Table of Contents
Copyright
Shifter Seasons
Foreword
Chapter One – Axel
Chapter Two – Jenessa
Chapter Three – Axel
Chapter Four – Jenessa
Chapter Five – Axel
Chapter Six – Jenessa
Chapter Seven – Axel
Chapter Eight – Jenessa
Chapter Nine – Axel
Chapter Ten – Jenessa
Chapter Eleven – Axel
Chapter Twelve – Jenessa
Chapter Thirteen – Axel
Chapter Fourteen – Jenessa
Chapter Fifteen – Axel
Chapter Sixteen – Jenessa
Chapter Seventeen – Axel
Chapter Eighteen – Jenessa
Chapter Nineteen – Axel
Chapter Twenty – Jenessa
Chapter Twenty-One – Axel
Chapter Twenty-Two – Jenessa
Chapter Twenty-Three – Axel
Chapter Twenty-Four – Jenessa
Chapter Twenty-Five – Axel
Chapter Twenty-Six – Jenessa
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Axel
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Jenessa
Epilogue
Also By Harmony Raines
Get In Touch
Axel
Summer-Shifter Seasons
Book Eight
***
All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.
This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.
© 2020 Harmony Raines
Shifter Seasons
Hex
Winter-Shifter Seasons Book One
Beck
Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Two
Mac
Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Three
Kelos
Spring-Shifter Seasons Book Four
Shawn
Spring-Shifter Seasons Book Five
Joey
Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Six
O’Malley
Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Seven
Axel
Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Eight
Axel
Spring-Shifter Seasons
Book Eight
A silverback seasoned shifters romance
Axel’s not proud of his past. But he’s willing to sacrifice everything for a future with his mate.
Jenessa needs to find her brother, Tyler, before two rival motorcycle gangs get to him first. As her mate, Axel promises to do everything he can to make that happen, even if it means going back to the life he fought so hard to escape.
Now a reformed man, he knows how to navigate the complex world of these gangs. But when Jenessa insists on accompanying him, the stakes are high. He must not fail.
Jenessa and her brother were raised in the shadow of motorcycle gangs. Her shifter stepfather left that scene when their mom got sick. She knows how dangerous the gangs can be, and so does her brother. So why did he steal from the Hell Fire MC, one of the most notorious gangs?
As they delve deeper into danger, it soon becomes clear the theft might not be all it seems. Can Axel and Jenessa work together to bring Tyler home safe? Or will their future be wrecked forever?
Chapter One – Axel
Axel wiped the cloth across the surface of the bar and straightened up to cast a critical eye around the room. Everything looked good. The tables were all clean, the chairs were all set out ready for customers to sit down and enjoy a nice cool drink or hot meal when the bar opened in a couple of hours. The menus were standing upright on the tables, all neat and tidy. He grunted with satisfaction. The bar was just how his boss liked it.
“Everything okay?” Kelos asked from behind him.
Axel jumped almost imperceptibly. He’d sensed the guy was there but there was something about Kelos that made him edgy. There was something menacing about him even though he was one of the nicest guys Axel knew. It was as if there was an undercurrent of tension beneath his friendly exterior. Maybe it was the fire-breathing dragon lurking behind the laid-back human persona.
“I think so.” Axel tucked the cloth and bottle of antibacterial spray under the counter and turned to face Kelos. “Don’t you?”
“You’re doing a great job. O’Malley was wise to leave the bar in your capable hands.” Kelos broke into a grin. “I don’t think I could do it. Dealing with people who’ve had a little too much to drink is a talent I lack. I would likely bite their heads off if they gave me any trouble.” He grinned, his eyes dancing as he spoke.
Oh, you and me both, Axel’s cougar said with humor.
“I am a master of self-control.” Axel ignored his cougar. “Something it’s taken me years to learn.”
“Maybe I need some lessons from you.” Kelos gave Axel a searching look.
“I’m not a good teacher.” Axel turned around and glanced at the drinks stored on shelves behind the bar, each of them had a place and O’Malley was very specific about those places. He scanned the shelves and straightened a couple of the bottles so that the labels faced the front.
“But you are a very good learner.” Kelos went around the bar and headed toward the door. The guy had come to help Axel each morning since O’Malley and Hannah had left for their honeymoon. Not that Axel needed help, but he welcomed the company, it was good to know someone had his back.
“Ha, I don’t know if my schoolteachers would agree.” Axel followed Kelos to the door. He wanted to go home and check on his mom and make her something to eat before he returned to O’Malley’s bar and opened up for the lunchtime rush. The bar was getting busier each week as news spread of their friendly atmosphere, good food, and great selection of drinks.
O’Malley sure knows what goes into making a bar successful. His cougar licked his paws, he was content. Something they had never expected to be when they moved back to Cougar Ridge to care for their ailing mom.
