WREATH OF FIRE

Smokey Mountain Bears 2
Release Date: December 24, 2014
Word Count: 32, 176
Editor: Erika Orrick

​Michael's trying to start a new life away from his abusive father, but he's drifting and not sure what he wants. When he accidentally starts a kitchen fire, the hot new fireman who comes to the rescue is not only another bear shifter. He's Michael's mate. Michael desperately needs to get his act together and figure out what he wants if he has any hope of claiming the bear fated to be his.

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Buy Links:

Amazon, B&N, Mischief Corner Books, KOBO, iBooks, Scribd, Playster

CHESTNUTS ROASTING BUY LINKS: Amazon, B&N, Mischief Corner Books, Scribd, Kobo, Apple, Playster

Excerpt - Chapter One:

“You’re coming!”

Michael McKenna shook his head. “Christmas is a time for family. I’m not family,” he tried to argue.

“Rubbish.” Patricia Packard snorted. Michael stared at her, not believing the noise that had come out of her mouth. The woman had been Alpha, for crying out loud, he somehow expected her to be a little more polished.

“I’m not, you can’t deny that.”

“Michael.” Patricia sighed, sounding so exasperated as she brandished the egg-covered pastry brush in his direction, bits of liquid egg flinging everywhere. “You are a member of our sleuth. This automatically makes you family whether you share our bloodline or not. You should know this.”

“But—”

The woman didn’t give him a chance, just talked right over the top of him. “Plus, where do you think you’re going to go? Huh? Christmas dinner is being held right here. You live here, for heaven’s sake.”

Michael grunted.

“You’re celebrating Christmas with us and that’s final. Or do I need to call Christian and get his ass over here to tell you?” The hard stare of his former Alpha and the no-nonsense tone was enough. He knew when he was beat.

“You win,” he said.

Patricia smiled broadly at him, then went back to egg washing the pies for dinner. “Would you be a dear and clean up that mess for me?” she asked, pointing to the specks of spattered egg all over the counter.

“Sure.” Michael grabbed a washcloth from the sink and wet it before ringing it out and heading over to clean up the mess. He looked around to make sure he’d gotten it all, and when satisfied, he rinsed out the cloth and hung it over the faucet. “Do you need a hand with anything else?”

“No, dear, I’m just about done.”

Michael nodded and left her to it.

That had been three days ago.

His life was going nowhere fast. His father and older brother, Jack, had betrayed the bear sleuth by drugging and attempting to kill Christian and had been banished from the area by their then-Alpha, Patricia. Michael couldn’t believe his luck when Christian, the Alpha’s son and future Alpha himself, had told him he could stay if he wished. Christian had taken over as Alpha upon his thirtieth birthday a couple of months ago. Michael hadn’t heard from or seen his father or brother since, and he hoped it stayed that way.

He’d hated his life up until that point, so he gladly took Christian up on his generous offer. His father had treated both his sons like shit, but for some reason Jack loved their old man and followed him religiously. The only reason Michael had ever followed the man was to avoid a beating and even then, only when he was still healing from the last beatdown. With Michael being a shifter, it said a lot about the abuse he’d taken that he would still be recovering from it days after.

His father was an abusive drunk. Michael believed his father’s drinking heavily for so long had affected the shifter inside him and lowered his tolerance to substances they were usually immune to. Michael couldn’t remember the last time his father had shifted. He wouldn’t be surprised if the bear inside his dad had died from abuse and neglect.

Michael couldn’t even imagine what that would be like. It would be like losing half of himself. He shuddered at the thought. His bear was a piece of him as much as he was a piece of his bear. They were two halves of one whole. Michael never felt freer than when his was able to shift into his second form and run with the other members of their sleuth.

Even still, his dad was a large man and still a lot of power behind him. Michael wasn’t a very strong shifter, and he’d become so accustomed to cowering from his father that the thought of fighting back hadn’t occurred to him when he was younger. Michael had fallen into that mindset and hadn’t changed.

Now Michael was a mere week away from celebrating his first Christmas without his family—not that there had been much celebrating going on when he had lived at home with his dad and brother. Any money his father brought into the house he spent on alcohol, and he only occasionally remembered to buy a few groceries.

Michael hadn’t remembered what it was like to have a full stomach until he’d come to live with Patricia and her mate George. Michael had missed so much school growing up, both with his bruises and running the errands his father had sent him on—the man not caring that Michael was supposed to be getting an education—that he hadn’t managed to come close to graduating.

He barely had an education, and he didn’t have a job, which meant no money. The clothes they had managed to recover from his father’s house before the man had burned everything were thin and threadbare. The Packards had been generous and purchased him some new clothes, especially when winter had hit, but Michael hated being dependent on others. He felt horrible. He wanted to be his own man, earning his own money for once in his life. He had tried to help as much as he could around the house with whatever George and Patricia might need, but there were only so many things that needed to be done.

What Michael really wanted was to go back to school and get his GED. Yes, he was twenty-two, but he didn’t care; he didn’t want to waste his entire life wondering ‘what if?’ He’d spoken to Patricia about it at length and was grateful that she was supportive of the idea and had offered to help in any way she could. It was just one more thing to add to the ever-growing list of what Michael owed the Packards.

But first, before that could happen, Michael had to get through Christmas.

He still wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of spending Christmas with the Packards. He truly believed the time was supposed to be for families. However, he no longer had a family, had barely even had one when his father and brother were around.

He had no one to call his own, no one to look out for him, no one to love him.

Michael sighed as he lay on the bed in the room he had been given and stared at the ceiling. He felt so alone it wasn’t funny. The Packards were lovely people, and he appreciated everything they’d done, but Michael wanted someone just for himself.

Michael thought about his new Alpha, Christian, and how he was with his mate, Vincent. The pair were still newly bonded, only being together for roughly four months. Vincent had packed up his life in Las Vegas and moved here mere weeks after he’d met Christian. Michael wondered what it would be like to have that kind of devotion from someone. He doubted he’d ever find out. If his own father couldn’t give a shit about him, what hope did he have that someone else would?

He looked at his watch and groaned; it was only early afternoon. The days tended to move so slowly now that he had nothing to do and nowhere to go, not that he’d really had much to do before. Daytime television sucked, so he tended to stay well away from it. He’d done barely anything today, but he was tired.

Michael decided to take a nap. But he didn’t want to sleep the entire afternoon away, as he wanted to do something nice and try to make dinner for Patricia and George before they got home. He wasn’t the best of cooks, but it was the thought that counted. Hopefully the Packards agreed.

Michael rolled over on his bed and got comfortable. The crisp, clean sheets and the wonderful aroma that went along with them surrounded Michael, and he sighed in happiness. He couldn’t believe the difference some days. Nothing ever felt clean at his father’s, no matter how many times he washed them.

He pulled the spare pillow close and held it to him as he closed his eyes. Michael wondered briefly what it would be like to share his bed with someone else, preferably a tall, handsome, muscled someone, but that would only ever be a dream.