Chapter One Preview: Blackstone Ranger Charmer

Preview: Blackstone Ranger Charmer
Blackstone Rangers Book 2

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Subject to further corrections and editing

 

 

Chapter One

Gabriel Russel woke up that early spring morning with an urge. Urge to do what exactly … he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he was terribly hungry, and there was only one thing that could satisfy him. 

His inner lion, usually the one to protest when he wanted to get up from bed, nosed at him in an attempt to hurry him up. Somehow it knew where they were headed, and seemed to want to get there sooner than later.

“So chipper today, huh, buddy?” he told the lion. It only chuffed at him. “All right, all right.”

Not many shifters talked out loud to their animals, but he and his lion had always been tight. Maybe because growing up, he’d felt lonely and it was always there for him. Most people might have thought he was crazy—after all, growing up in a household with five siblings meant he was never alone. However, there was a loneliness that came with being the youngest and the only male in the family that few people would understand.

Springing up from bed, he headed straight to the bathroom to get ready for work. Contrary to popular belief, it didn’t take hours for him to do his hair. Perhaps it was magic or just plain luck that his shoulder-length dark blond hair was easy to manage and seemed to come out looking perfect when he got out of bed in the morning. Of course if anyone asked his sister, Giselle, she would say it was because she had ingrained in him the importance of good hair care products. In any case, on days he worked, he usually kept his hair tied back as the first time he went on patrol, he ended up with sticks, dirt, and leaves in his hair, which neither he nor his lion appreciated.

Work didn’t start until nine-thirty, so that meant he had time for a bite of breakfast before he had to make the nearly one hour drive up the mountains to the Blackstone Rangers Headquarters. So after getting dressed in his khaki uniform, he grabbed his hat and headed down to the garage. Though most of his fellow rangers lived up or nearer to the Blackstone Mountains for convenience, he simply preferred his modern loft in South Blackstone. From there, he was near almost everything in town, plus he liked the collection of shops, cafes, and restaurants that had been popping around the growing area.

It only took him fifteen minutes to get to his destination—Main Street and in particular, Rosie’s Bakery and Cafe. As always, the smell of fresh pastries hit him with a nostalgic note. This was on one of the places he’d go to with his father when back when he was still alive. Howard Russel would bring him here and they would sit together in a booth, just the two of them, away from the chaos of the house. Those were memories with his dad would be ones he would treasure forever.

In the last few weeks, however, coming in here gave him a different feeling. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was as if he needed to be here, like this morning. After his father had passed, Gabriel would come Rosie’s maybe every other month or so, and on Howard’s birthday.

But now he was here three or four times a week. Not that it was a problem burning all those calories; he was a shifter, after all, and his job involved a lot of physical activity. Rosie had given him strange looks, but didn’t question him on why he was here so often. Honestly, even if she did ask, he wasn’t sure he could tell her because he didn’t know himself why he—and his lion—was so drawn here. He only knew that he had to be here, not to mention, those new pies Rosie had been serving were  irresistible. Just thinking of them made his mouth water.

“Good morning, Gabriel,” Rosie, the owner of the cafe, greeted. As usual, the seemingly ageless fox shifter was dressed in a vintage dress, her vibrant red hair in pin curls.

“Good morning, Rosie my love,” he replied. Most people thought he was a shameless flirt, but he’d known Rosie since he was a kid, so there was no malice there, just deep affection for the older woman who had been serving Blackstone’s best pies for nearly three decades.

“First one here, as always.” Rosie gestured to the dining room. “Go ahead and sit anywhere. I’ll grab the coffee and you can tell me what you want.”

Whistling as he walked over to his favorite booth, he sat down and glanced at the large display of pies near the back. Rosie’s had a huge glass counter that features over a dozen pies everyday. Now ever since he was a kid, he had a standard order—a slice of cherry, a slice of pecan, and a slice of lemon merengue, extra whipped cream. However, recently, he’d been adventurous with his choices.

As Rosie approached, coffee pot in one hand, he opened his mouth, but the older woman beat him to it.

