Lost and Secrets

by Tl Reeve

  Fans of TL Reeve and Michele Ryan’s Unbreakable and Entrapped will love this sneak peek into the world of Leaving the Past Behind. Two short stories are included, offering more insight into the characters living in this world.

  Lost

  Hayden Raferty-Lopez has gone back to work. As one of Apache County’s newest Forensic Investigators, she’s been tasked with the remaining cleanup at the Wildlife Preserve.

  But everything goes to hell quickly.

  With the discovery of a body and three infants, her job has gone from evidence collection to a murder investigation. And when a wolf is found injured, what happens next will change everything once more.

  Whoever said going home would be easy, has never been to Window Rock, Arizona.

  Secrets

  Jochi Zhao can slip into any situation without being noticed—which is why he’s so valuable to Senator Winters. Once more he goes undercover to make sure Holly Geithner is captured. But when the auction’s over and his target’s neutralized, he only has one more item on his to-do list—claiming his mate.

  Yet, the man who’s invaded his dreams is oblivious to his desires.

  So he’s willing to make a bargain. One night to prove to Jefferson Winters to prove they belong together. If it doesn’t work?

  He’ll walk away.

  Lost & Secrets

  Leaving the Past Behind

  Sneak Peek

  by

  TL Reeve & Michele Ryan

  MF, MM, HET, GAY, EROTIC ROMANCE, PARANORMAL, SHIFTERS

  Twisted E Publishing, LLC

  www.twistedepublishing.com

  A TWISTED E-PUBLISHING BOOK

  Lost and Secrets

  Leaving the Past Behind, Sneak Peek

  Copyright © 2019 by TL Reeve & Michele Ryan

  Edited by Kat Lively

  First E-book Publication: February 2019

  Cover design by Cover by K Designs

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2019, Twisted Erotica Publishing, LLC.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  All characters depicted in sexual acts in this work of fiction are 18 years of age or older.

  Publisher’s Note

  The Leaving the Past Behind series is tied to the Apache County Shifters series by TL Reeve and Michele Ryan, available from Twisted E-Publishing.

  It is also tied to the TSU series that both authors self-published.

  Table of Contents

  Lost

  Secrets

  Also by TL and Michele

  About the Authors

  Lost

  Hayden returned to the scene of the crime. There were animals that needed tending to. At first, she thought it’d be a bad idea. Nicole hadn’t been heard from since she gave her statement to the police the night of the auction. The majority of the wildlife preserve’s staff—with the exception to those who fed the animals—weren’t allowed on the premises until the whole investigation had been concluded.

  What a shit show.

  Hayden climbed out of her vehicle and flashed her new badge at the man guarding the entrance. Senior forensic investigator had a great ring to it. She worked not only for Kalkin but also freelanced for the FBI, thanks to Jerome putting in a good word for her.

  She pulled the sunglasses from her face and stared at the building where everything had gone to shit. Could she step back in there? The place held traumatic memories for her, but she was working with Brie to help manage them. She also started taking lessons from her aunt to control whatever abilities lay within her.

  “Well, fancy meeting you here.” Hauser Benefield joined her.

  “Trust me, this isn’t a step on your toes mission,” she said. “Promise.”

  “Kalkin called me. Said you might be out this way. What can I do to assist you?”

  She’d known the man for ten years. He had swagger and badass written all over him. It wasn’t forced, and he could sure as hell back it up if push came to shove. He was all power. All muscle. “I need to find a wolf. Oscar.”

  “He’s in the wolf enclosure,” Hauser answered. “Why?”

  “He doesn’t belong here. He’s too...human.”

  Hauser cocked his head to the side. “I didn’t smell shifter on him.”

  Hayden snorted. “No, suppose you didn’t. It’s not what I meant. Nicole raised him from a pup. He has all the markers for being a human pet, not a wolf in a pen. I don’t think he can survive without the girl.”

  “Ah.” Hauser scrubbed the underside of his chin. “What’s your plan?”

  “Find him and bring him home.” Hayden shrugged.

  “Is that wise with a cub in the house?”

  She had some reservations about it but, as well-mannered as Oscar had been, she didn’t see him being a problem around Asher. In fact, the wolf might be more apt to protecting the boy, cub or not. “I have a feeling we’ll be fine.”

  “He’s in the vet clinic,” Hauser said, his voice soft, filled with resignation. “You were right about one thing, he can’t be around other wolves. They say he’s weak without his guide. The human.”

  She swallowed hard. “How bad?”

  “Stitches around his neck, chest, and his left hind leg. From what the veterinarian said, they were trying to rip him apart, limb from limb.

  Hayden hurried into the building. “Call Danielle, tell her I have a special case and to be ready for me.”

  Hauser grunted. “On it.”

  Investigators in white suits and breathing masks walked around the scene of the crime. They’d been out there every day for the last month cleaning up the mess left behind by Henry Worthington. In the desert of New Mexico, in the abandoned building camouflaged by dunes of sand and vegetation, another team still combed over the space where she and Asher had been held. Surprisingly, the scene was intact considering the flash flood that washed them down the side of the mountain.

