Jess Haines Bundle: Hunted By The Others, Taken By The Others, Deceived By The Others, Stalking The Others

Book 0: H&W Investigations Novel

by Jess Haines

Genres: Shifters; Vampires; Paranormal

Synopsis

They are the Others--the vampires, mages, and werewolves once thought to exist only in our imaginations. Now they're stepping out of the shadows, and nothing in our world will ever be the same again... Hunted By The Others In A Town Like This, Being A P.I. Can Be Murder Shiarra Waynest's detective work was dangerous enough when her client base was strictly mortal. But ailing finances have forced her to accept a lucrative case that could save her firm--if it doesn't kill her first. Shiarra has signed on to work for a high-level mage to recover an ancient artifact owned by one of New York's most powerful vampires. As soon as Shiarra meets sexy, mesmerizing vamp Alec Royce, she knows her assignment is even more complicated than she thought. With a clandestine anti-Other group trying to recruit her, and magi being eliminated, Shiarra needs back-up and enlists her ex-boyfriend--a werewolf whose non-furry form is disarmingly appealing--and a nerdy mage with surprising talents. But it may not be enough. In a city where the undead roam, magic rules, and even the Others aren't always what they seem, Shiarra has just become the secret weapon in a battle between good and evil--whether she likes it or not... Taken By The Others Once, New York P.I. Shiarra Waynest's most pressing problem was keeping her agency afloat. Now she's dealing with two dangerous, seductive vampires who have been enemies for centuries. The only thing Max Carlyle and Alec Royce agree on is that they both want Shia--for very different reasons. Max is determined to destroy Shia for killing his progeny, while Royce's interest is a lot more personal. That's not sitting well with Shia's werewolf boyfriend, Chaz. As the feud between Max and Royce gets ever more deadly, a powerful vampire-hunting faction is urging Shia to join their side. Shia has always believed vamps were the bad guys, but she's discovering unexpected shades of grey that are about to redefine her friends, her loyalties--and even her desires... Decieved By The Others Shiarra's relationship with sexy werewolf Chaz may be somewhat unconventional. Still, after a few bumps, Shia is finally ready to get serious. That means meeting family--or in this case, bringing Chaz's entire werewolf pack along for a rollicking full-moon weekend in the Catskills. Soon after they arrive, threatening notes appear, warning Chaz to go home. Then their cabin is ransacked. Shia starts digging to find out whether it's the work of upstart teenaged werewolves or something more sinister. Yet as rumors about her vampire connections arouse the pack's hostility, Shia has to contend with other dangers. Not just from an adversary about to make his fatal intentions known, but from a threat that's even closer than she knows... Stalking The Others Once, she was one of the good guys--or as close as a New York P.I. can get. Then Shiarra Waynest was drawn into the world of the Others. Every faction has its own loyalties and agenda. And Shia's recent betrayal by her ex-boyfriend means that she may be on the verge of becoming a rogue werewolf at the next full moon...

Release date: August 1, 2012

Publisher: Zebra

Print pages: 1102

Sample

My hands shook as I put my pen to the contract laid out before me. The Notice of Mutual Consent to Human/Other Citizen Relationship and Contractual Binding Agreement that would permanently cement my relationship with Chaz.

If he’d sign it too, that is.

“Shia?”

The pen left a streak behind when my hand jerked. I looked up, quickly shuffling some other papers over the contract to hide it amidst the clutter on my desk.

“Yes?”

Jen, H&W’s receptionist and bookkeeper, peered into my office over the rims of her glasses. She eyed the papers like she knew I was hiding something, but was too tactful to say anything. “What was the name of that crazy guy who was here a month or so ago? The one you didn’t want to take calls or appointments from?”

I wrinkled my nose. “You’re talking about that tall, blond guy, right? His name is Jack.”

She nodded and disappeared around the corner. Curiosity piqued and the contract momentarily forgotten, I rose from my squeaky office chair to lean against the doorframe. Jen was on the phone, her feet propped up on her desk while she wrapped up a game of solitaire on the computer.

