by Marie Fraser
“Most people underestimate them,” he grinned, winking at Cupid and Comet. He’d owe them huge for tonight and he knew they wouldn’t let him forget it. “Mind your fingers though, they’ll bite if they’re hungry enough.”
She pulled back and he chuckled, helping her into her seat. “This is already the best date I’ve been on in forever.”
“I haven’t been dating much either,” he said. “From October through December my schedule is beyond hectic,” he said. “And I’m not saying that as a put-off. I just thought you should know that I might not be extremely available if we should decide we want this to go any further.”
“I’m okay with hectic schedules,” she said, her blue eyes clear and focused. “Thankfully I’m not the clingy type. I realize that you have your life and I have mine, deciding to share what we do is up to us as individuals.”
“True,” Dash said, agreeing. He covered her lap with a blanket and clicked the reins. “Watch this.”
Read the rest of Dash by going here and learn more about the Rayne Deare Dating Agency!
Sneak Peek of Careful What You Fish For
Byron Rhodes is Ex-Army, but that doesn’t stop him from being all he can be. For him that means dragging his two best friends, also discharged from military service, along on a journey of self-discovery and innovation.
Driving out to the sticks is Byron’s idea of a great time and his friends oblige him when they decide to go in on opening a camp for vacationers who might just want a taste of country living. Jess, the comic relief thinks the place is fantastic, if rugged and in need of some tlc.
Kevin, the buzzkill, isn’t so impressed, but he does his part to get the camp up and running and before long the three friends are entertaining their first guests.
Celine Carter is hoping that a weekend in the woods with her best friends will help her sort out where her life is supposed to be going. She finds the accommodations her friends booked, quaint with a still under construction feel to everything. The food is first rate, for the country and she is interested when the owner, Byron, sets his eyes on her.
She’s not looking for anything really, but what’s a little harmless flirtation anyway? Will Celine figure out what it is about Byron that sets her blood humming, or will she settle for a quick fling? Can Byron show Celine that there’s more to life than planning to live it? Byron has his work cut out for him in more ways than one in Be Careful What You Fish For.
Prologue
A beat up old Ford pulled into a dirt parking lot from a long, winding road leading into it. Surrounding it were cabins of all sizes and in all sort of disrepair. The scenery is exquisite, with lush foliage in all shades of green and brown. Huge trees that seem centuries old with moss growing haphazardly on them. From the windows of the car the lake appears to glisten in the background and they could hear the echoes of loons overhead. Trees stood still in a quiet solute to nature. Wild flowers were growing everywhere and you could see sunflowers peeping up from the sides of the cabins, all pointing their faces to the sun. It was obvious, even from their limited vantage point that the landscaping would need some work, as patches of grass grew to the height of a man’s thigh in certain areas. Cattails were growing by the water, grouping around large rocks, where the water tended to gently lap.
Byron, the driver and the oldest of the three turned to the others, “Well boys, it looks like we finally did it. We got out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
“Some fire,” Jess said. “This place is great.”
“Speak for yourself,” Kevin said. “From what I can see all I have is tons of work to do. There’s no way this place is ready to go in two months.”
Byron had a rough look to him. He had a wild head of black hair and an unruly beard to match. His facial features were almost lost in the wilderness of his hair. His prominent cheekbones, however, still jumped out despite the mess. He had a small scar just under his right eye that appeared whitish against his tanned skin. You could see the outline of his muscles from under his black long-sleeved shirt.
“Well let’s just hope this investment works out,” Kevin said, from the backseat. He was the complete opposite of Bryon. As the youngest, he was prone to complaining, but was always quick with the humor to cool things off again. His chestnut brown hair was neat and tidy, and styled like a young Indiana Jones. His facial features were soft, yet his jaw line had a firmness that spoke of passing youth. He had no other facial hair to be seen except for the stubble that the journey there had left. Tattoos poked out from underneath his grey t-shirt. Black ink swirled to just above his collarbone, telling a tale all its own. He had obviously just woken up from a restless sleep because his body was hunched in an uncomfortable position and he had an annoyed expression on his face.
“I think you two had a better attitude about missions when we were still in the service,” Jess grumbled from the passenger side seat with displeasure, although a slight smile crept across his face. This smile made his face look like a cartoon with his crooked nose, the result of a bar fight he’d been on the wrong end of. His hair was a cross between the other two men. Wild and red, his hair was neatly tied back in a ponytail that kept the curls from messing up his vision. His green eyes were alight with humor. One could say he almost had a boyish face if they didn’t look too hard.
“Shut up,” Kevin said, obviously irritated as he smacked the headrest in front of him. Byron simply rolls his eyes at the retort parks the SUV, automatically unlocking the doors so Jess and Kevin can get out.
“Alright, let’s move the stuff inside. I’m tired and it would be nice to sleep in an actual bed.” Kevin said as he moved towards the trunk of the car.
But Byron shook his head, “We should look around first, to make sure that everything is stable. We might have to fix a few things before we actually get settled.”
