Claimed: A Paranormal Shifter Romance Novel (Crescent City Wolves Series Book 1) Read online

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 2019 by Bella Night / Christina Benjamin

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Crown Atlantic Publishing

  Version 1.1

  September 2019

  Contents

  1. Etti

  2. Greyson

  3. Etti

  4. Greyson

  5. Etti

  6. Greyson

  7. Etti

  8. Greyson

  9. Etti

  10. Greyson

  11. Etti

  12. Greyson

  13. Etti

  14. Greyson

  15. Etti

  16. Greyson

  17. Etti

  18. Etti

  19. Greyson

  20. Etti

  21. Greyson

  22. Etti

  23. Greyson

  24. Etti

  25. Greyson

  26. Etti

  27. Greyson

  28. Etti

  29. Greyson

  30. Etti

  31. Greyson

  32. Etti

  33. Greyson

  34. Greyson

  35. Etti

  36. Greyson

  37. Etti

  38. Greyson

  39. Etti

  40. Etti

  41. Etti

  Cursed - Book 2

  1. Etti

  2. Greyson

  3. Etti

  4. Etti

  5. Greyson

  Also by Bella Night

  About the Author

  1

  Etti

  Etti Blackwell leaned into the turn, loving the feeling of the balmy, Georgia wind lashing her skin as the hot engine growled between her legs. She squeezed the throttle harder, rocketing out of the series of winding turns. Asphalt blurred beneath her and she let out a blissful yelp. Nothing was as liberating as flying through the forest of trees on her motorcycle. It was her prized possession, and her parents’ worst nightmare. But then again so was everything Etti did. Right down to her refusal to go by her given Native American name, Etu.

  She squeezed the throttle again, hoping the breakneck speed would leave the heated conversation she’d just had with her mother behind. She was twenty-six years old, dammit. It was time she stopped letting her parents rule her life.

  By the time Etti pulled up to the Painted Wolf Tattoo Parlor, her cool demeanor had returned. She unlocked the back door and stowed her motorcycle in the utility room as usual, not trusting her prized possession on the streets. She wasn’t in a bad part of town or anything. There really wasn’t such a thing in Covington.

  The sleepy little country town outside of Atlanta had made quite a name for itself in the film industry over the past few years. Covington offered the perfect mix of quaint small town, forests, farms and rocky terrain that film scouts loved. And for some unknown reason the majority of movies made in the area were of the supernatural nature. It brought all manner of people to town—then again, not all of them were people exactly. What better place for supernatural beings to hide out than in plain sight?

  And Etti was smart enough to capitalize on it. Her tattoo shop catered to everyone, from looky-loo tourists, film stars and thanks to her special brand of ink, every kind of creature in between. Her shop, the Painted Wolf Tattoo Parlor, had garnered quite a name for itself, but Etti still wasn’t doing well enough to get a space on the iconic Covington Square.

  The Painted Wolf was located a block over and down a scarcely used alley. If you weren’t looking for it, you certainly wouldn’t stumble upon her tattoo shop by mistake. It was something she sort of enjoyed. The piss-poor location was the only one available when she’d been looking for a place she could afford a few years back. The cheap rent enabled her to pay her staff and turn a profit, so she really wasn’t looking to move.

  It was hard to believe that it had been four years since Etti signed the lease. She’d put her heart and soul into the little tattoo parlor and turned its previously shabby interior into a business she could be proud of. It had sort of become her second home—or escape from her current one.

  As lame and pathetic as it was, Etti still lived at home, with parents who despised her career choice no less. But she knew their family’s farm would never survive without the money she brought home from the Painted Wolf, or her unsavory lifestyle, as her mother called it.

  But Etti didn’t care what the hell they called her shop. It was her own little slice of heaven and the one thing she refused to give up—well, second thing if you counted her motorcycle. But hell, every girl needs a sweet ride!

  Since she was born, the only child to proud Native Americans, Etti had done everything her parents asked of her, including not going to college even though she’d been offered an art scholarship in Atlanta. She stayed home and helped run the family farm because it was “the right thing to do,” even if she despised it. But as time continued to drag on, Etti felt more and more stifled by her choices to remain at her parents’ beck and call. It bred resentment, which only added fuel to their already tumultuous relationship.

  A jingle of keys at the back door shook Etti from her bitter thoughts. A tall raven-haired man wearing a tight black t-shirt over his muscled chest strolled in smiling from ear-to-ear.

  “Why are you in such a good mood, Wes?” Etti inquired of her favorite employee. “Did you finally convince that chick at Alley Cat’s to sleep with you?”

  “How’d you know I was at the strip club?” Wes teased, his smile only growing. “I thought I washed all the glitter off this time.”

  “Because you’re always at the strip club.”