We’ve been inside enough bars to have a good idea ourselves, Axel answered. But I don’t think we could ever pull off something like this. It takes a good business mind and an eye for detail.
Some of those details and ideas came from us, his cougar reminded him. It’s okay to take credit.
I’m just glad O’Malley took a chance on us, Axel answered.
They’d gotten lucky, O’Malley had taken a chance on employing Axel with no experience. Deep down, Axel suspected it was because his boss knew he was desperate for money, and with his mom at home and needing constant care, Axel would be reliable.
Desperate, his cougar added.
Axel had repaid O’Malley by being the best employee a boss could wish for. He arrived early, he left late, and he worked hard. He was courteous, friendly, and willing to learn.
His cougar huffed. Who would have thought that Angry Axel would ever work an honest job and be proud?
The days of Angry Axel are behind me, Axel replied sharply, hating to be reminded of who he was and what he used to do.
He’s dead and in his place is a hard-working guy who looks after his mom. His cougar was proud of their transformation.
“Are you coming?” Kelos asked and dragged Axel’s thoughts out of the past and back to the present.
“You go on ahead, I just want to check if the rear door is locked.” Axel
flashed a grin at Kelos. “It’s a habit I can’t seem to shake. Every time I get to the front door, I worry I have left the rear door unlocked.”
“I checked it before I came through to the bar. It’s locked.” Kelos shook his head. “But go check it yourself if you’re worried. There is no shame in being cautious.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kelos. Thanks for coming by.” Axel headed toward the back of the bar.
“I might see you later this evening. Amber wanted to stop by and see how you are doing. She is baking today, and I believe she is making extra. She worries about how you are finding time to run the bar full-time and look after your mom.”
“A couple of people in town are helping me out. They take turns checking in on her and Shawn visits her once a day before he starts work.” He sighed in contentment and placed his hand on the polished surface of the bar. “I’m a lucky guy.”
“We’re all grateful you are here to look after O’Malley’s while he’s on his honeymoon. I don’t think he would have opened the bar if he’d known he was about to meet his mate. He’d have been tied to the place if he couldn’t trust you to run it in his absence.”
“He’s been good to me.” With that, Axel headed out of the bar, walking down the corridor to the back door. As he walked, he checked the other rooms along the way. Everything was how it should be.
Except we don’t have a mate, his cougar reminded him.
Axel rolled his eyes. We don’t need any more complications in our lives right now, Axel answered. Although, they both knew that Axel believed their mate was better off being a long, long way away from them.
You still don’t think we deserve a mate of our own, his cougar shook his head in sorrow.
No, I don’t. Axel checked the rear door. Of course it was locked. He then checked the door leading up to O’Malley’s apartment above the bar. That was locked, too. This afternoon he’d run up there and just check that everything was okay. Hannah had asked him to water an orchid the happy couple had received as a wedding gift.
Although not known for his green fingers, Axel had agreed. Surely the beautiful bloom could survive ten days in his care.
Axel froze, his hand on the door handle. Tilting his head from side to side, he listened carefully. There was something wrong. There was someone there.
But where? His senses seemed to fail him as he tried to figure out if the person he sensed was upstairs in O’Malley’s apartment or down here in the bar.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he fished in his pocket for the keys to the apartment.
Arm yourself, his cougar hissed, his claws sharp and ready for a fight.
Axel backed up, still trying to sort through the mixed-up signals his brain was receiving from his senses. He should get to the kitchen and grab a knife. If anyone thought they could come to the bar and cause trouble, they would be in for a shock.
Axel reached the door leading to the kitchen. Everything was clean, ready for the lunchtime orders. He scanned the room for a knife and backed toward it, keeping his eyes fixed on the door.
Do you think our past has finally found us? his cougar asked.
I sure hope not. Axel swallowed down his fear. Not now.
His cougar swished his tail menacingly. If someone has come to cause trouble, we will deal with it. This life is not one I ever want to give up.
Funny, we once thought that of our old life and yet now the thought of going back to that old life fills us with nothing but horror.
You mean we have gone soft, his cougar scowled.
I mean we have learned the joy of the simple things in life. The joy of a simple life. Of having good friends to rely on, of spending time with Mom, of running free across the mountains. Of living a life without fear.
Axel closed his fingers around the handle of a chopping knife. Chef Stern would skin him alive if Axel took a nick out of the honed blade. He pulled the knife from the block and held it out in front of him as he headed back out of the kitchen.
This is crazy, his cougar said.
When they’d left their old life behind, they had cut all ties. But they had not healed all wounds. They would be close to impossible.
I don’t understand why my senses are so messed up. Axel swallowed down the rising panic that bloomed in the back of his mind. What if he’d been poisoned?
Impossible, the only things you have ingested today you made yourself. The coffee at home and the coffee here. His cougar huffed. Maybe your blood sugar is low, and you just need to eat something.
This is not funny, Axel told his other side.