“No, sir, I just checked, and she’s in with a client. I’m sorry, but I’m not about to interrupt her meeting. Like I said, you can leave her a voice mail, or I can take a message.”

I frowned, folding my arms as I watched her multitask her game and the phone call. Jack’s calling wasn’t a good sign. The man was a member of the White Hats, one of those crazy vigilante groups who go around destroying any supernatural critters that cross their paths. The first time I’d met him, he’d threatened me at knife-point to attempt to get me to join his cause. The second time around, he had walked into my office in broad daylight and held a gun on me because he thought I was working for vampires. Aside from being a few beers short of a six-pack, he was bad news, pure and simple.

“Like I said, sir, she is not available.” Jen’s tone had turned professionally icy, and I strongly considered giving her a raise. She was doing an excellent job of putting off the pushy creep. “You’re free to leave a message with me or call back another time.” She paused, listened to his reply. Soon she was nodding along to whatever he was saying with a sly, triumphant smile. “Yes, I’ll see she gets it right away. What’s the message?”

Swinging her feet off the desk, she opened up an e-mail and clattered out Jack’s message. She saw me out of the corner of her eye and made a face, though she kept her voice cool and polite on the phone.

“Yes, I’ll get this to her as soon as she’s free. Thanks for calling Halloway and Waynest Investigations.”

“Thanks for getting rid of him,” I said as soon as she plunked the phone down. “That guy is nothing but trouble.”

“No kidding. I’ll forward the message since he left a phone number, but I don’t know if it’ll mean anything to you. All he said was, ‘tell her this time it isn’t us.’ Any idea what he’s talking about?”

I frowned, brows furrowing. “That’s all he had to say? ‘It isn’t us’?”

“Yeah.”

“I have no idea.”

Shaking her head, she turned back to her computer and sent me the e-mail, my preferred form of message. Sara was much more organized than I was when it came to keeping track of Post-it memos. My desk was a rattrap clutter of dust bunnies, chewed up pens, and scattered business cards that should’ve been filed away or organized somehow long ago.

“If he shows up here looking for me while I’m out of town, call the police. He’s a nuisance.”

“Okay,” she agreed, not bothering to look away from her game. Shrugging off my uneasiness, I turned back to my office, but she stopped me with another word. “Oh, Shia?”

“Yes?”

“I almost forgot. Some guy named Alex or something left a message on the main voice mail for you last night. I forwarded it to your phone.”

I’d ignored my calls earlier so I could avoid any new emergencies getting piled on me before going out of town. Which Alex might have attempted to reach me before I left? Alex Mills, the insurance agent? No, he was out of town on vacation. Alex Temps, the client I tracked down a stolen antique for a couple weeks ago? No, no, he had bitched about my rates from start to finish and hadn’t been in the least grateful when I completed the job. He’d already paid, shortchanging me by a hundred and fifty bucks, the stingy bastard. I doubted I’d ever hear from him again. Who could it be?

Wait a minute. “Alex” calling me right around the same time as Jack the White Hat?

Oh, no. No, no, no. That could only mean one thing.

Stifling a shudder, I made sure to keep my expression calm and blank. I didn’t want to upset Jen. If she’d listened to the message more closely or caught me looking upset she’d realize who it was, too. Her wounded, disapproving looks were the last thing I wanted to deal with right now.

“Thanks, Jen. I’ll check it out.”

“No prob.”

I closed the door, moving back around my desk and moving the files aside so I could review the contract one more time. My concentration was shot; my good mood soured. A White Hat and Alec Royce had both tried to get in touch with me, and I had no idea why.

The clock on my computer read 3:15, which meant I still had a little over two hours before my boyfriend Chaz would pick me up for my first real vacation in months.

Being stuck recuperating in a hospital or taking time off from work to wait for the effects of a vampire’s blood bond to wear off does not count as a vacation, by the way.

