New Beginnings

New Beginnings

An Others of Edenton
Prequel

Brandy L Rivers

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Brandy L Rivers

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights
under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written
permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of
this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's
imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the
trademarked status and trademark owners of various products
referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without
permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not
authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark
owners.

In Too Deep

Book 1: Others of Edenton

Coming Soon

Shadows of the Past
Book 2: Others of
Edenton

I hope to have this out before the end of the
year.

To keep up with upcoming releases and news visit me
at

www.brandylrivers.com

www.facebook.com/brandylrivers

www.twitter.com/brandylrivers

Dedication

To my wonderful husband who has been with me
all these years.

I couldn
’t wait for our
anniversary to release the book.
Look at it this way; we have the whole day to celebrate now.
Love you, babe

Acknowledgments and Thank Yous

There are a lot of people I want to
thank.

Let’s start with my personal cheerleading
squad. These were early readers who loved the early work and urged
me on New Beginnings. Thank you Bev, Anna-Marie, and Christy.

My Beta readers are amazing. Let’s hear it
for LJ Baker, Amanda Keeney, Magen McMinimy, Echo Hill, Doris
Orman, Kristin Mayer, Orry Beneveides, and my best friend in the
whole world, Michele Myers.

Special thanks to my Mom and Emma who helped
proofread.

I have to say that the bloggers and reviewers
who take time out of their busy lives to blog about us indie
authors are amazing. I have a huge list of favorites, and I’m not
going to start listing all of them here because I’d be going on
forever and then I’d forget someone and feel bad. Check my Facebook
page, I share their pages often.

I have been lucky enough to be involved in
For the Love of Fiction, which is a great group of authors, a
handful of swag makers, and some amazing bloggers. I’ve learned a
lot from the group, and they are all amazing people. In fact, a
good chunk of the people listed above are from that groups.

And last, but certainly not least, my street
team Rivers Others. It’s new and I am not the best at naming things
but these ladies are amazing. Love you all. Thank you Tarnya
Rutheford for helping me set it up. I’m not going to name each
individual, because I managed to have 30 wonderful readers join
me.

Someone was snoring like a freight train.
The racket threatened to shatter Jess’ skull. She was burning up
thanks to the blazing hot furnace pinning her down. One eye opened
to find a sheet of auburn hair draped over her face.

Oh shit.
She was dreaming. Right?
Surely she wasn’t stupid enough to sleep with her goddamned
Alpha.

Gregory ripped a nasty fart and she just
about died from the stench.

Fuck
. It wasn’t a dream. She barely
managed to scoot out from under him while holding her breath.

Thanking every deity she could think of, she
gathered up her scattered clothes and snuck out without waking the
dumbshit up. After she pulled her outfit on, she crept out the door
and into her truck.

The night before was a blank. She couldn’t
remember how she managed to get there. Hopefully she wouldn’t
remember. Maybe she’d be lucky and he wouldn’t either.

Sure
… and hell might freeze
over
.

Years of turning Gregory down because of
this exact vision, and there she was living it. He had always been
a misogynistic sleazeball, but had respected her hands-off policy.
Now that he had a piece, he was going to be after more.

Jess gagged and tried to force back the
repulsion.

At least she had a backup plan. It seemed
like the perfect time to put it into effect. She turned toward
Painted On You. Her best friend Fallon would be there, but Jess
hoped to God she was busy. The last thing she wanted to do was
start World War III over moving.

Fallon’s boss was the one Jess needed to
see. She just needed to get Gabriel alone. A week ago he told her
about an Alpha with a vacant bar to sell.

Flashbacks of the previous night plagued her
drive. It all started with Bill’s Moonshine. Now she knew why she
hadn’t bothered with it before. Her head was still pounding like a
bass drum. The last time she had been buzzed was before becoming a
wolf fourteen years before.

Jess attempted to tell Fallon why Isaac
was late to the party. Fallon wasn
’t hearing it, she was
sick to death from all of Jess’ visions regarding the man in
question.

It killed Jess to know that the bastard was
cheating after less than a month in a relationship. There was no
proof, so Fallon refused to listen.

Instead of arguing, Fallon brought Jess a
plastic cup full of something that smelled like strawberry flavored
rubbing alcohol. Fallon raised her glass and said,
“To new
beginnings.”

Jess tapped her cup against
Fallon
’s and then gulped down the sweet yet potent
concoction without a second thought.

It quickly turned into a drinking
competition as Fallon handed her another and downed her own.

Everyone was yelling,
“Chug, chug,
chug.” And Jess was always up for a challenge.

By the fifth cup she was well on her way
to drunk. So she didn
’t protest when Gregory came up behind
her to kiss along her bare shoulders as his hands grazed along the
waist of her skirt. In no time, he was all over her, and she was
horny as hell. Toys only got you so far, and he had agile fingers
and a talented tongue.

Jess shuddered, there was a reason she
didn’t play naked with other wolves. She didn’t want to be
permanently bound to an overbearing dipshit. Mating sounded like a
pain in the ass to her. Thankfully, she never saw anything to
suggest that would be a problem with her pack. However, she didn’t
choose her visions, and she rarely got enough from them to actually
be useful.

She parked behind the shop and snuck in the
back.

