The Falcon Ridge Series Book 1 She's Not For You

(Chapter song ‘Black Velvet' by Alannah Miles)

ANNA

The night is still. The cool air hits my wet nose as I trot through the long, dew soaked grass.

There’s no sounds except for the odd cricket and the rustling sound of my paws hitting the dirt.

As I make my way to my favorite resting point, I lift my head, perk my ears and take a big whiff of the wind as it blows by. Nothing out of the ordinary hits my senses.

The city lights are far on my back, so the sky is blanketed with stars. With no clouds, the moon provides enough light, that I don’t have to rely on my wolf too much to see.

The trees provide a good cover while I patrol the border of the city. I round a path and arrive at my destination.

The trees open up and I stand at the edge of a clearing on the border of my pack's territory, Falcon Ridge.

It's not huge city, but it's not small either. It’s 4000 hard working shifters. We are the heart of the Alliance. Pretty much all the citizens are military here. The actual pack of Falcon Ridge makes up around a 1000. Run by Alpha Andrews. Nice guy, but just not my cup of tea.

There’s 6 territories in the Alliance and the Falcon Ridge Unit protects all of them from outside threats like other packs. Mainly one murderous pack. The Dragons. I’ll explain them later.

Myself? I’m part of a smaller, inner city Unit. Border Patrol. Controlled by the cities, we make sure everything runs smooth. We help with crime and make sure no one, like rogues, sneak in.

This job isn’t for pussies. You need to be on your toes, quick acting and tough. Mostly men take this job, but every once in a while you get a woman like me.

You come at me, you better make it good because if I get up, you’re dead.

You need to think on toes, most of those idiot military guys don’t get that. I know most wouldn’t last two seconds while they waited for orders to be barked. Screw that.

I walk further into the clearing and stop. At my claws is an imaginary border. On the other side of it is White Rock. It sits on our western border. Home to 800 wolves, Alpha Blake runs a tight ship over there from what I hear.

I hardly cross the border. Don’t need to. Everything I need is right here.

I slightly shuffle my paws in the grass as I scan the clearing in front of me. My bright amber eyes stop and focus on a spot in the trunks.

Movement.

My ears twitch back and forth as I gather information on whether this is who I’m waiting for or someone else.

A dark shadow on four legs, breaches the tree line and trots toward me. Puffs of white cloud escapes his panting muzzle when he enters the moons light.

As he gets closer, I catch the grey mixed with black fur. The light almost makes him shine.

He locks eyes with me and straightens out. Making a beeline for the imaginary line.

Michael Dorian. The border patroller for this area between our two towns. Great guy. He’ll always have your back. I trust him with my life. He’s my best friend, why wouldn’t I?

He huffs as he gets closer. It’s almost hard to believe we’ve been meeting here almost every night for the last five years. It’s our spot.

His wolf stands at attention and eyes me up and down. My wolf lets out a little growl.

The wind picks up and a gust swirls around his wolf’s legs as he shifts. His impressive naked form stands where his wolf was and the wind dies down.

"Anna." He says low as he runs his hand through his thick brown hair. His brown eyes hinting that I can shift anytime now.

I call the wind and my body rearranges. My naked body stands in front of him. I give him a smirk and bounce my brow. “Michael.” I say coyly as I kick out a leg and fold my arms.

I flick my eyes around his cut body. I always like what I see.

During normal, everyday life, getting aroused by one of us being naked, hardly happens. We’re so used to it, it’s boring most times.

But…Every now and then, there’s that one body that you just want to chow down on. You just look at them and say, ‘Come to mama, baby.' Like the one I’m looking at right now.

He relaxes his stance and crosses his thick, muscular arms over his swollen, defined chest. "Anything out of the ordinary tonight?"

I look around to the trees. "Not here. It’s been pretty quiet. Which is good because these double patrols are really killing me. The fucking Security Unit keeps taking all our manpower." I arch my brow. "How about you?"

He rubs his nape. "Nothing here either. I was kind of itching for a fight tonight. It's weird. We went from attacks almost daily, to...well...nothing." He looks around and flops his hand to his side.

I fix my long, brown hair with blonde highlights and flick a bug off my shoulder. "Hey, I'll take it. Maybe we can knock off early and catch a beer. What do you say?" I raise the corner of my mouth in a sly smile, lick my lips and give him a once over.

