The Wylder Cat and The Pinkerton Agent

By April Hollingworth

Pinkerton Agent George McIntyre has come to Wylder to track down a thief known only as The Cat.
Allie Murphy, a jaguar shifter is the cat in question and will do anything to avoid being caught. She is not an ordinary thief and has her reasons for stealing from Walter Freeman, the man who hired George. The problem is no matter where she goes he seems to be one step ahead of her.
George finds Allie fascinating and is determined to get closer to her. Just as he realizes that this assignment is more complex than he imagined, danger rides into town and Allie and George will have to trust each other if they’re going to have a chance of surviving.

• Language: Unknown
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Feb 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781509246311

April Hollingworth

Born in Dublin, I moved to England, finally we came back home to Ireland. After being diagnosed with Asperger's Autism, I went back to college, recieved my QQI level 5 in Journalism in the Digital Age, QQI level 6 in Radio Broadcasting and finally my BA (Hons) in Media Production, specialising in film and TV. When I was a child I fell in love with books, amazing stories filled with mystery and intrigue, danger and fantasy this love has progressed into a passion with me. I also like photography and cemeteries the older the better. Books I've wrote: Poetry: Different Kinds of Emotions. Novels and Novella: Double Magick in the Falls (The Candi Reynolds Series #1) The Prophecy (The Candi Reynolds Series #2). The Protectors (The Candi Reynolds Series #3) the final book in the series. Be Mine (A Candy Hearts Romance). Eternity (The Reincarnation Series) Claiming His Mate (Shifter Mail-Order Series) Currently writing: The Wylder Cat & the Pinkerton Agent (Wylder West series) Lanterns in Wylder (Wylder West series) Cookie's Christmas Miracle (Christmas Cookies series) Mist in Time Reborn by Water (Celtic Trinity #1) The Dark Goddess (Mystic Soulmates book #1) Sisters in Arms (Tales from the Candi Reynolds World). ~ Where everything is possible ~ My website: http://aprilhollingworth.wix.com/april-hollingworth My Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/aprilhollingworthauthor Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/aprilhollingworthblog Medium: https://medium.com/@No1Bitchmaster Twitter: https://twitter.com/No1Bitchmaster Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/118009679059842391721/

Book preview

Please Allie, I need to know I’m not crazy.

After a slight hesitation where I honestly think of denying his knowledge and my other half, I finally answer. You’re not, going crazy I mean. I am…my whole family are shapeshifters.

Closing his eyes, he inhales a shaky breath, then says something I never would have expected anyone to say to me after finding out I’m a shapeshifter, Thank God!

Okay, not what I expected…

Thank you for telling me the truth, but I need to know, why are you stealing from Walter Freeman? It is only him you’re targeting, isn’t it?

I try to pull my hand out of his, wondering how come everything has suddenly spiraled out of my control.

For five years, I have lived in Wylder. No one the wiser I’m a thief or a jaguar. Now in only a few days, all that’s changed because of you. How is this possible? I exclaim in frustration, How?

Allie, you hinted there is a reason. Tell me so I can understand and maybe even help you?

How can you help me when you’ve been hired to arrest me?

Stroking the side of my face, George admits, Because I don’t want to arrest you, anyone but you.

Praise for April Hollingworth

Candi, a powerful witch, is sharing steamy nights with a glowing-eyed vampire, Victor, while they hunt a murderer and try to save themselves. Romance. Mystery. Murder. Find it all!

~Linda Joyce, author of Bayou Bound

In this fabulous book about a witch, we are drawn into a world full of intrigue, murder, magick and love. I loved this book! It was action-packed and full of surprises. April, you are my new favorite author!

~Anne Gonsalves

A unique paranormal, romantic, mystery filled with witches, vampires, and shifters. It grabbed my interest with its quick pace and snappy dialogue. I loved the characters, especially Victor and his effect on Candi.