Sara was supposed to keep an eye on my apartment and my messages while I was gone. It was only for a few days, but that was more (voluntary) time off than I’d taken in quite a while. Her boyfriend was letting me borrow one of his lap-tops so I could keep an eye on my e-mail and stay in touch. He’d threatened to sic his familiar, a tiny black mouse named Bob, on me every night for a week if anything happened to his coveted Fragware 5000. I’d sworn up and down I’d treat it like my own. Seriously, who wants a mouse crawling on them in their sleep? Ugh.

Anyway, things should’ve been winding down. My current clients had been given the message that I would be out, and Jen was supposed to refer everything to Sara until I got back. Jack and Royce’s surfacing again changed all of that.

I frowned down at the blinking message light on my phone, strongly considering waiting until I returned to town to listen to it. Alec Royce, like Jack the White Hat, was straight up bad news. He was wealthy, good-looking, and had made a couple of halfhearted attempts in the past to seduce me away from Chaz. We should’ve been able to go our separate ways since I’d saved his life and he’d returned the favor by saving mine.

However, the guy was a vampire, and I should’ve known better than to think that he’d forgotten about me over the last month. He’d used threats and coercion to get me to sign a contract that bound me to him by letter of the law, and then later he bound me to him in a much more tangible way—by blood—in order to save my life. While I was grateful for being saved, the method he used to get me out of the clutches of Max Carlyle still gave me nightmares. The remembered taste of his blood on my lips made me shiver, and not entirely in a bad way. Disgusted and horrified as I was, it had been an electrifying experience to feel so needed, so safe, so complete, while under his sway.

As you might imagine, I’d done everything possible to keep the hell away from him since then.

I thought when I changed my cell phone number that it might keep him and some of the other undesirable elements of my past from contacting me, but the number to my office was plastered all over the Yellow Pages and the Internet. I wasn’t thrilled to know he wanted to talk to me again, but having him call me was marginally better than having him show up here at my office or, worse yet, at my apartment.

Grumbling under my breath, I lifted the receiver and punched in the password to listen to the messages. There were a couple others I had to wade through before Royce’s smooth, cultured voice came on the line.

“This is Alec, and I’m leaving a message for Ms. Waynest. Shiarra, I just wanted to make sure you know that whatever happens while you are out of town is not my doing. If someone tries to make it appear otherwise, I’d appreciate being informed so that I can take action. I hope all is well with you, and enjoy your vacation.”

Well, that was confusing. Both Jack and Royce were telling me they weren’t responsible for whatever was going to happen while I was out of town. First and foremost, how the hell did Royce find out I was traveling? I didn’t post my itinerary on the ten o’clock news. Second, what were they so worried about?

It wasn’t unusual for Royce to cover his bases. Though he hadn’t tried contacting me since I’d run away from his home after the blood bond wore off, it wasn’t entirely out of character for him to make efforts to keep his name out of anything potentially nefarious. If he was worried that something might upset some plans of his or make him look bad, he’d take action.

Jack’s covering his ass didn’t make any sense to me. We hadn’t parted on the best of terms. Actually, the last time I’d seen him, I was walking out of the White Hat Super Secret Ninja Hideout after announcing that I felt safer with the monsters than I did with the hunters.

Yeah, I do need to brush up on my people skills a bit.

Regardless, it didn’t matter. Whatever it was they were worried about couldn’t possibly be any worse than what I’d already been through. Fighting mad sorcerers and psychotic vampires was not on the to-do list while I was on vacation. I was anticipating a few awkward moments, since this trip was intended to help me get to know Chaz’s unofficial family better, but that shouldn’t have been enough to make either Royce or Jack stir themselves into giving me some kind of warning.

Chaz and I had been discussing doing something like this for a while. The biggest problem with our relationship was that Chaz is a werewolf. He’s the leader of the Sunstriker Tribe, one of a few packs that live in and around New York City. The Moonwalkers have the biggest pack in town, and they’d laid claim to Central Park, along with a bunch of the parks and reserves all up and down Long Island. That meant the Sunstrikers and many of the other smaller packs had to head out to places like Caumsett State Park, Blue Mountain Reservation, or even as far as the Catskill Mountains when getting together as a group to run as a pack or to hunt. All that travel just to avoid difficulties with the Moonwalkers.

