Shifting Gears

By Maia Dylan

Hannah Browne is heading for a change. Blackwater Falls represents a dream come true chance at owning her own garage and workshop. As she nears the town, she’s singing her favorite tunes, and witnesses a man exploding into a huge bear. It was that last part that had her driving her 1970 Chevy El Camino SS into the tree line.

Alpha of the Blackwater bear clan, Ryker Barrett, and his brother Bastian are struggling to deal with Ash, a pain in the ass Alpha wolf with delusions of grandeur. It all goes horribly right when they inadvertently introduce themselves to their mate by shifting in front of her. Their shock turns to rage when they learn that Ash is the reason she’s come to town.

Can they figure out what Ash has planned for the three of them, or will they shift gears too late and end up losing it all?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: May 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781773396880

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Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2018 Maia Dylan

ISBN: 978-1-77339-688-0

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Karyn White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For anyone who has ever risked it all for a dream.

SHIFTING GEARS

Blackwater Falls, 1

Maia Dylan

Copyright © 2018

Chapter One

Ryker Barrett was pissed. Hell, he was more than pissed. He was verging on raging homicidal, and there was only one wolf shifter in his sights. It didn’t take a damn psychic to guess who that was. There might currently be four of the mongrel bastards standing in wolf form in front of him, but there was only one fucker standing as a human, holding one of Ryker’s clan around the throat with a partially shifted claw. They all stood on the road that marked the boundary between Ashford Pack lands and the lands he and his bear clan called home. The sight of blood sliding freely down the side of Jake’s throat had Ryker’s bear growling with barely suppressed rage within him.

You wanted to speak to me, Ash, all you had to do was call. Ryker strode right to the middle of the road with his brother, Bastian, right behind him, ignoring the growled warnings of the wolves that flanked their Alpha. We could have had a nice little chat, and there would have been little to no bloodshed. Now, that’s off the table.

The wolf Alpha sneered at him, his lip curling back of his teeth. You think that was ever really on the table, Barrett? Hell. No. You have been avoiding this for too fucking long, and I was sick of waiting. I want you and your kind out of Blackwater Falls, and I want you out now.

Get used to disappointment, Bastian said with an air of boredom to his tone. We have all had to live with it for the past three decades. We’ve avoided nothing. There is a treaty in place, dog, and there is no changing that.

Ash’s eyes flashed. That treaty was the only thing keeping us from tearing you all to pieces and taking back what is rightfully ours. Chubbuck is dead. Ryker knew that the head of the shifter council had passed into the arms of his ancestors three days ago. He and his clan had felt the loss as all shifter nations throughout the world would have. With his death, that sham of a treaty dies with him.

Ryker tilted his head to level a gaze at the man. I’m not so sure that’s true, but is that really what you want, Ash? You want the Ashford Pack to go to war with the Blackwater Clan?

Too damn right I do! Ash yelled, his face turning an interesting shade of purple. That treaty gave you all the rights to live in Blackwater and drove my pack out into the damn woods. You were given ownership of lands rich with natural resources worth millions of dollars, and yet it sits untouched and wasted. You have the potential to live like kings, while we live in squalor. Your fathers stole the right to that town from mine, and I can no longer allow that to continue. It is a matter of honor!

Honor? Ryker said incredulously. I find it astounding that you stand there and use the word ‘honor’, and yet you still threaten a nine-year-old boy who has never done anything to you or your pack. Jake, you okay?

The young bear shifter, still very much a cub to their clan, was pale and shaken, but nodded his head as much as he could with Ash’s fingers closed around his throat. Despite the fear that lingered in the young boy’s eyes, there were defiance and anger there, too, and that made Ryker proud. Yeah, Alpha, I’m okay.

See, the cub is fine, Ash said with a dismissive wave of his free hand that had Ryker’s bear growling with displeasure.

