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  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Lisa Ladew. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original One True Mate remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Lisa Ladew, or their affiliates or licensors.

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  ONE TRUE MATE

  New Blood: Shifter’s Haven

  by Erin Lafayette

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  Notes from Erin

  Special Preview of Book Two - New Blood: Shifter’s Steel

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to my amazing family for all their love, help and support, and especially for their encouragement in helping me write my first book. I couldn’t have done it without you. I love you.

  Special thanks to Lisa Ladew for creating this amazing world, for sharing the One True Mates with us and for allowing new authors the space to create. Without you this book could not exist. Thank you.

  Chapter One

  Alex Wright cruised slowly through the streets of Serenity, Illinois in his old Land Cruiser. He rested one hand lightly on the steering wheel and with the other pressed the button to ease down the driver’s window. Cold wind swirled in. The Midwest fall was moving in quickly and there was a chill to the air he wasn’t used to. He grimaced. Los Angeles never got this cold, but he kept the windows down to take in the scents. If he was going to make this his new home he needed to learn everything about this town. He also needed to get used to the cold, but that wouldn’t be a problem for him.

  He let his mind wander as he drove, trying to prepare for the challenge of his first day on the job. He knew was getting his big break. Everyone knew about Serenity. These cops were on the front line everyday, protecting humans, fighting Khain and giving hope to everyone by finding the One True Mates. But they were almost legendary at this point, becoming larger than life heroes to the wolven in the rest of the country. Well, he guessed he was just going to have to step up.

  But he wished he knew even a little bit about what exactly they expected of him. Even his lieutenant in LA hadn’t known what was happening, just that a request came from up high, and that Alex had a week to get to Serenity. He glanced into the back of the truck, where his whole life was packed up in boxes. It wasn’t much, mostly just clothes and lots of electronic gear. Like most wolven, he spent most of his time working. Unlike most wolven in LA though, he spent a lot of his free time surfing. He sighed. No point in bringing his boards to Illinois with him. Hopefully someone else would use them, but he didn’t think it was very likely. The only important things, a few pictures, his old badge, tactical clothes and some other things he would need in the field, were packed in a duffel bag on the passenger seat next to him.

  He knew he was close when the scents of other wolven came to him strong and heavy through the open window. Bringing his attention fully back to his surroundings, he turned his truck into the main parking lot in front of the Serenity police station.

  There were cops coming and going all over, moving through the parking lot with purpose. Some things are the same everywhere he thought. But there was an extra edge here. The males here were harder, more alert, and a few even looked up in challenge as a strange truck pulled in. He saw them relax a fraction when they caught his scent, another good reason to keep the window down, but they still noticed everything.

  Alex pulled into a space near the main door and took a deep breath. Waiting wasn’t going to help. He was ready. “Time to do this,” he told himself. He grabbed his duffel bag from the passenger seat and stepped out of the truck.

  He headed for the front steps, stepping across the sidewalk through the cool breeze and the red and orange leaves littering the ground. Again, the males outside the station immediately zeroed in on him, even with his scent. He knew they were supposed to be hard, that they needed to be hard, but what kind of place was this when cops were suspicious of even other wolven? And what did they need from him?

  He steeled himself, squared his shoulders and grabbed the door handle. With a deep breath, he pulled the door open and walked inside to face his new life.

  ____________________

  Alex eased through the crowded entryway, spotting the main desk in front of him at the far end of the lobby and heading over. Even through all the commotion, the desk sergeant fixed his attention on Alex as he approached. The old veteran raised an eyebrow.

  “What can we do for you?”

  Alex dropped his bag on the ground next to him and stood at the counter. “I’m Alex Wright. I’ve got orders to report to Deputy Chief Lombard.”

  The sergeant’s eyes narrowed and he gave Alex a hard look. Alex felt like he had been weighed and measured in an instant. “Really. Well, the Deputy Chief is expecting you.” The sergeant gave him a curt nod, hopefully satisfied with what he saw. “I hope you’re up for it son.”

  The sergeant quickly scanned the lobby then raised his voice and called out. “Handley.” He beckoned over a patrol officer walking past. “I need a favor if you have a minute.” A large officer in patrol blues stopped and turned back to the desk. He nodded to the sergeant. “You got it sir.” The sergeant nodded. “Perfect. This is Officer Wright with orders to report to the DC. Take him downstairs right away.”

  The sergeant turned back to Alex. “Officer Handley will take you to the Deputy Chief. Good luck.” And with that turned back to his work, dismissing Alex.

  Alex picked up his bag and moved towards Handley. The male looked him over as well, but gave him no response, not even a move to shake his hand, just a curt “Follow me” as he moved off

  Alex frowned. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but a decent greeting or even a little explanation would have been nice. What were their problems? He didn’t ask to come here, and he certainly wasn’t taking anyone else’s place. He still didn’t even know what he was doing here. He didn’t let that show on his face though. He just started walking.

