Once Upon a Hallow's Eve

By KD Jones

Halloween is the busiest time of year for Rita Russell’s costume shop, and she loves it. In fact, she’s the happiest she’s ever been, until Luke Conrad shows up running his parents’ store across the street. He is the bane of her existence, but she’s not about to let the sexy man keep her from running her business and living her life.
Luke Conrad is the alpha of the local werewolf pack, and has to track a murderer while protecting his pack and keeping their secret safe from the humans. The only thing standing in his way is a curvy spitfire shop owner with a stubborn streak, whom his wolf wants him to claim, and she happens to be his number one suspect. He’s running out of time. He has to figure out who is killing shifters before Hallow’s Eve and the annual pack run.
Despite the danger all around, neither of them can deny their attraction. One thing is for sure, nothing will ever be the same for these two when the pack runs . . . once upon a Hallow’s Eve.
RE-RELEASE

• Language: English
• Publisher: KD Jones
• Release date: Oct 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9780996530842

KD Jones

KD Jones has been a huge fan of both romance novels and science fiction novels since she was 16 years old. Her favorite television shows growing up were Star Trek and Doctor Who. When not writing, she can usually be found curled up on the couch with a good book, working on her hobby of photography, or spending time with her family.

Book preview

Once Upon A Hallow’s Eve

KD Jones

Copyright 2016 KD Jones

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Blurb

Halloween is the busiest time of year for Rita Russell’s costume shop, and she loves it. In fact, she’s the happiest she’s ever been, until Luke Conrad shows up running his parents’ store across the street. He is the bane of her existence, but she’s not about to let the sexy man keep her from running her business and living her life.

Luke Conrad is the alpha of the local werewolf pack, and has to track a murderer while protecting his pack and keeping their secret safe from the humans. The only thing standing in his way is a curvy spitfire shop owner with a stubborn streak, whom his wolf wants him to claim, and she happens to be his number one suspect. He’s running out of time. He has to figure out who is killing shifters before Hallow’s Eve and the annual pack run.

Despite the danger all around, neither of them can deny their attraction. One thing is for sure, nothing will ever be the same for these two when the pack runs . . . once upon a Hallow’s Eve.

Chapter 1

Saturday afternoon

The smell was the first thing that reached Luke as he ran out into the clearing. He shifted back into his human form. His beta, Riker, shifted next to him and headed toward the body while Luke checked the perimeter for the killer.

Another dead shifter; this one’s a deer shifter. I don’t recognize him.

Riker moved closer and turned the body over. He was a man, six feet tall, weighing probably one hundred and eighty pounds, in his late twenties. He had severe claw marks across his upper torso and his throat had bloody holes where teeth had bit in. The problem was, there were so many bite and claw marks that it made it hard to identify what type of creature killed him.

I recognize him, Luke said standing up. Logan Day, one of Jasper’s herd.

Shit! This is the third murdered shifter we’ve found. I can’t get the scent of the killer.

Neither can I. Luke was furious that this was happening in his region. Death was something he never got used to. He had been in the military for years and seen horrific things, but he would never get used to death. It stayed with him, no matter where he went. It was part of why he liked being on the ranch, away from other people, for the most part. He liked the open spaces and quietness of the area. It gave him a small sense of the peace he was always seeking.

This is bad. Should we notify the sheriff?

Not yet. I want to try to find the killer and bring him to the werewolf council for judgment. We’ll notify the sheriff if he crosses the line to humans. The council will deal with this situation more harshly, anyway. What do we know so far about the victims?

This one’s a deer, the first was a werewolf, and the second was a bear shifter. Other than being shifters, I don’t see what they have in common.

Luke ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Let’s look around some more. We’ve got to be missing something. He moved in the opposite direction from Riker to cover more area.

I may have something here! Riker called out. His beta was one of the best trackers his pack had.

What did you find?

The victim was dragged out into the open. Looks like he had been running in the woods and shifted when he heard someone chasing him. He knelt on the ground at the other edge of the woods. He picked something up from the ground.

What’s that? Luke asked as he approached him from behind.

A bag, from one of the shops in town.

Luke froze from walking toward him. Hallow’s Specialty Shop?

Yeah.

Damn, that’s something all three of the victims had in common. All three had shopped at that same store prior to being killed.

Do you think the shop owner has something to do with it?

I don’t know much about the other shop owners in town. As alpha, I’ve kept my distance from the humans and stayed on the ranch with the pack.

What do we do about this, then?

We need to meet with some of the pack elders to discuss this. Whoever is killing the shifters is using something to mask their scent. It could be one of our own doing the killing, or it could be a serial killer passing through.

They shifted into their wolf forms. Riker looked like an average timber wolf with the gray and yellow coloring, but Luke’s wolf was solid black. He’d inherited the striking color from his grandfather.

They ran through the woods, leaping over logs and dodging trees, to Wolf Valley, where his family owned a thousand-acre ranch. He used his pack’s telepathic link to call his father and the elders to meet at his parents’ house.

He had lived here in Hallow’s Pass, Alaska, almost his whole life. It was a small and secluded area just outside of Anchorage, a perfect place for a pack of werewolves to live. They fished and hunted for their food. As the town called Hallow’s Pass had grown, they had learned to trade with the humans, but still kept their distance so that no one would discover their secrets.

The town was peaceful and the people never invaded the wolves’ territory. In turn, the wolf pack always kept their distance. Now, though, it looked like they could be facing humans somehow killing their people. That was unacceptable.

His father was walking from the two-story farmhouse to the barn. He waved for them to follow him. He opened the door for them to walk through. Luke and Riker shifted and reached for the pants that his father handed them.

His father got right to the point. Your sister just returned from visiting your uncle’s pack, and your mother and I didn’t want her to overhear the details of this. Tell me what you found.

Another dead shifter, a deer from Jasper’s herd.

Damn, I’m going to have to call and give him the news.

No, I’ll do it, since I’m the alpha.

Sorry, son, it’s habit for me to take these things on. Of course, it’s your right as alpha.

It’s okay; I know it’s hard to get used to. It hasn’t been but a few years since you stepped down.

Tell me, did you find any clue as to who the murderer is?

Let’s wait until some of the other elders show, so I can tell this once.

That bad?

Yeah, it’s bad.

Is there anything that I can help you with?

I need to take over the store in town for a few weeks.

He raised his eyebrow. Why?

I think the murderer is a local or comes through on a regular basis. Not many people in town have seen me, so I would be a new face to most.

I guess your mother and I can take a short vacation with your sister, to get her out of the way until this killer is found.

I think that’s the perfect solution.

What am I supposed to do? Riker asked from the bench he sat down