Big Bad Billionaire (The Woolven Secret Book 1) (20 page)

And Pyper needs his help. When she becomes target numero uno and the prime suspect in the shop owner’s death, it appears her ghost holds the key to solving the murder. In between stolen kisses, Pyper will need to get to the bottom of all of his secrets if she wants to stay alive and out of jail…and maybe finally get that date he keeps promising her.

Bayou Wolf

By Heather Long

The rise of so many lone wolves into a prospective sixth pack brings the Alphas of all the North American packs to Willow Bend for a summit. Having so many powerful dominants in one place invites challenges and hazards. No protocol can be ignored and none feels the strain more than Lincoln Buckley. He’s been charged by his Alpha to act as liaison for the Delta Crescent Alpha—the fierce and wildly beautiful Serafina Andre.

Serafina stands apart from her ‘fellow’ Alphas. As the only female to hold sway over a North American pack, she only has Delta Crescent’s interests in mind. She expects challenges from the other male Alphas, dominants all, due to their
need
to protect females. It doesn’t surprise her in the least to find out the wolf assigned as her liaison has also been tasked with her protection. What does startle her is the depth of her interest in him.

An Alpha doesn’t submit, no matter how much the woman in her might crave him. Her pack must come first, especially since what Willow Bend proposes is insanity…

Ryan slid his hands in his pockets. If the wolf demonstrated no other tells, the act of tucking his hands into the pockets of his slacks told Mason a great deal. His father-in-law—a grounded parent, clever attorney, and dangerous wolf in his own right—remained uncertain about Mason’s proposal. While not entirely certain it would work, Mason believed the gamble to be worth it.

“Who else have you discussed this with?” Ryan asked into the quiet. Melissa lay sound asleep on her tummy on the thick rug in front of the fireplace. At eighteen months, she’d long since mastered walking and ran everywhere. Her boundless energy, however, came at a price. When she collapsed to sleep, she crashed hard.

Plucking her blanket off the back of the sofa, Mason crouched next to his daughter and covered her. Alexis currently trained with Claire Buckley, an odd match-up Mason wouldn’t have considered before his mate interceded on a fight between Ranae and Claire—well, a one-sided fight anyway. Turned wolves didn’t always know their own strength or how to use their speed to their advantage.

A natural born wolf, Claire not only survived her years in Sutter Butte, she’d also proved tenacious in her oath to attack no one since being allowed to return to Willow Bend. Will and skill combined to make her a formidable fighter. Talent and disposition made her an invaluable instructor. Mason wanted the best for his mate and Claire delivered.

Some questioned his choice, but Mason trusted his instincts. He’d trusted Claire when she said, “I want to come home.” Her mating to Tyler back on track, Claire proved an invaluable member of the pack and the perfect instructor for Mason’s mate.
Not that Alexis will ever need to fight to survive, not again.

“Mason?” Amusement colored the reminder, and Mason pushed to his feet.

“Only Alexis. She has unique perspective on wolf politics.” And he’d only discussed the bare bones of the idea with her.

“Does she know about you and Serafina?” Shocked, Mason swung around to stare at his father-in-law. How the hell did Ryan know about Serafina? It had been brief, hot, and over years before. The faint hint of amusement on Ryan’s face vanished. “I know a lot of things. It doesn’t matter how I do. What does matter is whether bringing Serafina Andre here along with the other Alphas bothers my daughter.”

His daughter.
“She’s
my
mate.” Mason met stony glare for stony glare. “One has nothing to do with the other.”

“You keep telling yourself that, son.” Ryan shook his head and glanced at the sleeping baby on the floor. “That said, it isn’t done. Meetings between Alphas, on the very rare occasion that they happen, typically occur on neutral territory. It’s safer for everyone involved.”

“We did all right with Salvatore.” He’d liked the Italian Alpha, a far more powerful wolf than he ever let show, yet he’d been a gracious guest. If he’d chosen to make Luciana’s cause his, he could have been a terrific threat. Scratching his jaw, Mason wrestled with the plan. “How often have Alphas met, anyway? I remember representatives at Serafina’s ascension. None came to mine. Brett was already Alpha when I left Willow Bend—newly-minted, but still Alpha.”

The same Alpha who’d granted Mason sanctuary for a time, but without Mason bowing to him, he couldn’t stay in Hudson River. They’d parted amicably enough. Hell, Mason half-considered the New Yorker a friend.