It was pretty inconvenient for the smaller packs. Not everyone can explain away needing to take three or four days off from work every month around the full moon without people getting suspicious. So, as one might imagine, the parks and preserves not claimed by the Moonwalkers were always coveted and fiercely protected. Sometimes the smaller packs got into skirmishes with each other, vying for the same hunting grounds on the full moon. It generally didn’t get so out of hand that humans, like me, got caught up in their problems. However, if Chaz and I stayed together during the height of the lunar cycle, I would need to be prepared to have lots and lots of furry critters around.

This vacation was our “trial run” to see how I might handle having a whole crapload of shifted Weres around me during the full moon. We’d drive up to the lodge in Hunter tonight, and the daylight hours would be devoted to getting to know the people who made up his tribe. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, the moon would be full, and I would get to see them together as a pack. I’d have to be careful, though. Tempers would be short, and some of them might change before the full moon.

No doubt, this would be one weird four-day weekend. I was reasonably certain I could handle it. As long as Chaz was with me, I would be fine.

To be honest, I was more excited about the prospect of staying in a cabin out in the woods with Chaz than about seeing a bunch of furry people running around in the dark but, hey, I could deal with it.

Though I was awfully nervous about the contract I’d been in the process of signing when Jack called. While we had resumed dating, Chaz and I hadn’t slept together since he’d revealed what he was. Legally, he couldn’t touch me. Even sleeping in the same cabin would be pushing it—but I was tired of how careful we had to be, and of how distant he was with me after both Royce and that psycho vampire, Max Carlyle, had temporarily bound me to themselves by blood. Offering to sign a Notice of Mutual Consent to Human/Other Citizen Relationship and Contractual Binding Agreement with him should make him sit up and take notice that I wasn’t going anywhere, that I truly wanted to be with him, and that I trusted him again.

My worry was whether or not he trusted me enough to sign it, too.

This little camping trip seemed like the perfect opportunity to make things right between us. We’d gotten a good group discount at a small resort up in the Catskills. It was too early for snow but too cold to tempt many vacationers. Plus, now that school was back in session, tourist season was officially over. Chaz had assured me that the guy who owned the property wouldn’t have any problem with the Sunstrikers—he was also a Were. One well-known among the supernatural community for having bought a bunch of forestland out in the mountains and cordoning off his borders to keep out hunters and tourists, which helped any packs staying with him know exactly how far out they could safely range on the hunt.

It was hard to picture anything going wrong. After all, I’d been introduced to Chaz’s pack before. We’d even gone out to dinner or the movies with a few of them. The only other time I’d seen the entire pack in one place was when we showed up to fight David Borowsky, the crazed sorcerer who meant to enslave all of the Weres and vampires in New York using a weird magic artifact. Sure, they were dangerous, but since I was the pack leader’s girlfriend and had helped save their furry butts, as long as I didn’t do anything too stupid they should be able to hold their hungers and tempers in check.

What could go wrong?

I pondered these things while I stared at the contract. Screw it. I tucked the papers away in my bag and followed Jen’s example, amusing myself with a card game while I waited for the clock to tick by and Chaz to come pick me up.

I wasn’t pleased when a familiar face showed up at the office an hour before Chaz was expected to arrive. Though I’d been strenuously ignoring anything going on beyond the haven of my office, I couldn’t help but overhear Jen arguing with someone outside. I figured if it was that important, Sara could handle it.

Then Jen’s voice rose, loud enough that I couldn’t mistake who she was speaking to, or who he was here to see.

