by Lori King
The town was peaceful and the people never invaded the wolves’ territory. In turn, the wolf pack always kept their distance. Now, though, it looked like they could be facing humans somehow killing their people. That was unacceptable.
His father was walking from the two-story farmhouse to the barn. He waved for them to follow him. He opened the door for them to walk through. Luke and Riker shifted and reached for the pants that his father handed them.
His father got right to the point. “Your sister just returned from visiting your uncle’s pack, and your mother and I didn’t want her to overhear the details of this. Tell me what you found.”
“Another dead shifter, a deer from Jasper’s herd.”
“Damn, I’m going to have to call and give him the news.”
“No, I’ll do it, since I’m the alpha.”
“Sorry, son, it’s habit for me to take these things on. Of course, it’s your right as alpha.”
“It’s okay; I know it’s hard to get used to. It hasn’t been but a few years since you stepped down.”
“Tell me, did you find any clue as to who the murderer is?”
“Let’s wait until some of the other elders show, so I can tell this once.”
“That bad?”
“Yeah, it’s bad.”
“Is there anything that I can help you with?”
“I need to take over the store in town for a few weeks.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Why?”
“I think the murderer is a local or comes through on a regular basis. Not many people in town have seen me, so I would be a new face to most.”
“I guess your mother and I can take a short vacation with your sister, to get her out of the way until this killer is found.”
“I think that’s the perfect solution.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Riker asked from the bench he sat down on.
“Well, I’ll stay in the small apartment above the shop, and Dad will be on vacation. You need to run the ranch and act as alpha until one of us returns.”
His father looked at him with worry. “Do you think it could be a human doing the killing?”
“I don’t know, Dad. Whoever it is, I’m going to find him and make him pay.”
2
Monday morning
Rita Russell pulled the blinds up to her store window and moved the window display up front. She looked up and waved at Mrs. Mildred walking by with her senior citizen quilting group. She smiled up at the bright blue sky. What a wonderful fall day.
It was October in Hallow’s Pass, Alaska, and she loved it. Sure, the weather was getting colder, but the daylight hours were also decreasing. At the beginning of the month, they had about eleven hours of daylight.
That definitely wasn’t as bad as what they had in June, which was almost eighteen hours of daylight, making it difficult to sleep if people didn’t have black-out shades, which she did, thank God. But by the end of October, they would only have to deal with eight hours of daylight, which was much better in her opinion. They were just outside Anchorage, so the least amount of daylight they would have would be around five to six hours.
At least she didn’t live somewhere like Barrow. They had zero daylight in January and then by June they had daylight twenty-four/seven. It took getting used to with the weather and time changes, but like her dad used to say, “Alaskans were tough sons of bitches and they could handle it.”
Rita missed her father deeply. After he had passed away a few years ago from cancer, she had moved back home with her mother to help with the arrangements and bills.
She rearranged the costumes on the racks, making sure they were all on the right racks. Customers tended to hang them back up wherever was convenient, so this was a daily ritual. She owned Hallow’s Specialty Shop, which had costumes and all kinds of odd knick-knacks. She loved anything that was vintage or had an element of mystique. Her mother had helped her open the shop with the money from her father’s life insurance. It had been just enough to pay off the house and bills, and put a deposit on the small shop. She had also used some of her savings from her part-time jobs to do the renovations and invest in the start-up inventory. It was sometimes a struggle, but she knew she was doing something she loved, which made it all the more worth it.
Throughout most of the year, she and her mother lived a very modest lifestyle, because most of her local customers were just those seeking costumes for school productions. She actually made most of her money from online sales, which paid their bills and kept food on the table.
Her real moneymaker was Halloween, or rather, the two weeks leading up to Halloween. People would come from neighboring towns to look for costumes for Halloween parties or for kids going trick-or-treating. Some of the shop owners would exchange items with each other to have on display to help promote each other’s sales. She had Mindy’s Halloween cookies next to the register, and Mr. Nobley’s wind chimes hung over the door.
It was an unadventurous life, but it was filled with peace and calm. She wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. She adjusted the bunny ears that were part of the costume she’d picked for today. Starting October first, each day leading up to Halloween she would wear a different outfit. Today she had decided to wear just the ears.
The chimes rang out as Mindy rushed to the store. “Did you see him?” she asked, out of breath.
“See who?” Rita turned to look at her more petite friend, who was looking a little thinner than normal. She worried about her friend’s health.
“The Conrads’ son! He’s here in town running their store for a few weeks while they take a vacation.”
“The Conrads never take a vacation and their son hardly ever comes through here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him up close in all the years I’ve known the Conrads.”
“Well, now is your time, my friend. Since their store is conveniently right across from yours, you’ll be seeing a lot more of him. Lucky dog!”