“Honestly?” Ryan shrugged. “Toman met with none of them if he could help it. I think the last time may have been at the end of the war, but that was before my time. He
never
hosted them here. It’s a crazy kind of dangerous to bring all the alphas together in one location, especially if the location happens to be
your
territory.”

“I’ve already considered the potential downside to having them here versus a more neutral location. Having them here gives us an excuse for the meeting…”

“An excuse?” Ryan’s eyebrows rose. “Mason Clayborne is hosting a personal auction of his territory, first come first serve?”

He chuckled and clapped Ryan on the shoulder as he circled the sofa and headed into the kitchen. The bar separating the two rooms let him keep an eye on the sleeping cub while he poured coffee. “Yes, something that lets the alphas save face with their own packs, yet agree to the meeting within territory. I’m young enough, they can see it as a foolish gesture without threat while appreciating the additional security it will provide them.”

“What are you up to?” Intrigue filled the sharp wolf’s eyes, exactly the expression Mason hoped to see.

Spurred on by glee, he smiled. “That’s the point. They’re all going to wonder what I’m up to, or at least some of them will. Brett will come because, while I owed him a favor, he owes me one now.”

“Gillian?” Not much escaped the attorney.

“Exactly. He bonded with her during her previous visit, and she’s still tacitly connected to him. She’s my wolf, but I think he still needs her on some level. So she’s all the leverage I need there.”

“Okay, that’s one,” Ryan said then folded his arms. No longer uncertain, he seemed to understand Mason had a plan. “What about the other three?”

“Serafina owes me a favor. I’ll call that in to get her here. Cassius…I have an in with Cassius.”

Ryan frowned. “Tyler won’t like you asking Claire to do that.”

“No, he won’t. But Claire will do it and, between us, we can get Cassius here. That only leaves Diesel.” The Yukon Alpha wouldn’t be easy to persuade. Chances were he wouldn’t show up at all, except Gillian would prove very useful in persuading their healer to come for a visit. The healers talked, they all did. Some thought their alphas didn’t know, or maybe they simply didn’t care if their alphas did, but the healers shared bonds. With everything that happened in Brett’s pack, coupled with the headache Mason continued guarding in Nebraska, a conference of the healers would give them all the cover they needed. If the Yukon healer came, then Diesel would have no choice.

“Oh.” Ryan laughed softly. “You are an evil bastard.”

“Yes.” Mason grinned, raising his coffee cup. “I am.”

The mid-morning sun flooded the windows with a bright glow, warming the tiled floors. Seated in a tilted chair, balanced on its back legs with her feet propped on the edge of the table, Serafina soaked in the buzz of conversation surrounding her. Amy Lange, the Delta Crescent Traiteur, occupied the breakfast nook bench. A cup of coffee sat on the table to her right, some beignets to her left and her hands full of a crocheting project she’d become obsessed with while Trish LeClere swiped one beignet after the other. One of her pack’s finest Hounds, Trish pulled rotation for guarding the Alpha, but she would have been at coffee regardless. A morning among friends offered her the perfect start to the day.

“What is that going to be?” Trish asked, nibbling on her second swiped beignet.

“Theoretically?” Amy grinned. “Or actually?”

“Pretty sure she meant what it’s supposed to be.” Serafina eyed the wool concoction. A deep shade of evergreen, it filled Amy’s lap before spilling onto the table. Still, she continued hooking and tugging the yarn.

“Well, I wanted to make a scarf, then it got too wide. So I thought maybe a shawl, but I couldn’t figure out the angles, so now it’s going to be a blanket.”

“For a horse?” Regina paused in cursing the eggs she fried to glance over her shoulder. Her platinum blonde hair seemed to glow beneath the rainbow streaks of blue, green, purple and pink.

Instead of being offended, Amy simply stuck her tongue out. “Maybe.”

Serafina chuckled. She loved having them all so close. Sometimes life sent her wolves in different directions. Delta Crescent had nearly three thousand wolves all told. One of the largest packs in the States, but they were scattered over the Gulf Coast with some wolves living as far away as the Florida Keys and as far north as southern Virginia. By right of territory, she controlled one of the largest assets in the States and preferred Louisiana to all of them.

Born there, she’d likely die there. Another sip of coffee and she debated whether she should turn her phone over. With so many pack members, someone always needed her. If it were an emergency, they called. All other messages were sent via texts or emails. The information age made life both easier and far more complicated.

