by Ashlee Sinn
Copyright © 2017 Ashlee Sinn
http://www.ashleesinn.com
This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This is a work of fiction intended for mature audiences only. All sexual activities depicted occur between consenting characters 18 years or older who are not blood related.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be copied, used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. If you’ve illegally downloaded this book for free, shame on you. Authors work too hard for you to be stealing their books.
Cover Design by Ashlee Sinn
Donovan
Donovan Bain is haunted by his past. One of the few remaining lion shifters, he’s struggled with his ability to fit in. Long runs, solitary hunts, and no female companionship has been his way of life since escaping the cages of his childhood. When he finally settled in Eagle Creek, Alaska, he never thought he’d call this place home. After all, a home meant family and friends and mates—something Donovan never realized he needed. Until he met Mariah.
Mariah Stillwater just wanted a new life. Tired of her coyote pack and dealing with her alpha father, Mariah fled in search of her independence. A failed attempt at college sent her away from the big city and had her questioning her worth. And camping out in the woods near a group of misfit shifters, lusting after a particularly sexy lion, isn’t helping her confidence. Donovan doesn’t know who she is. Why would he ever remember a lonely coyote he met one day several months ago?
The time for anonymity has come to end. Registration requirements for all shifters have become stricter and the camp at Eagle Creek is a perfect target for the new government agency responsible for the process. Donovan, Mariah, and the rest of the group must decide if it’s worth the fight, knowing their easy-going life will change forever. With Mariah by his side, Donovan is ready to face the challenge. But it won’t be an easy road, as every shifter in the camp must question their future…especially Mariah and Donovan.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Maximus
Rhys
The Callaghan Clan
The Alaska Shifters
The Vampire Huntress Series
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Other Books by Ashlee Sinn
About Ashlee Sinn
I watched the fight from the top of the hill overlooking our camp and wondered why I’d even bothered coming back. The damn idiots brawling below had no idea what they were doing. For years, a few of us lived in these woods without interference from humans or any group of organized shifters. It had been a home of sorts without all the other shit that went along with living with a bunch of shifters. But now the transients had discovered my little piece of paradise and I swear they were determined to fuck it all up.
Maximus was winning. When we’d fought against the Wyoming panthers a couple of months ago, it had released something in Max and he hadn’t been able to get his panther back under control yet. I knew very little of his background—something that we’d all agreed to. No one needed to know who you were or where you came from as long as you agreed to abide by the rules and keep your head down. At least that was how Max, Rhys and I had decided to set up this little camp of ours.
But now that Max’s animal was wild and we had at least one new shifter showing up each day, the whole attitude in the camp had changed from chill to chaos in a very short amount of time. Shifters who didn’t want to register, or who had been kicked out of their packs, now found themselves passing through Eagle Creek on their way to…well, to somewhere else. Some stayed for just a few days where it was safe for them to change and hunt and take a breather. But more and more frequently, we were seeing the transients stay longer and longer.
It was one of those travelers challenging Max right now.
Shifting on my feet and leaning against the tree, I crossed my arms, shirt dangling from my hands. My lion had been forcing me to roam more and more lately, and that had taken me away from the camp for longer periods of time. I told myself it was because he didn’t like the uneasy feeling his home now gave him, but we both knew it was because of her. Mariah Stillwater. One bloody fight with her coyote by my lion’s side and he’d become obsessed. Okay, in all fairness, we were both obsessed. She was strong, independent, and beautiful.
And we’d kept an eye on her since she’d wondered into our territory.
I wasn’t sure if she knew where she was exactly, or where the property line actually started, but I’d caught her scent trail about ten miles out. She had a little campsite set up, but each time I’d snuck up to it, she was gone. Out hunting or patrolling. Coyotes didn’t like to be solitary, so when I’d learned that she’d left her father’s pack, I wondered how long she might last. But when I saw her fight off the panthers and protect those she cared about, a deep-rooted urge inside of me came to life. It was an urge I hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since I’d been ripped away from my parents and forced into the brutal world hidden beneath the streets. It was a need to protect—a need to make sure someone else was safe. The humans had stripped that away from me, but Mariah had started to bring that back. And she had no idea.
Max roared into the sky, his panther on full display as he ripped through his clothes and shifted into the dark cat. My lion stirred, not liking the challenge that Max offered. But I pushed him down and told him to stay put. We wouldn’t fight our friend. Not for any reason.
“This is going to get ugly,” Rhys said from somewhere behind me.
I’d heard him coming so he hadn’t surprised me. “Who challenged him?”
Rhys huffed a laugh. “Those two idiot wolves.” A wolf shifter himself, Rhys did little to hide his disappointment in his own kind. “They’re just babies,” he added. “Max will kill them.”
“He won’t,” I said, knowing my friend wouldn’t want the blood on his hands.
“No?”
“He believes in this place as much as we do. He wouldn’t want to turn it into a battle ground.”