Michael is definitely a heart stopper. I’ve tasted him in so many ways that a proper woman shouldn’t, but no one said I was proper.

I’ll have him for breakfast, lunch and twice at dinner, but I'm not into him for any kind of relationship. He’s a hook up. A fling to satisfy my urges. I love him as a friend, but that’s as far as it goes.

Five years ago, I helped him bring down a nasty rogue wolf.

What’s a rogue? A shifter without a pack. We are so dependent on packs, that when one loses a pack, or gets kicked out by the Alpha, the solitary lifestyle does something. Something we all call Rogue Sickness. An illness that causes the brain to become sick and the wolf part of the beast to take full control. They stink to high heaven and will kill you without a second thought. It’s up to us border agents to kill them first.

Anyway, back to my midnight snack…

I helped Michael bring the rogue down. He was a rookie at the time and I already had a year under my g string. We’ve been friends ever since.

He smiles a devilish grin. He knows what I want. I can see his interest is peaked below his Adonis belt. "I have a few more areas to patrol, but I'm sure one of the other guys can cover the rest of my shift. Meet you in an hour?"

"See you, tiger." I wink and shift. I shake my fur out and watch him shake his head. I give a bark and run off to complete my patrol.

I shift as I get to the door of the Falcon Ridge Border Unit. I walk in and the locker room is empty. I head down to my row and find my locker to get dressed. I slip on my black leather boot cut pants, my black shit kickers and pull on a black t shirt. I grab my black rider's jacket and head to Drake's office.

Drake was posted here three years ago as Border director. He's a hard ass, but fair. He's also a fucking hottie. Blonde short hair, deep blue eyes and jacked. His shirts always look like they’re struggling to stay together.

I stop at his doorway and give a quick knock on the open door.

"Hey, boss." I pull my riders jacket on and pull my hair out the back. "When's my next patrol?"

He glances at me with those sexy blue eyes and shuffles his paperwork. "Tomorrow night. Dusk. You'll be doing Southside. Deacon is going to be in meetings all day and can't get out."

I flop my hands up and shake my head. "Fuck. Again? Why?" I slam my hands on my hips.

He turns his head slightly and cocks a brow. It rubs him the wrong way the way I talk and, frankly, I enjoy every minute of it. "He's trying for a spot in the security unit, so he has to meet with the Heads."

He turns back to his paperwork, shuffles more and types on his keyboard.

“Fine.” I grumble. I walk around his desk to where he’s sitting and plant my ass on right on the oak.

He looks at my ass then shoots a glare at me which I completely ignore. "I don't know why anyone would want to join that meat head club. It's nothing but weeks of testosterone on parade." I scoff.

He turns his head and eyes me. "You know, there's an honor being part of the unit. You lay your life on the line, protecting your pack every time you're called to battle. You should reconsider. They could use you."

He turns back to his keyboard and continues typing.

"Please." My attitude drips off my words. "What are we? A fucking tea party? I lay my life down every time I go out there. I'm no muscle bound yes man. Out here, at least we can be wolves. Not some stuck up robot."

He tilts his head to me. "It's different, Anna. And you know it."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever." I jump off his desk and lean on it beside him. "So, you coming out for a drink tonight or is it another night of banging your keyboard?" I smirk, wagging my brows and wait for him to catch my innuendo.

He looks up at me and arches a brow. He caught it. He sighs in frustration and turns back. He absolutely hates my bullshit. "No. Too many reports to do. Including yours. You're two days overdue."

I push myself off his desk. "Whatever. All work and no play......"

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bye, Anna." He says without turning from his computer.

I chuckle to myself as I leave his office. I've been trying for three years to get this guy drunk and in my sheets, but he's a brick wall that refuses to break. One day I will. Then I'll loosen him up really good.

I give him a two-finger salute. "Bye, hard ass."

I straighten my leather riders jacket, saunter up the aisle between the desks as other border agents do paperwork and process dirt bags.

“Don’t work too hard, ladies.” I snort as I walk to the front door.

“Screw you, Riker!” Someone shouts because I’m getting out early.

I toss my head back and cackle out the door.