Shea: The Last Hope

Book 12

By Jana Leigh

Edited By Rose Colton

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it or it was not purchased for your use only, then, please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

© Copyright 2012 Jana Leigh. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

I want to take the opportunity to thank the people who have helped me so much along the way. As you all may know or not know Rose Colton and I have opened our own publishing business and are excited to help other authors follow their dreams. I want to thank Caroline, Tracy for all the listening they have had to do and not complain when I ask them to hurry up. Also, my shadow readers Crystal, Michelle, Myria, and Jamie, you guys are awesome and I know that I would have not gotten this done without you. And of course, my family who has to listen to me scream at the computer when I lose the book from not saving it. I love you guys!

Jana Leigh

Prologue

Lev stopped his car and stepped out onto the street of the small town that had drawn attention to itself in the last few weeks in the police community. They had called for someone to help take over the Police Department here, but their list of qualifications had been strange. He really didn’t think having an open mind seriously mattered in being a Police Chief. But he shrugged and applied anyway. There was something about this place that called to him, he was a member of the Milliken Pack, and he knew what had happened over the last few months. Milliken needed a Chief of Police; he hoped that they would allow him to hire a few more people, hell with all of this going on, they would need it.

Lev had been with the State Patrol since he retired from the military a few years ago.

Now he had to have order, the black-and-white decisions he had to make. There was the law, and breaking the law. In his mind that was it, if you got the whole grey thing going on in there it made a mess. And there was a lot of grey in Milliken, one of his first orders of business, should he get the job, would be to talk to Quin, the Alpha, about what exactly had happened the last few weeks.

He looked around the small town and sighed. It was the perfect place to live; he thought and stared at the store fronts that were popping up. Cami’s Bookstore, Wild Thing’s (what looked like a lingerie store from the window), The Diner, The Medical Clinic, and a few other stores that he could not see further down. He was standing in front of the City Building. He had an appointment soon with the Mayor of Milliken. The position only was posted for a few weeks. Lev thought it would take a lot longer to get a call from the Mayor to interview.

He stepped forward and looked at the window of the bookstore. There were a lot of women inside putting books away and setting things up. He smiled. Wow, they certainly had some good-looking women in this town. Wait, that was Cami, the Alpha female. He rolled his eyes; he had heard about her antics. It would be challenging to try to convince her to stay within his boundaries.

He noticed the sign in the window that said there was some kind of book signing coming to Denver where the other Cami’s Bookstore was. He lifted his eyebrows and wondered why a chain store would come here. But his attention was drawn away from that when he saw the beauty that was being shown as a bestselling paranormal romance writer.

Shea Channing. She was absolutely mesmerizing.

Lev stared at the poster closer to see the date. It was next week. He pulled out his phone and took down the address and times on his little calendar. If he could, Lev would be attending a book signing. He just needed to see this woman for himself to see if she was truly this engaging. She had long, red, curly hair and bright, green eyes she hid behind large glasses. He thought she looked like a pixie with her pointed chin and small smile. She sat in a large chair with a book in her hand, and he could see that she was very small. The chair seemed to envelop her. Her tiny figure made him feel very protective.

Lev had the incredible urge to find this woman, sit with her in the chair, and cuddle. His thoughts went from PG to X RATED in just a few seconds. What the hell was wrong with him? He wondered and shook his head. Yeah, he definitely had to make the trip to the book store.

He heard someone clear their throat behind him, and he turned. A large man with bushy, tawny hair and a shit-eating grin, stood behind him. “Hot, huh?” He said and looked the man over from top to bottom. He felt an instant connection with the man, and he drew back. It was strange though, Lev had never had this attraction to someone before, and certainly not two in one day.

The stranger was smiling at him with dimples on each side of his face. His handsome face looked like it had seen some fighting because he was certain his perfect nose that was now a little crooked had been broken a time or two. There was a small scar just over his lip, and Lev had the crazy insane feeling like he should kiss it.

Lev stepped back, looked at the ground, and said, “Yeah, I was thinking maybe I needed a new book to read.”

The other man laughed, and a shiver went down Lev's spine. What the hell was happening to him? Lev, who had always made the right decisions in the corps and at the police station, well thought out, well planned. But looking at this man made him want to throw it all away and have a little fun. Damnit, he never made rash decisions, but it felt like he was about to make several on the same day.

Lev held out his hand and said, “I am Lev Adler.”

“Griff Strent. That is my new shop right down there,” the man said and pointed to a store front a block away with an elaborate sign that hung over the door and looked new.

Lev squinted a little and read out loud. “GRIFF’s UNIQUE DESIGNS IN HANDMADE

JEWELRY?”

“Yep, just moved in today. I was bringing up an order, found this place, and fell in love.

