Suzanne's Sexy Shifters [Shy River Pack 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Free

the alpha ordered.
    Brigden almost collapsed with relief when he saw the dust from a vehicle coming up the winding mountain road. He didn’t expect to recognize Donovan’s vehicle, so the familiarity of it was a little disconcerting.
    As soon as Gideon Barclay stepped from the four-wheel-drive vehicle, his head swiveled to where Brigden stood watching. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity but was most likely just a glance. They’d managed to stay away from each other all these years, but how the hell were they going to hide that they were mates when they were forced to live under the same roof for half a year?
    Gideon nodded an acknowledgement, no more and no less than he would to any other pack member and then headed toward the house where the alpha of the Dry Creek pack resided.
     
    * * * *
     
    It was getting harder and harder to get out of bed every morning. Suzanne was self-aware enough to know that she was suffering a mild form of depression, but a part of her didn’t want to snap out of it. She actually wanted to wallow in her sadness for a while.
    Perhaps it was just the natural reaction to the death of a long-held dream. If had become clear in the past few months that she wasn’t likely to attain the lofty goals she’d set for herself. But right at this moment she didn’t even want to think about what she might do to change her future.
    She negotiated yet another overgrown mudhole, made a note of the problem in her logbook, and continued on her slow repetitive journey patrolling the park’s driving tracks. It was almost a relief to see a camper running toward her, arms waving madly as she tried to get Suzanne’s attention.
    “Oh, thank heavens,” the young woman said between huffed breaths, clinging to the window frame of the four-wheel-drive vehicle as she dragged in oxygen. “Oh, um, you’re a woman. I mean I…um…”
    Suzanne waited with an eyebrow raised and could almost imagine what the young perky blonde had been about to say if Suzanne had been one of her good-looking male coworkers. Please help poor little me, there’s a huge, scary spider sitting in my tent. I need a big, strong man to save me.
    What was it about a man in uniform that made women act so stupidly?
    But instead of the words she’d been expecting, the woman started to rant about something she’d seen in the woods. Suzanne blinked in bewilderment when the woman finally got to the point.
    “Look, I know it sounds weird, but I’m sure I saw a little kid running through the forest. He was about four, maybe five years old.”
    Suzanne waited for more, because surely there was more than this lame-ass, cover-her-embarrassment story. This was a family camping area. Of course there were kids running around. The younger woman gave Suzanne an exasperated look and tried again.
    “I was about a mile down that walking track,” she said, pointing at one of the easier trails in this area. “There was no one else around.” She rubbed a hand over her face tiredly. “Yes, I know hiking by myself is stupid but my friend and her new boyfriend were making me sick with their moaning and I needed to get away for a little bit.” She took a deep breath, apparently wanting to get this conversation over and done. “Anyway, this kid was naked, laughing, and rolling around in the grass. When I called to him, because, you know, I didn’t see his mom anywhere, he got scared and ran deeper into the forest. I thought maybe someone should know.”
    “Thanks,” Suzanne said, reaching for her two-way radio. She quickly checked with base and learned that no children had been reported missing. It was possible that the parents hadn’t even noticed yet. It was still fairly early, and kids had been known to leave a tent without waking their parents. She parked the vehicle near the camping site and then followed the woman to the track where she’d last seen the child.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Good timing,” the alpha of the Dry Creek