Blake's Return: A Gay Mustang Ridge Shifter Novella

By Mary Winter

What happens if the one who got away, had never left in the first place?

After being fired for his sexuality, Blake Reynolds returns to Mustang Ridge to be closer to his parents. As a mustang shifter, they’d have to accept him, and maybe he could find work with the local veterinary clinic. He’d also have to confront his feelings for Ken Greenwood. In a town as small as Mustang Ridge, could he hope to find acceptance, let alone love?

Ken Greenwood regretted not asking Blake to the prom. He also hadn’t reached out. In the years since he’d become comfortable as a bisexual man, figuring he’d lost his chance at love. When he encounters Blake at the local running grounds, Ken wonders if maybe it’s better their relationship starts now, when both of them know what they want—each other.

Passion runs hot and deep between these two who finally give into their desire for one another. Can Blake overcome the past to give himself fully to the man he’d never stopped loving?

Note: This title was previously published in a limited anthology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Winter
• Release date: Dec 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005331122

Book preview

Table of Contents

Copyright

Title Page

Also by the Author

Chapter ONE

Chapter TWO

Chapter THREE

Chapter FOUR

Chapter FIVE

Chapter SIX

Chapter SEVEN

Chapter EIGHT

Chapter NINE

Chapter TEN

About the Author

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

BLAKE’S RETURN: A GAY MUSTANG RIDGE NOVELLA

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Copyright © MARY WINTER 2021

Cover Art ® 2021 Epona Author Solutions

Electronic Publication Date: December 2021

This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher.

Blake’s Return:

A Gay Mustang Ridge Shifter Novella

Mary Winter

Also by the Author

2 Hearts Rescue Series

written as W.M. Kirkland

Rescued Love (free at: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/7j3fzor4g0)

Hot and Rescued Boxed Set (books 1-4)

Catching Pumpkin

Lover’s Point Rescue

Just Add Spice

His Holiday Cat Daddy

New Arrivals: A Mother’s Day Story

Riding Partner

Cowboy Up

And check out their time traveling gladiators starting with A Man’s Sword

What happens if the one who got away, had never left in the first place?

After being fired for his sexuality, Blake Reynolds returns to Mustang Ridge to be closer to his parents. As a mustang shifter, they’d have to accept him, and maybe he could find work with the local veterinary clinic. He’d also have to confront his feelings for Ken Greenwood. In a town as small as Mustang Ridge, could he hope to find acceptance, let alone love?

Ken Greenwood regretted not asking Blake to the prom. He also hadn’t reached out. In the years since he’d become comfortable as a bisexual man, figuring he’d lost his chance at love. When he encounters Blake at the local running grounds, Ken wonders if maybe it’s better their relationship starts now, when both of them know what they want—each other.

Passion runs hot and deep between these two who finally give into their desire for one another. Can Blake overcome the past to give himself fully to the man he’d never stopped loving?

Chapter ONE

Seeing the big wooden sign welcoming him to Mustang Ridge hit Blake like a punch to the gut. Memories, not all of them good, flooded him and he breathed deeply to send them away. Not now. He’d deal with them later. For all he knew Ken had left too. He slowed at the blinking yellow light, then turned for the small Mustang Ridge Hotel. The U-shaped building with outside facing doors reminded him of an earlier era. One in which Ken had chickened out and taken Daisy to the prom, leaving him to stand in the corner and watch while they slow danced, her hands in his waist, his face close to hers. Blake swallowed hard. Yeah, those were the kinds of memories he’d been hoping to avoid. Except, he knew coming back here meant they’d be staring him in the face.

He pulled into the parking lot and checked in, then moved his truck in front of his room. He unloaded his cooler and suitcase. Once he got settled, he’d get his belongings from storage in Little Rock. Tonight, he just wanted to sleep. Tomorrow he’d try to figure out what the hell to do with his life. Blake set his suitcase on the luggage rack, then sat on the bed. Not bad. It’d do for a few weeks. He’d grabbed a paper from the machine outside the office and flipped it open to the rentals section. Only a handful of ads. A few houses for sale, but he wasn’t ready to go that far yet.

Small cabin on family farm. Electricity. Heat/AC. $450/mo.

Now that sounded like something in which he’d be interested. Just a place to land, quiet and out of the way. He had plenty of money in savings. A single gay man working too many hours to really have a social life didn’t have much to spend besides the necessities. When he’d been outed and fired from the small animal vet practice where he’d worked, well with all the laws being passed in Arkansas, it seemed coming home was the thing to do to find some semblance of safety. He wasn’t ready to head to the coasts. There were good people in Mustang Ridge.

Blake planned on stopping by the vet’s office in the morning to see if Doc Hansum needed any help. He wasn’t sure the area would support two offices, but he bet Doc wouldn’t mind his old helper back in the office, even if it meant cleaning dog kennels and selling flea medicine.

Blake folded the paper, leaving the ad on top. He’d call in the morning. He stretched out on the bed, hands behind his head, trying to settle down and calm his mind. He worked through several breathing techniques he’d learned. None really helped. Being back here had stirred things he’d thought long buried. Maybe a run would help calm him down. He bounced to his feet, grabbed his keys, and went to his truck. His card remained in his wallet. To anyone who saw it, the ID appeared to be a pass for Mustang Ridge Conservation Area. Only it was more than that. It was his key to belonging, proof that he had every right to set foot in this town, and it didn’t matter about anything else. Only the blood in his veins mattered, and in this way at least, he was like most of them here.

He drove to the conservation area and parked, noting a beat-up navy truck in the lot. The vehicle had clearly seen better days. A toolbox sat in the bed, not locked,