Rhys spit on the forest floor and stepped up beside me. “Well, we need to do something about this. There are too many coming around and no order.”
“We have rules.”
“Yeah, but without someone enforcing them, they’re just words on paper.”
Rhys had a point. He’d come from a place where the rules weren’t followed and it had taken a toll on him and his wolf. But I’d lived in the shadows most of my life waiting to be free of all the rules, and I couldn’t quite bring myself to the place he was in. A raven flew overhead, being chased by a bald eagle. The first bird screamed her fear as the second one dove after her quickly. I didn’t know who they were, but they had been fighting this battle for weeks. With a sigh, I looked over toward Rhys and shook my head. “So, what do we do?”
Max must have landed a hard blow, as one of the wolves screamed a piercing cry. It drew our attention back toward the fight where we watched some more instead of talked. Max was stalking the second wolf, who stood in a defensive stance next to his friend. Their gangly brown animal bodies were no match for the impressive black panther walking in circles around them. His massive feet made little noise on t
he ground while he hunted. His mouth was partially open, scenting the air and showing his fangs to the wolves. The rest of the visitors in our camp had made a rather large circle around the fight, cheering like morons and encouraging blood to be spilled.
“This isn’t sustainable,” Rhys finally spoke again.
I chuckled and looked at my friend. “That’s a big word,” I teased.
Rhys smiled back, flipping his hair out of his face. “You know I’m right, though.”
I sighed. “You are.” Watching Max being forced to fight with two juvenile shifters didn’t sit right with me either. But I also knew what I didn’t want. “I don’t want to be a part of a pride or pack or clan,” I said, shaking my head. “That kind of structure isn’t for me.”
Rhys patted me on the shoulder. “That’s what I thought too.”
“What do you mean?” Turning to look at him, I was surprised to see him smile again.
“Are you serious?” He waved his hand down over the group of random shifters, tents, cabins, and the fight. “We’re already part of a group, we just haven’t named it yet.”
I groaned. “Well, that may be true, but I know I certainly don’t want to lead it.”
Max roared and pounced on the second wolf, knocking him to the ground on his back. The panther stood over top of him, all four paws holding the wolf down. Max placed his jaws over the neck of the frightened shifter and held him there. A deep growl rumbled in his chest, coaxing my lion to the surface again.
“Easy there, Donovan.” Rhys wisely backed away a few steps. “You said it yourself, Max won’t kill him.”
But as we watched, we quickly noticed a few of the transient shifters start to strip off their clothes. They were getting ready to join a fight that wasn’t theirs, and that wasn’t okay. I dropped my shirt to the ground and started to kick off my shoes, but Rhys’ hand on my shoulder stopped me again.
“I’ve got this,” he said.
And a second later, he was racing down the side of the hill and shouting for those about to change to keep their animals under control or he would be forced to take them out. The raven and the eagle fought overhead again, while Rhys did his best to control the changes of so many visitors to our territory. He was right…this wasn’t sustainable.
I was about to join him in the center of the crowd when the breeze wafted across my nose and I caught her scent. Mariah. Her name danced across my mind like a dream, pulling my animal away from the fight. She was close…closer than she’d ever ventured before. My lion wanted to protect instantly. He didn’t want her coming here and getting pulled into the shit storm brewing in our camp. He wanted to shield her from this violence and keep her safe. But the human in me just wanted something else to focus on. I hated seeing what was happening to the little, peaceful world I’d created and I didn’t really have the skills to figure out how to cope with that.
So Mariah would be a welcomed distraction.
Yeah. That’s why I needed to see her again.
Not caring who saw me, I stripped out of my jeans and quickly shifted into my lion. The animal rose to the surface faster than I would have thought possible, but he was determined to have my skin right now. We looked back only once at the impending battle Rhys was trying to stop, and then we decided Mariah was more important.
My lion pushed me into a sprint, dodging downed trees and avoiding the icy puddles. It was almost spring in Alaska, which really meant that winter was hanging on with her claws. This was the time of year when we all wanted to see the long, sunny days again. It was when everyone was going stir crazy and just wanted to have some of the lands unfreeze and open back up as hunting grounds. My lion loved the warmth of summer, but he also felt that as long as Mariah was around, he could live in any conditions.
Only a few miles away from camp, we slid to a stop. Her scent was strong now. She was close. With nose in the air, I searched for her. Ever since that night I fought side by side with her coyote pack, I knew we would make a good team. My lion chuffed at the word—he didn’t understand anything other than mate. But I wasn’t mate material and I never would be. However, I was loyal and committed to protecting those I cared about, even if they had been few and far between during my life.
A branch snapped in the distance and I heard the crunching of coyote paws against the ground. I followed her—closely yet not to the point where she could see me. Her feet darted in and out of the trees, hunting or maybe playing? Warmth filled my chest at the thought of Mariah enjoying herself as her animal. That was a rare treat and only given to those who had the luxury of growing up someplace safe.