“Well how long will that take? It’s not like we have very much daylight left,” Kevin complains making a move to return to the door he had just exited.
“Does this place even have electricity?” Jess asks, making a valid point. He still hadn’t gotten out of the car yet, he was reclining back slightly in his seat now that Kevin was no longer behind him. “Hey, don’t look at me, I’m not the one who called about getting it set up. There’s no guarantee they’ve made it out here to turn it all on.”
“Okay, how about this. We at least set up the kitchen?” Byron offers.
At the mention of the kitchen Kevin instantly perks up and runs back towards the trunk to gather some supplies. They weren’t going to move the food into the cabin just yet in case there were problems that had to be fixed, but the thought of an actual kitchen has him enthuse. Byron locks the car after all the doors are shut before the three men make their way to the main cabin. They had chosen the one directly in the middle mainly because it was center to everything else and it was also the main lodge, the one where campers would eventually gather for group activities and such.
The steps of the porch creaked as Byron walked up them, Jess followed directly behind him. But Kevin lingers behind to make sure he has everything. He sets one foot on the bottom step of the porch and then the other, but with a tremendous crack the step breaks, and his feet fall into the hollow area below. Kevin falls forward with a curse of surprise, before dropping the kitchen supplies to brace his fall. “Damn dry rot!” he roars as the other two stand on the porch laughing.
5 years later…
Read more of Careful What You Fish For here
Sneak Peak of Running Wild
Aiyana is a free bird, figuratively of course. In reality, Aiyana is an Omega, she is the female wolf in the Arikara Clan, sworn to protect them with her pack. She lives a peaceful and tranquil life, working as a receptionist for the Bear Lake Cabins. She doesn’t want much in life, she has everything she could’ve ever asked for. Except a soul mate, which is something she dreads ever running into.
When a hunting accident lands Aiyana in the hospital, she must come to terms with
two things.
A stranger has labelled her his wife. The stranger happens to be her soul mate.
When love and duty clashes, Aiyana must make decisions that inevitably will cost her, her mental peace.
Can she find a way to make things work? Will the troubles at home increase because of her absence? Or has love entered her life as an antidote?
Each chapter filled with fun and mystery, the Running Wolf is the upcoming paranormal saga of the werewolf series.
Prologue:
The wind in her fur and the mud beneath her feet, helping her stretch herself long and wide as she continued to run, not after a specific location but for the thrill. For what was the point of this life, this heritage, if one couldn’t enjoy it to the fullest? If she couldn’t live this way, life would seem pale.
Aiyana raced through the forest, leaving behind the human façade she had to portray for the world around them. She used all her might to navigate, for today she wasn’t going to stop running.
The world was hers to explore. For now, there were no responsibilities to turn to nor any missions.
For now, she was the running wolf.
Aiyana was free and she had so many possibilities to explore. She reached the cliff and dove in, the water greeting her like an old friend.
Chapter 1:
The Oneida County, situated in the heart of the Northwood’s of Wisconsin, was the most sought out tourist destination of the area. People came from far and wide to settle down in the area for a few weeks. The Bear Lake Cabins and Rooms was the most famous inn of the area, where guests enjoyed every day they spent there.
The area was famous for the fishing preferences it presented the guests with. Essentially, the whole site had been created to accommodate the growing number of nature lovers, coming to the area to hike, fish, learn cooking skills, and to commune with the beauty of nature.
Aiyana sat at the reception, waiting for her shift to be over. Her stomach was growling from hunger, she hadn’t hunted in a long time, exactly one whole night.
Yes, with growing hormones and strength, Aiyana’s appetite had also increased by a large amount. She sat, waiting for someone to show up from the staff so she could give them her spot for half an hour so she could out and hunt.
Sure, she could’ve had normal human food but what was the fun in that? If God, or rather her genes, had presented her with an opportunity to eat directly from the wild, she wasn’t going to ignore it.
To an outsider, Aiyana would look like any other Native American twenty-two-year old, with her raven hair that fell till her shoulders, straight and sleek. Her unusual green eyes sat on top of a tanned face that accentuated her beauty and made her look just as more beautiful than the other women of her clan.
However, Aiyana was slightly different than the rest. She was a werewolf.
The Clan of Arikara was a magical. Each generation had ten werewolves who had received the magical gene which allowed them to transform into a wolf, at any given point. The sole purpose of the werewolves was to protect their clan, which lived amongst the woodland area. The surrounding populations were natives but more modernized and hence, without the werewolf gene.
Aiyana’s clan was the oldest and most prestigious one, proclaimed by everyone as the mighty legends. Aiyana was privileged to have a part to play in the legacy, she was privileged to make a name for herself by submitting her life to the clan and the pack.
Essentially, there were ten werewolves, from which only Aiyana was the female, a legend spoke of this being the norm. The other nine werewolves were all ranked by their age and their experience while Joshua was their chief and the eldest. Aiyana was ranked higher than the other eight wolves, apart from the chief Joshua. She was held in the higher ranks and everyone held her in high regard, for she was the only female. She was essentially the omega while Joshua was the alpha.