  She followed the signs through the maze of exhibits and performance areas all the way to the employee entrance. An agent stood by the door, guarding it. Hayden lifted her badge, then said her name. “There is a wolf I need to see in the clinic.”

  The man nodded. “Down the hall to the left, third door on the right.”

  Hayden pushed through the door and followed the agent’s instructions. There, on a table, lay Oscar. He didn’t look good at all. His coat was dull. His eyes were unfocused. She watched the rise and fall of his chest and didn’t like the little quiver that went through his body every time he tried to inhale.

  “We’ve got a body!” An agent yelled, then gagged. “Holy shit.”

  She placed her hand on the window, hoping he’d see her. Oscar slid his gaze to her and gave a weak wag of his tail. I’ll be right back. She retraced her steps and followed the commotion down the hall from her, near the deserted exit toward the mountain range. An agent bent at the waist and puked. Another stood in shocked silence.

  Hayden took in the scene. This had been what she trained for. She hurried to the shallow grave and peered inside. Her stomach dropped. She wanted to scream in outrage. Nicole, surrounded by three wolf pups—each partially shifted. All of them had been brutally murdered. She cleared her throat while glancing back at the wildlife preserve.

  “We need to mark this with a perimeter. No one touches the bodies. No one steps any closer. Not until I can get a team and pull samples. Got it?”

  The men surrounding the hole nodded. “We’ll get it t
aped off for you.”

  Hayden went back to her Enforcer. She left her radio behind because she’d only meant to pick up the pup, not spend the day digging up bodies. She opened the door to her vehicle and jerked when another agent’s voice rang out.

  “It’s like a fucking cemetery out here. I’ve got bones. Human and animal.”

  She closed her eyes. What the fuck had they missed? What was going on in their county and no one knew anything about it? She pushed the button on her two-way and called for Kalkin.

  “What is it, sprout?” His growly tone did nothing to soothe her.

  “I need a team. A huge team. The site is a boneyard.” She stared at the building and surrounding enclosures. “I’m also going to need ground-penetrating sonar.”

  “What the fuck, Hayden?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I have a wolf I need Danielle to examine. He’s already been through surgery. He’s not right, Kal.”

  “Bring him in. By the time you get to the department, I’ll have a team waiting for you.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “You don’t need to thank me for doing my job, Hayden.” He gave a soft chuckle. “I expect a full report with pictures on my desk tomorrow morning, understand?”

  “It’ll take longer than that, but I’ll have my preliminary findings to you by the morning.”

  “Fine,” he grunted. “Keep me posted.”

  When she stepped back into the clinic, Oscar had already been placed on a portable cot. Hauser and two other men waited for her orders. “Take him out to my Enforcer. When I return, I’ll have a team with me. Make sure no one contaminates my scene.”

  Hauser nodded. “You heard the lady. Let’s get this wolf loaded up.”

  She traversed the maze of halls back out to the front of the building. A chill had settled over everyone working. This had gone from an active crime scene to a clean-up and investigation, back to an active crime scene. Later, she’d try to absorb what happened there.

  Once Hauser and his men loaded Oscar into the back of her Enforcer, she got in. She pressed her thumb to the key fob and the engine started. The urge to race back to the orphanage had her gripping the wheel tighter. She couldn’t...rather wouldn’t jostle the canine in her backseat. When she first laid eyes on the beautiful timber wolf, she wondered if perhaps he’d been human. If he had been, he didn’t make himself known.

  After everything she’d been through with Worthington, it begged asking again. Could Oscar be human? Hayden glanced in the rearview mirror. Anything was possible. Worthington could have bound him with some drug concoction. He could be so traumatized by what happened to him, he couldn’t shift. Nicole had said she’d raised him since he was a pup.

  A niggle of something scratched at the back of her mind as she pulled off the main thoroughfare and into the subdivision. Three orphaned children stood on the sidewalk with Danielle, waiting for Hayden. She parked along the curb then got out. The worried look on her aunt’s face didn’t settle the unease building inside Hayden. If anything, it made it worse.

  The flash of lights caught her attention, drawing it to the approaching Enforcer. It stopped right behind her then shut down. When the door opened, Caden stepped out. He crossed to them, going straight for the backseat.

  “Kalkin said you might need help,” Caden said, glancing into her vehicle.

  “Thank you.” Hayden went to the other side of the Enforcer and opened the door. “On the count of three?”

  Danielle nodded.

  Hayden counted. By three, they had the wolf out and were carrying him into the orphanage. The children stood aside. Each one peered up at the gurney with the wolf laying lifelessly on it. Their soft whispers of concern tore at Hayden’s heart. The soft nudge of pack filtered through her mind. Instinct told her this wolf belonged to them, shifter or not.

  “This is bad.” Danielle looked to Caden. “Real bad.”

  “What do you need?”

  “Strength. Hayden, do you mind if I tap in?” Danielle never powered up from her before, but if her aunt needed it she’d give it without question.

  “Sure. Tell me what to do.”