A small glimpse of brown ran out from behind a tree up ahead. She pounced on something and made a satisfying whimpering sound when she tore into it. A rabbit perhaps. I slinked closer, wanting to watch her feed, yet not knowing why. My lion was large and wouldn’t blend in well with the trees, so I crouched to the ground. Slowly and quietly, I laid there. Mariah was about fifty feet away, yet I could see every movement of her powerful jaws, or the way her long, tan hair bristled against the breeze. She was magnificent. And the fact that she was in her animal form, so far away from the magic of her pack, made me smile even more. She must have some power inside of her to be able to shift on her own. As skinwalkers, the coyotes were different than the rest of us. They relied on a powerful alpha to control the magic that brought out their animals. But Mariah…well, I would bet she was just as powerful as her father.
A growl yanked me from my thoughts of the coyote in front of me. I’d been spotted, and Mariah wasn’t happy. She hunched forward, her hackles raised. And one second later, she attacked.
I hated eating a fresh kill, but my animal loved it. And we were starving.
I’d tried to make a go of it in Anchorage. I really did. When I left my father’s pack, I was determined to survive on my own and make something out of myself. Tired of being known only as Marcus’ daughter and sick to death of my dad not even considering me as his successor, I’d chosen to run instead of fight for what was mine. And now, he had a new wife and a baby on the way, and all I could think about was how pitiful my life was and how much I hated the taste of warm blood sliding down my throat.
Several weeks ago, I found myself traveling closer and closer to Eagle Creek. I’d known this territory technically belonged to no one, yet was run by a group of misfit shifters without any allegiances to packs, or clans, or prides. And as much as I hated to admit it some days…that was me now. I had no pack. I had no alpha. And the magic inside of me weakened each time I tried to shift. I suspected that was because female coyotes were supposed to be in a pack—it was our nature not to be alone. So, when I lost the comfort and strength of others around me, my magic suffered.
The rabbit was enough to hold me over for another day while I decided what to do. Sleeping in a tent was getting old, but I didn’t quite feel ready to venture into the city again just yet. I thought about visiting my dad, but quickly dismissed that as it would only give me more anxiety fielding questions I didn’t like the answers to. I thought about walking into the Eagle Creek camp and socializing for a few days. But that idea was quickly squashed by the fear that I might see Donovan. He’d been at the forefront of my mind since that night a few months ago when he helped me and my pack defeat a pride of panthers intent on taking back my father’s new mate.
Donovan had been nothing short of impressive. And while he hadn’t said much to me, I could tell he was powerful and dangerous and…broken. Even as a lion, his eyes were sad and they told a thousand stories I would love to know the meaning behind. I suppose, if I was being honest with myself, I ended up in this part of Alaska hoping to see him again. I had no idea what I would say to him, but I figured I would wing it.
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts as I forced down the rabbit, that I didn’t even smell the intruder until it was too late. Whipping around so I didn’t have my back toward him, I bent forward and growled at the lump of fur lying on the ground in the distance. With the waning light
and shadows from the branches, I couldn’t tell what it was…I just knew it was a large animal.
I growled again and felt the hair on my back rise.
The lump stayed still at first, as though maybe I wouldn’t see him. But as I took a few steps forward, I noticed the scent of a powerful and dominant animal and that had me reacting in fear. I bounded through the air, taking off after him like a damn predator. I wasn’t this type of shifter—I needed a pack behind me to be this brave. But something inside of me snapped and I felt like I had to take a stand in order to solidify my place in this world.
As I got closer to the beast in front of me, my heart stuttered in fear. The lion stood—three times my height and four times my body weight. But he simply stayed still and allowed me to rush forward. I knew before I reached his fur that this was Donovan—the man I’d been obsessing over for months and the man I’d subconsciously been moving toward. And now, here he was, standing in front of me…waiting for me to attack.
I was moving too fast to stop now. In one leap, I jumped toward him. Flying through the air, and almost in slow motion, I watched him squeeze his eyes shut and prepare himself for the blow. My canines caught the side of his neck as we slammed together. Like hitting a brick wall, my forward movement immediately ceased and I very ungracefully slid down to the ground. Quickly rolling back up to my feet, I snarled at the massive lion, daring him to attack. He chuffed—a noise I’d only seen the big cats make—and shook his head. Taking two steps backward, he sat on his haunches.
I growled again. Son of a bitch. I was scary and fierce and how dare he just…sit there like I wasn’t a threat?
Snapping my teeth at him again, I pawed at the ground in a challenge. But Donovan didn’t move. His tail swished back and forth as his dark mane rustled in the early evening breeze. He was beautiful, god dammit, and I almost lost my nerve. I’d sensed that he might have been visiting my campsite the past few weeks, but I had no proof. Not until now when I caught his beastly, manly scent again.
