Kalkin (Apache County Shifters Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Glossary of Characters

  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

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  About TL Reeve

  About Michele Ryan

  Note From the Publisher

  Kalkin

  Apache County Shifters, Book One

  TL Reeve

  Michele Ryan

  After Glows Publishing

  A special shout out to our beta readers, Anita, Stacy, Sheila and Teresa for helping us make this the best book it can be!

  To Golden Czermak and Stuart Reardon, thank you. You guys are awesome to work with. I hope you love the cover.

  To Lia, thank you for taking a chance on us! We appreciate it and you beyond words can even express.

  To you, dear reader, thank you for sticking with us for this book. It has been a long ride and there has been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears spilled for it.

  We hope you all enjoy Kalkin and Keeley’s story. ~TL and Michele

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Glossary of Characters

  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

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  About TL Reeve

  About Michele Ryan

  Note From the Publisher

  Acknowledgments

  I wanted to take a minute to explain a little bit about this series. Six years ago, I met Michele in a roleplaying community group. We hit it off. Mind you, every day hasn’t been roses or candy or even rainbows and unicorns. I’m a stubborn, hardheaded person to deal with, and yet, Michele stuck around. When we came up with these characters, we had a little background on them, but the more and more we talked about them, the more they came to life, and I dropped the hammer. “Let’s do this,” I told her. “We can do it together, write a 60k story and get our characters out there.”

  We spent the next few years hemming and hawing over what we wanted to do. What situation can we put them in to make this work? When we couldn’t find the right combination of stuff, we went in a different direction. We started with their kids. We went the college route and with that, we fell in love with our original characters all over again. 60k turned into 103.7k in words and we couldn’t be more proud of this book. So, thank you, Michele, for being my friend and joining me on this wild adventure. ~TL

  Glossary of Characters

  Kalkin Raferty: Wolf shifter. Alpha. Identical twin to Caden. Older by a minute. Slightly bigger than his twin. Black hair, ice blue eyes. Mated to Keeley.

  * * *

  Keeley Blueriver: Human with abilities. Mated to Kalkin. Hazel eyes, blonde hair and curvy.

  * * *

  Caden Raferty: Wolf Shifter. Identical twin to Kalkin. Younger. Black hair, ice blue eyes.

  * * *

  Danielle Blueriver: Human with abilities. Tall, willowy blonde with blue eyes. Keeley's older sister.

  * * *

  Jace Raferty: Bodhi’s biological father. Black hair, blue eyes. Youngest Raferty brother. Goes off pack lands during the full moon. No one questions where he goes. Deputy.

  * * *

  Loraine Jacobs: Human. Chocolate-brown hair, brown eyes. Very old-fashioned. Doesn’t like technology. Dispatcher for the Sheriff’s Department.

  * * *

  Logan Wagner: Wolf shifter. Former detective for Phoenix PD. Comes home in Kalkin and Keeley’s book.

  * * *

  Mrs. Pauline Martin: Guardian to the orphan shifters. Elder of the pack and all around gossip. Will help when needed and is still a strong pack female. Mated to Russell Martin (deceased.)

  1

  Kalkin Raferty stood sentinel on his front porch, the mug of coffee in his hand long forgotten. Across the creek from him, a moving truck pulled into the driveway of an old two-story farmhouse. As sheriff of Apache County, he knew the comings and goings of all the small communities around the area. However, the house across the creek being for sale, or the fact that two cute little blondes were in the truck, had been news to him. As the Alpha of the small but active wolf pack that made their home in the town of Window Rock, Arizona, it was his job to protect the pack and the people in his community.

  The town, for him, held nothing spectacular about it. It happened to be a disgustingly sweet place sometimes, especially when the older women of the pack got together to do bake sales and craft fairs. During the winter, the town usually shut down, and it could get lonely, quickly.

  As the doors of the truck opened, footsteps echoed behind him. The broad palm of his twin’s hand gripped his shoulder before Caden came into view. “New neighbors?”

  “Suppose so.” He grunted as a petite blonde stepped down out of the cab and walked to the back.

  “I didn’t know we were getting new pack mates.” Caden crossed his arms. “Maybe it was an oversight on their part.”

  “Yeah, could be.”

  When the small blonde turned her face up to the moonlight, he noticed, even in the darkness, the bruise still hued in purples and blues marring her right cheek. Subtract the bruise and she was pretty. Elfin-like, and curvy, she was quite honestly perfect for him. Her screen-printed T-shirt molded to her round breasts and hugged her midsection, causing his mouth to water and his dick to harden exponentially. She wore a pair of cut-off jeans that framed her ass just right, making him want to reach out and palm her silky flesh. Though only catching her profile, he could see she had bow-shaped lips and a button nose, framed by ringlets of wheat-colored blonde hair. A small growl of need passed his lips and his brother laughed.