Often though, Aiyana had to admit, being the only girl in the group was a bit wearisome. She didn’t really have any females to turn to for the pack-maintained secrecy about their identities. Yes, the clan knew about the werewolves and the clan also knew they were present to protect them. Yet, their identities were not known to all of them. Only the pack members and the Elders, the pack members before them who were now part of the higher council, knew who the current werewolves were.
Even family members could not be trusted with this secret. That was possibly the toughest part about the whole ordeal. Not having the privilege to tell your own flesh and blood about your true identity and leaving them wondering where you were at such odd times.
Luckily, Aiyana’s mom was also the omega in her time and now enjoyed a supreme position in the council. Unlike her other comrades, Aiyana did not have to hide anything from her mother. Essentially, Aiyana’s only family was her mother, if she didn’t count her pack brothers. Her father, Samuel, had passed away long before Aiyana had even been born. Her mother, Adsila, had been pregnant when Samuel had died in an accident in water.
Aiyana had never met her father and she didn’t really miss his presence, it was more like longing for a figure like him, not him specifically. However, her mother did miss him, night and day, always wishing he could’ve been here to see Aiyana grow up. Aiyana loved her mother so very much and sometimes felt forlorn about the fact that she had no one to turn to.
In their clan, it was an unspoken rule that a woman couldn’t remarry after her husband passed away. Perhaps this was the reason Aiyana tried to avoid marriage altogether. She didn’t want to leave her mother alone and she also didn’t think she could hide her real identity from her husband for a long time. The clan and her mother meant the most to Aiyana. She didn’t have much more to hold on to or love.
Even though she was now twenty years old, Aiyana had never fallen in love. Her mother would constantly tease her for missing a gene in her blood or that she would fall in love with an outsider. All this was jokes only because the clan was forbidden to mingle with outsiders apart from when business was concerned.
Friendship, let alone love, even was a big sin to commit when it concerned people from outside the Oneida County. Besides, Aiyana was not interested in finding a partner for herself. She had a good enough life as it was and did not need the hassle of maintaining a relationship. She had too many jobs to take care what with being the sole breadwinner of the house.
Aiyana was an only child and the responsibility of the household was on her shoulder. Her mother worked as well, mainly taking care of the antiques shop the Bear Lake Cabin owners had constructed to attract customers. While her mother was the manager there, Aiyana worked as the receptionist for the cabins. She had the sole responsibly of making sure all guests were received with a warm welcome and were treated with exactly the right amount of hospitality.
Aiyana didn’t know if she was the right person to welcome people, warmly that is. Ever since she was a little girl, people would comment on her hard expression and lack of emotions. It wasn’t that Aiyana didn’t feel anything, she just had a difficult time showing herself to people.
Aiyana had been with one boy long ago, when she was sixteen and freshly learning what love was. For some reason or the other, things hadn’t worked out and Aiyana was left heartbroken. She never again wanted to go through the same thing. How could she after all? Love had turned out to be a notion and just that. A lie and something no one should delve in to, if they didn’t want to face regret.
However, as a werewolf, this was something each one of them inevitably had to go through.
In the magical world, all creatures had another person they would connect to. A bond that would be too potent and strong to ever be broken. The soul mate’s kiss, is what the pack called it. So far, only three of them had experienced this and were now happily involved with their girlfriends, except one who was already engaged to be married in August. Joshua, the chief himself had still not found his mate and more often than not, Aiyana would read his mind and see that this fact bothered him.
Aiyana on the other
hand was more than happy that she was still safe from this kiss, the kiss that would act as a chain and hold her down. She had seen her other comrades and how they were now completely consumed by love and ignorant to everything else.
God only knew how Aiyana hated that. How could anyone just submit themselves to love in a way that left them without any choice of their own?
Aiyana looked around, sighing in frustration when no one showed up.
A few minutes passed and a group of people walked in, two girls and two boys.
“Welcome to Bear Lake.” Aiyana greeted them.
She took out the registration manual and placed it on the desk for them to sign.
“Do you have a booking?” Aiyana asked them.
“Uh, we do, but our friend isn’t here yet. He made the booking.” One of the boys said, dressed in a flannel shirt along with blue jeans and boots.
“Under which name?” Aiyana asked.
“Jason.” The man said told Aiyana.
“I can show you to your cabins and Jason can check in when he arrives.” Aiyana told them as they smiled.
“That would be amazing.” One of the girls said.
Aiyana couldn’t help but notice how different they looked from her. One had blonde, curly hair while the second had more brown hair with light specks of hazel in between, wavy and silky. Aiyana wondered if everyone in the city looked like them. The group was dressed in appropriate North Woods attire.
Aiyana picked up the keys to their cabins from the shelf behind her and they followed her out of the reception area into the back garden where most of the cabins were. This party had booked three cabins and Aiyana showed them around, pointing out the different facilities.
“Is there a trail into the forest?” The brunette asked.