I wasn’t being funny. You need to take care of yourself if you intend to work so hard at taking care of others.
Axel ground his back teeth together. His cougar probably had a point…
I do have a point, his cougar returned sharply. For some reason, you like to treat yourself harshly. As if punishing yourself for everything.
And whose fault is everything if not mine? Axel replied before he switched his attention completely to the bar and whoever was in there.
Maybe it’s just Kelos come back to check if everything is all right, his cougar suggested.
It doesn’t feel like Kelos. Axel shuddered. Was the guy only pretending to like Axel? What if Kelos knew about Axel’s real past? What if he knew someone Axel had hurt in his old life?
There was only one way to find out. If there was something Axel was not, it was a coward. He was willing to face up to whatever or whoever might be waiting in the bar. And he was certain now that was where the thing he could sense was.
But what could he sense? It was like nothing he had ever experienced before.
Keeping his back against the wall, he slid along the corridor, allowing his senses to roam. There might be more than one assailant waiting for him.
“O’Malley?” a voice hissed, and Axel shivered as a sense of recognition hit him right in the solar plexus.
What was that you were saying about not wanting a mate to come along and complicate our lives? His cougar’s tail swished in anticipation as Axel lowered the knife and walked out into the bar.
Fate sure has a sense of humor. Axel slid the knife onto the shelf behind the bar out of sight of his mate and smoothed out his features. If his mate wasn’t a shifter, he was going to have to take this real slow.
If his mate wasn’t a shifter, she would have no idea who she was to him and maybe that was a good thing.
Maybe he should just let her go.
Chapter Two – Jenessa
“You’re not O’Malley.” Her mouth tightened as disappointment clouded her expression.
“No, I’m not.” The guy stared at her. Really stared at her before he blinked and looked away. With a hand that visibly shook, he ran his fingers through his hair before he placed it on the bar, his fingers curled around the edge as if he were holding onto it for dear life.
“Is he here?” Jenessa didn’t have time for games.
“No, he’s…” The guy paused and looked at her with an intense stare. “Who is asking?”
She let out a sharp breath and flicked her hair back from her shoulders. “That is between him and me.”
His brow creased as he sighed. “Once upon a time whatever you need might have been between him and you, but now he has a wife.”
“A wife.” It was like a punch to the gut. Jenessa placed her hand over her stomach and took a step backward. “I didn’t know he was dating let alone getting married.”
“It all happened very fast.”
“Oh. Typical O’Malley.” She shook her head. “Damn timing.”
“You’re not happy he met the woman of his dreams and married her because he loves her?”
Jenessa rolled her eyes. “Of course I’m happy for him.”
“But not for you.” The guy’s brows met, and confusion covered his face as if he had surprised himself with his own words.
“Not really. Look, I hate to disturb his wedded bliss, but is he in town? It’s
important.” Her eyes narrowed as the guy pushed himself off the bar and walked around to where she stood. Jenessa folded her arms across her body, the move involuntary but necessary. There was something about the way this guy looked at her. His eyes, they held a hint of danger, a hint of mystery. None of which she needed right now.
“He’s on his honeymoon. Is there anything I can do to help you?” The guy looked sincere but then he had no idea what he was offering to get himself into.
“Thanks, but I need O’Malley.” Jenessa backed away, the guy’s intense stare ignited something inside her. Something that needed to stay quenched. At least until she’d figured out how she was going to solve her problem.
But it wasn’t her problem, was it? She’d just been dragged into a situation. A situation she could not walk away from. Jenessa had no intention of dragging a bartender into the murky world she was about to walk into.
“You look as if you need a coffee. Or something stronger.” The guy planted his feet hip-width apart and thrust out his hand. “I’m Axel. I’m looking after the place while O’Malley is on his honeymoon. He’d be disappointed if I didn’t at least show his friends some hospitality.”
Her shoulders rose and then dropped as she took in a breath. “Coffee would be great.” She thrust her hand into his and shook it, her eyes widening as a jolt of electricity shot up her arm. “Jenessa.”
She swallowed hard as she forced herself to sound normal. Forced herself not to stare into Axel’s eyes and search for a meaning behind the sense of connection she felt for this guy she’d never met before.
Jenessa withdrew her hand but her skin still buzzed as if they were still touching. Even when she wiped her palm on her thigh, it continued to tingle.
She swallowed down her panic and eyed the door. Perhaps she did know this guy. Maybe they had met before and she just didn’t remember him. Or maybe Axel wasn’t really who he said he was. Maybe Axel the bartender was lying out back stone cold on the floor?
She swayed a little on her feet. What if O’Malley had met the same fate and he wasn’t really on his honeymoon?
“Sugar and cream?” Axel placed two coffee cups on the bar and grabbed the coffee pot. He poured the dark aromatic liquid while he watched her closely. Too closely.
Axel Summer Shifters Season 2 Page 1
