding doors that guarded the entrance was half open. As she came to a halt, the engine spluttered its last breath and died. Much like her marriage and her old life.
“Can I come, too?” Milo had already popped his seatbelt and shuffled to the edge of his seat. “I don’t want to stay in the car on my own.”
“Sure.” Penny had no intention of leaving her son in the car on his own. However, she suspected that whereas she was worried about leaving Milo alone in a strange town, Milo was excited to get out of the car and check out his new surroundings. The boy sure had an adventurous head on his shoulders. Even if their adventuring up until now had been exploring the concrete jungle more than the mountains and forests that surrounded Wishing Moon Bay.
Cracking open the door, Penny got out of the car and stretched her legs, grateful for the chance to walk around, even though the cost of the car repairs might just empty her bank account.
The clear air hit her first. A breeze, swept down from the mountains, caressed her skin and she shivered at the threat of snow carried down from the highest peaks. If she got stranded here, she might not be able to cover the cost of the hotel and the car repairs. Yet, as Milo threaded his hand into hers, she had no choice but to get the car fixed, she could only hope it was a quick fix, a cheap fix, and then they could be on their way.
“I can hear someone whistling,” Milo whispered as they neared the entrance to the garage workshop.
“Me, too.” Penny gripped his hand tightly. This scene had all the makings of a horror movie. An unarmed woman and child lured into a backwater town and never seen or heard from again. “Hello!”
She stopped walking and stood in the pool of light spilling out from the garage. Not that there was anyone else around to see them. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed there was no one else in sight.
“Hello.” A cheery face accompanied the cheery voice.
Yep, way too friendly. Or maybe they were just desperate for business. How many car repairs could there be in a small town like Wishing Moon Bay?
“Our car broke down.” Milo grinned at the guy who approached them as if they were the luckiest people alive. He had the sunniest nature and a way of setting people at ease. Despite his age, Milo was great with people, young or old.
“I heard.” The guy looked past Penny and cast a critical eye over her ten-year-old Ford. “We can take a look at it if you want?”
“Now?” she asked hopefully. If it was just a loose connection or a nut that needed tightening, she might be on her way within the hour and still get to Helena’s tonight.
“In the morning.” The guy smiled brightly. “We were just about to close.”
“Oh.” She looked over her shoulder at the town with the moon hanging low over the mountains that seemed to cradle Wishing Moon Bay. “Is there a hotel?”
“A hotel?” The guy nodded. “Sure...” He did not sound sure.
“Is it far?” Milo asked.
“No, not too far. Just follow the street and you’ll find it. It’s called Wishing Moon Hotel.” He nodded and stuck out his hand, which was washed clean of all dirt and grime. “I’m Frank, by the way.”
“Penny.” She put her hand in his and shook it.
“I’m Milo.” He offered his hand to Frank.
“Good to meet you, Milo.” Frank smiled widely.
“We should go and get an overnight bag from the car and then I’ll drop the keys back to you.” Penny turned around and hurried back to the car. “What do you need?”
“I already have Mr. Wolfy.” Milo patted the head of his favorite cuddly toy. “PJs, a toothbrush...” He watched as Penny quickly sorted through their luggage. She soon had two backpacks with everything they needed for a night in a hotel. With a sigh, she checked that everything was secure before she closed the trunk and headed back to the garage.
“Thank you so much. Can you look at it first thing in the mor
ning? We’re supposed to be staying with my sister. She’s expecting us tonight.” She gave an apologetic smile. Soon she’d have to make a phone call to Helena.
“Sure, I’ll take a look at it first thing in the morning,” Frank assured her before she gave him the keys.
“So the hotel is straight along the street?” Penny didn’t want to be wandering around at night, in a strange town, trying to locate a place to sleep
“Straight down the street.” Frank sliced his hand through the air and nodded. “Tell Logan that Frank sent you.”
“Thanks.” With a backpack on her shoulder and her son’s hand in hers, Penny turned her back on the garage, walked past her car, resisting the urge to kick it, and headed straight down the street, trusting that Frank was pointing them in the right direction in the town which didn’t really exist.
What else could go wrong?
Chapter Two – Logan
“I just need to get some air.” Logan pushed open the back door that led from the kitchen out into the small, paved area where the trash cans were stored. The door bounced back at him and he cursed himself for nearly taking the damn door off its hinges. He did not need more maintenance work at Wishing Moon Hotel.
Sucking in the cool night air, he strode away from the small patch of light that streamed out of the kitchen and opened the back gate which led onto the street. The distant mountains called to him, he longed to go home, to leave behind the noise and the chatter that seemed to permeate every part of the small hotel he’d agreed to run for a couple of weeks.
How could he say no when his adoptive mom, Valerie Kelts, who owned the hotel, was recovering from an operation on her knee? If anyone else had asked, he’d have said no. Logan was not a people person and despite his best efforts, he didn’t seem able to empathize with all the guests who were staying at the hotel.
One particular guest seemed hellbent on making Logan’s life a misery.
So what if the hot water cut out halfway through your shower? Cold water washed the soap away just as well.
The White Wolf of Wishing Moon Bay Page 1