“Mr. Pradiz, I’m afraid you’re going to have to come back next week. Nothing has changed since I told you over the phone an hour ago that she isn’t available. Now would you please leave?”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. “Mr. Pradiz” was the tabloid reporter who had splashed my personal life across every newspaper in town while I was busy trying to stay alive. He’d been following me from a distance ever since Royce scared off one of Max Carlyle’s minions who’d come to kidnap me. We had an uneasy understanding that I’d give him the scoop behind the supernatural hoopla that always seemed to blow up around me as long as he left me the hell alone and let me come to him when I had a story. I didn’t like him following me around, but all he’d agreed to was keeping his distance and not approaching me or my friends in public. For him to show up here, now, couldn’t be good news. Whatever he wanted, it could wait until I got back to town.

I groaned and heaved myself out of the squeaky office chair, cracking my office door open and peering out. Jim’s clothing was neat, but nondescript, his skin bronzed by hours in the sun and blond hair fashionably tousled. Aside from the tiny digital camera peeking out of his shirt pocket, he didn’t seem to be armed with anything other than a complete inability to take a hint. The avid interest gleaming in the reporter’s hazel eyes when he spotted me instantly put me on my toes.

He grinned, showing whiter than white teeth in a practiced look that might have been attractive had I not been overexposed to the charms of far greater predators—such as Max Carlyle and Alec Royce.

“Ah, so you are here! Ms. Waynest, just a few quick questions—”

“No.”

“It won’t take but a minute—”

“No.”

His eyes glittered with impatience and something else I didn’t want to explore too deeply, that ingratiating smile wilting around the edges. “Don’t be so quick to turn me away. You haven’t even heard me out yet.”

“I don’t need to. You’ve been shadowing me for over a month—so if you haven’t found whatever the hell it is you want from me yet, I’m sure it can wait a few more days. I’ll get back to you after my vacation. Hell, I’ll even give you an exclusive if you can promise to stay the fuck away from me until then.”

“An exclusive?” he said, one bleached blond eyebrow arching high. “My, my. You must be desperate to hide something from me.”

“Fuck you.”

“Thanks, you’re not my type,” was his deadpan reply. I frowned, and his smile returned, brighter than ever. “All I’m interested in is a story. I hear things are heating up around you. I want to know why.”

“Tough. You can wait ’til I’m back. Please, Jim, I promise I’ll talk to you if you just leave me the hell alone until Monday.”

“Tempting as the offer is, I’m not sure I can take it. But I’ll tell you what—here’s my card. Call me when you figure out you’re in over your head.”

He gave me a shit-eating grin as he flicked the card at Jen and sauntered out of the office. She muttered something uncomplimentary under her breath about his theatrics and slid the square of paper off her desk and into the trash. I was tempted to call out for him to stop and explain himself, but the idea of souring my vacation worrying about whatever he was after was deterrent enough to keep my mouth shut.

Jen tapped her nails lightly on the desktop, scowling after his retreating form in the beveled glass. “Shia, I know it’s none of my business, but you should really figure out what’s going on and get these people to leave you alone. They all seem like bad news.”

“No kidding.”

“He’s not the first one to stop by.”

That put a chill down my spine. “Who else was here?”

“Some other reporters. A girl with blond hair who looked like she was packing some weapons, and who was wearing a White Hat pin. She tried to trick me into telling her where you were vacationing, but I got her out of here without letting anything slip. Oh, and some guy named Devon said he’d swing by once you got back into town. That one was cute.” The hopeful way she looked at me at the mention of the ex-White Hat didn’t ease the frown from my features. Not one bit. “Anyway, they all wanted to see you, but none of them wanted to leave a message or wait around. I told them all you’d left already so they wouldn’t keep bothering us.”

“Thanks, Jen,” I said, retreating back into my office. “You did the right thing. Don’t worry about it; I’ll handle whatever it is they’re so worked up about next week.”

I shut the door and leaned against it, closing my eyes. Something big must be going down, but whatever it was could happen without me. I wasn’t going to put my vacation on hold—not for reporters, not for vampires, and definitely not for White Hats—even if said White Hats weren’t card-carrying, pin-wearing members anymore.