As if summoned by the thought, her phone rang. Scowling, she flipped the phone and stared at the caller identification.

Mason Clayborne.

The others quieted as she answered. “Good morning,
cher
.”

A soft masculine chuckle greeted her. “Good morning, Serafina. First or second cup?”

The problem with former lovers—they learned all the bad habits and how to use them to their advantage. “Third, actually.”

“Excellent, then you’re available for a business call.”

“Unfortunately.” She glanced at Amy, and the woman rolled her eyes, but she bundled her crochet before grabbing her coffee. Trish scooped up the plate of beignets and led the way out to the long porch on the far side of the house. It gave Serafina privacy, yet they remained close enough for her to join them after she and Mason finished.

Regina set a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her, then raised her eyebrows. She’d been fixing breakfast for all of them. Should she stay or should she go?

Serafina considered the question while asking Mason. “Is this in regard to our earlier conversation?” In other words, was he calling about the missing wolves? Mason and Julian, the Chief Enforcer, had been a pain in her ass over the last several days.

“Yes.”

Mouthing ‘go’ to Regina, Serafina drained her third cup of coffee. Only once her ears told her she was alone did she ask. “What’s going on?”

“I want to invite you to bring your healer to Willow Bend along with a nominal number of Hounds, if you feel it necessary.”

An unexpected invitation. “I’ll repeat my earlier question, what’s going on?”

“Truthfully? We’ve got a big problem. I want the healers here to confer on some information my healer uncovered over the last year, things I think they should really put their heads together about while you, me, Cassius, Diesel and Brett discuss another, graver matter.”

All the Alphas? In one place?
Mason was either insane or dangerously brilliant. Unfortunately, those ideas were not mutually exclusive. “What is the graver matter?”

“We found the missing wolves,” Mason continued, his tone even and assured. She concentrated on catching any nuance of a lie, though in her experience Mason played it straight with her from the day she’d met him up to the day he’d walked away.

“And you’re calling me instead of Julian because…?” Rayne Barrows had been one of her people. He’d grown up only a few miles from her and functioned as a Hound for her father when he’d been Alpha. Like her and so many of the other Hounds, he’d defended her father’s right to rule. When Papa passed, Rayne surrendered to her rather than fight for dominance, then he’d left to go Lone Wolf. She held a lot of affection for Rayne and his family. If the Enforcers hunted him, she wanted no part of it.

“Because the missing wolves formed a pack.” The words dropped like a localized detonation. She’d seen enough construction jobs where they imploded a building before they began to recognize the sensation. Her nostrils flared and she scented the air, assuring herself no one lingered close enough to hear his words. “Before you say anything, the Enforcers were handling it, but the new pack is nearly two hundred strong now. This isn’t some rebellion. It’s a full pack, led by an Alpha.”

“Isn’t that the job of the Enforcers?” she asked slowly. “To keep the Lone Wolves in line so we don’t get a clusterfuck of this proportion?”

“Yes and, to their credit, they tried.” Since Mason liked the Enforcers even less than she did and lived under their thumb for several years, she accepted the defense. “The Alpha isn’t one of our Lone Wolves, but…”

“Rayne’s mate.” He’d gone and mated himself to some Italian wolf and brought her back to the States with him. She knew the story, heard the reports from the Enforcers while they investigated the missing wolves. “They were collecting wolves.”

“Pretty much. Sera,” Mason dropped any pretense of boldness and sounded a tad tired. “They’re tucked away in a town in Nebraska. I have it surrounded by Hunters, and I locked them down. The Enforcers can’t take on a whole pack. Even if they worked in concert, it would be too much for them. It’s up to us.”

“Sounds like it’s up to
you
.” His request didn’t fool her. Mason already assigned enough wolves to handle the task. “Are you planning to bring the other Alphas together for a little assassination and takeover plot?”

“Yes, because Willow Bend isn’t large enough for me. I need the whole country.” He laughed. “Seriously?”

“It’s a thought, a clever one, really. Why do you really want us? Do you want to sanction them?” Shock rippled through her at the possibility.

