by Connor Crowe
Nox Bay Pack
The Complete Series
Connor Crowe
Fated Fire Foundry
Copyright © 2020 by Connor Crowe
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Design by Cosmic Letterz
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Connor’s Coven
Also by Connor Crowe
Darkvale Dragons
One Knotty Night (free prequel)
The Dragon’s Runaway Omega
The Dragon’s Second-Chance Omega
The Dragon’s Forbidden Omega
Dragon’s Feast (free short story)
Darkvale Dragons Books 1-3 Box Set
Dorvakian Legends (with Crista Crown)
Prince’s Gambit
Love in Diamond Falls
Summer Heat (free prequel)
Ruby Heat
Topaz Heat
Vale Valley (multi-author series)
Mated Under The Mistletoe
That Magical Moment
Nox Bay Pack
Stealing His Heart
Protecting His Heart
Claiming His Heart
Sharing His Heart
Contents
Connor Crowe
Stealing His Heart
1. Felix
2. Felix
3. Markus
4. Felix
5. Markus
6. Felix
7. Felix
8. Markus
9. Felix
10. Felix
11. Felix
12. Markus
13. Felix
14. Felix
15. Markus
Connor Crowe
Protecting His Heart
1. Arric
2. Elliot
3. Elliot
4. Arric
5. Elliot
6. Elliot
7. Elliot
8. Arric
9. Arric
10. Elliot
11. Arric
Connor Crowe
Claiming His Heart
Prologue
1. Lionel
2. Kit
3. Lionel
4. Kit
5. Lionel
6. Kit
7. Lionel
8. Kit
9. Lionel
10. Kit
11. Kit
12. Lionel
13. Kit
Connor Crowe
Sharing His Heart
1. Tristan
2. James
3. Hugo
4. James
5. Tristan
6. Hugo
7. James
8. Tristan
9. Hugo
10. Tristan
11. James
12. Tristan
13. Hugo
14. Hugo
15. Tristan
16. Tristan
17. Tristan
18. James
19. James
20. Tristan
21. Hugo
22. Hugo
23. James
24. Tristan
25. Tristan
26. Hugo
27. Tristan
28. James
29. Epilogue
Connor Crowe
The Crimson Fox
The Crimson Fox
Let’s Be Friends
Also by Connor Crowe
Stealing His Heart
Nox Bay Pack Book 1
Connor Crowe
1
Felix
One more mission. One last heist. Then I could leave this game for good. That was the deal.
I slunk through the shadows, grateful for the cloudy night. Moonlight lit up the grounds for only seconds at a time, leaving me ample opportunity to pass unnoticed. Proud pines stretched toward the sky and snow-tipped mountains crested the horizon. Each heavy bough of the passing trees sheltered my steps. They’d never see me coming.
Sneaking up on my prey was nothing new. Nor was infiltration, stealth, or secrecy. But tonight, a current of anxiety ruffled through my fur that I couldn’t shake. Tonight, something was going to happen. Something, if my instincts were correct, that not even my training could prepare me for.
I kept my nose to the ground, searching for the scent of my target. It wasn’t far now.
Normally I wouldn’t have taken such a high-risk contract. But what can I say? Money talks. They’d set the price at a cool half a million for anyone who could retrieve the Eye of the Ocean, and it was just the break I needed to retire in style.
And if I, the fabled Crimson Fox, thief extraordinaire, couldn’t retrieve it, then who could?
This should have been like any other mission. Just get in, get the artifact, get out. It wasn’t like I was breaking into a prison or something. But this wasn’t just any pack.
This was Nox Bay.
Few names inspired such fear in the shifter world. Rumors and speculation were rampant about the pack’s violent nature, their brutal leadership, and most of all, their imposing Alpha. But as for real, eyewitness reports? No one had ever crossed them and lived to tell the tale.
That, combined with the exceeding rarity of the artifact, drove the price into the heavens. They said it had the power to control the element of water itself, one of four such artifacts called ‘The Keys of Life.’ I still wasn’t sure about all of that, but what I was sure about was finishing the job and getting paid.
Tonight, I was going to pull off my biggest caper yet. Then I’d settle down with my winnings, find a nice, peaceful town by the sea, and leave the life of crime behind me.
Or so I thought.
It wasn’t like I wanted to be a thief when I grew up. But as an omega fox shifter without a pack, I did what I had to do to survive--even if that toed the line of legality. A mysterious organization called The Black Hands took me in when I was no more than a pup, and there I learned everything. It wasn’t easy, but it was a way of life. It was all I knew.