The world wasn’t going to end if I put this on ice. Royce and Jack would’ve had more to say in their messages if they thought some big bad thing was coming to town. I’d just put it all out of my mind for the weekend.

A touch of paranoia made me scribble down a list of who had tried to reach me before I settled with grim determination in front of my computer again. Contacting those people would be my to-do list—as soon as I got back.

Luckily, Chaz arrived early, only fifteen minutes or so after I’d immersed myself in the shiny distractions of the Internet. Jen eyed him appreciatively over the rims of her glasses while he examined some of our new brochures. She gave me thumbs up as I lugged my suitcase out of my office. Eager to get out of town and brimming with excitement now that I could leave all my worries behind for a few days, I grinned and winked back.

Chaz is a personal trainer, so his schedule is fairly flexible. Handy for when he needs to handle pack business. It also means he has a delightfully ripped physique that only hints at the incredible strength he has as a Were. His baby blue eyes sparkled with laughter when he saw me struggling with the suitcase I’d packed. He immediately came over to give me a distressingly chaste hug and to take up the handle in one hand, lifting the heavy bag with ease.

“Hey, love, let me get that. Ready to go?”

I smiled and got up on tiptoe to give him a peck on the cheek. “Of course. I’ve been dying to get out of here.”

“Don’t forget to leave me your keys,” Sara called from her office.

I slapped my forehead and dug around in my purse while she tore herself away from the skip-tracing program she was running to see us off.

“Thanks for watching my stuff while I’m gone. No road trips to California while I’m out.” I grinned as I tossed her my car keys.

“No worries of that,” she said, laughing as she caught them. She slid her hands into the pockets of her jeans, following us out of the office and down the stairs. “Too much work to do. I can’t wait ’til Thanksgiving rolls around. Your mom cooking again this year?”

“Heck yeah. Hopefully my dad’s lightened up by then. Mom’s finally talking to me again.”

My parents had both nearly had heart attacks when they found out I was associating with Others. After my stint in the hospital from being beaten to crap by a Were, they’d given me ten kinds of hell about how I was living my life. When they found out I’d contracted myself to Alec Royce, they’d come within inches of disowning me. Thankfully, my mom was coming around and had decided I wasn’t about to sprout horns and a tail or drag the minions of the Devil to the dinner table with me on family outings. The jury was still out with my dad.

“You’re his only daughter,” Chaz said, frowning. “I don’t think he’ll be able to stay mad at you too much longer. Besides, you’re alive and unhurt. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“Not where Others are concerned. He’s not very liberal about that sort of thing.”

Sara clapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it; he’ll get over it Remember that time he bailed us out after the party at NYU? He was only pissed off for about two weeks, then he was laughing over it with us. This can’t be that different.”

“I don’t know,” I muttered, flushing under Chaz’s sudden, intense scrutiny. “Maybe you’re right. I’m probably reading too much into it.”

“That’s the spirit!”

I mustered up a smile and climbed into the Jeep as Chaz tossed my bag in the back and slid into the driver’s side. Sara cheerfully waved us off as we pulled into traffic.

“Have a great trip! Don’t get into trouble, ’cause I’m not driving out into the boondocks to get you.”

Laughing, Chaz and I shared a look. The day was full of promise. We’d hit traffic until we got well past the Jersey Turnpike, but after that it should be smooth sailing. We’d taken road trips a handful of times before, but we’d never had so much time together without worry or responsibility. True, his pack would be hanging around, but I was thinking more about the time we’d be spending together—just the two of us.

He shot me a glance. I thought I detected a shadow of doubt in his eyes, but before I could ask about it he spoke. “Have you been looking forward to this as much as I have?”

“You bet. I couldn’t think about anything else all day.”

His expression eased into a wide smile. “I’m glad to hear it. I was a little worried you might get cold feet. Not everyone would be willing to hang around a bunch of Weres when we’re shifted.”

I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve come a long way since the first time we met.”

