The Beginning: Thea: Eve Of The Fae, #1

By Jane O'Roarke

A Slow-Burn Fated Mates Paranormal Action & Adventure Romance Novella.

 

Thea Duffy has given up hope for adventure, contentedly running her bustling diner and caring for her three aging uncles at their secluded mountain retreat. But unsettling shadows are around every corner, and hidden eyes are following her every move. Something strange is happening in Rocky Top. When a long-lost brother arrives, intent on claiming his rightful inheritance, and Uncle Seamus falls gravely ill, Thea's calm life is thrown into chaos.

 

Confronted with unexpected choices, Thea is at a crossroads. Will she retreat into the comforting embrace of her familiar mountain sanctuary, or will she seize the extraordinary opportunity that beckons from across the Atlantic in the heart of Scotland?

 

In The Beginning, Thea must grapple with her past and future, wrestling with the timeless question of fate. Will she remain concealed in the shadows, or can she summon the courage to step into the unknown and embrace her destiny?

 

Embark on a journey of small-town love and the bonds of found families in this captivating tale. Follow Thea Duffy as she unravels the secrets of her heart and unlocks her true destiny, discovering that sometimes, the most extraordinary adventures are hidden in the shadows.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jane O'Roarke
• Release date: Aug 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201724559

Jane O'Roarke

I'm Jane O'Roarke, and I write paranormal, fantasy romance, and sports romance. Most of my books are on Amazon as Kindle Unlimited, but the first book in each of my series can also be found on Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and more stores around the world. I write heroines who aren't afraid to walk on the wild side. They are strong women who have lived life, and made mistakes but still want to find love on their own terms. The Beginning: Thea introduces my EVE OF THE FAE series, which delves into the mountain community of Rocky Top, West Virginia, and the mysterious happenings around Thea Duffy, musical virtuoso and an unsuspecting queen of the Tuatha de Danann. Necessary Line introduces my Men of Honor series, where you meet the BRAVO Platoon of SEAL TEAM 42 as they hunt for Prvobitan, an elusive international terrorist organization.

Book preview

One

The soft mechanical whirring echoed through the quiet of the early morning, drawing Thea Duffy’s attention to the security cameras lining the street along her walk to work. Had they always been there? She didn’t think so.

Rocky Top, West Virginia was a small town of four thousand nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. It wasn’t the kind of place that had CCTV everywhere.

Tilting her head back, Thea looked up at the cylindrical electronic eyes staring down at her from atop the tall silver poles. She would have noticed if they’d been there, right?

Maybe not. Most days, Thea was in her own world chasing the sounds, notes, and melodies that filled her head, which had caused her many problems over the years. Thea and trouble were deep and wide companions. Sometimes it was her fault, sometimes not. If there was a hole in the road—there was a good chance that she’d fall into it. That’s just how her life rolled.

Thea took a step forward, and the electronic whirring of the camera sounded.

Holy shit.

Those cameras really were following her, watching her. Taking a few more steps, Thea awkwardly speed-walked past the darkened storefronts. Why wasn’t anybody around when she needed them?

Thea wasn’t spooked easily. She’d spent thirty-eight years living in the deep woods on top of a mountain, but the thought of someone controlling that camera was freaking her out. Or was it a motion detector? Maybe she should just stop.

Freezing with one leg awkwardly lifted, Thea cocked her head at the whirring sound of a lens zooming in. Not a motion detector, somebody really was controlling those cameras, and Thea was making a fool of herself again. She would undoubtedly be a meme before she even made it to work.

Hoorah for modern technology. Tightness filled her chest as Thea gripped the strap of her satchel, which held the music paper and pencil she always carried. What the hell was going on?

Even though she was probably overreacting, she shifted into a run. Her long dark hair streamed behind her as the whirling of the electronic eyes tracked her down the street to the gleaming stoop of the Rocky Top Diner.

Seamus Duffy accelerated up the steep trail that led to the far side of Duffy Mountain. Something or someone had triggered one of the perimeter alarms that his youngest brother Liam had installed throughout their two-hundred-acre forested property. It was probably just the deer, but he wanted to check anyway.

Thea, his niece, was often alone in the house, and even though they’d taught her how to take care of herself, he and his brothers had spent their lives in war-torn places and had seen the worst of men and how unprotected women fare. They owed it to Patrick, Thea’s deceased father, to protect her with their lives.

As Seamus rounded a patch of thick trees, he saw a flicker of light from deeper in the woods. Slowing, he scanned the area, looking for movement. Everything was still and silent.

