Chapter One

Amara

S oft music filtered through the speakers that were built into the ceiling as Amara Vincent placed another book back on the shelf in its proper place. It was nearly eleven o’clock in the evening, and yet she was still working on closing up the bookshop for the night. The day had been particularly busy, and because of that, she’d had several books to put back and even more orders to place for customers, but she didn’t mind. Business was booming, so it wasn’t uncommon for her to stay at the shop late into the night. Besides, any chance she got at being away from home, she took it gratefully.

Amara was a member of the Cedar Grove shifter pack, and her father, Brad, was the alpha. However, even though he was her father, the two of them had never gotten along. He never showed her love or any kind of compassion. In fact, he treated her more like a burden than anything else. She believed that her father resented her for her mother leaving him to be with her fated mate, and she was sure the only reason he kept her in the pack was out of sheer spite. Though, she could never prove it.

Needless to say, their relationship was rocky at best, and she avoided being in his presence whenever possible, hence all the late nights she spent working at the bookshop.

Between the Covers, her book shop, was her ‘safe-haven’, her home away from home, and had been for the last four years since it came into her possession. It was the only place where she could be whoever she wanted to be instead of being known only as ‘the alpha’s daughter’. The fact that it had originally been her mother’s made it that much more important to her. This place was her pride and joy. Books had always been her escape, and she loved being able to provide that for other avid readers as well.

It wasn’t as big as some of the brand-named bookstores, but it wasn’t considered small either. She made sure that she had a large selection of books in nearly every genre available, and she had them organized in sections to make for easier browsing. Large wooden shelves took up most of the room, all of them overcrowded with books, and a row of computers sat along the far wall for people who needed to do research or look up a particular book. She even had a children’s section with puffy bean bags and stuffies for children to read with.

Amara had designated story times during the week and opened her shop up to school kids after school so that they had a safe and quiet place to go in order to do their homework. She provided snacks, and because the shop didn’t have any kind of staff, parents even stepped up to volunteer some of their time to help out. Her little shop was a staple in the community, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Granted, not having a staff had been intentional on her part. While it was always busy with one thing or another, without other employees, she was able to run things the way she wanted. She was able to make it entirely her own, just the way her mother had wanted her to. It was the only place in her life where she had any control at all, and that meant everything to her. It was the reason she took so much pride in her work.

Once the rest of the books were put away and the orders were placed, Amara opened the register and gathered up the cash in a little pouch to put away in the safe in her office. She only made a trip to the bank once a week because she wanted to make sure she always had change. When that was done, she grabbed the trash bag sitting by her desk and headed toward the back door, stopping occasionally among the shelves to straighten up a book or to put one back into the correct place.

After propping the back door open with the door stop, she crossed the dark lot toward the communal trash dumpster. The lot only had one lamp post, and it had never worked as long as she had been there. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but a part of her didn’t want to know what kind of disgusting stuff hid in the shadows of that lot.

Holding her breath, she quickly lifted the lid to the dumpster and tossed the bag inside. Because she shared the dumpster with a Chinese restaurant, a pet store, and a bar, the smell was horrendous and made her gag most of the time. She continued to hold her breath, hoping to avoid the stench as she turned to go back to her shop, dusting her hands on the backside of her jeans. However, she quickly found her path blocked, and she took a sharp breath of surprise, despite her better judgment.

The man standing in her way was dressed in rumpled clothing that was at least two sizes too big for him. His mousey brown hair was a matted mess, and it looked as if he hadn’t bathed in days. Wild eyes scanned her face, his pupils tiny pinpricks, and he was shifting on the balls of his feet as if he couldn’t stand still.

The scariest part was the fact that the guy had a gun and was pointing it right at her head. Directly between her eyes, to be exact. Her wolf snarled at the perceived danger, but Amara somehow managed to hold her at bay. The existence of shifters was not common knowledge, and she wasn’t about to risk exposure unless it was absolutely necessary.

Instead, Amara froze, barely daring to even breathe despite the rapid, fearful beating of her heart. Her pulse pounded against her ears, nearly drowning out every other sound, as she slowly lifted her hands in front of her. As twitchy as this guy was, she knew that one wrong move would leave her dead on the pavement, and she wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

“I want the cash,” he snarled at her.

Amara blinked, her mind having a hard time thinking clearly when she was staring down the barrel of a gun. “W-what cash?” she stammered after a few moments.

The guy fired the gun against the asphalt by her feet, making her jump and scream at the same time. “Don’t give me that shit! I know how busy that damned bookstore is. I know you got money. Give it to me.”

Tears pricked the backs of her eyes, her body trembling in fear. She had never been more scared than she was at that moment, and she was sure she was going to die right here, discarded on the ground like the garbage she had just thrown away.