  “Don’t be bitter just because it wasn’t you in my bed last night,” Wes replied, ruffling Etti’s long black hair as he strode by. “There’s always tonight,” he added with a wink.

  “In your dreams,” she growled, ducking his roughhousing and smoothing her hair.

  Wes was the only one that ever got away with messing with Etti. And that’s only because he was her best friend. She’d known Wes since she was eight. They’d met in grade school and being the only two Native American students in the district, Wes decided they should be boyfriend and girlfriend. He even had the nerve to kiss her on the playground! Etti’s feelings were not mutual and she’d promptly punched him in the mouth. After that Wes settled for ‘just friends’.

  Etti pulled her hair to the side and threw it in a sloppy braid, dabbed on her favorite red lipstick and quickly smudged some dark eyeliner on her almond-shaped eyelids. She was mostly a no frills kind of girl and preferred to go without makeup, but running a tattoo parlor required a certain demeanor and she had to look the part. Etti didn’t mind wearing motorcycle boots and tight leather pants that hugged her curves. It gave her the perfect mix of sex appeal and bad-assery that was just dangerous enough to keep guys from staring too long—something necessary in her line of work.

  The clientele at the Painted Wolf kept Etti on her toes. Ever since word got out that her tattoo parlor used Immortal Ink, a for
mula she invented for its permanence, the majority of her clients were wolf shifters. Covington had an unusual number of them and they shared her affinity for ink. Shifters weren’t exactly out in all parts of the world. But since Etti and her artists were willing to look the other way, they’d become some of her best clients.

  She was always respectful of the shifter community, even though sometimes they could get a bit rowdy. For the most part it was nothing Etti couldn’t handle. Just some drinking and rough-housing, but still, she knew not to turn her back on a guy who could shift into a wolf at a moment’s notice.

  Etti enjoyed talking to her shifter clients. She loved hearing about their world. Their culture had many different rules than hers, one of her favorites being their bigger sense of the word ‘family’. And being able to turn into a wolf was pretty badass, too. I mean come on, who doesn’t want to take a bite outta someone every once in a while?

  She certainly could’ve used that skill today while arguing with her mother.

  Since Etti couldn’t pursue her art career in school, a tattoo parlor had been the next best thing. Of course her parents had been completely against it. Etti argued that she was simply continuing their tribe’s tradition of storytelling through art, but her mother would not hear of it. “Shifters are an abomination,” her mother had hissed. That was four years ago, and they were still having the same fight today.

  Etti’s parents blamed just about everything bad in the world on shifters. Bad harvests, sick livestock, missing animals and forget about when there were reports of freak animal attacks on humans! That’s what this morning’s fight had been about.

  “It’s happening again, Etu.”

  “Oh please, Mother. It’s just stupid hikers getting too close to the wildlife during mating season.”

  “They’re not animal attacks. That’s just how the shifters cover up their messes.”

  “Of course you’re blaming the shifters,” Etti grumbled to herself.

  Her mother followed Etti through the house, badgering her as she collected her things for work. “The shop is too dangerous. You shouldn’t be around those creatures. Especially when so many people have been attacked.”

  “Mother, calm down. I know how to take care of myself. And I don’t let anyone in the shop who I’m not comfortable with.”

  “You shouldn’t be comfortable with any of them! The shifters are unnatural and it goes against the old ways. You will bring a curse to our people.”

  Etti spun to face her mother. “The old ways? The curse? I’m so tired of these excuses!”

  “It’s not an excuse. It’s our way of life!” her mother shouted.

  “No, it’s not! You drive a truck to town, you use tractors to till our land, you watch television, you have electricity! None of those things are acceptable according to the old ways! You can’t have it both ways, Mother. You don’t get to pick and choose. And the curse is nonsense. You—”

  The rest of the words were struck from Etti’s mouth when her mother smacked her. Shock and pain washed across Etti’s face. She struggled to pull in steadying breaths and calm her raging emotions. Knowing the best thing to do was leave, Etti grabbed her helmet and jacket, furiously striding for the door. She paused to look back at her mother who was still shaking with indignation.

  Etti shook her head. “I’m going to go make some money to keep this crumbling farm together so you can continue to follow your old ways.”

  “You are an ungrateful disappointment, Etu!” her mother screamed after her, but Etti was already slamming the helmet over her head to drown out her mother’s voice.

  2

  Greyson

  “Grey, catch!” one of the males called. A hot pink bikini top came sailing his way.

  “Really, Derik?” Grey asked, shredding the garment into tiny pieces and tossing it into a trashcan on the deserted street.

  “That was a souvenir,” Derik muttered. “Why are you always such a buzzkill?”