Ryker stepped forward, letting loose a wave of dominance that only an Alpha could. He watched dispassionately as the wolves that stood to the right and left of Ash all dropped their heads and swayed beneath the weight of it. "You have a very distorted view of history, Ash. One that I will be only too happy to rectify for you, but I have a feeling you aren’t here to simply advise us that you’re turning your back on the treaty your fathers signed thirty years ago."

Ash grinned. "I have been keeping track of you and your people, Barrett. You have a clan of twelve left in that town. Six adult males other than you and your brother. All of them having seen too many summers, and none of them near dominant enough to be of any threat to my pack. Three women, the disdain in his tone was clear, and three cubs. There is no one in your ranks with the ability or dominance to succeed you, at least not yet, and you have yet to sire an heir. And without that damned treaty, we can act without interference from the council. I reckon if we cut off the head of the clan, the rest will crumble without much of a fight."

Ryker’s bear began to pace within him and his skin began to feel too tight, a clear sign that he was close to pushing for control. He wanted to rip Ash limb from limb for daring to suggest his clan was weak. The shit of it all was that their numbers were few. Bear shifters needed to roam, and it took finding their fated mate to ground them. When that happened, the fates would lead them to the lands they would call home. Sometimes it was their familial clan lands, sometimes not. For Blackwater Falls, that meant that the other males in his clan, those closest to his age, were still roaming.

Ash’s expression twisted into one that gleamed with bloodlust. In a move typical of your arrogance, you came out here with no one but your brother for support. Just as I suspected that you would. The forest behind Ash filled with growls and snarls, but Ryker didn’t even flinch as at least another ten shifters in wolf form stepped out, stalking closer to the road.

Ryker’s gaze never wavered from Ash’s. Let the boy go, and then we can get on to that history lesson I promised you.

We won’t hide behind a cub, Ash spat as he pushed Jake away, and he stumbled, but never went down. The look Jake shot back at Ash was one that Ryker read well. The young boy wanted retribution.

Head on home, Jake, Bastian said as he reached out to pull Jake behind him, and pushed him in the direction of town.

But, Alpha, I can—

No, Ryker said, his voice filled with dominance. You will go home to your parents. Now.

Jake chuffed low in his chest, his bear clearly unhappy with the order, but turned and headed back to town. When he reached the other side of the road, he stopped and looked back at them for a moment before sprinting into the forest, no doubt heading home to bring help, not knowing that the clan were already on their way. Ash might think Ryker arrogant, and truth be told, he had more than his fair share of arrogance within him. But he was most definitely not stupid.

So, I guess now it’s time for that history lesson. Ryker strode forward to stand within arm’s reach of the wolf Alpha, his brother right behind him. "You and your pack, Ryker spat the last word with all the contempt he felt inside, never had any rights to Blackwater Falls. It has always been home to me and mine. A forced bond never gave you any rights to the land, the resources, or anything beyond this highway." He sensed the snarling and growling wolves moving to flank him, surrounding them on that strip of neutral highway, and knew Bastian had moved to stand back to back with him.

You and your brother will die here and now. With no other Alpha in your ranks, your clan will crumble into oblivion. Blackwater will be ours, as it should have always been, Ash growled, and in a shimmer of air, and to the sound of snapping bones and ripping material that always accompanied a shift, he became his wolf. Shifter wolves were a lot larger than their natural brethren and would drive fear into anyone unfamiliar with the shifter world.

Then the war between us begins, Ryker snarled as he called to his bear and welcomed the pain of the shift.

****

Blackwater Falls, thirty miles.

Hannah Browne grinned at the sign that announced how close she was to her final destination. She had been on the road for the past three days, taking her time with the journey and enjoying the cross-country trip with every town she passed through. It had been a long time since she had taken her 1970 Chevy El Camino SS out on the highway for a decent run, and the past three days she had enjoyed every mile the V8 ate up.

She wound the window down and breathed in the Wyoming mountain air, taking the chill of it as deep into her lungs as she could. This was what it felt like to be free, and she relished the feeling. This was a new start for her. An opportunity to shift gears had presented itself, and she was going to take a