“I-it’s, it’s in the safe. Inside.”

The twitch of the gun, when he used it to motion for her to go ahead of him, made her flinch, but she swallowed hard as she took a hesitant step in the direction of her back door. She was afraid to make any sudden moves because, while shifters had amazing healing, a gunshot in the right place would definitely still kill her. When he made no move to stop her, she continued forward.

As she moved past him, she had no choice but to turn her back to him, which she had been trying to avoid. Unfortunately, the guy was right behind her, so close she could feel his breath on the back of her neck, and she found herself shuddering. Apparently, she was moving more slowly than he would have liked because it wasn’t long before she felt the gun being shoved in between her shoulder blades, and he used it to push her forward. She had to bite her tongue to keep herself from crying out.

“Move it, bitch!” he growled impatiently.

“You know, Happy, I’ve always said that, when someone whips out a gun, it becomes a party,” an unknown male voice said matter-of-factly from behind them. Both she and her assailant stopped walking. “But when you point it at a pretty lady, that’s when we have a problem.”

All at once, a wave of relief washed over her. While she knew she wasn’t out of trouble just yet, knowing that she was no longer alone with the guy made her feel better.

“Back off, Knox. This shit doesn’t concern you. We completed our deal,” the man named Happy spat, shoving the gun harder against her back. She winced, and a few more tears rolled down her cheeks.

“When you do this shit around our place of business, it most definitely does concern us,” a second man stated bitterly.

“Man, I ain’t gonna kill the bitch. I just want the money and maybe to rough her up a bit,” Happy said, sounding a little like a pouting child.

“Word to the wise, you may not want to lay all your cards out on the table like that. Especially in front of the person you are trying to rob,” a third man replied, this one with a slight Spanish accent.

Amara briefly wondered how many people were in the alley with her now. She squeezed her eyes shut, silently begging whoever was listening for this whole ordeal to be over with. She had been at the shop for four years without any incident, and she didn’t think Cedar Grove was that bad of a town. Then again, she guessed there were bad apples everywhere.

Despite the pounding in her ears, she could hear the other men approaching the two of them, and the gun suddenly moved away from her back. On instinct, she glanced over her shoulder, and time seemed to stop for a moment. The guys approaching them stopped in their tracks as her eyes widened through her tears. Even her wolf stopped snarling for a moment and cocked her head in interest.

Quickly, Happy wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her against him, pressing the gun against her temple this time. It happened in a matter of a second. “I’m getting my fucking money, assholes,” he sneered, his rancid breath brushing her face. “This place is loaded with it. I know it is.”

One of the men lifted his hands in a calming gesture before he reached into the pocket of his tight-fitting jeans. His calm, kind brown eyes never left hers as he moved. “If it’s money you want, you can have this.” When his hand emerged from his pocket, he had a wad of cash clenched between his fingers. He held it out toward Happy.

For several moments, Happy seemed unsure of what to do. Amara could feel him glancing between the guys and the cash for what felt like an eternity. After a while though, he seemed to make up his mind, and he released her neck long enough to make a grab for the cash.

In a blink, the larger of the three men grabbed Happy’s arm, just as his grubby little fingers closed on the money, and yanked him forward. At the same time, the man who had the money clutched her around her waist and pulled her out of the way. He cradled her against his chest, as if protectively, while the larger man snapped Happy’s neck with just a flick of his wrists. Happy crumpled to the ground in a heap, and the alley finally fell quiet.

Amara could only stare, her breath caught in her throat, as the man who just killed Happy knelt next to his body and tugged on the dead guy’s earlobe. “Damn it, now I have to find a new dealer,” he muttered before letting out an exasperated breath.

He then rose to his feet, brushing his hands off on his baggy jeans, and turned his head in her direction. She watched as his pupils seemed to dilate, and a wicked grin spread across his face. “Well, aren’t you just a lovely little bunny?”

She couldn’t bring herself to speak, unsure of what she would even say. She had just seen him kill a man, and he was acting as if it were no big deal. Her body was still trembling against the man holding her, and her mind was seemingly in shock. So, instead, she took a moment to get a good look at her saviors.

The one who had killed Happy was tall and rough-looking, and there was a crazed and wild air about him. He had blond hair that was tied back at the base of his neck in a man bun and beautiful blue eyes. He was muscular, almost intimidatingly so, and covered in tattoos. The white A-shirt he wore displayed the intricate designs that covered both of his arms and the tops of his hands, and they continued over his chest, back, and shoulders. He had his lip pierced, and through his tight-fitted shirt, she could see the balls of nipple piercings. He also had an angry scar running down the left side of his face, which gave him an even more dangerous look.