Footsteps shook me from my thoughts and I froze, pressing myself against a nearby tree. My ears pricked up and the steps grew closer.
Someone was here. Someone was watching. I held my breath and waited for them to pass. Seemed like ages passed. The steps slowed. Stopped. Then they moved on once more, around the corner and out of sight.
That was a close one. I peered around the corner to make sure they were gone. From here, I had a straight shot to the door. Then I’d be in.
I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and leapt into the darkness, bounding quickly on my soft, furry paws toward the slowly closing door. Almost there, almost there...
I slipped through the cracks just as the door shuddered to a close. My tail whipped into the pack lands behind me, just a hair’s breadth away from being caught in the closing gate. That was a close one, but I didn’t have any time to celebrate. I was here for one thing, and one thing only.
The Eye of the Ocean.
I didn’t know why everyone wanted to get their hands on it. I didn’t much care either. I just knew that if I could lift it from the Nox Bay Pack and bring it back to my sponsor, I’d be half a million richer and no longer beholden to their schemes. I could finally live life the way I wanted, not the way someone had predestined for me.
My shifter senses pricked up on full alert as soon as I was in pack lands. I sniffed the air,
searching for signs of nearby guards. The smell of wolf hung heavy in the air, yes, but it was a ways off yet. And what’s more, I smelled the scent of ale mixed in with their earthy odors. Perhaps they were taking a little midnight booze break.
Worked for me.
I didn’t waste any time. Keeping my head low and my back close to the buildings, I made my way across the enclave. I held the mental image of the crude map I’d seen in my mind, trying to remember where the most likely locations to find the Eye.
Around the corner. Through the tree-lined pathway (careful to keep away from the loose stones on the road). Past the tavern, where I could smell the scent of wolves and food from here. My stomach growled, but I paid it no mind. I was getting close. I could nearly taste it.
I didn’t become the most sought after thief in the land by sitting around on my haunches. No, I worked for what I had, tooth and nail. That, and I had one ace in the hole that no one else knew about.
The frequencies of precious metals reverberated in my head like some kind of radar system. I could seek them out like no other, and my brain acted as some kind of walking metal detector. Didn’t know why I could. Didn’t matter. But in this line of work? It sure came in handy.
The pull of the Eye grew stronger and I ducked into an alcove, holding my breath as a young child passed, holding her father’s hand.
They’d just come out of a darkened building, long and flat with only a few windows. I stayed where I was and waited for them to pass out of earshot, hoping they hadn’t noticed me. With the way the moon hid behind the pale wash of clouds tonight, I doubted it.
Ornate wooden engravings hung over the doorway, depicting scenes of battle from times long past. I almost stopped to look at them—the workmanship was fantastic—but I shook my head and pressed on. I was too close to my target to mess this up now.
This was almost too easy.
Where was the catch? Where was the alarm that would go off as soon as I crept near the artifact? And for that matter, where were the guards? None of this matched what I’d been told about Nox Bay. My fur bristled with a wave of anxiety. In this business, knowledge was power. And not knowing what was going on had the potential to get very, very bad.
I pushed the thoughts away and took in a cleansing breath. Worry about that later. Right now, the energy of the Eye was pulsing through my brain like a gong, drawing me ever closer.
Clenching my jaw, I slipped around the perimeter of the building, looking for an entrance. To go in through the front door wouldn’t do—only a fool would try that. I’d nearly completed a full lap when I saw it, almost obscured by the low hanging fog of the night.
A small slatted window, probably left open for ventilation. It wasn’t big enough for a man to fit through, or a wolf for that matter, but for a fox? I grinned.
It hovered two stories off the ground with not much surrounding it. A drain pipe led up the side of the building not far away, but I’d have to make a leap for it.
No problem for the Crimson Fox, I told myself, and dug my claws into the soft wood at the base of the building. I scaled quickly, my legs and arms working in tandem as the night air grew cool around my face. The ground dropped away below me and I clung to anything I could find—nails, eaves, shingles. My paws scraped against the drain pipe with an awful screech more than once and I froze, hoping against hope that no one would hear and investigate.
After what seemed like ages I was level with the opening, still a few feet to the left of me. I clung onto the boards anchoring me to the side of the building and stretched as far as I could. No luck.
