Whiskey and Wolves: Book One: Shifters and Sins Read online

  Whiskey and Wolves

  Book One: Shifters and Sins

  Cecilia Lane

  A BAD Alpha Dads & Shifting Destinies Novella

  Copyright © 2019 by Cecilia Lane

  Cover Art by CT Cover Creations

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Whiskey and Wolves: Shifters and Sins #1 by Cecilia Lane June 2019

  Contents

  Whiskey and Wolves

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Next in Series

  Newsletter

  BAD Alpha Dads

  About the Author

  Also by Cecilia Lane

  Whiskey and Wolves: Shifters and sins Book One

  A single wolf shifter. A surprise baby. Enemies who want to make his little girl an orphan, and his old lady a widow.

  Five minutes ago it was just Jensen, a cheap drink, and the start of a brawl with members of a rival motorcycle gang intent on murdering him. He’s happy to let them try—until a former one night stand, Noelle, walks into the bar and pins him with a look of death, revealing they have a daughter.

  A little girl with eyes like his, peering at him from behind her mother’s legs.

  Five minutes ago he was a single wolf shifter. Now he has to sober up, alpha up, and protect the woman and child who are now a weapon his enemies can use to run him out of town.

  It’s hard enough being a single mom, but a single mom to a growing wolf?

  Her child’s father is back, an alpha wolf shifter with a bad boy edge. All she needs is for him to teach their daughter how to control her shifter nature. He’s nothing Noelle should want in a man—but everything she craves.

  Only she didn't know throwing down the gauntlet in a local bar would mean becoming the targets of the local motorcycle gang. Didn’t know their sizzling chemistry would morph into something deeper, something worth fighting for.

  Jensen’s dog days are over. If he can’t shield his mate and daughter from the heat, they’ll all burn.

  Whiskey and Wolves is a Bad Alpha Dads steamy paranormal romance, Book 1 in the Shifters and Sins series. This standalone with a HEA is for readers who love their heroes gritty and their heroines willing to step up to the line for life, family, and love.

  * * *

  Bestselling and Award Winning Paranormal Romance authors are bringing you the baddest of the bad ALPHA dads. Keyword bad. So sexy, you’ll want to teach them to be good. These shifter dads need all the help they can get, and we want to give it to them.

  https://BADALPHADADS.com

  * * *

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  http://cecilialane.com/cecilianews

  Chapter 1

  Jensen Rawlins ground his teeth together and stared at the clubhouse from the back of his Harley. Fuck, he didn’t want to go inside. Easier to fire up his engine and ride off into the night.

  His wolf scratched at his mind at the unease coursing through him. Betraying the pack? Turning his back on the club? Leaving everyone he knew behind?

  He hated them most of the time, but he hated himself more for what he considered.

  With a growl, he dismounted and strode for the door. Inside, Vagabonds gathered together to drink and talk shit, just like every other night.

  Viho Valdana sat at the bar and lorded over the scene like some damn king. King of what, Jensen had no idea. Not anymore. There was a time when the Vagabonds were a name spoken with fear and fury. Their pack and MC had been fierce and strong.

  Those days were long gone, spent on some stupid war fought and lost. They’d called in allies and burned bridges to challenge a bear clan for their territory. Now they were all sick from the broken pack bonds the dead left behind. Viho dragged them further into insanity by the day.

  The man truly was king of nothing.

  And what did that make Jensen? Nothing’s accomplice?

  Viho tracked him across the clubhouse. “Where’s Dixon?”

  “You know what happened,” Jensen growled.

  “I don’t.” Viho’s eyes glowed as a growl vibrated in his throat.

  Sick. Sick, sick, sick. Jensen nearly gagged with the stench of insanity wafting off the man. Too many broken bonds, too many dead pack members. Each one snapped at him a little more.

  Jensen met the eyes of Ellis and Wyatt at the pool table. Others, too, looked at him with curiosity on their faces.

  Or maybe it was hunger for blood.

  Blood they had. Blood flowed in a fucking river outside their doors.

  Wolf packs snapped at their heels. Former allies. Old enemies. Jensen didn’t know for sure. Maybe both. Maybe others smelled their sickness and came to put them down, one by one.

  Safety came from numbers, but they lost those a little more every day.

  “Answer me!” Viho demanded.

  Jensen twisted around, snarl rattling in his throat. Dixon was just the latest victim. Throat torn out, body mauled. He’d been taken down by those hunting them.

  He was sick of death. Sick of the man who pushed them, limping and broken, toward that final end.

  “He’s dead!” he roared. “And it’s your damn fault!”

  Silence fell over the crowd, then picked up in sharp contrast to the momentary quiet. Some called for his head. Others muttered agreement. Glowing eyes caught the light in more than one face.

