Authors: Becca Jameson
Completed
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Published By: Taliesin Publishing, LLC, PO Box 155, Sanford, MI 48657
www.taliesinpublishing.com
Completed
Copyright © 2014 by Becca Jameson
Digital Release: February 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62916-031-3
Cover Artist: James Caldwell
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Table Of Contents
Joshua Rice is a St. Louis doctor searching for his missing sister. At age twenty, she left The Gathering with her supposed mate and never returned. Josh is concerned about her well-being and engages a lawyer to help him in the dreaded event he should discover that his sister is dead. His suspicions are high.
Samantha Albertson is a St. Louis attorney who hasn’t attended The Gathering for years. She isn’t interested in being claimed, so she steers clear of the mating game. When her brother sends a friend to her for legal help, she finds herself face to face with Josh. The two shifters know immediately they have stepped in deeper than expected.
When Josh leaves town to pursue a lead on his sister, Samantha heads to court. The surprises just keep coming. The defense attorney, Nathan Craig, is also her mate. How the hell is that possible?
Rather than acting on their intense magnetism, Nathan and Stephanie drive eight hours to meet up with Josh. Things get heated when all three step into the same hotel room. No one expected or planned this arrangement. None of them have known any other shifters who mated with more than one wolf.
There is work to be done. While the three unsuspecting souls try to forge a path they can all agree on, they also must attempt to find and rescue Josh’s sister. Can they get to her before it’s too late?
To Georgia Woods for being one of the bestest people I know. Her guidance, friendship, and knowledge of all things under the sun have shaped me and made me the writer I am today.
Samantha Albertson reached across the desk and grabbed her cell phone with an exasperated sigh. The persistent ring tone assigned to her brother jarred her from her work. She was neck deep in paperwork, trying to find a loophole somewhere in this case she had spread out all over her office.
“Gabe.” She knew her voice sounded clipped, but she couldn’t spare him more than a minute. As a defense attorney, she was busy even when she slept, especially when she picked up a case as a public defender.
“Hi, Sam. What? That’s all I get, just Gabe?” He chuckled, his low voice vibrating through the connection and making her smile.
She leaned back in her seat and tipped her head toward the ceiling. The tendrils of hair that had escaped her makeshift bun fell back from her face, clearing her vision.
“You work too hard,” he stated.
“Sorry. I’m in the middle of a case, and… Yeah, you know the drill. You should talk.” Hell, Gabe was hardly better than her. The man hadn’t come up for air in ten years, ever since he’d left home for college and then medical school and residency.
“Not so much anymore, no. And I gotta tell ya, living life to its fullest has its benefits.” He chuckled again.
Samantha shivered. “Spare me the details, would ya?” Gabe had been to the biennial wolf gathering last month and met his mate. No doubt the man had been…occupied, ever since.
Lucky bastard
.
“Just sayin’…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. What’s up?” She really didn’t have time to dawdle. She leaned forward and glanced at her desk, tapping her pencil on the small sliver of wood visible between haphazard stacks of paper.
She really needed to clean up a bit before she totally lost everything in this office.
“I have a friend—”
“Oh, God, no,” she moaned. “I never like a sentence that starts with ‘I have a friend.’ It always implies free work for me. And I’m already deep into a pro bono case as it is.”
“Not this time.” Gabe paused. His voice sounded significantly more serious. “His name is Joshua Rice. I went to med school with him and now he lives in St. Louis.”
Hmm, a doctor?
Not likely he needed free legal advice. But… “Gabe, I know very little about medical malpractice.”
“It’s not about him. It’s his sister.” The grave voice turned more serious.
“What?”
“He’s concerned about her. She’s been essentially missing for a few years and he’s worried she’s being coerced by her husband.”
“Abused?”
“Maybe. He’s not sure. But the signs are there. Isolation. Disappearing for long periods of time. Little to no contact with her family. He has a private investigator looking for her, but he wants to get a lawyer now before he finds her, just in case.”
In case what?
She shivered. Any number of possibilities came to mind. “How long has it been since he’s heard from her this time?”
“Over a year.”
She sighed. Not the kind of story she liked to hear. It rarely turned out well. If this sister was a willing participant in her abuse, there was usually little anyone could do to extricate her from the situation. And then there was the worse-case scenario, she was dead. That’s when a lawyer really did come in rather handy.
“Give him my info. I’m swamped this week, but send him by. I’ll see what I can piece together to get started.”
“Thanks, Sam.” Gabriel mumbled something she couldn’t hear and then giggled. Giggled?
“Gabe?”
“Sorry. Kathy’s…she’s…” His voice was breathy.
“TMI.” Samantha smiled. Thank God one of them had found a mate. She truly was jealous of him, even though she didn’t have time for such a thing herself. “When am I going to meet this mate of yours?”
“Well, if you hadn’t been so damn busy, you’d’ve met her at The Gathering. Maybe. . .”