  “I don’t know, maybe because I don’t want to get caught. We haven’t exactly been doing a good job at keeping a low profile. Have you seen the news? How long do you think ‘animal attacks’ are going to fly?”

  “Do you want out?” Derik growled, suddenly in Grey’s face. Both males’ eyes glowed in the moonlight, their wolves that dwelled just beneath their skin pushing close to the surface, ready to fight.

  “Knock it off,” Jake muttered, shoving his way between the pissing match. “Let’s get a drink,” he said, jerking his chin toward the nearby bar. “We’re supposed to be celebrating.”

  “That we are,” Derik said with a feral smile. “A new week, a new town to reap!” He strode to the door with three other shifters following closely behind.

  Jake held Grey back as the others entered the shady tavern. “What the hell are you doing, Grey?”

  “Nothing. I just . . . I didn’t think it’d be like this.”

  “Well, what the hell did you think it’d be like?” Jake asked. “We’re not boy scouts. We’re shifters—werewolves, Grey. And we only get to hunt like this once a year.”

  “I know, but it still feels wrong, and not to mention illegal,” Grey whispered.

  “Then why the hell’d you take the oath?”

  “You know why,” Grey growled, his voice deadly quiet.

  “Then you know what will happen if you piss Derik off. Everything you’ve done to protect your brother will have been for nothing.” Jake took a breath, observing Grey’s crestfallen face with his keen amber eyes. “Look, I know you’re new to the shifter lifestyle and even newer to Derik’s pack, but what’s done is done, Grey. There are only a few more weeks left to hunt. The best thing you can do is suck it up. And try to enjoy yourself.”

  “Enjoy killing humans?”

  Jake shrugged, his eyes dark. “Most of these assholes have it coming.”

  “Yeah, that college girl was a real threat to humanity,” Grey snarled.

  “Some people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he replied.

  Grey shuddered, remembering how the terrified co-ed had begged for her life. She’d been utterly defenseless in her skimpy pink bikini. She had nothing to shield herself from the roaming eyes of their pack as Derik took his time with her. He made her beg for her life with no intent of ever letting her walk out of those woods alive. He toyed with her, stripping her naked before he shifted into his menacing wolf form and gave the signal to the others.

  Bile burned Grey’s throat. He didn’t even know the girl’s name. Someone was out there missing her right now and it would probably be weeks before the police could even put together enough scattered fragments of bone to identify her. The girl had done nothing wrong. As Jake said, she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time—probably just out for a refreshing swim in the lake to escape the relentless Georgia heat.

  Perhaps she shouldn’t have been out there alone. Perhaps she should have known better than to go into the woods with so many ‘animal attacks’ in the area. But it didn’t excuse what they’d done to her. Grey had tried to stop it but his cries were drowned out by the vicious snapping and tearing of the girl’s flesh as the pack tore her apart.

  Anger at his own complacency surged through Grey as he stalked into the bar. A blue haze from the bar lights illuminated the place. The rest of his rowdy group of shifters were already slamming back drinks. A quick survey of the bar revealed that it was as deserted as the streets had been. Only one drunken patron slumped over the bar—probably passed out from the looks of him. Grey breathed a sigh of relief. Derik wouldn’t bother him. That wasn’t his style. He liked a fight.

  With the threat to innocent lives low, Grey decided to excuse himself to get some fresh air. He didn’t feel like drinking, and the smell of old booze was suffocating him. He walked up the staircase and out onto the rooftop terrace, interrupting a young couple who were too drunk or too horny to bother finding privacy before groping each other. Idiots. These were just the sort of stupid humans that
Derik would kill without blinking. He’d give some holier-than-thou speech about ridding the world of the wicked and then slit their throats. Wicked—what a joke. What was more wicked than a rogue pack of shifters on a four-week slaughter spree?

  Grey looked at the couple. They were just teenagers—high on hormones and life. He skulked toward them and cleared his throat. One look from Grey’s glowing silver eyes sent the half clothed teens scurrying toward the door.

  Finally, Grey was alone. He perched himself on the brick wall and looked down at the quaint town square below. Thankfully most of the stores were closed and there were only a few pedestrians strolling the sidewalks. They had no idea what monsters lay in their midst. Grey sighed knowing he wouldn’t find much fresh air here either. How could he when his mind was still clouded with his most recent kill?

  He looked up at the star speckled sky and longed for home. It’d been nearly a month since he’d seen his family. His mother. His little brother. His heart constricted. They were the reason he was on this stupid hunt to begin with. Just a few more weeks, he told himself. Then I can go back. Then they’ll be safe.

  ‘Until next year,’ his subconscious chided.

  Greyson West wanted nothing to do with this blood-lusting kill squad he now accompanied. But when his older brother, Reeve, was recruited and killed, Grey was forced to take his place because of the blood oath Reeve had sworn.