Can two very stubborn men conquer their personal demons in order to come together as mates?
Werewolf Nate Stanford is riddled with guilt over his brother Rick's death…so much so that when he meets his mate—Deputy Sheriff Jared Ambrose—he rejects him, believing he is not good enough for Jared and not worthy of being loved. The only thing that matters to him is buying his childhood home in honour of his brother's memory.
Since their father died, Jared Ambrose has taken on responsibility for his younger brother, whose drinking binges are constantly getting him into trouble. Jared's only hope of saving his brother is finding them a place they can call home. Jared wants to make Sheriff, but believes he'll never be elected if the residents of his new town find out he is gay. When he realises Nate is his mate, he knows it's not possible for them to be together.
But trouble in their small town and unrest in the supernatural council force them together and make them question their decisions. Can these two stubborn men conquer their demons and overcome all obstacles to carve out a life together?
General Release Date: 30th April 2012
"I'm sorry, Mr Stanford, but there isn't anything I can do. There was another bid on the property—a substantially higher bid than yours."
Nate lowered his gaze and twirled the Stetson in his hands. "My family has lived on that ranch for over four generations."
This couldn't be fucking happening. If Nate had known the ranch was in trouble, he would have gladly handed over the money his brother Rick was short to buy the property when the owners put it up for sale. When they hadn't been able to pay the mortgage and the house hadn't sold, the bank had foreclosed. Nate had waited six excruciatingly long months for the legalities of the foreclosure to be settled, before the bank put the property back on the market. The good news was that the property was being offered at a fraction of the original cost, but the lower price had attracted new interest, and now Nate found himself in the middle of a bidding war. Why the hell hadn't Rick contacted him? Nate would have helped.
Okay, so Nate supposed he knew the reason Rick didn't get in touch. Before he was killed, it had been two years since they'd last spoken. Two goddamn long ass years of them each holding a grudge after a damn stupid argument that never should have happened. Nate swallowed the lump in his throat that thoughts of his brother always produced.
He hadn't had time to tell Rick he was sorry for the things he'd said, and now he would never get the chance. His brother was gone, and Nate hadn't even been able to say goodbye. By the time Kelan Morgan had tracked Nate down on a farm in Montana to inform him of Rick's death, he'd already missed his brother's funeral. What pissed Nate off most was that his own sister Lucy hadn't even had the decency to let him know. Sure, she had a problem with Nate being queer, as she put it, but their baby brother had died. How could she be so heartless? To add insult to injury, it looked as though the house they'd grown up in was going to be sold out from under his nose.
Fortunately, Kelan had seen fit to give Nate a job and a place to live on his ranch until he could buy his childhood home. It was damn good of Kelan to help him out, especially after what Rick had done to Kelan's family.
Nate still couldn't believe Rick had kidnapped Luke Morgan and then handed him over to Ethan Walker like he was nothing more than a fucking commodity that he could make a few bucks from. When Kelan first told him what his brother had done, Nate hadn't been able to believe it, even though he knew Kelan would never lie. To have done that to Luke for money was despicable. Rick had to have known Ethan wanted to harm Luke, so why had he done it? That didn't sound like something his brother would have done—not the brother Nate knew at any rate. The brother Nate remembered would never have stooped so low. Had Rick really changed that much in the two years Nate had been gone, or had he merely been desperate enough to make a God-awful decision? It was pointless chewing it over, because Nate would never know Rick's motivation now that his brother was gone, and that ate him up inside.
Something that continued to surprise Nate was the way that Kelan treated him like one of the family. He didn't hold Nate responsible for his brother's actions and he hadn't once said a bad thing about Rick...not to Nate's face anyhow, but he must have been thinking it. If only Nate could be as forgiving. He was so close to hating his brother for what he'd done, but mostly he hated himself. If he hadn't distanced himself from Rick, if he had been there when his brother needed him, then maybe Rick would still be alive.
"I'm afraid it's out of my hands," the Realtor said, dragging Nate out of his morose thoughts. "That is, of course, unless you can up your offer on the property?"
A low growl started to form in Nate's chest but he kept it inside. The Realtor, Rodney, was human, and like the other humans in town he didn't know a thing about the wolves that lived among them, even though the wolves outnumbered the humans practically two to one. The last thing Nate needed was to expose their secret and send the guy screaming for the hills.
Rising stiffly from the chair, Nate gave Rodney a sharp nod. "I'll see what I can do."
"You need to move quickly. The person that made the offer is in a good position to move forward with the sale and time is running out. You only have another five days before the cut-off date for bidding."
Nate grunted and pulled open the office door. "I'll be in touch."
It was noon when Nate stepped out of the Realtor's office and strode across the street to his truck. The sun was already high in the azure, cloudless sky and about as hot as blue blazes. Nate squinted and slipped on his dark grey, felt Stetson, pulling it low to shield his eyes. Most other cowboys Nate knew wore straw cowboy hats, which were cooler in the heat, but Nate had never taken to them. He supposed he was old-fashioned at heart.
The weather had been cooler in Montana, decidedly so. Although he'd got used to the lower temperatures, Nate had always loved the heat and stickiness of a Texan summer. He'd missed it—hell he'd missed home—but if his bid on the ranch wasn't successful, there would be nothing left for him in Wolf Creek to call home. No reason at all for him to stick around.
"Nate, that you?"
Nate stopped walking and turned to see who had addressed him. Pete Johnson, a cowboy Nate had spent some time with several years ago, stood grinning back at him—his own cowboy hat tipped as low as Nate's. Pete was one of Kelan's betas. He had a few years on Nate but he'd kept himself in shape. He looked good. His dark hair was longer than Nate remembered and hanging loosely around his shoulders. His frame was the same as before though—large, muscular, and damn fine.
"Well, I'll be damned, I wondered when I was going to run into you. Howdy." Pete dipped his hat in greeting, a warm smile playing on full lips. "It's been a while."
Lavinia discovered reading at an early age and could always be found with her nose in a book. She loved getting lost in a fantasy world even then. When her parents bought her a typewriter for Christmas at aged eleven, her fate was sealed. She spent hours dreaming up characters and creating stories. Not a lot has changed. Now when she is not writing you can find her enjoying a new release e-book.
Lavinia has lived all over the UK but currently resides in London, England. She has travelled extensively to places including Africa, Asia, Australia, America and most of Europe. Although some of her books are set in Texas she has never visited the state but plans to spend time there in the near future.
She is an avid reader and her favourite authors include J L Langley, Carol Lynne, Chris Owen and Andrew Grey. Lavinia particularly loves supernatural fiction and her favourite authors in this genre include Kelly Armstrong, Keri Arthur and Charlaine Harris.
Although Lavinia is a huge fan of the romance genre, she will admit to reading anything and everything. She loves horror, a good thriller and if a book has the capacity to make her cry, well, all the better. One thing she does insist on in a book however, regardless of genre is a happy ending, so you will always find one in the books she writes.
Reviewed by Rainbow Book Reviews
Lavinia Lewis does a wonderful job with her characterizations of the town's members as well as her vivid descriptions of Texas, dusty and hot in the summer season. You can almost feel the dirt...
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Reviewed by Literary Nymphs
The author did a good job bringing the grief and pain, as well as the guilt that Nate continues to suffer across realistically...With Nate's Deputy, the author introduced some new twists to the...
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