Page 1 of Prey

Chapter one

Books & Bikers

SHASTA

Opening the door to my bookshop, I stop and inhale the best smells in the world; coffee and books. All my life, Iknew I wanted to own a bookshop, and coffee is my second love, so it only made sense to combine the two. I also sell witchy stuff, but it’s not my main thing, mostly just hard to find items rather than your everyday spell use stuff.

Emmett, the manager of The Cauldron, and my best friend, is already here getting the coffee bar set up for the day. I see a few boxes set out along the shelves lining the walls which means we finally got the book shipment we’ve been waiting for. Thank the Goddess. They were two weeks late getting here because the other truck with the original shipment was involved in an accident.

“Good morning, Emmett,” I say as I set my bag down on the back counter. Reaching over, I pluck the coffee out of his hand that he just made me, looking at him over the rim of the cup. “How was your date night?” I ask, wagging my eyebrows at him. I take a sip and groan. Goddess, I love coffee.

“Shas, I swear to all the Gods, that man is going to be the death of me. I can’t keep up sometimes,” he says with a dreamy look on his face. He’s tall, with mocha skin, shoulder length dreads, and the prettiest green eyes I have ever seen. He’s a panther shifter, hence the green eyes. All the girls that come in the shop lose their shit when they see him, but he has a boyfriend and won’t give them the time of day.

Josiah chooses that very moment to walk in and Emmett blushes and wipes his hands on a towel and goes over to hug him. “We were just talking about you, Jo,” he says with a smirk.

Josiah winks at me over Emmett’s shoulder and I snort. These two love bugs give me hope for the future, though it does make me a little lonely when I think about my own love life these days, or lack thereof I should say.

My ex and I split two years ago now and it was a mutual breakup. I found out he was cheating the same day he decided to tell me he had found someone else. Coincidence? I think not. So,I mutually kicked his ass out of my apartment. I don’t know why I ever counted on it working anyway. He never even introduced me to his parents. I roll my eyes at my own naïveté.

Downing the last of my coffee, er…Emmett’s coffee that I stole from him, I push off the counter. Time to unload the boxes and open the door for the day. After grabbing the scanner for the books, I walk over to the door and turn the sign on in the window.

The first box is mostly some Magic for Dummies type stuff. How-to guides on spell casting and making potions. I don’t sell a lot of these, but enough to keep them stocked. Moving down to the next box I see the dark romance has come in. Yes! I have been waiting for these.

Hearing the front doorbell, I look up to see a guy in a hoodie come flying through the door. He looks sketchy as fuck and keeps looking behind him like someone is chasing him, so I stand and make my way over, pulling on my magic a bit just in case I need it quickly.

“Can I help you?” I ask.

“Do you have a bathroom?” He looks around as if he’s searching for it.

“We do,” I say slowly and then lie, “but it isn’t open yet. It’s temporarily closed for cleaning.”

No way am I letting this guy in there. He’s a human, and looks like he could be on drugs, maybe? The last thing I want is some guy OD’ing in my bathroom. Us supes have our own form of a police department, but they are useless. The Enforcers are corrupt, and something like a human OD’ing in the bathroom of a supe business usually doesn’t go over well. They always try to blame the vamps or magic. Then things get taken to the Convocation, which no one wants. We all live mostly peacefully together since supes came out twenty years ago, but there’s still a lot of fear.

He growls and smashes his hands into the sides of his face, almost as if he’s hitting himself, then turns and books it out of the shop and down the road. I follow swiftly behind and look out the door. What the hell was that about? Letting my magic flow back inside me, I head back in just as Emmett and Josiah come out of the back hallway.

“Was someone here?” he asks, sniffing the air. Wrinkling his nose, he says, “Um, was it a sick person? Because it smells really foul in here.”

Times like these make me so glad I don’t have a shifter’s sense of smell.

“I don’t know, honestly, he looked like he was on drugs. Asked to use the bathroom, and I told him it was closed for cleaning,” I say rolling my eyes.

In all actuality these two were probably in there. They really can’t resist sneaking off for a quick make out sesh like a couple of teenagers. We’re both thirty so we haven’t been teenagers for a long time.

“Hmm,” he says. “I don’t like it. I’ve got a weird feeling about it.”

Hearing the doorbell again, I turn to see two huge guys in biker helmets and riding gear come through the door. Taking their helmets off, they both sniff the air. What’s with all the sniffing today? That guy must really have a different scent than usual.

Both are tall. Like over six foot six or seven. One has long dirty blondish brown hair and blue eyes. The other has straight black hair pulled back in a bun and brown eyes, with a close-cut beard. They’re both the hottest men I have ever seen in my life, and my stomach flutters a little.

That’s when I notice the patches. Wrath MC. The Boys of Wrath. Unofficial enforcers of the supe community. Biker gang. Club? I’m not really sure of the correct term. When the supepolice do nothing, which is a lot, these guys pick up the slack. If the Boys of Wrath are after you, it’s a done deal.

Everyone around here knows who they are. I hear Emmett whistle low as he and Josiah step up to either side of me. Shaking them off, I step forward. For some reason, I’m not scared. I probably should be, but I don’t feel a lick of fear. Huh.

Blondie says gruffly, “Where did the guy go that was just here?”

“Not sure, he came in, asked to use the bathroom. I told him no and he ran out and to the left. It was about five minutes or so ago. What do you guys want with him anyway?” I ask.

“None of your business, witch,” Blondie says, with a sneer.

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