It is the best move I ever made. You see; we have the best of both worlds here. First, we have the small town, and then we have the big city we can drive to,” Griff said and took a deep breath. “Plus, all this fresh mountain air. Amazing.”

Lev laughed and shook his head. How strange. Griff had an Irish Texan accent. He had never heard anything like it. “Well we will have to see; I have an appointment with your Mayor in about fifteen minutes. In fact, I am going to have to get moving if I am going to make it there, I am interviewing for the new Chief of Police position, and I want to make a good impression. Griff, it was nice to meet you. I will hopefully see you later.”

Griff grinned and gave him a look of passion and Lev almost forgot where he was going.

What the hell was wrong with him? He was seriously thinking about missing the interview and taking this guy somewhere and getting to know him better.

“Here, you take this and then come and see me when you are done with our illustrious leader,” Griff said and held out a small pewter figure.

Lev could not do anything but hold out his hand and say, “Thanks.”

Griff nodded and walked down the street toward his shop. Lev could not dwell on what the man had said. He did not want to be late. He put the small figure in his pocket, thinking he would get it out later and inspect it closer.

Lev jogged across the street and up the stairs of the City Building. A tall and older woman sat at the front counter. He approached and smiled. “Hi, my name is…”

“Officer. Mr. Strand will see you now. This way,” she said and walked around the corner and through the large doors that were at the end of the hallway. When he walked in, he noticed two things. The Mayor not organized, and he was also very relaxed for a Mayor. Mayor Strand sat in the corner with a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans with his feet resting on the desk.

“Sir,” Lev said and stepped into the room further, holding out his hand for the other man to shake.

“Ah, Lev. I am so happy to meet you,” the young man said and stood up.

They met in the middle of the room, and the Mayor pumped his hand excitedly. “You know; you are the only one who applied for this job. It’s sad really. We have such a nice little town, and no one wanted the job. Everyone I talked to said we were boring here.

Of course, none of them knew our true nature. I was glad when your family told me you were back. I hoped you would apply.”

Lev laughed. “I heard some already, I have to say boring, and uneventful are not two words I would use to describe Milliken. I have had enough conflict in my life; I think I can handle this.”

The Mayor nodded and then stepped back. “Sit,” he said and walked around the desk.

“So let me tell you a little about the town and what we expect.”

Chapter 1

Lev walked down the streets of his home town of Milliken, Colorado. Though he’d lived here all his life, for the last ten years, it had mostly been a place to crash. His job with the state police had kept him away for long hours every day. That had been fine with him because growing up, as a weaker human around so many stronger, faster shifters had been difficult. Even though he and his mother had been considered part of the pack, kids could be cruel and he’d taken quite a bit of abuse from shifter bullies from time to time. Even after his mom had hooked up with a shifter, the teasing, ridicule and occasional fight had continued.

His mom was really happy with Gregori, a Russian wolf shifter from the Ukraine, so he had never told them or complained. Now that summer was approaching, they would soon be heading back to Alaska. They usually wintered in Colorado and summered in Alaska. Now though, they were making noises about staying, time would tell, they had itchy feet.

His musings were interrupted by a sound on his left. “Hey Sid, how are things going?”

he asked.

“Busy, my friend, very busy. We’ve got most of the houses up, only two left. Trace, Shane, and Bama’s plans are just waiting on final approval, and we still have to wait on our last chosen one, and that project will be complete. I also wanted to thank you again for a couple of things. What with trying to get so many houses built in record time, we couldn’t have done it without a lot of non-pack help. I know it was a hassle processing background checks on so many people. With all of our safety concerns, it was great that we didn’t have to worry about security risks running around the compound. You really came through for our pack. And I wanted to say how much I appreciate your giving up your job with the state police to be the new Chief of Police here. None of the officers were really ready or alpha enough for the job.”

“Well, I believe I’m a good enough policeman for the job. I'm not too sure about the alpha part though. I took a great deal of shit from my so-called pack brothers growing up. I think that makes me more of a gamma, don’t you?” he answered with a sneer.

“Whoa Lev, I didn’t mean to touch on a nerve or anything,” Sid said taking a step back.

“Sorry, I’m just tired. We’re not getting anywhere on Sandy’s disappearance. And the officers are still putting me through the new guy wringer right now. Testing to see how far they can push before I stomp down on them. So why don’t I just change the subject and ask you what you’re doing here?”

Sid gave him a searching look and then seemed to come to a decision. He smiled and turned towards the store. “Cami and a bunch of the other ladies have decided to open businesses in town. This building is going to be a ladies clothing store. They’re going in with Shane’s mom. They talked her into it when they found out she was behind their favorite online store for lingerie,” he added with a wiggle of his eyebrows.