“Our special flavors of the day are frozen pink lemonade, toasted coconut macadamia, and Andouille Gruyere breakfast pie,” she rattled off. “I assume you want one of each?”

“Thank you Rosie,” he said. “And maybe a slice of cherry, for old time’s sake.” It had been Dad’s favorite, after all.

Rosie laughed. “All right, kiddo. Be with you in two shakes of a fox tail.” After filling the empty mug on the table, she sashayed back to the kitchen.

Gabriel drummed his fingers, anticipation thrumming in his veins. For nearly all his life he had that same order, until those new pies started popping up. Sure, Rosie would try a new recipe every now and then or there would be stuff that went in and out of season, but mostly the place served the basics—apple, cherry, blueberry, key lime, chicken pot pie and the like.

But ever since these new flavors came he couldn’t get enough of them. It was like a taste of heaven—the flavors bursting on his tongue was like the music of angels. They were better than anything he’d have before and he couldn’t get enough. The specials changed frequently, but even if the flavors were repeated, he would still order them. Those pies had almost become an obsession—the one day he came late after a shift and they ran out, he nearly threw a fit. It was like he was jealous someone else was enjoying those treats instead of him.

“Here you go, kiddo.” She put four plates in front of him. “One pink lemonade, toasted coconut, breakfast, and cherry with extra whipped cream.”

“You’re the best, Rosie,” he said, greedily eying the food in front of him. His inner lion too, licked its lips.

“Looks like you need some privacy here, so I’ll leave you alone now,” she said with a chuckle, then waved as she sashayed back to toward the display counter.

Gabriel reached for his fork and dug into the breakfast pie first. His eyes rolled back into his head. God, where have you been all my life? The pastry was flaky and buttery and melted right in his mouth while the sausage, herbs, and cheese blended together in perfect harmony. His lion too, was rolling around in ecstasy.

He took a bite of the two other pies and they were just as amazing, if not better. The cherry pie too, was great, and though he hadn’t had it in a while, he could swear it was ever better than before. He had a numerous memories of sitting here with Howard after he picked Gabriel up from school, talking about his classes and friends or nothing at all. He felt keenly felt the loss of his father, but even more than that, being here brought back all the good things he’d remembered about his father before his life had been tragically taken in that plane crash along with his mother.

He swallowed the pastry and took a gulp of the coffee, washing it down. His lion was clawing at him, as if it wanted him to do … something. Like it had this itch it couldn’t scratch.

Can’t this wait, bud? He was only halfway done with his meal.

It shook its head. Now, it seemed to say, its nostrils flaring.

But what did it want?

Putting the fork down, he glanced around. There was only one other table occupied and Rosie was in front of the counter, wiping down the display case as another employee was taking out the apple pie to serve it up. Behind the counter was the door that led to the kitchen. As his gaze focused on the small round window in the door, he could have sworn he saw movement behind the glass.

The lion’s head perked up.

What?

It pointed its nose toward the door.

There?

It nodded, shaggy mane shaking furiously.

Gabriel knew he shouldn’t … but he was already on his feet and striding toward the kitchen door.

“Sir?” someone said behind him. “Sir, you can’t go back there.”

His heart hammered wildly in his chest as he placed his hand on the door.

“What the—Gabriel Russel, get away from there—”

But he couldn’t hear anything except the roar of blood in his ears as he pushed the door open and stepped inside to see—

Nothing.

The kitchen was empty.

What the hell is wrong with you?

His lion protested with a yowl, then lifted its head to sniff the air. It smelled like butter, flour, pastry and sugar, plus something else in the air he couldn’t quite name. Something sweet and seductively exotic.

“Gabriel?” Rosie dashed into the kitchen, hands on her hips. “What in the world are you doing in here?”

“Huh?” What did he do? “Er, sorry Rosie.” He scratched at his head. “Didn’t, er, sleep much last night. I’m still a zombie and the caffeine hasn’t quite kicked in.”

Rosie looped an arm through his. “How about I refill your mug, then?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” As the fox shifter gently led him out of the kitchen, he glanced back at the door as it swung close. A strange feeling came over him, like an emptiness that he never realized was inside him. Huh.