  They moved through the security doors separating the lobby from the main work floor, and Alex saw the rows of desks clustered together and filled with wolven. The noise of background conversation filled the air, and both detectives and uniformed officers filled the space. Everyone moved with a purpose and Alex nodded in approval. This was definitely a buttoned down precinct. There was no slacking off, no lounging and definitely no screwing aroung.

  As he followed Handley through the room, the noise of the background conversation slowly dropped and then died completely. Conversations stopped as all of the wolven turned to watch him. He felt his hackles rise with all of the eyes on him and a low growl start to build in his chest. Alex stopped. Welcome or not, he needed to make a stand, to stake out his place if he was going to live and work here.

  He dropped his bag and pulled himself to his full height of 6’4”. If they wanted to stare, he would at least give them a show. He felt a surge of power and let his eyes bleed to gold. He looked around the room, locking onto the eyes of any male willing to meet his. They might be tough here, but even i
f he didn’t know what he was doing yet he knew no beat cop or junior grade detective could handle him. Twenty years in the war camps and three years on the streets of LA had taught him that. He looked through the room as the other males glanced away. As he expected, no one here would challenge him. Slowly but surely, even the biggest of the other cops dropped their eyes and went back to their work. The hum of background conversation slowly built back up.

  Alex picked up his bag and turned to Handley who had paused to wait for him. He bored his gold eyes into the brown eyes of the other male. “Let’s go.”

  Handley stared at him for a second. Then he quickly dropped his eyes in submission. He looked around the room and gave a small shake of his head. Without speaking he started moving again.

  Handley led Alex to the back of the room and a stairwell leading down. He headed down without waiting. With silence growing deeper as they moved, they went down three flights of stairs before coming to a stop in front of a steel reinforced door at the bottom. Handley went through without a word. Alex followed after him, frowning. Who put a police station in the basement? Especially one that looked like a bomb shelter.

  As Handley passed through the door Alex saw a concrete tunnel lined with bare pipes and ductwork and flooded with harsh light. More steel reinforced doors lined the tunnel, and he saw additional tunnels leading off from multiple intersections ahead. His frown deepened. It looked like a military compound, not a police station.

  Handley stood just in front of him, holding the door open and waiting for him to come through. Handley pointed down the tunnel. “Straight ahead. Second door on the left.” Alex nodded and kept walking as Handley ducked back through the door. It clanged shut behind him, and Alex was alone in the tunnels. The effect of his small victory upstairs slipped away. As familiar as the station upstairs was, this tunnel was completely uncharted territory.

  Alex took a deep breath. No sense in waiting. He moved down the tunnel to the door Handley pointed out and knocked sharply three times. He heard a deep voice call out.

  “Come in.”

  Chapter Two

  Inside was a small briefing room, familiar again after the starkness of the tunnels. The room was long and narrow, with a desk and a podium upfront and ten sets of tables and chairs facing them. A large whiteboard filled the wall behind the desk. The far wall held three large flat screen TVs and the back wall had a small console with a coffee machine that looked like it hadn’t been used in years.

  When he pushed the door open, Alex felt five sets of hard eyes lock in on him. Three wolven around his age were sitting near the front, but his eyes immediately went to the male standing at the podium. Even though he was older, with thick silver hair, the male radiated strength and authority. This must be Deputy Chief Lombard. Alex had met Citlali before, but none of them had the power of this male.

  “Alex. Welcome. You’re the last one to join us.”

  His face dropped. He already knew did not want to disappoint this male. “Am I late sir?”

  The Chief gave him a tight smile. “No. We aren’t scheduled to start for fifteen minutes. But we have a saying around here. Early is on time and on time is late. So you’re on time. But next time be early.” The Chief pointed. “Take a seat. Then let’s finish introductions and get started.”

  Alex eased forward and dropped into the seat the Chief had pointed at, still feeling everyone’s eyes on him.

  The Chief continued. “As I was saying. I’m Deputy Chief Wade Lombard.” He softened his features as he went on, relaxing into a more fatherly pose. “You can call me Wade though. Unless you screw up. Then you’d better stick to Deputy Chief. In any event, welcome to the Khain Special Response Team.”

  Wade paused to let that sink in. Shock filled Alex and his jaw dropped. He hadn’t known what to expect, but being part of the KSRT was beyond anything he could have imagined. These males were the best of the best, hard beyond belief. He knew he was good, strong and tough, but was he really at that level? The KSRT?