There was an understatement if ever I’d made one. I still felt a twinge when I recalled some of the unthinking things I’d said in front of Chaz before I found out he was a Were. He’d been persistent in sticking by my side through some tough times, and his loyalty and bravery had shown me that I’d been plenty stupid for breaking up with him after he revealed his true nature. We got back together after I figured out that not all Others are unthinking, violent monsters, and that I had unnecessarily given up a good thing. He had stood by my side and protected me while I fought some pretty scary crap over the last year; that, too, showed he was a keeper.

It had taken me a long time to set aside my misgivings and come to the decision to commit. Signing the contract meant, legally, I could be turned into a werewolf. Though Chaz knew me well enough to know I’d never forgive him if he did such a thing, my life would be in his hands. Putting that kind of trust in him would hopefully close the rift that had come between us when Royce bound me by blood.

On the bright side, after we signed that contract, we could do a lot more than hold hands. That might ease some of the tension—in more than one sense—that had been building between us over the last month or so. Considering I hadn’t let things get intimate since I found out he was a werewolf—had it really been almost a year ago?—it was a wonder he wasn’t pushing me harder to jump in the sack, contract or no. The man had the patience and fortitude of a saint. I wasn’t about to risk letting him slip through my fingers again. Once everything was sorted out between us, I could figure out the other, harder issues raised by signing the contract.

Like telling my parents about him. That could wait, for sure. Maybe I’d put off that little surprise until sometime around Christmas. My mom really liked him, but she thought he was human. Considering she’d only just come around to speaking to me after several weeks of being incommunicado, there was no telling how she’d react once I told her Chaz’s little secret.

My mom and dad had listened to my explanation of why I’d been spending time around Weres, magi, and vampires with horror and incredulity once I’d discovered there was no way of hiding it from them. What with reporters and cops following me all over the place, and all the new bumps, bruises, stitches, and scars, hiding what was going on in my life wasn’t an option anymore. The only details I hadn’t mentioned were that Chaz was a Were and Sara’s boyfriend Arnold was a mage. Fortunately, whenever they were around my parents or brothers, Arnold and Chaz minded their manners and kept any hints of their nature as Others carefully hidden. So far, none of my family seemed to have guessed. However, I suspected that my dad knew more than he was telling and was biding his time before confronting me about my “alternative lifestyle.”

“What’s the name of this place we’re going to, again?”

Chaz pulled his hand out of mine to open the glove compartment and pass me a colorful trifold brochure.

“It’s called the Pine Cone Lodge. The owner’s name is Bruce Cassidy. He’s been out there for years. He uses the place as a retreat and hideaway for Weres in the off-season. Dillon says he’s run the place since Columbus spotted land.”

“Yeesh, he’s that ancient? Are you sure he’s a Were, not a vamp?”

He laughed. “No, no. Nothing like that. It’s just a joke. He is a Were, just an old one. From what I was told, he’s in his early seventies.”

“You haven’t been there before?” I asked, perusing the brochure. It had scenic pictures of the forest, snowcapped mountains in the background, and some close-ups of tiny, rustic log and stone cabins nestled into the trees. Oh, they all had fireplaces! That had romantic evenings written all over it. At least until moonrise tomorrow night, when Chaz would have no choice but to shift and hunt with the rest of his pack.

“Not me personally, no. Dillon met him when he was part of the Firepaw pack. I’ve talked to Moonwalker, Ravenwood, and Timber Falls werewolves, and a few of the independent Were-cats,” he said. “All of them reassured me the place is the best Were-friendly deal you can get on a budget without driving across the country.”

My brows arched in surprise as I reached up to tie my unruly curls out of my face. “Were-cats? I didn’t know we had any in the U.S. I thought they were all over in Africa and South America.”

“Nah. There are a few natives here.” He paused, navigating around some jerk who cut him off before continuing. “They’re much more low-key than Rohrik Donovan and the Moonwalker pack.”

“You could say that of any Weres compared to them. I’ve never seen anyone but the Moonwalkers take their pack pride