She shook her head at her friend’s gushing. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
Mindy pulled her to the large window and motioned for her to look outside. She turned to look and froze. Across the road was a tall man in jeans and no shirt. He was lifting a big box, and his arm muscles were genuinely bulging. The jeans he wore looked like they had been poured over his strong thighs and there was a bulge of a different kind sitting on his thigh.
“Oh—my—God.”
“I know, right.” Mindy licked her lips.
“Okay, he has a hot body, but his face probably isn’t that handsome.”
Just then, the man they were drooling over turned to look their way and her eyes locked with his. Dark smoky eyes looked at her and made her feel like she was drowning but couldn’t find the energy to care. He had a strong chin and sculpted cheekbones. His dark brown hair was short and went well with his skin, which had a deep, rich tan. No man should be that sinfully sexy. It just wasn’t fair.
“We should go introduce ourselves,” Mindy suggested.
“What? No way.” Rita shook her head emphatically. She was not going to go make a fool of herself in front of that sex on a pair of legs. He’d already caught her ogling him.
“Come on, we’ll just welcome him to town. You know I never go out of my way to do things like this, so you saying no would only hurt my self-esteem.”
Oh, no, Mindy wasn’t playing fair. She knew Rita couldn’t resist when she used guilt on her. “Fine, I’ll go with you.”
Mindy lit up with a smile, grabbing her arm to pull her out of the shop. They would just go over and introduce themselves. If it made Mindy this happy, what harm could there be?
3
Luke had been watching the woman in the big thick winter coat open Hallow’s Specialty Shop. He wondered who she was. Once she was inside the store, he couldn’t see much of her except when she walked by the window, when he got a bit of her profile. He wished he could catch her scent.
He noticed the owner of the diner rushing into t
he store and walked outside to get another box off the delivery truck. He lingered to try to hear what the women were saying, not to mention get a better view through the window.
The women were talking about him, he could tell. He knew many women found him attractive. He was often sought after by both humans and shifters, though he preferred to bed shifters because he didn’t have to restrain himself and hold back his strength. Humans were just too easy to injure. He heard the women decide to come over his way, so he rushed inside the store to put the box down.
His parents had opened up the furniture store a few years ago as a business to help support the pack. The pack members carved each piece of furniture by hand, using wood they cut from their own land. The profits then helped support the entire pack, sending many of their children to college. He watched from the counter as the two women made their way across the street. He couldn't help noticing the differences between them.
The diner owner was short and a little on the thin side, with short blond hair spiked up in every direction. The other woman was taller, with long wavy auburn hair and a curvaceous body. He usually preferred women with a more athletic build, thin and muscular, but there was something about her that made him take notice anyway. As she entered the furniture store, he could see nothing hard about her body at all; she was all soft and smooth. Her scent hit him next, a mixture of jasmine and her. It made his inner wolf sit up and take notice. He didn’t like that at all. He concentrated on the ridiculous bunny ears she wore to attempt to calm his libido.
“Hi! I’m Mindy Robbins,” the short blond said, holding out her hand.
He sniffed her, recognizing her immediately as a fox shifter, and took her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mindy. You own the diner down the street, right?”
She smiled wide. “Yes. Well, my parents own the diner; I just manage it. I’m the primary cook, which is really where my passion lies.”
“Luke Conrad. I had your chocolate cake. It was the best I’ve ever tasted.”
Mindy blushed. “Thank you.”
She turned to whisper something to her friend, but for some reason, he couldn’t hear it. Luke turned to the taller woman. Up close, she was even prettier than he had originally thought.
She smiled at him and reached out her hand. “I’m Rita Russell, I own the shop across the street, Hallow’s Specialty Shop.”
He frowned and didn’t reach to take her hand. He knew he was being rude, but he hadn’t expected the owner of the shop to be a woman. Was she friend or foe? Was she human, shifter, or something else entirely? He leaned forward to inhale her scent and frowned—human. Delicious human. His wolf was drooling.
He nodded briskly in her direction. “Mrs. Russell.”
She stiffened and lowered her hand to her side. “It’s Miss Russell.”
“What can I do for you ladies?”
Mindy hesitated before speaking, sensing the tension between the two of them. “We just wanted to come by and welcome you. We could show you around, if you have any questions about how things work around here.”
“I appreciate that, but I have actually lived in this area for several years now. I just haven’t been in town very much.”
“We haven’t seen you around,” Rita noted pointedly, folding her arms across her breasts, which were quite ample.
“I served for a while in the military and just returned home a few years ago. I’m not a people person. I like my privacy.”
“Are you private or are you a hermit?” Rita shot back, which only served to arouse him and his wolf.
“Maybe I’m just not a nosy person who parades around in bunny ears.” His comment caused her to take an outraged breath, which stretched her top suggestively over her breasts. He wanted to push her up against a wall and have her welcome him to town in an entirely different way. He saw that Rita opened her mouth to say something else to him, no doubt sharp, but her friend cut her off.