“I don’t know.” Honesty echoed in his words. “It’s a thought. I have a unique perspective most of you don’t possess. I’ve been a Lone Wolf. I know how it feels to be on the outside, to feel like there is no place I belong. This Alpha, she’s young in her power, but she has the right idea. She knows she faces threats from all sides, yet she isn’t backing down, not even to her own brother. And he’s one of the most powerful wolves I’ve ever encountered. Sera, I need your help and your wisdom. You have another unique perspective.”

“Because I’m a woman.” She didn’t have to guess what he hinted at with that comment. The role of Alpha didn’t traditionally go to women. Not because they weren’t capable of leading, but because they weren’t usually tough enough to take on all challengers. Male wolves, especially male dominants, wanted to protect women. The women, while powerful, usually focused more on protecting the pack. In some ways, her gender made her a stronger leader, but she accepted the handicap present when dealing with other males outside of her pack. She’d spent years proving her capability in leadership to her pack.

They’d follow her into fire.

“Yes.”

Serafina smiled faintly.
Trust Mason not to split hairs
. “Mason, inviting all of us into your territory is a bold move. What makes you think one of us won’t take you out and absorb Willow Bend?”

“I can take care of myself, Sera. I’m also offering an escort from my pack to liaise with each of you.”

“Nice.” She chuckled. “You’re giving us a guard dog who can also assassinate.”

“Hopefully not. You’re a woman of your word. I’d like to think mine means something. I do not want Delta Crescent, and this is not a plot to take it from you. I will guarantee your safety while you are on my land. If someone goes after you, I will be in your defense. I am extending this promise to each of you. What I want is a face-to-face for all of us. We have a lot of issues that should be hammered out, not to mention a major problem if the dissolution and isolation of the Lone Wolves led to this rise of a pack.”

“And we need to decide what to do with the pack.” She rose and prowled around the kitchen, her hunger and breakfast forgotten. “Mason, are you prepared for Cassius to eradicate them?”

“I’m prepared for anything. We won’t move without a consensus.” She heard the steel in his tone which she remembered so well. “Cassius may think killing them is the easy answer, and he isn’t wrong. It would send a very hard and resounding message to all Lone Wolves, but is it the right answer? Does it serve our packs?”

She had to admit, “I don’t know.”

“Me either. I am not making the decision for all of us, and I want a conversation. So, will you come? Will you bring your
Traiteur
with you so she can meet with Gillian and Emma?”

Leaving Delta Crescent held no appeal, but neither did the decision being left in the hands of whichever Alphas agreed to attend. “I will come. When?”

Discover more
Wolves of Willow Bend

A CHARMING CRIME

A MAGICAL CURES MYSTERY SERIES

***2013 eFestival of Words Fantasy Novel Winner from USA Today Bestseller Tonya Kappes***

Bubble... Bubble...

June Heal has nothing to lose when she relocates her homeopathic cure shop, A Dose of Darla, from the flea market booth in her home town, to a quaint shop in the cozy but unusual little town of Whispering Falls, Kentucky. Or so it seems.

Cures and trouble...

Whispering Falls has a lot of secrets. From talking snow globes to whispering animals not to mention a few sprinkles of fairy dust, June realizes Whispering Falls is more magical than she thought. . .literally.

Magic stirs...

June discovers she was born into a family of psychics, and her homeopathic cures truly are magical. Unfortunately, they are not magical enough to save her from being the number one murder suspect when a member of the community that she had just had a disagreement with shows up face down in the lake with June’s lucky charm in the victim’s grasp.

And troubles double...

Add to that an attraction to her high school best friend, Sheriff Oscar Park and Mr. Prince Charming, her cat, is stealing charms from Belle’s Baubles, June is forced to clear her name in more ways than murder. After all, they don’t have cauldrons in jail.

A Charming Crime is book one of the bestselling Magical Cures Mystery series. Come walk around Whispering Falls for a fun, fantasy mystery with magic and romance. You won't want to leave.

For years,
USA Today
bestselling author Tonya Kappes has been self-publishing her numerous mystery and romance titles with unprecedented success. She is famous not only for her hilarious plotlines and quirky characters, but her tremendous marketing efforts that have earned her thousands of followers and a devoted street team of fans. HarperCollins and Witness Impulse is thrilled to be publishing this insanely talented and wildly successful author for the first time with
A GHOSTLY UNDERTAKING
(Witness Impulse; February 24, 2015; $7.99 mass market)
, the first in her hilarious and spooky Ghostly Southern series.

Check out all of Tonya’s novels and sign up for her newsletter at
Tonyakappes.com
.