  The Vagabonds were tired of being hunted. They wanted to fight.

  Jensen was ready to drop a fucking match into the gasoline.

  He glanced toward the closed door at the back of the room. He couldn’t hear any whimpers over the noise of the pack, but he didn’t doubt she listened to every word.

  That had been the final straw. He could deal with a war between packs. The bears of the Ashford clan fought hard to keep their territory and pushed Viho and all his allies out of Bearden. Winning and losing were two sides of the same game. They could crawl out from under the shit and find their strength again.

  He wasn’t okay breaking all the rules by pulling others unwillingly into their life. Innocents weren’t to be touched.

  She’d been there a month, he’d been told when he returned from scouting some territory and working some jobs. One month ago, Viho had returned from a hunt with a woman he called his mate. Changed and marked, the poor girl had smelled terrified.

  Then she’d been chained to the bed and everyone pretended not to notice, except when they made their shitty comments about paying her a visit.

  Willing women, they had. Wolf chasers—groupies who wanted the thrill of pissing off the
ir fathers by taking up with a bad boy. One or two mates. Even broken as they were, a man could find someone they could stand for the night.

  Taking a mate by force? Unforgivable. Jensen tried talking sense into his alpha as soon as he’d found out. The Supernatural Enforcement Agency rode everyone’s ass. One whiff of kidnapped college girl and the Shifter Extinction Assholes would be putting bolts in all their heads.

  Fucking assholes. One or two probably believed in the righteous cause of true police work, but the rest? No better than hunters with badges.

  Honestly, Jensen thought the death-sick motherfucker was looking for a way out. Suicide by cop. Cowardice.

  “My fault?” Viho growled. “It’s my fault that dumb fuck got himself killed?”

  “Yes,” Jensen hissed. His wolf pressed at him from all sides. Alpha power crashed over him, but he kept on. He was done with this shit. Done letting Viho poison him slowly. “We’re being hunted because you don’t know when to cut your fucking losses.”

  “Traitor,” someone murmured.

  Fine. He’d wear the word with pride if it made the rest of them wake up to the damage and stink.

  The room crackled with electricity. Fur and dominance clogged up his nose and itched his throat.

  They imploded with two words.

  “Kill him,” Viho ordered.

  Hands grabbed at him, but Jensen lashed back out. All the fury and frustration of watching men he called friends slowly disappear or wither before his eyes boiled over in punches thrown to the left and right. Knocked back, he kicked out with both legs, catching two Vagabonds in the chest.

  The smarter ones eased out the door. Engines turned over and bikes sped off into the night.

  The rest of them split right down the middle. Howls and yells rose up all around him. Fists met flesh, bodies rippled with wolves bursting out of their skin. It was blood and sweat and madness.

  Madness he broke open.

  In the center of it all, he grabbed Ellis by the collar and drew him close. “Anyone that wants out, get them out.”

  Then he released the man and turned into the next attack. More punches. More kicks. He fought his way to the door in the back of the clubhouse.

  Fuck if he’d leave the girl behind.

  Three hard kicks broke the lock and swung the door wide open. Light slashed across the bed and a terrified face.

  “Get up,” he growled as he stomped into the room.

  The sharp scent of fear washed over him. His wolf raised a lip and snarled at the stench and whoever caused it rolling off the woman in waves.

  Who was he kidding? He knew exactly who and what caused it.

  Men like him.

  He passed a hand over his face. The sounds of fighting in the clubhouse grew louder. Nora couldn’t have a meltdown right now.

  “We don’t have time for that,” he said as gently as possible over the burr in his voice. “Get up, or stay here. This is your chance.”

  “Chance for what?” she whispered.

  “Your freedom.”

  Her mouth dropped open and pissed him off even more. She’d been mistreated from the very start. She wasn’t part of the life; she didn’t belong in the clubhouse. She wasn’t a wolf chaser. She probably had friends and family searching for her while Viho kept her locked up in a dank little room.

  Jensen pressed his lips together before a growl rattled in his throat. Hands raised, he approached her slowly. He had precious moments he didn’t want to waste.

  He grabbed the key hanging near the door. Another taunt from Viho. He dared her to try and run. Fucker.

  “Wh—” she started. Her throat worked with a swallow. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because no one deserves what he did to you,” he answered with conviction.

  A quick twist of the key dropped the shackles from her wrists. Time to move. He straightened and pulled her to her feet. “Stay close.”

  He eased the door open a crack and peeked outside. More wolves than he recognized were brawling, some in fur and others still on two feet. Vagabonds fought other Vagabonds from his little coup, but the packs hunting them had descended on their weakness.

  He’d sentenced them all to death.

