Virgin Prey

By Harper Jewel

Nestled within plain sight of humanity, a race of bird-of-prey shifters dwell. Deeply rooted in their species’ heritage and rituals, Aviana Byrde comes of age and a mate’s selected in the way dictated by those very traditions.
Outshining the rest, Andor Malar craves to bond with Aviana. When that secret desire comes true, he cannot get enough of the little shifter.
After a night full of carnal abandon and newly awakened desires, Aviana’s tossed in a harsh direction—one she never imagined. Will she meet her death before she's able to appreciate the depths of true love? Will Andor’s fevered search for his new life mate prevail?
Enter Corbin Lark, a kind-hearted falconer with a family history he knows nothing about. Will he be able to accept the seemingly far-fetched story he’s told when the beautiful vision he’s only dreamed about suddenly enters his life for real?
After a shocking twist of fate intervenes, will the unsuspecting trio be able to withstand the upheaval as their world rocks on its axis, or will the shifter species simply fade into extinction?

*This third edition has been expanded by 3,000+ words and differs from the first two editions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harper Jewel
• Release date: May 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310739330

Harper Jewel

Harper Jewel, a loyal LGBTQ+ ally and proud Mama Bear to her twenty-four-year-old daughter, lives in northeast New Jersey with her loving husband. She has four cats, enjoys writing, reading, playing time-management games on her tablet, and watching Hulu or Netflix.With her outgoing personality and vivid imagination, she can create believable and memorable plots and characters.Although she began writing male/female Romance/erotica, she has found her niche in Gay Romance. She enjoys every one of her male characters when they speak to her with loud voices while proving love is love. She is proud to have the honor of being the first M/M author accepted at the now-closed Lush Publishing.Visit www.harperjewel.com to find out more.

Book preview

Virgin Prey

A Seekers Story

Harper Jewel

Virgin Prey

A Seekers Story

Harper Jewel

Virgin Prey – A Seekers Story

Copyright © 2016 Harper Jewel

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Cover Design by Harper Jewel

Slippery Fingers Logo Design by Harper Jewel

Smashwords Edition

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or any means – by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without prior written permission of the author.

Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Harper’s Author Links

Other Titles by Harper Jewel

Dedication

Author’s Note

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Coming Soon

Write a Review!

HARPER’S AUTHOR LINKS

Harper’s Website

Facebook

Harper’s Blog

Twitter

Goodreads

Manic Readers

The Romance Reviews

OTHER TITLES BY HARPER JEWEL

BURNING PREY

TRENT & TREY

HIS DREAM LOVER

MIRROR OF OBSESSION – eXcessica Publishing

HEAD GAME – Lush Publishing

Dedication

For those who read my stories and believe, many thanks.

For two of my best friends—you know who you are—you are both very dear to my heart.

Dear Reader,

I’d like to give you a bit of background on why I chose bird-of-prey shifters for this story, now in its third edition, back in 2012 when I first wrote it.

As a high school student, I became an avid birder when my Aunt Jean gave me my first field guide to identifying birds of North America. My interest continued to grow as I did, and I went on several outings with a birding club. When my newlywed husband and I went to the New York Renaissance Faire located in the Catskill Mountains of Tuxedo, NY, my love of birds grew to encompass birds of prey. A falconer at the show impressed me so that hubby and I joined him and his raptors three weekends later for a hunt. The majestic beauty of these feathered beings and the visible connection they had with their falconer left me in awe. Years later, I found myself equally enthralled when I had the opportunity to visit a raptor rescue and wildlife sanctuary in Woodstock, Vermont. There, I donned a raptor glove and held a Snowy Owl perched on my hand while a rescuer fed it some chunks of meat. The poor thing lost its vision in one eye due to a BB gun shot and could no longer survive in the wild. To this day, I have not forgotten these impressive outings. With those days in mind, I began to write Virgin Prey.

I hope you enjoy this 2016-updated version of the first Seekers Story and feel the love I have for the world of falconry oozing from every word. I’m confident that the changes I made only enhanced and added to the story. If you want to read more about this Seeking trio using their newfound abilities, I encourage you to pick up the second book in the series: Burning Prey. In it, Aviana, Andor, and Corbin prove just how unique and special their Seeker powers are. Burning Prey is available at most major e-book distributors.

Chapter One

After a fitful night’s sleep, Aviana Byrde rose from her bed with a mixture of nervous anticipation and excitement pooling in her belly. Her mind wandered back to the past, recalling the events that had brought her to this day. Discovering at the age of fourteen, when her first menses started, that she was a Peregrine Falcon in her other form, the small, yet deadly, streamlined raptor had a rosy-colored breast, which most likely attributed to her rich, dark red hair. She could clearly remember waking that fated day to find her body covered with small, downy feathers, indicating that the ability to shift was upon her. Her older twin brothers, Talon and Aras, both woke with their telltale bodily covering when they turned thirteen—the age most males gained knowledge of their other form. And, like her, her sisters Thistle and Sunflower discovered their shifter counterpart the same way she did.

It was never learned why all members of the same family did not shift into the same bird of prey, but it was something they never questioned. They all transformed into a raptor, never any other feathered creature. Each one of them always retained a characteristic of their alternative bird when in their human form. And once they’d completed their first shift, their human bodies began to age at a much slower rate than normal. For this reason, nests never remained in the same city for more than thirty years.

In order to blend into society, every shifter child received a well-rounded education alongside their human counterparts, intermingling with them on a daily basis, never once letting their secret out.

Coming back to the present, she stopped reminiscing and focused on the day. Today was her twentieth birthday. A day of tradition. One all the females of her species within their community or nest followed when they turned twenty. Remaining chaste till now like every other shifter female, she’d be given the ability to recognize which one of the males in her nest, if any, was fated to be her life mate.

The moment when one of her kind discovered his or her partner was a