“Well, we just wanted to say welcome.” Mindy pulled on Rita’s arm, practically dragging her out of the store.
Luke’s wolf wanted to howl for the pretty woman to come back. “That was—interesting.” He reached for his cell phone and called Hutch, one of the pack’s enforcers.
“Alpha, what can I do for you?”
“Hutch, I want you to find out everything you can about the human owner of Hallow’s Specialty Shop.”
“What’s his name?”
“Her name is Rita Russell. Do some surveillance on her. I want to know where she lives, who she dates, what perfume she wears, everything.”
“Does this have anything to do with the deaths?”
“It might. Make sure she doesn’t spot you.”
Hutch snorted. “She’s human; she won’t see or hear us.”
“She may well be smarter than we think, and if she is actually involved in the deaths, she’s dangerous as well.”
“Yes, sir.” Hutch hung up.
Luke walked over to the window and looked out. The two women were talking animatedly on the sidewalk. Miss Russell glanced his way and stiffened when she caught him looking. She stormed into her shop. Mindy looked his way, then walked down the street, probably heading to her diner. He knew he had made a bad first impression. His mother would be appalled.
* * *
Rita was furious. She had been dragged across the street, against her better judgment, to welcome the new guy, Luke Conrad, who was gorgeous; there was no denying that. But of course, he turned out to be a gigantic ass. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He had been very nice and charming to Mindy, he was just a complete ass to her. What the hell was his problem?
She refused to glare out the window at him the way she wanted to, but couldn’t help sneaking glances as she walked by several times. He was outside again, this time with his shirt on. Maybe her reluctance to go over there had come through somehow. Mindy had told her that she should try to talk to him again and work it out. They were business neighbors, after all. Rita didn’t see any reason to, since she certainly hadn’t done anything wrong. She had met his parents and even his little sister Grace, and they had all seemed perfectly nice, if a little strange. Maybe his time in the military left him lacking in the manners department. She sighed and resigned herself to giving him another chance, as a ‘paying it back to the veterans’ type of thing.
4
Later that evening
Rita pulled the blinds on her shop windows and closed up. She was meeting her mom at Mindy’s diner for dinner after the church bingo game. There wasn’t a lot to do in Hallow’s Pass, so bingo nights were a hot ticket event. Sadly, she had gone with her mother to bingo night quite a few times, as she didn’t have a boyfriend and it gave her something to do.
She sighed, thinking about her last boyfriend. It had been a year since Don, the delivery guy, had called it quits after about three months of dating. She had hoped he might be the one, or at least the one she would marry and have children with. Unfortunately, Don hadn’t felt the same. He’d told her he wasn’t ready for a steady relationship. She had horrible taste in men.
That was a typical response from all the guys she dated. It wasn’t the worst disappointment, honestly. No, it was her relationship from high school that seemed destined to be the one that haunted her throughout her adult life.
Robby Rose had been the high school quarterback. But before he became big man on campus, he had started dating her the summer before her freshman year. He was wonderful at first, kind and funny. They had a spark, which had led to some heavy petting and her dad getting a bit riled up, reducing her curfew from ten to eight in the evening.
She had been so happy and thought she was in love. But then, two weeks after they started school, she caught him making out with head cheerleader and all-around bitch Chrissy Baker. She was everything that Rita wasn’t, petite, blond, with pale blue eyes. Guys adored her, and evidently, so did Rita’s boyfriend.
It had been a really ugly breakup because Chrissy’s cheerleader girlfriends all ganged up and st
arted calling her all kinds of names and threatening her. On so many days she had come home crying, and on many others where she begged to not have to go to school at all. Her dad had to go to the school and threaten them with a lawsuit if they didn’t do something about the bullying.
The girls were suspended for three days, and when they came back, they pretty much acted as if Rita were invisible. Chrissy and Robby continued to date and had been together off and on ever since. Rita was sure she would never have survived it if it hadn’t been for her best friend, Mindy.
She entered the diner and took her usual table. Mindy waved at her before heading back to the kitchen. Her mother came in a few minutes later.
“I hope you haven’t been waiting long, honey.”
She shook her head. “No, I just got here. How did you do at the game tonight?”
Her mother smiled wide, making the years fade from her round, pretty face. “I won fifty bucks, so dinner is on me!”
“That’s great, Mom. Was Mr. Henderson there?” she asked, opening the menu. Mr. Henderson had been one of their neighbors for years and had always had a thing for her mother. Rita had been encouraging her mom to give him a chance; it was time her mom found someone to spend time with.
Her mother answered with a blush on her cheeks. “Yes, and he was absolutely irritating. He made Margaret move over so that he could sit right next to me, then proceeded to chat me up while the game was going on. I almost missed the final winning number being called out.”
Rita had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. “Did he ask you out again?”
“He did.”