~Christine Elaine Black, author

The Wylder Cat and The Pinkerton Agent

by

April Hollingworth

The Wylder West Series

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

The Wylder Cat and The Pinkerton Agent

COPYRIGHT © 2022 by April Hollingworth

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Tina Lynn Stout

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Edition, 2023

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-4631-1

The Wylder West Series

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

I’d like to dedicate this book to The Wild Rose Press, thank you for letting me be a part of this wonderful series.

Prologue

July 26, 1887

Crouching down in the bushes of Walter Freeman’s back garden, my jet-black fur blends easily into the shadows. I watch as a young kitchen maid sneaks out, presumably to visit the stable boy I’d noticed earlier. I can’t help but let out a quiet chuff, as she leaves the kitchen door ajar so she can reenter, tracking her progress as she hurries around the side of the house and across the yard, before disappearing into the stables.

I wait a moment more for any further noise. When silence from the house and yard greets me, I stalk toward the partially opened door, hook my paw into the gap and open it enough to squeeze my jaguar form through the opening. Prowling my way through the darkened house, I easily avoid furniture in my way.

My large paws pad silently across the redwood floors and up the staircase, nose twitching, my whiskers bristle as I scent the air, inhaling stale sweat and cigar smoke. I curl my lips back from my teeth in a silent snarl, flashing long deadly incisors, which can crush an animal or human skull in seconds.

My tail swishes from side to side in aggravation, narrowly missing a vase on the landing table. With a snort and shake of my head, I suddenly still. My ears swivel at a slight sound I catch from the back of the house and guess the maid has returned as I hear the deadbolt of the backdoor. When quietness resumes once more, I continue with deadly grace toward my destination, the master bedroom at the end of the long corridor.

Reaching it, I sniff the scent trail at the bottom of the door. With a chuff of satisfaction, I raise my head and blink in confusion at a strange-looking knob on the door. Transforming into my human form, I crouch down in front of it.

Dressed all in black, in my brother's hand-me-down Levi jeans, shirt, and waistcoat, my long black duster pools around me. I keep my Stetson hat pulled low over my eyes so my face stays in the shadow, holding it secured in place by the strings under my neck.

While my long, jet-black, braided hair is pinned in a tight knot on top of my head. A bandana covers the lower half of my face, and the lower half of my legs are encased in knee-high, cow hide boots, while my trusty foldable Winchester knife is secured in a specially made pouch in the inside of my left boot.

My gun belt crisscrosses my narrow waist, a Smith and Wesson revolver on my right side, and a knapsack hangs from my left. Finally, soft black leather gloves encase my hands. Dressed to blend into shadows and not be easily recognized, the only thing visible is my emerald-green eyes and the small band of skin between the bandana and the Stetson.

Men’s clothing is something I have always preferred to wear, but on nights of thievery, my ensembles easily hide the fact I am a female.

Grasping the knob on the door, I turn it first one way and then the other until the door clicks open. Easing through the doorway, I close it behind me, glancing around the darkened room. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust, but once they do, I quickly cross the room to the large dresser and search the drawers carefully. After a few minutes, I find one of the items I’ve come looking for taped to the underside of the middle drawer. My mother’s ring. I pocket it.

Unable to find the rest of the items I’m searching for and knowing time is running out, I retrieve a diamond-encrusted bracelet in a black velvet bag hidden beneath some linen shirts, ruby cufflinks, and a sapphire tie pin from the top of the dresser, and a gold snuffbox, partially to hide the intentions of my theft but also to pawn later, depositing them into my bag, which I’ve removed from my belt, I sling it across my back.

A distant noise catches my attention before I can search the rest of the room. Retracing my way back to the door, I once again listen. This time I hear the tread of a heavy boot on the stairs. Releasing a quiet curse, I sneak over to the large window and ease it open, pausing for a moment to glance around the room, lamenting at the lost opportunity to search further, before stepping out onto the lower protruding roof.

Hearing a shout from the street, I peek over and spot a man further down, looking