I didn’t want to get off balance and tumble to the hard-packed ground below. Didn’t want to overextend myself. But it was close, so close, and I could almost reach it...
My claws latched onto the metal grating at the last second, just as my back paws slipped from the slippery pipe and I began to fall. The yanking motion of dangling from the rusty metal grate shot through my body. I winced and my feet scrabbled for purchase. I wasn’t dead. Not yet.
I managed to hoist myself back up and onto the small ledge where the vent lay. My heart hammered quick in my chest, both from the excitement and the near-death experience. A pale blue-green light caught my eye through the grate and I stood transfixed. there it was. My prize.
The Eye of the Ocean was so much more beautiful than I’d heard about in the old stories. It glistened and fluctuated with light, drawing me in and holding me trapped, like a dragonfly in amber. It really was like looking into the sea, I realized with awe. No wonder men were so desperate to get their hands on it.
I stuck my snout through the opening first, stretching my body as thin as I could. One paw. Then the next. My fur caught on a sharp spike of metal. I winced, trying to wiggle free. This was what I was afraid of. The metal dug through my fur and into my skin, sending pain up my torso and setting off alarm bells in my head. If I got stuck here in this stupid grate...
I winced and flailed out with my paws, trying to find a grip on something. I braced, preparing for the pain, and pushed.
Spots danced before my eyes at the pain. The sound of ripping hair filled my ears as a tuft of fur came away. The momentum carried me the rest of the way and I tumbled into the building, my arms and legs windmilling through the air for a fraction of a second before I landed, hard. Dust flew up around me as wood splintered. Air rushed out of my lungs in a long whoop, leaving me breathless.
Well, if I hadn’t gotten the wolves’ attention before, I definitely had now.
“Getting sloppy, Fox.” I could hear the growl of my sponsor now. I didn’t want to think about what he’d do to punish me this time.
No. I squeezed my eyes shut and fought off the panic. That’s why I was here. That’s why I’d put myself through this trial, to get the Eye and get out of here. To get away from the Black Hands, and to finally build a life for me instead of someone else.
Now I just had to finish the job and get the hell out.
I forced myself to my feet, even though my chest was still seizing for air. It would come, I knew, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t look like a drowning fish in the meantime. I swiped a paw across my blurry eyes and refocused. The glowing orb was still there, sitting on a pedestal not far from here. Its beauty threatened to hypnotize me all over again, but my paws itched and I bounded forward, desperate for a better look.
It sat on top of a marble pillar like some kind of trophy, filling the building with the light of the ocean. I’d ‘retrieved’ all manner of rare and valuable artifacts in my career, but nothing so stunning as this.
Something still ate at me, though. If this Eye of the Ocean was so valuable, then why weren’t there guards? Why was I able to break into the building so easily? And why hadn’t my fall triggered some kind of alarm?
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this at all.
But what was I supposed to do, put my tail between my legs and head home? Not while I was this close.
The pedestal, and the orb, hung nearly four feet above me. Not exactly fox-level. I’d have to shift back to human, and doing that would only expose me more.
That was the thing about shifting. Foxes didn’t exactly wear clothes, and if I shifted now without my go-bag I’d stashed in the woods, I’d be...well...naked. And that was the last thing I needed.
I shifted my gaze up to the marble platform one more time, trying to see if there were any other routes I could take to get to the gem. Nothing came to me, and after my perilous fall into the building and through the grate (my side still ached something awful), I knew I only had one option.
I needed to shift.
So I rushed over into a dark corner, sucked in a breath, and tapped into that deep part of myself where my human counterpart rested. Immediately I felt him rushing to the surface, ready to stretch his legs and stand. I let the shift overtake me. No turning back.
Claws retracted and became fingernails. Fur faded away. My snout shortened into a small pink nose, and my ears returned to the sides
of my skull as hair sprouted from my scalp once more. It wasn’t a painful transformation, no--but it was intense. The rush of feelings and sensations both man and animal flooded over me and through me, and when I opened my eyes once more, I looked through human pupils.
Everything looked different from this vantage point. I was no longer nose to the ground and could see the layout of the building a lot better. My night vision had turned to crap, though, and I reached out a hand to steady myself on the nearby wall. The Eye of the Ocean peeked out at me, now directly at eye level. All I had to do was step forward and take it.
Too easy, my mind rebelled. Too easy.
This was worse than sneaking through the highest-security compounds where I could be discovered at any moment. At least then, I knew what I was up against. Here? I had no idea.