The one holding her was Hispanic with dark brown hair and deep, kind brown eyes. He too was muscular, though not as muscular as the first, and seemed to care more about his appearance. His hair was freshly cropped and styled, and his face was clean-shaven. His button-down shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, and the top few buttons were undone, revealing a smooth, tanned chest.

The third man was the tallest of the three, and he had black hair and gorgeous green eyes, punctuated by an eyebrow piercing. His skin was sun-kissed, and both arms held full sleeves of tattoos. While he hadn’t said or done anything throughout this ordeal, he was the one who gave her pause. Mainly because he was looking at her as if she were the scum beneath his feet, which didn’t make any sense.

Movement in front drew her attention, and her eyes darted back to the first man as he moved toward her. The killer. Her body stiffened on instinct, and she fought with the urge to flee with every step he took.

“You’re scaring her more than she already is, Knox,” the Hispanic stated with an audible eye roll.

Knox just grinned. “Good. I like them more when they are scared.”

She could tell by the feral grin that the guy was crazy, plain and simple. He was unhinged, completely off his rocker. But, he did save her. That had to count for something, right?

Amara fought her fear and swallowed hard, her throat drier than a desert during a heat wave. “Th-thank you,” she managed to say. She looked back at the man holding her and then over at the other standing off to the side with his arms folded. “All of you. Thank you.”

“Anytime,” the Hispanic replied, giving her a lazy smile before continuing. “What’s your name, Princesa?”

“Um, Amara.”

“Nice to meet you, Amara. I’m Zeke.” He nodded toward the man now standing in front of them. “Knox you’ve already been introduced to, and that’s Drake.” He nodded toward the third man then. “The three of us own the bar.”

The fact that they owned the bar across the lot explained why they were there in the first place. They had probably heard the gunshot despite the noise from the bar because of their supernatural hearing.

Now that her fear was beginning to subside a bit, her wolf was able to deduce that the three of them were rogue shifters, or shifters without a pack. She had never met a rogue before, and they weren’t anything like she imagined. The fact that they were rogues also didn’t make any sense, considering what her wolf believed them to mean to her.

“Hi,” she muttered. She didn’t say that it was nice to meet them because, given the circumstances leading to the encounter, it wasn’t. She then looked back up at Zeke, who seemed to be the calmer, more rational of the three. “You, uh, gonna let me go anytime soon, or…?”

“I say we keep her,” Knox chimed in, reaching up and pinching a strand of her hair between his fingers.

“What he means to say is: Why don’t you come up to our apartment and have something to drink to calm you down first?” Zeke added.

It didn’t go unnoticed that Zeke still hadn’t released her. His arm held tightly around her thick waist from the side. Instead of responding, however, she pressed her lips together. She wasn’t sure she liked the fact that every nerve ending in her body seemed to come alive beneath his touch.

“I appreciate it, but I’m… I’m okay.”

“Zeke, just let the girl go so we can take care of this shit before anyone comes out here,” Drake ordered gruffly. When she looked over at him questioningly, he turned away from her with a deep frown.

Drake didn’t seem to be too happy, and she got the distinct impression that it wasn’t just because of the dead drug dealer on the ground in front of them. He was upset at her; she just didn’t know why. She hadn’t done anything, but that didn’t seem to matter.

Zeke finally released her but seemed to ignore Drake altogether. He gently grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him, dipping his head so he could look into her eyes. “You are in no state to drive,” he told her, his tone soft but firm.

“Come on, little bunny. We don’t bite,” Knox said, stepping up beside them and running his finger down her cheek. His touch made her shiver, which clearly didn’t go unnoticed as his smile grew. “Well, maybe we do a little.”

If she had been in her right mind, Amara would have politely declined their offer. That’s what she should have done, especially since she needed to finish closing up the shop so that she could go home. But it didn’t seem like they were going to take no for an answer, and she wasn’t in any position to refuse them either. Not in her current state. Besides, they obviously needed to talk.

She chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully, quickly weighing her options. Considering what had just happened to her, it was a stupid decision. She didn’t know the first thing about these guys. However, she knew, deep down, that they weren’t going to hurt her. They couldn’t. And maybe talking to them a bit more would help her to understand what was going on between the four of them. Because there was definitely something going on, even if she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Okay. But just for a minute,” she found herself saying.

Knox instantly wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He tipped his head toward hers and inhaled her hair deeply. “Excellent,” he said a little too cheerfully as he began leading her toward the bar’s back entrance. After quickly disposing of Happy’s body in the dumpster, the other two followed behind them, one more reluctantly than the other.

What the hell had she just gotten herself into?