  Wade looked around the room at each male, seeing the surprise standing out on each of their faces. He continued. “As you know, the One True Mates have been found, which has proved to be both a huge relief and a huge advantage to us wolven.” He paused to let that sink in looking around at the males sitting in front of him. Alex couldn’t help but grin at that. Everyone knew about the One True Mates – the best thing, maybe the only good thing, to happen to the wolven in over twenty-five years. And now there were even cubs too. New cubs! Alex couldn’t help but grin. He saw the others do the same. The One True Mates were enough to make even the hardest males smile. At the same time, he felt a pang of loneliness and a deep longing in his chest. If he was completely honest with himself, he main reason he had agreed to take on a set of unknown orders and move to Serenity sight unseen was to be close to the One True Mates. And maybe if he was really lucky, one day find one of his own. He had never even dared to dream about cubs, but he couldn’t help himself now. His mind filled with the thought of racing through the deep woods, bounding through the deep snow, with two small wolves racing behind him…

  Herrrhem. Wade cleared his throat, snapping everyone back into the present. He knew what they were all thinking. Then he resumed.

  “But with the discovery of the One True Mates, we’ve had to dedicate a lot of our resources to finding them and then to protecting them and their new cubs. And a lot of our best males are mated, which means they are spending almost all of their time protecting their mates. It also changes the types of missions we are willing to send those males on. But even worse, Khain and his minions have become far more active since the One True Mates have been found. Especially in targeting the One True Mates directly.” He paused, ice filling his voice. “And the cubs.”

  Alex felt himself growling as he thought about Khain coming after the cubs. That demon had nearly destroyed the wolven once by killing all of their females. The suffering of the males had been devastating. But it would pale in comparison to what would happen if the One True Mates were taken away, if hope was ripped from the wolven now, after so long in darkness and despair. Alex would never forget the horror of loss and the harshness of the war camps where he grew up. He would do anything to prevent that from happening again and to protect the One True Mates.

  “So, simply put, we need reinforcements for the KSRT. We need the best males we can find. The strongest, the smartest, the toughest, the most stubborn and the most loyal. And that, gentlemen, is where you come in.”

  Alex felt his chest swell with pride.

  “I have high hopes for you. We’ve searched the entire country to locate you. Rhen thinks that something big is coming. Maybe even the final showdown with Khain. We need you, and more importantly, the One True Mates need you. I know you won’t let me down.”

  Wade stopped, meeting the eyes of each male in turn. When his eyes met Wade’s, Alex felt the weight of the challenge he was accepting, the importance to the wolven of the KSRT and the true call of duty. He nodded. He would never turn this down. If Wade wanted him for this, no matter what the reason, he was all in.

  When Wade had finished, he pointed at the male sitting in the first desk. “This is Eric Steele. We’re promoting him from patrol here in Serenity. He knows this town and the people in it. He’s even encountered Khain a time or two.”

  Alex watched the male as Wade introduced him. He looked like a Viking, with fair skin, penetrating ice blue eyes, and blonde hair so light it was almost white. He wore it longer than most cops, but slicked back so it still looked professional. The male was absolutely huge, taller than Alex and probably closer to 6’7”. He had thick slabs of muscle but he still moved with a fluid grace. Without a doubt this male could handle himself in any fight.

  Wade moved on to the next male. He was dark to Eric’s light, with dark brown hair in a short crew cut and a dark complexion. “Jason Strom from New York.” Although this male was smaller than Eric, and even Alex, he was still well over six feet of ripped muscled
, but honed to a razor’s edge. He vibrated with danger and barely contained violence, like a cobra poised to strike.

  Wade pointed again. This next male was slightly softer and slightly less focused, but only in comparison to Jason. His brown hair was extremely long for a cop and pulled back in a short ponytail. He was also dressed completely differently than any cop Alex had ever seen. Leather cords adorned with crystals hung around his neck and leather bracelets and cuffs sat on his wrists. He also had silver earrings, one in each ear. He looked a little bit like the surfer hippies Alex had seen in Southern California, but he was still heavily muscled and moved with the power and grace of all wolven. When Alex met his eyes he saw a depth of knowledge and understanding there, like a shaman was looking directly into his soul. Maybe this male was another citlali. “This is Mark Holcourt from Chicago. Also known as Merlin.”

  Wade pointed to Alex, and he felt each of the others take him in in turn. “Alex Wright, from Los Angeles.”

  Next, Wade pointed to the table near the back of the room. Alex started. How had he missed this male? A giant male sat there staring uncomfortably down at the floor. He didn’t look or smell like any wolven Alex had seen before. The male seemed to be as wide as he was tall, with huge arms and shoulders, tree trunk legs and a back as broad as the table he was sitting at. He had a thick brown beard and curly brown hair and a thick flannel shirt completed the lumberjack look. His movements were slow and gentle as he grudgingly looked around at the rest of the team, showing them honey brown eyes, then up at Wade with a confused frown. “I still don’t know why I’m here Chief.”