Gabriel was right there and caught her
shoulders to hold her back. One brow arched as he took in her
appearance. “You look like hell.”

Jess whispered, “Can I talk to you?”

He nodded and stepped into his office. She
followed and shut the door.

Now, he looked concerned. “Jess, is
everything all right?”

Shoving her hands in her pockets, she looked
up at him through her lashes. “Seal in the sound?” It was a simple
spell for most casters. Gabriel could do it in seconds.

He nodded, but frowned as he worked the
magic.

She dropped into a chair and fidgeted with
her leather bracelets as she looked at all photos on the walls. He
didn’t have a computer on his desk. Just everything he needed to
draw his art, an old phone, an ancient ledger and an old fashioned
rolodex.

He turned to her. “Spill it, Jess.”

The words poured out of her mouth in a rush.
“I don’t want to tell Fallon, but I need that Alpha’s number, the
one in Washington with the empty bar. I need a fresh start, and to
get far away from Gregory before his sleaze factor becomes
unbearable.”

Humor lit his eyes. “Oh Jess, I tried to
tell you to slow down on Bill’s Moonshine.” He moved around his
desk and flipped through his contacts. At a hundred years and some
change, the man was opposed to most technology unless it had to do
with tattoo guns. “You sure you want to move without telling
Fallon? You know that’s going to hurt her worse than you just
telling her what’s up.”

“I don’t know about that, Gabe. She doesn’t
want to hear shit, and if Fallon doesn’t know about me and Greg,
then maybe I can forget it.”

“Can you ever forget anything?”

“You know you aren’t helping, right?” She
glowered at him, and snapped the card out of his hand. “Please
don’t tell her. I will in time.”

“Good luck with that.” Gabe snorted. He
already knew how the conversation with Fallon would play out
because she had told him about it a week ago.

It was futile to avoid the subject, but
maybe just once it would work. She didn’t want to hurt her best
friend, and she knew this would. It was a damned mess.

“Thank you.” She gave Gabriel a squeeze, and
then let herself out before Fallon could catch her.

* * * *

Clara screamed, and Slater ran through the
forest, back toward their cabin. He flew past the trees with his
heart thundering in his chest. The love of his life was in trouble,
and he had to get to her. He heard the roar of a bear, and she
screamed again, this time in pain.

He ran past their home, through the
stream, and into the clearing. A giant grizzly tore into Clara,
ripping into her stomach and ribs. She didn
’t fight, didn’t
even scream this time. A wet gurgle escaped her lips as the light
faded from her eyes.

Slater yelled, and charged at the bear,
shifting into his half man form as he went. He threw the bear
across the clearing, and dove on him. Driving his knees into the
beast
’s chest, he grabbed it by the head and wrenched it
around with a series of sickening pops. His claws slammed into the
carcass and tore, shredding the hide as he ripped apart its
entrails, and crushed the bones.

The ringing cell phone brought him out of
the nightmare. He bolted upright, and the deadweight of a cold arm
fell from his chest and landed on the bed with a thump. His heart
pounded in his chest, but he shook off the chill as he looked down
at Victoria who was dead to the world until dark.

While the vampire was among his closest
friends, she was the only one he released his sexual tension with.
He still hated waking up next to her cold corpse in the morning,
and the always present scent of blood in her lovely home.

The second ring snapped him back to his
surroundings. He took a deep breath and answered. “This is
Slater.”

“Hi. I’m Jess Abrams and I’m looking to
become a part of your pack.” Her voice was warm and melodic, but
colored with attitude. “I’m not really sure how this works since
I’m sort of avoiding my Alpha at the moment.”

That caught his attention and he scrubbed
his hand over his face. “Who is your Alpha?”

She let out a heavy sigh, “Gregory
Harper.”

So she was from San Francisco. “Is there a
particular reason you’re avoiding your Alpha?”

“You wouldn’t believe me.”

His mouth curled into an amused grin. “Try
me.”

“I happen to be psychic,” she told him. “I
saw this morning a hundred times, and I still made a stupid mistake
last night. Gregory was always slimy, but now he’s going to amp up
the sleaze factor and treat me even shittier, even though I’m the
only reason his damned bar is successful. I honestly don’t think I
can take his begging and pleading to get back into my pants.”

Slater’s jaw clenched and he nearly crunched
the phone.

Her groan was full of self-disgust. “I’ll
never be an Alpha’s little toy because I respect myself too much to
repeat
that
mistake. Plus, I’ll take great pleasure when he
realizes his bar will fail without me. He’s going to beg me to come
back and I’m just going to laugh.”

It sounded as if she flopped back on her
bed. “See? It sounds ridiculous. I get that. You can feel free to
laugh and call me crazy, but you did ask.”

He didn’t laugh. Instead, he fought back the
anger that twisted through his gut, and repressed a growl.

One, he never disrespected women, but
Gregory was notorious for treating women like second class
citizens. Two, the thought of this unknown woman with Gregory did
not sit well with him at all.

“Well, I do believe you.” He told her.
Gabriel had called the week before. That’s when he mentioned a
feisty werewolf who was interested in joining Slater’s pack. He
also mentioned that she was psychic and close to her breaking point
where her Alpha was concerned.