He’d spent his life hunting four-legged prey, and he wasn’t often wrong. Turning off the ATV before dismounting, Seamus pulled his rifle from the leather gun case and walked into the woods. When he’d been younger, Seamus had walked every inch of the mountain with his younger brothers Rionach and Liam, reconnoitering and laying traps for unwelcome visitors.

Twenty feet from the trail, he found evidence that someone had been there, and they were big. It had rained recently, and the damp earth showed an indention almost a meter long of what was clearly a bare footprint. Scanning his surroundings, Seamus tried to figure out what he was dealing with. He didn’t know of anything that would leave that kind of track.

It was more than two inches deep, indicating significant weight, and the step pattern suggested it was well over nine feet in height and walked on two feet. Seamus’s intuition, honed in the jungles of southeast Asia, was tingling. Something was out here, and it was not human. But what else would leave such a human-looking footprint – with five toes, an arch, and heel pattern?

The snap of a branch was the only warning Seamus had before a heavy weight slammed into his head, knocking him sideways. Before Seamus could react, his rifle was pulled from his hands. Lying on his back, he shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears as blood poured into his eyes.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Standing over him was a creature shaped like a human of gigantic proportions with grey, rough skin, patchy hair sprouting everywhere, and a bulging jaw line. It looked down at him with bulging eyes, a sharp hooked nose, wide lips with protruding tusks, and fleshy lips. Dressed in dark clothes that looked like a security uniform, Seamus could see the name McKinna stitched above the pocket.

What are you- before he could finish, the creature lifted a giant barefoot and kicked him in the side. Seamus heard something crack and felt a searing pain as he rolled to get away. From this angle, he could see three more of these creatures, all equal in size, wearing the same uniform and staring at him with a look that promised more pain.

Seamus had a moment to think about his brothers and Thea before he saw the butt of his rifle coming toward his face, intense pain and then nothing as he slipped into darkness.

Thea wrenched the front door of the Rocky Top Diner open, sending the overhead bell bouncing to the floor. She scanned the sea of faces that turned at the noise.

Fantastic, the diner was already packed with the breakfast rush. Raising a hand, Thea awkwardly waved as she moved forward into the silent room. Her business partner, Ursulette Clemons, looked up from the table she was wiping with a raised eyebrow.

Sorry. Thea mouthed before bending to pick up the bell. Backtracking, she pulled the glass door shut.

Okay, she’d totally overreacted. It wasn’t like she’d been tracked by evil henchmen in a secret communication center hidden somewhere in Rocky Top. Because first, why would there be a secret communication center in her little town, and second, why in the world would it be tracking her?

Thea.

It’s not like she was the Queen or something.

Thea.

Ursulette’s sharp voice pulled Thea from her thoughts. Sorry, I was—

Lost in your head, I know. Ursulette motioned Thea forward, smiling at someone over Thea’s shoulder. Morning, Chief. How many?

Six. Police Chief Wes Donahoe’s gruff voice from behind Thea made her jump.

Fabulous. Thea hoped the new Police Chief and his band of hottie-merry men hadn’t seen her running hare-scary down the road like a bat out of hell. Maybe it had been them watching. Hard experience had taught her not to trust the police, especially ones she didn’t know.

Whenever she turned around, Chief Wes and his men were eye-balling her. It would be fine if it were in a we-find-you-hot kinda way, but it wasn’t. It was more like a what-the-hell-are-you-doing kinda way that grated on her nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.

It didn’t help that a lifetime of conditioning by her uncles made Thea leery of any law enforcement. Thea had her own history with law enforcement, especially the County Sheriff, that made her distrust anyone who wore a uniform. Over the years, she’d had countless scrapes and been inside the Sheriff’s Office so often that she’d almost been an honorary deputy of Lewis County.

Almost.

But Chief Wes was a different kettle of fish. So different that she couldn’t quite figure out why someone like him would be in a place like Rocky Top.

It just didn’t make sense. Not that Chief Wes was a bad guy. As far as Thea knew, he was a great Police Chief. He was maybe late-forties and attractive if you liked the older Captain America type. Even so, she didn’t like him. Maybe it was the whole superhero vibe, or maybe it was years of people being shitty to her, but she just didn’t trust him.

Besides, he said hello to her every time he saw her, which was weird. People had been walking by Thea, avoiding eye contact

Reviews for The Beginning

[Patty · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Looking forward to reading more. The characters are well developed. I especially liked Thea. I can see the Mountain top and the home the uncles built. I pretty much consumed this reading in a day. Thanks