  He had one life to save before he reached his end.

  Jensen wrapped a hand around Nora’s neck and drew her close. “Come on,” he growled.

  He ripped open the door and dragged her with him. She hunched against his side, tucked away to make herself seem small.

  He wanted to rip Viho limb from limb.

  Across the room, he locked gold eyes with the bastard. Viho shoved someone aside and stalked toward him.

  Jensen’s wolf howled for the chance to shed blood.

  Someone blasted into him. Jensen shoved Nora sideways and threw a hard punch into the man’s nose. Sharp crack, spurt of blood, and he was once again at Nora’s back, urging her forward.

  Wolves howled at their heels. Viho. Others driven forward by the scent of weak prey. Jensen didn’t look back. He shoved Nora into the night and toward the group of bikes and men waiting for him.

  “The fuck is this?” Bryce growled.

  The woman shrank behind him.

  “You taking his mate, too? Wasn’t enough to split the damn pack?” Bryce continued.

  “She has as much right to leave as us. Unless you want to be the one to put her back in her cage?” Jensen clenched his fists at his side. One more fucking word. Just one.

  The others muttered. Eyes dropped away from his. Dangerous, that. He didn’t want them looking to him as their new leader. General in their rebellion, instigator of their shit. But not alpha.

  Never alpha.

  Bryce’s growl grew louder. He didn’t drop his eyes.

  “Jensen!”

  The yell whipped him around, shoving Nora behind him again.

  Viho stood in the doorway of the clubhouse. He threw his arms wide, knives in both hands dripping fresh blood to the ground. Wounds covered his chest, but he still stood. He still fought.

  Viho roared, the call of a challenge, the siren song of a battle between sworn enemies. He charged forward, wolf ripping out of him as he ate up the ground between them.

  Jensen braced himself for the attack, throwing one last order over his shoulder. “Run free,” he told Nora.

  He wouldn’t be able to protect her if he didn’t survive.

  Her wolf burst out of her, gold eyes full of terror. She turned and ran just as Viho speared into his chest.

  At least he took the bastard’s toy away.

  Chapter 2

  Noelle Campbell tossed the half-eaten cereal into the sink with a sigh. She’d left the table for three seconds to grab her things, and came back to a spilled mess with no child in sight. “Sienna, let’s go. We’re going to be late!”

  The lack of an answer was more ominous than a crash and a giggle.

  Swallowing back her frustration, Noelle glanced at the clock on the stove. Four zeroes blinked back at her unhelpfully. Shoot. She needed to find precious seconds somewhere in the day to reset the clock.

  Later. She already ran behind schedule. She should have been at the school ten minutes ago. Instead, she had a five-year-old to wrangle.

  “Sienna?” Noelle pushed open her daughter’s room and frowned at the pile of clothes in the middle of the floor.

  Pink tutu and blue shirt with dinosaurs had been Sienna’s pick for the morning, and overruled in favor of blue shirt and pink leggings, with a promise of tutu time in the afternoon.

  Of Sienna herself, there was no sign.

  Noelle shook her head. They didn’t have time for more negotiations. They didn’t have time for anything but loading up into the car and racing toward the elementary school. She kept the tired frustration out of her voice; the little girl could be a pint-sized terrorist when she detected any weakness. “Sienna, I know you’re in here. It’s time for school.”

  The bed creaked with movement. No bulges gave her away under blankets. Noelle c
rouched on the ground and flipped up the bed skirt.

  Gold eyes peeked at her and she bit back a sigh.

  Raising a child on her own wasn’t easy, but she’d been prepared for the task. She never guessed just how hard it’d be when the little one had a rebellious animal under her skin.

  “Sienna, you need to come out. Now.”

  A tiny growl with bared teeth was the girl’s answer.

  Feeling the press of time, Noelle stretched and grabbed hold of the wolf’s scruff. Sienna straightened her legs and dug in with her paws. Her back and neck strained against Noelle’s tug. Her growls grew louder and angrier, shifting from small-time problem to big-time tantrum.

  Noelle gritted her teeth. She should have known the morning would be a problem. Sienna had been trouble to put to bed the night before. The up and downs and requests for water and stories had continued well past her bedtime.

  Noelle finally pulled the wiggling troublemaker out from under her bed, but her moment of victory was short lived. The little bundle of black fur twisted and growled, trying to break free. One paw raked down her arm and scratched her skin hard enough to drop the wolf pup. Noelle hissed with pain.

  Then Sienna jumped and snapped.

  Noelle jerked back just before teeth closed on her arm. “Dammit, Sienna!” she yelled. “We’ve talked about this!”

  Shocked quiet descended over the room. Gold eyes turned scared, and the pup wedged herself back under the bed with a whine.