  Danielle grinned. “You’re already doing it.” She placed her hands on the wolf and gave a startled cry, wrenching her hands away. “He’s not a wolf.” She turned to the cabinet behind her and pulled out a sterile pack. Inside lay a set of surgical tools. “This is going to hurt, but I can heal him afterwards.”

  Hayden braced the wolf’s head, petting and whispering to him, trying to keep him calm. Her instincts had been right. He was no born wolf. He was a shifter. “Okay, Oscar, if that’s what your name is. It’s going to hurt, but Danielle is the best. She’ll heal you and you can shift. Just stay with me.”

  There’d been an area on his hind leg that never had any fur. Hayden had seen it briefly when she pet him at the event, but didn’t think much of it. Wolves got into tussles, it wasn’t a big thing, but when Danielle sliced the flesh open after shaving away a patch of fur...she was having second thoughts. Her aunt used a needle-nose tweezer and poked into the area she’d just opened.

  Hayden felt it then, the energy flowing from her. She wobbled a little and gave a grunt, never experiencing anything like it before. She glanced down at the wolf whose eyes were closed, and some of the strain she’d seen and felt evaporated from his body. Two seconds later, a slug hit the metal tin on the table. Hayden glanced at it. A .45 slug. She looked to Caden, who stared at the bowl. If he recognized it, he didn’t show it.

  Another wave of energy left her as the wounds on Oscar closed and the stitches popped free. The wolf’s body shimmered, then shifted. What Hayden expected to see and what lay on the table were two different things. Danielle covered him with a sheet to give him a sense of privacy. The wolf wasn’t a boy, but a man.

  “Emmitt?” Caden stared at the guy. “Emmitt, is that you?”

  Danielle gasped. It was no secret who Emmitt was. The boy who had went missing at the same time Caden found Aiden under debris. It was the same Emmitt everyone assumed had died, because no one had been able to find him in the last twenty years.

  This was Aiden’s biological father.

  He groaned as he stretched, his body not cooperating with him as he tried to find his balance. He stared at Hayden, and a little smile tugged at his mouth. Then his gaze drifted over to Caden. He blinked, licked his lips, and tried to speak. He only managed a few growls and grunts—a byproduct of being stuck in his wolf form too long.

  “It’s okay,” Danielle whispered. “You have all the time in the world to talk.”

  Caden pulled his phone from his pocket. “I need to make a phone call.”

  * * * *

  Hayden delivered her report to Kalkin later than she expected. Things with Emmitt kind of threw a wrench in everything. Add in the fifteen dead bodies she found through ground-penetrating sonar on the preserve, and things were about to get hairy.

  The district attorney sat in on the meeting with her and Kalkin. So far everything pointed to the Paranormal Bounty Hunters—PBH. Since Worthington was dead, the only person still alive to tell them anything had been Holly Raferty—more commonly known as Holly Geithner, Hayden’s aunt.

  Already a team was in place in Boston, watching and tracking her. They knew there was a new auction coming soon. As the head of PBH, Holly needed to recoup some of the money they’d lost while in Window Rock. According to the intel Kalkin had been gathering along with the State’s Investigation team and the FBI, this little auction of Holly’s could garner well over forty million dollars. Enough for them to go to ground and begin to rebuild.

  Nico entered the office, apologizing for his tardiness. “Asher didn’t want to let go.”

  Kalkin’s scowl softened. “Happens with kids.” He glanced at the district attorney. “Are we ready to begin?”

  The man nodded. “I have three new warrants for you. One is for the subsequent statement made by the victim, only going by Emmitt at this time. It
is our understanding his parents have passed away during the time of his kidnapping. He would like to remain on pack lands.”

  Since Hayden had freed him and Danielle had healed him, Emmitt had been living with Nico and her. He’d been weak and out of it for the most part, but she also couldn’t imagine what he’d been through. When the DA came for an interview, she eavesdropped on the conversation. Because the bullet had been lodged in his leg, and he was subsequently forced to stay in his wolf form, Henry Worthington had changed up his tactics. He used electroshock without anesthetic and pheromones to stimulate an erection so Worthington could procure Emmitt’s semen.

  All Emmitt knew was abuse at the hands of men and women. He hadn’t had a kind touch or experienced a kind word. He’d been made to perform like some circus animal since he disappeared after being raped by Tiffany. He had a long difficult road when it came to healing, and Hayden hoped he’d find his place.

  “He’s always welcome to stay here, DA Franks. That’s not a problem.”

  “Good,” the man answered. “The second warrant that has been issued in conjunction to the uncovering of our murder victim, Nicole Bloom, and three infants. Two baby Janes and a baby John Doe. The third is for the fifteen unmarked graves. All have been processed. Twelve were shifters while three more were human. Since Henry Worthington is dead, but PBH is directly responsible, all associates will be held and tried for being accomplices to kidnapping and murder in the first degree.”

  Hayden listened to every word DA Franks had to say. She waited for the welling of defensiveness or pain to strike. Or, the need to defend Holly. All she found was justice. Finally, those who’d harmed their pack members would face a judge and a jury of their peers, because with the severity of the cases, and jurisdiction rules, Kalkin couldn’t dispatch it on his own.