Shaking his head, he allowed Rosie to bring him all the way back to his booth. “Thanks, Rosie my love,” he said.

“I’ll get you that coffee, kiddo. It’ll fix up whatever’s ailin’ you.”

His lion once again protested.

With a last glance back at the kitchen door, he couldn’t help but feel like there would be nothing that could help fill this void that somehow buried itself in his chest.

***

Gabriel didn’t go back to Rosie’s again since that day he barged into the kitchen. His lion didn’t like that very much, but with winter behind them and spring in full bloom, he was just too busy. As a Blackstone Ranger, his work involved protecting the mountains and the forests in the area, but also since it was a park, the people and shifters who came to visit. With the snow melting on the more popular paths, the mountains were busy which meant every one of the rangers had to be on alert for hikers or campers in distress, or even shifters who may have gotten too overconfident in their abilities and needed rescuing.

But aside from that, being deep in the forests meant he could avoid—or ignore—calls from certain people and blame it on the lack of reception. Even now, as he drove to Main Street after working overtime, his phone started ringing the moment it pinged the cell towers.

Glancing at the screen, he saw the caller ID flash his oldest sister’s name and blew out a breath. Genevieve was the last person he wanted to talk to right now; he knew what she wanted, but he was too tired to deal with her.

When the call went to voicemail, he let out a relived sigh, which was short-lived because his DMs now started blowing up. Checking the name of the sender, he groaned audibly. Vicky Woolworth. He’d rather talk to Gen and get a root canal and an appendectomy all at the same time than deal with Vicky. She was, as they said, twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag. While he’d broken up with her years ago, she’d pop up every now and then. He had to keep blocking her and change his number whenever she got a new number or account, but that didn’t seem to stop her from trying. Oh well, looks like I have to call my cell company again.

As he stopped at the light, he turned his phone off, glad for the silence. Today was supposed to be his day off, but he got stuck working overtime after helping search for a lost panther cub who had wandered away from its mother. His plan had been to sleep in and meet J.D. and Anna Victoria at Rosie’s after they did wedding stuff. Instead he had to shower at work and drive straight to Rosie’s. When he got there, Damon was already seated at one of the booths.

“Hey, Chief,” he greeted as he slid into the seat across from Damon. “Girls aren’t here yet?”

Damon Cooper, who was his best friend and boss, shook his head. “Probably running late. Rogers filled me in about last night. Good job finding that panther cub.”

“Yeah, she was pretty rattled, but once we got her back to her mama, everything was fine.”

“I appreciate you guys staying and getting it all handled,” he said.

“Of course, man. You know you can trust us for stuff like that.” He patted Damon on the shoulder. “You’re gonna be a married man soon, can’t leave the Mrs. waiting.”

At the mention of marriage and the Mrs., Damon’s face lit up. “Jeeze, I can’t believe it’s really happening.”

Gabriel chuckled. “It definitely is.” And he was glad for his best friend. If anyone deserved happiness with a mate, it was Damon, especially after all the shit he’d gone through. When he returned after being discharged from the Special Forces, Damon had been a shell of what he once was. Therapy and time had helped, but he had been driving himself into the ground with work and keeping all those feelings locked up. When he met his mate, things had changed—and for the better. “So, speaking of which—your bachelor party.”

Damon groaned. “No. I don’t want one.”

“As, c’mon man!” Gabriel pleaded. “You only get married once, which means I only get to be our best man once. Besides, this is your last night of—“

Damon shook his head. “You don’t understand. I don’t need a ‘last night of freedom’ because as far as I’m concerned, the day I met Anna Victoria, she became mine and me, hers. Besides, my bear would never allow me to even look at another woman.”

Gabriel didn’t quite understand the concept of mates—no one really did. It was just one of those things shifters talked about, but couldn’t explain. Most shifters didn’t even meet their mates. His own parents’ marriage weren’t mates. But apparently, from what he’d heard over the years, mating meant a special bond tied you to another person for the rest of your life.