“Sure, ’cause you would have taken precious time out of your wooing schedule to make pleasant introductions and sit down for tea,” she teased. Matings didn’t work that way. Samantha wasn’t ignorant. Normally when two shifters met, all bets were off for anything they’d had planned individually for weeks.
Samantha knew Gabriel and Kathleen had had a rockier start than that, but still.
Gabe laughed, a deep sound that reminded her of childhood. When had he laughed like that since they’d become adults? Kathleen was good for him. He sounded more relaxed. He deserved some fun.
“True. And I’m not really willing to share yet. Soon. I promise.” He whispered again, the muffled sound of his hand over the phone telling her it was time to hang up.
“Okay, I’ve gotta go. I’ll be watching for your friend.” She hung up before he could respond.
Crazy newly mated couples. Why on earth were they always so involved with each other that the rest of the planet ceased to exist? She’d seen lots of claimings over the years when she’d been a child. The Wolf Gathering occurred every other spring at her parents’ home in Oklahoma. It wasn’t as though she could avoid the festivities.
But really? Was the mating process as disgustingly vomit-inducing as it appeared? Somehow she’d always known she wasn’t the kind of person who would fall for all that craziness. She was a strong woman. Lived on her own. Worked hard. Dated little. Chances of her ever running into a perfect match were slim. What man wanted to fall for a woman like her? Especially shifters. They tended to fall for demure sweet quiet girls.
She did not fit that bill. There wasn’t a demure bone in her body and she wouldn’t bow down to any man’s wishes, human or shifter. Fate had a way of pairing wolves up and She surely recognized the vain attempts to select a partner for Samantha years ago.
Joshua Rice stepped through the revolving door of the downtown building and headed for the elevators. He took a deep breath as he waited for the first available cab to take him to the fourteenth floor.
Every day that went by with no contact from Ashley made his hackles rise higher. Where was she? And why didn’t she call him?
They’d always been close, even as children.
A headache that had been aggravating him for several weeks now pulsed behind his right eye. He rubbed his temple for the millionth time as he stepped onto the elevator and pushed the button for his floor. Several other passengers boarded with him, but he stared at the ground, seeing nothing but a slew of feet. Several high heels, a few leather men’s shoes, and a child in sneakers.
He lifted his head to the blinking red numbers above the doors and watched their ascent. It seemed everyone on the elevator needed a different floor because the doors opened half a dozen times before finally stopping at fourteen.
Josh stepped out onto plush carpeting and glanced around. A trim blonde receptionist with a huge smile greeted him a few yards ahead. “May I help you, sir?”
“Yes,” he began as he straightened to his full height and made his way toward her. “I have a one o’clock appointment with Ms. Samantha Albertson.”
The woman glanced down at her computer and then turned back toward him. “Of course. Mr. Rice. Please, have a seat. I’ll let you know when she’s available.” The blonde pointed at a leather couch across from her desk.
The sofa looked luxurious and inviting. Josh was exhausted and wished he could rest for one moment, but the truth was, if he sat on that cushion, he would probably fall asleep. Instead, he turned toward the wall and pretended to analyze the paintings behind the couch. Abstract art was not usually his thing, but the trio of canvases lured him in with their perfect balance of bold colors. Ashley loved this sort of thing. She had an eye for it and a passion for painting. When she’d left town four years ago she hadn’t taken any of her work with her. Did she still paint?
“Sir?” The receptionist jerked him from his reverie. “Ms. Albertson will see you now.”
Josh followed the woman down the hall, watching her long straight hair sway behind her as she gracefully stepped on the carpeted corridor. The sleek receptionist carried herself with poise.
When the blonde opened a door and stepped aside, Josh took a deep breath. He wasn’t worried about this lawyer, but he was permanently nervous about Samantha. And discussing her always made him tense.
He stepped into the sun-streaked room, and the receptionist shut the door behind him with a snick. The first thing he noticed was the clutter. Holy hell, this woman was messy. He couldn’t see her among the papers and books for several seconds. A movement behind the desk brought his gaze to hers.
She smiled at him as he stepped forward. “You must be Joshua. Gabriel told me to expect you.” She stood, all five feet two inches. She was not just petite, but tiny, especially compared to her brother. They shared the same blond hair and blue eyes, but Samantha Albertson was a pixie.
Sweet sexy dimples emerged on both cheeks as she extended a hand. Long curls framed her face and he stared into the deepest blue pools of ocean as he took her small palm in his.
Holy Mother of God.
They locked gazes, neither releasing their grip. The earth stopped spinning as both of them inhaled deeply and then exhaled together as though choreographed.
Samantha was his mate. Unexpected. Hell, the timing couldn’t have been worse.
When Josh finally released her, their fingers dragged against each other as they let them slip apart. “Call me Josh,” he mumbled. Had the words even been coherent?