  He cleared his throat and focused his attention on the taller of the two. Her right arm sported a black brace and a matching bruise covered her face. “I’m going over there.”

  The doors to the back of the truck opened up and the shorter woman pulled out a ramp attached to the back. After a little manipulation on both of their parts, they slid it up into the back of the truck. Pretty soon, one by one, they exited it carrying a couple of boxes each. There is no way they are doing this on their own.

  “I’ll grab the guys and we’ll be there in a moment.”

  Kal nodded while heading for the small bridge separating their properties. The sheriff part of his brain said to be wary of their arrival. They came at night. No one did so without reason. However, the fiercely protective part of him demanded he wait to cast judgment. Something about these women called to him. His wolf urged him forward to gather the answers he sought.

  Packs or lone wolves didn’t move onto pack territory without first coming to meet him, but these two, he’d never seen them before nor heard word of their arrival. They could be human. Which made more sense, instead of figuring they were wolves.

 
“Danielle, did you want me to take that? Your arm is still healing. The doctor said you shouldn’t overdo it.” The shorter of the two tried to take the box out of the other woman’s hands.

  “I’m fine, Keeley. Really.” The one called Danielle stepped off the truck and walked into the house.

  “Welcome to the neighborhood,” he called out, raising his hand. Keeley stilled and turned her attention to Kal. He caught a whiff of her nervousness, but no scent of being a wolf. What the hell happened to you? “We’re your neighbor across the creek. Would you like some help?” Behind him he could hear his brothers crossing the bridge. “We don’t mind.”

  “Oh, uh—”

  “Keeley, what’s going on? Who’s—” The other woman, Danielle, came back out of the house. “Hi.” She eyed him warily. He couldn’t blame her. From the look of both of them, they’d been through hell.

  “Hi, my name is Kalkin Raferty. These are my brothers and nephew.” He pointed to the guys. “That’s Caden, Jace, and Royce. We saw you pull up. We wanted to help you guys out.” Both women looked at each other and if Kal didn’t know any better, he would swear they were carrying on a silent conversation. Something he and Caden did from time to time.

  “If it’s not a problem,” Danielle said, stepping forward.

  “Dani,” Keeley muttered.

  Danielle threw a look at her sister and shook her head. “We’d appreciate the help.” She held out her good hand. “It’s nice to meet you. All of you.”

  Caden stepped forward, pushing Kal out of the way. “Pleasure. How about you and your friend—”

  “Sister,” she corrected him.

  He smiled indulgently at Danielle. “Sister, tell us where to put everything.”

  She gave Caden a little grin. “Okay.”

  “Great,” his brother answered. “Come on, guys.”

  After several cups of coffee and the sun cresting the horizon, all of the boxes were off the truck and the girls were moved in—in theory anyway. “Are you sure you don’t have another load we can help you with?” Kalkin didn’t want to leave them just yet. Keeley seemed oddly nervous around him, while her sister Danielle was relaxed. So much so, she opened boxes with Jace and Caden while Royce brought the empties outside.

  “N-n-no, we’re f-fine.” Keeley wrapped her arms around her midsection.

  “I’d beg to differ,” he murmured. “Can I ask what happened to you and your sister?”

  Close up, he could see the bruises were still fresh. The blood vessels around her iris were blown and blood marred the sclera. She also had a bruise the size and shape of a man’s hand wrapped around her wrist.

  “You can ask all day. Doesn’t mean you’ll get an answer.” Keeley lifted her chin. “We don’t even know you.”

  “You’re right. I only told you my name. We’ve been so busy getting you girls settled, we didn’t get to talk about what we do or anything. I’ll start. I am the sheriff for Apache County. My brothers and my nephew are my deputies. We’re safe.”

  “Hey.” Caden stuck his head in the room, breaking the ever mounting tension. “Sorry to cut this short, ma’am, but we’ve got a call.”

  “Shit.” He glanced at Keeley. “This isn’t over. We’re neighbors, you and I. I’ll be seeing you around.”

  “Yeah, sure.” She followed them out. “Next time, call or text before you come over.”

  Kalkin spun around, almost knocking Keeley on her ass. “I would love to, sweet cheeks. But I’d need your number first.” He tilted his head. “You going to give the sheriff your number?” An indignant expression crossed her face and he laughed. “Have a good afternoon, Keeley.” He nodded at Danielle. “Danielle. If you ladies need anything, feel free to come across the bridge. Someone is always at the house.”

  “Thank you, Sheriff Raferty.” Danielle stepped out of the kitchen as they filled the foyer. “You saved us hours of work.” Though her answers were easy and polite, they hid something. It didn’t mean a damn thing in the long run, especially if they were getting away from whoever beat the shit out of them.