Frankly, it sounded like a bad deal—after all, Gabriel pretty much already knew what was in store for his future. That’s why he was determined to enjoy his life now, while he was still free.

Lately, however, seeing how happy Damon was, he couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel to have another person who was the other half of your soul.

Ridiculous, he thought with a mental shake of his head.

His lion, however, mewled in disagreement.

“Morning kiddos,” Rosie greeted as she walked over to them, coffee pot in hand as usual. “What can I get ya?”

“Just the coffee,” he said with a nod as Rosie filled the empty mug in front of him.

“And the specials for you?” Rosie asked Gabriel. “We have chocolate almond, cantaloupe, and bacon with egg.”

“You got it,” he said.

He and Damon chatted while waiting, but as soon as Rosie came back with their food, it was like his friend wasn’t even there. He stopped listening to Damon drone on about butterfly populations or some shit, and concentrated on the delicious-smelling feast in front of him. What was it about these pies? He often wondered if Rosie put some kind of drug in them to make them addictive, though only he and his lion seemed to be unable to resist.

He quickly ate all the pies, with Damon rolling his eyes as he demolished them. His lion licked its lips, wanting more.

“They’re here,” Damon announced out of the blue.

Looking toward the door, he saw Anna Victoria and J.D., his other best friend, walk into the restaurant. As they always did, Damon and Anna Victoria instantly locked eyes and it was like no one else existed in that moment.

A strange rush of envy passed through Gabriel. His lion too, felt it and let out a whine. Stop being a such a pussy, he told his animal. It had been doing that lately, whenever he was around the two.

“Everything go okay?” Damon asked as he made room for Anna Victoria on his side of the booth.

“Move,” J.D. groused at him.  “I want to be next to the window.”

With a roll of his eyes, he got up to let her into the booth. J.D. had been one of his best friends since grade school, so he was used to her demeanor. She’d always been one of the guys—not fussy with her looks or clothes, but also fiercely loyal, which was why he liked having her as a friend. Most people thought she was dating him or Damon, and Gabriel always thought she was pretty—even if she always dressed in oversized t-shirts and baggy jeans or overalls—with her messy blonde hair and hazel eyes, but they’d known each other so long it would seem incestuous to date her now.

“Hey, ladies,” Rosie greeted as she came over. “Do you know what you want?”

“I hope you didn’t finish all of the special pies, Russel,” J.D. nodded at the empty plates in front of him. 

“They might have one or two left,” he said. “Rosie my love, I gotta tell you, that cantaloupe pie was amazing.”

Rosie chuckled. “Is there any of the new pies you don’t like? You’re here a couple times a week now. People might start talking.”

“There’s just something about them …” He stared at the plates, still puzzled. “They all smell so good and taste heavenly. Like I’ve never known what food was like before.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to tell my girl you like her food.”

“Girl?” His lion’s ears perked up at attention. Rosie had mentioned the first time that she had a new employee or something making these pies. Why hadn’t he ever asked before? He swung his head back at the kitchen door. “So your employee … is she still here?” he asked as his heart began to thud in his chest.

“Temperance?” Rosie’s auburn brows knitted together. “Maybe. She doesn’t usually leave until one or two but—oh, ’scuse me, kiddos.” She nodded at the new arrivals waiting by the door. “I’ll get your order in as soon as I seat them.”

Go. Now.

As if in a trance, he got to his feet, pivoting toward the kitchen. His lion roared, pushing to him move faster, until he crashed through the kitchen door.

There was someone shouting behind him, but he couldn’t hear the words. He stood there, unable to move as his gaze fixed on … her.

The woman was bent over the large table, dark brows knitted in concentration as she pushed out dough on the surface with a rolling pin. He could only see part of her face as she was facing sideways. However, she must have just realized he was staring at her as she lifted her head toward him.

As their gazes met, a strong feeling smashed into him. It felt like being struck by lightning, burning the edges of his nerves.

Mine.

And at that moment, his world turned upside-down.

 

Blackstone Ranger Charmer Releases August 5

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