  “It was no problem.” Caden put his hand into hers and murmured something to make her blush. The horndog. Now was not the time to try and hook up with the new neighbors. It became quite obvious after being around them for a few hours, they weren’t wolves. But, there’d been something special about them, besides the fact Danielle was a veterinarian, who liked to work from home. They all felt it. Later, he told himself. Later he would get with his family and figure it out.

  “We’ll be seeing you,” Jace said with a smile. “Danielle, I’ll let people know about your clinic. We could always use a good vet around here.”

  “Sounds great. My equipment will be here in a few days.” She waved at them with her good hand as they left the house.

  “Dani, what the hell were you thinking of telling them—”

  Kal listened in on the last bits of their conversation as he stepped out the door. It seemed their new neighbors had a few secrets of their own.

  “So, what’s this case you got for us, Caden?” Kalkin’s question brought his brother out of his thoughts as they made their way back across the creek.

  Caden slid into the passenger seat of their county vehicle. “There was another break-in at the consignment shop. Mrs. Martin said this time she saw who did it.”

  Kal climbed in behind the wheel then started the Jeep. “Shit. The elder is going to get herself hurt if she’s not careful.” He put the vehicle into gear before backing out. “What the hell do you have going on with Danielle already? You don’t know anything about her.” He could say the same about him and Keeley, yet the woman’s scent grabbed him by the groin and wouldn’t let him go.

  “She’s hurting, bro. How could you not feel something for both of those women? They’re both fragile and scared.” Caden rolled his shoulders and checked his side mirror as Kal pulled out away from their house. “Besides, it sounded like you were getting along splendidly with Keeley.”

  He laughed. He didn’t know if getting along would be what he would call it. The moment he crossed the creek and went onto their property, the connection seemingly slipped into place for him. As if an invisible magnet pulled him to her, no matter how much venom she spewed at him. With each challenge she threw down at his feet, his dick grew harder. Never had he met someone so confounding, yet so beautiful and entrancing. “I don’t think you and I were looking at the same woman.”

  “The full moon festivities are coming soon,” Caden stated matter-of-factly.

  “And your point?” Kal made a right turn onto Main Street. Though they lived in the valley of the mountains, their home wasn’t but a few miles from town, making it a prime location to live. Mrs. Martin’s store sat just beyond the sheriff’s station, and next to the little park they’d made for the pack pups to play in.

  Sunday afternoon meant most of the shops were closed and wouldn’t be open until Tuesday. A tradition he didn’t change when he adopted the lands and became Alpha of the pack.

  “You’re not getting any younger and the rest of the pack is beginning to talk.”

  “We’re the same age, asshole. I could be saying that to you since you’re the pack beta.” Kalkin pulled his Jeep into a parking spot and shut it off. “Look, I don’t want to discuss the full moon or the festivities. Let’s go talk to Mrs. Martin.”

  “You should give Keeley a chance,” Caden muttered while getting out.

  “Drop it.” While he liked to think about finding a mate and having pups of his own, the time had passed, or at least he’d thought it had passed. Seeing the woman climb out of the truck, the way her long, blonde wavy hair bounced with each step she took, called to the baser side of him. The wolf had been more than a little intrigued.

  His brother held his hands up. Before he could grab the handle on the door, Mrs. Martin filled the entryway with two plates of food and a smile. The elder of the pack seemed close to eighty years old, but in reality, much older. “Boys,” she said cheerfull
y. “I have some breakfast for you.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.” Kal took one of the plates from her, while Caden took the other. “You called and said the shop got broken into?” From the outside, it looked fine. There were no outwardly signs of a break-in or vandalism.

  “Oh yes.” She signaled for them to follow. “It’s back here.” They wound their way through the shop and walked out back. There, spray-painted on walls, were crude pictures of dogs and humans. “This was what I found this morning when I came downstairs.”

  “When I talked to you on the phone, Mrs. Martin, you said you had some proof of who did this?” Caden snagged a piece of her famous bread out from under the napkin and popped it into his mouth. “Mmm, so good, Mrs. Martin.”

  “Oh you.” She blushed, patting Caden’s arm. “Yes, I do. He’s back here.”

  “He?” Kal hurried after her. “Ma’am, you didn’t say you had the person. You said you had proof.”

  “The person is proof, Kalkin.” She pulled a key out of the front of her apron. “He’s in there.” She pointed to the small room after unlocking the door.

  With a shrug from his brother, Kal and Caden walked into the room and found the Collins kid sitting on the floor. “Well, I guess she was right.”

  “Hello, Jeffery. You want to tell us how you ended up in here?” Kalkin lifted the kid up and walked him out of the room.